On his U.S. visits, the Dalai Lama attracts spiritual followers, spiritual seekers, politicians and civic leaders. He also draws people who don't care a whit about Buddhism but suppor

©The Star (Used by permission)By SHAILA KOSHYKUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism recognises Islam as the religion of the country and says its position is not under any threat.The council said this in rebutting claims by Coalition of Muslim Organisations (Pembela) spokesman Dr Yusri Mohamad on May 4 that “Islam’s position in Malaysia is under siege”.Dr Yusri had cited the designation of a non-Muslim affairs exco in Penang and the appointment of a Christian Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, to handle the AlKitab issue as basis for the “threat”.In a statement yesterday, council president Rev Dr Thomas Philips said the council was amazed to read that the designation of a non-Muslim affairs exco in Penang was unconstitutional and threatened Islam’s position.

Dosho Port has a post up called " Dharma as Moral Principle " that has a great quote from the book The Six Perfections: Buddhism and the Cultivation of Character by Dale Wright.

JoongAng Daily

Korea: Ten Buddhist monks allowed in North Korea Spero News The ten men belong to the Jogye Order, the oldest and most respected tradition of Korean Buddhism. With the agreement of South Korean authorities, they delivered medical drugs for people in the North. They also visited a northern temple that does not ... Will GNP Need to 'Ram' U.S. FTA, NK Rights?Wall Street Journal (blog) North and South Korea Far ApartInter Press Service Foreigners Held in North Korea Pose Diplomatic ChallengeVoice of America Daily Mail -Daily NK -The Chosun Ilbo all 41 news articles »

In 2003, when the British government first decided it wanted to teach emotional well-being to the nation’s youth, it decided that each British school had a statutory responsibility to turn children into SHEEP. The acronym stood for ‘Safe, Healthy, Enjoying life, Economic well-being and Positive contribution’ - well-intentioned stuff, but the acronym unfortunately suggested that the Department for Education wanted to raise a nation of docile conformists. 

And, in fact, one of the principal dangers of the entire ‘well-being movement’ or ‘happiness agenda’ is this: it could lead to adults and children being spoon-fed advice on how to live, without being given the means to challenge that advice, and hold it to account. When managed this way, then the ‘happiness agenda’ really is creating sheep, rather than rational, autonomous and empowered citizens.

The main problem is that the ‘happiness agenda’ is being presented as an objective science, rather than a moral philosophy. This is particularly the case with Martin Seligman’s Positive Psychology, which informs Richard Layard’s Action for Happiness, and which is now being taught to every soldier in the US Army. It’s also being piloted in 60 British schools, and may eventually be introduced it into the British national curriculum, to replace the increasingly discredited Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL).

Positive Psychology purports to teach people how to ‘flourish’. It teaches a model of the Good Life, and uses government policy to disseminate this model. Now, until recently, it was assumed that the role of liberal governments is to secure our negative freedom from war, crime, disease, want and so on, while leaving people free to pursue their own good in their own way. Governments should protect our inalienable right to pursue happiness, but how we pursue it is up to us. It was previously seen as dangerous, or even illegal, for governments to go any further and promote a particular model of the Good Life, because that would overstep our religious freedom, our freedom to decide what we and our children believe about life, the universe and everything.

This has changed in the last decade, thanks to the growth of ‘happiness science’, which claims to have experimentally discovered what ways of living really lead to well-being and happiness. Scientists like Martin Seligman insist that what they are producing is not moral philosophy. It is science - descriptive, not prescriptive. Therefore, if governments promote it in schools, or armies, or prisons, or anywhere else, they are not really telling their citizens how to think, how to live, or what to believe. They are merely passing on the evidence-based skills and techniques needed to thrive. The language is one of skills, means and technologies, rather than moral values.

It is hoped that, through this neat manoeuvre, the state can finally go beyond a limited nightwatchman function, and provide the people with some form of moral guidance, to help them learn how to control their minds and bodies, to overcome all the problems of western society - depression, anxiety, drug abuse, food disorders, smoking, stress, insomnia, obesity, underage sex and drinking, bullying, loneliness - all those emotional and behavioural problems that emerge from our apparent ignorance of how to live, and how to govern ourselves.

Now there is a lot to welcome in this initiative. I happen to believe there are certain ‘techniques’ which one can use to learn how to govern yourself and live a happier life. Many of them come from ancient philosophies - from Stoicism, or Buddhism, or Yoga - but you can test them out, and build up an evidence base to show they work. So a lot of the new happiness science actually draws on ancient wisdom, and re-connects us to it. 

However, there’s a limit to the extent to which one can ‘prove’ what is the right way to live, and what the Good Life consist of. There is also a limit to what government technocrats, civil servants and teachers can roll out to the people as ‘objective science’. Most of the evidence for the science of happiness comes from happiness questionnaires, which ask you simply to rate how you are feeling, on a scale of one to seven. So, in order to test a happiness intervention, researchers will simply ask you how you feel before doing an intervention, and how you feel after doing it. If you feel better after doing it, presto, another happiness technique has been discovered, and we’re one step further towards a perfect model of the Good Life.

