SuperSatellite ||

First, I want to take a quick moment to direct you to this article at Yahoo discussing the rise of Buddhism in the US.  It’s the 4th largest religion in the country currently.  It’s a nice, long article that is really well written I think, and very much worth taking a few minutes to read.  This includes a brief mention of those who actually retain then "home" faith, while incorporating Buddhist principles.

I found this daily meditation from a couple days ago particularly interesting, after comments I made in one of my previous meditation blogs.  The timing was just very good I thought.  There, I discussed how one might be able to see some Truth at any given point in time, but that its true form and meaning can be somewhat distorted until we learn to see past some of the complications that occur due to dhukha.

Those two sentences lay out this concept better than I think I was able to do with a whole blog.  The term "clarity" very well represents, I think, the feeling and idea of what we pursue.  Clarity is a concept that I believe applies to more than just ideas, but rather it implies freedom within any kind of perception and interpretation.

So, the pursuit of freedom from dhukha outlines as part of it’s goal, the achieval clarity.  That opens us to the freedom to take in what is around us without taint, and without noise.  In interpersonal communications you learn the process of transmitters, receivers, channels, and noise.  Any time people work together, there will always be some degree of noise in the channels they use to communicate.  When we achieve clarity, however, we gain the ability to eliminate that noise, and perform pure communication (this assumes communication with a like person, otherwise the counterpoint would still create their own noise.  This would affect them, but not you).

Imagine a world like that.  One where point and counterpoint interact without complication.  Where they may interact without belief in hidden motives, in agendas, or with fear of being misunderstood.  These are the benefits having clarity of perception provides.  This is what makes it such a valuable tool, and worthwhile pursuit.  You might not make it now.  Those in the monastic followings spend years upon years over several different periods in their lives studying and meditating on this very thing.  But it can come to anyone with time.  And perhaps you don’t find it, but you can learn to turn down the noise some.  Clarity is not an all or nothing entity.  It’s something you can work on, improve, and hone.

Yay for me! I made my first Facebook group. It’s nice and Buddhist themed for all the Pitt people who would like to link with the rest of us in the area.  I don’t know about you, but I’m getting really tired of standing on street corners yelling to ask if anyone knows any other Buddhists around here.  I invite anyone interested to come join in (even if you’re not Buddhist). And if you’re not interested, pass word on to any friends that you think might be interested.  Just click your mousey doodad here.

Why do you do what you dowhen you do those things you do?  I’ve had a couple conversations with people regarding my use of things like the word "morals" in my past couple blogs.  That what I call Truth and they call morality are intrinsically the same thing.  I explain that morals are a reflection of the society in which they are created.  Truth is different than that.  However morality may contain some truth nonetheless, but Truth is not morality.  This [morality] is just one aspect of a mechanical behavior.

Why do we do what we do?  Why make the choices that we do?  Most people do it simply because it is what they are taught.  Human nature is to accept things without question in a lot of instances.  Once we do that, once we accept a rule as imperative, we react to situations where it is involved like a knee-jerk reaction.

Imagine for a moment children being indoctrinated into Mujahideen.  News agencies have shown film of little children, 5, 6, and 7 years old who will proudly proclaim that they want to be Mujahideen.  They want to kill people so they can go to heaven.  The search for Truth forces us to question this philosophy, as it’s patterns are a source of dhukha.  But these children are conditioned to not question.  They are programmed to provide a mechanical response and serve a purpose.  Many are eventually raised into being suicide bombers, because they are so brainwashed, they will do whatever they are told, and they are of much use beyond that.  It is an awful process, but one supported, encouraged, and built by the society and it’s religious, political, and military leaders.  To them, that is moral.  That is their code, their pattern, and their norm of behavior.

One important aspect we must maintain on the path to enlightenment is that we have to maintain clear vision and never respond to something out of impulse or reflex.  Time can wait for us.  Be conscious of your surroundings and what is happening.  Evaluate and make a decision that is educated based on what Truth tells you.  If an intruder breaks into your home, one social reflex would be to capture and punish that person (how many people do you know keep guns for home protection and would use them?  Probably more than you think).  You might shoot him, or beat him.  You do this out of fear and because society tells you that it is okay to severely hurt a person who invades your home.  Instead, call the police, try to trap the person, or capture them in a way that forces submission, but minimal harm.  Remember, they have as much right to be given the chance to learn and grow from experiences as you do.  This is why it is important to forego impulse and conditioned responses.

Sometimes society is wrong.  Tommy Lee Jones has a few lines in Men in Black (bear with me) where he say: "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."  Don’t trust society and tradition to tell you how to live and make choices.  You have the power to do that yourself, and often times in a manner better than you could have in the first place.

The past few blogs I’ve posted in this vein have all been very simliar, in that they all have drawn heavily on the concept of what Truth is, and how you find it.  I have discovered that this is the case largely due to the fact that it is, after all, one of the primarly goals of Buddhism.  By understanding what Truth is, and by learning to See it, you can find the end to dhukha.  So it is natural that many different things would be attached to the idea, and that a lot of time is spent studying and reflecting on it.

