My last post on Late-Capitalist Youth looked at Nietzsche’s call to control our passions, in order to gain a sense of freedom and new direction for our lives—but the Buddha looked at self-overcoming as well. To move towards a new patterning for our desires, we need to have some space for the conditioned systems of the past. We do not have the willpower to control ourselves when we continue to give into old patterns of release and association. Only when we control our past conditioning can new directions arise.
The Buddha gave a detailed account of this mechanism. The feeling of pleasure or displeasure that arises during sense experience is based on habituation from the past.
The Buddha gave a detailed account of this mechanism. The feeling of pleasure or displeasure that arises during sense experience is based on habituation from the past. For the Buddha, what we do in the instant after a habituated reaction of pleasure or pain is critical. That next intentional moment of wanting or avoiding determines the existential contribution to our future habituation. It is only in the present moment of decision that one has control over future effects of the thoughts and actions one has set in motion in the past. Through mindfulness and meditation one can develop the patience, freedom from impulse, and open mental spaciousness to actually gain a degree of intentionality in each moment of experience.
As with Nietzsche’s understanding of self-overcoming, the first step to gaining a sense of freedom is examining and dissecting our unconscious habituation. For both the Buddha and for Nietzsche, motivation and purpose remain almost entirely unconscious (for the former in the form of karma, for the latter in the form of the larger perspective and narrative that forms our identity). Human freedom, responsibility and meaning rest in the limited and often minute moments of lucid clarity in which we recognize our habits and think, act and feel in new, less afflicted patterns. Read More …
I’ve been wondering to myself, what does the name Earth Store mean?
Earth Store (Chinese: 地藏 Dìzàng) session started on Sunday, and just like in other retreats, we will be spending a good deal of time reciting Earth Store Bodhisattva’s name. Partly because of this, and partly due to my own curiosity, I’ve been wondering to myself, what does the name Earth Store mean? Sometimes going character by character helps me get a better understanding of the meanings of words. The first character of the name is fairly straightforward. The word “earth” has, as far as I can tell, the same meaning in English as its Chinese complement 地 dì. It can refer either to the element earth, or to the ground that we stand on. It also carries the meanings of a source of abundance and stability.
The second character, 藏 zàng (Sanskrit: gharba, English: store) is much more nuanced linguistically, philosophically, and also in practice (Clara also made a comment about the interesting interpretations of this word a few posts back.) It is often translated to mean “storehouse” or “treasury,” and the word in Chinese also has the sense of hoarding something or hiding it away. The original Sanskrit word gharba has the additional meaning of “womb” or “embryo,” imbuing it with a sense of not only storing material, but also of hiding away some source of future life. Read More …
As Lacan and Zizek point out, our dissatisfaction begins with a sense of lack. For Lacan this lack is basic to our psyche.
Why did each of us get so confused and dissatisfied with such a simple project? We are conscious and aware. If we have enough to eat, a place to stay, and a few people to hang out with, everything is perfect. Our attention moves smoothly from one perception to another, one thought to another, one emotion to another. Life is complete, simple, full, and fundamentally content. But no, we have to make our interpretation of experience so complicated with endless dissatisfaction and frustration. As Lacan and Zizek point out, our dissatisfaction begins with a sense of lack. For Lacan this lack is basic to our psyche. Going back to a very early age, we feel a lack due to a narcissistic misunderstanding. Since early childhood, we have projected a sense that we are the focus of the universe. We were never actually loved with the kind of undivided attention that we imagined. Nevertheless, we spend the rest of our lives attempting to regain this love and regard that was never there, but always missed.
If we could get to the bottom of this lack and transform our consciousness to a sense of fullness, tranquility, and spaciousness, the lack would disappear and we would be content.
This constant lack drives us to desire one object after another, hoping that each will satisfy this gnawing dissatisfaction. Of course none do. Modern capitalism is the perfect match for this lack, offering us endless objects and experiences, expertly packaged for the desires that, in turn, feed this relentless black hole of lack. The Buddha also taught about this fundamental problem. He taught that our basic dissatisfaction was constantly driven by a sense of lacking that was created from within our experience. If we could get to the bottom of this lack and transform our consciousness to a sense of fullness, tranquility, and spaciousness, the lack would disappear and we would be content. Read More …
For me, authentic creativity comes from nothingness, from the space we open to possibility. Other forms of creation are reactionary, responses to immediate stimuli propelled by past habituations. They are imitations of an object or how we imagine others might respond to this object and its so-called creator.
