Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Semper Fi
Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye", was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, in Central America and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars, and France in World War I. By the end of his career he had received 16 medals, five of which were for heroism. He is one of 19 people to twice receive the Medal of Honor, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.
He became widely known for his outspoken lectures against war profiteering, U.S. military adventurism, and what he viewed as nascent fascism in the United States.In 1935 he wrote the exposé War Is a Racket, a trenchant condemnation of the profit motive behind warfare. His views on the subject are summarized in the following passage:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents." (read more)
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler
What Lies at the Core of Human Conflict?
If the overarching concepts of good and evil were to be stripped away from examples of unimaginable acts of violence of the recent past such as the use of commercial airliners filled with passengers as incendiary devices to destroy the World Trade Center in New York, or the attempt by the leaders of Fascist Germany to exterminate an entire race of human beings, or the use of the atomic bomb – essentially the most awesome and powerful weapon ever devised by human beings – on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the underlying reality would remain the same. In all these examples, large numbers of human being lost their lives under horrific and violent circumstances.
The haunting question is what characteristics of the human brain drive such events. In my thinking, it would be efficacious to examine the behavior of a much simpler organism. The social insect represents a highly successful biological machine, beautiful in its exquisite simplicity. For the purpose of discussion, we will focus on the leaf cutter ant – a species prevalent in the tropics. In relation to the survival of the species, the life and death of the individual leaf cutter ant is of no significance. Each ant is designed to fulfill a particular and essential function. The continued life of the colony is paramount to any other consideration; all behavior is directed towards this goal. In addition, the members of colony fit into distinct groups with particular and precise roles. These roles are exquisitely and genetically programmed and every member does not deviate from its function. This societal architecture precludes violence within the colony. Conflict arises only when the colony must defend itself from attack originating from outside the colony. This particular design is so efficient and successful that the species will endure well into the future as long as planetary conditions are capable of supporting life.
Over the hundreds of millions of years that spanned evolutionary time, the complexity of life increased exponentially, and eventually led to the appearance of Homo sapiens. From the enhanced interconnections of hundreds of billions of neurons within the human brain, sprang self consciousness, and existence suddenly took on meaning beyond considerations of the survival of the species. Within the human brain, the idea of person arose and humans acquired the quality of self awareness. Consciousness brought with it the reality of choice; as individuals we became capable of making choices between alternative paths of behavior. In essence, we suddenly had the capacity for self-direction. We became responsible for our own actions – an aspect of being that was entirely new for life on the planet.
Armed with this new capability, humans inevitably found themselves competing with one another for sustenance. Whether or not the propensity for violence became hard-wired within the human brain as a consequence of the environment of early humans is, of course, a matter of conjecture. In a relatively brief interval of cosmic time – some six million years since our ancestors branched off from the line that yielded the chimpanzee – humans fashioned societies, established diverse cultures, erected cities, contrived advanced technologies and killed each other at an alarming rate.
Collectively, we have assumed the staggering responsibility for the stewardship of the planet. There is sufficient reason to doubt whether humans are competent enough to function effectively at this level. Yet, the choices we can make are clear as well as their respective outcomes. There is reason for hope and equal justification for despair. Nonetheless, the future is ours to shape as our actions dictate.
The haunting question is what characteristics of the human brain drive such events. In my thinking, it would be efficacious to examine the behavior of a much simpler organism. The social insect represents a highly successful biological machine, beautiful in its exquisite simplicity. For the purpose of discussion, we will focus on the leaf cutter ant – a species prevalent in the tropics. In relation to the survival of the species, the life and death of the individual leaf cutter ant is of no significance. Each ant is designed to fulfill a particular and essential function. The continued life of the colony is paramount to any other consideration; all behavior is directed towards this goal. In addition, the members of colony fit into distinct groups with particular and precise roles. These roles are exquisitely and genetically programmed and every member does not deviate from its function. This societal architecture precludes violence within the colony. Conflict arises only when the colony must defend itself from attack originating from outside the colony. This particular design is so efficient and successful that the species will endure well into the future as long as planetary conditions are capable of supporting life.
Over the hundreds of millions of years that spanned evolutionary time, the complexity of life increased exponentially, and eventually led to the appearance of Homo sapiens. From the enhanced interconnections of hundreds of billions of neurons within the human brain, sprang self consciousness, and existence suddenly took on meaning beyond considerations of the survival of the species. Within the human brain, the idea of person arose and humans acquired the quality of self awareness. Consciousness brought with it the reality of choice; as individuals we became capable of making choices between alternative paths of behavior. In essence, we suddenly had the capacity for self-direction. We became responsible for our own actions – an aspect of being that was entirely new for life on the planet.
