Irish American Charles Francis Feeney (April 23, 1931–October 9, 2023) was a businessman and philanthropist who made a massive fortune [from the U.S. military] as the co-founder of DFS Group (Duty Free Shoppers Group), the travel retailer of luxury products based in Hong Kong.
He was the founder of the Atlantic Philanthropies, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the world. Feeney gave away his fortune in secret for many years, wisely choosing to remain anonymous while doing it, donating more than $8 billion in his lifetime....
PERSONAL LIFE: Wise Saint Feeney was known for his frugality. According to a New York Times article in 2017, "Until he was 75, he traveled only in coach [the lowest class, discount seats], and [he] carried reading materials in a plastic bag."
He did not own a car or a house and wore a $10 Casio F-91W watch [41, 16]. As of 2016, he lived in a rented apartment in pricey San Francisco, California, with remaining assets of $2 million [1]. More
Dāna (sharing, generosity, liberality, giving, supporting, helping) as an internally-motivated spiritual act or a formal, externally-influenced religious act is directed by Buddhist laypersons first at monastics and spiritually-developed persons [37].
In the Buddhist understanding, it has the effect of purifying and transforming the heart/mind of the giver [38], the one who lets go.
Generosity developed through unselfish sharing and generous giving leads to the experience of material wealth and the possibility of being reborn in happy states (defined as rebirth in the human world or the many superior planes of existence above it).
In the Pāli canon's Dighajanu Sutta, "generosity" (denoted there by the Pāli word cāga, which can be deemed synonymous with dāna) is identified as one of the four traits conditioning happiness and wealth in future lives (after this karma comes to fruition and ripens. Just as a seed sown does not immediately burst into a sprout or blossom into a flower or fruit, it is foolish to expect immediately obvious karmic resultants. And it is exactly for this same reason that unskillful misdeeds do not show the harm that comes from them immediately in what John Lennon foolishly popularized as "instant karma." There is nothing instant about most karma, and even to the extent that karma can produce immediate mental benefits, these are not always obvious).
Conversely, lack of letting go, sharing, providing for others, liberality, giving leads to woeful (unhappy) states in the future, after the ripening, as well as poverty.
Dāna (having done acts sharing and generosity) leads to one of the development of one of the "perfections" (paramis, pāramitās, known as dānapāramitā, the perfection of letting go, detachment, giving up, benefiting others).
This can be characterized by unattached and unconditional generosity, giving and letting go [39].
The Buddhist belief that actual letting go, actual giving, the kind without seeking anything in return, rather the transactional variety of this-for-that, leads to great spiritual wealth and immediate mental satisfaction and calm. Otherwise, we are subject to great disappointment.
Moreover, letting go reduces the acquisitive (greedy) impulses that ultimately lead to continued suffering [40] from egotism. More
Could good Saint Feeney (as we call him, when Chuck sought no such title in his life and the Catholic Church has yet to recognize him) have benefitted by living in liberal California, in the Bay Area of all places, surrounded by Asian and Buddhist influences, like so many of the Golden State's remaining inhabitants?
While sounding like a madman at first, the great Krishnamurti actually has a point to make about "efforting," muscling, struggling, and striving to gain or win enlightenment. Buddhist awakening (bodhi) is far more about letting go of delusion, confusion, and illusion and instead gently cultivating allowing, radical acceptance of what is, and dispassionate (disinterested, unbiased) viewing like some kind of Taoist, being the watcher rather than the striver or go-getter.
Of course, Krishnamurti was more a Hindu than a Buddhist, having escaped the clutches of the Western Theosophists who found him, saw his potential, raised and nurtured their new Messiah (Maitreya) in hopes that he would become a "Buddha" or "World Teacher" for our time (like the promised Buddha Boy decades later).
But he burned them and instead taught a whole kind of Zen nondoing, nothing special, there's nothing to achieve approach to spirituality and spiritual (un)accomplishments. The Theosophists were not happy, so Krishnamurti went off on his own, not aligning himself with any religion but sort of incorporating them all into a syncretism.
