DISQUS

Hey Al,

Barb and I went veggie after hosting a Khenpo and his vegan translator a couple months ago, but I included a reservation about restaurants. Well, you know how I am about restaurants. So far, that's made it a painless transition with no health issues. I look for something tasty and vegetarian on the menu first, but we don't go out to eat salads all the time. Not ethically perfect, but better than we were.

Hey Jundo Roshi,

I've never been on E-Sangha, so I don't know the situation there. Except for Al's stuff, I don't do e-Buddhism. I can say, though, that any Buddhists I've ever talked with who know anything about Zen have a very high opinion of Soto Zen, as do I. It's a little weird that this online group seems to have a problem with it, but hopefully that won't affect the respect that Soto practitioners enjoy in the, well, non-virtual self-arising world. I hope it all works out well for everyone!

W.B.

This is pretty fascinating. If the thing gets filed in Singapore, it would be interesting to get a copy of the complaint, or whatever they have there. I'm not sure there's much of a basis in the U.S. unless they're alleging libel, which wouldn't be an easy thing to show. "Discrimination" isn't usually actionable in a private setting like that. It's obvious that somewhere along the line, promoting peace, harmony and happiness went down a little in the priorities, but then, suing people isn't likely to promote them much either. I used to work in the law, and pursuing a lawsuit or two is going to take a huge bite out of people's practice time. I guess I'd personally be more inclined to sit there and ask myself who it is who's so pissed off he wants to sue somebody.

Hey Al,

One of the more difficult tasks in Buddhism is to generate compassion for people who think that _we're_ the ones who need it.

W.B.

Hey Al,

Since you emailed me on this, sure, I'll contribute. Your idea comes at a particularly significant time for me, since the inscrutable flow of karma has managed to manipulate me into the position of coordinating a study/discussion series for our local Karma Kagyu group, and in the process of putting things together for this, I was reminded of something that struck me many years ago, when I first encountered Tibetan Buddhism: despite all the attention that often is focused on strange looking Tantric practices, they really do base the whole thing on the realization and teachings of the Buddha, and not one bit of that stuff is discarded. There really is a common basis for what we all are doing, and it's a really good thing to be doing. So, a major part of what I can contribute is my experiences wading through the Three Vehicles and trying to relate them to the lives of whomever shows up on a given Tuesday night. Which I'm doing only because no one else is here to do it. Karma's a wyrd thing.

W.B.

Hey Al,

Glad you liked the K. We saw him in Woodstock, which was a much more sedate gathering, being limited to people who were members of KTD or a KTC before the visit announcement. He was surrounded everywhere by six large guys in black suits and coiled wires coming out of their ears. I'm assuming most of the security is because the Chinese aren't thrilled he's out and about, but there are also the followers of the Anti-Karmapa, and that stuff actually killed people 15 or so years ago.

A lot of the boomers are because of the 16th Karmapa, who was a very big thing when he came over here, and caused a lot of people to become dedicated practitioners for life.

There were lots and lots--whole busloads--of Chinese people there, too, and maybe that will turn out to be a good thing for the future of Tibet.

I agree with the limited usefulness of big Dharma Zoos, but was also unable to pass up the chance of seeing a first like this.

At Woodstock, he was very grateful for the people who have kept the 16th Karmapa's projects going, but also very clear that he's taking things where he believes they should go. One striking thing about the visit there that you'll appreciate was that he made his respect for and reliance on the Dzogchen Ponlob very clear. DPR was the only lama to get another, though somewhat smaller, throne in the ceremonies, and in his words to everyone on the day he arrived, he said at the end that the connection between him and the folks there was sort of like "Dzogchen-Mahamudra," and he didn't know why he mentioned Dzogchen-Mahamudra except that the Dzogchen Ponlob was sitting there. I got the impression that he knew exactly why he mentioned D-M, and it's probably going to be an emphasis that hasn't been so prominent before in the Karma Kagyu scene.

I hope he stays alive and comes back often, as he seems like he'll be very good for American Buddhism.

W.B.

You've already mentioned that the academic job prospects are iffey at best, but the prestige of the school has a lot to do with how good or bad those prospects are. On the other hand, a Naropa-type school is as good or better if one is looking to become a Buddhist author, do psychology or therapy with a Buddhist approach, or something of that nature. Some doors open wider and others start to close, like every other decision we make.

