Thursday, December 25, 2014
Choosing Our Attitude
"[Victor] Frankl wrote, 'We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms----to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.' "----The Wise Heart----Jack Kornfield
Our Fundamental Nobility.
"Buddhist teachings help us to face our individual suffering, from shame and depression to anxiety and grief. They address the collective suffering of the world and help us to work with the source of this sorrow: the forces of greed, hatred, and delusion in the human psyche. While tending to our suffering is critical, this does not eclipse our fundamental nobility."---The Wise Heart--Jack Kornfield
Believe in Our Goodness.
" Robert Johnson, the noted Jungian analyst, acknowledges how difficult it is for many of us to believe in our own goodness."---The Wise Heart--Jack Kornfield
"It is more disrupting to find that you have a profound nobility of character than to find out you are a bum."--Robert Johnson
"It is more disrupting to find that you have a profound nobility of character than to find out you are a bum."--Robert Johnson
Buddhism not a religion...
"Buddhist teachings are not a religion,
they are a science of mind."
-The Dalai Lama
Both of the images below are available for "print on demand" as posters, framed prints, canvas prints, acrylic prints, metal prints, iphone cases, throw pillows, duvee covers and greeting cards from:
www.peter-gumaer-ogden.fineartamerica.com
peterogden7x7@yahoo.com
Below: " Buddhist Dharma Wheel 1. " 2011 digitally enhanced photograph by Peter Gumaer Ogden from Quan Am Buddhist Temple, Utica, New York.
Below: " Buddhist Dharma Wheel 2. " 2011 digitally enhanced photograph by Peter Gumaer Ogden from Quan Am Buddhist Temple, Utica, New York.
Both of the images below are available for "print on demand" as posters, framed prints, canvas prints, acrylic prints, metal prints, iphone cases, throw pillows, duvee covers and greeting cards from:
www.peter-gumaer-ogden.fineartamerica.com
peterogden7x7@yahoo.com
Below: " Buddhist Dharma Wheel 1. " 2011 digitally enhanced photograph by Peter Gumaer Ogden from Quan Am Buddhist Temple, Utica, New York.
Below: " Buddhist Dharma Wheel 2. " 2011 digitally enhanced photograph by Peter Gumaer Ogden from Quan Am Buddhist Temple, Utica, New York.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Monday, October 20, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
The prayer house was like a barracks.
It was odd but no sooner did Yasha find himself in a House of Prayer than he began taking stock of his soul. True, he had alienated himself from the pious but he had lost everything: Emilia, his career, his health, his home. Emilia's words returned to him, "You must have some sort of a covenant with God since he punishes you so promptly." Yes, Heaven kept a sharp lookout over him. Possibly it was because he had never stopped believing. But what did they want of him? Earlier that day he had known what was required--that he keep to the path of righteousness as had his father before him and his father's father before that. Now he was again a prey to doubts. Why did God need these capotes, these sidelocks, these skullcaps, these sashes? How many more generations would wrangle over the Talmud? How many more restrictions would the Jew put on himself? How much longer would they wait for the Messiah, they who had already waited two thousand years? God was one thing, these man-made dogmas another. But was one able to serve God without dogmas? How had he, Yasha, come to be in his present predicament? He most certainly would not have been involved in all these love affairs and other escapades if he had put on a fringed garment and had prayed thrice daily. A religion was like an army--to operate it required discipline. An abstract faith inevitably led to sin. The prayer house was like a barracks; there God's soldiers were mustered.
From The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1960.
From The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1960.
"The house of prayer was like a barracks." Photo: "Gothic Revival Church with Shattered Window, Utica, N.Y." copyright 2013 Peter Gumaer Ogden.
If Moses had been a woman....
From The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1960.
You can do anything.
" You can do anything, you only need to know how."
-From The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1960.
-From The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1960.
Inventing Gods and Idols.
"The whole world worships idols," the rabbi muttered. "They invent gods and they serve them."
From Something Is There, Part 9. by Isaac Bashevis Singer
From Something Is There, Part 9. by Isaac Bashevis Singer
From "Journey of the Magi" by Benozzo Gozzoli, 1459-1461. Medici Chapel, Florence, Italy.
Chazkele wants the truth about God.
"A modern Polish Rabbi..."
