streaming consciousness…

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  hardie karges 2:17 am on October 5, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), Dalai Lama ( 12 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), language ( 144 ), meditation ( 189 ), silence ( 12 ), social media ( 13 ), Vajrayana ( 22 )   

  Buddhism 401: The Science of Silence… 

  

  No experience is truly bad if it teaches a valuable lesson. This is gospel in the Dalai Lama’s Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism, I think, and seems to mesh well with all of them, something of a quick lesson in karma, when initial results might not be encouraging. Because none of us are in this for cheap tricks and quick thrills but settled in for the long run of sublime moments and partial fulfillments which leave themselves open for further development.

  The important thing is not what we get but what we give. Life is not transactional. Life is about fulfillment, not about feeling full, but about feeling satisfied at the spiritual rewards of suffering and its many lessons available for the simple taking. This is available in complete silence without any further methods of extracting the good from the fruit other than simple meditation. Precious moments are often wasted in mindless banter and useless argument, when silence will usually suffice.

  In fact, Buddhism could almost be known as a faith of silence, in silence, in an age when engagement, by means of speech, is rewarded as currency in the physical medium of social media. ‘Silence is violence,’ some say with no proof, and it’s true that there is no place left to go to escape the howls from the house-holders and the homeless, but there is no reason to surrender the quiet life of contemplation, either. For millennia deep contemplation was the closest we could come to truth, and science will never change all that, but it can certainly change some. There is a science of silence, also.

  hardie karges and Dylan Raines are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Dylan Raines 8:39 am on October 5, 2025 Permalink | Reply

    If no experience is truly bad, is no experience truly good? Is believing too much in our own subjective judgment of good and bad perhaps the problem?

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      hardie karges 7:01 pm on October 11, 2025 Permalink | Reply

      I think you’re probably right, yes, a duality we could probably do well without. Thanks for your comment!

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  hardie karges 2:31 am on September 28, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Alpha male ( 9 ), Buddhism ( 428 ), consciousness ( 29 ), DNA ( 44 ), empathy ( 5 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), kilesha ( 11 ), language ( 144 ), meditation ( 189 ), mind ( 6 ), mindfulness ( 34 ), nature ( 17 )   

  Buddhism 102: Cooling the fires of Kilesha… 

  

  When everything is burning, cool the fires inside with the water of empathy and the chemistry of compassion. There are always at least two different ways to kill a wildfire, of course, as every firefighter knows. You can kill it with water, or you can kill it with fire itself. But which method causes more damage? That’s why water is always preferable, when possible. Because to kill a fire with a rival fire is to destroy everything in the path, ‘scorched earth’, so to speak. It ain’t pretty.

  But drenched earth can be quite pretty, especially after a nasty fire. And if those fires are inside, such as with hatred, greed, and anger, then the improved results are notable. Two foes can fight to the death, of course, but neither one could truly be considered a winner in that case. So, peaceful solutions are always preferable. Both parties will live to play another day, and with all faculties intact, both might even succeed.

  But that is the hardest thing to accomplish, of course, what with alpha males hogging the harem and acting like DNA whose only goal is to climb the ladder of succession to another day and another successful matchup in the breeding room and the board room, where the winner takes all and the losers take nothing. That’s the world of Nature, sometimes cruel and forbidding. But we can do better than that. Because we have the world of consciousness and mind, hopefully even some measure of mindfulness. Be kind.
   
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  hardie karges 2:36 am on September 21, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), consciousness ( 29 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), karma ( 49 ), language ( 144 ), meditation ( 189 ), nature ( 17 )   

  Buddhism: Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness 

  

  Live simply to simply live, because everything else is excess. That doesn’t mean that you should limit yourself necessarily, only that you be aware of the repercussions of your decisions. There is a price to pay when your cup ‘runneth over’, too. Nothing is free. If that sounds a lot like karma, that’s because it is, though we’re usually fed karma in its spring-loaded reactionary form, i.e. the effects of karma, actions, more than the actions themselves. It’s a matter of most Buddhist faiths that good actions yield good benefits and bad action the opposite. On that I think that we can all agree.