Armed with this new capability, humans inevitably found themselves competing with one another for sustenance. Whether or not the propensity for violence became hard-wired within the human brain as a consequence of the environment of early humans is, of course, a matter of conjecture. In a relatively brief interval of cosmic time – some six million years since our ancestors branched off from the line that yielded the chimpanzee – humans fashioned societies, established diverse cultures, erected cities, contrived advanced technologies and killed each other at an alarming rate.
Collectively, we have assumed the staggering responsibility for the stewardship of the planet. There is sufficient reason to doubt whether humans are competent enough to function effectively at this level. Yet, the choices we can make are clear as well as their respective outcomes. There is reason for hope and equal justification for despair. Nonetheless, the future is ours to shape as our actions dictate.
Solar Max
The most powerful flare ever observed was the first one to be observed, on September 1, 1859, and was reported by British astronomer Richard Carrington and independently by an independent observer named Richard Hodgson. The event is named the Solar storm of 1859, or the "Carrington event". The flare was visible to a naked-eye (in white light), and produced stunning auroras down to tropical latitudes such as Cuba or Hawaii. The flare left a trace in Greenland ice in the form of nitrates and beryllium-10, which allow its strength to be measured today (New Scientist, 2005). Cliver & Salvgaard (2004) reconstructed the effects of this flare and compared with other events of the last 150 years. In their words: While the 1859 event has close rivals or superiors in each of the above categories of space weather activity, it is the only documented event of the last 150 years that appears at or near the top of all of the lists.
On September 1–2, 1859, the largest recorded geomagnetic storm occurred. Aurorae were seen around the world, most notably over the Caribbean; also noteworthy were those over the Rocky Mountains that were so bright that their glow awoke gold miners, who began preparing breakfast because they thought it was morning. Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed in some cases even shocking telegraph operators. Telegraph pylons threw sparks and telegraph paper spontaneously caught fire. Some telegraph systems appeared to continue to send and receive messages despite having been disconnected from their power supplies.
The last solar maximum was in 2000. The next solar maximum is currently predicted to occur sometime between January and May 2013 and to be one of the weakest cycles since 1928. The unreliability of solar maxima is demonstrated in that NASA had previously predicted the solar maximum for 2010/2011 and possibly to occur as late as 2012. Previously, on March 10, 2006, NASA researchers had announced that the next solar maximum would be the strongest since the historic maximum in 1859 in which the northern lights could be seen as far south as Rome, approximately 42° north of the equator. (read more)
The next solar max could be powerful enough to knock out electric power grids around the world for months or even longer.
(space storm)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
BHUTAN: Taking The Middle Path To Happiness
“Bhutan – Taking the Middle Path to Happiness” is a documentary on the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan and its development policy of “Gross National Happiness.”
Imagine a country where the peoples’ happiness is the guiding principle of government. Imagine a people who see all life as sacred, a land with abundant renewable energy, a nation committed to preserving nature and its culture. Imagine a country where the government’s goal is “Gross National Happiness.” Where is this Shangri-La? Bhutan.
But can a place like Bhutan really exist? Can such ideals be realized? Can this small, geographically isolated country tucked away in the Himalayans truly protect its environment and culture as they open their doors to the West?”
The concept of taking “the middle path” is one rooted in the Bhutanese view of the world, a simple message: happiness lies in the middle path. Neither overindulging in the world’s pleasures nor rejecting the world’s goodness can lead to a prosperous and peaceful society. Happiness can only be found by taking the middle path – the path that provides the needs of mankind without sacrificing the life generating diversity of nature.
But now with Bhutan’s entry into the global marketplace, the introduction of television, advertising and the social pressures of consumerism can Bhutan maintain this delicate balance?
BHUTAN: Taking The Middle Path To Happiness
Friday, May 27, 2011
Kathy Kelly
Kathy Kelly has challenged the use of U.S military power on numerous occasions; she has sought to uplift the dignity and humanity of the victims of that power. According to Milan Rai - a British peace advocate who was arrested in 2005 for refusing to stop reading the names of Iraqi civilians killed during the Second Gulf War - she is, “…someone who has made nonviolence into a passionate confrontation, an active living force.”
Kelly grew up on the Southside of Chicago; she was the third of six children. Her parents met in London during the Blitz – the sustained aerialbombardment of Britain by Nazi Germany during the early part of World War II between September 1940 and May 1941 . Her Dad was a G.I. who had left the Christian brothers and was serving in London. Her mother studied nursing and, as a student, cared for children with disabilities. Prior to that, she was an indentured servant in Ireland and subsequently in England. Ultimately they moved to the United States and settled in Chicago. Her mother had three children in the space of one year.