Jason brings up an important point, namely that spacing space (to use Heidegger’s terminology) requires letting go of the fluttering excitement of what seems essential in the moment. Jason mentions building friend networks, establishing a home, and contributing to financial security. For me, my safety and protection centers around my education and the people who teach me. When I sit in meditation and try to space space, I notice that my mind moves, calculating strategies for completing my work, preparing to teach, responding to people, planning menus, etc. All of these things reinforce a sense of self in that moment. They all respond to some kind of fear or desire. The longer I sit, the more I can recognize that there is no substance to these thoughts that arise, and yet they can feel so important in the moment. Even the stimulation from being around so many people at the start of the semester, which earlier in the week caused me to retreat, later in the week was hard to let go of in meditation because the endorphins feel good. The more I can learn to be comfortable in the nothingness, to be comfortable with the sense of pain and not label it pain, the more I stand to gain from the infinite potential of every moment.
In a recent article (which alternated between funny and cheekily serious, definitely worth a read), Scott Adams (the creator of the comic strip, Dilbert), asserts that boredom is good for us. The moments in our lives when we are not stimulated are ever dwindling–this has a huge detrimental effect on our creativity, and by extension, on ourselves and the world. Adams concluded on a cautionary note:
It’s the sort of trend that could literally destroy the world without anyone realizing what the root problem is. A lack of creativity always looks like some other problem. If no one invents the next great thing, it will seem as if the problem is tax rates or government red tape or whatever we’re blaming this week.
… the other day at a small party of five close friends, I noticed the smart phone apps and mini-games coming out whenever conversations became unstimulating.
I definitely agree with his point. Tools to banish boredom have proliferated in availability and usage. This has been on my mind for a while, and the other day at a small party of five close friends, I noticed the smart phone apps and mini-games coming out whenever conversations became unstimulating. Looking at my own experience, as well as reports online, it’s becoming more and more clear to me that this is changing the way people interact, not only with others, but also with the activity of their own minds.
As information proliferates in volume and immediacy (an idea articulated in Alexandra’s recent post, “Making Time to Make Sense”), our mental space for contemplation of less immediate concerns can become smaller and smaller. Read More …
The Walk to Feed the Hungry charity event, organized by Buddhist Global Relief, will be held on September 10 and 11. BGR is an interdenominational organization comprising various Buddhist groups. With an overarching vision to alleviate and ultimately banish poverty, BGR is involved in projects that build capacity and provide food aid to countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Haiti, India, Kenya, Niger, and the United States.
Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi introduces Buddhist Global Relief
BGR Walk to Feed the Hungry will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area (September 11), New York City (September 10), and Milford, Michigan (September 10). Everyone is invited join the walk and/or make a donation. Volunteers are also welcome. Registration is required for the walk, and the registration deadline is September 8. To register and for the most up-to-date event information, please visit the event websites for each city.
Some of us will be joining the September 11 walk in the Bay Area, a 17-mile route from San Jose to Palo Alto, with Ajahn Guna and Sister Santussika. Read More …
Just like that, we’re off to a new academic year at DRBU! During Orientation last week, keynote speaker Dharma Master Heng Chih invited participants to ponder the following verse by the Venerable Master.
不生煩惱莫疑心
總要管己少管人
多認不是莫爭理
安然清淨智慧生
— 宣化上人
By putting afflictions and doubts to rest,
By watching ourselves more and others less,
By admitting our faults without making excuses,
In that calm clarity, wisdom emerges.
— Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
We visited Taiwan for several weeks and witnessed the marked ascendency of Asian economic dynamism grounded on a functional culture and rational economic policies. There is a good balance between free-market capitalism, functional social values and pragmatic public expenditures. The speed of economic growth and social optimism during the last 20 years is in marked contrast to the astounding decline of the American middle class since the absolutist take over of America by its oligarchy and the realistic pessimism and cynicism that has set in particularly on the part of its youth. In the current political and economic insanity the future for the youth of America looks very grim. The seemingly infinite personal greed and absolute control of the oligarchs in America seems unbreakable with both political parties, all popular media, and all sources of power in the hands of less than one percent of the population.
Written in the early 1980’s they described the history of late modern capitalism wherein money for money’s sake would take the place of money related to labor and production.
Deleuze and Guitarri were accurate prophets of the forces behind our current demise in their classic work Anti-Oedipus. Written in the early 1980’s they described the history of late modern capitalism wherein money for money’s sake would take the place of money related to labor and production. Money as a virtual symbol of power would no longer be earned by producers and workers, but held in the hands of a capital class that produces nothing but money. Of course this would lead to the demise of the working and middle class and wipe out their power to consume, but such recessions and depressions are good for the money capitalists because it further disempowers the lower 90 percent of economic society, putting ever greater power in the hands of the monied and their bankers. Endless bubbles and crashes allow the monied to increase their hold on power. Read More …
To describe the meaning of dharmas is the purpose of this blog. The posts draw on genuine experiences of individuals with different backgrounds and voices. They are brief and discrete, and co-arise with the collective consciousness of our time to bring about the “news of difference.” With an open mind, one can look into these reflections to catch a glimpse of our absolute interconnectedness—to each other, to the world of beings, and to our environment.
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