  But if that sounds natural, please be aware that Nature is not always right and good. For one thing, Nature can be extremely violent, while consciousness can be more easily pacified. This is exactly the realization of Buddhism, also. So, while we hold Nature up as a shining beacon of what can be accomplished, we also recognize that it is not the be-all and end-all. Consciousness is–almost. We should be so lucky that we could simply copy Nature and always come out ahead.

  Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy, but there are always rewards for good hard honest work. Fortunately, doing nothing is also a sacred privilege in this life in this world, so no one can take that away from you. Some of the finest things in this life would qualify as nothing in many people’s vocabulary. Be aware of every thought, sensation, and feeling that passes through consciousness, accepting all as valid, though none as truth, and that will be plenty for today or any day. Such is meditation.

   
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  hardie karges 2:42 am on September 14, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), language ( 144 ), meditation ( 189 ), Pali ( 20 ), samatha ( 4 ), Sanskrit ( 22 ), Vipassana ( 14 )   

  Buddhist Meditation and Mediation…of Extremes 

  

  Concentrate on heartbeat, concentrate on breath. Both will grow slower, and life will grow longer. And I don’t know why, but that seems to be true, attention to details such as heartbeat and breath mean that those details will likely become more precise, and with less gasping and grasping. I know, because I count. And if the counting is intended to be intentional, but not transactional, then this is merely one of the side effects, I guess. Meditation does not need a reason to occur, but the benefits can be multiple.

  The purpose of meditation is usually something no more—and no less—than calming, traditionally known as samatha or shamatha in Pali or Sanskrit, while the more modern vipassana aims for insight. In practical terms this might be a more thing-focused meditation on something very specific, such as breath, or a more field-focused acceptance of everything within the field of perception, with a view to the ties that bind them. Language is neither necessary nor intrinsic to either and can simply be a recognition that now I am breathing or now I am aware of sound.

  Counting breaths is a little bit of a trick with no official status in any meditation ‘system’ that I know of—but it works. And I confess that I had difficulty accomplishing or enjoying meditation, until I adopted that little crutch as a useful tool and metaphor for physical existence. For, isn’t life in a physical body on a physical planet little more than counting the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years until that chapter comes to its last verse and some other narrative take over? It sometimes seems that way. Such is the Middle Path…

   
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  hardie karges 2:04 am on September 7, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), consciousness ( 29 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), language ( 144 ), meditation ( 189 ), Right Action (karma) ( 2 ), samma vaca ( 8 ), silence ( 12 )   

  Buddhism 301: Silence is Golden… 

  

  The best arguments have no winners or losers, and everybody walks away happy. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But nothing is more difficult, not in this modern world of debate and combativeness, both words derived from the same Latin battuere, to beat, no surprise, since our best friend, language, is also our worst enemy, first dividing us into subjects and objects, then dividing us into winners and losers. Welcome to the world of duality.

  But our concern is not so much the duality of individual self and cosmic divinity as it is the duality of self with itself—and others. But Buddhism doesn’t like to get too lost in all that dogma and its ensuing karma. Karma is always best as samma kammanta, right actions, and whatever else comes down the way is usually appropriate. It’s the same for samma vaca, right speech. Say good things most of the time and your life will be better most of the time.

  Bottom line: mindful silence is better than mindless chatter almost any day, and probably twice on Sunday, if that is the day that most likely promotes it. Because there is nothing more sacred or holy than silence. Astronauts explore Outer Space, but Buddhanauts must explore Inner Space, the deep sea of consciousness, thalay, dalai, ทะเลใจ, a hidden world so close and independent of language. That’s the world that meditation provides access to, a form of consciousness that predates language, which is in many ways superior to the language-based form of consciousness, or at the very least a welcome respite.

