Roundup for Oct 10 - 16, 2005

Guilt, euthanasia, emptiness, compassion, peace, bike rides, watermelon and Swedish are on Buddhism-flavored bloggers' minds this week.

From the Blog Sangha...

Foguiera, in her blog foot before foot [formerly known as f. kwan and before that Fogdux], tells us she is beginning to learn Swedish. She writes, "There are few things, regretfully, that cause a true ecstatic thrill in me. One of them is photography. The other is learning a new language. It truly is better than sex, because it's the alleged reason for it: intimacy. You're actually meeting the person speaking the target language on a brain cell level. It doesn't get any more up close and personal than that.

Wondering on the Way explored guilt this week. Jeb writes, “To believe that being interconnected with others means somehow we are collectively guilty or responsible for everything that goes on the world, and all the acts of violence committed isn’t rooted in Buddhism at all.”

Emptiness is on Gareth of Green Clouds mind. Early in the week, he quotes Tenzin Palmo re the nexis of emptiness and merit. Later, in a series of three posts -- Emptiness Part I, Emptiness Part II, and More Emptiness -- he contrasts the Geluk and Nyingma schools' teachings, peers into the nature of Ultimate Reality and takes some instruction from Nargajuna.

Rumi and Thich Nyat Hahn help out as Hundred Mountain's Douglas eyes a snakey grey tree trunk of a thing and gleans an elephantine helping of wisdom. "We harm ourselves day-by-day, [by] large and small infractions and infarctions. No god can save us, although protector spirits abound."

Via Negativa's Dave finds peace in a watermelon and writes the week's most provocative opening paragraph in a wonderful entry called "Holes." That paragraph follows:

If only the personal weren't, as they say, so political. If only the person-holes called leaders were a bit less personable. If only the suction from those walking vacuums weren't always so goddamn difficult to resist.

Adela, the mercurius blogger, quotes lyrics from Bowie's "Planet of Dreams" and tells us, "Our planet is facing the greatest problems it's ever faced so don't get bored in solitude. A dream we dream alone is only a dream. A dream we dream with others can become a reality."

Cycling Sam of sam i am checks in to update us on his situation after a month away from bloggery. Money (lack of), Work at the bike shop (too much of), School and Career Choosing exert pressures, but the open road beacons. “I’ve been doing many of the shops' group rides and I am continually the one setting the pace or being attacked ‘to test me.’ Today I rode like a man possessed up to Bee Caves …”

Reading by Lamplight

The blogger of everything is illuminated is indefatigable, pulling together delicious long and heavily-researched entries on rather esoteric topics that are Zen related or about works of European philosophers from the distant past.

This week, Peace speaks in a book the eii blogger found, written by Erasamus, a German humanist, in his 1506 book ‘Plea of Peace.’ “The dominant tenor of Peace’s talk is the complaint of being recklessly treated, devalued and demoted, while humans lavish endless praise and honors on warfare, the source of death, destruction and misery.”

An entry, “Poetry inspired by the shakuhachi [a Japanese flute],” introduces us to poems little known in the West and to some of the peccadilloes of 15th Century Zen poet and priest Ikkyu Sojun. “Ikkyū was among the few Zen priests who argued that his enlightenment was deepened by consorting with pavilion girls. He entered brothels wearing his black robes, since for him sexual intercourse was a religious rite.”

Another entry, “Shobogenzo and online resources” is, as its title suggests, an introduction to Dogen’s great work with a bounty of links to the book from a project at Stanford engaged in completing a full translation of this work and other great Soto texts.

Reconciling Buddhism and Euthanasia

Euthanasia is examined this week in The Buddhist Blog. Writes James, "How much suffering must someone go through before our compassion allows them to pass on peacefully? What lessons can be learned in slowly watching yourself (or a loved one) die from cancer ... wracked in pain? You might say that the terrible suffering teaches that suffering is inevitable, but what if you have already learned this great teaching? Or, you might answer that modern drugs allow the patient to be quite comfortable during the dying process. [B]ut I would argue then, 'Isn't that already a form of voluntary euthanasia?'"