Even in cheder, Chazkele began to ask questions about God. If God is merciful, why do small children die? If he loves Jews, why do the Gentiles beat them? If He is the Father of all creatures, why does he allow the cat to kill the mouse? Our teacher, Fishele, was the first to predict that Chazkele would grow up a nonbeliever. Later, when Chazkele began to study in the study house house, he plagued the principal of our yeshiva, Reb Ephraim Gabriel, with his queries. He found all kinds of contradictions in the Bible and in the Talmud. For example, in one place it is written that God cannot be seen and in another that the elders ate and drank and saw him. Here it is said that the Lord doesn't punish the children for the sins of their fathers and elsewhere that He takes revenge on the third and fourth generations. Reb Ephraim Gabriel tried to explain these things as well as he could, but Chazkele would not be put off so easily. The enlightened ones in Malopol were pleased with Chazkele's heresies, but even they advised him not to overdo it if he didn't want to be persecuted by the fanatics. But Chazkele would answer, " I don't give a damn. I want the truth."
From "The Blasphemer" by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
This illustration by Maurice Sendak was once proposed for a childrens' book by Singer but was not used because it was considered "too scary".
Neuroses in Revolt.
"All my life I've had one main neurosis and a lot of little ones I called the 'candidates.' When one stepped out, another rose to take its place. They kept on changing, like a clique of politicians. One became the leader for a few years, and then he handed over power to the next. In a few cases, something like a court revolution occurred."
From The Mentor, Part 2 by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Worms and...Nature Knows No Compassion?
Isaac Bashevis Singer
PGO NOTE: Because this blog is for the Central New York State Buddhist Sangha you might wonder why I am posting quotes from Noble Prize winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer here.
I have just recently discovered Mr. Singer's work and I find it to be so wonderfully refreshing and brilliant and in sinc with much of my own thinking that I can hardly put his vintage novels down. I do not agree with all his sentiments that I quote but I find them worthy of note. I intend to read every one of his stories that I can get my hands. Having read several of his novels and numerous short stories in the past few weeks I have yet to be disappointed. I highly recommend him.
The relation to Buddhism here is the fact that Mr. Singer, the immigrant son of a Polish rabbi, fills his writings with themes of spirituality, religion, religious philosophy and analysis of the human condition with much speculation about who we are, what we are, why we are here, where we came from, where we are going and what God might or might not be if it exists at all.
From The Mentor, Part 2:
"Nature knows no compassion. As far as nature is concerned, we are like worms."
[This reminds me of a statement I read by a Buddhist scholar which is as follows:
"God is compassionate, humankind has some compassion, nature has no compassion." The implication here was that this was a very good reason for showing respect for Mother Nature].
You taught me the Bible, and my father stuffed me with the miracles that God performed for the Jews. But after what happened to them one must be absolutely stupid and insensitive to believe in God and all that drivel. What's more, to believe in a compassionate God is the worst betrayal of the victims. A rabbi from America visited here [PGO: nascent mid 20th century Israel], and he preached that all the six million Jews sit in paradise, gorge themselves on the meat of the Leviathan, and study the Torah with angels. You don't need to be a psychologist to figure out what that kind of belief compensates for. [PGO :?].
In Jerusalem there's a group that dabbles in psychic research. I became involved in a little--I even attended their seances. It's all fake. If they don't swindle others, they deceive themselves. Without a functioning brain, there is no thought. If a hereafter really existed, it would be the greatest cruelty. Why should a soul remember all the pettiness of its existence? What would be so wonderful if my father's soul continued to live and recall how his partner stole from him, how his house burned down, how my sister Mirele died in childbirth, and then the ghettos, the camps, and the Nazi ovens. If there is one iota of justice in nature, it is the obliteration of the spirit when the body decays. I don't understand how one can thin differently.
"Orthodox Kismet" Peter Gumaer Ogden, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mixed media collage ca. 2008.
[Click on image to enlarge].
"There is some mysterious strength in fools. they are deeply rooted in the primeval chaos."
"...there is some weakness even in the strong."
CONTACT: peterogden7x7@yahoo.com
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Ancient Extreme Weather
May 14, 2014.
