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    hardie karges 2:23 am on February 1, 2026 Permalink | Reply
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    Buddhism 499: the Other Cause of Dukkha (Suffering)…  

    I came into this world kicking and screaming. I hope to leave it in peace. And, while on the surface, that doesn’t seem like so much to ask, in reality, it is among the most difficult. Because, if it were so easy, then wouldn’t we all just snap our fingers as if to say, “I’ll have that,” and then just sit back and enjoy life? And it is that easy, isn’t it? But we don’t do that, do we? Why can’t we all just have a plot of land, rent optional, growing anything and everything we want, and then supplement that with whatever else we want to do? Good question. 

    The obvious answer to that would be: disease, sickness, and death, of course, the likes of which are capable of stalling any boomer’s big plans with enough reality in the fire hose to kill deals with a simple stroke of the brush. But the extended answer is so circuitous and illogical that we wonder why we didn’t think of it ourselves: craving, desire, greed, selfishness, anger, hatred, etc? Sound familiar? Of course. It sounds like the Buddhist Eightfold Path in reverse, climbing hills and dragging heavy loads on rough pavement, rather than coasting to easy victory.  

    Because this is our fate as humans, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, in the name of abundance, rather than enjoy our easy victories as homo sapiens ‘wise man’ humans and spread it around equally. Blame it on (our) language(s), if you must, that mental activity of multiplying and dividing thoughts and feelings into times and circumstances, that seem to ensure a checkerboard existence, but the results are no different for our brothers and sisters in the animal kingdom. Loss of a family member or friend leads to sadness, no matter the circumstances, and dealing with that is the lesson to be learned. The Buddha considered that too obvious to mention, I guess. Be kind. 

     
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    hardie karges 4:11 am on January 24, 2026 Permalink | Reply
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    Buddhism and Non-Duality…  

    If Buddhism acknowledges no soul, then there should be fewer ‘dark nights of the soul’, and more sunshine and happiness. But it doesn’t always work that way, of course. Because dark nights of the soul are a good metaphor for something that probably has its basis elsewhere, and very possibly in our languages themselves, though it might be hard to know what is cause and what is effect, since all Indo-European languages are constructed similarly, no surprise, and so all have a certain amount of duality built in.  

    Now, I’ve never called myself a ‘non-dualist’ before, but not because I thought there was nothing there to discuss, but just because I thought that there was maybe not as much as most ‘non-dualists’ were implying. Because if non-duality specifically states that there is no separation between Atman (soul) and Brahman (ultimate reality), as Hinduism clearly states, then Buddhism dealt with that issue long ago by simply denying the existence of any soul, much less the cosmic one that classic Hinduism favors.  

    But the dualism of language persists, in which subjects do all kinds of things to objects which modern linguists and literary editors have no apologies for. Nothing happens by accident or without an actor acting upon a subject, passive voice be damned. A book written in English language passive voice will not be published in the USA, no matter how accurate or convincing. But Hindi is much more open to that phenomenon of language, so is Spanish, and presumably others.  

    So, we English speakers are the victims of our own critical thinking, which causes us so many problems of guilt by association with events over which we have no control. But if we insist that nothing happens by accident, then there we hang in the chasm of uncertainty, which is largely of our own creation, in that we create and mold our language to certain styles and norms. There lies much of the dark night of the soul. That’s why meditation is so helpful in reducing the inequities of language.  

     
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    hardie karges 4:51 am on January 18, 2026 Permalink | Reply
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    Buddhists Walk, not Run, for Peace, not President…  

    Good things come to those who wait. Instant gratification is cheap, but unfulfilling. Time is the special sauce that adds flavor. And while it’s not something that the Buddha necessarily talked about, I think it goes well with the general thrust of Buddhism, which is essentially a non-thrust. Western action is heavily reactive, leaving no action unanswered, as I hear Mark Z exhort every day: “Engage, engage, engage,” as if social media were like going blindly into an empty void and people have to be reminded to say something to that best friend that they haven’t seen in years. 

    Apparently, Mark Z has yet to get the word that people leave Facebook just to get away from the toxic level of aggressive behavior that often passes for engagement. Back to the point of the post: maybe if people weren’t so quick to engage, then maybe everybody would be happier for a few more minutes of each day. Those minutes add up and, if nurtured carefully, can make the difference between a bad life and a good one. 

    If the monks that Walk for Peace accomplish nothing else, then they get the message out for mindfulness and meditation, that action is more important than reaction, especially when that action is a good one. I doubt that the Buddha ever talked about awareness of breath, but that’s what the monks talk about. That’s not Buddhism; that’s Vipassana meditation, so close enough, I guess. The important thing is that it’s non-reactive. Karma is about actions, not reactions. If you have nothing good to give, then SFTU. Again, the Buddha never said that, but someone did.  