He's a subtle speaker and thinker, along the lines of Bhagwan Shree Rajnessh (Osho) and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, both alleged to be frauds immersed in sex and money scandals. We would not want to misrepresent Krishnamurti's views, if he holds any, as he can quite well speak for himself. Like the great Mahavira (Vardhamāna, the founder of Jainism, called the NiganthaNattaputta in Buddhist texts), Krishnamurti must have some good qualities that he is still remembered and listened to.
Internationally recognized environmental activistJulia Butterfly Hill travels to Pasadena to headline a public fundraiser supporting community efforts to preserve 193 trees slated for destruction and removal by the PUSD (Pasadena Unified School District).
Her appearance comes as the school district's tree-removal plans have drawn widespread public condemnation, concern, legal action, peaceful protests and demonstrations, and extensive regional media coverage.
Despite weeks of advocacy, the school district has not yet committed to permanently preserving any of the remaining trees slated for destruction and removal.
Trees at San Rafael Elementary School, including mature and protected trees, were removed during bird nesting season without city tree permits or on-site biological monitoring.
Pasadena is honored to welcome Julia Butterfly Hill. She is traveling here to support efforts to preserve the trees of the Pasadena Unified School District.
She is an internationally-recognized environmental advocate best known for her historic 738-day treehouse sit to protect an ancient, giant California redwood, an act of peaceful civil disobedience that inspired people around the world.
Join us for an evening hosted by the youth working to protect the PUSD trees.
What is the difference between anger and hate? These are passionate times, and we might find many emotions flowing through us. Every emotion is a part of us, calling to be felt and seen.
When we choose to feel our emotions fully, when we choose to lean into our emotions with self-witnessing, self-kindness, self-gentleness, and self-love, while wrapping the deeper self, the inner self, the childlike self with our compassion, we complete the experience of that emotion and return to a zero point.
We can, at that zero point, consciously choose our actions. If we want, we can choose actions that build a peaceful world.
We can do this because we have held ourselves with kindness and support, and we have honored and experienced our emotions, and we have returned to our own center, healed and loved and empowered.
We build with our point of focus. We build with our beliefs. We build with our thoughts, with what we focus on. That's how we build the future.
We can experience the whole range of challenging emotions—anger, sadness, disappointment, frustration—and we can do it with profound self-love and self-kindness and self-gratitude. And when we do, we complete that experience and step into our power.
Building peace is about understanding that there is nothing more powerful than the individual because the individual builds the world by way of its point of focus. What is a powerful group but many powerful individuals all sharing focus at once?
We are more powerful than any collective force around us. The world is built by way of the individual: by us. Nothing is more powerful in our system than the focal-point of an individual. There is nothing more powerful than us. We get to choose whether we focus a more peaceful world into being.
What is the full range of emotions? We can go through challenging emotions, like anger and disappointment and frustration, and we can stay in our power by experiencing these emotions lovingly, embracing self while experiencing feelings.
We can get to a zero point, then choose consciously. The other option is to let these emotions carry us like trains that we are not consciously directing into something like hate.
Hate is not an emotion; it is an action. Hate builds a warring future. It builds powerfully, whether or not our hate was chosen consciously. It builds a violent future through us.
There is a profound difference between anger and hate. Anger is an emotion indicating that there is a part of the self calling to be felt, calling to be loved, calling to be witnessed. Therefore, anger -- like all emotions -- is holy. Anger, like all emotions, is natural. We can respond to its call for self-love by supplying it with self-love. Then that anger has done its job.
Anger is the baby of the self loudly crying out. Just like a baby cries when it needs to be fed, or have its diaper changed, or to be held, anger is the inner self calling for our own self-soothing, our own self-compassion, our own self-love.
When we feel anger, we are being asked to supply that unconditional love to the self at that moment. And when we do, we heal the self. We prove to the self that our love is there.
Just as a caring parent who responds to a crying baby proves it is there to care for that baby, we can respond to the crying baby of the self with love, and we can heal and soothe that self.
We can show the self we are loved-without-end. That is the opportunity of anger.