Kelly grew up in Chicago in the 1950s and 60s. Her family struggled economically; she lived in relatively cramped quarters with her siblings and ended up sleeping on the living couch. It was an epic period in the nation’s history – a time of social upheaval marked by the turmoil generated by involvement of the U.S. government in Vietnam and the strongly polarizing influence of the civil rights movement. It was a time in which the evidence of racism, sexism, militarism and classicism was quite evident.
She attended St. Paul-Kennedy high school and found inspirational teachers there. It was a shared-time experimental school in which she went to the local public school for part of the day. Kelly experienced firsthand the virulent effects of racism that often put Chicago in the national news. Commenting on her own experience at school, Kelly said that it “broke the code of fatalism that was part of my upbringing.” She was particularly impressed with Martin Luther King Jr. and Daniel Berrigan, whose exceedingly controversial anti-war activities were well known at the time and whose life we have examined earlier in this book. There was a particular comment that Berrigan made that remained with Kelly – he said that, “One of the reasons we don’t have peace is that the peacemakers aren’t prepared to make the same sacrifice demanded of the soldiers.” It was during this period in her life that she decided to work actively towards peace.
During the Vietnam War, Kelly was mostly involved from an intellectual perspective – she wrote articles against the war but took no direct action. During her graduate studies at Chicago Theological Seminary, she made the decision to get directly involved in issues of peace and social justice. In the spring of 1977, she moved to an uptown neighborhood of Chicago to work with the Francis Assisi Catholic Worker House. The St. Francis Assisi House of Hospitality is still extant.
Within these houses, such as this one, Catholic Workers live simply within the community, serve the poor, and resist war and social injustice. The Catholic Worker movement, founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, began in 1933,. Its reason for being is based on the principle that every human being has dignity and is deserving of respect and support. This movement continues to thrive with over two hundred active communities.
It was there that she met Roy Bourgeois. He was imprisoned for six months for flinging blood on a poster of his friend, Rutilio Grande, who was assassinated by a member of a death squad in Central America. His story moved Kelly to become involved in more direct action against injustice. At the Catholic Worker House, she also met Karl Meyer, who she was later to marry. He convinced her to join him in an action to protest draft registration; this led to her first arrest and the beginning of her long career of non-violent direct action against injustice. They were married for twelve years.
Kelly ultimately received a Masters degree in religious education and taught at St. Ignatius College Preparatory School. In 1985, she received a professional development grant that took her to Nicaragua. There she met with Miguel D’Escoto, the Foreign Minister who was also part of the Marynoll religious order. He organized a plan to fast for peace in, “defense of life and against contra violence. The Contras were a group of fighters that was financed by the United States and whose goal was to subvert, undermine and eventually overthrow the democratically-elected government led by the Sandinistas, who had an active socialist political agenda. President Ronald Reagan’s administration was eventually implicated in the covert and illegal funding of the Contras, using monies obtained through the illicit sale of military hardware to the government of Iran – the so-called “Iran-Contra” scandal. Kelly was deeply impressed and inspired by D’Escoto’s commitment to peace. As a consequence she quit her position in 1986 at St. Ignatius following her return. In her letter of resignation she said, “I am quitting my job to devote full time to opposing contra aid.”
Kelly became totally dedicated to not only speaking out about that which she felt was detrimental to the causes of peace and social justice but also acting on her beliefs. She became involved in non-violent opposition to U.S. aid to the Contras, nuclear weapons, Israeli government policies regarding the Palestinians, militarism, sanctions against Iraq and its disastrous impact on Iraqi children, U.S. policies in Central America and the Second Gulf War.
In April of 2003, Kelly was instrumental in forming the Voices in the Wilderness group based in Baghdad for the purpose of providing witness to the devastation wrought by U.S. policy in Iraq. Kelly has devoted much of her energy towards exposing the disastrous impact the First and Second Gulf Wars have had on the people of Iraq.
Anticipating the likelihood of the Second Gulf War, Kelly took up residence in Baghdad during the first phase of the American military invasion in March 20, 2003 during so-called “Shock and Awe,” - the expression coined by Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Secretary of Defense at that time. The individual lives that she reported on are testimonials to the horror of warfare that is so often aimed at civilian populations.
As a gauge of Kelly’s own feelings regarding the attack, she stated that, “Yes, we are angry, very angry, and yet we feel deep responsibility to further the nonviolent antiwar efforts that burgeon in cities and towns throughout the world. We can direct our anger toward clear confrontation, controlling it so that we won’t explode in reactionary rage, but rather draw the sympathies of people toward the plight of innocent people here who never wanted to attack the U.S., who wonder, even as the bombs terrify them, why they can’t live as brothers and sisters with people in America.” This statement illustrates the difficult task of remaining non-violent and clear-headed under horrendous circumstances.