   
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  hardie karges 2:38 am on August 31, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: First Noble Truth ( 5 ), free will ( 6 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), meditation ( 189 ), Middle Path ( 53 ), morality ( 5 )   

  The Buddhist Middle Path in an Imperfect World 

  

  If there is a Middle Path, then there is a choice. And if there is a choice, then there is free will. That’s important, because if there is no free will, then there is no morality. And if there is no morality, then there is no right or wrong. The world is a jungle and anything goes, and if anything goes, then you can be assured that much of that will be bad. Because we may be a diverse group of unique individuals, or not, but I’m fairly sure tha the number of angels here is limited.

  The Buddha made it clear, and I agree, that this is not a perfect world, i.e. there is suffering, the First Noble Truth. How was he, and we, so sure of that? No one gets out of here alive. That’s how we know. When that changes, then maybe it will be time for a new philosophy and a new religion, but until then, we do the best we can in an imperfect situation. We can mitigate that suffering by lowering our expectations and being open to change, but many needs will still be unresolved, and many changes will be difficult.

  So, the Middle Path is not so hard, but it’s not so easy, either. That’s why it’s called the Middle Path. Because taking sides is easy, clear, and distinct, but often wrong. Following a narrow winding path is much more difficult, looking for signs to hopefully find the way through rugged terrain in troubling times. The important thing is to keep pushing forward and create a path if it’s not so obvious. Because the most obvious paths are like water, flowing downhill until they reach something bigger and better. Once you find flowing water, then you have found a path of little resistance, and there will be a way forward.

   
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  hardie karges 3:02 am on August 24, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), CHRISTIANITY ( 160 ), compassion ( 14 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), karuna ( 9 ), kindness ( 16 ), language ( 144 ), lovingkindness ( 16 ), meditation ( 189 ), metta ( 25 ), Middle Path ( 53 ), religion ( 158 ), Thailand ( 75 )   

  Buddhist Middle Path: Hold Your Applause 

  

  All you need is kindness. Compassion is good, too. These are the Buddhist foundational concepts known in the Pali language as metta and karuna, often combined in modern standard Thai language as mettakaruna. I guess that’s similar to the Christian compound word ‘lovingkindness’, but without all the gratuitous emotion, please. That’s more Christian than Buddhism has ever aspired to, and largely by design.

  Christians need to hug and kiss, often, while Buddhists could usually care less. Christians are emotion junkies, while Buddhists are cool as cukes, usually, salad dressing optional. So, Christians deliberately took that word from the Hebrew Chesed and translated it to lovingkindness to make a point. Then, when Buddhism came to the West, many practitioners figure what’s good for the goose… you know. But, by then, Buddhism has changed its character, and not necessarily for the better.

  But that’s one way to fight the charge of pessimism and nihilism: slather the special sauce, and Bam! Thailand becomes like the Philippines, all of a sudden, fiery and passionate. I suppose there’s no real harm, but it’s really not what Buddhism is in its essence–just the opposite. Emotions go up and down as if by design, while the Buddhist path steers towards the middle always. That’s not a hard rigid path, but it’s not seeking peak emotion, either. That’s American Photography Course 101, always seeking ‘peak emotion’. Good luck with that. I’ll follow the Middle Path.

   
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  hardie karges 2:49 am on August 17, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), craving ( 15 ), death ( 5 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), language ( 144 ), meditation ( 189 ), philosophy ( 101 ), religion ( 158 ), skillful means ( 3 ), violence ( 7 )   

  Buddhist Skillful Means in the Material World… 

  

  Buddhism is a social paradigm, too, and a vision of a better world. How is that possible, you ask? How could it not be possible, if everyone could tame the violence that resides there in their minds, implicit in the language we use as operating systems? Because, if craving is the main cause of individual suffering in this world, then violence is the main cause of mutual suffering, and the means of spreading it is by means of language.

  And there is much of the problem right there, because violence is inherent to any form of language and maybe especially to the Indo-European base languages of Sanskrit, Persian, Latin, and German that characterized the early colonial world. So, meditation is the solution to that problem, certainly. The reason language was invented, after all, was for strategic advantage in the battlefield, so we’re lucky that it’s developed other uses and applications in the meantime.

