streaming consciousness…

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  hardie karges 2:24 am on October 19, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: awareness ( 5 ), Buddhism ( 428 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), Indo-European, language ( 144 ), meditation ( 189 ), religion ( 158 ), samadhi ( 13 ), sati ( 17 )   

  Buddhism and Mindfulness: Smrti and Samadhi… 

  

  Multi-tasking is a myth, the idea that you can do two or more actions at one and te same time. ‘Monkey mind’ is more accurate. Mindfulness is not a myth. But what is it exactly? There are as many definitions as there are commentators. But the original meaning of the Pali word sati, from which the word mindfulness derives in the Buddhist tradition, refers merely to consciousness, or awareness, or conscious awareness, if you want to be a smarty-pants.

  Which is not a bad idea, considering that the original Sanskrit word was indeed smrti, before that got shortened by the early Buddhists to sati. Did you know that Sanskrit is related to the English language through Indo-European connections? But when the onlookers in the crowd around your motorcycle wreck in Thailand ask each other, “does he have sati?” They’re asking if you’re conscious, not whether you’re mindful. The modern Buddhist connotations, especially in the West, gravitate more toward the woo-woo style of Buddhism, as if mindfulness were something more than mere awareness, or consciousness. But it’s not, not really.

  The awareness or consciousness involved in mindfulness really only differs in degree, not kind. The more you do it, the better it gets. If that means meditation, then more power to you. A half hour in the morning should last you half a day, easy. It’s a lot like re-booting the computer to reset the sequence, to get a fresh start, like a writer’s legendary ‘fresh eyes’. No need for monkey mind, this and that, altogether now; just do one thing at the thing, in the correct order and sequence. Now make a mental note. That’s all. Samadhi is the next step along the path to liberation.

   

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  hardie karges 8:16 am on March 11, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), caste system ( 2 ), CHRISTIANITY ( 160 ), dialectic ( 13 ), dispassion ( 3 ), eternal life ( 3 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), Indo-European, Indus Valley ( 2 ), Kramer, language ( 144 ), passion ( 9 ), Passion of Christ, rebirth ( 37 ), religion ( 158 ), samsara ( 12 ), Seinfeld ( 2 )   

  The Passion and Dispassion of Buddhism…  

  

  

  There is no worse slavery than the slavery to your passion(s). And that’s a tough pill to swallow, because we tend to think of our passions as our pleasures, as though it’s only natural to be obsessed and conflicted. It’s not. But that shows the path that western culture has taken, in which our passions, which once meant ‘suffering,’ now are the focal point of our lives, and full of positive connotations—even if it kills us. So, with the ‘passion of Christ’ fully articulated as his suffering, in defeat, with no victory implied or intended, then Buddhism and Christianity are not so far apart, at least not superficially, at least not originally.  

  For both see suffering as seminal. The differences only become apparent when we realize that Christianity and the West make of suffering (i.e. passion) something to be encouraged, and sought, not something to be avoided and mitigated, as in Buddhism. The examples are many: samsara, for instance. This is a word that in the time of Buddha meant, and still means (in modern Nepali), ‘the world.’ And the Buddhists made something distinctly negative of that term, it now symbolizing the drudgery and misery of incessant rebirths. But most westerners, and especially Christians, are famous for their (our) ‘love of life’ and the world, too, of course.

  So, is the Christian belief in (and desire for) some sort of ‘eternal life’ really any different from the Buddhist rebirth? Only in that one is desired and the other abhorred, it would seem. So, if it’s not surprising that Buddhism and Christianity spring from similar roots, given their shared Indo-European proto-language and homeland, it IS a bit surprising that they’ve diverged so far from that initial starting point, and in apparently opposite directions. What would cause that? Good question. There would seem to be nothing in the physical landscape to explain the divergence, though the cultures encountered, and conquered (Indo-Europeans didn’t lose too many wars, except among themselves), differ quite radically.

  Considering that they went both ways from the Yamnaya Horizon’s original Pontic steppes, West and East, to Europe and north India, respectively, they would have encountered light-skinned ‘old Europeans’ on the one hand, and dark-skinned Indus Valley people on the other. That’s the biggest difference between the two groups right there, and may be significant, with respect to the caste system and perhaps more. But my own pet theory is that West and East were mostly playing out a dialectic of ideas, that likely dates back to 4000-3000BCE around lively campfires on high steppes and with spirited discussions.

