Peter Coyote- Buddhist Anarchist

You may not immediately recognize the name Peter Coyote, but I would bet if you heard his voice you would probably recognize it. Coyote is a veteran actor and narrator (some of my favorites being Prohibition, Out of the Blue and the NHL36 series.) Here is a piece on Coyote and his views on Buddhism and Anarchism.

Dalai Lama Comments on Death of Bin Laden

Los Angeles Times article titled "Dalai Lama suggests Osama bin Laden's death was justified." I'm not so sure that's what he meant, but take a look for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

Instant Karma's Gonna Get You....

Thai Buddhist Council chides monks for BlackBerry chatting.

The Buddha on Debt

From "In the Buddha's Words- An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon"-

"And what, householder, the the happiness of freedom from debt ? Here, a family man is not indebted to anyone to any degree, whether small or great, he experiences happiness and joy. This is called the happiness of freedom from debt."

As the Bible says, there truly is nothing new under the sun. Given the current debt situation of the United States, the individual states that make up the Republic and the average American household (not to mention Ireland, Portugal, Greece...well, let's just say the entire world is in hock) these words written over a thousand years ago are as relevant now as they were then, if not more so. Having been deeply in debt, then out of debt, then back in debt and now finally (hopefully) permanently out of debt, I can say that the Buddha was correct in his statement. Drowning in debt leads to despair, stress and depression- being clear of debt leads to freedom, happiness and a lighter view of the world.

In America, the deep debt of the average household was brought on by a consumer driven society where material possessions are used to judge the character and value of the individual- who has the biggest house, the best car, the coolest vacation house. I see this scene play out repeatedly when interacting with parents at our kid's sporting events- despite the financial crisis that has engulfed as all to some degree, the talk is still about who is buying a new house in which upscale neighborhood, who bought a 2011 model year SUV etc. It all reminds me of the scene where the orchestra kept playing on the deck while the Titanic sank. My personal belief is that this behavior is driven by a deep sense of insecurity and lack of self esteem. A person with a healthy view of the world should not care what others think of his or her home or car, and shouldn't judge others on the same basis.

Hopefully, on both the world and individual scale, people have wised up to the personal and national destruction that a debt driven economy has brought upon us. People are saving more, shopping at cheaper stores and generally adopting the spending habits of our parents and grandparents who still carried memories of life during the depression. My prediction is that we will survive this economic crisis only have our own children and grandchildren fall into the same trap. After all, our parents and grandparents didn't know what they were talking about either, right ?

Daily Dharma

Here are two verses from the Dhammapada that I have pondered a great deal as of late-

"Greater in combat
Than a person who conquers
A thousand times a thousand people
Is the person who conquers himself." (#103)

"As a smith does with silver,
The wise person
Gradually,
Bit by bit,
Moment by moment,
Removes impurities from himself." (#239)

Both of these passages address the need for self reflection and improvement done on a consistent basis. I have been trying to improve certain aspects of my life (more on that to follow) by meditation and study and have found these two gems to be a wonderful bit of foundation to build upon.

Daily Dharma

I was reading Fronsdal's translation of The Dhammapada today while riding the train to work this morning. One particular verse reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad shortly before he died-

Gray hair does not
make one an elder.
Someone ripe only in years
is called "an old fool."
It's through truth,
Dharma, harmlessness, restraint, and self-control
That the wise one, purged of impurities,
Is called "an elder."

We were talking about politics and his point was the difference between wisdom and intelligence. Plenty of politicians have a great deal of intelligence, if Ivy League backgrounds are the measure, but the fact that they earned such academic distinction in no way guaranteed a commensurate level of wisdom. As we have seen in many cases, this is a recipe for disaster.

Can Buddha Help your Short Game ?

A good article from the Wall Street Journal regarding professional golfers looking at Buddhism to help them with their game.

Review- "The Buddha" on PBS

I was looking forward to the premiere of the new PBS film "The Buddha" the other night after seeing the previews for it. Written and directed by David Grubin, narrated by Richard Gere and a whole cast of experts including the Dalai Lama, it seemed like it was going to be an enjoyable two hours of television. Usually after watching a program I can very quickly tell if I enjoyed it, or I didn't. This is one of the few cases where I'm still not sure.

Writing, producing and editing a program like this can't be easy. Condensing all of The Buddha's teachings, impact on civilization and examination of Buddhism today into two hours is a daunting task. If you're not a Buddhist, imagine trying to do the same thing with Jesus and Christianity- what to leave in, what to leave out while working against a defined time limit for the show. Unfortunately in the sake of brevity, a lot of stuff is going to be over simplified, rushed or omitted. Still, you would try to concentrate on the main points, provide a sense of reference for that time in history and offer some insights on how these beliefs impact people today. Whether because of poor editing, writing or directing "The Buddha" largely accomplished these goals but lost me at many points along the way.

I have a friend that is not a Buddhist, he's a good Christian and will be so for life. Still, he thought the show sounded interesting so he tuned in to watch it and we talked briefly about it a couple of days later. He was completely confused. While he learned something during the show, namely a little bit about The Four Noble Truths, Buddhist views on existence etc., he was mightily confounded by the constant cut aways to a yoga master doing contortions of extreme effort, Indians washing themselves in the Ganges and other vignettes of Indian life. I was confused by this too and I consider myself moderately well read and practiced on the subject. If the point was to show a setting for the story, and what life might have been like in India in ancient times, it succeeded but the point was labored to the extent that my friend thought such yoga practices, as well as ascetic sacrifice, were required of Buddhists.

Overall the film seemed to jump around a bit and was difficult, at times, to follow. Then again, I could have just been tired and my mind was wandering. Another omission from the show which I think would be an especially important point for non-Buddhists would be in explaining the different schools of belief instead of the giving the impression that the Dalai Lama and Richard Gere speak for all Buddhists.

One program that covers the subject of the life and teachings of The Buddha which I highly recommend is The Story of India which also aired on PBS in 2009. Michael Wood is an excellent guide and narrator for the BBC documentary which was beautifully filmed and very well written. Episode 2 "The Power of Ideas" includes a long segment on The Buddha, his teachings and his times and you can watch a brief clip of it here.

A Tiger's Tale

As the media breathlessly follows Tiger Woods' every move at Augusta, it would seem that they are missing one rather large point- not only has Tiger reportedly returned to the Buddhist teachings of his youth, he is a walking example of the suffering which was identified, and can be corrected, through the Buddha's Four Noble Truths. Even more importantly, this message applies to all humans, regardless of their faith or beliefs, as we are all victimized by the incessant need to fill the holes in our lives with things, unhealthy practices and activities.

The First Noble Truth- Suffering

Before the media broke the story of Tiger's rampant infidelities, he seemed from the outside to have it all-beautiful wife and children, incredible athletic ability, more money than he could ever need, private jet, luxury homes etc. And yet, it seems, the poor guy was completely miserable and leading a strange secret existence that included numerous mistresses, secret meetings and rather elaborate planning to move his girlfriends around the country to be available at his bidding.

The Second Noble Truth- The Cause of Suffering (Craving)

We have all seen this in our lives. Whether it is ourselves, friends or family members, we seem not to be content with what we have. Although self improvement is admirable in terms of bettering ourselves, and the opportunities it brings those that depend upon us, the craving for bigger homes, better cars, more money, better restaurants etc. is incredibly destructive. I know a number of people that bought very nice homes which would be considered palaces in the 3rd world who immediately began complaining that they weren't what they really wanted and renewed their search for the next, better, perfect home. So it went for Tiger too, I guess. At some point of living the mega luxurious lifestyle, I suppose even billionaires can suffer from craving. Got a 8 passenger jet ? Great. Now I want a 12 passenger jet. Got a 12 passenger jet ? Now I want a 20 passenger jet...and so on.

The Third Noble Truth- There is cessation from Suffering.

Ah, the good news. Even though Tiger smacked his balls into the rough, there is a way out of this endless cycle of greed, desire and craving. This merciless wheel of rebirth can be broken, suffering ended and enlightenment attained.

The Fourth Noble Truth- The Eightfold Path to the end of Suffering

They are- Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. Through diligent perseverance and adherence to this path, the end of suffering can be attained. I will breakdown the eightfold path in future posts and try to explain how I have tried, with varying success, to work them into my life.