He remembered a summer when the sky was overcast for three months straight. The days were as dark as the nights. the sun never showed itself, and people began to believe that a jealous god had extinguished it. In the months when usually it was hot, that year it snowed. The trees never bloomed and their branches remained bare. There was no grass, and oxen, cows, horses, sheep, and pigs all died of hunger. The vines produced no fruit and the earth no vegetables. Entire tribes starved to death. Even the fish in the rivers perished, since they, too, needed the earth's plants. A sorceress* foresaw that the end of the world was coming. But suddenly the sky cleared and the sun shone. One day it was winter, and the next, summer came. That night old women saw a brightly lit ship in the sky, with shimmering sails.
*PGO Note: A "sorceress": aka "clergy"/ "mystical entrepreneurs".
-The King of the Fields, Part 3. 1988. Isaac Bashevis Singer
PGO:
I have an artist cousin named Walter Fields who was the proprietor of his own gallery, The Jacklight Gallery in lower Manhattan. I do not know if he is still living. He was a great character and free spirit. One Christmas he sent me a card that he had design which depicted an old sailing ship in the sky beneath which, in the landscape, sat a small and ancient church with a ship's anchor in front of it displayed prominently.
A description on the card told of a legend of ancient times when a wooden ship had been observed sailing across the sky. Allegedly this ship had dropped it's anchor. I believe this was supposed to have happened somewhere in the British Isles. Legend was that to this day the ancient and mysterious anchor that had fallen to earth was still preserved in the church as a hallowed relic.
It seems that until modern machine propulsion theory and advanced steel technology gained momentum in the late 19th century and was popularized by H.G. Wells and other early science fiction authors, "UFO's", as they are now known reflected the known technology of ancient times: sailing ships, chariots and horses flying across the sky. It seems that human imagination did not create the alleged "flying saucer" until our technology enabled this notion.
He remembered a summer when the sky was overcast for three months straight. The days were as dark as the nights. the sun never showed itself, and people began to believe that a jealous god had extinguished it. In the months when usually it was hot, that year it snowed. The trees never bloomed and their branches remained bare. There was no grass, and oxen, cows, horses, sheep, and pigs all died of hunger. The vines produced no fruit and the earth no vegetables. Entire tribes starved to death. Even the fish in the rivers perished, since they, too, needed the earth's plants. A sorceress* foresaw that the end of the world was coming. But suddenly the sky cleared and the sun shone. One day it was winter, and the next, summer came. That night old women saw a brightly lit ship in the sky, with shimmering sails.
*PGO Note: A "sorceress": aka "clergy"/ "mystical entrepreneurs".
-The King of the Fields, Part 3. 1988. Isaac Bashevis Singer
PGO:
I have an artist cousin named Walter Fields who was the proprietor of his own gallery, The Jacklight Gallery in lower Manhattan. I do not know if he is still living. He was a great character and free spirit. One Christmas he sent me a card that he had design which depicted an old sailing ship in the sky beneath which, in the landscape, sat a small and ancient church with a ship's anchor in front of it displayed prominently.
A description on the card told of a legend of ancient times when a wooden ship had been observed sailing across the sky. Allegedly this ship had dropped it's anchor. I believe this was supposed to have happened somewhere in the British Isles. Legend was that to this day the ancient and mysterious anchor that had fallen to earth was still preserved in the church as a hallowed relic.
It seems that until modern machine propulsion theory and advanced steel technology gained momentum in the late 19th century and was popularized by H.G. Wells and other early science fiction authors, "UFO's", as they are now known reflected the known technology of ancient times: sailing ships, chariots and horses flying across the sky. It seems that human imagination did not create the alleged "flying saucer" until our technology enabled this notion.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Pandemic Schizophrenia
"I have played with the idea that all of humanity suffers from schizophrenia. Along with the atom, the personality of Homo sapiens has been splitting. When it comes to technology, the brain still functions, but in everything else degeneration has begun. They are all insane: the Communists, the Fascists, the preachers of democracy, the writers, the painters, the clergy, the atheists. Soon technology, too, will disintegrate. Buildings will collapse, power plants will stop generating electricity. Generals will drop atomic bombs on their own populations. Mad revolutionaries will run in the streets, crying fantastic slogans. I have often thought that it would begin in New York. This metropolis has all the symptoms of a mind gone berserk."
--Isaac Bashevis Singer. From Part 5 of his short story The Cafeteria.
PGO: The above was originally published during the "Cold War" which explains Singer's emphasis on the fear of atomophobia. Increasingly today "Climate Change" is realizing and replacing the mid 20th century fear of nuclear annihilation. Who, in 1950 would have considered that the forces of Mother Nature were a far greater impending realistic threat to life on earth than the atom bomb?