  In this theory that dialectic is still being played out today, albeit in more ways than could ever have been imagined in the years BCE. The important thing is to not become a slave to your passions, though, even when you enjoy them, or when they cause you suffering. I’m reminded of Kramer’s statement to the ‘Soup Nazi’ in the old Seinfeld TV show: “You suffer for your art.” Touche’. Freedom FROM is the important thing in life after all, even more than freedom TO. Does it really matter whether you get the espresso or tamarind flavored ice cream today? Enjoy… 
   
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  hardie karges 8:36 am on July 4, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: America ( 59 ), emptiness ( 29 ), Indo-European, language ( 144 ), Mahayana ( 46 ), mathematics ( 3 ), meditation ( 189 ), philosophy ( 101 ), religion ( 158 ), shunyata ( 22 ), zero ( 13 )   

  Musings on the Buddhist Concept of Shunyata: Emptiness Ain’t So Empty… 

  

  

  Stephen Hawking was famous for saying that ‘Black holes ain’t so black,’ and so the title here is more than a little bit coincidental, and in fact quite intentional, because the meanings of the two concepts—black holes and ‘shunyata’—are quite similar. Because if the Buddhist concept of ‘shunyata’ is usually translated as ‘emptiness,’ then that is by an English layman’s choice, and is not necessarily the best choice. And if that choice supposes that Buddhism is nihilistic, and that life is meaningless, then nothing could be further from the truth.

  For Buddhism, and Indian philosophy in general, in fact has a long rich and varied history, and every bit the equal of its Greek counterpart on the other side of the great divide between East and West, even if the former is perhaps more spiritual and the latter more materialistic. But they share much common ground for thought, and this is probably no accident, considering that they both shared the northern steppes for a few thousand years and probably shared a few long discussions and debates before blazing campfires, in a proto-Indo-European language, before going their separate ways some 6-8000 years ago.

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  hardie karges 11:02 am on August 16, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), DNA ( 44 ), emptiness ( 29 ), Indo-European, Middle Path ( 53 ), nature ( 17 )   

  Buddhism and the Art of the Path… 

  

  When the world outside imposes limits, then you explore inside, Inner Space, where there are few if any limits. This is the hardest thing for many of us to accept, especially us freedom-junkie Westerners, descendant of Europe and the Indo-European cowboy steppes, some of whom went east and got all meditative, the rest of us long having dallied with the West, and got bored with life on the installment plan, limited to incremental growth and low interest on investment, so we invented capitalism for life in the fast lane, and a convenient alternative to outright combat, while accomplishing largely the same thing, stratification of the races into winners and losers, so as to facilitate social immobility and survival of the fattest…

  So here we are now, some five thousand years later, addicted to our sensations and victims of our adrenaline, having largely conquered the world of Nature and with nowhere else to go but an Outer Space from which there is no return, or an Ocean Deep, where there is no sleep, and the cost of living is high…

  So we return to the predilections of our eastern Indo-Euro cousins, the same ones that we once accused of being the lazy soma-bibbing bumpkins of the clan, but now maybe not so slow or dim-witted after all, they having followed a different path, but of consciousness, not high-rise sky-scraping construction, but a less Nature-defiling path of Inner Space, which, when compared to the alternative of Outer Space, is somehow infinite, if not eternal, so unlimited in Space, if not Time, but on an inner path, not outer, and so protected by the sheaths and membranes of consciousness, not the temporary bulwarks of concrete and steel against bacteria and other forms of DNA that know how to survive against all odds…

  Because Nature will always find a way to survive, if not thrive, because that is what DNA does, once it has been coded, and sent to the factory for reproduction. Thus the path of Nature is a struggle between the twin forces of reproduction and consciousness, existence and non-existence, and the result can only be fruitful, if followed to the letter, and the number, because numbers are crucial to any plan for life, too much and it’s fire, too little and it’s ice, so that path in the middle not only looks nice, but actually is crucial to survival, with only the minimum amount of suffering necessary…

  And that is especially true in Inner Space, the path of least resistance and greatest fruition, whether simple meditative presence or a vast creative innovative Virtual Reality future. The past is certain and unreturnable. The future is a sea of possibilities. The present is a refuge, and a comfortable path between extremes. Suffering is a feeling. Limits are the reality. The only thing without limits is Emptiness…

   
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  hardie karges 7:08 am on December 24, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 428 ), CHRISTIANITY ( 160 ), dipa, double entendre, Hinayana ( 6 ), Indo-European, JESUS ( 21 ), language ( 144 ), Mahayana ( 46 ), nikaya, Pali ( 20 ), religion ( 158 ), sangha ( 12 ), Theravada ( 51 )   

  Buddhism 6399, Pali 201: Double Entendres, Double Intentions? Or not… 

  Evam vadi: “Therefore, O Ananda, be ye lamps unto yourselves. Rely on yourselves, and do not rely on external help. Hold fast to the truth as a lamp. Seek salvation alone in the truth. Look not for assistance to any one besides yourselves.”

  So said the Buddha on his death bed, in his final instructions to the sangha, the Buddhist community, his followers. There’s only one problem, or question, or issue, if you prefer: the Pali word dipa can mean ‘lamp’ or (drum roll here, please)–‘island’. In fact ‘island’ is probably the more frequent translation, given the prominence in Buddhism of that most famous of dipas—Sri Lanka…

  (It does NOT mean ‘light’, not really, as often translated in the statement above, ‘light’ in the sense of that abstract quasi-dimensional entity which has a speed of 186,000mi/300,000km per second and serves as the upper limit of our human-ness, and therefore somewhat defining our status as physical, i.e. not totally spiritual, beings, in a material world, however sentient and well-intentioned)… (More …)