On Aril 15, 2003, Kelly reported the following, “Nurses are digging graves in front of the Al Mansour Hospital. Plumes of smoke are rising from the campus of Baghdad University. Other disasters loom, as the Red Cross warns that Baghdad’s medical system is in complete collapse.” Kelly visited the gravely injured and dying who were flooding Iraq’s understaffed and poorly equipped hospitals.
In her testimony before Judge Crocker on October 26, 2003, she attempted to explain her involvement in Iraq during the Shock and Awe campaign. She went on to clarify the role of the Tomorrow House that she had set up in Baghdad. These explanations fell on deaf ears; she was sentenced to spend a month in Federal prison. She subsequently returned to Iraq in August of 2003 to serve as a witness to the horrific consequences of that war.
In April 2004, Kelly was sent to the Pekin Illinois Federal Maximum Security Prison for nine months. She was accused of violations of law pertaining to the delivering of medicines and relief supplies to Iraq. She was previously imprisoned in 2003, as previously mentioned, and in 1989 for a protest against the US Army’s military combat training school in Fort Benning, Georgia.
With equal vigor, Kelly has been active and relentless in defense of the plight of the Palestinians as well. She has been an ardent opponent of war and social injustice wherever it may appear. She has shown remarkable courage, persistence and a relentless tenacity in pursuing what she has felt is right in the face of grievous injustice. On three separate occasions, she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts. Kathy Kelly has been and continues to be an effective voice for the powerless throughout the world.
Kelly grew up on the Southside of Chicago; she was the third of six children. Her parents met in London during the Blitz – the sustained aerialbombardment of Britain by Nazi Germany during the early part of World War II between September 1940 and May 1941 . Her Dad was a G.I. who had left the Christian brothers and was serving in London. Her mother studied nursing and, as a student, cared for children with disabilities. Prior to that, she was an indentured servant in Ireland and subsequently in England. Ultimately they moved to the United States and settled in Chicago. Her mother had three children in the space of one year.
Kelly grew up in Chicago in the 1950s and 60s. Her family struggled economically; she lived in relatively cramped quarters with her siblings and ended up sleeping on the living couch. It was an epic period in the nation’s history – a time of social upheaval marked by the turmoil generated by involvement of the U.S. government in Vietnam and the strongly polarizing influence of the civil rights movement. It was a time in which the evidence of racism, sexism, militarism and classicism was quite evident.
She attended St. Paul-Kennedy high school and found inspirational teachers there. It was a shared-time experimental school in which she went to the local public school for part of the day. Kelly experienced firsthand the virulent effects of racism that often put Chicago in the national news. Commenting on her own experience at school, Kelly said that it “broke the code of fatalism that was part of my upbringing.” She was particularly impressed with Martin Luther King Jr. and Daniel Berrigan, whose exceedingly controversial anti-war activities were well known at the time and whose life we have examined earlier in this book. There was a particular comment that Berrigan made that remained with Kelly – he said that, “One of the reasons we don’t have peace is that the peacemakers aren’t prepared to make the same sacrifice demanded of the soldiers.” It was during this period in her life that she decided to work actively towards peace.
During the Vietnam War, Kelly was mostly involved from an intellectual perspective – she wrote articles against the war but took no direct action. During her graduate studies at Chicago Theological Seminary, she made the decision to get directly involved in issues of peace and social justice. In the spring of 1977, she moved to an uptown neighborhood of Chicago to work with the Francis Assisi Catholic Worker House. The St. Francis Assisi House of Hospitality is still extant.
Within these houses, such as this one, Catholic Workers live simply within the community, serve the poor, and resist war and social injustice. The Catholic Worker movement, founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, began in 1933,. Its reason for being is based on the principle that every human being has dignity and is deserving of respect and support. This movement continues to thrive with over two hundred active communities.
It was there that she met Roy Bourgeois. He was imprisoned for six months for flinging blood on a poster of his friend, Rutilio Grande, who was assassinated by a member of a death squad in Central America. His story moved Kelly to become involved in more direct action against injustice. At the Catholic Worker House, she also met Karl Meyer, who she was later to marry. He convinced her to join him in an action to protest draft registration; this led to her first arrest and the beginning of her long career of non-violent direct action against injustice. They were married for twelve years.