I disagree with Singer's choice of New York City as the center where the breakdown would begin. This is due to the fact that over the past several decades the intellectual caliber, quality and overrall wisdom of New Yorkers has increased tremendously as the city has flourished. I see Los Angeles as the first American city where the breakdown will explode, should it ever occur. Where do you think it would begin, and why?
On technology Singer is timely. Many of us are concerned that, as the rate of technological advancement accelerates exponentially a smash up is unavoidable. A new Dark Age? Let us hope not and let us be forewarned. One is reminded of the lyrics of a song from the 1970's on the Aqualung album by Ian Anderson: "Old Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going; no way to slow down, no way to slow down." Perhaps we are nearing the end of a technological acceleration cycle? One can now understand some of the reasoning of powerful religious leaders of the Middle Ages who sought to stifle scientific progress and "secrets which humankind should not unlock."
We have abandoned so many of the societal warnings of the 1960s and '70s.
--Isaac Bashevis Singer. From Part 5 of his short story The Cafeteria.
PGO: The above was originally published during the "Cold War" which explains Singer's emphasis on the fear of atomophobia. Increasingly today "Climate Change" is realizing and replacing the mid 20th century fear of nuclear annihilation. Who, in 1950 would have considered that the forces of Mother Nature were a far greater impending realistic threat to life on earth than the atom bomb?
I disagree with Singer's choice of New York City as the center where the breakdown would begin. This is due to the fact that over the past several decades the intellectual caliber, quality and overrall wisdom of New Yorkers has increased tremendously as the city has flourished. I see Los Angeles as the first American city where the breakdown will explode, should it ever occur. Where do you think it would begin, and why?
On technology Singer is timely. Many of us are concerned that, as the rate of technological advancement accelerates exponentially a smash up is unavoidable. A new Dark Age? Let us hope not and let us be forewarned. One is reminded of the lyrics of a song from the 1970's on the Aqualung album by Ian Anderson: "Old Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going; no way to slow down, no way to slow down." Perhaps we are nearing the end of a technological acceleration cycle? One can now understand some of the reasoning of powerful religious leaders of the Middle Ages who sought to stifle scientific progress and "secrets which humankind should not unlock."
We have abandoned so many of the societal warnings of the 1960s and '70s.
Isaac Bashevis Singer. Copyright 1988 Nancy Crompton.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
To Give or to Take?
The Buddha said, "If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving and sharing...even if it were their last bite...they would not eat without having shared, if there were someone to receive their gift."
On the other hand:
"A fool gives, a wise man takes." -An old Polish folk saying quoted in Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel, "The Estate".
On the other hand:
"A fool gives, a wise man takes." -An old Polish folk saying quoted in Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel, "The Estate".
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
What Makes Us free? / Wise Speech
The quotes below were excerpted from an article titled "What Makes Us Free" which was published in the January, 2014 issue of Shambhala Sun Magazine. This was an interview with Insight Meditation teachers Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein at northern California's Spirit Rock Meditation Center, moderated by Michelle Latvala [ML]. These excerpts represent about 1% of the interview. the entire interview is available from Shambhala Sun.
Re: Effective meditation practice:
Joseph Goldstein:
"The other thing that can really transform the quality of practice in our lives is understanding and practicing wise speech. We speak a lot in our daily lives, but how many of us pay attention to the motivation for our words before we speak? Probably not that many! We're in conversation, whether it's at work or with friends and family, and the words just tumble out. Sometimes they're motivated by wholesome, loving qualities, and sometimes not.
My favorite Pali word is samphappalapa. It means exactly what it sounds like--useless talk. I love the practice of watching my mind about to samphappalapa, because the tendency is so strong to speak for the sake of speaking. That has no value, no purpose. By seeing that "about to", you can then think, "No, I don't have to do that." It's amazing how free we feel in that moment of restraint."
Jack Kornfield:
"When the texts begin, 'Oh nobly born' or 'You are the sons and daughters of the awakened ones,' they help us remember who we are. They point to our capacity for joy, well-being, and freedom. That motivates and strengthens our practice."
ML: "One of the Buddha's most fundamental teachings is that we need to incline the mind toward wholesome states that bring happiness and away from unwholesome states that cause suffering. Could you tell us more about how to practice that?"