The problem is, there is a moral assumption behind the objective science. It is a Utilitarian or Epicurean assumption: that the aim of life is simply feeling good, and that the test of the worth of an action is simply how many good feelings it creates. That’s what Epicurus believed, it’s what Jeremy Bentham believed, it’s what Lord Richard Layard believes, but it’s certainly not what everyone believes. In fact, I’d say a majority of people believe there’s more to life than simply good feelings. Many might agree with Aristotle that some things, like virtue, achievement, knowledge or civic duty, are good in themselves. They might make you feel good too, but the good feelings are a bonus, rather than an end in themselves. Others might agree with the Stoics that the Good Life doesn’t just mean focusing on the positive. It also means being able to face the worst that life can throw at you, and still carry on.

Within the well-being movement, in fact, there is a high level debate between two broad camps - the Aristotelians and the Utilitarians - over the definition of well-being. The Aristotelians, who include some government ministers, define well-being as eudaimonia, which means not simply feeling good, but living a life of optimal human functioning, meaning and virtue. Martin Seligman also considers himself more an Aristotelian, as opposed to a hedonist or Utilitarian.

An Aristotelian approach to life sounds great - but it’s quite hard to turn into an objective science. Can you measure the extent to which a person’s life is eudaimonic? Can you scientifically measure how meaningful a person’s life is, how full of spiritual significance? It sounds ridiculous, but in fact, Martin Seligman’s resilience training course for the US Army claims to be able to measure soldiers’ ‘spiritual fitness’ using a simple questionnaire. It asks them a handful of questions such as ‘to what extent do you think your life is connected to a higher meaning’, and if they score too low, it recommends they read the ‘appropriate self-development modules’. Unsurprisingly, soldiers have been offended by this automatic spiritual counseling, and some have even threatened to sue the Army. It offers a simplistic technocratic solution to a deeply personal spiritual question.

At the moment, I worry that there is a pyramid-like structure in the well-being movement. At the top of the pyramid, experts debate the philosophical ideas of well-being: how can one define it, can one measure it objectively, what moral assumptions are we making, what philosophers have come up with the best answers in the past? At the bottom of the pyramid, however, all this debate is covered up, and the masses are simply presented the evidence as ‘facts’.

This is especially true in well-being classes in schools - all the debate and contention is left out, and one is left with Wellington College’s ’10 steps for a happy life’, which is “what every child and adult needs to follow in order to live a happy life”, as headmaster Anthony Seldon puts it. Personally, I don’t want my children to be taught how to be Utilitarians. That was tried in the 19th century, and the unfortunate pupil who received this Utilitarian education, John Stuart Mill, ended up having a nervous breakdown at the end of it.

It seems to me that, if the well-being movement is not to become another ossified and hierarchical church, then ordinary people need to be included in the debates going on at the top of policy circles over what exactly well-being is. They need to be educated and empowered to consider the different philosophical approaches to the Good Life. They also need to learn about the history of these different approaches, and the areas of disagreement and debate. Otherwise, they are not being treated as equals, but as sheep. 

So what would a more democratic approach to teaching well-being mean, practically? 

1)  You need to be open about your moral assumptions, and the fact that those assumptions are debatable. If you’re teaching a Utilitarian approach to well-being, you need to be up front about that. Let people know that alternate views are possible, that not everyone thinks the meaning of life is to feel as much happiness as possible.

2)  Encourage debate, and train people how to debate. You don’t want well-being teachers who get terrified every time a child (or adult) challenges their philosophical principles. On the contrary, you need a teacher who is comfortable with debate, and who can show their students how to debate, in an open-ended and open-minded way.

3)  Be open about where your ideas and techniques come from, and their history. Some CBT therapists and Positive Psychologists are frighteningly unaware that their theory’s roots are in ancient philosophy. Give people at least some awareness of the original contexts and source material, and make these sources as available as possible to people. In adult well-being classes, the original material should be taught and discussed more directly.

4)  Well-being classes shouldn’t just be for schools and universities. People should have access to them all through life. The government should help set up a network of philosophy clubs, which allow people to come together and debate the Good Life. There should also be a website which gives people the classics of philosophy and spirituality free to download, which provides the latest information, news and essays on well-being, while also allowing people to upload their own stories, videos and findings from their own experiments.

5)  Academia also has an important role to play. In particular, the government should encourage the development of well-being institutes, which bring together leaders in neuroscience, psychology, philosophy and theology, and encourage cross-disciplinary conferences and debates, the proceedings of which should be publicly accessible via YouTube. At the moment, these disciplines aren’t really talking to each other, which is to the detriment of the well-being movement - they have much to learn from each other. 

6)  Finally, you need to teach a plural approach to teaching well-being. You can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach, as Action for Happiness does. I would suggest teaching adults about the Epicurean, Stoic-Aristotelian, Taoist, Buddhist, Marxist and Monotheistic approaches to the Good Life.  What do these traditions say about the question of how to live well? Where do they agree, and where do they differ?

The art of living and governing yourself is not easy to teach well. I think it might actually be the hardest subject to teach, in that it requires real intelligence, humour, flexibility and compassion. But it could also be the most rewarding subject to teach and to learn. The goal, it seems to me, is not to train young people to unquestioningly accept the principles of Utilitarianism, or Aristotelianism, or Marxism, or any other ism, but instead to prepare them to be autonomous and resilient citizens who can think for themselves. You can’t do that via automated questionnaires with a limited set of responses, because their responses might be something very intelligent that we haven’t thought of yet.   

