Sat, 26 Dec 2009
Emptiness Re-explained
The usual question about emptiness got asked on one of the Buddhist forums and I gave my usual explanation. Which isn't mine, actually, it's taken from Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso's explanation in "Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness." So here it is, for your edification and amusement.
Emptiness is the unfindability of a thing when searched for. We have a strong belief in a thing, but when when we try to pin down precisely what it is, we can't do it. For example, the self. Sometimes we equate the self with the body, as when saying "I hurt all over." Sometimes we identify the self with the mind, as when saying "I am nervous." Sometimes we equate the self with the owner of the mind, as when saying, "I could not control my thoughts." What we take to be the self shifts around, which shows that there is no self, it is only a concept. And careful argument shows that neither the body, the mind, nor anything else can properly be called the self. So we say the self is empty.
I'll be away for the next week at a meditation retreat, the Mani Drubchen. I know these days going a week without posts on my blog is not such a big deal. But be patient and I'll probably have some gossip (I mean, news) to report when I get back.
Thu, 24 Dec 2009
Monlam 2009
The Kagyu Monlam is underway in Bodhgaya, making for a strange sort of Christmas. Before the Monlam the Karmapa gave teachings on Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend, The Monlam blog has notes taken at the teaching and they make an interesting read. They have also published a short prayer book (pdf) for the Monlam that contains prayers in multiple languages. There also is a live webcast courtesy of Ustream. Mostly it's shots of monks chanting, but can be interesting when you catch them misbehaving. The Karmapa used the Monlam as an opportunity to introduce a new website, Khoryug, designed to promote ecological awareness among the Karma Kagyu monasteries in the region.
I also have some non-Monlam links worth reading. Dudjom Rinpoche gave retreat instructions on Dzogchen, but they're applicable to mahamudra as well. These are very precious teachings and are worth careful reading. Bob Flaws has written an interesting autobiography which contains his experiences as student of Sonam Kazi. I've linked to just one page, but the autobiography is very detailed and well worth a read. Sonam Kazi was from a noble family in Sikkim and served as a translator for the Dalai Lama and for Thomas Merton when he visited India. Zach is visiting Nepal and managed to get a job as executive assistant at a Tibetan monastery, He seems well suited for the job as clearly he's a guy who can get things done. He's keeping a blog about his experiences in Nepal. I've linked to a page where he manges to get an interview with Thinley Norbu, which is not an easy thing to do.
Wed, 23 Dec 2009
Peace on Earth
Buddhists always talk about the importance of compassion, for good reason. But it's not enough to wish for compassion or meditate about it on your cushion. When you have the opportunity to make the world a better place, you should. When I look at the great causes of suffering in this world, three stand out. The first is the tremendous amount of suffering caused by raising and killing animals for meat. People are blind to the reality of factory farming and slaughterhouses, but they are the source of a tremendous amount of suffering. The second is the suffering caused by war and by the world's military. Anything we can do to promote peace and reduce distrust between nations and peoples is a virtuous act. The third is the suffering caused by disease and early death. This is not only a medical problem, much of the problem is caused by malnutrition and unclean water. If we could take a fraction of the money that the world spends on weapons and spend it on these problems instead, the world would be a much happier place. Of course, some problems are medical and require a medical response. I'm enthusiastic about the ability of homeopathy to improve the world's health. Cuba has eliminated leptospirosis through the use of homeopathy. If homeopathy were more widely applied, it would make a huge difference.
Sun, 20 Dec 2009
More Links
IThis weekend the East Coast was hit with a blizzard. Baltimore got twenty inches of snow (that's almost 60 cm for you metrics fans). I was home, so there was no problem until I had to go out and shovel the snow. It was a lot of work to clear off the car. I did my grocery shopping and came home and that was the extent of my adventures for the weekend.
Lama Gursam sent out an email message with some news. He attended the consecration of the new Drikung monastery in Nepal and then made a brief tour of the sacred sites in Nepal. He's about to start a one month retreat.
Here's a few links that I've found recently. First, Angela attended the consecration of the Drikung monastery and blogged about it. Now that it's over you can read the whole story. The Kagyu Monlam is just starting and anther blogger is repaorting his impressions. I hope he keeps going. Here's a somewhat strnage extract from Rechungpa's biography that has him getting teachings on immortality while studying with Tibupa in India, The story of the hippie drug dealer who became Kalu Rinpoche's student has a happy ending in that he's now out of jail and back in Nepal. In this second chapter he has some more to say about his Buddhist practice:
As we reach the airport, Smith rushes to finish telling me how he spent the past 30 years of his life. He met his guru, Lama Kalu Rinpoche, at a Buddhist retreat in Palm Springs, about five years after becoming a fugitive. He followed Rinpoche from California to Maui to Darjeeling, India, where he spent the next 11 years living at Rinpoche's monastery. Half that time, he lived in isolation, praying, "om mani padme hum" 100 million times. He befriended a quiet Norwegian, a fellow devotee of Rinpoche, who turned out to be extremely wealthy and who offered to sponsor Smith for the rest of his life if he continued to pray for the betterment of humankind.