     
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    hardie karges 2:12 am on January 11, 2026 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , artificial intelligence, , , , , , , ,   

    A Buddhist Theory of Knowledge  

    You can learn from the Buddha or you can learn from a virus. The message is largely the same: Do no harm. The virus IS normal. That is the realization. Dealing with it has the opportunity for enlightenment. This is the hand we were dealt: old age, sickness and death. That is the stuff of enlightenment, for those fortunate enough to get that close to the underlying truth of the simulation of reality in forms that our bodies (and minds) are equipped to process. Nothing can change that underlying nature of reality, nor our only partial ability to understand it.  

    And that is a fundamental truth in itself, our inability to ever truly understand it, totally and completely. It’s a shame that they don’t tell you that at the beginning of every beginning science class: this is only a partial understanding of what there is to know. Does that mean that the laws of science are wrong? No, only that they are incomplete. And they may be incomplete, not only in our knowledge of them, but in their own characteristics and capabilities.  Like AI, the laws of science may be learning, not only in what they are, but in what they are capable of being. 

    Evolution is one of my favorite subjects, and natural selection is key to that, the somewhat mechanical need to reproduce that every DNA cell seems to have at its heart. But we only know a world that is constantly growing, thanks largely to that same urge. But that’s a world largely empty until recently. But I believe that evolution is self-correcting, also, the same instincts that can save human population decline can also correct over-population, details to be worked out later. That’s the future. But it’s still only a simulation, as Buddhism heavily implies, if never states outright. We don’t perceive protons and electrons, tachyons and quarks. We perceive houses and trees, light and sound.

     
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    hardie karges 2:22 am on January 4, 2026 Permalink | Reply
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    Buddhist Emptiness and the Myth of Abundance  

    You can have infinity, i.e. endlessness, with no boundaries, but it’s empty. Or you can have things, but only a limited number of them. You can’t have both. Infinite stuff is a fool’s dream. But that’s exactly what many Christians believe, or buy into, I should say. Because it ties directly into the capitalism that accompanies so much Christianity, especially the Protestant sort, which by no accident came into existence at almost exactly the same time as capitalism, maybe even preceding it by a bit, thereby giving the lie to any idea of mutual causation, in fact maybe a direct cause. 

    And many of those Christian values get carried into Buddhism by the same Christians who gave up their worldly ambitions in the process, at the same time that they cast piercing glances at the senior monks over the status of women in the ranks of the ordained. The meaning of the hallowed Buddhist concept of ‘Emptiness’, i.e. ‘shunyata’, is also up for grabs. Because, while shunya is the Sanskrit word for ‘zero’ and dates from right around the same time as the invention of the zero (yes), and may very well have originally been a philosophical concept long before becoming a mathematical one, that doesn’t stop certain westerners from frowning upon the concept. 

    Because ‘Emptiness’ has a very negative, and strong, Western psychological connotation as the cause of depression and unhappiness, this in a culture that rewards engagement above all else. I see it every day as a digital creator on social media, with no seeming recognition that such engagement is exactly what drives many people away from such media. Apparently driving sales is more important. So, I let many comments go unanswered, not because I agree or disagree with the viewpoint expressed, but simply because that uncertainty is fine, and often not worth fanning the flames of dispute, since the only certainty is negation. Then there’s spiritual bypassing, but that’s for another day. Be kind.

     
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    hardie karges 2:25 am on December 28, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    Buddhism and the Karma of Intent…  

    If Buddhism is an open doctrine, it needs to be updated frequently. If it’s a closed doctrine, then it loses relevance over time. All of which is to say that the Buddha was a real person, with real thoughts and feelings, not just some otherworldly manifestation emanating from above in some transcendental livestream, as some of the Mahayanists might prefer it, they with bills to pay and demons to slay and Taoists just nipping at their heels waiting for the price of real estate to stabilize. 

    But dharma practice doesn’t have to be hard and cold. It can be soft and warm and still non-clinging. People think of something often referred to as ‘the law’ as something written in stone and cruel in its intentions. But that is not the case with Buddhism. Buddhism is a philosophy, and one that is measured by its results, not just its intentions. And those results are palpable, from the ‘calm abiding’ produced by meditation to the long-term mindfulness produced by ongoing practice.  

    If you’re in it for the bliss, then good luck with that, because it’s a bit uncertain and a bit difficult to measure subjectively or objectively. Personally, I prefer the increased certainty of lesser expectations that accompany devotion to the Middle Path that defines Buddhism. Because that is not a cheap shortcut designed to increase the coffers while padding the rolls. No, that is intrinsic to that which is Buddhism and which is honest to a fault. To avoid extremes is to avoid mistakes. The only certainty is negation, but that is not always a viable approach to a situation that needs action, karma, honest effort. 

     
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    hardie karges 2:16 am on December 21, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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     Buddhism and the Sounds of Silence…     

    Sometimes silence is the best way to celebrate. Not that celebration is necessary, ever, for any reason, but if it is desired, for some reason, then silence is not a bad way to go about it. Because our lives in this world have advanced beyond the simple survival of the individual and by extension the species, to the point where we are at the point of destroying everything we’ve accomplished by the fact that we have over-produced and over-reproduced.  

