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hardie karges
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hardie karges
Buddha Talk: The Karma of Intent…
If Buddhism is an open doctrine, it needs to be updated frequently. If it’s a closed doctrine, then it loses relevance over time. All of which is to say that the Buddha was a real person, with real thoughts and feelings, not just some otherworldly manifestation emanating from above in some transcendental livestream, as some of the Mahayanists might prefer it, they with bills to pay and demons to slay and Taoists just nipping at their heels waiting for the price of real estate to stabilize.
But dharma practice doesn’t have to be hard and cold. It can be soft and warm and still non-clinging. People think of something often referred to as ‘the law’ as something written in stone and cruel in its intentions. But that is not the case with Buddhism. Buddhism is a philosophy, and one that is measured by its results, not just its intentions. And those results are palpable, from the ‘calm abiding’ produced by meditation to the long-term mindfulness produced by ongoing practice.
If you’re in it for the bliss, then good luck with that, because it’s a bit uncertain and a bit difficult to measure subjectively or objectively. Personally, I prefer the increased certainty of lesser expectations that accompany devotion to the Middle Path that defines Buddhism. Because that is not a cheap shortcut designed to increase the coffers while padding the rolls. No, that is intrinsic to that which is Buddhism and which is honest to a fault. To avoid extremes is to avoid mistakes. The only certainty is negation, but that is not always a viable approach to a situation that needs action, karma, honest effort.
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hardie karges
Buddha Talk: Buddhism and Language, With and Without…
Language is a tool, not a weapon. It is a gift, not a curse. It all depends on the circumstances, time and place and details of the chase. To be honest, it is almost impossible to imagine life without language, since not only do we habitually think in a language, but for many people the two are inseparable. And that is why meditation is practiced, is it not? Yes, I think it is, because we can think without it, using what I often call ‘mental maps’.
Now, meditators and fellow travelers can gleam and bliss out about ‘insight’ and ‘calm abiding’, but the modus operandi is to cut off the language, or at least slow it down, if not exactly swatting thoughts away like flies on our windshields. The fruit of this activity is not something we can control, but only comment upon, for better or worse. Meditation may or may not provide ‘calm abiding’, much less insight, though those are worthy goals, I feel, but it can reduce the dependency on language, and that helps. It’s interesting that in some languages, to think and to feel are interchangeable concepts, but not so much in English.
The important point to remember is that not only are thought and language not synonymous, but the one is not even necessary for the other. Because, not only do animals think without language, but so do computers, i.e. they use machine language. Machine language is binary, 0’s and 1’s, and its (Boolean) logic corresponds to that, more than, less than, equal to, etc., i.e. ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘not’. This can just as (or more) easily correspond to all the phenomena of existence as the more familiar Aristotelian logic that we are familiar with, variations on if/then syllogisms. Your dog and cat have little need for that, and you could probably do with less. All you really need is mindfulness.
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hardie karges
Buddhism 499: the Other Cause of Dukkha (Suffering)…
I came into this world kicking and screaming. I hope to leave it in peace. And, while on the surface, that doesn’t seem like so much to ask, in reality, it is among the most difficult. Because, if it were so easy, then wouldn’t we all just snap our fingers as if to say, “I’ll have that,” and then just sit back and enjoy life? And it is that easy, isn’t it? But we don’t do that, do we? Why can’t we all just have a plot of land, rent optional, growing anything and everything we want, and then supplement that with whatever else we want to do? Good question.
The obvious answer to that would be: disease, sickness, and death, of course, the likes of which are capable of stalling any boomer’s big plans with enough reality in the fire hose to kill deals with a simple stroke of the brush. But the extended answer is so circuitous and illogical that we wonder why we didn’t think of it ourselves: craving, desire, greed, selfishness, anger, hatred, etc? Sound familiar? Of course. It sounds like the Buddhist Eightfold Path in reverse, climbing hills and dragging heavy loads on rough pavement, rather than coasting to easy victory.
Because this is our fate as humans, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, in the name of abundance, rather than enjoy our easy victories as homo sapiens ‘wise man’ humans and spread it around equally. Blame it on (our) language(s), if you must, that mental activity of multiplying and dividing thoughts and feelings into times and circumstances, that seem to ensure a checkerboard existence, but the results are no different for our brothers and sisters in the animal kingdom. Loss of a family member or friend leads to sadness, no matter the circumstances, and dealing with that is the lesson to be learned. The Buddha considered that too obvious to mention, I guess. Be kind.
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hardie karges
Buddhism and Non-Duality…
If Buddhism acknowledges no soul, then there should be fewer ‘dark nights of the soul’, and more sunshine and happiness. But it doesn’t always work that way, of course. Because dark nights of the soul are a good metaphor for something that probably has its basis elsewhere, and very possibly in our languages themselves, though it might be hard to know what is cause and what is effect, since all Indo-European languages are constructed similarly, no surprise, and so all have a certain amount of duality built in.
