Sunday, April 16, 2006

Roundup for Apr 9 - 15, 2006

The mind, meditation, Dr. Who and Passover were among the hundred topics Buddhists and quasi-Buddhists blogged about last week. The Buddhoblogosphere is teeming with interesting content, y'all. Truly, it thrives. Below is just a tantilizing taste of some of it. Smell the aroma! Lick that One Taste. Yes! Take off your shoes and unholster your mouse and CLICK YOUR WAY ON IN to the Buddhoblogosphere of Bliss!

Streamin', Part I

Gareth Thompson of Green Clouds had written a poem, “Deadlines” last week. Ed Ovett of Ed’s Mixed Bag was jazzed by the audio version, mixed in some music – with Gareth’s permission and that of the musical artist, Lee Spears – and featured it as the lead item for his April 15 podcast. This week, Gareth writes, “the remixed Deadlines and the music [Ed]’d chosen was perfect. Ed had chosen a track called One Bright Star from a Lee Spears album 'The Brighter Side of Night.'” Great stuff, Gareth, Ed and Lee!

American Buddhist Perspective's Justin’s Left Coast Vacation with Ana has ended. He is back in Montana, now, studying Sartre’s Being and Nothingness and his beloved has returned to Spain. But their love will bring them back together, again, eventually. Writes Justin, “I feel a strong sense of clinging toward Ana now, missing her, wishing we had gone through with her brilliant plan to fold me up into her carry-on luggage.”

Brain, Mind, Reality and all of That

Christopher Kelly in his Mind and Reality blog writes about the interdisciplinary conference, “Toward a Science of Consciousness” held Apr 4 - 8 in Tucson. Writes Christopher of the seventh biennial meeting, “According to event organizers ‘[w]e do not yet understand consciousness, but it is fair to say that, at the very least, we understand the problem far better.’” Prominent Buddhist scholars John Dunne and B. Alan Wallace were among those mentioned in Kelly’s short report. Copious links in the post lead readers to fascinating reading related to the conference. B’du recommends the 100-page pdf file of a chapter – “Meditation and the Neuroscience of Consciousness” – written by Dunne from a forthcoming book. The early sections, detailing the history, styles and controversies regarding meditiation are fascinating as are later sections tying it all in with neuroscience.

Pretentious [but in a nice way] c0mmie of Quest for Nothingness, who writes the titles of all his posts in French, answers the questions of Gauguin: “Where are we from? What are we? Where are we going?” Here, just a small bucket [pronounced bouquet] of c0mmie’s untangled web of meaning, delivered in word units: “…instead of becoming stronger and more fit in a natural sense, we are genetically adapting to institutions that we ourselves created. Somehow, I feel that's a reason for concern. Where are we going?”

Daniel Poynter of The Hyperaware Consciousness dives into Terrance McKenna audio files and the question “What is the psychodelic experience?” Here’s a McKenna-file excerpt Daniel provides:
All boundaries are illusions, and Life is a thinking, feeling intellect, of some sort, and we are just like a little droplet that has somehow escaped from the river of cognition, and just imagined that we are the only cognition in the universe…
Immigration from Mexico into the USA

Tucson, Arizona-resident William Harryman has posted a call in Integral Option CafĂ© for ideas on how to fix the Mexico-to-US unlawful immigration problem. William is seeking an “integral” <qv> solution. He makes some observations on the situation, and then writes,
There are no easy answers. We must attempt to see this from all sides and try to come up with an approach that is fair to all involved. We cannot become so entrenched in an us-versus-them mentality that we fail to have compassion in our hearts or justice in our actions.
His proffered solution includes these elements: Easy-to-get work visas for Mexicans; amnesty and a route to citizenship for those who have been in the US five or more years; a more arduous path to citizenship for those who have been here less than five years; increased immigration quotas; strengthened border policing; be very tough on large businesses that hire illegals, border-crossing guides, and drug runners.

California Central Valley-resident Nargarjuna of Naked Reflections puts forward a tough approach that he believes would never be enacted. He calls for national ID cards for US citizens, and tough laws against employers who hire non-citizens. He endorses a rise in minimum wages and a Guest Worker program if a need is demonstrated. He wants to end automatic American citizenship to anyone born in the US and to see an effort made by America to make the societies in Latin America more affluent.

Colorado-citizen James of Genius of Insanity feels the single biggest need is tough laws, fines and enforcement against businesses that hire illegals. Other important elements of his immigration-reform ideas include beefing up all means to block illegal border entry and giving amnesty to illegals already in the US.

Don’t Pass Over the Buddhists!

Kit of PaperFrog finds the Buddhist-Jew section of the bookstore, just in time to get himself invited for a Passover feast! Writes Kit, “Wouldn't it be great to chow down on a sideboard groaning with matzoh, roasted eggs, and bitter herbs? You bet! But how can the dharma bum fit in? … It's Haggadah for Jews & Buddhists to the rescue!” Other Jewish-Buddhist book finds: Zen Judaism: For You, A Little Enlightenment; Letters to a Buddhist Jew and Touching the Wall - Entering the Steam.