Joseph Goldstein:
"So with the two truths as a framework we can think about inclining the mind toward the wholesome. The Buddha gave a very powerful discourse on this in which he described two kinds of thoughts. Put the thoughts rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion on one side, he said, and the thoughts rooted in generosity, love, and wisdom on the other. Then as we see what is arising in our minds, we can decide which thoughts we should let go of and which we should cultivate."
The Buddha said that what we frequently think about and ponder will become the inclination of our mind. When thoughts go through our mind we tend to think of them as isolated--a thought is arising, now it's passing away. What we don't consider is that every time a particular kind of thought arises, it is deepening and strengthening that neural pathway in the brain. The more frequently we think about or ponder certain kinds of thoughts, the more established these pathways become. So we are creating our lives. We are creating our future lives through the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that we're having now.
So it's essential that we understand which are wholesome thoughts--those are the pathways worth deepening--and which thoughts and emotions are unskillful. Those are worth letting go of so we're not unconsciously deepening their pathways.
...all thoughts are empty. They're really very unsubstantial. There's not much to them, whatever their content is.
ML:
One of the Buddha's most fundamental teachings is that we need to incline the mind toward wholesome states that bring happiness and away from unwholesome states that cause suffering. Could you tell us more about how to practice that?
Joseph Goldstein: [Much abbreviated like all responses quoted here].
So with the two truths as a framework, we can think about inclining the mind toward the wholesome. The Buddha gave a very powerful discourse on this in which he described two kinds of thoughts. Put the thoughts rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion on one side, he said, and the thoughts rooted on generosity, love, and wisdom on the other. Then as we see what is arising in our minds, we can decide which thoughts we should let go of and which we should cultivate.
The Buddha said that what we frequently think about and ponder will become the inclination of our mind. ...every time a particular kind of thought arises, it is deepening and strengthening that neural pathway in the brain. The more frequently we think about or ponder certain kinds of thoughts, the more established these pathways become. So we are creating our lives. We are creating our future lives through the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that we're having now.
So it is essential that we understand which are wholesome thoughts---those are the pathways worth deepening--and which thoughts and emotions are unskillful. Those are worth letting go of so we're not unconsciously deepening their pathways.
...at the more ultimate level, all thoughts are empty. They're really very unsubstantial. There's not much to them, whatever their content is.
ML:
We all face adversity, conflict, and fear in our lives. How does Buddhism help us deal with them?
Jack Kornfield:
So the first thing is to recognize that life itself entails difficulty and conflict at times, and that's not the problem. The real issue [ PGO "issue"=newspeak California euphemism. = "oldspeak" New York bluntness: "problem"; "Issue" = "Problem".] is how we respond.
Joseph Goldstein:
It is interesting how often we don't take responsibility for the suffering or disturbance in our own minds. We think it's somebody else who is making us feel a certain way.
It's very empowering to realize that it's totally up to us how we relate to the situation [italics are PGO's]. Nobody makes us relate to our own emotions or external situation in a particular way. Conditions may arise that bring up anger or fear, but how we relate to them is totally up to us [italics are PGO's].
ML:
All of the Buddhist traditions are available and practiced in America today, which has never really happened before in Buddhist history. Can you talk about the challenges of that, as well as the benefit of incorporating different methods?
Jack Kornfield:
But Buddhism is not some system or idea or set of beliefs. It is an invitation to have a direct experience of the mystery of your own body and mind. We explore what causes our suffering and what makes us free.
...if your practice is helping you become more present with the way things are, instead of imposing some view on it, then you will start to feel freer and your practice will deepen.
ML:
What advice did your teachers in Asia give you about how to present Buddhism in the West?
Jack Kornfield:
When I was coming back to the United States from Asia, Ajahn Chah said to me, "Find whatever language works for people so you can help them understand how to alleviate suffering, how to let go of their fears and confusion. If you want to call it Christianity, do that--use whatever language is helpful to people."
Joseph Goldstein:
My first dharma teacher said: "If you want to understand the mind, sit down and observe it."
ML:
One of the Buddha's most fundamental teachings is that we need to incline the mind toward wholesome states that bring happiness and away from unwholesome states that cause suffering. Could you tell us more about how to practice that?
Joseph Goldstein: [Much abbreviated like all responses quoted here].
