Lee Camp "Redacted Tonight" VIP (video)

[202] Presidential candidate Howie Hawkins on how to deal with this crisis

The rich are prepared to let millions of US citizens die in order to safeguard the economy against the coronavirus crisis. The US renews its demonization of Venezuelan Pres. Nicolas Maduro.

• Watch Lee Camp's newest stand-up comedy special FREE: LeeCampAmerican.com

Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins sits down with Camp to discuss the shortcomings of the Bernie Sanders campaign, the Green Party's electoral strategy, and how Hawkins would react to the nation's problems were he to win in 2020.

Naomi Karavani finishes off the show with a look back at the last major pandemic to hit the US: the "Spanish Flu," which did not originate in Spain but was reported by the Spanish press and got dubbed for writing about it during a time of war and rumors of war.

Lee Camp's videos are heavily suppressed by YouTube and Facebook. So to help us avoid this censorship, share it as you see fit, and join Camp's email list by texting "REDACTED" to 33-777. It's free and quick. Or join at LeeCamp.com. Come be in the live audience! It tapes every Thursday at 8:45 pm in Washington, DC (details at leecamp.com/RSVP), radical political comedy not found anywhere else. Cool Redacted Tonight swag that can't be bought anywhere else.

• Lee Camp Redacted Tonight VIP (RT); Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Ajahn Lee: Drop the labels

Ajahn Lee via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Theravada Buddhist novices, NE Thailand

We're taught to no longer hold onto concepts — all the labels and names we have for things.

We have to let ourselves be "poor." It's when people are poor that they become ingenious and resourceful.

If we won't let ourselves be poor [due to fearing unsatisfactoriness (disappointment, suffering, woe)], we'll never gain discernment (wisdom, insight, liberating knowledge). In other words, we don't have to be afraid of being stupid or of missing out on things.

We don't have to be afraid that we've hit a dead end. We don't want any of the insights we've gained from listening to others or from reading books, because they're concepts and therefore inconstant (impermanent, in flux, undependable).

What is the path to the light (nimitta)?

We don't want any of the insights we've gained by reasoning and thinking, because they're concepts and therefore not-self (impersonal, empty, egoless).

Let all these insights disappear, leaving just the mind, firmly intent, leaning neither to the left -- toward self-torment or being displeased -- nor to the right, toward sensual indulgence or being pleased.

Keep the mind still, quiet, neutral, impassive — set tall. And there we are: right concentration.

• Three Basic Facts of Existence II: Suffering (Dukkha), Collected Essays (Buddhist Publication Society, BPS.lk)
• The Real Facts of Life: Reflections on the Three Marks

What was the Buddha's point?

Ajahn Lee via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Dharma is something that cleanses the mind [i.e., purifies the heart] so that it's bright, clean, and happy.

People differ in their temperaments: Some are crude, some intermediate, and others refined. This is why the Buddha elaborated on the Dharma in various ways in line with the character of his listeners.

In other words, he took short things and explained them until they were long. For example,

• sometimes he'd explain the good results of generosity,
• sometimes the good results of virtue, and
• sometimes the good results of polishing the heart: meditation.

But his real aim was to teach people to make their minds pure. Everything else was just elaboration.

Ajahns explain the Dharma

Ajahns Lee, Suwat, Chah via Ven. Sujato; Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Dharma Meditation Initiative, Los Angeles: Thursdays, 7:00-8:30 PM, Pasadena

Dharma Meditation Initiative - MARC.ucla.edu - Meetup.com/Zen-007

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Meditation is letting go.

(Ajahn Lee) We're taught not to hold onto concepts -- the names and labels we have for things. Let's let ourselves be "poor." Why?! It's when we are poor that we become ingenious and resourceful. If we never let ourselves be poor, we'll never gain wisdom/discernment.

In other words, we don't have to be afraid of being poor, stupid, or missing out on things.

The ajahns (Thai teachers) know.

There's no need to be afraid that we've hit a dead end. We don't want any of the insights we've gained from listening to teachers and reading books, because they're concepts and are therefore impermanent.

We don't want any of the insights we've gained by reasoning and thinking, because they're concepts and are therefore impersonal (not self).

 

Let all of these insights disappear -- because they are disappointing -- leaving just mind, firmly intent, leaning neither toward self-torment/being displeased nor toward self-indulgence/being pleased.

Keep the mind still, quiet, neutral, impassive -- set upright and tall, and there we are: right concentration.

Why meditation?

Breath-control (pranayama) in yoga

(Ajahn Suwat) When it comes right down to it, what do we want from meditation? We meditate to make the mind quiet; the mind becomes quiet from letting go. That’s what the meditation is -- letting go.

If we meditate in order to “get” something, that’s craving manifesting, which will always disappoint, since craving is a cause of great suffering. Meditation isn't about craving.

The Dharma (the Truth the Buddha rediscovered) is already here. All we have to do is study and put it into practice so that we’ll know it (at theoretical and practical levels).

The ultimate Truth isn’t something new. It’s something that’s been here from time immemorial.