Kelly ultimately received a Masters degree in religious education and taught at St. Ignatius College Preparatory School. In 1985, she received a professional development grant that took her to Nicaragua. There she met with Miguel D’Escoto, the Foreign Minister who was also part of the Marynoll religious order. He organized a plan to fast for peace in, “defense of life and against contra violence. The Contras were a group of fighters that was financed by the United States and whose goal was to subvert, undermine and eventually overthrow the democratically-elected government led by the Sandinistas, who had an active socialist political agenda. President Ronald Reagan’s administration was eventually implicated in the covert and illegal funding of the Contras, using monies obtained through the illicit sale of military hardware to the government of Iran – the so-called “Iran-Contra” scandal. Kelly was deeply impressed and inspired by D’Escoto’s commitment to peace. As a consequence she quit her position in 1986 at St. Ignatius following her return. In her letter of resignation she said, “I am quitting my job to devote full time to opposing contra aid.”
Kelly became totally dedicated to not only speaking out about that which she felt was detrimental to the causes of peace and social justice but also acting on her beliefs. She became involved in non-violent opposition to U.S. aid to the Contras, nuclear weapons, Israeli government policies regarding the Palestinians, militarism, sanctions against Iraq and its disastrous impact on Iraqi children, U.S. policies in Central America and the Second Gulf War.
In April of 2003, Kelly was instrumental in forming the Voices in the Wilderness group based in Baghdad for the purpose of providing witness to the devastation wrought by U.S. policy in Iraq. Kelly has devoted much of her energy towards exposing the disastrous impact the First and Second Gulf Wars have had on the people of Iraq.
Anticipating the likelihood of the Second Gulf War, Kelly took up residence in Baghdad during the first phase of the American military invasion in March 20, 2003 during so-called “Shock and Awe,” - the expression coined by Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Secretary of Defense at that time. The individual lives that she reported on are testimonials to the horror of warfare that is so often aimed at civilian populations.
As a gauge of Kelly’s own feelings regarding the attack, she stated that, “Yes, we are angry, very angry, and yet we feel deep responsibility to further the nonviolent antiwar efforts that burgeon in cities and towns throughout the world. We can direct our anger toward clear confrontation, controlling it so that we won’t explode in reactionary rage, but rather draw the sympathies of people toward the plight of innocent people here who never wanted to attack the U.S., who wonder, even as the bombs terrify them, why they can’t live as brothers and sisters with people in America.” This statement illustrates the difficult task of remaining non-violent and clear-headed under horrendous circumstances.
On Aril 15, 2003, Kelly reported the following, “Nurses are digging graves in front of the Al Mansour Hospital. Plumes of smoke are rising from the campus of Baghdad University. Other disasters loom, as the Red Cross warns that Baghdad’s medical system is in complete collapse.” Kelly visited the gravely injured and dying who were flooding Iraq’s understaffed and poorly equipped hospitals.
In her testimony before Judge Crocker on October 26, 2003, she attempted to explain her involvement in Iraq during the Shock and Awe campaign. She went on to clarify the role of the Tomorrow House that she had set up in Baghdad. These explanations fell on deaf ears; she was sentenced to spend a month in Federal prison. She subsequently returned to Iraq in August of 2003 to serve as a witness to the horrific consequences of that war.
In April 2004, Kelly was sent to the Pekin Illinois Federal Maximum Security Prison for nine months. She was accused of violations of law pertaining to the delivering of medicines and relief supplies to Iraq. She was previously imprisoned in 2003, as previously mentioned, and in 1989 for a protest against the US Army’s military combat training school in Fort Benning, Georgia.
With equal vigor, Kelly has been active and relentless in defense of the plight of the Palestinians as well. She has been an ardent opponent of war and social injustice wherever it may appear. She has shown remarkable courage, persistence and a relentless tenacity in pursuing what she has felt is right in the face of grievous injustice. On three separate occasions, she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts. Kathy Kelly has been and continues to be an effective voice for the powerless throughout the world.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
The Ino's Blog: Counting To Nine | Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
whats more: The Ino's Blog: Counting To Nine | Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
~ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
The Ino's Blog: Counting To Nine
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Counting To Nine
I bought myself another copy of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and I was looking for the explanation of why we do nine prostrations at the beginning of morning service instead of three, which I have heard here many times over the years: Suzuki Roshi thought American students were more stubborn than Japanese and needed more help in letting go of the ego.
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a book of teachings by the late Shunryu Suzuki, a compilation of talks given to his satellite Zen center in Los Altos, California. Published in 1970 by Weatherhill, the book is not academic. These are frank and direct transcriptions of Suzukis' talks recorded by his student Marian Derby. Trudy Dixon and Richard Baker—Baker was Suzuki's successor—edited the talks by choosing those most relevant, arranging them into chapters. According to some, it has become a spiritual classic, helping readers to steer clear from the trappings of intellectualism.
In the book we read,
'After zazen we bow to the floor nine times. By bowing, we are giving up ourselves. To give up ourselves means to give up our dualistic ideas. So there is no difference between zazen practice and bowing. Usually to bow means to pay our respects to something which is more worthy of respect than ourselves. But when you bow to Buddha you should have no idea of Buddha, you just become one with Buddha, you are already Buddha yourself.'