So with the two truths as a framework, we can think about inclining the mind toward the wholesome. The Buddha gave a very powerful discourse on this in which he described two kinds of thoughts. Put the thoughts rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion on one side, he said, and the thoughts rooted on generosity, love, and wisdom on the other. Then as we see what is arising in our minds, we can decide which thoughts we should let go of and which we should cultivate.
The Buddha said that what we frequently think about and ponder will become the inclination of our mind. ...every time a particular kind of thought arises, it is deepening and strengthening that neural pathway in the brain. The more frequently we think about or ponder certain kinds of thoughts, the more established these pathways become. So we are creating our lives. We are creating our future lives through the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that we're having now.
So it is essential that we understand which are wholesome thoughts---those are the pathways worth deepening--and which thoughts and emotions are unskillful. Those are worth letting go of so we're not unconsciously deepening their pathways.
...at the more ultimate level, all thoughts are empty. They're really very unsubstantial. There's not much to them, whatever their content is.
ML:
We all face adversity, conflict, and fear in our lives. How does Buddhism help us deal with them?
Jack Kornfield:
So the first thing is to recognize that life itself entails difficulty and conflict at times, and that's not the problem. The real issue [ PGO "issue"=newspeak California euphemism. = "oldspeak" New York bluntness: "problem"; "Issue" = "Problem".] is how we respond.
Joseph Goldstein:
It is interesting how often we don't take responsibility for the suffering or disturbance in our own minds. We think it's somebody else who is making us feel a certain way.
It's very empowering to realize that it's totally up to us how we relate to the situation [italics are PGO's]. Nobody makes us relate to our own emotions or external situation in a particular way. Conditions may arise that bring up anger or fear, but how we relate to them is totally up to us [italics are PGO's].
ML:
All of the Buddhist traditions are available and practiced in America today, which has never really happened before in Buddhist history. Can you talk about the challenges of that, as well as the benefit of incorporating different methods?
Jack Kornfield:
But Buddhism is not some system or idea or set of beliefs. It is an invitation to have a direct experience of the mystery of your own body and mind. We explore what causes our suffering and what makes us free.
...if your practice is helping you become more present with the way things are, instead of imposing some view on it, then you will start to feel freer and your practice will deepen.
ML:
What advice did your teachers in Asia give you about how to present Buddhism in the West?
Jack Kornfield:
When I was coming back to the United States from Asia, Ajahn Chah said to me, "Find whatever language works for people so you can help them understand how to alleviate suffering, how to let go of their fears and confusion. If you want to call it Christianity, do that--use whatever language is helpful to people."
Joseph Goldstein:
My first dharma teacher said: "If you want to understand the mind, sit down and observe it."
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Be A Lamp Unto Yourself
By the [East] Indian painter Aziz. "Buddha Purinama". 3 dimensional mural painting.
" In order to produce the powerful energy of enlightenment, compassion, understanding, you need a sangha, a community."--Thich Nhat Hanh
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"Lamps of Enlightenment." 2007. Collage on canvas board. 8" x 10".
Buddhist art collage made in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Includes images of: The
Dalai Lama,Sakyong Mipham, Pema Chodron, Silvia Boorstein, Roshi Joan
Halifax, Thich Nhat Hanh andmany other Buddhist teachers.
This collage is available for print on demand from:
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The quotes below are from "In Search of the Genuine" by Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Choying Zangmo which was published in the January 2014 issue of Shambhala Sun Magazine.
"We self medicate with denial."
"We ordinary human beings are filled with self-attachment, which causes us to have all kinds of hidden agendas and unconscious motivations."
"On the Buddhist path, motivation is paramount. Motivation can seem like a small thing, but actually it is everything. After all, it only takes a single match to burn down a forest. Even very small thoughts and actions can be the cause of things that are very great or very destructive."
"When we lack mindfulness, we forget to reflect on and maintain a positive and unselfish motivation. Checking in with what is happening within us and becoming more mindful of our own selfish thought patterns help us purify and cultivate a more genuine motivation. ...work for the benefit of others and, ultimately, for peace."
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" Be A Lamp Unto Yourself" poster by Peter Gumaer Ogden. Archival giclee print is available from:http://peter-gumaer-ogden.fineartamerica.com
The Quotes below are from "Be A Lamp Unto Yourself" by Larry Rosenberg which appeared in the January 2014 issue of Shambhala Sun Magazine.
"...open you mind to take a fresh look at your views and opinions, and to accept nothing on faith alone. As you practice, you will be encouraged to investigate your most cherished convictions..."
