Category Archives: Daily Buddhism

Daily Buddhism

Buddha Jewelry (And other Icons)

A Reader writes:

To anyone who could give me some information,

I have a book in which the protagonist is given a ring with the head of Buddha, made from gold, and which has rubies for eyes. She has a bad time with people wanting the ring, or just wanting to take it from her. I am wondering if Buddhists would find the ring offensive, as I believe a Christian would a ring with the face of Jesus with rubies for eyes, or if people would have some reason to want the ring other than just a fairly nominal amount of money it would bring?

My Response:

I don’t know the book, but you see this sort of thing in movies sometimes.  No, I don’t think Buddhists would be offended at all. Nor would a serious Buddhist desire the ring, for monetary or any other value. Remember, a “serious” Buddhist doesn’t grasp for wealth unless it is given to him or her. At least in theory; I’m sure there are many Buddhists out there that wouldn’t turn away a valuable item if it came into their possession.

Just remember, Buddhists try not to become overly attached to material things. Gold rings, money, ideas, even people can become dangerous attachments. But to chase someone down in order to steal a valuable ring… is not very Buddhist.

As far as this concept being offensive goes… No, most Buddhists wouldn’t care. Even the Buddha, or an image of him, is nothing special. It’s just another thing to be attached to. I’ve written before on the mistaken idea that Buddhists worship idols. They don’t. All those Buddha statues you see are simply art.

Daily Buddhism

Buddhism in Public Schools

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A reader writes: 

I am new to Buddhism, and have recently found your website and podcasts. I am an art teacher in a public school, and am finding it hard not to share this newfound aspect of my life with my students. I know that because it is  a public school, I cannot preach or impose any religious beliefs on my students, however I find the teachings of Buddha and the lineage I’ve decided to follow very important to life situations – for example, being present in the moment. I try to say things simply, but do not want to get in trouble for passing along any religious message to students. Obviously I find my spirituality something of great importance, and cannot help but exist within my own practice.

My Response:

Ouch!

As a teacher myself, I understand your dilemma. Mentioning religious ideas in school can be the quickest and easiest way to learn what it’s like to be unemployed. Even mainstream Christian ideas often are rejected, so something as “alien” as Buddhism is sure to meet with resistance.

I ran into this myself just recently. I teach College English, and my students are all adults. I generally keep my beliefs as much to myself as my sex life; it’s just not something I want to deal with in school.  It’s not really the place.  Just a couple of days ago, a student overheard me taking a phone call from someone who wanted to interview me about the book I had just gotten published. She asked me, in class, what I had written. I had to answer, so I told the class what it was, and the looks of incredulity surprised me. “Why THAT?” “Buddhists aren’t real,” and quite a few raised eyebrows. The discussion for the next ten minutes was about  suffering, grasping, and non-attachment. A few of those “Buddhism isn’t Real” people walked away having learned something. A student caught me after class asking where to buy the book, so I must have made some impression. That being said, this is a COLLEGE environment, not a public school. There’s a big difference.

In all honesty, I think with the current educational environment, I’d just keep my mouth closed. Some closed-minded parent is likely to hear half a story from their child and accuse you of indoctrination into some unholy cult. You and I know that Buddhism is a great way of life, and someday, someone out in the real world might ask you to teach them about Buddhism On the other hand, as a public school teacher, it’s your job to follow the rules and stick to the appropriate topic, in your case, art.

 

Daily Buddhism

Buddhists Aren’t Perfect

Here’s a news article I just stumbled upon:

105-year-old Zen Buddhist master is accused of groping female students

You can read the article if you want, but I’ll summarize: This old master, Joshu Sasaki, has been groping and touching his female students for over 50 years, and allegedly used his position to excommunicate or ban anyone who complained away from his retreat in Mt. Baldy, California.

