Tagged: CHRISTIANITY Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 3:08 am on August 12, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , CHRISTIANITY, , , , , , spiritual bypass   

    Buddhism or Psychotherapy? Mix and Match…  

    Psychotherapy heals with talk. Buddhism heals with silence, i.e. meditation. Which is better? That’s your choice, or it could be a combination of the two, in which a sweet spot is found, somewhere near the center, in something of a perfect and creative combination of the two. Because psychotherapy runs the risk of never really solving the problem, since there are always more words to toss on the fire, while Buddhism runs the risk of never really solving the problem, because they ‘bypass’ it and merely leave it there dangling helpless. 

    Both criticisms may be right to some extent, but it may be helpful to ask why. Because it seems as if psychotherapy does its share of ‘bypassing,’ also, but in an attempt to get at the root of the problem, not some superficial solution. The problem is that it never ends. Psychotherapists don’t expect their clients to articulate their problem for themselves, but only offer enough clues that the psychotherapist might have some insight into the underlying causes that manifest in ways that can be crippling to the victim. Buddhist meditation is often accused of making an end-run straight to the problem’s superficial solution, without really dealing with the issues. 

    One interesting aspect of psychotherapy is that it tends to be a Western ‘problem,’ by world measures, i.e. the people seeking such help tend to be European or European-descended by birth. Psychotherapists scarcely exist in many Asian countries (this is changing), and when they do, are often there for Western ex-patriates and their English language. So, does the entire Asian continent ‘bypass’ its supposed need to confront its deepest darkest demons by linguistic means, or does the West maybe have a problem of loving the ‘dualism’ of language, i.e. usually Indo-European language, something which never seems to let us go, unless we let it go. 

    Thus the ‘problem’ seems to be a slippery one. The more we examine it, the harder it is to find. By this point in my life, I may indeed have a predilection for the silence over the noise, but I’m almost always willing to split the difference, as long as that allows a meandering path and a hopefully creative solution. This isn’t Math 101, after all. So, let’s say that the full thesis can be forsaken forthwith, in favor of a soft solution, in which the linguistic and existential hurdles are acknowledged, including sexual slights and psychic manipulation, as long as there is no expectation of ever any total reconciliation. Silence is more honest than that. It allows unlimited freedom of movement, after all, with no retribution necessary. Deal. 

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:53 am on August 6, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , CHRISTIANITY, , , , mantra, , , , , , , , ,   

    Space is the Place–to Meditate…  

    The one who can control himself, can control the world—his world…

    You don’t have to go anywhere to meditate, except inside. Much is made in the modern New Age movements of all the different kinds of meditation, which, according to the books and blogs can easily number into the dozens, if not hundreds. But most of those sources aren’t really Buddhist, not in any strict sense. Still, a quick survey reveals a plethora: mindfulness, spiritual, focused, movement, mantra, transcendental (TM), progressive, loving-kindness, visualization, guided, mantra, present moment, Vipassana, chakra, yoga, and ‘candle-gazing.’ That’s a lot of bliss, and we’re only getting started. 

    And that’s the problem, of course, that meditation is often marketed as some kind of bliss machine, when nothing could really be further from the truth. With the possible exception of Vipassana, i.e. ‘insight,’ none of the above could really even be considered Buddhist, which seems to originate with ‘anapanasati,’ awareness of breath, before subdividing into ‘samatha,’ calm abiding, and the aforementioned Vipassana, which puts the goal first and foremost, the insight that one expects to get from the practice.  

    Now, I’m not sure where ‘guided meditation’ originated, but that is unheard of in strict Theravada Buddhism, where silence reigns supreme and strict stillness is the foundation for that. Now, I suspect that guided meditation is chiefly a modern Western-promoted permutation, for Westerners who just can’t stand silence, but will happily sit for a story, but I could be wrong, since Tibetan meditation seems very eclectic and certainly could incorporate some spoken word(s).  

