Yakchun-sa Temple Jeju Island, Korea...

Because I'm there. I'm a bit concerned about the "Zen Temple in the Faux Tropics" thing, but goddamit, it's certainly more authentic than the Teddy Bear Museum, and I'm here on business, and one thing I've learned in life is don't mess with the locals...

Update: I changed the title because it seems to be the spelling they use. Here's the temple's website.

You can stay there, too.

Putin's not a nice guy, and Russia isn't all huggy kissy...

Read this article on him in the NY Times.

This man is the guy in which our guy, Bush, found a soulmate.

I tried to find a place on the Russian embassy website where I could lodge a protest.

Couldn't find one.

But if you want a hoot - a real Bush hoot, and real insight into Russian culture as it really exists, look at the visa application for US citizens, and compare it with the one for non-US citizens.

They want to know, for us Americans, a) if you've ever been arrested (sorry, Arlo Guthrie, that trip to the dacha is out), b) all professional, civil and charity organizations which you are (were) a member of, or contribute (contributed) to, or work (worked) with (I don't remember that!), c) information about your last two places of work, excluding the current one (But, I think one ex-boss is dead!), and d) all countries you've been to in the past 10 years, and the year of visit (I lost count at 12 countries, and the space is roughly 4 postage stamp sizes).

I think none of that crap is on the non-US citizen visa.

I have a theory: you can tell a lot about an organization by its forms.

I submit as evidence the visa application for the Russian Federation.

Oh, one more thing on the US application I'd almost left out: look at the first question on the form:

Present citizenship (if you formerly had USSR or Russian

citizenship, please indicate when and why you lost it)

Did someone in, say, Armenia or Moldova "lose" USSR citizenship?

The fact that the 2 citizenships are implicitly equivalent here raises all kinds of questions...do they think all those USSR countries are really part of the Russian Federation?

Yet another reason we shouldn't be playing with stuff like this...

From Jonathan Taplin at TPMcafe...

In September of 2001, Bruce Ivins was just an unappreciated bio terror researcher in a lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland. He lived just off the base and many days walked to work. Though we now know he was probably suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, he had access to the most dangerous toxins in the U.S. Army's unrivaled storehouse. Ebola, Anthrax, smallpox, you name it, Bruce could get his hands on it. And then Bruce probably realized he didn't have to be the mousy nerd any more. And he carefully sent out some anthrax letters...

Two take-aways for me.

1. How the fuck did this nut case get access to these labs? And what did we do in reaction?

   We added 10 times as many University and corporate labs that have access to this deadly stuff. This is insane.
   

2. The lures to get in on the Homeland Security Gravy Train, a major topic of The Cost Of Empire, might move a truly mentally ill patient like Ivins, to kill people to get his patent taken seriously. It's like a Batman villian. But for every truly crazy guy who made big money in the Military Industrial Complex(MIC) in the last 30 years, there are 100 Jack Abramoffs--just short of being institutionalized--we'd call them ambitious, who've made far more than Bruce Ivens, as readers of this blog well know.

I can't but agree; it seems kind of crazy keeping stuff like this around folks who might be crazy...

Why do certain people get on television???

Really; why does J. Z. Knight get to be on Larry King, and dozens of folks I know from the blogosphere don't get to be on Larry King?

Call me a bigot, call me whatever you will

But I find the dust-up between P.Z. Myers and the Catholic Wingnuttium quite amusing. Maybe it's because of the abuse these "religious" people subjected me to in Catholic school.

Here's the latest bit.

And here's the post that started it all.

And here's the post where the "Great Desecration" is described.

BTW, Seung Sahn, no saint he, had a koan on what happened if someone came into a temple with a lit cigarette and flicked ashes onto the Buddha statue. Acting like Bill Donahue was not the answer to the koan.

Yes, Fox News really is nothing but right-wing propaganda

What I did on my summer vacation...