Hey Al,

I think it's a good idea, but agree that the critical mass never happened with OB. Another thing, though, was that OB seemed to be in part a reaction against the conditions on e-Sangha, which probably wasn't the most auspicious possible motivation. Resurrecting it with regular bloggers could be quite interesting, as long as they've got something interesting to say. Getting enough interesting people to do that, with a diverse enough background, should probably be your condition for going ahead with it. Good luck; I hope it works out!

W.B.

Hey Al,

Actually almost all the live opera performances I've been to in the past several years have had surtitles, even when the opera's in English(e.g., _Doctor Atomic_ at the Chicago Lyric last December). Since fewer people go to the things for social reasons, they've finally had to deal with the fact that hardly anyone can make out enough words to know what's going on.

Hey Al,

Well, you don't remind me much of the guy in the picture, and also, I can't really figure out how the title ("*classed") fits in with the rest of the post, which, BTW, I liked. I feel your pain re: the financial toll of PhDing, having supported my wife through same, but also appreciate the Sly-ism, a guy's gotta do, etc., &co. Personally, I appreciate software because they don't require that you adopt some kind of approved, Republican mindset in order to make a living if you can do your job competently, but I also understand that I've got a relatively good deal. So, I think, do you, and that's a good thing!

Still, you're a bright guy who still believes in concepts, and I could think of a lot worse candidates for self-sacrifice on the altar of intellectual idealism. If your spouse's OK with it, I'd say go for it. I feel her pain more than I feel yours, having been there and done that. But it might work out pretty well, you being a bright guy and all, which would make your friends happy to no end!

W.B.

You might also check out the Vajra Vidya center in Crestone, CO, which is affiliated with Thrangu Rinpoche. They do something a little similar to some Western Christian monasteries, where you can stay there for a period and do some individual and some group practices, and there are also a couple resident lamas you can talk with about practice issues. I haven't been there but know someone who has, and it seems like a very conducive and credible scene. Thrangu R's. stuff is absolutely as good as it gets.

Hey Al,

As you know, I was on another list moderated by Namdrol that seems to have shuffled off to a different plane of existence. I got a lot of good and useful information and suggestions from what he posted, but I do tend to look at it all very differently, namely, the way things are is the way things are, which is not the property of any religion or lineage, and what we all, including Shakyamuni Buddha, try to do is realize as much of that as we can in order to make sense of our experience of life and interact constructively with one another. The really good teachers I've had have all said that the ultimate nature of things is inexpressible and that's consistent with my own limited experience on the subject, so when I get home after working for a living all day, I'm a lot more likely to sit down and practice than think about signing on to E-sangha or anything like it.

The reason I read your blog and not something like E-sangha, besides the fact that we're friends, is that it's more fun, and we all can use some of that.

All the best!

W.B.

Hey All,

I've read some of his stuff, though I haven't seen him. He's extremely bright and his grasp of the philosophical stuff is very good, but as far as connecting with Western culture and students, I think Tenzin Wangyal does a better job. He's actually spent time living in the culture, and when he talks about people's ordinary lives, he does seem to know what he's talking about and get it right. With the D.P., his jokes about "everyday life" sort of remind me of the kinds of things you hear from corporate motivational speakers or something, and in his presentation of Dzogchen, he sometimes gets into that thing where you can't possibly do it right without going through all those other stages and jumping through all kinds of hoops, with which his organization will conveniently help you out. Well, when it comes to Dzogchen, you _don't_ necessarily have to go through somebody's laundry list of stages, jump through a lot of hoops and buy into an organization; it just depends on what teachings you've managed to get, practice and understand. Maybe Bon just naturally does Anarchism better than Kagyu/Nyingma.

Hey Al,

If you looked like that, you could get paid for saying off the wall shit, too.

Too bad! He seemed to take concepts and orthodoxy way more seriously than I'd expect from a Dzogchen practitioner. Although, people who currently practice a lot don't usually end up moderating e-forums.

Hey Al,

What's controversial about the Buddha being a man, not a god? I've heard lots of lamas say the same thing, and thought it was pretty much taken for granted. Is there a different view on E-sangha?