    But for me meditation is silent, emptiness incarnate, and guided meditation is a hybrid form which incorporates a ‘dharma talk’ into the practice itself, certainly not a bad thing, BUT: silence is still golden, at least in my book. If you have a problem with silence, then you should really work on that if you really want to delve deep into Buddhism. Because, as I said in the opening statement, “you don’t have to go anywhere to meditate, except inside.” And that’s the trick, to go inside yourself, where thought becomes anti-thought and talk becomes anti-talk. Thus, everything is shown to be the opposite of what it seems, and that is not a bad thing. “Meditate for at least twenty minutes a day, unless you don’t have time, and then meditate for an hour.” That says it all. 

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 3:49 am on July 29, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , CHRISTIANITY, commerce, , , , , planet,   

    Buddhism and the Decline of Planet Earth  

    Buddhism in Bhutan

    I don’t think that Buddhism is superior to Christianity. But I think that it is the right idea in the right time and in the right place: Here and Now. Because they’re both dealing with situations in progress and in process that are constantly changing and needing updates, but which are both necessary and good and fulfilling a function and that must be fulfilled. It’s the timing that is most crucial. 

    As if the Buddha could almost see that Asia would be an overcrowded and possessive morass of humanity within a couple thousand years and that renunciation might be a really good way of dealing with that—in advance. As if Jesus could almost see that in his neck of the woods violence would take on new meaning as a way of life, unless people could somehow be convinced that that would be unnecessary and highly undesirable, if we could all somehow see that we are brothers and sisters capable of our own strong bonds of love and connection. 

    It’s all aspirational, of course, but if that’s the best we can do, then so be it. So, if the Buddha’s best-laid plans failed to produce a meditative non-possessive Asia, and Christianity could only sublimate the urge for violence into the urge for commerce, then so be it. At least East and West could agree on the commerce. But now the needs are different, since we are largely the victims of our own success and are on the verge of destroying our home planet Earth, rather than finding the proper ways of living with it and in it. And that is the precipice upon which we stand, overlooking the abyss of our own making, with vastly reduced options for a successful outcome.  

    If we could have only somehow frozen world population and consumption at 1954 levels, the year of my birth, then the outcome might have been easy. But income levels were not equal and many people were still in a state of colonial servitude. I see Buddhism as the best chance for a successful outcome, given 2023 circumstances, renunciation and dispassion and all that goes with Buddhism. If nothing else, it can be a way of dealing with a situation that nobody can effectively change. But we must try. Buddhism can at least help deal with that sinking feeling that comes with reduced expectations. That is one of its specialties. Believe me.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 4:09 am on June 24, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , CHRISTIANITY, , , , , , , , ,   

    Buddhism, Love, and the Middle Path to Survival  

    Europeans and Americans live to fall in love, and many other countries and languages aren’t much better. Live to fall, wow! In the Thai language the equivalent expression would be to get ‘lost in love,’ not much different. But Buddhist metta is better than that, all the best parts of love and none of the bad, friendship mostly. You can be kind and still be balanced. But this is a hard lesson to teach, because we’re hooked on passion like junkies on the hard stuff, and there’s not too much that we can do about it, even if we wanted to. Or can we? Of course, we can. And it’s no accident that the original meaning of the word ‘passion’ is ‘suffering,’ just like that for which Buddhism is so famous. 

    It’s just that at some point we started to like all that excess emotion, just like we began to ‘love our lives,’ while Eastern ascetics continued to renounce the pleasures of flesh and fish, just as they continue to do to this very day. I suppose that the Western attitude is that if we try hard enough, we just might create that eternal life that Jesus promised us all along. Does Virtual Reality count? It might have to, if we’re serious about that as our goal…or, maybe we could just train our minds and tame our desires to a more acceptable level that allows for plenty of free time and a healthy dose of creativity, also. 