In which I clink tea-glasses with Taiwan's former defense minister Chen Li-an, and then watch one of his guests at this banquet partially consume a fluorescent tube. I'm not sure why he did this; the meal was superb...

A new cult in town..

A new cult has moved into the middle school near my house. It appears to be related to this "church planting" organization.

The middle school had been occupied by this cult., but eventually they got their own space.

So of course, what we need in our middle school is for another cult to move in.

Anyhow, I thought it was time to make sure, given the recent spate of burglaries in the neighborhood, that the last thing I needed was more fliers telling me about their wonderful "church which isn't really a church." So I contacted 'em...

To Whom It May Concern:

Please do NOT distribute leaflets in the Westridge Place neighborhood, which surrounds ________. In particular please do not leaflet or come to my house (______). Please have no people come and call for us or proselytize. Do not phone us. You are not welcome on our property. We have no wish to join your cult.

_________ has had a rash of burglaries lately, and your organization would not want to be liable if your leaflets left in doors or elsewhere advertised to criminals that some house's occupants are not home. If that were to happen to my house, and your leaflets were left in our door or elsewhere, I would contact a lawyer to initiate legal action against your organization. Do not take this personally, I have the same policy towards other cults, pizza joints, cleaning services, and so forth. Please enjoy the facilities you have rented, but please be respectful of our neighborhood.

The last cult that was in ________ leafleted the neighborhood continuously, despite admonitions to do otherwise. I would hope that you would be a better and more conscientious tenant, and I would humbly hope that you show greater respect than they did.

You are on notice.

In addition, I would note that I personally interpret the idea that yet another cult's church needs to be "planted" in our neighborhood smacks of arrogance and pride. Pride, being a form of greed, is a serious poison to humanity. It is also clear that in the past few decades, with the explosion of fundamentalist and literalist cult churches such as yours, America has experienced a decline in morality, and an upsurge in greed, hatred and ignorance. This, to me, seems to naturally stem from the very premises of biblical literalism. I harbor no illusions that I have any chance of dissuading you from acting on your cult's beliefs, but I still am compelled to ask you to reconsider your cult's belief system. Regardless, even if you do not, I would ask that you treat your neighbors who do not follow your cult with respect. While I have no problem in principle with your cult meeting at our local middle school, I would ask that you try to remember your are, as we are, guests who are only temporarily here. Let's not be nuisances.


Finally, perhaps you have taken umbrage at my use of the term "cult." According to yourdictionary.com, your stated beliefs do indeed qualify for the use of that term, since they are clearly extremist. Again, if you take umbrage at the use of that term as applied to your organization, perhaps you might want to reconsider your belief system and practices.

Cordially,

Very funny...very Obama

JibJab - Time for Some Campaignin'

The Serenity Prayer versus the Boddhisattva Vows

In a recent discussion with my sister, who has had more than a little exposure to the 12 Step variation of the Buchmanism cult, the issue of rather hateful, resentful relatives, and their racism, came up.

My sister opined that it's a "serenity prayer moment" - one of the things that can't be changed and therefore not in need of attention (almost said, "mindshare.")

I replied that even though that particular relative may never change, and indeed may stay in fear and suffering for eternity, we are still saddled with the responsibility to respond to hatred, even if that response is within ourselves. And that responsibility must be towards quenching the hatred.

That's why I don't have much use for the serenity prayer type thinking; it's not a question of separating one's self from that which cannot be changed - that's a sad illusion anyway. We. Are. Stuck.

It is however a question of how the lotus will bloom in the mud; how will we save sentient beings who are not only innumerable but don't give a damn about how much suffering is produced in the world. The way is unattainable, but we vow to attain it. Because we have suffering in need of quenching.

A "serenity prayer" is, to me, a highly unsatisfying and inadequate response to the wonderful opportunity to practice a koan.

