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  hardie karges 2:49 am on August 17, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 429 ), craving ( 15 ), death ( 5 ), Hardie Karges ( 240 ), language ( 145 ), meditation ( 190 ), philosophy ( 102 ), religion ( 158 ), skillful means, violence ( 7 )   

  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.

   

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  hardie karges 4:48 am on July 21, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 429 ), enlightenment ( 13 ), Hardie Karges ( 240 ), meditation ( 190 ), monkey mind ( 4 ), renunciation ( 15 ), skillful means, wokeness   

  Buddhist Enlightenment and the Means to an End 

  

  True enlightenment is like ripples on still water, radiating outward, never making waves, never causing pain. In other words, Enlightenment is hard to describe. If you think you have it, then you probably really don’t. And if you think you deserve it, then you probably really shouldn’t. But there is something there to be accomplished, without really trying, the placement of self between renunciation and monkey mind, a state of being awake and aware.

  So, why are we so obsessed with it? We Buddhists, that is, some of us, at least. Why does a Buddhist, who technically doesn’t even believe in a self, want to claim to be enlightened? That would seem to be a selfish desire, akin to wearing a gold chain around ones neck, like a cheap date hanging out much too late. But Buddhists aren’t perfect, especially the not-yet-ordained masses who think that ‘being Buddhist’ and talking all ‘spiritually’ somehow conveys a certain status akin to ‘wokeness’, which is what the word really means, after all, i.e. ‘awakened’?

  Maybe there’s a law akin to the Middle Path that states that everything is the opposite of what is claimed? That is, those who claim to be enlightened are the least enlightened, and those who make no such claims are likely the most enlightened? I doubt that the rule would hold in every case, but it might work in a bunch of them. Because the most enlightened being might not speak a word, in fact, and so long as he similarly does not lift a finger to inflict pain to even a cockroach, he is accomplishing much of what the Buddha would recommend. Maybe there should be a principle of strategic inaction, if not complete renunciation. There is. I think it’s called ‘skillful means’.
   
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  hardie karges 4:25 am on May 11, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 429 ), Dalai Lama ( 12 ), emptiness ( 29 ), Hardie Karges ( 240 ), kindness ( 16 ), meditation ( 190 ), philosophy ( 102 ), precepts ( 2 ), shunyata ( 22 ), skillful means   

  Buddhism in a Time of Troubles 

  

  In times of chaos, we need calm minds. In times of crisis and cruelty we need strong hearts. Welcome to the USA, c. 2025. It is a time of peace. It is a time of war. There’s no real way to know what future historians will think about this era, but it probably won’t be good. Goodness is as goodness does, and cruelty just doesn’t count for much, unless you’re engaged in some frightfully fanciful fantasy. But Buddhism is just the opposite of that, and that comes after many a long involved historical dialectic, the likes of which continue to this day.

  But cruelty was never the kicker. Kindness is. The Dalai Lama said it, and I’d second it in a second. In Buddhism you don’t really have to do much of anything, as long as you’re nice about it. In fact, Buddhism is defined more or less by what you’re NOT to do, e.g. the precepts, not to be confused with the commandments, more like the prohibitions. Then there’s Emptiness, ‘shunyata‘, which veritably defines Buddhism by its lack of requirements, meditation being the prime example.

  So, the trick is not to be consumed by the swirl of politics and policies, even when the angst is almost overwhelming. After all, sometimes the worst situations eventually yield the best results. The important thing is to hold fast to certain principles, no matter how difficult that can sometimes be. Then there are ‘skillful means.’ That means that sometimes difficult goals can be accomplished in unfamiliar and unexpected ways. Be creative. The world is waiting patiently.