At this stage, let’s remember that this is all just allegations; there has not been any kind of trial. I’m not entirely even sure what the crime would be if there was one. But whether or not this was a “crime,” it was clearly inappropriate if he actually did it.

Every day, I post something on this site telling what kinds of things Buddhists do or don’t do. Keep in mind that this is all “in theory.” In reality, Buddhists are normal human being who do stupid things. None of them are perfect, and even Buddhist leaders deal with daily temptations just like the rest of us.

It seems like all too often in the news we hear about Catholic priests going after little boys or Baptist Pastors having affairs with members of their congregation, or something else of the sort. We rarely hear about Buddhists misbehaving, but I suspect that’s just because there aren’t as many Buddhist leaders in America.  A long time ago, I posted a review of Sheng Yen’s Footprints in the Snow, which detailed life in a monastery back in the early 1900’s. He discussed all kinds of scandals, affairs, and the like. It goes on today as well.

What’s my point today? Don’t look to Buddhism as the perfect solution to the world’s problems. Buddhists are people, and they do stupid things sometimes too. Grasping too hard for perfection is just one more form of grasping that we should try to do away with.

 

Daily Buddhism, Koans

Koan: Black-Nosed Buddha

Koan: Black-Nosed Buddha

A nun who was searching for enlightenment made a statue of Buddha and covered it with gold leaf. Wherever she went she carried this golden Buddha with her.

Years passed and, still carrying her Buddha, the nun came to live in a small temple in a country where there were many Buddhas, each one with its own particular shrine.

The nun wished to burn incense before her golden Buddha. Not liking the idea of the perfume straying to the others, she devised a funnel through which the smoke would ascend only to her statue. This blackened the nose of the golden Buddha, making it especially ugly.

Daily Buddhism, Koans

Koan: Ryonen’s Clear Realization

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Koan: Ryonen’s Clear Realization

The Buddhist nun known as Ryonen was born in 1797. She was a granddaughter of the famous Japanese warrior Shingen. Her poetic genius and alluring beauty were such that at seventeen she was serving the empress as one of the ladies of the court. Even at such a youthful age fame awaited her.

The beloved empress died suddenly and Ryonen’s hopeful dreams vanished. She became acutely aware of the impermanency of life in this world. It was then that she desired to study Zen.

Her relatives disagreed, however, and practically forced her into marriage. With a promise that she might become a nun after she had borne three children, Ryonen assented. Before she was twenty-five she had accomplished this condition. Then her husband and relatives could no longer dissuade her from her desire. She shaved her head, took the name of Ryonen, which means to realize clearly, and started on her pilgrimage.

She came to the city of Edo and asked Tetsugyu to accept her as a disciple. At one glance the master rejected her because she was too beautiful.

Ryonen then went to another master, Hakuo. Hakuo refused her for the same reason, saying that her beauty would only make trouble.

Ryonen obtained a hot iron and placed it against her face. In a few moments her beauty had vanished forever.

Hakuo then accepted her as a disciple.

Commemorating this occasion, Ryonen wrote a poem on the back of a little mirror:

 

In the service of my Empress I burned incense to perfume my exquisite clothes.

Now as a homeless mendicant I burn my face to enter a Zen temple.

When Ryonen was about to pass from this world, she wrote another poem:

Sixty-six times have these eyes beheld the changing scene of autumn.

I have said enough about moonlight, 

Ask no more.

Only listen to the voice of pines and cedars when no wind stirs.

Daily Buddhism

Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That!

A reader writes:  

I’m having trouble finding a time to meditate every day. Meditation has been in my life for a long time, but structured meditation has been a difficult task to adhere to. Although I wish to, and feel the urge to, I am having a hard time sticking to it. Do you have any advice for this?

My Response:

I’m an English teacher, and I also want to publish more books, so I read lots of books about writing. One of the chief complaints that “wannabe” writers have is that they don’t have the time to write. I see this over and over in books about writing and from aspiring writers on Twitter as well. The old-timers and experienced writers always have the same answer for them. “A writer writes.”