Truth isn’t just something you reference from time to time.  It’s not something that pops up when you need it, or a fact that floats in a book waiting to be researched.  Truth simply is, and the realization of that fact is a singular event.  Truth is what can guide every act you do.  I have discussed before that morality isn’t a good basis for choices.  You shouldn’t choose how to do something based on what societies or laws say.  You do it because by knowing the Truth of those actions, you understand all at once the consequences.

And sometimes you know that it might not be the best.  As the saying goes, truth hurts.  Truth might mean knowing that someone you love is going to make a decision that will have poor kharmic influences, or that you will have to choose between two things that will hurt others regardless.  Eventually however, you can seperate from that.  It’s not that it "hurts" so much as you understand what Truth is, and that you must make the choice that is best for everyone.  Until we have perfected our ability to See, the "human filter" applies the sense of dhukha to choices we make because we understand the Truth.  Imagine wearing glasses that were not quite your perspective.  You can still see things in front of you, make out where you are going and such, but the view is still twisted and off a little.  If you take off those glasses though, suddenly your site returns to a normal and much more clear state.  You still see what you saw before, but now without the added influence of the bad glasses.

If making those choices bothers you, it is because you have not yet reached past the entire understanding of Truth.  You still define your choices with some regard to the dhukha they possess.  You’re still wearing the metaphorical incorrect glasses.  With practice, that can stop.  And educated choice should never hurt.  What you learn is that Truth doesn’t cause dhukha, Truth is the solution to it.  We just have to train ourselves to understand and use that.

You know, I really think that I should have my own theme song done by Rockapella. In fact, they should follow me around, singing it on cue. It’d be great. I’d just pop in people’s doors from time to time so they could “announce” my entrance.

Anyway, I know some people have been curious as to my AWOLedness on various fronts, so why not discuss life’s little happenings. First off, Sunday, all I can say is football. And let me tell you, yesterday was more painful than I ever could have anticipated. Stephen King I think had a hand in the Chief’s opener. Man. I won’t dwell though. I have won 2 out of 3 fantasy games, with the third one currently mine by one point. But we each have a player in tonight’s game, so it will be interesting. And this is the one I really want to win, too. Go me!

I have been hired to do a website for a local politician too, which is fun. Hopefully I can finish it tonight, I think that’s possible given a night of non-stop work on it. I started this weekend, came in to help out with some techie stuff, ended up getting the whole banana. That’s okay though, nice side money. But the great part is that the site was already mentioned in the paper, so really, it needs to be done like a week ago. Hehe. Good thing I work fast. Now, I just need no little problems to crop up, hehe.

Once that’s done, it’s off to help Dan with sets for Wait Until Dark, the PSU play for next month.

And after that, apparently judging debate in Indy this weekend.

Somewhere in between I have some stuff I really want to write. Hopefully before I forget it all, or lose the interest.

I can talk again though! My throat thingy all healed up, no more soreness, voice all back. That is one hell of a relief too.

There’s been other stuff too, but of a far more mundane nature. But, I just wanted some of you to know I hadn’t totally vanished. Because I know you all care and love me…hey, why are you laughing? Meanie.

So, today I have discovered a level of miserable I don’t know that I’ve ever had to go through.  I thought I had strep throat, the doctor says no though, as did the test, which I guess is good, except that my throat is killing me.  Hardcore.  Talking is like a form of punishment.  Anyway, he gave me pills and hopefully it’ll wear out in a day or so.  In the down time, I decided to try a new blog trend.  After yesterday’s exposition, I decided to try something new.  Every few days or so I’ll post a meditation point, and how I see it as an evolving Buddhist.

If you are interested, I am using the site amidabuddha.org as a source for these quotes.  They offer a news feed of daily meditations as well, which can be good for a glance each day.

One of the most important realizations on the path to enlightenment is the discovery that what we imagine when we say "I" and "me" doesn’t truly exist.  As long as one believes in self, you remain attached to concepts like self-preservation.  This idea, like fear, desire, and affectivity are anchors.

The concepts that Wei Wu Wei notes are just some of many constructs we create.  Like in the movie The Matrix, you can view them like "programs" that we ourselves design to maintain an illusion to which most people are wholly attached.  Some so much, that they cannot and will not release themselves of the constructs so that they might see past self and into Truth.  Eventually, however, all entities build throught the cycle of rebirth the power to free themselves of that.

What we do, is chase solutions to those manifestations.  If you desire something, what solution do you pursue?  Do you try to get what you want?  That is a normal reaction.  The flaw is, what happens when you have what you want?  Most people’s normal reaction is to desire something else, maybe a new thing, maybe a bigger or better version of what they just got.  In effect, they have locked themselves in, rather than freeing themself.

Instead, the solution is to See beyond the manifestation.  The Truth is not that we should stop desiring, but rather that desire or other manifestations are just that, a manifestation that we use to lie to ourselves to maintain the illusion that the problem isn’t what we want or how we feel, but the fact that we ourselves don’t really exist.  We cannot free ourselves from the manifestations, we must free ourselves from ourselves.  The reason that we create the manifestations is so that through them, we build evidence to present to ourselves that lends credibility to the bigger illusions we wish to maintain.  The I.  Once we have successfully broken that routine, seen past the barrier, we see that the real illusion is actually the self-sense, and Truth is that self is the real barrier.