    Bingo, the Middle Path is always the solution, not passivity nor stress tests, just good honest old-fashioned hard work, complete with rationality, such that extremes of thought and opinion are rejected in favor of more conciliatory positions. In other words, you might gain less than the wildest stock option, but in return, you are also likely to lose less if your risks fall short of the mark. But that’s more than a conservative business portfolio decision. That’s a principle of life: make steady gains going forward, with always the option to change direction with any new information that accompanies the passage of time. That’s the Buddhist Middle Path. We’re playing for keeps here. 

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 3:11 am on June 9, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , CHRISTIANITY, , , , ,   

    The Difference Between Buddhism and Hinduism  

    The difference between Hinduism and Buddhism might best be seen in the Buddhist monk’s hairstyle: Emptiness! Haha. And while that may seem like the ultimate in silliness, there’s more than a little bit of truth there. But first, let me clarify that Buddhist monks are typically, i.e. almost always, shaved bald, ditto for nuns, while Hindu pandits, acharyas, and especially rishis, are known for their wild locks and their elaborate rituals, yagyas. Buddhists typically chant, the same words that their predecessors chanted, some 2500 years ago.  

    That’s how the sutras were composed and recorded, long before the advent of written text in the Indian subcontinent. And Emptiness, shunyata, was always at the heart of the doctrine, even if its full articulation followed the previous anatta ‘no self’ doctrine, which was one of the early prime tenets of Buddhism, and which was in direct opposition to the Hindu belief in Atman, something of a cosmic self, which transmigrates eternally, on a good day, unless it is lucky enough to obtain release from this pit of samsara. Note that to this day, eastern religions want to escape the world, while western religions typically want eternal life in this world. 

    But the difference between Hinduism and Buddhism is in the details. While Hinduism is about celebration and ecstasy, Buddhism is typically about austerity and discipline. And, at the risk of losing converts to Hinduism, I’d have to agree. To be a full-fledge Hindu, you really have to be born there with a caste affiliation. They’ve tried constantly to subvert Buddhism that way, also, but with varying success. Mostly they succeeded in killing it, in India, at least, while the more nationalistic Hinduism was left to take up its cause with an ascendant Islam. Buddhism is universal. Hinduism is not. Buddhism is the Middle Path between Hinduism and Jainism. But that’s another story.

     
    • Balance Thy Life's avatar

      Balance Thy Life 3:14 am on June 9, 2023 Permalink | Reply

      Interesting article highlighting the differences between Hinduism and Buddhism. The comparison between the hair of Buddhist monks and Hindu pandits was amusing yet insightful.
      founder of balance thy life https://balancethylife.com

  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:16 am on June 2, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: CHRISTIANITY, , , doctrine, , , , ,   

    Buddhism Basics: Discipline, Doctrine, and Devotion  

    Some people prefer devotion over discipline or doctrine. That’s fine, if the object of devotion represents truth, beauty and goodness. It’s all dharma. The simple fact of the matter is that devotion is a simple act for many people, much simpler than the ‘mind-training’ of original Buddhism or the intellectual rigor of much of later Buddhism, somewhat the opposite of mental training in fact, with verbal tricks and koans carefully selected for the very lack of logic which commends them. 

    And those Three D’s can work in any religion, Christianity included, and probably most especially, since Christianity is nothing if not a devotee cult, ditto Sanatana Dharma, i.e. ‘Hinduism.’ But for Buddhism it’s very arguably the lesser of the three, what with the Discipline orientation of Theravada, and the Doctrinal not-so-dictates of Mahayana, and especially Zen. In fact, Devotion typically defines the religious orientation, i.e. devotion to an all-powerful God, in the Abrahamic religions, often symbolized by the patriarch himself’s willingness to sacrifice his only son to show his fealty to God. Now that’s Devotion. 

    But’s it’s much to Buddhism’s credit that it has other options. Because anybody can do devotion, no matter how demanding the devotional object or subject. And in Buddhism’s full embrace of the 3D’s, not only can Buddhism be philosophy AND/OR religion, but it can also be art, and poetry, and therapy. Because that’s what Zen koans are.  

