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  hardie karges 2:27 am on November 9, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Brahminism, Buddhism ( 437 ), change ( 5 ), CHRISTIANITY ( 161 ), cosmological constant ( 2 ), eternal life ( 3 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), karma ( 51 ), language, Mahayana ( 47 ), meditation ( 198 ), predetermination, reincarnation ( 14 )   

  Buddhism and the Conundrum of Change 

  

  Change is not a cause of suffering if things are getting better all the time. That’s the Buddha’s only conceptual mistake, and that’s what makes him so real. The Mahayanists tried to make him perfect, as some transcental manifestation should be, but the historical Buddha was first and foremost a real person with real-world problems, which he tried to renounce, of course. Some modern women take offense to the fact that he left his wife and child behind, but that must be seen within the context. They were well cared for.

  But his conceptual blunder, just like Einstein’s ‘cosmological constant’, Jesus’s birds with nests but no barns, and Plato’s perfect dictatorship, show his intrinsic humanity. Everything is subject to revision, and everything is subject to change, even concepts. That is a conceptual necessity, since it can never be proven one way of the other, anyway. But if life is predetermined, then there is no reason to act, either good or bad, and karma loses meaning. Change may appear to be a cause of suffering, if your high status is diminished, but that probably says more about superficial status than change itself.

  Christianity thrives on the optimism that change hopefully brings, of course, and the Buddha was certainly right to call BS on that, of course, even if Christianity as such didn’t exist at the time. Bhahmanism did, though, and there are very real similarities. Eternal life is a plaything of children, and we have better things to do, reincarnation ditto. This life and this world require nothing but kindness and compassion.

   

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  hardie karges 2:12 am on November 2, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 437 ), compassion ( 14 ), consciousness ( 29 ), empathy ( 5 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), language, meditation ( 198 ), religion ( 161 ), self ( 20 )   

  Buddhism in the End Days: Empathy and Sympathy 

  

  Create a world in your image and likeness, full of empathy and compassion. Then the problems of self and self-image exist no longer. Because these are universal blessings, the gifts of one human to another, which can only be accomplished with conscious intent. Nature offers no such promise, it full of suffering, however unintended. Nature doesn’t care. Only humans can care, and this is our responsibility on the face of this earth.

  Pandits and pundits quibble over whether anything is real beside consciousness, but this is unimportant. The important thing is that there IS consciousness, and it is capable of accomplishing much, if only we take the time to make the effort. If that requires a makeover of your own image at the same time, then so be it, more power to you. If humans need a self to have and to hold, until death do us part, then that is a small price to pay. Make it a good one. That is the responsibility of every serious artist, to make it a good one. So, start with yourself; what better place?

  Our time on this earth and in this space is limited, most likely, so time is of the essence. We are young and foolish, by design of our creator, it of pure and simple logic, but few means to enforce it. That is up to us, to enforce logic and reason with the passing of seasons, as if by Divine Creation, even though any true creator would only laugh, if it has that capability. We are the prophets of providence, not by our cleverness, but by our empathy. Only we can make this world what it is meant to be, because only we know what it is meant to be…
   
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  hardie karges 5:53 am on October 26, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Alpha male ( 9 ), arhat, bodhisattva ( 9 ), Buddhism ( 437 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), kilesha ( 11 ), language, Mahayana ( 47 ), meditation ( 198 ), religion ( 161 ), Theravada ( 52 )   

  Buddhism In an Imperfect World. The world outside… 

  

  The world outside may be cruel and cold, but the world inside can be perfect. This is implicit in the Buddhist teachings, Theravada especially, before the Mahayana emphasis on the Bohisattva’s sacrifice of enlightenment until all sentient beings can join in the awakening. And, if that seems selfish of the Theravadins, then it’s not, not really. It’s simply a recognition that the challenges are many and the awakenings are few, in an imperfect world, with few Bodhisattvas available, so maybe being a satisfied arhat might be better.

  Because, even if the world were infinite, with no need for competition, there would still be the challenges of hate, anger and greed. Those are the kileshas that haunt all of us, rich or poor, no matter our status or our position in life. And competition is a function of greed, no matter that there might be an infinite abundance, somehow somewhere. No alpha male is worried about getting his share of the offerings. He wants them all, or at least a controlling interest, no matter that there is plenty to go around.

  That is the difference between us and the animal kingdom, the ability to reason and ration any scarcity of resources fairly amongst all interested parties. That is why the alpha male is an anachronism in the world of humans, strutting his stuff as if he were king of the jungle. For the human race to advance, we must leave the jungle behind, and any notion of a warrior ethos that defines us. It doesn’t. It only divides us.

   
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  hardie karges 2:24 am on October 19, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: awareness ( 5 ), Buddhism ( 437 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), Indo-European ( 5 ), language, meditation ( 198 ), religion ( 161 ), 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 2:17 am on October 5, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 437 ), Dalai Lama ( 12 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), language, meditation ( 198 ), silence ( 13 ), 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 ( 437 ), consciousness ( 29 ), DNA ( 45 ), empathy ( 5 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), kilesha ( 11 ), language, meditation ( 198 ), mind ( 6 ), mindfulness ( 35 ), 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 ( 437 ), consciousness ( 29 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), karma ( 51 ), language, meditation ( 198 ), 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 ( 437 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), language, meditation ( 198 ), Pali ( 20 ), samatha ( 4 ), Sanskrit ( 22 ), Vipassana ( 15 )   

  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 ( 437 ), consciousness ( 29 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), language, meditation ( 198 ), Right Action (karma) ( 2 ), samma vaca ( 8 ), silence ( 13 )   

  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 3:02 am on August 24, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 437 ), CHRISTIANITY ( 161 ), compassion ( 14 ), Hardie Karges ( 248 ), karuna ( 9 ), kindness ( 16 ), language, lovingkindness ( 16 ), meditation ( 198 ), metta ( 25 ), Middle Path ( 55 ), religion ( 161 ), 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.