Hey Al,

Shambhala does a Fire Puja as part of it's Vajrayana program, but it's another of those things that you have to be far invested in the Program to attend, so I've never seen one. Wasn't there also one in _Monsoon Wedding_?

I agree with Al. I've gotten a lot out of teachers who had been trained in a lineage that I couldn't have gotten from people who read stuff and constructed their own understanding and practices from it. But I also think there comes a point where continuing to rely on teachers and lineages can be an obstacle. E.g., all the Dzogchen teachers I've had have said that the process is that you study with a teacher until you've experienced and stabilized resting in the "natural state," and then you practice that yourself. Some folks seem to have that experience, and then keep going to retreats and teachings so the teacher can get them to have it again and again.

Hey Al,

We've talked about this before, so I'll try not to repeat things I've already said. But it does seem like there's a sort of passivity on the part of many advanced practitioners, which is naturally encouraged by a lot of non-American teachers who need to support some kind of structure financially and with numbers of followers. Looking at Zen originally (i.e., as Ch'an in the 7th century), we don't know much about what Bodhidharma had to say, but suddenly there's this movement staffed entirely by Chinese, which a unique and new character. Looking at the Kagyu scene in Tibet, there were two Indian teachers who where pretty much on there own, and then Marpa and his students who actually made a movement out of it and gave it a distinctive Tibetan character. In other words, the "foreign" direction ended right away, and so the people who formed the social structure and practice directions were local. As you pointed out, we have some good American teachers in some of the traditions, but not much by way of Americans getting some teachings and realization, and then starting a new tradition with it. When you talk about an "American Buddhism," it seems to me that that's what would have to happen for such a thing to be created.

W.B.

Hey Al, hey Monk,

IE is still an important thing in a corporate scene, especially one that uses Office and needs one (1) browser for their hackers to hack upon. IMO, 7 wasn't so great in that context, because things that worked fine before no longer worked, and most of what was added was either moving things around to seem different, or irrelevant. Anyone with 0.5 of a brain will have FF on their work machine, but IE is still going to be what integrates with work stuff. If Corporate is where IE has it's comparative advantage, then gosh, make sure it goes easy on the Corp when the Corp upgrades. Stuff that takes longer or imposes a lot of bizarre "security" gotchas does not make live better for corporate IS people, and those who really know what they are doing will always prefer open source anyway.

Hey Al,

I hope any "dovetail" with Outlook doesn't end up making Thunderbird slow, overly complex, or prone to hanging up waiting for something to time out. One of TB's best aspects has been its independence from windows, so it works cleanly and quickly. The only situation I've ever seen Outlook work well in is a corporate setup where everyone's machine is the same, and Microsoft stuff is used for everything.

W.B.

Hey Al,

Some interesting ethical issues here! If terrorists use Tor to transmit instructions for a coordinated attack that kills thousands of people, what's the moral responsibility of someone who runs a node? If a Tor node manager rolls over and lets someone's secret police monitor information that lands some innocent person in Guantanamo, what's the moral responsibility there? You're right; better ask these questions before getting too far down the road!

Hey Al,

No, you're not one of the few people who wonder how it came to this. All sorts of people do, although the answer is pretty clear from the '20s and '30s in Germany: stress people economically, make them afraid, talk about conspiracies and the need for a strong government to "protect" us, provide foreigners and minorities to blame, and it all just sort of falls into place. Probably the other big piece was the dismantling of the university system beginning with Regan, after they figured out that people with "liberal arts" educations tended on the average to be rather Liberal. That might be more uniquely American, but we were anomalous to begin with by opening the universities to a much larger percentage of the populace. But the bottom line is that politics follows consciousness, and that's where reversing the problem needs to start.

W.B.

I thought you did some martial arts? I've found mountain biking fun, meaning it isn't crashingly boring such that I can't stand it, but I don't know if there are places to do that there. Some of the meditation-related physical practices, such as Trul Khor and Yantra Yoga, seem to go through a lot of calories pretty quickly, and fit in with your practice. Both are taught off and on in Berkeley, I think. They both include breathing exercises as well, which can mess with your metabolism.

Hey Al,

Marriage is great. Best thing that ever happened to me. The biggest help I have with the stuff you mention is meditation, which puts ego into a different perspective. Start to deal seriously with ego, and life gets a lot better. You knew that, though.