    And while that may not work for even ten percent of the Buddhist community, well, that’s an important ten percent, because nothing less then the Buddhist high concept of shunyata ‘Emptiness’ is on the line here, and that’s a tough row to hoe. The koans help. Put all the different aspects of Buddhism together and not only is it not self-contradictory, but it packs a powerful punch. That’s what’s needed.  

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:12 pm on May 13, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , CHRISTIANITY, , , , , ,   

    Vive la Difference! Between Christianity and Buddhism…  

    Christianity seeks joy out there somewhere, while Buddhism seeks to limit suffering right here inside. And that’s the big difference between the two, the outward search versus the inward search, and the destination for ultimate satisfaction. The idea, in fact, that there may really be no substantial difference between the two is something that only arose later, after the rise of Mahayana Buddhism, and the idea that there may be some transcendent reality to it all, even including the Buddha himself, so maybe just a ‘manifestation.’ 

    But I prefer to leave metaphysical speculations to the late nights and wee hours on Sundays and holidays, when time is free and the atmosphere is conducive to dreaming and the playful dance of fairies in our wildest imaginations. Because meditation is probably the greatest gift of Buddhism to the world, and that requires absolutely no belief in anything transcendent, only the effort to concentrate and ‘let it go’ in accord with Buddhist understanding, which is simple to understand and totally based in the here and the now. 

    And Theravada sacrifices nothing to the larger and later Mahayana school on this count, either, not to mention the modern-day secular practitioners, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist, that make Buddhism and its foundational principles such an important tool in the stressed-out modern-day world. Whither Christian mindfulness? Yes, I’ve heard that term, so it’s in the works. The pharmaceutical industry might not like the idea, nor the CBD gummies futures market, but the physical and psychological gain will be palpable.  

    Some things just work better ‘in here’ than ‘out there.’ And if that means that Buddhism is guilty of passivity towards changing the world ‘out there’ to make it a better place, then that criticism is valid. But so is the criticism that Amerika is a contentious hateful society that rejects any efforts at compromise and instead prefers to fight to the death, rather than enjoy life to the fullest, albeit with a few guiding principles to be followed. As always, the middle path lies somewhere in between, details to be worked out in peaceful settings among willing participants. Enjoy.  

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 8:14 am on April 30, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , CHRISTIANITY, , Huineng, , , ,   

    Buddhist Imperfection and the Crazy Wisdom of Zen  

    The Buddha never said we’re all perfect, quite the opposite. He said that we are nothing but ‘heaps’ of causes and conditions that he called skandhas. He never even said that he’s perfect. And those imperfections can be the basis for positive change. He DID list change as one of the causes of our suffering, but significantly less than that of the First Noble Truth—craving. Maybe that’s not surprising, from someone who was born into the lap of luxury, since change for someone of destitute poverty might only be for the better.  

    But that’s arguable, also, so let’s just split the difference and apply the Buddha’s own Middle Path to conclude that change can go either way, good or bad, which is convenient, since it’s inevitable. The point is that, in its origins, imperfection is at the heart of the Buddha’s vision, though the Zen sect of the Mahayana school would, like some Christian sects (such as Christian Science), reverse that position and argue that manifesting our innate perfection is only right and proper. 

    They also said that if you meet the Buddha on the road, then you should kill him. Hmmm. Obviously, there’s a logical explanation to that apparent exhortation to violence, but I won’t go into it. I’ll only say that I prefer a simpler approach to enlightenment. The Zen thing is to show the limits and traps of language, and I agree whole-heartedly with that, but I don’t necessarily agree to a Dadaist approach to it. One of the Christian sideline precepts is to say what you mean and mean what you say, (“Let your yes be yes and your no be no”), and they just might have that right. 

