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  hardie karges 4:31 am on July 27, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 456 ), catuhskoti ( 3 ), CHRISTIANITY ( 162 ), Hardie Karges ( 268 ), karma ( 52 ), logic ( 14 ), lovingkindness ( 16 ), meditation ( 216 ), metta ( 25 ), sangha ( 12 ), tetralemma ( 9 )   

  Buddhism on the Installment Plan (with Quick Easy Payments) 

  

  If Science conquers Death, then Buddhism may be out of work, but I doubt it. Because, for all the rap about Buddhism being pessimistic, the truth is that it’s not; it’s realistic. Now, that may contrast sharply with the goo-goo eyed optimism of Sunday School Christianity (any denomination) and their doctrines of eternal life and passionate love, but it’s only being realistic—and rational. You’re going to die. Get over it. For an adult, that’s the starting point of any life equation. You’ve got x amount of years to produce y amount of children and z amount of money, so you better get started, because time’s wasting.

  Or not. Buddhism always allows for negation in any of its tetralemma style catuhskoti logic, so, if that’s negative, by definition, then so be it. Negation is often the only certainty, just as Emptiness is often the only Eternity. And that is why Buddhism is so often defined by its meditation, which is essentially doing nothing—creatively, watching thoughts come and go while breath counts the time and plays rhythm. But it’s only a partial renunciation, unlike the Jains’ total immersion, from which they seldom emerge. That’s the Middle Path, neither total leisure nor lack, buffet nor snack.

  Buddhism is so ‘right’ simply because it’s so simple. Avoid extremes and be nice; seek friends. Because that’s the heart of Buddhist ‘love’, metta, friendship. Ex-Christians try to soup it up by invoking ‘lovingkindness’, with Mary and babe at the breast, but really, it’s just friendship, non-possessive and cool, not hot, male or female, jewelry or not. Feel free to try it at home. It’s non-toxic. Or form a group. Some call it sangha. Others call it family. And don’t forget to wash your karma.

   

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  hardie karges 4:48 am on July 21, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 456 ), enlightenment ( 15 ), Hardie Karges ( 268 ), meditation ( 216 ), monkey mind ( 4 ), renunciation ( 15 ), skillful means ( 3 ), wokeness   

  Buddhist Enlightenment and the Means to an End 

  

  True enlightenment is like ripples on still water, radiating outward, never making waves, never causing pain. In other words, Enlightenment is hard to describe. If you think you have it, then you probably really don’t. And if you think you deserve it, then you probably really shouldn’t. But there is something there to be accomplished, without really trying, the placement of self between renunciation and monkey mind, a state of being awake and aware.

  So, why are we so obsessed with it? We Buddhists, that is, some of us, at least. Why does a Buddhist, who technically doesn’t even believe in a self, want to claim to be enlightened? That would seem to be a selfish desire, akin to wearing a gold chain around ones neck, like a cheap date hanging out much too late. But Buddhists aren’t perfect, especially the not-yet-ordained masses who think that ‘being Buddhist’ and talking all ‘spiritually’ somehow conveys a certain status akin to ‘wokeness’, which is what the word really means, after all, i.e. ‘awakened’?

  Maybe there’s a law akin to the Middle Path that states that everything is the opposite of what is claimed? That is, those who claim to be enlightened are the least enlightened, and those who make no such claims are likely the most enlightened? I doubt that the rule would hold in every case, but it might work in a bunch of them. Because the most enlightened being might not speak a word, in fact, and so long as he similarly does not lift a finger to inflict pain to even a cockroach, he is accomplishing much of what the Buddha would recommend. Maybe there should be a principle of strategic inaction, if not complete renunciation. There is. I think it’s called ‘skillful means’.
   
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  hardie karges 4:40 am on July 13, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: forgiveness ( 2 ), Hardie Karges ( 268 ), letting go, meditation ( 216 ), Middle Path ( 56 ), present moment ( 5 )   

  Buddhism and the Conundrum of Forgiveness 

  

  People make mistakes. Life is too short to hold grudges. Forgiveness is necessary. And this may be one area where Westerners score higher on the Richter scale of righteousness than Asians, but that isn’t necessarily the fault of Buddhism. I think forgiveness is certainly encouraged by Buddhism, but other forces are at play, also. Still, forgiveness is one of the foundations of Christianity, and that is to its credit. Because forgiveness is one of the hardest things in life, and it can only be perfected with practice.

  The hard part is sometimes admitting fault, but that is not always necessary, nor is it completely discernible as to who the offending party is. So, then the hard part is simply letting go of those selfish considerations to concentrate on starting anew. Most Buddhists embrace the idea of living in the present moment, so this semi-necessary re-start should be second nature. If we truly live in the present moment, then we’ll never become bogged down in reconciling the past nor plotting the future.

  But that’s easier said than done, and though I’m not the ‘present moment’s biggest loudspeaker, I’m certainly a loyal fan from the bleacher seats. For one thing, the Buddha never said much about the Present Moment, to my knowledge, and for another, it doesn’t mesh well with the concept of karma. The future can be a beautiful sea of possibilities, too, hardly the drudgery that is often characteristic of the past. As always, the Middle Path rules. So, the act of forgiveness need not be some ritual of self-mortification when a simple ‘letting go’ will do just fine.

   
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  hardie karges 3:58 am on July 6, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Brahminists ( 2 ), Buddhism ( 456 ), Hardie Karges ( 268 ), Hindu ( 9 ), Jains ( 2 ), meditation ( 216 ), Middle Path ( 56 )   

  Buddhism and the Principle of Relativity 

  

  Buddhism is not about glorifying the Buddha. It is about humbling yourself. Because if you think that you are the master of this world, then you have more problems than anyone can help you with, Buddha included. But this is intrinsic to all the world’s religions, isn’t it? Surrender to that which is greater and better than you? Yes, of course. The problem is to separate that from the petty dictators who would derail that religious instinct for their own nefarious purposes in order to accumulate wealth and power.

  The Buddha is a symbol and the exemplar, and, in many ways, the ‘way shower’ that Jesus was. And even though he was certainly quite special, he was hardly unique. Many are the prophets who simply said what was obvious to them, yet hidden to many others, because their eyes were not open to something so sublime. Middle Path? Duh. I could’ve told you that, but it was all about the content in the context of a historical situation that typically finds itself stalled at a series of crossroads.

  And so it was in the time of the Buddha in the place of the Buddha, where ‘Hindu’ Brahmanists were dualling (!) with the resident Jains over many of the same questions that obsessed the Buddha, no wonder. So, the Brahmanists were awash in rituals, while the Jains were awash while nude in spring rains, so the Buddha steps in and says let’s split the difference: enough ritual to remember while we’re here, but let’s wear some clothes while we’re at it, so that our donors giving dana are not scared of us by sight. Done. A practice was established of partial renunciation and partial reconciliation, and the rest is history.