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Showing posts from 2018

Crooked Trees and New Year's Resolutions

There was an old Buddhist priest who ran a small temple at the top of a hillside.  He'd spent several decades chanting, praying, and providing spiritual support to his community, but the time had come for him to retire.  Sadly, the priest did not have any children that he could give the temple too. So, he put together a small wooden sign, and placed it in from of a withered, crooked tree that was growing outside the gates of his temple.  The sign said, "Anyone who can tell me how to fix this tree can have my temple and the land that it resides on." Word spread quickly about the sign, and monks came from all over the country to offer advice.  Some told the priest that he should cut the tree down.  Others suggested the use of wires and ropes to straighten its branches.   The old priest listened patiently to each person, and when they were done he grabbed a frying pan and chased each one from the temple grounds. Many years passed, and it started to seem li

Sacrifice Under the Bodhi Tree

I grew up in a fundamentalist, Christian church.  And I mean that literally.  The pastor, the deacons, and the choir director were all relatives of mine through either blood or marriage. So, it wasn't unheard of for family gatherings to become impromptu "worship sessions". Additionally, we attended bible study every Wednesday, choir practice every Saturday (even though I wasn't in the choir), and two church services on Sunday.   Each week my siblings and I were expected to memorize a bible verse, and recite it for the congregation.  If we were successful, then we usually got ice cream as a reward.  As a result, I know the bible extremely well, and sometimes I think about bible stories in a Buddhist context.  Recently, the story of Abraham has been on my mind. Abraham was a nomadic shepherd who lived in the land of Canaan.  He was a faithful servant of God, and he'd been blessed with a great deal of material wealth.  But after many years of trying he

Buddhism and Enlightenment Experiences

In the beginning of my practice I spent a lot of time reading about enlightenment experiences.  In my head, the purpose of Buddhism was enlightenment in the same way that the purpose of Christianity was getting into heaven.  So, I wanted to know what to expect. To be honest, I wasn't impressed with any of the stories that I read.  They were very beautiful; Zen teachers and Tibetan lamas going on for pages about how they turned to light, or time stopped, or they felt oneness with the entire universe.  But none of those stories were unfamiliar to me.  In fact, I'd heard them all before. When I attended raves in the early 2000's drugs were a very big part of the scene.  I was in the Marines, and getting drug-tested regularly, so I never did anything more than drink.  But I did get to hear about everyone else's experiences. There was the girl who took ecstasy, and said her essence combined with everyone on the dance floor.  According to her, it felt like hav

A Simple Explanation of Buddhism's 4 Noble Truths

The four noble truths represent the capstone of Buddhist practice. They provide a clear explanation of the nature of reality along with an ethical framework that helps us live skillfully, and be of benefit to ourselves and others. That being said, it can be difficult to decipher the subtleties of each truth and how they can be implemented in daily life. The following essay discusses each one in detail along with giving explanations how they can be understood within the context of daily life. 1.  Life is suffering We need to unpack this a bit, because it can be disconcerting if taken at face-value.  The word "suffering" is used in a slightly different way in Buddhism than what we're used to in western culture.  The death of a loved one or the loss of a job qualifies as suffering.  However, a child who forgets to take out the trash or a spouse who forgets a birthday is also suffering. So, suffering is not a finite thing.  Rather, it's a spectrum

Buddhism and the Dempsey Roll

America has a love affair with boxing.  The "sweet science" as it's called has a long, storied history in our country.  And even if we don't follow the sport, most of us can recognize the names of some of it's greatest champions like George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. I've spent a lot of time thinking about why this might be.  Why is it that the sight of two men standing in the ring, preparing to do violence to one another excites the deepest parts of our psyche?  A pessimist might say that it's because we're bloodthirsty.  But I attribute our fascination to something else. There's a stark, honesty in boxing that one can't find anywhere else.  Two men step into the ring; bringing all of their skill and athleticism to bear.  They know exactly what's expected of them.  They know exactly what the rules are.  And when the final bell rings, they know exactly who won or lost. And let's be honest, it's the winning that's i