    No, I don’t think that anyone has all the answers, and it is to Buddhism’s credit that so much dialogue is allowed, and even encouraged, which promotes a larger dialectic. In fact, this is how the Zen master Hui-Neng upstaged the heir apparent to replace the current master, to whom he was only a rank (in)subordinate. Thus began the line of thought that we are not here to train our minds but to acknowledge the illusion of reality, so something like an alternative Mayanist (haha) school, which thrives to this day as subplot to many more orthodox traditions. We are not perfect, but this is why we practice… 

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 9:17 am on April 15, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , CHRISTIANITY, , , , , , , ,   

    Buddhist Mindfulness: No Shortcuts to Salvation  

    Mindfulness, sati, requires some awareness of the unpleasant details, also, unfortunately or fortunately, for this is the nature of existence, the existence of suffering and the ways to ameliorate it, on a path to cessation, if not the twenty-five-dollar cure that we’ve grown so accustomed to expect, in some binary fashion, now you see it and now you don’t, as if there were indeed magic bullets that can hit every target, with never a miss—at least in theory. 

    But, until someone can bio-engineer us with eternal life or create us a Virtual Reality so perfect that we can’t tell the difference, then the (not-so?) harsh reality is that each and every one of us will die, later if not sooner, peaceably if not in agony. And this is the truth of Buddhism, that suffering is ubiquitous, and implacable, if not the all-embracing disastrophe that it so recently was. But that was likely due to the dubious emboldenment of patriarchy, in distinct contrast to the previous matriarchal survivalists that sustained us for so many millennia. 

    But the point is that Buddhism is not pessimistic, but realistic, and the obvious corollary would be that the silly-eyed optimism of capitalistic Christianity is itself the cause of many of our problems, especially global warming, for which it is singularly unprepared to offer a credible solution, given the demands of economic growth. But Buddhism can offer that solution: conscious mindful existence that accentuates self-sufficiency, not the excesses of abundance and infinity that capitalism and Christianity demand.  

    In other words: less can indeed be more, in quality if not quantity, and that is the important consideration, now, isn’t it? Yes, I think that it is. And that is also the cautionary tale with so-called ‘mindfulness.’ Be careful which way you turn your gaze of awareness, because you will have to deal with the circumstances in your field of vision. And that is good. Buddhism in its origins never pretended to transcendence. This is the real world we find ourselves in, and that is the challenge… 

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 11:43 am on March 18, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , CHRISTIANITY, , , , , , , , , ,   

    Buddhism 499: Suffering doesn’t have to be so sad…  

    Suffering does not mean sadness, maybe in Nepali language, but not in Buddhism. This is one of the lessons, and this is one of the discussions, about what the word ‘dukkha’ really means, and what that means for us. Many pandits try to redefine it variously as ‘stress,’ ‘disappointment,’ ‘dissatisfaction,’ ‘spot of bother,’ haha, or various and sundry other things, but in most modern SE Asian languages the word indeed is usually best translated as ‘suffering,’ however minor or apparently insignificant, which sometimes earns Buddhism the rap as pessimistic.  

    What IS significant is that you will one day die, or simply expire, from this life in this world, and whether anything goes on after that is a matter of sober conjecture. But that IS a limit to your free will and your open skies and your desire for the Christian myth of abundance. For if there is indeed an infinity and/or an eternity, then it is surely empty, and that can indeed be beautiful, just as can the various limits placed upon it. For what is a work of art if not a limit, or definition, of reality, and what is a song? They are nothing if not sublime limits placed upon an undefined eternity. 

    Thus, suffering need not be so cruel. For me it is little more than life in passive voice as much or more than active, if those grammatical terms still have meaning for you. They do for English language literary agents, I assure you, and passive voice is largely prohibited, while in Asian academic circles, it is almost required. Go figure. But I’m not advocating passivity, and that is what kept me from Buddhism for many years, the passivity that I perceived in Thailand. As always, the truth lies in the Middle Path, and the subtle balance between aggression and renunciation. There is always a way forward without resorting to extremes… 

     

← Older posts

Newer posts →

c
Compose new post
j
Next post/Next comment
k
Previous post/Previous comment
r
Reply
e
Edit
o
Show/Hide comments
t
Go to top
l
Go to login
h
Show/Hide help
shift + esc
Cancel