  But Buddhism is nothing if not a philosophy of peace, and that is written into its precepts of kindness and conciliation, if not submission. Because our kindness should not be mistaken for weakness, remember, and that goes double for Buddhism. Skillful means are required to maneuver crooked paths. So, sometimes we have to do things that normally would be unacceptable, with the understanding that it is a measure of the moment, that there is no other option. Death is not an option, forbidden by precept. Everything else is on the table, with the understanding that it is temporary, as is everything.

   
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  hardie karges 2:47 am on August 10, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bodhisattva ( 9 ), Buddhism ( 428 ), enlightenment ( 13 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), Hinayana ( 6 ), Mahayana ( 46 ), meditation ( 189 ), Theravada ( 51 )   

  Buddhism to Order: Save Yourself, then Save the World… 

  

  Extinguish the fires inside, then extinguish the fires outside. Or, as I sometimes like to say it: save yourself, then save the world. And this is the basic difference between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, and much the very reason why Mahayanist (Large Vehicle) Buddhists like to call Theravadins ‘Hinayanists’ (Small Vehicle) Buddhists, as if there were something ‘lesser’ about training your mind rather than wasting much time and energy trying to train the world top act better.

  But I don’t see it that way. I just see it as dealing with first things first. If you are truly capable of training yourself to a high state of Buddhahood, then you have nothing to lose by turning your attentions to the problems of the world as a Bodhisattva for hire—cheap, haha. But most people will never reach that level of Enlightenment. And anyone who claims that they have attained that level is probably mistaken—by definition. A truly enlightened person, or Bodhisattva, would never make such claims, for fear of diminishing the others with their own paths.

  That doesn’t mean that you should surrender all politics to the shenanigans of autocrats and scammers. Just don’t pretend that that’s the final destination for all mankind. The path never ends. Even when politics are at their smoothest and best, there are still probably thousands of sleights and injustices to rectify and make whole. To fight for what’s right is the hardest thing in the world, since fighting itself is so wrong. But when our survival is at stake, then that is what we must do sometimes.

   
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  hardie karges 2:41 am on August 3, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), Cessation of Suffering, Christian Science, GNH, GNP, Hardie Karges ( 239 ), language ( 144 ), meditation ( 189 ), Middle Path ( 53 ), Pali ( 20 ), Sanskrit ( 22 ), Vajrayana ( 22 )   

  Buddhism and the Cessation of Suffering… 

  

  Wealth has nothing to do with the money in your pocket or your bank account. It has to do with the quality of your thought. That’s why Buddhism is at least semi-renunciative, because there are more important things in life than money. And if that’s what the Bhutanese government official meant when he said something to the effect that Bhutan has no GNP Gross National Product, instead they have GNH Gross National Happiness, then I think that’s what he meant, not that Bhutan is the happiness country in the world, something which would be extremely hard to prove, anyway.

  But, it’s been said a thousand times before, and it’ll be said a thousand times more, that there’s more to life than money, and nothing could be truer. Because, if it’s all about money, then how much is enough? At that point, you’ve defined life as something quantitative, and not qualitative, and that’s never good, the artificial thirst and hunger that inhabit the material body in the material world. In Buddhism, this lust is usually associated with thirst, so trsna or tanha in Sanskrit and Pali.

  In that sense, it’s natural, so nothing to be ashamed of, but still it’s definitely something to mitigate the extremes of, in order to mitigate the suffering. And I think that’s largely implicit in Buddhism by the use of the term ‘cessation of suffering’ and not ‘cure’. Because I don’t really think that anybody is really looking for a miracle cure with traditional Buddhism the way they might be with Christian Science or even Vajrayana Buddhism, but that’s exactly what the Buddha had in mind, I feel sure. Keep the parties to a minimum and keep the suffering to a minimum for a good and happy life. That’s the middle path.