The root causes 

Nature as religion, outdoors as our cathedral

(Ajahn Chah) We should get at the root causes of things. It’s like someone going for a walk who trips over a stump. That person might get a hatchet and cut it. But it grows back. We trip over it again. So we cut it again. But it keeps growing back.

We’d better get a tractor and plow it up, but we put it off. It’s like saying to ourselves, “Should I go today? Should I? Maybe I’ll go tomorrow.” Then the next day, “Should I go or shouldn’t I?” And we keep on doing this day after day until we die. We never go anywhere. We’ve got to think, “Go!” and that’s it.

Strategic qualities of mind

Can I fix the world or fix my heart and mind?

(Ajahn Suwat) The qualities of mind we’re developing are like strategic weapons. We develop mindfulness. We develop alertness.

We pick one object of meditation -- “This is what I’m going to fasten on” -- then we keep it in mind, staying well aware of it. When we refuse to let it fall away, when we hold a single object, it becomes the quality called "singleness of mind."

When this singleness of mind arises, it can cut through restlessness, cut through anxiety. It includes mindfulness and persistence and can keep the mind firmly gathered in one place (samadhi).

Ajahn on karma, intention, results (funny animals)

Tiger Productions (animal video compilation); Ajahn Lee via Ven. Sujato; Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

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I'm sad again (unsplash.com)

[Whether karma is "good" or "bad" depends on the intention, cetana, behind it motivating our action.]

Every person alive wants happiness. Even common animals struggle to find happiness. But our karma/actions for the most part aren't in line with our wish. This is why we don't get to realize the happiness we want. It's simply because there's no truth to us. For example, when people come to the monastery -- to make offerings, observe precepts, or sit in meditation for the sake of praise or a good reputation, there's no real merit to what they're doing. They don't gain any real happiness from it. So they end up disappointed and dissatisfied (dukkha).

Then they start saying that making offerings, keeping precepts, and practicing meditation fail to yield good results. Instead of reflecting on the fact that they weren't right and honest in their intentions when doing these things, they say that there's no real good to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha (monastic community), that the Buddha's teachings are a lot of nonsense and lies. But actually the Buddha's teachings are an affair of the truth. If a person isn't true to the Buddha's teachings, the Buddha's teachings won't be true to that person -- and that person won't be able to know what the Buddha's true teachings are.

Bad karma: Delusion is the worst thing

Ajahn Lee, Thai Forest Tradition, via Ven. Sujato; Dhr. Seven, Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

I'm not deluded. I'm just high.

Delusion seeps into us the way blood seeps throughout every part of our bodies.

When we do unwholesome things (the kinds of karma/actions that bring unwished-for results), we're deluded. When we do mundane good, we're still deluded.

• Supermundane good ("path" and "fruition" consciousness) is free of delusion.

Even though we're well-versed in the Dharma, we cannot yet escape from the overwhelming power of delusion.

No matter how hard we resist, it stays right on our heels. We may want to make merit (karma that produces wished-for results), but when we're deluded, we do not know what to do and what to leave undone.

 

OK, I'm deluded and buzzed.

We simply want the merit. We observe the precepts because we want to be good, but we're trying to do it without knowing what real virtue is.

It's the same when we practice to concentrate. We want results, but we can't distinguish right-concentration from wrong-concentration. We simply keep wanting samadhi and being disappointed.

 

This is called "delusion" insofar as our knowing is not in line with the truth. It's not that we don't know anything. We know, but what we know is at variance with reality, away from truth.

We're like a wayward person who has lost his/her way: We can keep going; it's just that were not on the right path.

 

Suppose, for example, we want to go to Bangkok, but we get confused about the way and start heading toward BangPuu. We're off the path as far as Bangkok is concerned, but we're on the "right" path for BangPuu. We can keep going.

Shut the hell up. Keep partying.

It's not the case that when on the wrong path we can't go. We can, but it's the "wrong" path as far as the result or destination we want.

 

We're simply going to end up disappointed. This is why delusion is called a "demon." It's the worst thing. This is also why wisdom -- knowing and seeing -- is the best thing. We awaken.

Peace, Love, Music: "Woodstock" (film)

Montage (WQ)

• Woodstock: The Fans (photo essay)
• Return to Woodstock (performers and attendees return)
• Sounds of Woodstock (musicians at the iconic '69 festival)

(CBS) It was 40 years ago Saturday when almost half-a-million people descended on a farm in upstate New York to enjoy a music festival called "Woodstock." But what nobody knew then was the impact it would have on a generation. The 1960s were filled with anger and confusion, "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith noted. There were wars, including the highly-controversial Vietnam War, civil rights riots, and social revolutions -- along with a generation of American youth looking for their identity.

Pete Fornatale, author of Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock, told CBS News, "It wasn't a generation gap, it was a generation chasm. Kids against their own parents, police against kids." But for this generation, Smith noted, music was their refuge -- and they found their great escape on a farm in Bethel, N.Y. "No one, including the promoters, anybody going to it and anybody performing at it, had any idea that that weekend going to be as big as it was," said Fornatale. More>>

"Three Days of Peace" and music: August 1969 file photo shows couple hugging during Woodstock Music and Art Festival in Bethel, N.Y. (AP).

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