streaming consciousness…

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  hardie karges 3:09 am on April 28, 2024 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: ahimsa ( 7 ), Dalai Lama ( 12 ), Eightfold Path ( 17 ), empathy ( 5 ), Four Noble Truths ( 18 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), Hippocratic Oath ( 3 ), karma ( 49 ), meditation ( 189 ), Middle Path ( 53 ), sympathy   

  Non-Violence: the Original and Noblest Truth of Buddhism…   

  

  ‘First do no harm,’ primum non nocere in Latin, is part of the Hippocratic Oath. It should also be part of the Buddhist Oath. Because nothing is more important, not really, than ahimsa, non-violence, even if it’s not part of the Four Noble Truths or even the Eightfold path, though it could easily be assumed in samma kammanta, samyak karmanta, i.e. right actions, so obvious is the connection. And that karmanta, of course, could also be translated as ‘good karma,’ so think of it that way if you prefer, since most people don’t know that the word karma literally means ‘actions,’ so make a note. 

  Yes, sometimes the simplest and most obvious things are the most important, whether they are ever written up that way or not. Because when the Dalai Lama says that his religion is kindness, that’s exactly what he means, non-violence, for starters, on a sliding scale ranging from sympathy to empathy. And if that sympathy gets you some basic non-violence, then high-style empathy should eventually get you some beginner-level enlightenment, at the least.  

  And from there you can dream of nirvana, if you’re ambitious, or just content yourself with a nice job and a nice family in a nice little town with an active city center and a price line that won’t break your budget. Because the details don’t really matter so much, once you’ve made your peace with the world. You can adapt it to your requirements or adapt yourself to its requirements, or you can Buddha-like split the difference and walk that meandering Middle Path in a sweet spot dialectical dance and reconciliation of opposites. I think you already know my choice. 

  hardie karges and quantumpreceptor are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    quantumpreceptor 3:40 am on May 1, 2024 Permalink | Reply

    I really like the picture one of your last lines left in my mind. “ in a sweet spot dialectical dance and reconciliation of opposites”
    I sometimes see more of a knife edge but I would rather dance and have fun.

    My take on no harm is found here:

    The Paramita of Meaningful Bahavior

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      hardie karges 3:25 am on June 23, 2024 Permalink | Reply

      Nice. Thanks…

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  hardie karges 12:03 pm on February 10, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Dependent Origination ( 7 ), empathy ( 5 ), Hardie Karges ( 239 ), individualism, Marx ( 4 ), religion ( 158 ), society ( 5 ), sympathy   

  Buddhism, the Individual and Society 

  

  

  You see that other person over there? They’re flesh and blood, just like you. You don’t know what they’re going through, so please be kind; manifest your mind. This is one of the side benefits, one of the depth charges, if you will, of Buddhism, maybe not the most obvious, but just possibly the most powerful. That we are not in this world alone, that if we are created from the same causes and conditions, then we are essentially the same person, one person, indivisible, God optional, with liberty and justice for all.

  The simplest word to describe it is empathy, a shot better than sympathy, which implies that you are observing that one there and judging him, her, or it to be worth your while, or your pity, whereas empathy implies that you are literally putting yourself in that one’s shoes and therefore have a very clear feeling of what that feels like. The difference is murky, but I think that pretty well describes it, and while both may be valuable, empathy is more to the point that Buddhism takes care to make in the law of Dependent Origination: there is a process of which we are all part.

  I’m only taking that a step further: if we’re all a part of the same process, then we are all essentially One. So, what? What’s the big deal? Well, it IS a big deal when you realize that Western philosophy has done much the opposite, elevating individualism to primacy, while relegating society to secondary status, as if the family were the only true society and everyone else were simply actors on a stage or consumers in the marketplace. And this is the unspoken assumption of Marx, also, whose theories might actually work if society were one big family. But we’re not, not yet. Buddhism is a start in the right direction.