Is God up there or in here? White Mountain Independent This view is more Eastern, and is expressed even more fully in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, where a focus on a Supreme Being is dissolved into a focus on the Oneness of everything, here, and very present. There is much more to each, of course. ...

Islam's position is not under threat, says council Malaysia Star KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) recognises Islam as the religion of the country and says its position is not under any threat. ...

Islamic symbol vandalized at Burbank hospital Los Angeles Times The glass waterfall outside Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel at the hospital has illustrations of symbols of the nation's leading faiths, including Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. “Although we are a Catholic institution, we recognize that faith ... and more »

Chinese Philosophies Amidst Political Turmoil In response to the political turmoil associated with the Period of the Warring States in China (403-221 B.C.E.), differing schools of thought emerged. Among these were Confucianism, Taoism, and with the advent of the Silk Road, Buddhism. It is possible to comprehend and contrast the two indigenous philosophies, and recognize the reasons why Confucianism was eventually sanctioned by the government, rather than Taoism, even though  [ Read More ]

The Dalai Lama weighs in on killing of Osama bin Laden. “Forgiveness doesn’t mean forget what happened… If something is serious and it is necessary to take countermeasures, you have to take countermeasures.” In Buddhism, there’s a long tradition of warriorship. Generally, such warriorship is about bravery in everyday life, not war. The battle is, [...]

[iPhone snapshot above: Xeni Jardin; illustration inset, Shepard Fairey.]

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was in Long Beach, California this morning to accept the inaugural edition of a "Shine a Light on Human Rights" award from Amnesty International. My notes from the event follow.

He accepted the award with characteristic humility and good humor, saying, "I am just a single monk; no more, no less," later adding for the Amnesty volunteers and human rights advocates assembled, "Your work is good. Please continue."

Addressing the crowd before the spiritual leader spoke, Amnesty International's U.S. executive director Larry Cox said the award honored the fact that he has "tirelessly and peacefully defended the rights of people everywhere" for over 50 years. This month will also mark the 50th anniversary of the human rights organization's own founding.

The Dalai Lama took questions from Amnesty volunteers for more than an hour, and spoke of the imperative to protect those who are engaged in human rights work, as well as the need for freedom of information and expression in Tibet, China, and around the world.

Speaking through a translator, he described a Tibetan concept of generosity that encompasses not only material goods or comfort to those in need, "but also protection from fear."

"Individuals in some ways have more power than governments; the individuals, the artists, the activists who are compelled to change society—we must protect them."

Despite the white stubble he pointed to on his shaved head, the 76-year-old monk said he was optimistic that he would witness Tibetan "reunion" and peace with China in his lifetime.

"If you start a noble effort and encounter problems, and just stop— it is wrong," he said. "You must persist. If you believe that the goal of your work must materialize in your lifetime, it is wrong. It's still worthwhile, even if you never live to see it materialize."

The internet's enabling of increased access to information, and the increasing velocity of information, he said, is a good thing. "Because of new media, the news [of human rights violations] reaches us immediately."

Censorship and seemingly ever-tightening restrictions on internet flow are a predictable response from the Chinese government, he continued, but they are fundamentally unsustainable. "More soldiers, more [surveillance] cameras, they build mistrust and fear. Harmony is based on trust... so this is totally the wrong method. Censorship should not be there; there should be free information, a free press, and then an independent judiciary and gradual government change can follow. That will develop trust and harmony within China, and with the outside world. A closed society with no transparency creates suspicion."

"The lifespan of a totalitarian regime is generally longer than that of an elected government," he continued. "But China belongs to the Chinese people, and not the government. 1.3 billion Chinese people have the right to know reality, and to judge what is right and what is wrong for themselves."

Asked by a young student LGBT activist what advice he might give gay and trans teens who are bullied for their sexual or gender orientation, the Dalai Lama suggested that apart from pursuing legal protection, greater understanding and more education in "moral ethics and concern for others" may help.

But "sometimes the system to solve the problem turns into a problem itself," he added; "The court can turn into a demon, the 'medicine' can become a poison, and people who do not have access to knowledge and education can be more easily manipulated."

He then paused and added "If someone bullies you based on discrimination, you should fight back."

No questions were posed about the recent killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan, but the Los Angeles Times noted his response on that issue yesterday at a "Secular Ethics, Human Values and Society" event, before an audience of 3,000 at University of Southern California.

Did bin Laden deserve forgiveness?

As a human being, Bin Laden may have deserved compassion and even forgiveness, the Dalai Lama said in answer to a question about the assassination of the Al Qaeda leader. But, he said, "Forgiveness doesn't mean forget what happened. ... If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures."

This, from a peaceful monk who avoids killing mosquitoes. "When my mood is good and there is no danger of malaria," he said at the USC event, he refrains from swatting even these pests.

While the Dalai Lama's thoughts on the specifics of the bin Laden assassination may remain an engima, Amnesty International's stated position is clear: the organization has long opposed extrajudicial execution, regardless of the subject involved.

This week, the group raised concerns that "US forces should have attempted to capture Osama bin Laden alive in order to bring him to trial if he was unarmed and posing no immediate threat," because perpetrators of terrorism and crimes against humanity "must be brought to justice in a manner consistent with international law."