A similar argument comes from those who don’t have time to exercise.

The same thing goes for meditation.

If it’s important to you, then you will find a way to fit it in. The problem is that right now, other things are more important to you. Maybe it’s work. Maybe it’s school. Maybe it’s sitting in a chair watching “Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo” on TV, I don’t know. But if you aren’t meditating, then it’s simply because something else is taking priority.

There’s nothing wrong with having some things in your life be more important than meditation. I’ll admit it; I don’t get around to it nearly as often as I should myself. The thing here is to take responsibility for your own lack of meditating. Don’t blame your calendar or the clock. If it’s important enough to you, you will make time for it, the way you make time for other things right now.

Maybe subconsciously you’re avoiding meditation for some reason. Maybe you simply don’t manage your time well. Get organized. See what other time-consuming thing you could cut back on or drop entirely. Maybe you really are that busy, and meditation won’t fit. That happens sometimes, but most of the time, this situation is easily fixed.

Just do it.

 

(And no, I just couldn’t resist that title. If you’ve watched Youtube recently, you know why.)

Daily Buddhism

GLBT People and Buddhism: Compatible?

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A reader writes:

I’m just starting a new interest in Buddhism but I’m gay and I read that the Dali Lama thinks homosexuality is wrong for Buddhists. How should I handle that?

My Response:

I did a post on this back in 2008, and most of it is still true.  As far as I know, the Dalai Lama has not changed his tune on gay folks. That being said, since I wrote that in 2008, LGBT people have made great progress both politically and socially. The most obvious sign of this is the growing acceptance of same-sex marriages, with more states allowing it all the time.

Keep in mind that Buddhism is heavily dependent on local customs. I hesitate to put this too simply, but right and wrong are often relative to the culture in question. What’s morally acceptable in one place may not be acceptable elsewhere.

The Dalai Lama is from Tibet. He used to be the “King” of Tibet. If anyone gets to say what is or isn’t proper in Tibet, it’s him. American culture, on the other hand, is not Tibetan culture. I believe that the Dalai Lama wants to reduce the level of suffering of his people, and he believes that being gay causes suffering. In Tibet, that may well be very true. In America, 20 years ago, that was often true as well. Today? Not as much.

Going all the way back to the foundations of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths, the goal of all of Buddhism is to end or reduce suffering. If Homosexuality is considered evil and wrong by most of society, then an LGBT individual is going to have greater suffering than in a more accepting environment. This is certainly not good for the individual or society as a whole.

Is homoexuality a suffering-free lifestyle? No. straight people can’t claim that either. It is, however, becoming more and more accepted, and therefore more and more compatible with Buddhist beliefs.

I suspect we’ll have some discussion in the comment section; that’s what it’s for!

Daily Buddhism, Meditation

Guest Post: What Does Meditation Do?

And now we have our first guest post in ages. This one is by Dr. Douglas Gentile, who writes the American Buddhist blog at usbuddhist.blogspot.com.  He has been training in multiple Buddhist traditions since about 1989.  In his professional life he is an award-winning researcher, author, and university professor.

What Does Meditation Do?

By Douglas Gentile

Western stereotypes about meditation are interesting.  People often initially come to meditation because they believe it will bring them bliss, or bring sudden enlightenment, or at least be a relaxing break from the stresses of the day. Yet, instead, it often feels really bad, and people then believe they’re doing it wrong or that it doesn’t work.  But what does meditation actually do?

There are many answers to this, at many different levels of analysis, but at least in the beginning stages for most new meditators, it allows us to see how the mind works.  It is constantly jumping — emotions follow thoughts which follow emotions which follow thoughts and on and on ad nauseum.  Sometimes this is called “monkey mind,” although I personally think that’s somewhat unfair to monkeys.  By recognizing how easy it is to get trapped into this pattern of chasing every thought and feeling to the next, and how difficult it is to slow that pattern, it teaches us that we don’t need to put quite so much faith in our thoughts and feelings.  They will all change, even if we try to hold on to them.

