Sumi Loundon Kim’s “E-Dharma Dilemma”

With apologies to Rod Meade Sperry, proprietor of the blog The Worst Horse, but some funky HTML code makes the following guest post by Sumi Loundon Kim unreadable on certain Web browsers.

You can try to read the post (and comments) in its original context here. Otherwise, I’ve taken the liberty of re-posting Sumi’s entertaining (and thought-provoking) article “below the fold”.

A Gaze Without Judgement: Japanese Friendship Garden, Balboa Park, San Diego

Last October (that gives you an idea how remiss I am with posting!) I was fortunate to visit the Japanese Friendship Garden at the beautiful Balboa Park in sun-drenched San Diego. The visit was highlighted with a unique opportunity for an unexpected eyes-open meditative experience. As a Vipassana practitioner I normally find meditation with eyes open very distracting, but definitely not in this case!

The garden path leads to the Exhibit House, beautiful in its own right, which in turn opens to a viewing room overlooking a Sekitei, a traditional Japanese garden of gravel and meticulously placed stones. Each stone was carefully selected for its own shape and size and was imported from Yokohama, Japan!

The Sekitei enables a surprisingly effortless diffused meditative gaze, true to the website’s description:

Devoid of clutter, the bare simplicity of raked white gravel and grey rocks absorbs our thoughts, enabling a gaze without judgement, without criticism, nothingness, reaching the quietude of oneself.

In an effort to give some idea of the Sekitei appearance and meditative experience, I stitched together a series of photos into a wide-angle view. Enjoy!

Click to enlarge

Happy New Year!

What a great day this is to just be here now! The perfect day to let the past rest where it is and let the future take care of itself. As is every day. To experience just this moment, to pay attention to the colors, sounds, smells and sensations. To pay attention to your feelings, to other people’s feelings. And to make this day, this week, this month, and this year, one of beauty and tenderness.

– Ed & Deb Shapiro, Its 2009: Be Here Now!

Keep Reading.

Help Write an Interfaith “Charter for Compassion”

No doubt Buddhist perspectives will be most helpful on this new and very noble project.

People are invited to help write an interfaith Charter for Compassion:

The Charter for Compassion is a collaborative effort to build a peaceful and harmonious global community. Bringing together the voices of people from all religions, the Charter seeks to remind the world that while all faiths are not the same, they all share the core principle of compassion and the Golden Rule. The Charter will change the tenor of the conversation around religion. It will be a clarion call to the world…

The Charter will show that the voice of negativity and violence so often associated with religion is the minority and that the voice of compassion is the majority. Through the participation of the grassroots, people around the world will expect more out of religious leaders and one another. In doing so, the Charter will shift conceptions of religion for all people.

Link: http://charterforcompassion.com/

Original source / citation for this story is Ode Magazine Online Exchange entry by Caroline Zilk (thanks for the heads-up, Caroline :) :
http://www.odemagazine.com/exchange/3844/help_write_the_charter_for_compassion

Quote of Note

Science can both protect life and invent the weapons that destroy it…[Science,] intelligence, wealth, and physical strength, beauty or power…are all intrinsically neutral tools that can be put to good or bad use. This is precisely why one of the most important elements in Buddhist practice is the development of altruistic behavior.
– Matthieu Ricard, The Quantum and the Lotus, p. 22.

On President-Elect Barack Obama, Change and “Ripening”

I just received via email a very insightful and poignant perspective on the election of Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, Executive Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.

Last night as America elected its first black president, Barack Obama, the room I sat in, filled with tears whether or not they had experienced the pain of being black. At the same time there was much loud celebration. It reminded me of the time when my sisters and I would yell for my mother to come out of the kitchen because there was a black person on TV. And she would come running. Yet, I know that last night we were not only witnessing a black family on its way to the white house [sic] but that the true nature of things had been revealed once again. There has always been change.

Keep reading.

Today’s Forecast: Periods of Mindfulness with Scattered Discursive Thoughts

 

I thought fellow Buddhist practitioners would enjoy today’s Arlo and Janis comic strip.  :-)

Thursday morning meditation on hiatus

Due to scheduling conflicts the Thursday morning meditation group has been indefinitely postponed; stay tuned for further updates.

The Tuesday evening meditation group will continue to meet at First Parish UU in Chelmsford weekly from 7:30pm to 9:30pm.

A Renewed Call for Engaged Buddhism

With the direction of our country, and indeed the world, seemingly hanging on this Presidential election, it can be difficult for many to avoid being fearful or cynical about the future.  A Christian friend who shares my concerns told me he is at the point where he is unable to sleep at night over the uncertainty of this election.  How does one avoid falling victim to such understandable worry and anger during these very unsettled times?

I just came across a very helpful commentary in the Fall 2008 issue of Buddhadharma by Jack Kornfield addressing this very issue, entitled Buddhism’s Call to Action  [excerpt online].

“America Needs a Buddhist President” (Serious Thoughts)

The recent Presidential forum at the Saddleback Church, the California megachurch led by mega-best selling author and forum host Pastor Rick Warren, left me more than a little cold.  Not because the forum came across as a political litmus test from time to time when the audience occasionally applauded strongly or groaned somewhat at certain times.  No, Pr. Warren and the audience made good on the promise of civility towards both candidates throughout the event.  Not because of the troublesome reports that Republican candidate Sen. McCain was not in a “cone of silence” while waiting his turn to follow Democratic candidate Sen. Obama’s one-on-one talk with Pr. Warren, as the pastor had assured the audience.

No, the cold part for me was the implicit assumption, which goes far beyond the vast Saddleback campus, that a US Presidential candidate must, by definition, be a Christian in order to have a chance at winning.

This thought left me wondering, what would a Buddhist Presidency be like?  How might a Buddhist President lead the country?

EDIT: Since this post, Sen. McCain has of course named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his VP running mate.  Gov. Palin’s political qualifications include serving two terms each as city councillor and mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 5,469 as of 2000.

She also describes herself as a ”Bible-believing Christian.” 

She has been eagerly embraced by the Republican party.

Now, back to the original post…