In response to a question today in Long Beach by an Arab-American Amnesty International member about anti-Muslim hostility in America, the Dalai Lama described discrimination based on faith or culture as "backwards" and "outdated."

He pointed to the Hindu caste system in India (where he resides in exile) as the same, and said it too "must change."

"People should not say that Muslims as a whole are bad. I have many Muslim friends, and they tell me genuine followers of the Koran do not take bloodshed. If you do, you are not a genuine practitioner of Islam. The real meaning of 'jihad' is not fighting, but a kind of internal struggle. In Tibetan Buddhism, we also have a terminology of engaging in combat with our inner afflictions, fighting for internal spiritual freedom. This is the real meaning of jihad."

(special thanks to Kala'ayan Mendoza)

Buddhism: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know.. and Why! It is not necessary to study everything in Buddhism to become enlightened. It is actually only necessary to study what you need to know to make your very next breakthrough. There are things that you know very well. However, you don’t know what you don’t know, You might be the kind of person who reads everything you can find on  [ Read More ]

 Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.” - Alan Watts, author, primarily on Zen Buddhism I don’t know that there’s any meaning to the word zensato, though a quick search leads to various artists from one of that name doing [...]

A Los Angeles Times piece suggests Tibet’s spiritual leader supports the American action against Osama bin Laden, surprising some followers and causing others to seek clarification of the Dalai Lama’s comments. He was asked by a student at USC on Tuesday for his reaction to bin Laden’s death, replying, “Forgiveness doesn’t mean forget what happened. … If something is serious and it is necessary to take countermeasures, you have to take countermeasures.”

Though the Times reported this comment as an endorsement of the killing, a post on DalaiLama.com clarified, “His Holiness said therefore the counter measure, no matter what form it takes, has to be compassionate action. His Holiness referred to the basis of the practice of forgiveness saying that it, however, did not mean that one should forget what has been done.”  —KDG

Los Angeles Times:

As the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the 14th Dalai Lama says he practices compassion to such an extent that he tries to avoid swatting mosquitoes “when my mood is good and there is no danger of malaria,” sometimes watching with interest as they swell with his blood.

Yet, in an appearance Tuesday at USC, he appeared to suggest that the United States was justified in killing Osama bin Laden.

Read more

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Vipassana teacher Rodney Smith is leading a Tricycle Retreat called "Selfless Practice." You may know Rodney as the author of the book Stepping Out of Self-Deception: The Buddha's Liberating Teaching of No-Self. Liberating? How is no-self (anatta)—one of the most famously contentious ideas in Buddhism throughout its history—liberating?

In the discussion of the Week 1 teaching, "Is Selflessness True?" which is already generating a vigorous and contentious discussion, Rodney writes:

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It never really found its way TODAYonline VENERATED till this day in Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, and revered by both police and triad members, there is no doubt that real-life Han dynasty general Guan Yu is one of China's most famous hero-warrior-swordsmen, ...

The Dalai Lama has suggested that Osama bin Laden's death was justified. The leader of Tibetan Buddhism says that he believes in compassion to such an extent that he tries not to kill mosquitoes. But during an appearance at USC, the Dalai Lama said...

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by dadiolli Kuan Shih-Yin Daoist Immortal and Buddhist Bodhisattva! Are Buddhism and Daoism really so different or is their one source for the two? Shaolin Martial Arts for instance celebrates Daoism’s fundamental association kung fu’s origins in conjunction with the tremendous development of Martial Arts following the arrival at the Shaolin Temple, in 520 BCE, of Bodhidarma’ First Patriarch of Chan Buddhism. Regarding further links between the two belief systems  [ Read More ]

5/3/11

While we're on the subject of Bin Laden and an innocent and accidental mash-up of a MLK quote, I don't think the attribution "controversy" (such as it is) isn't the interesting thing here, it's the sentiment. The genesis of the quote is from an English teacher in Japan, who posted her Facebook status thusly:

Which raises the question: If you don't believe in the death penalty, and you don't believe in killing other human beings, is it still okay to kill Osama bin Laden? In the morally relativistic world of adulthood, it can be answered with a shrug, but that's not the world you live in if you've got kids.

When Lucy was about two and a half, we were driving along the West Side Highway in Manhattan, and the car conversation invariably turned to the giant gaping hole in the ground where the World Trade Center had been. Not one to let anything slip by uncommented, she pressed us on the issue. As any of you with kids knows, the words "September 11" are in the ether - short of hiding them in the attic, your offspring are going to hear those words, and they're going to know they're bad in some way.

I finally told her a very bad man knocked the two towers down, and she mentioned it every time we saw skyscrapers from Brooklyn - not in a scared way, just matter-of-fact. Fast-forward to this Monday morning, and Tessa felt like she had to say something to Lucy about the breaking news, since it was going to come up at school, somehow, someway.

"You remember that really bad man who knocked those towers down in New York, sweetie?" Tessa asked.
"Yeah," Lucy responded.
"Well, he died last night."
To which Lucy immediately asked, "Did we die him?"
"Yes," Tessa said, "we did."

Lucy has a habit of using nouns for verbs and making shit up on the fly, hence jewels like "the boys were swording each other on the playground" and something heartbreaking like "did we die him". I found it pretty amazing that her first response upon hearing the news was the assumption Osama bin Laden did not die of natural causes.

