Jerry is a writer and producer of film and TV based in NYC. His site about how to cook cheap delicious organic meals is at www.ThreeDollarDinner.com.
It's hard to believe in Judaism and also believe in Christianity, but you can believe in the Bible, and also believe in evolution. Buddhism does not require you to disbelieve anything. You can be Christian and believe in what the Buddha taught. You can believe in the power of the mind to heal, and also believe in the power of surgery. You can believe in ghosts, and still believe the earth rotates the sun every 24 hours. You can be a Jew, and believe in what the Buddha taught.
And once you start to understand the very simple, very basic ideas of what the Buddha taught, you begin to see very clearly that he was really onto something. And that what he was on to was a way to deal with the pervasive sense of dissatisfaction. If your present spiritual practice has you feeling satisfied, and you're not praying or hoping for an end to your dissatisfaction - you're truly satisfied, you're never finding yourself succumbing to fantasy, or retreating into your past - then keep doing what you're doing!
But if your present practice to understand reality or deal with dissatisfaction - religion, journaling,
running as mediation, gardening, nothing, psychotherapy - leaves you dependent on something outside yourself for relief
of your dissatisfaction, I suggest you give the Buddha's way a try.
It's not a cult. It's not a religion. It's not even a way of life. It's
just a way of understanding how things really are.
Because everything else is layers of concept. Perception is another word for the veil through which we look at reality. And reality, this present moment, the touch, the sensation, the energy of movement, is positively exquisite and needs no window dressing. This is the view that Buddhism offers. Perception is the window through which we look at the world. Buddhist practice - meditation, study, community - makes you aware of the habit of confusing the window with the view.
And if you feel so compelled to sit for five minutes today, gently notice the sensation of the breath entering and leaving your nostril, notice when you're drifting into thought or losing focus on the breath. You WILL fail at not drifting into thought or fantasy - and that's the point. That's why it's called practice. The cessation of thought is not the point of Buddhism. The point is the recognition of what thought is and where it comes from and what control it should and shouldn't ought to have over your life.
The Buddha was simply offering an opportunity to use a set of tools to recognize, work with, and step out of the habit of not paying attention to reality.
Though I have had (and continue to have) many things in my life that might be called "spiritual" or even "religious", none has been so deeply effective as my Buddhist meditation practice and study of the Buddha's teachings at offering me clarity, insight, and a deepening sense of compassion for all things in this universe, especially the things I don't like.
So with our Meditation Marathon approaching this Friday night, I offer you this reason for why I sit. Our world is filled with an ever increasing number of ways to throw us off kilter, challenge our basic notions of goodness, and cause us to wonder "what's it all about". There's a lot we have to deal with every day, the thousand tiny slings and arrows of everyday life.
I consider a hallmark of my own evolving practice to be that I am often able to offer compassion in circumstances in which before I might have habitually offered aggression. I also find myself able to be more authentically present more frequently - to stand for what I believe in without having to fight for it.
Because everything else is layers of concept. Perception is another word for the veil through which we look at reality. And reality, this present moment, the touch, the sensation, the energy of movement, is positively exquisite and needs no window dressing. This is the view that Buddhism offers. Perception is the window through which we look at the world. Buddhist practice - meditation, study, community - makes you aware of the habit of confusing the window with the view.
And if you feel so compelled to sit for five minutes today, gently notice the sensation of the breath entering and leaving your nostril, notice when you're drifting into thought or losing focus on the breath. You WILL fail at not drifting into thought or fantasy - and that's the point. That's why it's called practice. The cessation of thought is not the point of Buddhism. The point is the recognition of what thought is and where it comes from and what control it should and shouldn't ought to have over your life.
The Buddha was simply offering an opportunity to use a set of tools to recognize, work with, and step out of the habit of not paying attention to reality.
Though I have had (and continue to have) many things in my life that might be called "spiritual" or even "religious", none has been so deeply effective as my Buddhist meditation practice and study of the Buddha's teachings at offering me clarity, insight, and a deepening sense of compassion for all things in this universe, especially the things I don't like.
So with our Meditation Marathon approaching this Friday night, I offer you this reason for why I sit. Our world is filled with an ever increasing number of ways to throw us off kilter, challenge our basic notions of goodness, and cause us to wonder "what's it all about". There's a lot we have to deal with every day, the thousand tiny slings and arrows of everyday life.
I consider a hallmark of my own evolving practice to be that I am often able to offer compassion in circumstances in which before I might have habitually offered aggression. I also find myself able to be more authentically present more frequently - to stand for what I believe in without having to fight for it.
So, why do I sit (in 140 characters or less)? I sit because the more I sit, the more I can stand.
To learn more about the 24 Hour Meditation Marathon, check out the IDP Site.
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Not sure what you mean, Greg. I posted facts about Mohr's school. The immigrant Buddhism that founded Hsi Lai University (now known as UWest), and which is dedicated to money-making, is a scandal. (Read, e.g., the article by Jeffrey Toobin, Annals of Law, “Adventures in Buddhism,” The New Yorker, September 18, 2000, p. 76ff.)
Your policing is unnecessary; I trust we will all draw our own conclusions as to the merits of Mohr's schooling. I think the evidence is overwhelming that it's a sham; and Mohr's actual benefit to the military is highly questionable.