This can allow us to not react when under their influence.  We can refrain from automatically reacting.  We can pause briefly and add some space, and perhaps even relax to see what will happen naturally.  This can allow for a much gentler approach both to oneself and to others.

As an example, my girlfriend once told me that she didn’t trust me entirely.  She wasn’t being unkind or attacking me – it was simply true.  My immediate reaction was to feel hurt and I immediately thought of all sorts of angry things I could say in response or to make a pronouncement about how we couldn’t be together then.  But it was bedtime, so instead I lay in bed and let my thoughts and feelings flow as they would until I finally slept (not particularly well).  The next day I was able to express my disappointment with her lack of complete trust, but I could also see how my behaviors had caused it.  She was right not to entirely trust me – I had told her not to in several small ways.  My disappointment was, in fact, equal to hers.  She was disappointed that she wasn’t able to trust me completely and to always be feeling as though she might lose this relationship soon.

By recognizing that my immediate thoughts and feelings were not “truth,” and indeed were limiting my view as long as I focused on them, I was able to not be trapped into believing I had to act on them at the minute I was thinking/feeling them.  Adding a pause allowed for a better view on the situation, and ultimately meant that we didn’t even argue at all – instead, we had a good conversation and a better understanding of each other because of it.

If we consider the stereotypes about the outcomes of meditation, this example doesn’t fit any of them.  At no point in this experience did it feel blissful, enlightened, or relaxing to me.  But meditation had allowed me to see the nature of mind, so that the thoughts and feelings didn’t feel so solid or overwhelming that I had to do something at the minute I was caught in them.  If I had, it would invariably have been less than skillful and would likely have made the situation worse rather than using the opportunity to make our relationship better.

Comment here, or on the original post at http://usbuddhist.blogspot.com/
Daily Buddhism

Frustration, Anger, and Buddha

1 Comment

A reader writes:

I have been living in China for three years now. I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and Non-denominational Religions and do not believe in the whole deity being god thing.  Not that I do not believe in the concept of a divine creator but something is out there. So I am in China and visit the temples, take photos and stuff and have become interested in the philosophy.  Am I correct that Buddha is not a God? Buddhism is a philosophy?

I have read a few web pages and see this may be a way to help me curb my anger issues; my anger manifests as frustration. Why frustration?  Because I am trying to find out information and others do not understand or I do not understand. So why the anger?  Because I did not step back to figure out with Understanding or Enlightenment.  I did not know what the real issue was to start with, that it was me not understanding all the variables  of communication, others not understanding, and so on. So am I on the right path of choices to understanding to go forward?

My Response:

There are a couple of different questions here. First, Buddha is no god, just a very smart/wise man who lived around 2,500 years ago. He came up with a few very simple, yet profound ideas that some call a philosophy, and others do, in fact, treat as a very elaborate religion. You can go either way with it. Read more about Buddha and these ideas here on the site, or download the 60+ episodes of the podcast and start from the beginning. (There’s also a book, which I’m trying very hard not to mention in every single post, but it’s called “The Five-Minute Buddhist” written by me and is available at the link above).

It sounds like you’ve given the second part of your question a great deal of thought. Yes, anger does often come from frustration, and frustration can come from miscommunication, inability to express oneself, and simply not knowing things you are expected to know by their society. After living in Japan for a time, I know well how frustrating it can be.

Meditation can help with anger issues, regardless of the cause. Also, as you say, simply understanding the root causes of the frustration can help. You know now that the anger comes from not understanding, and the best way to resolve that anger is by learning. Realizing how much you don’t know, and making positive strides to learn can make all the difference. To answer your final question, yes, it sounds like you are indeed on the right path now.

