Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal

Thursday, September 29, 2011

"Thrive" the Movie (trailer)

"Thrive" is an unconventional documentary that lifts the veil on what's REALLY going on in our world. It follows the money upstream -- uncovering the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness, and activism, "Thrive" offers real solutions, empowering us with bold and unprecedented strategies for reclaiming our lives and our future.

Interviews

Duane Elgin, Nassim Haramein, Steven Greer, Jack Kasher, Daniel Sheehan, Adam Trombly, Brian O'Leary, Vandana Shiva, John Gatto, John Robbins, Deepak Chopra, David Icke, Catherine Austin Fitts, G. Edward Griffin, Bill Still, John Perkins, Paul Hawken, Aqeela Sherrills, Evon Peter, Angel Kyodo Williams, Elisabet Sahtouris, Amy Goodman, and Barbara Marx Hubbard.

Premiere-Banners-Facebook-Twitter

Why the Dalai Lama worries about rebirth

The Dalai Lama, leader of Tibet, with Nelson Mandela in Africa (AP)

BEIJING, China (Xinhua) - The 14th Dalai Lama said Saturday he will decide whether to be incarnated [reborn] when he is "about 90" and that China should have no say in the matter.

If he is to be reincarnated, he will leave clear written instructions about the process, the Dalai Lama said in a statement after a meeting with leaders of the four Tibetan sects.

"Apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People's Republic of China," he said.

The Dalai Lama has brought up the same issue of his reincarnation on many occasions in the last two years. More

Samsara is a flood of rebirth and dukkha

Insight Meditation in Business

(dhamma.org)

Learn how senior business leaders in India across various industries and sectors cope with uncertainty and change in a challenging market environment. In a series of candid interviews, senior executives discuss how the practice of insight meditation (vipassana) enables them to more effectively:

manage their stress
increase employee engagement of competition
make decisions from a base of personal wisdom and authenticity

Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S.N. Goenka
in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

There is a special Website related to meditation courses conducted from time to time by S.N. Goenka and his assistant teachers specially for business executives and government officials. For most of his life Goenka worked as a prominent international businessman based in Burma and India. He was a keynote speaker on the subject of spirituality in business at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It was held on January, 2000. He also addressed the World Peace Summit held at the United Nations in August, 2000 and was the keynote speaker at the Spirit in Business Conference (SiB) held in New York City in April 2002. More

Download the eBook

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Doubt and the Buddha's Advice (Kalama Sutra)

Wisdom Quarterly

(TheTarun23) Animation begins at Minute 0:36

This is not what the Buddha said to the Kalamas in Kesaputta, India (AN 3.65). But this is how he is commonly quoted.

Buddhism is a call to free inquiry. It is not a free for all, no rules, Zen hipster, polymorphous mess.

Believe something -- but what and why?

(Leashcolon26/Flickr)

We are responsible for what we believe (think), what we understand (know), what we feel (experience as emotion) in response to things, and what we do (karma). It is all a re-action to something. And action is karma.

The Buddha clearly said that those decisions should not come from simply being told something, or because it is tradition, or because it is attributed to some authority.

Moreover, it should not be believed simply because it agrees with reason (which is based on our assumptions about reality). One should not simply buy into a theory one likes. That is no way to know. And what "common sense" would we resort to other than views we prefer?

The Buddha asked the Kalamas, What do you think: When greed, hate, or delusion arise, does it arise for one's own good? No, the Kalamas answered. Does it arise for the good of others? No. Does it arise for the good of both? No.

Therefore, the Buddha responded, since you know this to be true for yourselves, abandon it. You do not need an authority or prophet, a seer or scholar to tell you that. He went on to teach them, reminding them not to abdicate responsibility. We are responsible. Our advice?

Investigate.
Question.
Go to primary sources: Read the sutra

I think therefore I am"? Descartes was wrong

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly UPDATED (edited by Ashley Wells, May 19, 2016)

The many confusing thoughts of Descates (Leashcolon26/flickr.com).

Rene Descartes Opera Philosophica (btinternet.com)

By the way, Rene Descartes was wrong. He is a famous philosopher in the Western tradition. He is most famous for deducing the maxim, "I think therefore I am."

He was wondering and reasoning and questioning, What is true? Do I exist? How can I know? What can I be sure of? As he thought and pondered, he realized that the only thing he could be sure of what that he was thinking.

If I am thinking then I am: I think therefore I am (exist). But it is not true. Based on the evidence, he should only have concluded: "I think therefore thinking is taking place."

In a sense, thoughts think themselves. It is actually more complicated than that: Thoughts are dependently-originated. What's that? Dependent Origination is a teaching so subtle that the Buddha declared that it was on account of not seeing it, not penetrating this teaching that both he and we had wandered on in this round of suffering for so long as anyone could remember.

Wisdom and insight are better than knowledge and thinking.

Descartes in cartoon form (home.wlu.edu)

The "I" he posited was assumed. There was identification with the thinking. And viewing it as personal, he was trapped by his own flawed logic: A self exists (it must exist because someone has to be thinking). And it has all of these problems, thinking being one of them.

Had he meditated under a tree like Newton or Siddhartha, Descartes might have realized: This is a painful mess. Thinking is no escape. It (thinking while steeped in ignorance) leads to logical dead ends and assumptions that have no basis in the evidence. What if "I" were to let go of thinking and just be?

By not identifying with mental phenomena (perceptions, sensations, formations, consciousness), there might be freedom from the illusion because, as has been said by more than one sage, "The Truth shall set us free." It does. Thinking is not the way to enlightenment (bodhi) and liberation (nirvana). Stillness until samadhi is reached and insight after it is reached are.