"You live in a great swirling spiritual marketplace, full of promises and claims."
"Do you really want freedom? Can you handle the responsibility? Or would you just prefer an impressive teacher to provide answers and do the hard work for you?"
"He [Buddha] cautions us against blind obedience to the authority of traditions and teachers, or to the authority of our own ideas. He also cautions against blind obedience to reason and logic."
"Whatever is unskillful, leading to harm or suffering for you and others, should be recognized and abandoned. Whatever is skillful, leading to happiness and peace for you and others, should be pursued."
"...he [Buddha] gave us a set of practices that emphasizes learning how to live and how to lessen suffering, called the four noble truths: there is suffering; there is a cause of suffering, which is craving and attachment; there is cessation of suffering; and there is a path of practice that brings about this cessation."
"...ethics, stability of mind, and wisdom."
"Rather than rush to let go, he [Ajahn Chah] urged us to make direct contact with the suffering and to see whether it was caused by some form or craving and attachment, of wanting things to be other than the way they were."
Buddha at Seret and Son, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photo: copyright 2010 Peter Gumaer Ogden
Seret and Sons. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photo: copyright 2010 Peter Gumaer Ogden.
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The quotes below are taken from "You have the Buddha in You / An Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh" which appeared in the January 2014 issue of Shambhala Sun Magazine. The interviewer is Andrea Miller. The excerpts here represent only about 1% of the article.
AM: "What is the role of a teacher in spiritual practice?"
TNH: "You have to be intelligent and not be dependent on your teacher. If you follow him or her with blind faith, it's not good."*[see my note below].
AM: "Why is it important for Buddhism to evolve?"
TNH: "Society has changed. Young people have a lot of suffering, a lot of doubt. If you want them to ponder the sound of one hand clapping or ask them if a dog has buddhanature, they cannot stand it. If you continue to teach like that, you lose people. Buddhism has become marginal in Korea and Japan because that is what they are doing."
"Throughout the history of Buddhism, teachers tried to offer the teachings in such a way as to respond to the needs of their time. If they invented silent illumination, if they invented koans, it was because at that time those things worked. But when these things do not work anymore, why cling to them?"
"Our practice has to respond to the suffering of modern people."
"Vietnamese Buddhism is very close to original Buddhism..."
AM: "Some people say that once someone reaches enlightenment, they no longer produce karma. What do you think of that?"
TNH: "Karma is action. When you produce a thought, that's karma, either good or bad. When you say something, that's karma. When you do something, that's karma. ...you cannot say that the Buddha, because he is enlightened, has stopped producing karma. That's not true."
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TNH: " To be happy is the real success."
AM: "In our society, it feels like everything's speeding up and people are feeling overwhelmed."
TNH: The problem is that people believe that happiness is in the future. We are running away from ourselves, our families, and nature. We lose ourselves in our little devices. I myself have a 'Now Watch.' When I look for the hour, it always says 'Now.'"
AM: "How do we find a positive purpose for our lives?
TNH: "Instead of wrong view, you want right view. Instead of wrong thinking, you want right thinking--thinking with compassion and understanding."
AM: "What is the key to happiness?"
TNH: "Stopping and learning to be happy in the present moment is the key. Buddhism is the teaching of waking up."
*Note: "...it's not good." This is the language of rational instruction in wise behavior. It is NOT the type of moralistic, judging, absolutist religious language which uses such words as: "wrong", "a sin", an "abomination", etc. --PGO
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Monday, April 28, 2014
Hear the Earth Crying
The Zen teacher and poet Thich Nhat Hanh was asked, "What do we most need to do to save our world?" His answer was this: "What we most need to do is to hear within us the sounds of the Earth crying".
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"You are not alone! We are part of a vast, global movement: the epochal transition from empire to Earth community. This is the Great Turning. And the excitement, the alarm, even the overwhelm we feel, are all part of our waking up to this collective adventure.
Our corporate economy is destroying both itself and the natural world. Its effect on living systems is what David Korten calls the Great Unraveling. It is happening at the same time as the Great Turning, and we cannot know which way the story will end.
Our intention and our resolve can save us from getting lost in grief.
Joanna Macy, Ph.D. in the Winter 2011 issue of Tricycle.