Quotable: Patti Smith

Link

...[Q:]Do you ever feel lonely? Sometimes the pain still — the loss of my brother, the loss of Robert, the loss of my husband, even the loss of my children being children — we can access a lot of things that cause pain. This might seem really funny, but when I feel like that, I make myself smile.

[Q:]How do you do that? I just sit and physically make myself smile. Because sometimes it makes you laugh, and then you just go, “All right.”

She may be an unrepentant Naderite, but she seems to have her head screwed on straight.

Speaking of religious sects with copyright mania

Here's fallout from some more of that...


Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour from huffpost on Vimeo

Anonymous versus Scientology

If you haven't been following this epic battle, you're missing some of the best entertainment on the 'net in years...

To things like this:



The Scientologists have responded with this:

The Church of Scientology International adds new, never before seen, chronology of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard to Scientology.org and the Official Church YouTube channel at YouTube.com/ChurchofScientology.

(PRWEB) July 8, 2008 -- The Church of Scientology announced today the first time ever release of an online video presentation of Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The ten minute on-line video presents a chronological overview of the major milestones and significant achievements of Mr. Hubbard's life.

His enduring legacy includes his presence as one of the most prolific and widely read authors of all time, with over 250 million copies of his books and recorded lectures in circulation, and as the founder of the only major religion established in the 20th century -- Scientology -- growing at an unprecedented rate. This video, containing historical footage and stills spanning three quarters of a century, much of it drawn from Mr. Hubbard's archives, can now be viewed on the Scientology Video Channel at www.Scientology.org and on the Official Church of Scientology Video Channel on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/ChurchofScientology.

Evidently they're so afraid of something that they don't even allow embedding of videos...

How uncool...

心經

大心

It occurs to me that many times in the Zen tradition there's lots of people who speak of "Big Mind." Big Mind this, Big Mind that, my body was dead but Big Mind was there, yada yada yada.

It occurs to me that it might be better phrased as "Big Heart," because there's lots of snake oil salesmen that will attempt to sell you "Big Mind" as "Big Power," when in reality what is needed is a cure for a sickness, manifested in greed, hatred and ignorance.


This occurs to me because of what can only be called an extreme condition of intoxication by the 3 poisons:

Almost everyone has some narcissistic traits, but being conceited, argumentative, or selfish sometimes (or even all the time) doesn't amount to a personality disorder. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a long-term pattern of abnormal thinking, feeling, and behavior in many different situations. The traits on this page will seem peculiar or disturbing when someone acts this way -- i.e., you will know that something is not right, and contact with narcissists may make you feel bad about yourself. It's not unusual for narcissists to be outstanding in their field of work. But these are the successful people who have a history of alienating colleagues, co-workers, employees, students, clients, and customers -- people go away mad or sad after close contact with narcissists...

Narcissicism is a personality disorder and that means that narcissists' personalities aren't organized in a way that makes sense to most people, so the notes below do not necessarily go in the order I've listed them or in any order at all. Interaction with narcissists is confusing, even bewildering -- their reasons for what they do are not the same as normal reasons. In fact, treating them like normal people (e.g., appealing to their better nature, as in "Please have a heart," or giving them the chance to apologize and make amends) will make matters worse with a narcissist.

That's the issue: Please have a heart.

You look at plethoras of "gurus" and "teachers" on the net, and invariably - perhaps especially when the presence of "Big Mind" is touted, there is missing 大心, or any heart at all for that matter.

Please. Have a heart.

Why practice?

From yesterday's NY Times:

You show up for an experiment and are told that you and a person arriving later will each have to do a different task on a computer. One job involves a fairly easy hunt through photos that will take just 10 minutes. The other task is a more tedious exercise in mental geometry that takes 45 minutes.

You get to decide how to divvy up the chores: either let a computer assign the tasks randomly, or make the assignments yourself. Either way, the other person will not know you had anything to do with the assignments.

Now, what is the fair way to divvy up the chores?

