Re: Buddhism versus creative visualization

cthompsondotcom — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:18:20 -0000

I wasn't sure if you wanted us to comment here or on the 2008 entry, so I'll comment here to keep it with the bulk of the content.

Your points are interesting, but each of them are ever so slightly misinformed.

The Dalai Lama is, as the Pope is to Catholics, the highest holy man to the TIBETAN Buddhists. But equating Tibetan Buddhism to all Buddhism is like equating fundamentalist southern baptists to all Christians.

Buddhism, in it's original form, makes no claims as to the nature of the afterlife, nor anything "supernatural". The closest organized form of Buddhism to this today is the Theravada school.

As the original teachings of Gautama Siddhartha spread out from their source, they became intermingled with the cultures they overtook.Tibetan Buddhism assimilated the reincarnation religion of the tibetans. No other school of Buddhist thought, to my knowledge, proclaims any belief in reincarnation. I've found that most Buddhist schools of thought take the original core tenets as stated by the Buddha and wrap them in some sort of dogma I can't fully agree with.

Also, your description of desire being the source of suffering is technically correct, but wholly misses the nuance that makes it sensible.

The second noble truth says that suffering stems from X. Translation is a tricky business, so there are several words used for X. You use desire. I prefer Attachment. Both are right, but there is a subtle difference.

I am not a fan of Koans, those enigmatic little sayings from zen buddhism that make no logical sense, but are supposed to make you think. (What's the sound of one hand clapping?).

But one koan in particular really cemented for me what the Second Truth means.

A monk asked Tozan, "How can we escape the cold and heat?" Tozan replied, "Why not go where there is no cold and heat?" "Is there such a place?" the monk asked. Tozan commented, "When cold, be thoroughly cold; when hot, be hot through and through."

Yes, gibberish. But it was an effective tool in helping me work through what it all meant.

If you're cold, standing outside in the snow storm, it's not the cold that's making you suffer, it's your attachment to it. You can have a desire to be warm, that's logical, and doesn't make you suffer.

But Standing there obsessing "Oh God I'm cold. So Cold, I wish I was inside. This is ridiculous, why am I out here in this blizzard when I could be warm inside?" is the suffering. It doesn't accomplish anything towards making you warmer, it just puts your mind in a "suffering state". If you just accept that you're cold, shiver if you need to, stamp your feet and breathe into your hands, but remain calm and centered, you are cold, but not suffering. I've tried it. By remaining centered and tranquil, the cold is infinitely more bearable.

For the record, I do not consider myself a Buddhist. Like you, I find the term has connotations of supernatural and dogmatic beliefs. I try to use the concepts of the original teachings of the Buddha in my life, combined with some Zen meditation practices.

I would recommend a book called "Buddhism Without Beliefs" by Stephen Batchelor. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSource... )

His approach is to take the original teachings of Gautama Siddhartha and present them in purely secular terms. The Buddha was not, and is not, a God. He was a man who lived, figured out something important, taught it to people, then died. It's a fantastic book that seriously helps offset the supernatural nature of "Organized" Buddhism.

Re: OpenID Support, Please

danielha — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:34:14 -0000

OpenID support is currently only on the main login page.

We are working on better OpenID implementation.

Re: OpenID Support, Please

cthompsondotcom — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:46:21 -0000

I signed up for Disqus today to comment on a blog. My very first thought was "Why doesn't this have OpenID?" This a critical fail.

Re: Update: The Cloud Computing Bill of Rights

cthompsondotcom — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:18:06 -0000

"I think the customer can expect only that laws will remain within the constitutional (or doctrinal) bounds of their particular government, and that government retains the right to create law as it deems necessary within those parameters."

This seems wildly naïve. The current regime in the US has systematically circumvented, superseded, and otherwise navigated around core constitutional rights.

The recent debacle surrounding Warrantless Wiretaps alone should give pause. And while "Freedom of Privacy" is not a guaranteed constitutional right, it was a nearly as strong legal precedent.

It doesn't take a wild frothing dissident to be uncomfortable with the sticking power of any "constitutional (or doctrinal) bounds" as they apply to any cloud server located on US soil.

Has anyone seen my Habeas Corpus? I swear I just had it.

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Re: Buddhism versus creative visualization

Re: OpenID Support, Please

Re: OpenID Support, Please

Re: Update: The Cloud Computing Bill of Rights