Often the way you keep your kid from freaking out about something is to act as if everything is natural and suspected - after all, they get most of their cues from you. When my Auntie Donna died, we did a pretty good job of being honest and loving about it with Lucy, and she responded in kind. But this is different, because we - as a country - went into another country, found someone we'd been looking for, and murdered him. It's pretty hard to make up a cute parable for that one.

Part of the overwhelming jumble of emotions I experienced Sunday night was unadulterated jubilation. I wanted that motherfucker dead, and I would have been willing to take a crowbar to the back of his head for what he did to New York City and my psyche. But I am devoutly against capital punishment, like to consider myself a pacifist, and Buddhism is the only "religion" that has ever struck me at the soul. So what am I made of, really?

There's an internet meme called Godwin's Law, which states that every argument, if carried on long enough, eventually mentions Hitler, in which case the argument itself is rendered irrelevant. But this is one time when mentioning Hitler is warranted, because Bin Laden hits Americans in the same place. He evokes similar rage, gouges at a similar wound. Sure, we nominally would have taken Bin Laden alive, but like Hitler, is that a trial we wanted to experience?

Even the usually-equanimous Jon Stewart admitted last night he was far too close to the subject matter to be rational; instead, he relished Al Qaeda's demise, saying they might attack us again, but even if they do...

"...you know who won't see it? Bin Laden. 'Cause we shot out his eyes, and now he lives in a pineapple under the sea!

I share his enthusiasm, and to be honest, much of the hand-wringing I've seen among my cohorts smacks of weenie-minded namby-pambyism from people who feel massive relief Bin Laden is dead, but still want to feel as though killing people is wrong. Weirdly, I share their unease. And you can bet your ass this paradox will not be lost on our kids.

But maybe that's just life. You can strive for ideological purity, but when it comes down to it, if you invent a time machine, you kinda have to go back and put a bullet in Hitler's brain. Perhaps "I don't believe in killing anybody, but I would kill Bin Laden" isn't necessarily a logical fallacy. Only question is, how do you explain it to a 6-year-old?

Lucy pontificates from back seat of car, June 2008

Yesterday, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism also appeared at University of Southern California and gave his opinion on Osama bin Laden's killing.

What constitutes Buddha's liberation and enlightenment? Is this only for Buddha and his senior monks? What are the satipatthana meditations that focus on nibbana and cultivate it? What do Buddhist scriptures say? I write for those who might deepen their interest in Buddhism.

Author's Note: The post originally ran on April 10, 2010, on my personal blog krausnotes.com. The interview below is with Adam Gerhardstein, former campaign manager for the Standing on the Side of Love campaign. The new campaign manager is Dan Furmansky.

Finding Faith

My faith and feeling connected spiritually to God has always been important to me. Growing up Catholic, and then coming-out, made it hard for me to feel connected to God. Since homosexuality is condemned in the Catholic faith, I never truly felt accepted by the church.

To find a place where I could feel connected, I have spent the past ten years exploring a variety of religious outlets including Buddhism, Judaism, and various forms of Christianity such as Baptist, Quakerism, and Presbyterianism.

During my faith quest, I also explored Unitarianism. In short, Unitarianism is a liberal faith tradition that believes in "the religion of Jesus, not a religion about Jesus." A huge attraction to the faith was their commitment towards social justice for all peoples, including the LGBT community.

Because of my positive experience with the Unitarian Church, I was excited to learn about the Unitarian Universalist Association's Standing on the Side of Love campaign. Interview with Adam Gerhardstein, campaign manager for the Standing on the Side of Love after the jump.

Continue reading "A Look at the Social Media Strategies of the 'Standing on the Side of Love'�Campaign"...

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If Zen Buddhism were Coca-Cola, Western Zen would be like the high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) type served in a plastic bottle. The real Zen, still found in some parts of China and Korea, would be like Mexican Coca-Cola made with...

The basis is that Buddha, when he went on his quest, did not encounter god. Therefore, he was not commissioned by god to preach the truth of good faith in god, which is what most religious have more or less been doing.

The show was sold out, but there were a lot of empty seats in Royce Hall on Monday afternoon. After it was announced on Sunday that His Holiness the Dalai Lama would be unable to come to UCLA because of a sore throat, many ticket holders opted for a refund. A lecture the Dalai Lama had planned to give in the morning was canceled altogether.

A symposium in Royce Hall titled "Buddhism and Neuroscience: A Discussion on Attention, Mental Flexibility and Compassion," will be held as scheduled, although without the Dalai Lama's participation. The 75-year-old spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists ...

Bodhisattvas likely do not care much about football, however, USC officials are saying it looks like Nobel Peace Prize #winning Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, will rally to make it to campus on Tuesday for two speaking engagements despite Monday's health-related cancelation at a UCLA symposium on Buddhism and Neuroscience. [ more › ]

Tibetan Buddhism has long been a popular spiritual practice in the San Francisco Bay area, but the region's 1,500 Tibetan-Americans are just now getting a community center to call their own.The Tibetan Association of Northern California has bought a 22,500-square-foot office building in Richmond not far from the El Cerrito border.