James cites an entry in Nacho's WoodMoor Village Zendo last March and utilizes a very helpful article on the topic by Buddhism guide Anthony Flanagan at the about.com webspace to explore the contentious topic.

Bill Bennett redux

Chalip of Zen Under the Skin has added a perhaps-final word on a topic that has roiled the Buddhist cybersangha since Bill Bennett made some disturbing comments on his radio show September 2 that included these words [that Bennett would object are out of context]: "if you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."

Chalip agrees in large degree with sentiment by Nacho in WoodMoor Village Zendo and by Terrance in Republic of T that sentiment in the Black community is widely on the order of "What else is new?" Chalip explains – to which Nacho and Terrance would likely agree – that that remark does not imply that Bennett’s words were innocuous. “This does not mean that we [Blacks] are not disgusted when public figures (or any other figures) make these statements. We simply bump up against racism in our daily lives. We might not have fire hoses or dogs turned upon us, but we share common experiences that remind us that racism is alive and well.”

Chalip then comes to her central point [directed at Nacho, but truly a more-open and general question]: Nacho seems to be looking at this through the lens "You're either a part of the solution or you're part of the problem" and is (quite passionately) trying to be part of the solution. I applaud his motives. But the sum of his argument is the belief that people need to change. They need to change what they say. They need to change what they believe. They need to change how they view and respond to matters of race. They need to ‘know better.’ So I want to ask him What changes people?” Later in her post, Chalip answers her own question, “People don't change because we want them to. People change because they choose to.”

Chalip writes that she is in sympathy with a point made in a post on Oct. 9 by Jeff in ZenDiary: “Stop externalizing racism: it is truly ‘inside’ all of us to the degree that we participate in activities that foster and sustain racial oppression.” Says Chalip, “We all need to own up to our own hypocrisy …, we need to own up and take responsibility if we really want to do something to eradicate the [problem]. Jeff makes a valid point... clinging to the fact that we don't purport racist attitudes while we support policies that prolong racial oppression only carries us 1/8th of the way.”

Real compassion

Eric of Virtual Zen is hearty this week in a series of moving and wonderfully written entries. Following are words about and links to two of them: Early in the week, he directs his words to a specific, unnamed reader of his blog, saying “My heart has been opened completely by reading of your pain -- that wrenching, gut tearing pain you've been put through.”

At the end of the week, alone in a hotel room, he writes of coming to hate everyone and everything and hate where he’s living and that he's finding “solace only in the bottom of a Absolut Mandarin bottle.” But then he concludes, “Things are so much calmer now - even in the whirling maelstrom of my career … and I can see myself much more clearly as the person I truly am. Perhaps its the sitting, perhaps its the time and/or distance from what I was going through - but now I know that I am truly blessed, truly loved, truly.”

A Bushel of Shining Read Blog Entries
[And not a bad apple in the bunch]

Jeb of Wondering on the Way has boxed “Blog Harvest 4” this week, highlighting posts from luminous emptiness, Green Clouds, this zen life and jack/zen. Meanwhile, this week’s “Wednesday Blogma” over at the meditateNYC blog praises entries in Notes in Samsara, tysonwilliams.com, Zen Under the Skin and Keep Trying. And over at Republic of T, Terrance has chosen an entry in WoodMoor Village Zendo as one of his Friday "10blogs."

Ryan's Lair alerts us to the complete English translation by D.T. Suzuki of the Lakavatara Sutra, found at a Russian website. Buddhology adventurer Ryan credits "the all-seeing eye of Iain Sinclair," who blogs Jinajik, for the discovery. Speaking of finds, be sure to explore Jinajik, a cornocopia of exotic, fascinating wonders relating to Vajrayana.

And at Zen Filter this week, more compassion-touched Zen Buddhism sites are brought to the fore. Among them are three blogs found and recommended by Mark: digitalZendo Blog, Wondering on the Way and Dharma Crumbs.