- These last two sentences are ones I should probably memorise, as I often find myself answering a question around this from new students or visiting high school kids - if there is no god in Buddhism, why are you bowing, who are you bowing to?" ~ more
Shunryu Suzuki (鈴木 俊隆 Suzuki Shunryū, dharma name Shōgaku Shunryū 祥岳俊隆) (May 18, 1904 – December 4, 1971) was a Sōtō Zen roshi (Zen Master) who popularized Zen Buddhism in the United States, particularly around San Francisco. Born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, Suzuki was occasionally mistaken for the Zen scholar D.T. Suzuki, to which Shunryu would reply, "No, he's the big Suzuki, I'm the little Suzuki."
Suzuki Roshi dot org (suzukiroshi.org)
• Suzuki Roshi Dharma Talks
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi on YouTube
The purpose of San Francisco Zen Center is to make accessible and embody the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha as expressed in the Soto Zen tradition established by Dogen Zenji in 13th-century Japan and conveyed to us by Suzuki Roshi and other Buddhist teachers. Our practice flows from the insight that all beings are Buddha, and that sitting in meditation is itself the realization of Buddha nature, or enlightenment.
• Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
~ by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
• Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, a Japanese Zen priest belonging to the Soto lineage, came to San Francisco in 1959 at the age of fifty-four. Already a respected Zen master in Japan, he was impressed by the seriousness and quality of "beginner's mind" among Americans he met who were interested in Zen and decided to settle here. As more and more people of non-Japanese background joined him in meditation, Zen Center came into being and he was its first abbot. Under his tutelage, Zen Center grew into City Center, Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He was undoubtedly one of the most influential Zen teachers of his time.
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."
So begins this most beloved of all American Zen books. Seldom has such a small handful of words provided a teaching as rich as has this famous opening line of Shunryu Suzuki's classic. In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the pervasive tendency students have of getting so close to Zen as to completely miss what it's all about. An instant teaching on the first page. And that's just the beginning. In the thirty years since its original publication, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind has become one of the great modern Zen classics, much beloved, much re-read, and much recommended as the best first book to read on Zen. Suzuki Roshi presents the basics—from the details of posture and breathing in zazen to the perception of nonduality—in a way that is not only remarkably clear, but that also resonates with the joy of insight from the first to the last page. It's a book to come back to time and time again as an inspiration to practice.
Purchase Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind from Zen Center's on-line bookstore.
• The Ino's Blog
SOTOZEN-NET official site (english)
• A Message from the Head Priest
ZEN playlist @ rc's youtube channel
TAG THIS PHOTO
see also:
Master of the Shakuhachi & about Zen & Buddhism
Dharma Wheel & About Dharma
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Kenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey ( /ˈkiːziː/; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962), and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a hippie," Kesey said in a 1999 interview with Robert K. Elder.
Kesey attended the University of Oregon's School of Journalism, where he received a degree in speech and communication in 1957, where he was also a brother of Beta Theta Pi. He was awarded a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship in 1958 to enroll in the creative writing program at Stanford University, which he did the following year. While at Stanford, he studied under Wallace Stegner and began the manuscript that would become One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
At Stanford in 1959, Kesey volunteered to take part in a CIA-financed study named Project MKULTRA at the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital where he worked as a night aide with Brian Samuels who later became his partner in a trip around California in a Volkswagen. The project studied the effects of psychoactive drugs, particularly LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, AMT, and DMT on people. Kesey wrote many detailed accounts of his experiences with these drugs, both during the Project MKULTRA study and in the years of private experimentation that followed. Kesey's role as a medical guinea pig, as well as his stint working at a state veterans' hospital, inspired him to write One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1962. The success of this book, as well as the sale of his residence at Stanford, allowed him to move to La Honda, California, in the mountains south of San Francisco. He frequently entertained friends and many others with parties he called "Acid Tests" involving music (such as Kesey's favorite band, The Warlocks, later known as the Grateful Dead), black lights, fluorescent paint, strobes and other "psychedelic" effects, and, of course, LSD. These parties were noted in some of Allen Ginsberg's poems and are also described in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, as well as Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs by Hunter S. Thompson and Freewheelin Frank, Secretary of the Hell's Angels by Frank Reynolds. (read more)
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
painted rust
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. During the evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, it suddenly collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The bridge was Minnesota's fifth busiest, carrying 140,000 vehicles daily. The NTSB cited a design flaw as the likely cause of the collapse, and asserted that additional weight on the bridge at the time of the collapse contributed to the catastrophic failure.