"Meditation" is letting go, allowing stillness until concentration, then systematically investigating reality with the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (DN 22) for insight.

"I think therefore I am"? Descartes was wrong

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly UPDATED (edited by Ashley Wells, May 19, 2016)

See update here

Cure Cancer with Sodium Bicarbonate

Cancer can be cured in weeks. What are the causes? They remain unknown. Whether treated with sanctioned or alternative methods, an aura of mystery remains. Overcoming the impasse must therefore go through two separate phases -- a critical one that exposes the present limitations of oncology, and a constructive one capable of curing the disease (an infection) within weeks.

Dr. Simoncini, Cancer, l'hypothèse fongique
New Year's letter The Therapy Donation
Theory: Baking soda works because it is anti-fungal.

"If we closely observe the proposed therapeutic approach it is possible to see that, independently of its real effectiveness, it has value as an innovative theory." - Dr. Simoncini

DR. SIMONCINI

Dr. Simoncini is a roman doctor specializing in oncology, diabetology, and metabolic disorders.

CANCERFUNGUS NEWS

The Slovenian Website of Dr. Simoncini is online. Thank you Mitja Fajdiga for translations and efforts! The French version of the book Cancer is a fungus is released. English, Italian, and Dutch versions may be purchased through the related Internet sites.

Wisdom Quarterly makes Daily Top 1000 sites

4 Imponderables, Powers of a Buddha, 4 Kinds of Intrepidity

Worldwide distribution of Wisdom Quarterly visitors as of Sept. 2011 (ClustrMaps.com)

ClustrMaps (see bottom of page) has a "Daily Top 1000" websites based on daily averages of unique visitors. We have been notified that worldwide we are the 734th most visited website measured by them. Now this is odd because ClustrMaps regularly under counts our daily count compared to Blogspot's own internal count by at least 50 percent. We are regularly amazed that Netizens visit Wisdom Quarterly from far outside the US, with non-US visitors sometimes exceeding American hits. It is magnificent to share the Dharma and transformational information. We share any merit accruing to us with our readers. Tell a friend.

Four Imponderables
Wisdom Quarterly translation (AN 4.77)
"There are these Four Imponderables that should not be pondered because to do so would cause one to become vexed and mentally unhinged.

The range of [influence of] a buddha is imponderable and should not be pondered because to do so would cause one to become vexed and mentally unhinged.
The range of jhana of a person immersed in meditative-absorption [the powers one is able to obtain by way of the absorptions]...
The [mysterious] working out of karma...
A first cause or origin of the world...

"These are the Four Imponderables that should not be pondered because to do so would cause one to become vexed and mentally unhinged."

*NOTE: Presumably the range of powers a buddha develops as a result of becoming a supremely enlightened (samma sam) buddha -- such as the Ten Powers of a Tathagatha (a term the Buddha used to refer to himself and others in the past like him).

The Buddha teaches the fourfold assembly of female/male followers and nuns/monks in India.

Ten Powers of a Tathagata

Nanamoli Thero & Bhikkhu Bodhi translation (DN 12)
1. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Vesali in the grove outside the city to the west.... 9. "Sariputta, the Tathagata has these ten Tathagata's powers, possessing which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.[5] What are the ten?

10. (1) "Here, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the possible as possible and the impossible as impossible.[6] And that [70] is a Tathagata's power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.

11. (2) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the results of actions undertaken, past, future and present, with possibilities and with causes. That too is a Tathagata's power...[7]

12. (3) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the ways leading to all [rebirth] destinations [duet to the working out of karma]. That too is a Tathagata's power...[8]

13. (4) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the world with its many and different elements. That too is a Tathagata's power...[9]

14. (5) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is how beings have different inclinations. That too is a Tathagata's power...[10]

15. (6) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the disposition of the faculties of other beings, other persons. That too is a Tathagata's power...[11]

16. (7) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the defilement, the cleansing and the emergence in regard to the jhanas, liberations, concentrations, and attainments. That too is a Tathagata's power...[12]...

Sir Lankan monoliths in the Afghan style of ancient Northwest India (Itchypaws/Flickr)

The Four Kinds of Intrepidity

22. "Sariputta, the Tathagata has these four kinds of intrepidity, possessing which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma [that is, the Supreme Wheel of Dharma]. What are the four?

23. "Here, I see no ground on which any recluse or brahm[i]n or god [deva] or Mara or Brahma or anyone at all in the world could, in accordance with the Dhamma, accuse me thus: 'While you claim full enlightenment, you are not fully enlightened in regard to certain things.' [72] And seeing no ground for that, I abide in safety, fearlessness, and intrepidity.

24. "I see no ground on which any recluse... or anyone at all could accuse me thus: 'While you claim to have destroyed the taints, these taints are undestroyed by you.' And seeing no ground for that, I abide in safety, fearlessness, and intrepidity.

25. "I see no ground on which any recluse... or anyone at all could accuse me thus: 'Those things called obstructions by you are not able to obstruct one who engages in them.' And seeing no ground for that, I abide in safety, fearlessness, and intrepidity.

26. "I see no ground on which any recluse... or anyone at all could accuse me thus: 'When you teach the Dhamma to someone, it does not lead him when he practices it to the complete destruction of suffering.' And seeing no ground for that, I abide in safety, fearlessness, and intrepidity.

27. "A Tathagata has these four kinds of intrepidity, possessing which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.[14]

28. "Sariputta, when I know and see thus, should anyone say of me... he will [as a result of the this very heavy negative karma] wind up in hell[s]....