[New Entry by Constance Kassor on May 2, 2011.] Gorampa Sonam Senge (go rams pa bsod nams seng ge, 1429 - 89) is one of the most widely-studied philosophers in the Sakya (sa skya) school of Tibetan Buddhism. A fierce critic of Tsongkhapa, the founder of what later came to be known as the Gelug (dge lugs) school, his works were so controversial that they were suppressed by Gelug leaders shortly after they were composed. Gorampa's texts...

Kansas City Star

His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama Rallies For The Trojans LAist ... it looks like Nobel Peace Prize #winning Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, will rally to make it to campus on Tuesday for two speaking engagements despite Monday's health-related cancelation at a UCLA symposium on Buddhism and Neuroscience. ... Happening MondayLos Angeles Times Ill health forces Dalai Lama to cancel UCLA appearancesDaily Breeze California Set For Dalai Lama's VisitNeon Tommy Daily Bruin -Examiner.com -San Francisco Chronicle all 182 news articles »

Bay Area Tibetans get first community center San Jose Mercury News Tibetan Buddhism has long been a popular spiritual practice in the San Francisco Bay area, but the region's 1500 Tibetan-Americans are just now getting a community center to call their own. The Tibetan Association of Northern California has bought a ... and more »

Karmapa Ugyen Thinley Dorje, head of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, rubbished allegations that he was a Chinese spy and expressed readiness to make clarification to any government official in this regard.

I’ll never forget a conversation I had 15 years ago with paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould.  He told me and several colleagues that he was basically tired of environmentalists talking about "saving the planet."  He flung his arms wide and told us that "... if the history of the Earth is my wingspan, all of human history would represent a sliver of my fingernail."His point? "The planet will be fine…it will just turn into something not so good for people.”  So, we should stop talking about saving the planet and start talking about saving ourselves.  We’ve enjoyed great progress in recent years toward understanding and accounting for the value nature provides to people--not just the social and emotional values we’re accustomed to hearing about, but also the hard economic values of nature’s services.In Nepal, tiger tourism accounts for 50% of the revenue some local communities bring in each year.  The tiger also features prominently in the stories and teachings of Buddhism. But the tiger’s habitat may be where the greatest value lies. Protecting the forest is good for tigers, but is also a plus for protecting water quality and quantity. During my last trip, I visited a community where recently restored forests brought a long-dead freshwater spring back to life.  A healthy forest also purifies air and provides products like timber and medicines.  Forests also sequester carbon.The destruction of forests ranks as the second leading cause of climate change – after the burning of fossil fuels -- accounting for up to 20 percent of global carbon pollution. Recognizing this connection last December in Cancun, the countries of the world established the ground rules for a mechanism known as REDD -- reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.REDD works by recognizing and quantifying one of the great values of standing forests: removing and storing harmful carbon pollution.  If a country can show that it has reduced its level of deforestation (and the related carbon pollution), then it will receive payments.  These payments could come from other governments or from corporations looking to reach climate goals.  Great idea, but only if you can accurately draw up a balance sheet of carbon-in, carbon-out.  No one in their right mind would put money into a market with a broken ticker. Until recently, measuring carbon has been too complicated, too costly and altogether inaccurate. An unlikely solution: lasers being shot from planes at 200,000 photons per second.  In a nutshell, that’s LiDAR--Light Detection and Ranging.  It’s not impossible to collect forest structure data by measuring trees on the ground.  But anyone who has spent some time on the forest floor in, say, the Peruvian Amazon, can attest to how tough that is.  It’s not the venomous snakes, aggressive insects, and oppressive heat that are necessarily the issue.  Try to put a tape measure around a tree whose diameter doesn’t even come close to a circle, or one with flaring, head-high buttresses that ward off even the most accomplished tree-climbers.  Try and estimate height amidst throngs of choking lianas where each tree disappears into a cacophony of green several hundred feet up in the air.  It’s not impossible, but it certainly isn’t easy, fast or cheap.     With LiDAR, we can calibrate aerial images with a smattering of ground plots administered by scientists.  The results are calculated to create an algorithm that enables you to use satellite imagery not just to count the trees, but also the carbon they contain.  A year and a half ago, we flew with the Stanford University Carnegie Airborne Observatory’s Greg Asner over those very impossible-to-measure forests of the Peruvian Amazon and mapped the structure of 11 million acres in 3 weeks.  That’s a structural analysis of a forest down to one meter for an area the size of Switzerland--and completed for just a few cents an acre.LiDAR, the small number of ground plots, and the algorithms that get you from forest structure to carbon quantities are cheap, accessible, and incredibly accurate.  Those data are also, I think it’s fair to say, empowering: they give developing countries a tool to garner much needed financial resources, reduce global carbon emissions and slow the sickening trend of deforestation.  Working with partners, we’ve already begun using LiDAR to measure the carbon value of the forests of Nepal’s Terai Arc that our recently released tiger calls home.  The second flyover is now over in Nepal and we will be able to use that information to help the country participate in the new REDD mechanism. After Nepal, we’re taking the technology to Thailand. WWF’s ambitious goal for tigers is to double the remaining 3,200 in the wild over the next 12 years; combined with REDD, our efforts can go a long way to preserving the last great forests of Asia--forests that billions of people also depend on for drinking water, sustenance, climate mitigation and their livelihoods.It’s tempting to look at LiDAR and declare you’ve found the Holy Grail.  It’s not.  We still need voluntary financial commitments from governments; we still need regulatory frameworks; we still need the conviction of political leaders not to lose this precious resource.  But I’m quite confident that LiDAR is the most powerful tool we have for quantifying the value of standing forests all over the world and avoiding their ruin in the process.It also produces very cool images.