Roundup for Oct 3 - 9, 2005

In the cyber-village of Blogmandu this week we find happy fathers; the nexis of baseball and Buddhism; The Devil; a promise of two lively Buddhist novels; karma; octopuses miered in red ink; social engagement; and the Heart Sutra.

Dads

Fatherhood is big in Blogmandu this week. Terrance of The Republic of T. is eloquent writing of his absolute love for young son Parker. In his post “Being Daddy,” Terrance ends with these words of awe: “[I] thank the stars, the universe, or whatever has given me the life that I have. I don't know how I got it, or what I did to deserve it, but I'm glad it's mine and shall never stop being grateful for it.”

In My Zen Life, John Soper is dazzled by his charming six-year-old, Amy during a morning when his daughter dances to a Gloria Esephan song and they share a pancake breakfast in the kitchen. Writes John: “heaven on earth!! at times like these i just love being a daddy!“

Robert has a picture at his blog, Beginner's Mind, of one-month-old Ethan.

Meantime, Woodmoor Village Zendo's Nacho writes about assuming the parenting duties of his wife for a few days, leaving him in total charge of young Phoenix and Terra.

The Heart Sutra

Both J.E. of Everything is Illuminated and chalip of Zen Under the Skin posted long, wonderful, scholarly pieces about the Heart Sutra early this week.

J.E. dives in with a very objective assessment, relating the sutra's history and how it's been studied. He found an online source for 42 [!] different English translations of the sutra, which gives him a task ahead of finding the best one. J.E. then tells us some of the content and significance of the sutra and touches on commentary relating to its deepest meaning.

chalip's approach is more personalized and comes from a different angle. A class she took on the sutra has led her to look to contemporary sources to delve into its riches. A chapter in Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen, and the book There Is No Suffering by Ch'an Master Sheng-Yen were starting places for her, to which she added online finds, including an article by Thanissaro Bikkhu and the insights of Thich Nhat Hanh.

It's a Ball

A homerun of a post in Scott Wichmann Online tells us of Scott taking refuge with the Venerable Llama Norlha Rinpoche at Ekoji Buddhist Sangha. In grateful thanks, Scott gives Rinpoche a baseball. Here's a chunk of the text:

In Buddhism, there is a Diamond Sutra and four guideposts on the journey to enlightenment (The Four Noble Truths) -- In baseball, there are four bases on the path, which is shaped like a Diamond.

Buddhism also respouses an eightfold path of conduct which leads to the extinction of suffering...: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This year in the VBC, I play Right Field. Go figure.

I also wore the number 3 in a conscious decision to ‘take refuge’ in the triple jewel while I was on the field. Good thing my teammates didn't know, or they would think I was crazy.

I pointed out to Llama Norhla Rinpoche that there are 108 stitches on a baseball, there are 108 beads on a Catholic rosary, and there are 108 beads on a Tibetan mala-- An auspicious number!!

Rinpoche smiled, looked deeply at the ball, looked back up at me, smiled again, and said-- quietly, simply, and sincerely, 'Thank you.'

Karma Conscientiousness

A post in Woodmoor Village Zendo has started a discussion on karma. WVZ blogger Nacho doesn't believe in afterlife or reincarnation, instead seeing it as “how our actions outlast us, how the consequences of those actions have repercussions that reverberate broadly.” He writes, “I see Karma as a very human interplay between actions and the consequences, results, effects of such actions in this world. I cannot escape also paying attention to the concept of Vipaka, or results (effects). Karma is cyclical in that even the results or effects of our actions can generate other effects, can influence other actions, which in turn generate more results...”

Jeb responds to Nacho's post in Wonderings on the Way, writing that, being a “cosmic view guy” “I have a strong intuition of justice, that consequences of people's actions return to them.” Adds Jeb, “One of the stumbling blocks for me in Buddhist karma and rebirth was the justice of it. If there is no self to be reborn, why would I ditch this mirage of self and attempt to live other than hedonistically without regard to consequences as long as I could defer them beyond this lifetime?”