Meditations on Compassion and Death

Buddha instructed his followers to practice various meditations in order to calm their minds and limit their mental suffering. One of these was a meditation on death.  Practitioners would go to cemeteries and sit their for hours; contemplating their own mortality and coming to terms with the thought of dying. In the Theravadan tradition, monks take this a step farther and spend a period of time each day imagining their bodies dying and decaying in various ways.  In this way, they gain greater equanimity as the fear of dying or being killed is slowly removed from their minds. On a whim, I decide to try my hand at this particular meditation. I travel to a graveyard near my home, place my cushion on the ground, and sit in noble silence for 1 hour.  During this time I contemplate my slow, unstoppable march towards death. I start with my skeleton; imagining my 6'2 frame slowly twisting downward as calcium leechs from my bones.  I feel the pain of swollen joints, and the embar

The Truth about Buddhism and Politics

The mid-term elections are coming up, and they represent the most important election of our lifetime.  Of course, that's exactly what they said about the last election... and the one before that.  But this time I think they really mean it. Naturally, this has resulted in some division in the American Buddhist sangha .   Some teachers believe that it's the duty of Mahayana Buddhists to encourage people to vote for candidates and support legislation that we believe will help to end suffering for all sentient beings. Others believe that politics are important, and performing one's civic duty is important, but the Buddhist and political realms must remain separate at all times. This debate has been going on for as long as the institutions of religion and politics have existed.  Christians talk about it , Jews talk about it, and Buddhists are no exception to the rule.  It's almost as if there's something within us that's drawn to politics the s

A Buddhist Response to the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting

Most people don't think of Buddhism as a faith-based religion.  In fact, practitioners are encouraged to take a "try it and see" approach to their training.  For example, a Buddhist teacher might say that everything in the world is constantly changing (i.e. impermanent), and we should practice non attachment.   In that case, students would be expected to try and disprove this statement by finding something that is permanent (i.e. eternal and unchanging) that they can hold onto.  If such a thing can't be found, that suggests that the teacher is correct, and non-attachment is a practice that should be followed. This "try it and see" approach works for about 99% of Buddhist practice.  But there are parts of the training that aren't so easy to parse through the use of empirical data.  For example the teaching of basic goodness states that all sentient beings are manifestations of the Dharmakaya, that all humans have the seed of enlightenment,

Self-Reliance and the Bodhisattva Path

When I was a young Marine the call came down that they needed volunteers to go to Bridgeport, CA for Mountain Warfare Training.  I was highly-motivated and not very bright, so I jumped at the chance to go.   I'd done the summer package with my unit the year before, but this was going to be different.  It was the winter package, which meant that I'd be doing all the same things that I'd done previously; hiking, camping, survival training, etc.  But I'd be doing it in 4-6 feet of snow. Base camp was located at Pickel Meadows in the Sierra mountains, and the elevation was around 7,000 feet.  The first week there was a blur of classes on everything from first aid to the intricacies of establishing radio communication in the mountains.  We also learned how to pack a sled, walk in snowshoes, and cross-country ski. The second week, however, was when things got interesting.  That's when we hiked to one of the training areas to put all of our new found knowl

Practicing the Way in a Buddhist God Realm

In Buddhist cosmology one can be born into  many realms depending on their karma.  For example, someone with a bad temper might be reborn as an animal, stripped of their intellect, and forced to live on instinct.   Or a thief may be reborn as a hungry ghost; constantly eating but never feeling full. On the other end of the spectrum we have the god realms.  Life is actually really good in those places.  Everyone is healthy and happy with plenty of food.  One would think that being reborn in a god realm would be cause for celebration, but this isn't the case.   In fact, traditional Buddhist thought states that gods are to be pitied.  Their lives are so good that they've lost all motivation to practice.  As a result, they'll never escape the cycle of suffering. Sometimes, I think the United States is a Buddhist god realm.  That might seem like an exaggeration, but anyone who has traveled outside of the developed world can attest to just how easy ou

Buddhism and Professionally Angry People

I've learned a lot about myself thanks to Buddhism .  Some of these lessons have been uncomfortable, but they're valuable nonetheless. For example, my practice has helped me realize that I have an anger problem.  It's not something that I'm proud of.  However, I know what my mind looks like when I sit on the cushion , and it's not always pretty.  My fight or flight instinct is geared heavily towards fight, and my instinctive response to life is rage.  Thanks to Buddhism I've learned to control these emotions.  No, that's not correct.  I don't control my anger. I've learned to not let my anger control me. Sometimes, this means I have to smile when I really want to smash someone's face in.  Other times, it means I have to sit quietly when I actually want to scream.  This is difficult at times, but a little self-control never hurt anyone. I don't do this because I think anger is a bad thing.  In fact, I usually find t