F. Kwan writes in foot before foot: the photoblog about getting a bit of Dr. H’s matzo that he passed around to employees, “It tasted so good. He must have gotten the Rich Zip Code Matzo, salted perfectly. It didn't taste like stale cardboard. It was not too sweet. It was just right. Goldie Lox would have been in her element.” … and later … “I wanted to kidnap Dr H and go somewhere for a meaningful Passover Seder dinner, one at which we would both feel welcome, I that was estranged from my Heritage and tried endlessly and fruitlessly to return…”

Meditation and Stillness
[Note the three posts that are interweaved in this section are not directly related.]

Ajahn Punnadhammo of Bhikkhu’s Blog takes us through the steps of Meditation on Voidness. “The meditation proceeds through a series of contemplations. The whole trick of making it work is to remember that nothing new is added at any stage. On the contrary, each stage is a successive subtraction. You advance through the stages by a process of selective non-attention.”

Writes Seamus “Moose” Ennis, The Contemporary Taoist, “One of the most challenging things about maintaining an effective meditation practice is, when the situation requires it, finding the time and the will to meditate long enough to achieve Stillness.”

Dharmasattva in the same-name blog quotes the Majjhima Nikaya Sutta, “The Buddha turned round. 'My legs move but my mind is still,' he said. 'Your legs are still but your mind moves all the time in a fire of anger, hatred, and feverish desire. Therefore, I am still but you are not.'"

From Moose’s post, this: “As I began to calm down, I had an interesting vision. I saw my mind as being like a huge old Art Museum. All of my memories were represented as pictures hanging on the wall, but there was nobody in the building but me. I realised that I could, if I chose, look at the pictures, but that it would be more beneficial to ignore them for now and simply enjoy the quietness and space of the cavernous, empty rooms.”

From Ajahn Punnadhammo’s post, on the penultimate and ultimate step in the Meditation of the Void: “…eventually even nothingness starts to seem ‘busy’. In the next step we remove the concept of nothingness from our field of awareness and rest in the field called 'neither-perception-nor-nonperception.' Don't try to figure it out. The name is meaningless really, it's what's left when you remove nothingness.”

Streamin', Part II

K’vitsh of the same-name blog DJs a one-hour weekly radio show, Friday nights at 6pm MST, on CJSR, 88.5 FM, broadcast from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. And – hooray for this – the show can also be heard by anyone with Internet access and a decent computer since it is simulcast on audio-stream at the CJSR website. The show, which features an eclectic selection of music, is called Liza’s Pills – and, no K’vitsh’s real name isn’t Liza.

Justin of Ordinary Extraordinary tells us “The Middle Way of Buddha is about freedom - internal freedom” He then, without equivocation, tells us how Buddhism came about and developed and gives us the meaning behind some common terms and concepts.

Jigdral Dawa of The Pagan Bodhisattva finds insight, initiated by this realization: “The body CAN'T be me. The body is just meat. No, it's not just ‘meat’ - it's food by-product!”

Harvests & Recommendations

amanzi [aka, Andrew MacFarland] of amanziblog launches a new blog The Idea Collective, “A website where people could post their original ideas, where companies or individuals could bid for the brightest undiscovered minds.”

Two weeks ago in B’du, it was Atlanta’s Chase of Cut to the Chase who was hyped about Trader Joe’s, now there’s a rave by near-Albuquerque’s Joshua in Mudita Journal:“Anybody who understands that the only proper way to sell avocados is in bags of 6 at a time, has my money.” Joshua lists and explains his fav products at T. Joe’s and links to a location finder.

With some fanfare, Google has added Calendar to its burgeoning free-services listing. Google’s online calendar is not greatly different from other products out there, but per-usual for Google stuff, it operates in sometimes- unique and delightful and sometimes-frustrating ways. B’du reporter, Tom Armstrong, has created a publically available Buddhist Blogger feed/add-in for Calendar that will capture future events found via blogs that are of wide interest and any Buddhist Internet-related future stuff of interest. Here is the somewhat secret address of Calendar [still in Beta version]: All you need is free gmail registration and away you go.

Mahala of Quoting Buddha tells us of Pema Chadron’s “only United States teaching appearance in 2006, but people everywhere will be able to participate in this program through live web broadcasting.” Event is schedule for May 12 – 14. Mark your calendars.

Bodhiwater of Ambhoja … water born … seeking light recommends Voice of Tibet, radio in exile, which broadcasts, in the Tibetan and Mandarin languages, Tibetan news and talks by the Dalai Lama. Bodhiwater provides links to a documentary about the freedom-seeking radio station.

Carlos Rull of carlosrull.com recommends a site that allows you to make 80x15 pixel buttons. This is the first online one I’ve seen that allows you to incorporate images.

“While visiting the Mayo Clinic, the Dalai Lama will deliver an address to patients and staff. ‘Compassion in the Face of Suffering’ will focus on practices that encourage a peaceful mind and positive ways to live during difficult times.” writes beesucker of Authentic Personality. The address will be presented in a live webcast. More details are forthcoming. [Here, btw, is a link to the Dalai Lama’s Schedule at his official website. There is nothing there re the Dalai Lama speaking at the Mayo Clinic as of 4/15.]

coolbuddha of Bringing Buddhism to the Masses is bonkers about the new Dr. Who. [Note: The bbc’s Doctor Who webpage.]

~C4Chaos of the eponymous blog gives a full-throated [hopping-keyboarded?] endorsement of What is Enlightenment? magazine, in hardcover and online as WIE Unbound. ~C4 tells us that the WIE website has been nommed for a Webby.

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