I thought I would check out the admissions process at UWest to verify what others on this board have been saying. I called the admissions office and spoke with a nice woman whose command of English was a bit shakey. I asked her some faux questions as follows:
"I never finished my degree, but I want to apply for the Masters of Divinity program, would I have any chance of getting in?"
"No plobem. [No problem.] Everybody get in."
"I was wondering also, since I haven't attended any school in a long time, would I be able to get letters of recommendation from my friends and family members instead of former teachers?"
"No plobem."
"Now I have a lot of real world experience, so I was wondering if I could get credit for it toward my degree."
"No plobem. We see."
"How are the professors in the divinity program; are they tough?"
"They vely nice. You have no plobem."
"Does everyone finish the program, because I am concerned about my ability to finish in a timely manner."
"No plobem. We make sure you finish."
"Is it tough to get straight As, because I really like to have a shining report card, if you know what I mean..."
"Everybody get As. No plobem."
"Well, thank you very much. I will be in touch if I decide to apply."
I'm reporting, you decide.
I was bit aware that Buddhism is not a religion but it is a type of following and now i am very much clear about the term what Buddhism is. it was good to know, it helped me to clear my doubts i was having and get the correct knowledge out of it. It really helps while dealing with different people in day to day life as well. Thanks alot for sharing this with us.
I was bit aware that Buddhism is not a religion but it is a type of following and now i am very much clear about the term what Buddhism is. it was good to know, it helped me to clear my doubts i was having and get the correct knowledge out of it. It really helps while dealing with different people in day to day life as well. Thanks alot for sharing this with us.
Jennifer –
You probably talked to Grace. Her job is to put people off the scent (and she is good at it - you're lucky she didn't forward you to general services), and to be friendly. She has no authority to say anything about the M-Div program or its contents. The real force behind who gets in (to the M-Div program) is a panel of evaluators in various academic departments. The requirements are more stringent than you would guess. Two to three days of on-campus interviews (both individual and group settings), three letters of reference - two from spiritual advisors and at least one academic reference, a background check (as I recall), transcripts from all prior schools, and the standard application. The real rate of acceptance (that is, those who make it past the approval process) is way lower than our friends on this blog would have you believe.
As for those questioning Buddhists in the Military, I'll include an email I received from a soon-to-retire senior NCO who wanted to be a Buddhist chaplain in the Army (note: name and personal details removed):
"Sir;
Thanks for the input. It is amazing how far things have come. Naropa had a chaplain program when I looked , but they did not endorse people for the military. However it is too little, too late. I am scheduled to retire in ** months and taking on an additional commitment of a chaplain is a little too much. However, I applaud you and the path that you have chosen. There are many, many non-Christians out there in the Army/military that need this avenue to turn to and not get the standard speeches. As I remember from years ago in a debate/argument between a Catholic and a "non-Catholic"..."My God doesn't like your God!" There has been a desperate need for you and what you offer for years. You will be an inspiration and an avenue that soldiers may use to remain centered and focused in one of the most brutal and inhumane situations that humans willingly place themselves in.
Peace and strength"
There is justification for an army in the Buddhist scriptures. The Cakkavatti Sihanada Sutta addresses it this way: "This, dear son, that you, leaning on the Dhamma, honoring, respecting and revering it, doing homage to it, hallowing it, being yourself a Dhamma-banner, a Dhamma-signal, having the Dhamma as your master, should provide the right watch, ward and protection for your own folk,for the army, for the nobles, for vassals and brahmans and householders, for town and country dwellers, for the religious world and for beasts and birds." Implicit in "providing the right watch, ward, and protection" for the army that the Buddha mentions is that there be an army to begin with. While war is unskillful, it is necessary in the Buddha's eyes for a wheel-turning king (ideal ruler) to have an army.
Further, The Buddha suggests in other Suttas that war can function as an instrument of karma (King Pasenadi's victory over Ajatasattu is discussed by the Buddha in these very terms). Harris suggests that Pasenadi's defense of his nation against Ajatasattu's aggression is accepted as praiseworthy by the Buddha. As for not killing? Yes, in an ideal world, you should not kill any sentient being. In an ideal world, everyone would practice ahimsa all day every day. In reality, the Buddha was more pragmatic. The Middle Way ring a bell?
If you take the extreme of non-violence, Buddhists suddenly can't be doctors ("that guy just stuck a knife into a pregnant woman's gut!!! The horror!" psychopathic killer or doctor performing a C-section, you choose, but both are violent acts), police, firefighters, factory workers, sanitation workers, lawyers, elected officials, bankers, librarians, or any job, really. If you buy a book, you are perpetuating violence through the Buddhist understanding of interdependence. The book requires trees and forest habitat to be destroyed, rivers to be inevitably polluted (chemicals used to make the paper are just a start), fish and water-dwelling creatures to be killed (same chemicals), and humans, yes, humans to suffer birth defects and death (spontaneous abortions to miscarriages to stillbirth to cancer from the chemicals put in the water, see esp. PCB’s). Odd that some of us Buddhists use that very justification to say we should go vegan, but they ignore the fact that their use of the internet and reading of books are causing just as much harm. What’s the right course? The Buddha suggested the Middle Way. You can make up your own way.
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