The Three Resolutions and the Ten Precepts
THE THREE GENERAL RESOLUTIONS
1. I resolve to avoid evil.
2. I resolve to do good.
3. I resolve to liberate all sentient beings.
THE TEN CARDINAL PRECEPTS
1. I resolve not to kill, but to cherish all life.
2. I resolve not to take what is not given, but to respect the things of others.
3. I resolve not to misuse sexuality, but to be caring and responsible.
4. I resolve not to lie but to speak the truth.
5. I resolve not to cause others to abuse alcohol or drugs, nor to do so myself, but to keep the mind clear.
6. I resolve not to speak of the faults of others, but to be understanding and sympathetic.
7. I resolve not to praise myself and disparage others, but to overcome my own shortcomings.
8. I resolve not to withhold spiritual or material aid, but to give them freely where needed.
9. I resolve not to indulge in anger, but to practice forbearance.
10. I resolve not to revile the Three Treasures [Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha], but to cherish and uphold them. -Source: Rochester Zen Center
Monday, April 7, 2014
Miscellaneous Quotes Relative to Buddhism
1. "...our choices in conduct do indeed matter, literally---they materialize in consequences."
2. "...refraining from acting, speaking, or thinking in such a way as to cause harm."
-Bodhin Kjolhede in Tricycle Magazine, Winter 2011
3. "...when we act upon our more cooperative impulses, then both personal and collective suffering is diminished. The quality of our intention determines the quality of our disposition, which in turn determines the quality of our intention. If our goal ultimately is to be happier and to live in a better world, then it becomes skillful to abandon what causes harm and to develop what increases well-being."
4. "As with such martial arts as aikido, we can yield at every step and still wind up on top. Wisdom involves understanding cause and effect and thereby being able to see several moves ahead. "
- Andrew Olendzki [" Primordial Soup "]; Tricycle Magazine, Winter 2011.
5. "We must cultivate responsibility for our actions and their consequences--not just at an individual level but also at a social, political, economic, and ecological level."
-Michael Stone ["G-20 Dharma. Nonviolence and engaged living."]; Tricycle Magazine, Winter 2011.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
CNY Buddhist Sangha Launch
Buddhists and Buddhist centers in upstate New York tend to be widely separated by geographic distance. This blog, launched on January 30, 2014 by Peter Gumaer Ogden of Utica, New York is part of an effort to enhance the communication and connections of people who are interested in Buddhism of all types.
I have started a Facebook page for this at: CNY Buddhist Sangha Facebook Page
I hope that this will help build an "Interfaith" or "Universalist" community in the Central New York Region to help transend such barriers as language, ethnicity [ which is very diverse in Buddhism ], socioeconomic status, and geographical distance. Your comments are welcome.
Keywords for search: New York State Buddhists, Upstate New York Buddhists, New York State Buddhisms, Buddhism in Central New York State, Buddhists in Central New York State, Rochester New York Buddhists, Syracuse Buddhists, Sidney New York Buddhists, Cooperstown Buddhists, Utica Buddhists, Ithaca New York Buddhists, Alfred New York Buddhists, Buffalo New York Buddhists, Harrisville New York Buddhists, Amsterdam New York Buddhists, Woodstock New York Buddhists, McDonough New York Buddhists, Otego New York Buddhists, Mt. Tremper New York Buddhists.
I have started a Facebook page for this at: CNY Buddhist Sangha Facebook Page
I hope that this will help build an "Interfaith" or "Universalist" community in the Central New York Region to help transend such barriers as language, ethnicity [ which is very diverse in Buddhism ], socioeconomic status, and geographical distance. Your comments are welcome.
Keywords for search: New York State Buddhists, Upstate New York Buddhists, New York State Buddhisms, Buddhism in Central New York State, Buddhists in Central New York State, Rochester New York Buddhists, Syracuse Buddhists, Sidney New York Buddhists, Cooperstown Buddhists, Utica Buddhists, Ithaca New York Buddhists, Alfred New York Buddhists, Buffalo New York Buddhists, Harrisville New York Buddhists, Amsterdam New York Buddhists, Woodstock New York Buddhists, McDonough New York Buddhists, Otego New York Buddhists, Mt. Tremper New York Buddhists.
Quan Am Buddhist Temple. Utica, New York. Parent Appreciation Day, autumn 2012. The vegetarian Vietnamese abundant banquet that followed served some of the best home made ethnic food we have ever tasted. Photo copyright 2012 Peter Gumaer Ogden.
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