Look, I'm not a psychologist and I'm not judging Tiger to be a bad person because of his actions. I had the discussion with many of my friends of "well, what would you do if you were incredibly famous, rich, good-looking and had lots of women throwing themselves at you ?" More often than not, we all had to admit that the temptation would have been just a bit much to deal with. Still, being aware of the Noble Truths helps to put life into better perspective.

The recent comments by Augusta chairman Billy Payne are unnecessary at this point and amount to nothing more than piling on. “It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here; it is the fact that he disappointed all of us, and more importantly, our kids and our grandkids. Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children." That's been the problem with heroes for millenia- they are human beings. Why was Tiger Woods obligated to live up to Mr. Payne's exacting requirements of being a role model for America's youth ? Because he can hit a rubber-synthetic ball with a piece of steel or composite great distances with incredible accuracy ? If that is what passes for hero status these days, we are all in trouble.

We are indoctrinated at a young age as we are bombarded by media advertising promising us that happiness is just over the next horizon and can be obtained by buns of steel, a new car, whitened teeth, the golf club that will change your game etc. The same media built Tiger Woods into demi-god proportions creating shoes that no mere mortal could ever fill. Maybe the best thing to come out of this is that it provides a teachable moment for all of us. I find myself telling my kids a couple of times a week "things can't make you happy" as they tell me they want an i-phone, the new Playstation, this, that and the other thing. Things are impermanent, transient and like my dad always said "never love something that can't love you back." Good advice indeed.

"The Buddha" Premiere on PBS, Wednesday April 7th

The Buddha, A Film by David Grubin
Premiering April 7, 2010 at 8 p.m. EST (check local listings)

"This documentary for PBS by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin and narrated by Richard Gere, tells the story of the Buddha’s life, a journey especially relevant to our own bewildering times of violent change and spiritual confusion. It features the work of some of the world’s greatest artists and sculptors, who across two millennia, have depicted the Buddha’s life in art rich in beauty and complexity. Hear insights into the ancient narrative by contemporary Buddhists, including Pulitzer Prize winning poet W.S. Merwin and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Join the conversation and learn more about meditation, the history of Buddhism, and how to incorporate the Buddha’s teachings on compassion and mindfulness into daily life."

RIP Michael Jackson

I have to admit I feel sorry for the guy. I was never a big Michael Jackson fan, my tastes run more towards grunge and alternative music, but I did enjoy hearing his music from time to time and wouldn't necessarily change the station if he was on the radio. I thought "Off the Wall" was his best album, but I didn't really pay him much attention throughout the rest of his career except for the occasional news story regarding his latest exploits in terms of pet monkeys, hyperbaric chambers and the alleged molestation of children.

The saturation media coverage has become annoying to say the least. The low point for me was when one earnest commentator said that Mr. Jackson was America's version of Lady Di- an unfair comparison, I thought, given that Mr. Jackson actually worked for a living. Another proclaimed "Thriller" to be the greatest album of all time. I could see that to some extent if the basis was sales, but there have been better albums from various bands throughout the years- Nirvana, "Who's Next," "Dark Side of the Moon".....we could debate this for days. The story of his death even managed to knock the situations in Iran and North Korea out of the news mix, and Governor Sanford of South Carolina must have seen his death as a stroke of good luck.

The fundamental thing that the media seems to be struggling with is that people die. No matter how rich, how poor, how weak, how powerful we are, we're all going to end up dead. I think this basic fact of life has been lost on our modern society. We think technology can conquer all. Unlike our ancestors, death seems like a remote thing that happens once in awhile, but something we really don't talk about. Our kids don't see it like they did in past generations- when is the last time your family laid a body out for a wake in the living room ? That remoteness has made it something alien, not to be talked about when in fact it is a natural part of our existence.

"Strive diligently, for all things must pass." These are the words of the Buddha on his deathbed. He knew he was about to die and he left this advice for his followers. They are good words for us as well. Live a good life, be diligent in whatever you do, be moral and upstanding in how you deal with other people, respect life and always try to do the right thing. I struggle to do these things everyday but it is that very struggle which makes us human. Just like Michael Jackson.