Social Action Buddhism

Another issue Nacho took the lead on this week in Woodmoor Village Zendo is the necessity of social action motivated by one's Buddhist practice. Writes Nacho, “The issue is not new, and will not go away. This issue is a dialectical one, it doesn't have one answer, and the potential for wisdom lies in our wise engagement with it, rather than in striving to solve it as if it were a math problem.”

Jeb engages the topic in Wonderings on the Way by examining the complexity of it. “The role of engaged Buddhism has been a koan for me. As all koans, it forces me out of comfortable 'truths.' What is the right Buddhist position on wars? the Iraqi war, given the reality of Saddam Hussein's terror? the Iraqiwar, now that we've destroyed the infrastructure? Rwanda? the next Rwanda? I have only concluded that there is no pat automatic answer that is right for everyone. Buddhism doesn't give me an answer.“

Independent of the Nacho-Jeb exchange, Justin of American Perspective blogged about the Dalai Lama's reflection about taking action in the world to improve the human lot. In conclusion Justin writes, “It is a constant back-and-forth, or dialectic, between thought and study on the one hand, and action in the world, on the other. At some point the study is much less important and action is most necessary.”

Book These Guys

Both Robert of Beginner's Mind and Terrance of Republic of T intend to write a novel via the NaNoWriMo [i.e, National Novel Writing Month] program, which prods those who register with the website/organization to complete a speedy 50,000-word novel [the approximate length of The Great Gatsby] in the thirty days of November. Says Robert, in nervous anticipation in a post titled “Uh oh,” “Well, I guess I've stepped in it big time.” Says Terrance, “I have a little over three weeks before I start my (*gulp*) novel. That's three weeks to figure out what in hell it's going to be about.”

What The Devil!?

Douglas Imbrogno's Hundred Mountain Journal blog is back, frisky as ever, after a nearly three-month idle period, with seven posts this week, including a chunk of text from Stephen Batchelor's Living with the Devil. Here's the first sentence, to whet your appetite: “At the heart of the Buddha's awakening lies a counterintuitive recognition of human experience as radically transient, unreliable, and contingent.”

Count the Ways

On the eighth day of October, Via Negativa's Dave Bonta offers Eight Ways of Looking at an Octopus. Here's fit the first:

1. They are voracious predators, though they have no backbone - no hard parts at all, in fact. They often change color to match their prey, and when threatened, they attempt to hide in a cloud of ink. And sometimes, for no known reason, they go on a frenzy of self-consumption, ending in their own death. Republicans?

Bountiful Harvest

Wonderings on the Way has a new feature, “Blog Harvest,” where Jeb gathers delicious mostly-Buddhist blogs he's plucked from the Internet aether. His finds this week include Everything is Illuminated and whimsical mystic. Check out all three of the Blog Harvest posts on one webpage with all eleven of Jeb's recommendations thus far, aready to visit you on your monitor right now. Jeb tells us there is “No warranty of enlightenment, express or implied. Side effects may include karma, ego pain, and detachment. Consult your monk if you experience any of these symptoms.”

Working a similar field, meditate NYC has a weekly feature “Wednesday Blogma.” On the list for October 4 is this: Dale, who blogs mole, has started a spinoff temporary blog, 100 Days,devoted to a meditation committal with a blog entry for each day. October 9 is Day 32, so there is time for one and all to join in or post a comment.

Weekly Buddhist blog recommendations!? A good idea seems to be catching on.

Roundup for Sept 26 - Oct 2, 2005

Some intelligent voices in Blogmandu [the Buddhism blogosphere] waxed wise this week, including new finds, blogs American Buddhist Perspectives and Everything is Illuminated; Intelligent Design and Bill Bennett's unintelligent radio comments caught bloggers' attention; while delicious quotes and snazzy tattoos also stained our tasty electronic subuniverse.