[youtube wRpjIxQg2vk]

[Image Credit: USGS (ultra high resolution land topography measurement)]

As President and CEO of WWFUS, Carter Roberts leads World Wildlife Fund’s work to save endangered species and their habitats through innovative programs with governments, businesses and local communities throughout the world. WWF, famous for its panda logo, is the world largest conservation network, with over 6 million members and programs across 100 countries.

Osama, China, and America New Yorker (blog) Religious fanaticism can be difficult to picture if you're a Chinese believer inclined to pick and choose the most pragmatic precepts from Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. But, a decade ago, when the 9/11 attacks occurred, sympathy in China was ... and more »

Buddhism is one of the foremost religious-spiritual, social, and indeed, political philosophies of the world.

Boston Globe

Dali Lama appearance at UCLA cancelled San Jose Mercury News He was scheduled to arrive on Sunday but that was pushed back to Monday, forcing the cancellation of the Monday morning event at UCLA. UCLA says an afternoon symposium on Buddhism and neuroscience will take place without his participation. Happening MondayLos Angeles Times Dalai Lama cancels UCLA lecture due to illnessSan Francisco Chronicle Ill health forces Dalai Lama to cancel UCLA appearancesDaily Breeze Daily Bruin -Examiner.com all 164 news articles »

Gautama Buddha desired and expected every human being to reach the heights of life on the basis of harmony of deeds and knowledge.

Hi

I'm 27 and have been interested in spirituality and related subjects, since a young age. It's always been a personal thing though as most of my family and friends don't share the same interests. So I've read books from the library and then of course researched on the internet. Buddhism, Tao, Zen and Adviata.

I'm attempting to learn Mandarin and expect to be going to China for the first time in September. That's partly sparked my interested in Qi Gong.

I read a little book on the '8 pieces of the silk brocade' nearly 2 years ago and I perform the simple little exercises almost every morning. Having followed the sequence from a book, I am sure my practice could be a lot better, hell it might be totally wrong, but I somehow feel compelled to do it every morning as part of my routine. I'm doubtful of whether there are any knowledgeable teachers in my area.

Anyway, looking forward to learning some new insights and asking questions on this forum

What's being discussed on the blogs today?

BLOGS:

• Cycling to Smangus: a tough ride!
• Chinasmack: Metrosexual soldiers used to lure underage girls into prostitution.
• How married Taiwan females support patriarchy.
• Drew on our coffee ride around Taichung yesterday. His new bike is awesome.
• Taiwan's Lying Girls
• Calling all wimminz for advice on what to bring when you move to Asia and are female.
• Craig on the anti-nuke protest.
• Taiwan loses a true patriot in Winston Li.
• Hanjie on Sun Moon Lake. Nice images.
• Red A: which of these currencies is manipulated?
• Under-the-radar news from AsiaEye
• David on possible veep candidates.
• Letters from Taiwan on the Taiwan Affairs Office of China hacking on Tsai Ing-wen
• Taiwan can't make up its mind on overwork.
• Taipei City MRT mispronunciations. I've been hating on the bullshit English on the trains and metro here for years -- just say it in Chinese with the proper tones, so we know what it sounds like!

MEDIA:

• Taiwan to build prototype fast attack catamarans
• Protesters demand reform of labor conditions in Taiwan
• The overall value of new construction falls 60%, apparently due to luxury tax
• WTF resolves the infamous case of the extra sensors in the socks.
• Fraudster with doomsday blog starts panic in Taiwan.
• A short review of the history of Buddhism in Taiwan
• China pressuring Taiwan to improve safety after five Chinese tourists died in a train accident.
• SCMP on cycling in the hills above Taipei.
• Manthorpe with a balanced piece on the upcoming election in light of the DPP's selection of Tsai.
• HTC and Microsoft.
• Kuokuang success shows growth of Taiwan's environmental movement.
• The story of Tsai Ing-wen, three parter video.

SPECIAL:

• NASA's Earth Day Image Gallery. Stunning.
• Dans has a good collection of images from the Fulon Sand Sculpture Festival.

_______________________ 
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Kansas City Star

Dalai Lama cancels UCLA lecture due to illness San Francisco Chronicle An afternoon symposium on Buddhism and neuroscience will take place without his participation with other scholars. UCLA offers the largest Buddhist studies program in the Western world. The Dalai Lama recently approved the creation of a fund in his ... Dalai Lama cancels appearance at UCLA because of illnessDaily Bruin (blog) all 115 news articles »

The Dalai Lama has canceled a scheduled lecture at University of California-Los Angeles due to ill health.UCLA said in a statement Sunday that the Tibetan leader, Tenzin Gyatso, was unable to travel due to illness and his sold-out lecture "What is True Wisdom?", scheduled for Monday morning, was canceled.An afternoon symposium on Buddhism and ...