    Our individual lives are no longer in imminent danger. But the lives of the species are in terrible danger. And the well-being of the individual is similarly impacted, if no longer in immediate danger of destruction. Still, we have been very successful over the course of our existence, and if that calls for celebration, then let it be silent. Because silence is Buddhism’s secret weapon, best seen in the practice of meditation. And if we need to celebrate in order to propagate, then let it be here, in silence, not in the screaming of flesh. 

    The path is not always straight or easy. It often seems to go in circles. Patience is the key that unlocks the door to freedom. But this is not an absolute freedom in the Western sense, the freedom to do this and that. That’s a boy’s dream. Girls have responsibilities to fate and the future. That requires discipline and diligence, karma in the truest sense of actions and reactions. That requires little or no flash or flare, just dedication to the cause of righteousness–truth, beauty, and goodness. That is the Middle Path.

     
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    hardie karges 2:20 am on December 14, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    Buddhism and Language, With and Without… 

    Language is a tool, not a weapon. It is a gift, not a curse. It all depends on the circumstances, time and place and details of the chase. To be honest, it is almost impossible to imagine life without language, since not only do we habitually think in a language, but for many people the two are inseparable. And that is why meditation is practiced, is it not? Yes, I think it is, because we can think without it, using what I often call ‘mental maps’.   

    Now, meditators and fellow travelers can gleam and bliss out about ‘insight’ and ‘calm abiding’, but the modus operandi is to cut off the language, or at least slow it down, if not exactly swatting thoughts away like flies on our windshields. The fruit of this activity is not something we can control, but only comment upon, for better or worse. Meditation may or may not provide ‘calm abiding’, much less insight, though those are worthy goals, I feel, but it can reduce the dependency on language, and that helps. It’s interesting that in some languages, to think and to feel are interchangeable concepts, but not so much in English. 

    The important point to remember is that not only are thought and language not synonymous, but the one is not even necessary for the other. Because, not only do animals think without language, but so do computers, i.e. they use machine language. Machine language is binary, 0’s and 1’s, and its (Boolean) logic corresponds to that, more than, less than, equal to, etc., i.e. ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘not’. This can just as (or more) easily correspond to all the phenomena of existence as the more familiar Aristotelian logic that we are familiar with, variations on if/then syllogisms. Your dog and cat have little need for that, and you could probably do with less. All you really need is mindfulness. 

     
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    hardie karges 2:47 am on December 7, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , right actions,   

    Buddhism on the Curriculum: Learning to Give…  

    The best education comes from the most difficult schools. If the school is easy, then the education will be bad. This is foundational to the Vajrayana School of Buddhism, which sees a lesson in every encounter and a gift in every curse, according to the thinking of the Dalai Lama, he well-schooled in the arts of suffering at the hands of their Chinese hordes and masters. But Buddhism is not transactional, unlike many of the other affairs of life. It shouldn’t matter whether you will get anything from Buddhism or not. 

    The most important thing is what you can give. This is the essence of karma, samma kammanta, right actions. There are no right transactions or right deals. But right livelihood, right views, and right speech are at the heart of what matters in this life in this world. Because if you are looking to get something, then you will always be disappointed. But if you are looking to give something, then there will always be takers. If your intent is good and right, then don’t worry about theirs. 

    This is foundational and the primary act of faith on the part of the practitioner. And if the concept of faith sounds false, then be sure that it’s not. The best faith is based on facts, not fiction. The trick is to know the difference, first time and every time, hence the reliance on factuality, or the best guess. Like almost everything, intent is critical. If you are trying to be factual, then you will likely come close. Do that and leave the guessing games for the children. Dharma is simple. Don’t confuse issues.  

     
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    hardie karges 2:30 am on November 30, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    Buddhism and the discipline of the Discipline…  

    Our knowledge, our faith, our generosity, and our freedoms are only as good as our discipline. This is the not-so-secret to the practice of Buddhism, of course, the training of the mind and the resulting control of emotions so crucial to the success of the practice. Any Buddhist monk in Thailand can tell you that without thinking. The word Vinaya so crucial in the early years of Buddhism means ‘discipline’ in Modern Standard Thai, i.e. vinay.  

    That’s just as it did for Fa Xian and Xuanzang c.4-600 CE, when they made the long trek from Xi’an, China to east India VIA AFGHANISTAN to get the true and correct vinaya, so corrupted by the centuries and kilometers in distance from the original source. Many westerners bring a Christian crutch with them into their knowledge of Buddhism, too, so might think of meditation as some otherworldly experience, but that is a fantasy. To be honest, many Thai laypeople often think the same.  

    But no Buddhist monk would ever be so silly. You’ll never see a monk laughing his a$$ off about anything, much less about matters of the dharma. But this is no feigned seriousness for the sake of poses and postures. The dharma is no joke, and these are not children. Most, but not all, monks dedicate their lives to the practice and dissemination of Buddhist truths and knowledge. Mutations occur in the transmission and relocation from place to place, but the essential truths are unchanged: we are slaves to what we crave, and the solution to our suffering comes with kindness, compassion, and right living. 

     

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