In the years prior to the collapse, several reports cited problems with the bridge structure. In 1990, the federal government gave the I-35W bridge a rating of "structurally deficient," citing significant corrosion in its bearings. Approximately 75,000 other U.S. bridges had this classification in 2007. According to a 2001 study by the civil engineering department of the University of Minnesota, cracking had been previously discovered in the cross girders at the end of the approach spans. The main trusses connected to these cross girders and resistance to motion at the connection point bearings was leading to unanticipated out-of-plane distortion of the cross girders and subsequent stress cracking. In 2005, the bridge was again rated as "structurally deficient" and in possible need of replacement, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Bridge Inventory database.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
A stroke of insight
Or there and back again: Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few neuroscientists would wish for: she had a stroke and witnessed the boundaries, set by the left cerebral cortex of the brain ..disappear. She experienced the ‘enormous and expansive universe’ where we live through the parallel portals of the right cerebral cortex, which was unaffected by the stroke. She returns to tell an astonishing tale.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Plastiki
The Plastiki is a 60-foot (18 m) catamaran made out of 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles and other recycled PET plastic and waste products. The craft was built using cradle to cradle design philosophies and features many renewable energy systems, including solar panels, wind and trailing propeller turbines, and bicycle generators. The frame was designed by Australian naval architect Andrew Dovell. The boat's name is a play on the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft used to sail across the Pacific by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, and its voyage roughly followed the same route.
(read more) (theplastiki.com) (video clip) (junk)
Monday, May 16, 2011
Dumki Jacoba & A Carnival of Revolution
Wojciech Jacob Jankowski
Dumki Jacoba via Google translate - -
"Dumki" emerged in 1994 - 99th Then lived in the woods and mountains, away from the noise, crowds, politics itpodobnych attractions. Generally used to be that I could not sleep until they have shed intrusive thoughts down on paper. Most of these tales to keep printed by various newspapers: The Tri-City "Election", "Mac Pariadka," "Vegetarian World", "kayasa Ochi", "Green Brigade". In 1999 Warsaw Publishing Agency "Here," released them as a book. In 2005, Anarchist Initiative Beskidzka styrała paperback resume. And now opened Tezeuszkowa, ecumenical, virtual space.
With hindsight and experience some of these texts seem to me to be naive, wind, and sometimes "haunted". But yes at times earlier, even as you type. And sometimes, years later, the most "haunted" pieces are revived and embarrassing to me as a specific, life science, absolutely, "impersonally."
Being honest with oneself is bad art. Or perhaps the purpose of this journey? I'm glad I did not threw into the furnace of the "failed", bad stories. Because that's what happens sometimes they inspire, not only me, I guess.
Some time ago the phone rang. The guy thanked him, bought the book "accidentally" in a bookstore. I abandoned the thought of suicide. Thanks. On a larger prize, I could not count. Howgh!
... And I am carrying you
winter rose
I know the tricks of time
take it - for the moment
We will not ...
/ Andrzej Sulima-Suryn /
PROLOGUE
Red rocks, mossy paths, streams, rivers, streams. Increasingly rare, rachitic vegetation. The traveler looked around. He sat down.
Musin, Moon Mountain, from a distance looked inconspicuous. Now, when he rested in the middle of the road to the summit, he saw a powerful, autonomous world. Mountain and sky. In the distance, sharp, snow-capped peaks. Somewhere out there - hen! - Ribbon highway. With all the hustle and bustle of civilized - fragile ribbon.
He smiled. It was a strength. And this power was in it. He saw that human problems are only a delusion. Play it cool. The age-old, wonderful music...
> more Dumki Jacoba: polish original | english translation
"Jacob's Retreat"
- from A carnival of revolution: Central Europe 1989,
via Google books
A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989, Padraic Kenney
at Princeton University Press:
"This is the first history of the revolutions that toppled communism in Europe to look behind the scenes at the grassroots movements that made those revolutions happen. It looks for answers not in the salons of power brokers and famed intellectuals, not in decrepit economies--but in the whirlwind of activity that stirred so crucially, unstoppably, on the street. Melding his experience in Solidarity-era Poland with the sensibility of a historian, Padraic Kenney takes us into the hearts and minds of those revolutionaries across much of Central Europe who have since faded namelessly back into everyday life. This is a riveting story of musicians, artists, and guerrilla theater collectives subverting traditions and state power; a story of youthful social movements emerging in the 1980s in Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and parts of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union."
more Dumki Jacoba: polish original | english translation
Sunday, May 15, 2011
freedom riders
Freedom riders were civil rights activists that rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the United States Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia (of 1960). The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17.
Boynton v. Virginia had outlawed racial segregation in the restaurants and waiting rooms in terminals serving buses that crossed state lines. Five years prior to the Boynton ruling, the Interstate Commerce Commission had issued a ruling in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company that had explicitly denounced the Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine of separate but equal in interstate bus travel, but the ICC had failed to enforce its own ruling, and thus Jim Crow travel laws remained in force throughout the South.