What would you change? In Buddhism, we call this life you and I are living right now a “precious human birth.” Life is precious, short, and to be lived for the benefit of others. But we forget, day-to-day, that it won’t go on forever like this. We resent signs of aging. We avoid be real, [...]

Free Malaysia Today

Guan Yu battles into the 21st century Free Malaysia Today With its conclusion after 107 minutes of screen time, a fair verdict would be “an above average depiction of a Chinese warrior” who is an icon in three great Chinese religions – Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. After “Ip Man” and “Ip Man 2”, ... and more »

Buddhism – Hinayana (Theraveda) And Mahayana Branches of Buddhist Philosophy and Metaphysics Hinayana is the orthodox school of Buddhism. It believes itself to be the true adherent to the principles set forth by Gautama Buddha. It is the older of the two schools. Its texts are written in Pali, a common language of India which Gautama Buddha also used in his teachings. At present, it is found mainly in Sri  [ Read More ]

I don't know what life is, but I do hope that quickly after death we will each find out.

An answer you can find in old movies [for example, "Heaven Can Wait" or "The Horn Blows at Midnight"] is that after life you are on a cloud, in a long line, waiting for Angel Gabriel to let you in His gate -- or not.

Another possiblity is that you are deleted. There is less than nothing after life; you are as much not around as the memory you don't have of yourself before you were born.

It can be that you pass through the Bardo, a spooky old place, dream-like and filled with potential terrors, on your way to a next birth, as a human or some other sentient being on this or some other planet or somewhere or somehow in some other universe that you could never imagine. And it can be, that your reborn self comes tagged with lessons that you need to learn from all your prior lives, bringing you pains and pleasures that you deserve.

Many of us Buddhists pull out text from some sutra and say that Buddha told us not to speculate on those things be cannot know. And what might happen to us after death is just the kind of time-wasting speculation he was talking about. But Buddha also told us to use our own judgment of what we should think or do, and I think that considering the possibilities of what death might mean is a good use of a modest chunk of our life's time.

My hope is that we find out that a life is just a crazy old roller coaster ride.

At the end of life, you find yourself in a roller coaster car, passing out of a dark tunnel. The track takes you up and down a few modest bumps, splashing through water, then your car is brought to a halt. You then remember before you were born when you embarked on the ride. And unless you had a remarkable life, in an instant you see how silly you were in life, misjudging what was important and what was unimportant.

Just as with rollercoasters in amusement parks throughout the world, there is no lesson to be learned from a ride, and you disembark at the same place where you got on. Life, it turns out, is just a stunning experience, playing with that magical substance Ignorance. We are all of us, really, this single great Cosmic Self, frozen with absolute knowledge of everything and thus incapable of laughter, love, terror or hope. It is only through Ignorance that Cosmic Self can have adventures and experience the myriad feelings that Ignorance make possible.

While life isn't a land of lessons, we do learn things about it: It turns out that chasing after money and status is not only life's biggest time waster, it is as destructive as living a life of crime. There is nothing that one can achieve by being well off financially and being respected by others. Indeed, by taking more than your share of earth's bounty and putting yourself above others, you add to the collective pool of misery. It is only from a deeply felt compassion for others, and having modest possessions, that a life is profoundly satisfying.

But life is not a lesson. And whether we live as a seriel killer or an ego-free saint, there are no rewards nor punishments to receive or endure after life's passing. There is only this: Certain knowledge about everything, and the opportunity to ride again.

Funny thing -- or, I should say, seriously, that it is not so funny a thing -- the Roller Coaster Theory does not pick up much religious support. I think the reason for this is that religions thrive when obedience to the religion is rewarded with prizes and benefits after death. The Twin Towers suicide terrorists each had twenty submissive virgins waiting for them after their murderous crashes. Good Christians have an eternity in Heaven. Well behaved Hindus and Buddhists have karmic rewards, which might include a next life graced with prosperity, health, and attractive physical features. And, of course, for Buddhists there is Paranirvana, an absolute end to all suffering.

The Roller Coaster Theory comes then with marketting problems. The afterlife of the major religions promise a Parential [usually, Fatherly] Approval, and with it, happiness and security. So, there is a reason for us to be Good; our life has meaning. Be Good to make the Great Cosmic Dad proud.

In the Roller Coaster Theory, you are not still a child -- one of God's children -- you are a grown up. And while dangers and terrors and random acts of violence are for the most part outside what you can control or influence, there is no one more in charge than you are. Your life can go wonderfully or horribly, despite your will, effort and talents; there is no guardian angel to guide or protect you. And so it is hard to feel that there is ultimately any meaning to being alive.

Why be good if there is no eventual reward? At the first level of understanding, it is because you can only really be good if there is no reward. At the second level of understanding -- which trumps the first, obliterating it -- we should be good for its own sake: Good for Goodness' sake. That's all. There's nothing else.

But what is Good? And what is Goodness' sake? There is no one outside yourself to tell you. As our heart/mind matures, the ideal of good becomes less treacly and rule-bound. We do the right thing outside the call of reasons for what feels like [and is] a growing abundance of wisdom and compassion.

Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor tradition; nor rumor; nor what is in a scripture; nor surmise; nor axiom; nor specious reasoning; nor bias towards one’s beliefs; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, 'The monk is our teacher.' When you yourselves know: 'These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,' enter on and abide in them.