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  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:20 am on November 16, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , genocide, , , meditation,   

    Buddhism and the Saving Grace of Suffering… 

    Suffering is the raw material for a further and higher evolution of consciousness. The world is neither happy nor sad. It just is. Adjectives come later. I’ve often wondered how such horrendous situations could have existed in the past, in which wholesale slaughters not only occurred, but were commonplace. How could people have possibly been so heartless as to commit such horrible acts of genocide, and gendercide, in which the defeated men were executed point blank while the women and children were enslaved and entrained for further engagement, all so that one group of men could claim superiority over another?

    Because hunger has no heart, and so they had no heart(s), not as we know the concept. The evidence would suggest that such feelings of empathy and sympathy did not even exist at that point in the development of mammalian psychology. Mammalian psychology? WTF?! But think about it, and see if you don’t agree. Because, for millennia, not only humans, but all animals, merely and simply grew, expanded, and multiplied, with probably limited contact except in situations of the hunt, for food.

    Now we can easily see gorillas and chimpanzees performing acts that can only be described as ‘almost human’. Consider the DNA. But extend the concept to include the dogs, the cats, and even the elephants (!) that we consider to be our pets, and the likeness not only continues but expands exponentially. DNA can’t explain all that, certainly not beyond the mammalian similarity and symmetry. So, what could explain all that?

    One possible explanation is that the exponential population expansions which had occurred for millennia (with at least one, probably more, prehistoric bottlenecks), suddenly came to an end as we approached Year 0, and populations struggled to maintain those levels for at least a millennium. So, is evolution self-correcting? Does that evolutionary need for constant population increase mean that people might start to be nice to each other if it means higher populations? Christianity might favor that explanation. Or Jesus might take full credit entirely, from his teaching.

    But I have another idea. We really know very little about what we really want and even less about how to attain it. But we do know what we don’t want, since the only true certainty is negation: not this, not that, not the other. How much death and destruction must be endured before someone gets the idea to try a little tenderness, i.e. kindness and compassion? Ah, that feels good, as long as we’re all one family. Let’s do that. Be kind.

    This life and this world require nothing but kindness and compassion…

     
    • Zohar Leo Palffy de Erdod's avatar

      Zohar Leo Palffy 5:10 am on November 16, 2025 Permalink | Reply

      This is true, but only in potential, not in the structure of the world.
      Suffering itself teaches nothing.
      Only awareness of suffering can teach.
      Some people go through pain and become embittered.
      Others open up.
      The evolution of consciousness is not an automatic result, but a choice that is not available to everyone.
      Therefore, I would clarify:
      Suffering is an opportunity for evolution, not a guarantee of it.

      • hardie karges's avatar

        hardie karges 7:22 pm on December 7, 2025 Permalink | Reply

        Thanks for your comments.

  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:27 am on November 9, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Brahminism, , , , , , , , , , meditation, predetermination,   

    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.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:12 am on November 2, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    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…

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 5:53 am on October 26, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , arhat, , , , , , , meditation, ,   

    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.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:24 am on October 19, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    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.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:22 am on October 12, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    Buddhism 302: Save Yourself, then Save the World 

    Fight the war within your heart and so leave the world at peace. That largely summarized the original Buddhist philosophy in a nutshell, with regard to the world at large, at least. Everything is perfect in its imperfection. It is just what it is, so accept it, and make the best of it. In other words: save yourself, then save the world. First Theravada, then Mahayana. It is useless to try to save the world when you yourself have accomplished nothing yet in your own life.

    And, by accomplishment, I don’t mean the acquisition of stocks and bonds, or stocks and grains and the ties that bind families together. I mean the ability to take that or leave that, all in an appropriate context. Some people still diss the Buddha, because he left his wife and son behind, but I think that they prospered well enough in the arftermath, and the alternative would have been far more disastrous. The Buddha never made any money, but no one was more accomplished. You could say the same for Jesus or Plato, I think.

    Opinions fall flat in the face of reality. It is useless to crave certainty. The only certainty in life is death. Gather flowers along the path. Don’t be in such a hurry. Life is in no rush. The waiting is the best part. Once you grasp something, you will only want more. These are among the many messages that the Buddha left us with, and they all work well, about the need for giving and not craving, the acceptance of change and the inevitability of death. Don’t just stand there. Do something good. More importantly: don’t do anything bad.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:17 am on October 5, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    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.

     
    • Dylan Raines's avatar

      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?

      • hardie karges's avatar

        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!

  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:31 am on September 28, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    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.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:36 am on September 21, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    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.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    hardie karges 2:42 am on September 14, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    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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