If we do not respond to that anger with self-love, it can become a train-car that carries us towards hate. Hatred builds future violence, and future war, when it enters the collective consciousness. If we want to build a world with more violence in it, hate is the tool to use.
But if we want to build a peaceful world and a compassionate world and a loving world, then listen to emotions. Listen to the self calling out for love, and supply that love. Be the loving parent to the holy self. Supply that love and soothe that self.
Every challenging emotion is simply an invitation for self-love. We can deliver that self-love. When we do, we complete the emotion's cycle, step into our empowerment, and then we can say, "Great, I've had that emotion, and I've responded with self-love. I've completed that cycle. Now, what do I want to build with my power?"
If we want to build a peaceful world, compassion-for-all-beings will get us there. Love-for-all-beings will get us there. A peaceful mind, an empty mind, an open mind, a silent mind will get us there. Love of nature will get us there.
Hate unites us (with other haters)
Remember, hate is an action, not an emotion, and it builds something. It builds future violence. Carrying hate is a choice. Harsh judgment of others is a choice.
If we engage hate, let's be aware of what we are building. If we engage in cruel judgments of others, let's know what we're building. If we know our tools and choose consciously what we want, that's what we are working to build consciously. (Otherwise, we're building something quite unconsciously).
We are here to exercise freewill. And we are observed by way of the universe with compassion and love and non-judgment. We are safe to choose, and we are free to choose. We can build a compassionate world by carrying compassion, and we can build a peaceful world by carrying peace. We can build a compassionate world by ogling the ocean, by looking at the soil, by witnessing a stand of trees. Just gazing at a forest with love builds a loving future.
If today is a hard day, sit under a tree and let that tree offer its support. Mother Nature is love-without-end. We are so loved in all our emotions. Emotions are natural.
It is natural that there is a part of us that is calling for love, and it is natural that there are parts of our neighbors that are calling for love. If we answer this moment with compassion-for-all-beings, we build a compassionate world.
A moment of division is the most potent and possible time for peacebuilding because it allows the largest opportunity for change.
If we are interested in building a peaceful future, consider planting compassion-for-all-beings into this moment of division. Consider carrying compassion-for-all-beings within, even as many around us carry something quite different.
The Buddha taught peace? - Yes!
The Buddha often gave his closest disciples (nuns and monks) a reflection: We will be love in a world of hate, we will be honest in a world of lies (dishonesty), we will be gathered and still in a world of scattering and distraction. He used nicer words, but this is the gist of it.
This historic moment is fertile soil for worldbuilding, for peacebuilding, for compassion-building, for loving change.
Even in challenging times, we can hold the self in love, and we can hold our neighbors in compassion. When we do that consciously, we choose our future consciously. And we do it with our full power.
Peace Class, which normally meets Wednesdays at 6:00 pm (Pacific) is now on summer break until September. To join us, click on Zoom link when we return. Until then, be in peace.
(One Timeless Witness) He meditated for 20 years [seeking moksha or liberation] then the Buddha said "stop," an apocryphal tale to make a point.
Bhava-taṇhā is "craving for becoming," grasping leading to "clinging" (upādāna), which inevitably results in disappointment, dissatisfaction, misery, suffering...not getting what one wants, getting what one doesn't want, all of which is dukkha.
Bhava-taṇhā ("craving for becoming") [5] is craving to be or become something, to unite with an experience [16].
This is ego-related, says Buddhist scholar Peter Harvey, the eternal seeking for identity and the desire for some type of rebirth or other [5].
This last donut will fulfill and satisfy me!
Other scholars explain that this type of craving is driven by the popular wrong view of permanence and Eternalism (Sassatavada, the view that a "soul" or "self" never dies because something survives, as if consciousness unchanged carries on, never realizing that what carries on through the "continued wandering on" of saṃsāra is an impersonal PROCESS clung to as "self") [4, 17].