Heady Stuff

Justin Whitaker keyboards the heady blog American Buddhist Perspectives: Buddhism. Philosophy. Life. from Bristol, UK, where he is finishing up an MA in Buddhist Studies. He has a wonderful entry “Philosophy: Fear of Nonsense in Blogging.” Justin writes, “I guess its not just in blogging, but in life in general. That hesitancy in the moment of conversation, that lost opportunity to speak from the heart, the fear of nonsense and judgment. I've been feeling a bit of all of these lately and I'm only slowly coming to realize why.”

He makes several forays at explaining the why. Here’s most of the first one: “It's that inside/outside block, the hypostatization/reification of outward circumstances as beyond my control and thus controlling me, where in fact all I have is my own dissonant and disordered mental states discoloring and disfiguring an otherwise beautiful world around me. Clear enough? It seems clear to me. Clearer at least.”

See. I told ya it was heady stuff. Justin's words can also be found in The Buddhist Channel this week where, in a letter, he explains the Buddhist orientation on homosexuality.

Meantime, the anonymous Irish Zennist who blogs Everything is Illuminated ended the week with the announcement of a several-day blogging hiatus in order to “read about Aristotle’s notion of agent intellect (commented by Saint Thomas Aquinas), Saint Augustine’s notion of ground of the soul (abditum mentis), Dietrich of Freiberg’s equation of these two notions, [practice] latin, [write] in the latin Vicipaedia and [think] about putting together an organized library of zen texts in various languages.” Some guys have all the fun.

Our man of the mountaintops, the verse-atile Dave Bonta, offers several poems of Paul Zweig's in entries [#1 & #2] this week in Via Negativa. Here is the beginning stanza of one poem, “Snow”:

Love is all we could manage,
Its particles floating from the hard rim of the air.
Our tracks were clear in the fresh chance
Heaven threw behind us. The pain
Went on searching behind your face,
The snow went on falling.

And in Ryan’s Lair there’s another adventure in Buddhology: Excitement crests as four – count ‘em, FOUR -- historical linguistics professorship vacancies open at three premo universities. That’s the equivalent of four Supreme Court vacancies opening up at once, Ryan tells us. [Professors must be dying like flies. Funny, this news hasn’t yet appeared above the fold in the NY Times.] That Ry. Must be looking for work.

Mighty ID-Indemnifying Ideas

Woodmoor Village Zendo’s Nacho, a university professor, posts very frequently against a peeve of his: ID, aka Intelligent Design. His newest, raging against the Dover, Pennsylvania, school board has caused ripples in the Buddhist blogosphere. Says Nacho, “I really would like people to realize that we are constantly being fed a diet of pablum about this so-called controversy. There is no controversy of this nature in the scientific community.”

Jeb posted a supportive response in a cleverly titled post, ID Ology, in his blog, Wonderings on the Way. He wrote, “I think the basis of the dispute is much different than it appears to be, despite the pushy, in-your-face attitude of many who promote ID. … The real argument is about meaning and values. Does life have a purpose if things just happened, if everything is just random coincidence playing out to a pointless if not miserable end? If life has no purpose, does it have meaning? For most religions, purpose and meaning are inextricably entwined. They are not the same for me.”

Dave Platter took on a part of Jeb’s post in his meditate NYC blog’s weekly feature, the Blogmandu-like "Wednesday Blogma." Citing a quote in “ID Ology” where Jeb talks about “adherents of the ID community … often [being] vociferous in the condemnation of Muslim theocracy,” Dave muses “Is our anger at Intelligent Design-ers tapping a similar well? Perhaps we, too, see in them ‘the familiar face of our enemy from within.’ ” In the comments section of his ID Ology post, Jeb says he doesn’t know if what he wrote was “a dig,” as Dave put it, but bemoans “the world suffer[ing] through revolution after revolution that fails to do anything except change those who hold power.”

