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hardie karges
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hardie karges
Modern Buddhism: Life in the Slow Lane of the Meandering Middle Path
Human aggression, arrogance, and greed aren’t solved by more of the same, but by dialog and reconciliation, of opposites. This is another use of the famous Middle Path, and possibly more important than the more personal and subjective one between luxury and poverty, or smartphones and meditation. Because this one also predicts the rise of the Buddhist Mahayana school and its social orientation over the personal, and it even predicts the Hegelian dialectic to come some thousands of years later.
It also shows the indirect approach to Buddhist teaching, without commandments or strict requirements, but only a handful of prohibitions against the most onerous behavior, with only some general guidelines besides that. Buddhim isn’t too concerned about blood lines or caste restrictions, simply the overriding need for polite and appropriate behavior and the avoidance of extremes. For better or worse, most Buddhists are willing to let Karmic retribution take care of anything that the local courts can’t handle.
And that’s probably the best approach, as long as the ‘multiple feedback loops of karma’ don’t make you lose any sleep at night, wondering if those checks have cleared and whether balances have been ‘zeroed’, haha, ‘shunyata’ emptiness joke. But that’s probably appropriate, too. It is not Buddhism’s job to pay your bills nor collect your debts. But regardless of your Buddhist ‘school’, the simple kindness that the Dalai Lama mentioned forty years ago is probably the best focus of your practice, or ‘lovingkindness’, if you prefer. The rest is simple life, life in the slow lane, chopping wood and carrying water…
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hardie karges
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hardie karges
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hardie karges
Buddhism, the Meaning of Life, and the 3 Marks of Existence
To grasp at sensations to relieve boredom is like grasping at straws to save your life. But that is the situation we are faced with, having come so far from the formerly primitive state that we languished so long in, somewhere between low flying angels and high-flying monkeys. Now we are successful and have nothing much to show for it, while capitalists jack the rents up to line their pockets with profits and the rest of us struggle to make ends meet, all while AI threatens our jobs and politicians too often take sides with the mob.
The concept of balance is sorely lacking in most of our lives, but that is certainly implied if not explicitly stated in the Buddhist Middle Path. To avoid extremes is to seek balance. But, if that means to forego some treats that might provide some temporary rush of excitement to the pleasure centers of the brain, then most people will pass on that option, even if that means to forego some savings that might come in very handy during lean times or retirement years.
And that’s what the Buddha himself recommended, saving 25% of income for a rainy day (Sigalovada Sutta, DN31), back when incomes were much simpler than today, and even recommending 50% reinvestment to create and guarantee future income, allowing only 25% for daily expenses. Did someone say something about the present moment? Of course he did. That is meditation. He also had some good suggestions on how to live a good life. Don’t lie, Don’t kill, Don’t cheat, Don’t steal, etc. Sounds a lot like the Christian Ten Commandments, doesn’t it?
The Second Five of the Ten Commandments, yes, are almost identical to the Five Precepts of Buddhism, except for the one that says Don’t Drink, ouch. The First Five are almost identical to Islam. I suppose the difference between Precept and Commandment is much of the difference between Buddhism and Christianity, too. Buddhism has few sacred names or days, while carved statues and parents are optional. Sabbe sankhara anicca, Sabbe sankhara dukkha, sabbe dhamma anatta. All conditioned things are impermanent and imperfect. All phenomena are without souls. Those are the Three Marks of Existence.
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hardie karges
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hardie karges
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hardie karges
Modern Buddhism: We are Victims of our Own Success
I can remember a time when ‘Progress’ was the political and social mantra on everyone’s lips, and the West was the most prominent symbol of it, that ‘city on the hill’ that symbolized Peace and Prosperity, at a time when the planet lay in ruins and all hope was lost, notwithstanding the fact that the West was the cause of much of this devastation as well as the Great White Hope of salvation.
Fast forward to the Present, and it hasn’t all worked out as easily as hoped, but Hope Springs Eternal, to borrow a phrase. Bottom line: Nothing has really changed very much. We think we’re invincible, but we’re not. We are subject to Nature, for one thing, and that includes sickness, disease, and death, to quote the Buddha, in reference to his famous first trip outside the palace grounds.
Equally or even more important, we are subject to our own cravings, both individually, as inspired by personality, and societally, as inspired by competition, jealousy, and fluctuating market prices. This is forever enshrined in Noble Truth #2 as the prime cause of suffering in the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, the relinquishment of which can lead to the cessation of suffering.
Good luck with that, because there are larger forces at work (and play) here, too. And that owes much to the restlessness of the West in prescribing solutions to problems which it itself has largely caused. Wouldn’t it be easier just to forego some of the adrenaline rush in the present to avoid some of the future migraines? It would seem so. AI is maybe the best example of this. There will only be a perfect world if we create it. But sometimes that means that forbearance is the better option to innovation; the old ways just might be better, if they are more peaceful and less stressful.
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hardie karges
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hardie karges
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