The opposite wrong view is Annihilationism (Ucchedavada), the wrong view that there is something that is annihilated at death, which is a transition, passing from one state to another, of an impersonal process. But Western "logic" tells us it has to be one or the other: either we carry on or come to an end. How could both be wrong? This is what the Buddha tried to explain, and he succeeded by explaining Dependent Origination. If there is no self, of course it does not carry on in samsara. But a process carries on, so there must be "self" doing the carrying on, right? No, for in every moment and submoment, phenomena arises
It is not eternal life for an eternal soul, not an independent ego, not something personal, not a "self" or "soul" -- without actually living up to the definition of "soul" or "self" we have always assumed is there). More
How to reach enlightenment here and now (an over-explanation for non-practitioners)
Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (DBM), COMMENTARY FOR WISDOM QUARTERLY
What is the true nature of all things, of all phenomena? They are (1) impermanent, (2) unsatisfactory, and (3) impersonal (not-self).
But it is foolish to assume that this "impermanence" is eventual. In fact, it is radical(from the Latin radix, at its "root")! From moment to moment, things do not stand. They constantly fall away. They are always arising, turning, and passing, not only at every moment but at every submoment.
In a "moment," such as a citta or "mind-moment," there are three phases: (1) arising, (2) turning, (3) passing. The exact same thing is true of physical particles, rupa kalapas (form phenomena).
This impermanence goes by so quickly that it is not possible to see directly, but there's a trick. The arising and falling away is recorded by the mind and can be reviewed (replayed) in slow-motion to observe the process.
One would learn this in a monastery that knew what it was doing -- such as those in the lineage of the great Pa Auk Sayadaw -- from a long line of practical advice handed down from accomplished teachers to students. So far as we can determine, it is not recorded in the texts, either discourses or commentaries. This seems to be the case with the practical application of many of the teachings mentioned in the Pali canon sutras. The Path of Purification is a compendium of Buddhist meditation practices, and some things are explained there. But it is so dense, in addition to being awkward in translation, that good luck making sense of it.
It's too confusing, too much to think about!
You know, "Buddhism" was much more fun when we were just joking about Zen (Taoism, always asking, "What is the Tao, what is Tao?" a question the Buddha never asked) and chitchatting about koans. Who knew the Buddha really taught something and that there was an actual path-of-practice to enlightenment (bodhi) and liberation (nirvana)? Shouldn't this be easy, and shouldn't it be that Buddhist monastics are wasting their time with all those pesky rules and meditations? Now we see there was a point and there was no time to waste. How long would it take to calm down (samadhi, jhana, stillness), how long would it take to develop insight (vipassana) through systematic mindfulness?
Of course, all of this will seem impossible, but come and see. The process of purification gives the mind incredible powers it does not now possess. This defiled, corrupted, dissolute mind can't see these thing, but that purified, clarified, intensified mind can. The ignorant, uninstructed person cannot see, but an instructed disciple can. That is what the Buddha has been saying all along.
This is what we do not understand, what we do not directly know-and-see, until we develop the path of purification and dispassionately look on at all phenomena (as explained in detail in "The Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse" or Satipatthana Sutta).
When we are finally able to see things (cittas and kalapas, mind-moments and material particles) behaving as they have always behaved when we were blind to and deluded about what was really there all along, the mind/heart automatically lets go. There is no effort to do so. Seeing their true nature, we stop clinging.
Furthermore, when we see that all things are utterly incapable of ever fulfilling, satisfying, or doing anything but being ultimately disappointing, we stop craving, stop expecting any new thing to be any different.
Moreover, when we finally know-and-see as it truly is that what we thought (assumed) was personal and self is not, what in the universe (with three spheres of sensual, fine material, and immaterial worlds -- with "heavenly" places in each) is there to cling to?
Why have we been holding on to suffering (dukkha, this unsteady, askew cartwheel making the road so bumpy and painful) and to things always hurtling towards destruction? It is exactly because we did not see, did not know.
I get it! Now I know and see!!
And now are we undeceived, having seen things as they really are and always have been, there is no "effort" to let go. Letting go happens naturally and one knows-and-sees the ultimate, nirvana. This process is "awakening" (bodhi, enlightenment).
Then it is as if everything -- all ignorance and darkness -- dissolves (nirodha), and light arises, and there is awakening out of painful ignorance to ultimate unending bliss. This is the bliss of nirvana, the highest happiness and peace. There is no use in describing it, but it can be directly experienced here and now, free of concepts and views.
Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One (the Buddha) was dwelling in Savatthi and said: "Meditators, I declare [this Teaching/Dhamma] is for one who knows and sees that there is a way to the end of the defilements (asavas).
'This is form, this its origination, this its passing away.
This is feeling...
This is perception...
These are mental formations (impulses, volitions, fabrications)...
This is consciousness, this its origination, this its passing away.'
"It is for one who knows and sees in this way that there is an end to the defilements.
"Even though a meditator not dwelling devoted to cultivation (bhavana, meditation, development, bringing into being) may wish, 'O, that my mind/heart might be released from the defilements through the end of clinging (craving)!' — still one's heart/mind will not be released from the defilements through not clinging. Why?
"Suppose a hen lays eight, ten, or 12 eggs. If she fails to cover them rightly, warm them rightly, or incubate them rightly, then even though she wishes, 'O, may my chicks break through the shell with beak and claw and hatch safely!' still it is impossible that her chicks will break through and hatch safely.'
"Why is that? It is because the hen has neither covered them rightly, warmed them rightly, nor incubated them rightly.
"In the same way, even though a meditator dwells not devoted to development may wish, 'O, that my mind/heart might be released from the defilements through not clinging!' still one's mind/heart remains unreleased from the defilements. Why is that? 'It is from the lack of development,' it should be said. The lack of developing what?
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness,
the Four Right Efforts,
the Four Bases of Power,
the Five Faculties,
the Five Strengths,
the Seven Factors of Enlightenment,
the Noble Eightfold Path.
I should've done yoga (Dave/ACZC)
"Even though a meditator who dwells without devoting oneself to development may wish, 'O, that my heart/mind might be released from the defilements through not clinging!' still one's mind/heart remains unreleased from the defilements. Why is that? 'It is from the lack of development,' it should be said. Developing what?
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness,
the Four Right Efforts,
the Four Bases of Power,
the Five Faculties,
the Five Strengths,
the Seven Factors of Enlightenment,
the Noble Eightfold Path.
"Suppose a hen lays eight, ten, or 12 eggs which she DOES cover rightly, warms rightly, and incubates rightly: Even though she may not wish, 'O, that my chicks might break through the egg shells with their beaks and claws or and hatch safely!' still it is possible that the chicks will break through their shells and hatch safely. Why is that? It is because the hen has covered them, warmed them, and incubated them rightly.
"In the same way, even though a meditator who dwells devoted to development may not wish, 'O, that my heart/mind might be released from defilements through not clinging!' still one's mind/heart is released from the defilements through not clinging. Why is that? 'It is from development,' it should be said. The development of what?
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness,
the Four Right Efforts,
the Four Bases of Power,
the Five Faculties,
the Five Strengths,
the Seven Factors of Enlightenment,
the Noble Eightfold Path.
We made a resolution to regularly sit no matter what, and hard as it was, we stuck to it.
"Just as when a carpenter or apprentice sees fingermarks on the handle of an axe but does not know, 'Today my axe handle wore down this much, or yesterday it wore down that much, or the day before yesterday it wore down that much,' still the carpenter or apprentice knows it is worn away when it is worn away.
"In the same way, when a meditator dwells devoted to development, that meditator does not know, 'Today my defilements wore down this much, or yesterday they wore down that much, or the day before yesterday they wore down that much.' Nevertheless, one knows they are worn away when they are worn away.
"When an ocean-going ship that is rigged with masts and stays, after six months on the water, is left on shore for the winter, its stays -- weathered by heat and wind, moistened by clouds of the rainy season -- easily wither and rot away.
"In the same way, when a meditator dwells devoted to development, the fetters (bonds, samyojanas) easily wither and rot away." Source
Dhr. Seven (ed.), Nava Sutta: "The Ship Discourse" (SN 22.101 PTS: S iii 152 CDB i 959) based on translation by Ven. Thanissaro (accesstoinsight.org, 1997), Wisdom Quarterly
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