Concept This

The compassionate Buddhist crowd over at LiveJournal have blog entries that sometimes turn into lively forums. A good example this week begins as a question asked by homestarmy42: “Does anyone know of some good books on the nature of self in Buddhism?”

There are many responses, most suggesting spiffy books.

The longest, most-thoughtful response comes from Padmadelic. He writes, in part, “If the Buddha's anatta (no self/not-self) teaching is misunderstood, it can leave us seeing ourself as a bad person for having desires, ... [a]nd it can even lead to us getting very confused about whether we exist or not! ... Actually, Buddhism teaches that there is no FIXED self. Nothing is permanent. We do not have an eternal soul. This teaching should be understood within the context of ancient India, where the dominant tradition of the time taught that we have an eternal Self (Atman) and that the point of religious life was to get to the stage where this self becomes united with God (Brahman). ...” [BTW, check out Buddhist musician/tramp Padmadelic/Padma's website for a blast: www.padmadelic.com]

Racist Slime or Insensitive, Stupid Slip?

The political issue of the week was surely Bill Bennett's radio remarks, where in a bit of a tangle of issues he gave voice to the idea [or, perhaps, absurdist "thought experiment"] of aborting all black fetuses. Buddhists' perspectives on Bennett's words, in posts and appended comments, ranged from citing Bennett as clearly racist to finding his words to be, probably, merely insensitive and stupid.

In Genius of Insanity, James wrote "This obvious racist is not only refusing to apologize for his disgusting comments but he has now said that HE is the one who deserves an apology!!!" The post spurred a stream of dozens of comments.

In Woodmoor Village Zendo, Nacho posted twice on the topic [Here, and then here.]. After blasting Bennett, he wrote, "Racism survives as a mechanism of power not only in those that articulate support for past racist and discriminatory attitudes, but through those who would have us relegate such attitudes to anywhere but our present and future, those who are blind to white privilege, and those who see race from an essentializing perspective."

Chalip wrote in her blog, Zen Under the Skin, "If we think we can eradicate racism by denouncing people because they make outrageous statements, we miss an important point. Racism has receeded so far into the background that we don't really notice it. I believe racism is more dangerous and has more potential to harm when we see it in play in the subtle ways we deal with each other as members of different races than in rash, broadly publicized statements."

Terrance of Republic of T writes "It’s not a far leap to understanding that many Americans — even if they would never dream of saying so in public — silently agree with Bennett’s basic [bigotted] sentiment. Why? Because it was surprisingly easy for even some well-known liberal bloggers to come to Bennett’s defense. That makes it all to clear just how deep thinking like Bennett’s goes."

Elsewhere in Blogmandu

Virtual Zen’s Eric shows off his tattoos as part of an interviewed conducted by Sage Grouse.

Chalip of Zen Under the Skin, while desperately seeking Sunyata, pretty much finds it in a class called Understanding the Heart Sutra and in her independent studies of the sutra. She shares her happy finds in a long blog entry. She writes, "[I]f we extend emptiness as a mode of perception to everything around us, the suggestion is that we cannot find the 'eye-ness' in an eye any more than we can't find the 'I-ness' in ourselves."

In whiskey river this week, a nice chunk of wisdom from Zoketsu Norman Fischer surfaces. Here’s one sentence: “Thought includes the aroma of our being alive, but it also includes so much that is made, so much of doing and piling up, that it tempts us necessarily away from ourselves.”

Haiku of this zen life offered some wisdom, too – a comment that isn’t a comment following a one-sentence quote from Pema Chodron. This is the quote: "Enjoy your life without rejecting problems or suffering. How we suffer will be our practice."

John Soper, who formerly scribed the long-existent and singled-out-for-praise-by-Beliefnet blog Dharma Path, aka John’s Dharma Path, now has a new blog he shepards, a direct replacement, titled My Zen Life. In it this week, there’s a nice entry that tells the story of how Zen found him. A quote he shares at the end of his essay explains his ongoing commitment to his practice:

“Our main focus is in putting ourselves in the presence of the divine truth very directly and allowing our life to align with it.”