In the mid-1980s, just as Smith wrapped up his prayers, civil war erupted in Darjeeling as the ethnic Nepali population sought to secede from India. He slipped across the border to Nepal, married a Nepalese woman and raised a daughter, who is now 21 years old. Besides spending time with his family and passing a few unpleasant months in Orange County, he says, he's led a very quiet life. He says he just wants to give his interview to the documentary crew making their movie about Buddhism, and then go back to Nepal.
Sat, 19 Dec 2009
Updated Tibetan Calendar
I've updated the Tibetan calendar on my downloads page. The update consists of adding more data to the calendar. Previously it only went to 2010, but now it goes to 2020. The most notable feature of the Tibetan calendar is how dates are skipped or repeated. For example, a month might have two 14th days and no 22nd. In the Tibetan calendar the month is divided into 30 "lunar days," which are each 12 degrees in the 360 degrees of the lunar orbit. The new moon is the 30th lunar day and the full moon is the 15th. The day of the month in the Tibetan calendar is whatever the lunar day is at one hour before sunrise. Because the moon's motion is irregular, sometimes faster or slower, the Tibetan calendar has skipped and repeated days.
The calculation of these dates is complicated and my calendar program doesn't do the calculations itself. Instead, my script has the start date of each month and a list of skipped and repeated sites. The data is exteacted from the calendars at Ed Henning's Kalachakra Calendar site using a short Perl script that I wrote.
Fri, 11 Dec 2009
Been Sick
If you've been wondering where I've been, I came down with a cold last weekend and it hasn't left me with the energy to do much. Being sick is educational. It teaches you a lot about yourself, esecially if you know homeopathy. In homeopathy you are always looking for the distinguishing symptom, and I often have a hard time finding it. I may have found the right remedy tonight, I'll know tomorrow. But the cold is almost over, anyway. Here's a touching story about a Buddhist on death row.
Kenny has been making beautiful origami peace cranes. He taught himself how to make them from a book in the prison library. In the beginning, he had to tear each sheet of paper because he was not allowed any cutting tools. Now he is allowed a rotary paper cutter. Over the years he has made origami masterpieces; given them away to nursing homes and sold them to support himself so that he is less of a burden to his family etc.
As part of his practice to prepare for death Kenny has begun accumulating Amitabha mantras. We came up with the idea that he could accumulate mantras, one mantra per fold of paper to keep track of his accumulations.
Each crane is comprised of 392 sheets of paper and each sheet is folded 10 times. So each crane has 3,920 OM AMI DEWA HRI folded into it. I asked him to make one for me to put on my shrine at home. The last time we met he told me a box was waiting at the front gate containing 6 cranes he made while accumulating mantras. One for me, one for Bradley, One for Tenzin (in retreat), one for Lama Kathy, one for Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and he asked if it was OK to give one to His Holiness Karmapa.
Fri, 04 Dec 2009
Silly Stuff
Some silly stuff tonight, so let's get the serious stuff out of the way. I've posted my notes from Lama Phurbu Tashi's talk on tonglen over on the Gampopa Center website.
Without sentient beings we would not be able to practice the six perfections. If you take this attitude, you will deal with the problems that other people give us joyfully. And that happiness we can give to others.
The nineteenth century theosophists had mixed feelings about Tibet and Tibean Buddhism. Madame Blavatsky praised the yellow hat lamas (Gelugpas), but criticized red hat lamas as a degenerate, demonic religion. One example of that is in the theosophical romance, Brother of the Third Degree:
"In Paris," he answered in a low voice, "there is a branch of the Red Dugpas of Nepaul, a band of black sorcerers, and they, having learned that you seek initiation into the White Brotherhood, have laid a plot to lead you from the true path into their red association."
"These men are sorcerers and necromancers, and most skilled in the black arts. By their nefarious practices they evoke the astral embodied dead, call up elemental spirits, and make the invisible messengers do their bidding. In this manner they obtain knowledge of the most carefully-guarded secrets and use them for evil ends."
Here's a video of Shonen Knife singing Red Kross. I hope it brings a smile to your face like it does to mine. "Crazy people in LA. Genius people in LA."