When the researchers posed this question in the abstract to people who were not involved in the tasks, everyone gave the same answer: It would be unfair to give yourself the easy job.

But when the researchers actually put another group of people in this situation, more than three-quarters of them took the easy job. Then, under subsequent questioning, they gave themselves high marks for acting fairly. The researchers call this moral hypocrisy because the people were absolving themselves of violating a widely held standard of fairness (even though they themselves hadn’t explicitly endorsed that standard beforehand).

A double standard of morality also emerged when other people were arbitrarily divided in two groups and given differently colored wristbands. They watched as one person, either from their group or from the other group, went through the exercise and assigned himself the easy job.

Even though the observers had no personal stake in the outcome — they knew they would not be stuck with the boring job — they were still biased. On average, they judged it to be unfair for someone in the other group to give himself the easy job, but they considered it fair when someone in their own group did the same thing.

“Anyone who is on ‘our team’ is excused for moral transgressions,” said Dr. DeSteno, a psychologist at Northeastern University. “The importance of group cohesion, of any type, simply extends our moral radius for lenience. Basically, it’s a form of one person’s patriot is another’s terrorist.”

Now, I manage a group of people; and because of various checks and balances and contingent outcomes I do not, I assure you, "take the easy job for myself."

But I do recognize many tendencies in myself to excuse or overlook behavior I might j'accuse! in others.

The conditioned mind is really that small, but it can be eroded.

心經

It helps if you search in Chinese characters if you want to find a Chinese-language rendition of the Heart Sutra...

(The first part of the video below is in fact the Heart Sutra...the first 2 1/2 minutes or so...)

Listening and responding to SOS...

Pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?

Peak agarwood

Speaking and agarwood, which is a staple of Buddhist incense, I should mention that the stuff is, uh, endangered, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). So that's kind of a quandary for those of us (and yeah, I count myself among them) that don't want to destroy the earth too much.

However, unlike certain things, it appears that the folks doing this convention have agreed to, er, study the problem.

It is known- you can google it yourself - that Vietnam is attempting to create sustainable "farm-raised" agarwood. (You don't just raise the trees, you see; the stuff has to rot for a while, and not just any rot, of course, but a special rot which gives agarwood its unique properties).

Anyway, if you do buy the stuff (and I do), treat it with care and do not waste it, and appreciate it. It seems a ridiculous expenditure in these times perhaps (although I can't countenance purchasing the really high end stuff) but on the other hand, there is nothing that conveys what agarwood conveys for zazen and chanting. Yeah, yeah, there is great misery and want in the world, but a zendo is not a space of denial and asceticism, nor is it a place of ridiculous indulgence.

And if there's a way to help foster sustainable methods for producing this stuff, let me know. I can't believe there won't be alternatives found for exterminating the agarwood species; I just hope the folks who are dead set against genetic engineering can deal with it.

Discovery & Dispute

• The Olfactory Rescue Service are people that are as serious about incense as oenophiles are about wine.
  
  I have no idea how they get the money to transform all those Shoeyeido agarwoods into ash and smoke, but having done that to samplers once myself I can understand the appeal.
  
  If you do burn incense for meditative practices, though their advice is generally spot-on.
  
  As for myself, for zazen I usually use the Baeido 白檀 (byakudan), their sandalwood - heavy version of their daily incense. However, in part thanks to these folks, I've recently found the guilty pleasures of Minorien.
  
  If you buy the Minorien byakudan, light a stick, and smell, you'll have the South/East Asian analogue of Anton Ego in Ratatouille: you'll be instantly transported to the first time you experienced that scent in a Buddhist or Hindu temple, except that this is purer, more expressive than you will remember.
  
  I think there's a place for this kind of thing in this world.
  
  



• I seemed to have disturbed at least one Wilberite. (See comments there.) Which was picked up elsewhere.
  
  OTOH, I'm not alone...I cannot believe though that someone threw "lineage holder" around.
  
  As though I'm unaware of lineages?