~ Ejo McMullen, resident priest at the Eugene Zendo in Eugene Oregon.

Roundup re Katrina Disaster

This is a special Blogmandu report relating to a flurry of posts in the Buddhist Blogosphere about Katrina and the government and charitible response to the devestation that the hurricane wrought.

A long entry that is stirring a lot of thinking and comment is in Wondering on the Way, blogged by Jeb, titled "Katrina's Charity," posted on 9/4. Central, I think, is sentiment in this excerpt:

It is pathetic that we take it for granted that we can afford whatever war we want to initiate, but plead and beg for money if its intent is humanitarian - even for our own citizens. The outpouring of charitable money will make people feel good about themselves, like charity has solved the problem, like the poor have been nourished, like the problems of poverty and disability have been “solved” by their Christian kindness. And then they’ll forget in a few months. ... So, I’m not impressed by the effort. It is charity of immature teenagers, emotionally tweaked by an immediate tragedy, quickly forgotten when the next emotional event emerges, and without the staying power to improve the future.

Earlier, on 9/1, Jeb had written an equally long and just-as-eloquent post at the beginning of the Katrina aftermath. In "Katrina," Jeb says "The government’s performance to date has been pretty much abysmal, with lots of lives lost due to the chaotic and bureaucratic lumbering of farting elephants trumpeting about in their own ineptness." And this: "The society which deliberately ignores the poor and disabled is culturally and morally impoverished. The society which cannot respond effectively to the needs of its own people is truly already lost."

Jeff of ZenDiary.org and Nacho of WoodMoor Villiage Zendo both quickly posted in response to Jeb's latter entry.

In "More Katrina Responses," Jeff writes that he agrees with Jeb's "diagnosis of the structural problems in the U.S. But I don’t think there is necessarily a conflict between fixing faulty programs and policies, and compassionate responses that relieve the suffering of others in the here and now."

In "Katrina & Generosity," Nacho writes, "I concur with [Jeb's] points about donations of blood and goods, not to mention about our government's facility to fund and sustain war, and [its] seeming inability to generate as much money for Katrina disaster relief." And then advises his readers to "see how you can help not only as part of a habitual response to send money or goods and then imagine that our citizen responsibility has been fulfilled (once more abdicating responsibility for good government)."

In a comment to the "Katrina's Charity" post, Crystal, the finding hope blogger wrote, "Though I am left-of-center (and neither Republican nor Democrat), I don’t believe that the conservative view of using private charities is ... greedy or uncaring." She also said she gave to the United Methodist Committee on Relief who have "a long-term plan to help in the rebuilding process." In a response, Jeb applauded Crystal and the charity she cited: "To me, that is [mature] compassion - not an emotional binge. And I think that type approach is much more helpful, because much less ... is wasted." [UMCOR's website is here.]

Early on in the aftermath of the hurricane, a couple of impassioned posts in LiveJournal excoriated the government for its ineptitude. Jeff of ZenDiary praises and links to Stephanie Hairston's LJ essay "I can't take it any more." Writes Stephanie:

I never held illusions that our current government was competent or generous, but I was at least naive enough that I never could have imagined the utter incompetence and greed of the response of those in power to a situation that has quickly become tragic. ...

Jeff of ZenDiary and another Jeff, Jeff Wilson, of TricycleBlog and Mark of Zen Filter mention and link to the Buddhist Peace Fellowship Statement on Hurricane Katrina and its Aftermath. Jeff #1 offers kudos and cites the statement in particular for "[railing] against the problems of racism, classism, and the military spending that have come to the forefront with relief efforts." Jeff #2 cites the statement for urging people to send help to those in need. Yours truly, a commenter at Zen Filter, demurs, called the BPF Statement whacky since it was strangely dismissive of the suffering in Mississippi and romantic and laughably imprecise when it calls all those working tirelessly in the relief effort "bodhisattvas." Michael Brown a Bodhisattva? C'mon. Not that.