Now, I’ve never called myself a ‘non-dualist’ before, but not because I thought there was nothing there to discuss, but just because I thought that there was maybe not as much as most ‘non-dualists’ were implying. Because if non-duality specifically states that there is no separation between Atman (soul) and Brahman (ultimate reality), as Hinduism clearly states, then Buddhism dealt with that issue long ago by simply denying the existence of any soul, much less the cosmic one that classic Hinduism favors.
But the dualism of language persists, in which subjects do all kinds of things to objects which modern linguists and literary editors have no apologies for. Nothing happens by accident or without an actor acting upon a subject, passive voice be damned. A book written in English language passive voice will not be published in the USA, no matter how accurate or convincing. But Hindi is much more open to that phenomenon of language, so is Spanish, and presumably others.
So, we English speakers are the victims of our own critical thinking, which causes us so many problems of guilt by association with events over which we have no control. But if we insist that nothing happens by accident, then there we hang in the chasm of uncertainty, which is largely of our own creation, in that we create and mold our language to certain styles and norms. There lies much of the dark night of the soul. That’s why meditation is so helpful in reducing the inequities of language.
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hardie karges
A Buddhist Theory of Knowledge
You can learn from the Buddha or you can learn from a virus. The message is largely the same: Do no harm. The virus IS normal. That is the realization. Dealing with it has the opportunity for enlightenment. This is the hand we were dealt: old age, sickness and death. That is the stuff of enlightenment, for those fortunate enough to get that close to the underlying truth of the simulation of reality in forms that our bodies (and minds) are equipped to process. Nothing can change that underlying nature of reality, nor our only partial ability to understand it.
And that is a fundamental truth in itself, our inability to ever truly understand it, totally and completely. It’s a shame that they don’t tell you that at the beginning of every beginning science class: this is only a partial understanding of what there is to know. Does that mean that the laws of science are wrong? No, only that they are incomplete. And they may be incomplete, not only in our knowledge of them, but in their own characteristics and capabilities. Like AI, the laws of science may be learning, not only in what they are, but in what they are capable of being.
Evolution is one of my favorite subjects, and natural selection is key to that, the somewhat mechanical need to reproduce that every DNA cell seems to have at its heart. But we only know a world that is constantly growing, thanks largely to that same urge. But that’s a world largely empty until recently. But I believe that evolution is self-correcting, also, the same instincts that can save human population decline can also correct over-population, details to be worked out later. That’s the future. But it’s still only a simulation, as Buddhism heavily implies, if never states outright. We don’t perceive protons and electrons, tachyons and quarks. We perceive houses and trees, light and sound.
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hardie karges
Buddhism and the Karma of Intent…
If Buddhism is an open doctrine, it needs to be updated frequently. If it’s a closed doctrine, then it loses relevance over time. All of which is to say that the Buddha was a real person, with real thoughts and feelings, not just some otherworldly manifestation emanating from above in some transcendental livestream, as some of the Mahayanists might prefer it, they with bills to pay and demons to slay and Taoists just nipping at their heels waiting for the price of real estate to stabilize.
But dharma practice doesn’t have to be hard and cold. It can be soft and warm and still non-clinging. People think of something often referred to as ‘the law’ as something written in stone and cruel in its intentions. But that is not the case with Buddhism. Buddhism is a philosophy, and one that is measured by its results, not just its intentions. And those results are palpable, from the ‘calm abiding’ produced by meditation to the long-term mindfulness produced by ongoing practice.
If you’re in it for the bliss, then good luck with that, because it’s a bit uncertain and a bit difficult to measure subjectively or objectively. Personally, I prefer the increased certainty of lesser expectations that accompany devotion to the Middle Path that defines Buddhism. Because that is not a cheap shortcut designed to increase the coffers while padding the rolls. No, that is intrinsic to that which is Buddhism and which is honest to a fault. To avoid extremes is to avoid mistakes. The only certainty is negation, but that is not always a viable approach to a situation that needs action, karma, honest effort.
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hardie karges
Buddhism and the Sounds of Silence…
Sometimes silence is the best way to celebrate. Not that celebration is necessary, ever, for any reason, but if it is desired, for some reason, then silence is not a bad way to go about it. Because our lives in this world have advanced beyond the simple survival of the individual and by extension the species, to the point where we are at the point of destroying everything we’ve accomplished by the fact that we have over-produced and over-reproduced.
Our individual lives are no longer in imminent danger. But the lives of the species are in terrible danger. And the well-being of the individual is similarly impacted, if no longer in immediate danger of destruction. Still, we have been very successful over the course of our existence, and if that calls for celebration, then let it be silent. Because silence is Buddhism’s secret weapon, best seen in the practice of meditation. And if we need to celebrate in order to propagate, then let it be here, in silence, not in the screaming of flesh.
The path is not always straight or easy. It often seems to go in circles. Patience is the key that unlocks the door to freedom. But this is not an absolute freedom in the Western sense, the freedom to do this and that. That’s a boy’s dream. Girls have responsibilities to fate and the future. That requires discipline and diligence, karma in the truest sense of actions and reactions. That requires little or no flash or flare, just dedication to the cause of righteousness–truth, beauty, and goodness. That is the Middle Path.
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hardie karges
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.
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hardie karges
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.
streaming consciousness... 
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