The Freedom Riders set out to challenge this status quo by riding various forms of public transportation in the South to challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation. The Freedom Rides, and the violent reactions they provoked, bolstered the credibility of the American Civil Rights Movement and called national attention to the violent disregard for the law that was used to enforce segregation in the southern United States. Riders were arrested for trespassing, unlawful assembly, and violating state and local Jim Crow laws, along with other alleged offenses.
Most of the subsequent rides were sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), while others belonged to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced "Snick"). The Freedom Rides followed on the heels of dramatic sit-ins against segregated lunch counters conducted by students and youth throughout the South and boycotts beginning in 1960.
The United States Supreme Court's decision in Boynton v. Virginia granted interstate travelers the legal right to disregard local segregation ordinances regarding interstate transportation facilities. But the Freedom Riders' rights were not enforced, and their actions were considered criminal acts throughout most of the South. For example, upon the Riders' arrival in Mississippi, their journey ended with imprisonment for exercising their legal rights in interstate travel. Similar arrests took place in other Southern cities. (read more) (american experience)
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
The Ino's Blog: Study Hall - Shobogenzo
...what you receive with trust is your one verse or your one phrase. Do not try to understand eighty thousand verses or phrases... ~ Dōgen Zenji
Study Hall - Shobogenzo -
Friday, March 11, 2011
"Know that as there are many aspects within the treasury of the true dharma eye, you cannot fully clarify it. Yet the treasury of the true dharma eye is expounded. There is no way you cannot have trust in it. Buddha sutras are like this. There are a number of them, but what you receive with trust is your one verse or your one phrase. Do not try to understand eighty thousand verses or phrases..."
- The Ino's Blog (San Francisco Zen Center)
"Ino" means "director of the meditation hall; supervises, attends, and assigns staffing for all sesshines and ceremonies." The ino leads the chanting service and recites the dedication of service...
正法眼蔵
Shōbōgenzō
(lit. "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye") The term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: (1) It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, (2) it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and (3) it is used in the title of two works by Dogen Kigen... (more @Wikipedia)
Photograph of the title page of the Edition Honzanban (1811) of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō
Dogen's Two Shōbōgenzōs
In Japan and the West, the term Shōbōgenzō is most commonly known as referring to the titles of two works composed by Japanese Zen master Dōgen Kigen in the mid-13th century.
The first, written and completed in 1235, the Shinji Shōbōgenzō, also known as the Mana Shōbōgenzō or Shōbōgenzō Sanbyakusoku, is a collection of 301 koans (public cases) and is written in Chinese, the language of the original texts from which the koans were taken. In this Dōgen was content simply to record the stories without interjecting his own remarks. A few years later, however, he embarked on a major project to develop extended commentaries on many of these and other passages from the Ch'an literature. The fruit of this project was his masterpiece--the remarkable collection of essays known as the kana, or "vernacular", Shōbō genzō.
道元禅師
Dōgen Zenji (also Dōgen Kigen 道元希玄, or Eihei Dōgen 永平道元, or Koso Joyo Daishi) (19 January 1200 – 22 September 1253) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher born in Kyōto, and the founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan after travelling to China and training under the Chinese Caodong lineage there. Dōgen is known for his extensive writing including the Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma or Shōbōgenzō, a collection of ninety-five fascicles concerning Buddhist practice and enlightenment.
The later Kana Shōbōgenzō consists of an overlapping assortment of essays and commentaries written in Japanese; different versions of the Kana Shōbōgenzō contain different sets of texts. (See: Heine, Dogen and the Koan Tradition)
When referring to Dogen's works, the term Shōbōgenzō by itself more commonly refers to the Kana Shōbōgenzō.
Study Hall - Shobogenzo
Friday, March 25, 2011
'Face-to-Face Transmission', 'Menju', is a lot of fun; Dogen gets personal, both for himself, and with an ad hominem section in the postscript:
If you do not realize the fruit at this moment, when will you realize it?
If you do not cut off delusion at this moment, when will you cut off delusion?
If you do not become a buddha at this moment, when will you?
If you do not sit as a buddha at this moment, when will you practice as an active buddha?
Diligently examine this in detail...
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see also -
• Shōbōgenzō @Wikipedia
• Shobogenzo links at "Hey Bro! Can You Spare Some Change?" (top of right column)
• diamond sutra at whats more blog
• dharma wheel at whats more blog
• more about Buddhism at whats more blog
• The Ino's Blog: Counting To Nine | Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind at whats more blog
Thursday, May 12, 2011
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