Another Buddhist blogger with a short first name beginning with J, James, who writes The Buddhist Blog and the politics-focussed Genius of Insanity, has had a lot to say about Katrina in GOI. The titles of his entries are descriptive of the content. Here is a list, through September 10: 8/29 Some Fake News and Some Real News; 8/30, Is Bush Afraid of Katrina?; 8/31, The Bush Pep Talk on Katrina; 9/1, Conservative Paper Blasts Bush on Katrina Response and Katrina and the Poor and Bush Cut Money for Levees in New Orleans; 9/2, Bush Looks Annoyed in Alabama and This Just Seems to Get Worse and Yes, he really, REALLY said that; 9/3, Passin' the Buck; 9/4,This Was Just a Matter of Time and The Shit Storm Follows the Weather Storm; 9/5, Bush Still Clueless; 9/6, Bush to Investigate Himself and Barbara Bush Speaks out from the Plantation; 9/8, Gov. Blanco of LA Did NOT act Late and Cheney Told to "Go Fuck Yourself" in Gulfport, MS; 9/9, It's a Start: Michael Brown Demoted but Not Fired From FEMA and I Agree With Rumsfeld!!!!

Pencopal, a Philadelphia editor who keyboards Pencopal's Project, was late to learn about the hurricane disaster: "[I]t was completely surreal to be on a Buddhist retreat for a week, meditating on compassion, only to return to the real world to find that a kind of armageddon had taken place on the Gulf Coast and our government was impotent and unable/unwilling to give [the help that was needed]." She voices support for Kanye West, who went off-script to criticise Bush during a telethon, saying she and many others were motivated to buy West's album as a result.

pixelsrzen at LiveJournal posted some remarks about the Dalai Lama's appearance on the Larry King Show on September 11. He/She writes, "It was kinda weird; I knew what [HH] wanted to say (at least I thought I did), but the words he was choosing and the severe time limitation of the interview format made me think his point wasn't getting across to most viewers. ... His Holiness was doing his part of the program from Idaho, and having more than a little trouble context switching from being asked about Buddhist perspectives on Katrina, vs. Buddhist perspectives in general. That, and the language barrier made his appearance ... more stiff than I'd hoped for."

pixelsrzen is being way kind. The Dalai Lama's appearance was horrible; the interview abysmal. His Holiness was utterly unprepare, without knowledge about the Katrina disaster. The transcript of the show can be read at the CNN webspace.

Blogmandu on hiatus

As many are sure to have noticed, Blogmandu has missed posting a report the last couple weeks.

Due to other time pressures, I am suspending this blog for the time being with a hope/expectation of starting up again in the Fall.

Response to this blog has been uniformly positive and very gratifying. I am grateful for the email and the blog entries that have mentioned and often praised this blog. I am grateful, too, for the links at blogrolls of some of the best Buddhist blogs on the Internet. Too, I am humbly grateful to Buddhist photographers who have granted me permission to post their wonderful photos in Blogmandu.

It has been an especial pleasure reading Buddhist blogs to the extent that I have in the last six weeks. The quality of the blogs and the sincerity and genius of Buddhist bloggers is exciting.

During this summer, I hope to learn better, more-efficient ways of writing the Blogmandu Report. Salon.com has a daily feature of political content in the blogosphere. This feature was the inspiration for Blogmandu, but I know the reporting here could not touch their high standard -- though I was happy that I was able to get a bodacious number of links in in the 1000 words or so that I felt was optimum for my weekly reports.

I am also hopeful of placing Blogmandu somewhere other than in Zen Unbound this Fall. This was always the intent. One Buddhist internet website showed an interest, but changed course, deciding not to become a multi-blog as planned. Another internet webspace demurred at the prospect of picking up this free blog. Sigh.

Any case, from some home or another [I know I'm always welcome at Zen Unbound!], I hope to start reporting again in the Fall.

Blog on,

Tom Armstrong; Blogmandu Reporter