 

 

Daily Buddhism, Ethics

Genetic Enhancements, Abortion, and Buddhist Ethics

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14-1(22)About a year ago, I was asked to do a short email interview concerning the Buddhist viewpoint on genetic manipulation and PGD (Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis). Essentially, this is a process that involves artificially fertilizing a number of human eggs, taking out a few cells and checking them for abnormalities, and then implanting the best ones. This removes the chance of a “bad egg” (pun intended). The very idea opens up a can of ethical worms. Here are the rapid-fire Questions and my Answers. I don’t pretend to be an expert on the science behind it, but I have to say it’s a fascinating topic. What do YOU think? Comment below:

 

Q. According to Buddhism, is it moral to have a baby to provide for the medical needs of an already existing child?

A. Probably not, but it really depends on whether or not the second child suffers.  All of Buddhism revolves around relieving suffering, and if the new baby will suffer to fulfill the role of “spare part donor,” then that’s not going to work out. If you mean the second child will be a caregiver of some sort, that’s not necessarily suffering in itself; a lot of good comes from helping others, both in this world and in the realm of karma. 

Q. According to Buddhism, is it moral to attempt to have a child when genetic factors make it likely that the child may be mentally or physically handicapped?

A. Doesn’t really matter. All life is sacred, even mentally or physically handicapped people.
Q. According to Buddhism , is it moral to try to select the sex of one’s baby?

A. Doesn’t apply; the majority of scientific and medical advances are embraced by Buddhists.  If they are used to relieve suffering, they are considered overall a good thing.
Q. According to Buddhism, is it moral to abort a foetus if it prone to obesity of a chronic medical condition?

A. Generally, most Buddhists are against abortion, but it does depend on the situation. Your case would probably not be acceptable if there were no other extenuating circumstances.
Q. According to Buddhism, what is the moral worth of an embryo?

A. That, just like with any other religion, depends on whether you consider an embryo a “person” or not.  Buddhists arguer over this just like everyone else. Generally speaking, it’s probably safer to assume an embryo is a person, or at least a potential person. This leads to the whole abortion discussion, which isn’t what you’re looking for here.
Q. According to Buddhism, who should determine the genes of a person- doctors, parents, or God?

A. Buddhists do not have a God.  Karma perhaps, but many would just attribute this to random luck beyond whatever the parents bring to the genetic table. 
Q. What perspective does Buddhism take on the use of PGD treatment, for both medical use and the enhancement of genes? Has the view on medical treatment changed amongst Buddhists or has certain ideologies continued since the foundation of Buddhism (particularly on the issue of genetic enhancements and PGD treatment)?

A. Many say that the original Buddha was a doctor.  Medicine that relieves suffering is a great thing and is always good.  Medicine that causes suffering, addiction, grasping at a life that may be unnaturally long, and other “wrong” uses are not acceptable.  PGD, like any of these other things, really depends on the motives and reasoning behind their use,
Q. Why do you think religious groups accept the use of gene therapies and even the use of genetic modification for medical reasons but reject use for physical attributes only?

A. With Buddhists, fixing a medical problem would be relieving suffering, while choosing genes to have a prettier nose is simply vanity, which is unhealthy.

Q. In your opinion, do you think religion and science can ever complement each other? Or are they constantly conflicting each other?

A. When science contradicts religion, religion must bend and adapt, according to the Dalai Lama. Some religions go kicking and screaming into the future. You know who I mean.

Q. Do you agree to dealing with prejudices (such as skin and eye colour) by biomedical fixes as a way of solving our social problems?

A. No. If everyone were the same color, we’d find something else to hate people over. Racism aside, I think most people recognize that there really is strength in diversity,

Q. If PGD treatment becomes increasingly popular, what do you think the consequences will be on society AND on the relationship between science and religion?

A. I have no idea, but I think we’d all adapt.

Comments? Agree or disagree with me? There’s a lot of room for discussion on this topic, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment below: