I never pictured an Hasidic Reggae singer...


And I liked this one --


Youtube is good for some things, but one thing it is NOT good for is finding clips of songs from TV shows. I wanted to find a clip of Willow singing to Tara in one of the Buffy episodes -- I could find the song, but not the actual clip.

Today was the first sunny day in a week! So, I got my butt out on a bike ride.

It was a good bike ride, but there were several hills that were hard -- the worst was the hill from the Huguenot bridge up River Rd to Cary St. I took a small detour there, thinking I might find an alternative to River Rd -- and the blue arrow shows the only place on the ride that I actually dismounted and walked the bike -- I was just too used up at that point to make it up the hill on Huntley!


http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3322627

Couple of pics from the ride...all the rain and then the wind lately caused some trees to fall. This one was across the road near the Pumphouse at Byrd Park.


View of the river from Riverside Drive --


***
Afterwards, I went to the Byrd to see a "Zen Horror" flick, lol! It was called Mantra. It was odd, no doubt. Very gory. But not scary in the typical horror flick fashion -- more like watching a nightmare. It was set as a bunch of campers attending a new age retreat -- all of them bringing some major personal demons afflicting them (like the wife of one had recently died, and another had attempted suicide several times). Throughout the film, this blue demon figure kept going around and making sure to tempt people with their desires -- sex, food, regret, etc.

I can't say that I could make heads or tails of it, except that people really are caught in their own desires like that...and they don't even know it. So, I'll leave this with a couple of verses from the Dhammapada that seem pertinent to this movie...

Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it. (1:1)

Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves. (1:2)
...
By oneself is evil done; by oneself one is injured. Do not do evil, and suffering will not come. Everyone has the choice to be pure or impure. No one can purify another. (12:65)

***
Tonight, I rounded up a couple of friends to walk over to Bev's in Carytown for ice cream. It was my reward for a hard bike ride!

It was a good meeting at the Ekoji Sangha tonight -- I went to the Meditative Inquiry Group's meeting. Like I said in the last post, it had been almost 2 years since I last attended! I believe they have painted and spruced up a bit since I was there last -- it was looking shabby before.

It has also been too long since I sat. My legs were cramping! My poor zafu at home is probably lonely. The cramping could have something to do with the bike rides from this weekend.

This group's meeting consists of 30 minutes of sitting meditation, 10 minutes of walking meditation, a discussion, then a few minutes of sitting meditation to end the evening. Tea and cookies are served during the discussion.

Interestingly, the discussion centered around anger, and how to deal with it meditatively. My anger with my mom is fading at this point, but there were a couple of good points to use during meditative practice. Remember from a previous post that I'm trying to figure out how to help her be successful with me again.

It's interesting what I hear when I'm meditating. Sometimes, it might be the birds and insects outside. Tonight, I heard a lot of people swallowing, lol!

I saw a guy that I used to work with! He said it was a surprising context to see me in...and not surprising either, lol! Evidently, he's been coming to this meeting for about 8 months.

I'll go back again. I enjoyed this meeting more than I did the first time. There were 18 people in the group tonight, which made the walking meditation difficult. The Ekoji temple is an "Upper Fan" house -- probably circa 1920...so 18 people walking around in a circle was a little difficult.

Being the metaphysical and also scientific guy that I am, this NPR article caught my eye (and ear).

The article is a bit muddied by different ideas. It is about the power of prayer and the power of positive thinking (like I said, sort of muddied).

I love the article because it tries to use sub-atomic particles to explain things -- and I have a real interest in how uncertain sub-atomic theory is.

Here's my bullet point summary of the article -

• Studies have shown that prayer does NOT work. Critics of the studies say that that was because they had people who don't care about each other using a script, so there was no personal connection between them.
  
• Example of a woman who has had HIV for years which has not progressed to AIDS. She is not on medication, nor does she have the genetic marker that prevents HIV from progressing. She credits positive thinking.
  
• Multiple triple blind studies show definite physiological effects of a loved one in another location concentrating on the person. Possibility of sub-atomic "entanglement."

Kaplan has never taken medicine, yet the disease has not progressed to AIDS (and she is not part of the population that has a mutation in the CCR5 gene that prevents progression of HIV to AIDS). In the mid-1990s, when having HIV was akin to a death sentence, Ironson noticed that a number of patients like Kaplan never got sick. Ironson wanted to know why. And she found something surprising.

....
As the session begins, Dean Radin, a senior scientist here, watches as a computer shows changes in J.D.'s blood pressure and perspiration. When J.D. sees the image of his wife, the steady lines suddenly jump and become ragged. The question is: Will Teena's nervous system follow suit?

"Notice how here … see, there's a change in the blood volume," says Radin, pointing to a screen charting Teena's measurements. "A sudden change like that is sometimes associated with an orienting response. If you suddenly hear somebody whispering in your ear, and there's nobody around, you have this sense of what? What was that? That's more or less what we're seeing in the physiology."

An hour later, Radin displays Teena's graph, which shows a flat line during the times her husband was not staring at her image, but when her husband began to stare at her, she stopped relaxing and became "aroused" within about two seconds.

After running 36 couples through this test, the researchers found that when one person focused his thoughts on his partner, the partner's blood flow and perspiration dramatically changed within two seconds. The odds of this happening by chance were 1 in 11,000. Three dozen double blind, randomized studies by such institutions as the University of Washington and the University of Edinburgh have reported similar results.

...
So how do you explain this? No one really knows. But Radin and a few others think that a theory known as "quantum entanglement" may offer some clues.

Here's how it works. Once two particles have interacted, if you separate them, even by miles, they behave as if they're still connected. So far, this has only been demonstrated on the subatomic level.

But Radin wonders: Could people in close relationships — couples, siblings, parent and child — also be "entangled"? Not just emotionally, and psychologically — but also physically?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104351710&ft=1&f=1001

Some people have a vested interest in proving that prayer works -- to support the religious framework they need in their lives (it's hard to question the very foundation of your existence, right?).

I have no such vested interest. Call me agnostic on this issue. Here's some personal info about me (personal info from me? Surprise, right!?).

Prayer for me

When I was a Christian, I prayed in the modern, self-centered and immature way: Dear Lord, who looks just like me, only maybe older and with white hair, please give me that lollipop that I want. Thank you. Then, thoughts of..."Why am I asking for the lollipop when there are people in the world who are starving?" might intrude. I would most likely suppress those thoughts and pray more vehemently for the lollipop, lol!!

So I never found much real, personal use for prayer, except for one thing in particular. Let's say that I am jealous of or have negative feelings towards someone -- it could be about anything.

Let's use a past, real life example of someone that I liked a lot romantically, who started to date someone else. That hurts, right? Perfectly natural feelings, except perfectly self-defeating at the same time. I decided long ago that there's nothing good that comes out of those sorts of feelings -- the only person it hurts is yourself.

So, I learned, as a Christian, to pray hard and often for the person that I had hard feelings towards. I would pray to God for the thing that bothered me for them -- meaning, in this example, I would have prayed that their new relationship would be the love of their lives, and that they would be happy.

I would continue these prayers until I meant them!

I found that if I prayed hard enough for that, then that was how I could get over my hard feelings. It's still pretty self-centered, right, doing it for myself. But it worked for me.

Fast forward to me on my Buddhist path...I don't really pray to a "god" per se. But I still practice the same type of prayer practice in this instance. What I do now is, I concentrate on the person and imagine them surrounded by white, loving light, and I ask the "universe" -- the old white haired guy has gotten more generalized -- to provide the person what they want.

It works just as well for me -- as long as I force myself to project positive thoughts about the matter towards that person, it helps me get over my hard feelings.

And if it happens to help the other person at a sub-atomic level, more's the better :)

I'm totally ripping Tara Dharma's post from a few days ago :) I really liked the tips in the article she posted from webmd.

Here are a few of their tips for overcoming six common barriers to happiness.

Happiness Barrier No. 1: Complexity

Solution: Simplify

Schooled in Buddhist monasteries since childhood, Thupten Jinpa, PhD, knows a thing or two about the benefits of simplicity. Why do you think monks and nuns shave their heads, he asks? For one, it simplifies their lives.

A principal English translator to the Dalai Lama, Jinpa is no longer a monk. But he still holds on to some of the lifestyle's spartan values. “My family has a one-car policy,” he says, pointing out the hassles of owning more than one -- the costs, the maintenance, and the time managing the details. Multiple credit cards? They don’t create freedom or happiness, he argues -- although, these days, he might get less of an argument about that.

Modern life has elevated individual choice to the highest level, he says, but these choices come at a big price. “We often conflate quality of life with standard of life,” Jinpa says, “but after a point, the connection [between the two] disappears.”

If you simplify your life, you create more space in your day, making it possible to reflect on your life.

Happiness Barrier No. 2: A Breakneck Pace

Solution: Take a Pause

The same culture that entangles you in a web of complexity may also have you on the constant chase, Jinpa says. “That kind of tension takes a toll on your soul and your psyche.” Whether you call it meditation, silence, or prayer, taking a “pause” just a few minutes a day can help you “recharge your batteries” and make you feel happier. A good time to do this is in the morning. Without it, your life may feel out of control.

Venerable Robina Courtin, a Buddhist nun and organizer of the Happiness & Its Causes Conference, recommends spending these minutes practicing mindful meditation. “During the day, we’re completely absorbed by our senses,” she says, “so we don’t pay attention to our minds.” Sit in a quiet place and simply anchor your mind on your breathing. When your mind wanders, bring it back to your breath. Through this process, you learn to observe what your mind is saying.

Happiness Barrier No. 3: Negativity

Solution: Let go

“Your prison is nothing in comparison with the inner prison of ordinary people: the prison of attachment, the prison of anger, the prison of depression, the prison of pride.” wrote Lama Zopa Rinpoche to a California prisoner, a student of the Liberation Prison Project, which offers Buddhist teachings to people in prison.

Some might view this statement as a bit of an exaggeration. But negative, compulsive thoughts do have a quality of stickiness to them, Jinpa says. How you see things and the way you experience the world are strongly linked, making it critical to adopt a positive outlook. “You interact with the world through your senses and mind,” he says. “If you can find a way to stand at the doorway of your senses, you can have a say in how you experience the world.”

In our culture, though, we take it as natural that people are angry, depressed, or dejected, Courtin says. “No wonder we get depressed -- it’s a depressing world view. It says you can’t do anything about it.” If you believe your abusive boss, father, or partner is the main cause of your suffering, for example, then you’ve tied your own hands and risk becoming imprisoned by toxic thoughts.

The Buddhist view, by contrast, is that happiness is what you get when you give up a neurotic state of mind, Courtin says. It’s empowering, she says, because knowing you can change it gives you the courage to look inside, pay attention, and take responsibility for your thoughts. Rather than judging negative thoughts, Courtin advises observing them with compassion. Then ask yourself, “What can I do about this?”

Techniques like mindful meditation can help with this, but may not be for everyone, especially those experiencing severe depression, says Philippe R. Goldin, PhD, research associate in the department of psychology at Stanford University.

But there are other simple steps you can take to counteract negativity and enhance your happiness. Practicing gratitude is one. People appear to have a certain set point for happiness, a range that’s influenced by genetics. But those who regularly practice gratitude can enhance this set point by as much as 25%, reports Robert Emmons, PhD in his book, Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier. Through his research, Emmons found that people who kept gratitude journals felt better about their lives, exercised more, and were more optimistic.

Happiness Barrier No. 4: Despair

Solution: Stay hopeful

Did a parent attempt to protect you as a child by saying, “Don’t get your hopes up”? There’s no evidence that hope is hurtful, says David B. Feldman, PhD, assistant professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University in California. Instead, hope can greatly enhance happiness in people.

But genuine hope isn’t a yellow smiley face or the denial of death at the bedside of a loved one in hospice, says Feldman, who’s pursued research and clinical work addressing the question: “How do people maintain hope and meaning in the face of adversity?

Three components are essential for hope to thrive, Feldman says. They are having goals, as well as a plan and the motivation to achieve them. “Those who succeed don’t internalize the blame game, either internally or externally,” he says, “They ask, ‘what now?’”

In addition to reaching goals, these people perform better in sports and school, Feldman says. They have a greater tolerance for pain. They use health-promoting behaviors. They also have a lower risk for depression, anxiety, and heart disease.

Feldman advises setting personally meaningful goals and checking to see where your hope falters -- is it with the plan or the motivation? Allow yourself to daydream, he says. It’s a wonderful source of hope and, therefore, happiness.

Happiness Barrier No. 5: Suppressing sadness

Solution: Feel the real

Having a positive outlook doesn’t mean you never allow yourself to feel sadness. The parents who try to protect their children from dashed hopes -- or any kind of sadness -- may actually produce the opposite effect than is intended, says James R. Doty, MD, director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University. Some suffering, he says, makes you a whole person and allows you to acclimate and move forward in your life. Doty speaks from experience. He had an alcoholic father and invalid mother. He lived on public assistance for much of his youth.

“Happiness is not the absence of sadness,” says David Spiegel, MD, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. It is not a stiff upper lip or the pop psychology mantra, intoning “always stay upbeat” in the face of cancer. “Phony happiness is not good.” By suppressing sadness, you suppress other, more positive emotions, as well, he says, so people who try to suppress emotions actually become more anxious and depressed.

By finding outlets for sadness and frustration, you gain some measure of control, Spiegel says. Using others as a sounding board -- not as a toxic dumping ground -- can help convert generalized anxiety and depression into targeted feelings you can address with specific solutions.

Happiness Barrier No. 6: Navel-gazing

Solution: Connect with others

How important are social networks to your happiness? Perhaps even more important than you realized. A recent 20-year study of more than 4,000 people showed that happiness is influenced not just by your immediate friends and family. The happiness of a friend of a friend of a friend -- someone you’ve never even met -- can also influence your happiness. It turns out that happiness can spread through social networks, like a virus.

Unfortunately, many people spend so much time by themselves navel gazing, they don’t benefit from this positive “contagion.”

The more self-absorbed you are, the more your world closes in, and the less realistic you become, all of which produces a vicious circle. “You become oblivious to the needs of others, and the world shrinks still more, making you less able to see outside yourself.” If asked, ‘Why are your problems so special?” says Jinpa, you might respond, “Because they’re mine!”

“If you have such a huge ego, you’re setting yourself up as a huge target, which can easily get hit,” Jinpa says. But using a “wide-angle lens” instead helps you see connections you wouldn’t otherwise see, such as the universality of suffering. All it may take is having a loved one diagnosed with a serious disease to realize how many people are grappling with similar challenges. Feeling joined by others on this journey provides some comfort and happiness.

The straightest path to making connections like these? Compassion and caring for others.

Even primates seem to understand this, says Robert M. Sapolsky, PhD, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers and research associate with the Institute of Primate Research at the National Museum of Kenya. Primates that groom each other after a stressful event experience a reduction in blood pressure. The clincher? Grooming others has a greater impact than getting groomed, says Sapolsky.

Compassion engages us with others, removes isolation, builds resilience, and leads to deep fulfillment, says Doty. “Without compassion, happiness is simply short-lived pleasure.”

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, may have said it best: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion; if you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

I enjoyed the gentleness of this chant/recitation of the Heart Sutra.

I have neglected my meditation practice for too long. I found this old story amusing. I found it on http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/meaning-of-om-mani-padme-hung.htm.

A devoted meditator, after years concentrating on a particular mantra, had attained enough insight to begin teaching. The student's humility was far from perfect, but the teachers at the monastery were not worried.

A few years of successful teaching left the meditator with no thoughts about learning from anyone; but upon hearing about a famous hermit living nearby, the opportunity was too exciting to be passed up.

The hermit lived alone on an island at the middle of a lake, so the meditator hired a man with a boat to row across to the island. The meditator was very respectful of the old hermit. As they shared some tea made with herbs the meditator asked him about his spiritual practice. The old man said he had no spiritual practice, except for a mantra which he repeated all the time to himself. The meditator was pleased: the hermit was using the same mantra he used himself -- but when the hermit spoke the mantra aloud, the meditator was horrified!

"What's wrong?" asked the hermit.

"I don't know what to say. I'm afraid you've wasted your whole life! You are pronouncing the mantra incorrectly!"

"Oh, Dear! That is terrible. How should I say it?"

The meditator gave the correct pronunciation, and the old hermit was very grateful, asking to be left alone so he could get started right away. On the way back across the lake the meditator, now confirmed as an accomplished teacher, was pondering the sad fate of the hermit.

"It's so fortunate that I came along. At least he will have a little time to practice correctly before he dies." Just then, the meditator noticed that the boatman was looking quite shocked, and turned to see the hermit standing respectfully on the water, next to the boat.

"Excuse me, please. I hate to bother you, but I've forgotten the correct pronunciation again. Would you please repeat it for me?"

"You obviously don't need it," stammered the meditator; but the old man persisted in his polite request until the meditator relented and told him again the way he thought the mantra should be pronounced.

The old hermit was saying the mantra very carefully, slowly, over and over, as he walked across the surface of the water back to the island.

I had a very pleasant time with a good friend at a coffee shop this evening. It was Lift down on Broad. I got to see his BRAND NEW MacBook! Apple should pay me a damned commission, lol!

****
Since that very close friendship broke down a couple of months ago, I have felt a void in my life.

So uncharacteristically of me, I ran a Craigslist "Strictly Platonic" ad to see if there are other gay Buddhists / Wiccans in town who would like to get together socially.

My idea was that it would be less related to practice or sitting, and more related to social interaction.

What gave me the idea was my friend who lived in San Francisco talking about the San Francisco Gay Buddhist Fellowship. I've attended a couple of sittings at the local Buddhist sangha, but nothing was specifically targeted towards GLBT folks.

So far, I've had a few responses -- one who speaks French :) Now, I actually have to organize a coffee get-together or something with the people who responded!

We Buddhist-types could have told them this --

Sixteen subjects were placed in the fMRI and requested to either begin compassion meditation or refrain from meditation as they were exposed to negative and positive human vocalizations.

“We wanted to see how compassion meditation changes the way you perceive emotional sounds,” said Antoine Luts, a neurologists at the University of Wisconsin who conducted the research with his colleague Richard Davidson, professor of psychiatry and psychology at the same university.

The results of the experiment suggest that people can train themselves to be more compassionate just as they’d train themselves to play a musical instrument.

....
The study’s findings are the more important as they could be very useful to a wide range of people with behavioral or emotional problems. Therefore, compassion meditation may be a useful tool in preventing bullying, violence, aggression and depression by altering brain activity to make people more emphatic to other people’s emotions.

I'm trying to figure out what China got by invading Tibet in the first place.

I think the young monks may have abandoned the middle way, but maybe that is to be expected after all this time...I guess the Olympics plus the anniversary of a previous protest made the timing right.

...a protest by screaming Buddhist monks at a holy shrine.

...

"Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!" yelled one young Buddhist monk, according to The Associated Press, one of the news organizations allowed on the tour.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/27/tibet/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

A friend came over tonight for a glass of wine. I was happy for the company. On cold, rainy nights, I usually want some company. We cracked a bottle that was 60% Tannat, 40% Merlot. It was ok -- fine for daily drinking...

The song I'm listening to tonight is Dizz Knee Land -- a song released by Dada in the early 90s. I liked it then...and for some unknown reason, I was thinking about it last night and found it on Amazon's MP3 download site.

The friend was pointing me to some URLs that he's been stumbling upon lately...one of which is by the Dali Lama --

Some might wonder "What is a Buddhist monk doing taking such a deep interest in science? What relation could there be between Buddhism, an ancient Indian philosophical and spiritual tradition, and modern science? What possible benefit could there be for a scientific discipline such as neuroscience in engaging in dialogue with Buddhist contemplative tradition?"

Although Buddhist contemplative tradition and modern science have evolved from different historical, intellectual and cultural roots, I believe that at heart they share significant commonalities, especially in their basic philosophical outlook and methodology. On the philosophical level, both Buddhism and modern science share a deep suspicion of any notion of absolutes, whether conceptualized as a transcendent being, as an eternal, unchanging principle such as soul, or as a fundamental substratum of reality. Both Buddhism and science prefer to account for the evolution and emergence of the cosmos and life in terms of the complex interrelations of the natural laws of cause and effect. From the methodological perspective, both traditions emphasize the role of empiricism. For example, in the Buddhist investigative tradition, between the three recognized sources of knowledge - experience, reason and testimony - it is the evidence of the experience that takes precedence, with reason coming second and testimony last. This means that, in the Buddhist investigation of reality, at least in principle, empirical evidence should triumph over scriptural authority, no matter how deeply venerated a scripture may be. Even in the case of knowledge derived through reason or inference, its validity must derive ultimately from some observed facts of experience. Because of this methodological standpoint, I have often remarked to my Buddhist colleagues that the empirically verified insights of modern cosmology and astronomy must compel us now to modify, or in some cases reject, many aspects of traditional cosmology as found in ancient Buddhist texts.

http://www.dalailama.com/page.163.htm

I was looking at the pics that a friend took when he was recently in Cambodia/Laos.

I remembered what he told me about women in Laos having to kneel when giving food alms to the monks...whereas men can stand. From what I can tell from online, that's not true in other places, like Thailand.

Here's a link to a pic of one of the westerners on the trip with my friend while she was giving alms.


Speaking of monks, it seems that the revolution in Burma has not been completely quelled --> http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0801/S00030.htm

A short guided meditation by Thich Nhat Hahn --

"A person that is not happy cannot work for peace."

http://www.beliefnet.com/features/peace/test2/container01.html

A while back, I downloaded a CD (from iTunes) of Spanish monks chanting to a western beat, and I've really enjoyed the CD. I think they did a great job of mixing the chanting with the western music.

I also like the deep masculine voice combined with the feminine voice.

Here's a quote from a world music site -- the part I bolded is is something I've always believed -- that repentance and apology is only as good as the change of action that accompanies it.

The monks recite the Vajrasattva mantra as a means of facilitating purification. The Buddhists of Sakya Tashi Ling believe that the practice themselves a direct commitment to happiness; they are to heal, to promote the end of a negative presence in order that a new and more perfect, positive disposition may emerge. Repentance is good only if it makes you change, from a chaotic attitude with negative results to a focused willingness aiming at positive effects. Becoming aware of one's errors is, in reality, to grow.

http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20060730115438533

Here are a couple of YouTubes --

A friend and I went to the Ekoji Center tonight to a meeting of the Meditative Inquiry Group.

I enjoyed the sitting (30 minutes) and walking meditation (10 minutes). And I liked the recorded talk that we listened to after the mediation. But then, the discussion of that talk seemed to drag on for a while. I'd rather have spent the last part of it just sort of socializing -- I'm not much on the group discussion.

There was one other visitor tonight besides my friend and I. Overall, it was an enjoyable evening.

During the meditation, I could hear the breathing of one of the others. I was struck by how much I enjoyed that sound -- I found it comforting. And it reminded me of the sound that happens when you create a new villager in Ages of Mythology.

In a Zen meditative practice, that sort of thought would have been evidence that your mind had wandered during your meditation. With this group, it was more about paying attention to whatever is happening -- so I think paying attention to the fact that you were thinking about a video game was perfectly acceptable in this practice.

On the way drive to visit my parents, I always have lots of time with my own thoughts. For example, on the way home for Thanksgiving yesterday, I started wondering why it is that I’m pretty law-abiding. I don’t murder, maim, rob, rape, etc.

It’s an odd thing to be thinking about that, but sometimes I just let my mind take me wherever it wants to!

I’ve read where some people say that the only reason that people “stay in line” is because they fear punishment by their god in an afterlife.

I suppose that that could be it. Even in my own (Buddhist-path) case where I don’t worship a particular god, there is the sense that doing wrong now will only come back to bite you later, in the form of your own karmic baggage. And I was raised as a conservative Christian, so it could be that I still have that background keeping me in line.

However, that explanation of fear of punishment doesn’t seem to explain it since most atheists I know are also very law-abiding. I see no pattern of murderous atheists.

Ok, so maybe it’s that people fear the law. It is true that people generally don’t want to get locked up (or worse). It’s like slowing down on the highway when you see a cop. But I would generally not steal from someone, even if I knew that I would not get caught.


Instead, I think that the reason for my actions is that I have empathy for other people. I know what it feels like to be cut (and by extension to be murdered) or to be stolen from, etc. So, I don’t hurt others because I feel for them and wouldn’t want to cause pain.

Just before I posted this, I remembered a verse out of the Dhammapada --

Everyone fears punishment; everyone fears death, just as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill.
Everyone fears punishment; everyone loves life, as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill.
(129,130)

I guess that brings me back round to my Buddhist path, but it does speak to empathy with other living creatures.


So, I'm thinking that it would be correct to say that the most murderous, hurtful people are the ones with the least capacity for empathy...

Over the years, I have followed the Dharma the Cat cartoons -- the cat (Dharma) and mouse (Sam) in the cartoon always know more than the person (Bodhi).

You can click on the image to go to the site --

Bold added --

Thich Nhat Hanh took time out from a U.S. tour to speak briefly with TIME about the monastic uprising in Burma. (See video)

The renowned Buddhist leader — once opposed to the Vietnam War — talks to TIME about the monks of Burma
....

He said the Burmese monks had "done their job. It is already a success because if monks are imprisoned or have died, they have offered their spiritual leadership. And it is up to the people in Burma and the world to continue." Pressed on the question of martyrdom, he replied: "We nourish the awareness that monks are being persecuted and continue to suffer in order to support the people in Burma for the sake of democracy."

Perhaps the most striking gesture made by his Burmese bretheen (sic) before they were attacked was the symbolic act of turning their begging bowls upside down. In a Western culture where almsgiving happens in the confines of a church or synagogue, this may have seemed odd. But Nhat Hanh pointed out that it was a powerful statement of denial to the regime leaders. "In Buddhist culture," he explained, "offering food to the monk symbolizes the action of goodness, and if you have no opportunity to support the practice of spiritualilty (sic) then you are somehow left in the realm of darkness." Their supreme act of condemnation: giving the regime no chance to do good. The importance of monks in Burma was also suggested, in a grisly way, by reports that hundreds of Burmese soldiers had been arrested for refusing to shoot at them.

In the U.S., the connection between Buddhism and social action is not readily understood. Many Americans perceive Buddhism as a philosophy that regards this world as transitory and unimportant; in this country, the most widely disseminated kind of Buddhism is a stripped-down version of Theravada practice with a strong emphasis on ritual supplemented by meditations on meta, or loving-kindness. Said Nhat Hanh: "Meditation is to get insight, to get understanding and compassion, and when you have them, you are compelled to act. The Buddha, after enlightenment, went out to help people. Meditation is not to avoid society; it is to look deep to have the kind of insight you need to take action. To think that it is just to sit down and enjoy the calm and peace, is wrong."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1670911,00.html?imw=Y