Monkey See, Monkey Do

playing an escapade for you: (link)

three questions for ya

• what do you do with the pieces of a broken heart?
• and how can a man like me remain in the light?
• and if life is really as short as they say then why is the night so long?

recently the new york times’ frugal traveller visited one of my favorite meditation centers in colorado, shambhala maintain center.

Ooo! I’ve been waiting for this for two years. But today dzongsar khyentse rinpoche’s commentary on buddha-nature, the mahayana uttaratantra shastra, was released for free as a pdf download on his web site. you just have to make the request on the site, and they email the link to download it.

i really enjoy and return often to his other two free commentaries, on ngondro and on the madhyamakavatara, and this third offering has been in the editing for some time. can’t wait to have the time to read through it. he’s hilarious, brilliant, and translates these esoteric buddhist texts into english extremely well.

hee hee. here’s a comic about the latest buddhist computer game.

trungpa rinpoche gave a humorous teaching once on “shotgun or waterbed”, the two main ways we react to people that we meet. an unspecified third way is to ignore them completely. this was a teaching on the three root poisons in buddhism: passion, aggression, and ignorance. but his version of it seems easier for me to remember and work with. when i encounter people, i sometimes find a subtle emotion arising of shotgun and/or waterbed. and it’s interesting when i try labeling the experience as such:

shotgun - something about the person makes me defensive or uncomfortable. doesn’t mean i want to shoot them, but i might be a little leery or nervous about them or on guard. like i want to have a shotgun handy. or they might rub me the wrong way inherently it seems. or i have some history with that person and i just wish they were not part of my situation any more. things would be nicer if they weren’t around.

waterbed - ooo, they look good. or maybe they would be fun to spend time with. or something about them is just inviting and i’d like to chat with them. for some reason, i’d like to explore or connect with that person or see if there’s something there. doesn’t have to be sexual, as the name waterbed implies, but could just be a subtle sense of feeling comfortable and mildly interested in the person and what they’re about.

both shotgun and waterbed - for me this is either because I know the person well and there’s history there, i’m both uneasy with and also interested in a connection. or if it’s a stranger, there is some quality that i find interesting or i like but also some quality that i find i don’t like. but i have some discernment and opinion about them. so i experience a subtle feeling of both aversion and attraction.

neither - many people i encounter fail to register any reaction for me. they’re just there. and they sort of float by my point of view but i don’t have emotion arise from the experience.

next time you’re walking down the street, whenever you come upon someone, pay close attention to the emotional reaction you have to that person. do you detect a quality of shotgun or a quality of waterbed? let me know what you find!

p.s. when you think of me, is it shotgun or waterbed?

terra naomi won a 2006 youtube music video award for this. when did they start giving those out? it reminds me of friend david’s neighborhood project.

for educated westerners like us, basically those with privilege enough to have computers and read blogs, the story of the buddha’s life has an interesting feature. it’s been on my mind lately, as i contemplate the privilege and good fortune in my own life.

the buddha, born a prince into the shakya clan, had everything. he was tremendously privileged. he had every benefit of his time, a good education, time to play and practice and learn, and every comfort and pleasure. he had a wife and child. a place of honor in his community.

and then he left it all.

why? if we were in the same situation, would we consider leaving a situation like that? it creates a riddle for us. especially within the modern, western ethos. in the western context, obtaining comfort, skills (girls like guys with skills), power, and wealth sounds like the ultimate success. nothing else to wish for! that’s perhaps time to retire with the beach house, the summer house, and the ski condo right? or turn to volunteering at the red cross and holding political luncheons. sure he was a trust fund kid, not a self made bazillionaire, but for many that’s an envious situation. right?

but he left all that. because no matter what wealth he had, what privilege, what good fortune, there was something missing. ever feel like that? that what we have is never quite enough? that there must be something more? that there’s an itch that you just can’t quite scratch?

most modern buddhist traditions don’t require one to leave it all and go to the forest though some recommend doing that if one can manage it. maybe because their spiritual technology is more sophisticated now? not sure really. we have better teachers than the buddha had probably, more accumulated guidebooks and people to guide us along. though they also say that the search for understanding depends upon a person’s unique situation and background. for some it is harder than others. some of us are more set in our ways. but i think most of us have better basic education now than our forefathers did 2500 years ago.

other traditions have interesting stories about piety and practice. johnny appleseed, for example, was an itinerant mystical christian who never owned or wore a pair of shoes - even in the winters of ohio. so he appears renunciant. even though he *was* actually a self made bazillionaire. he never lived a life of luxury, nonetheless. and then some traditions have no trouble working with wealth as part of the spiritual infrastructure. the pope lives in a palace, but as far as i can tell he is quite an enlightened person and the catholic tradition is tremendously rich and effective for many as a path.

so what is the connection between comfort, privilege, and spiritual practice? what do you think?

pope benedict xvi today called for an end to all wars while on retreat, and said, “In these days of rest … I feel even more intensely the painful impact of the news I receive about bloody conflicts and violent events happening in so many parts of the world”

i don’t know that much about the TED conference, but prof robert thurman gave a short but sweet 12 minute presentation (click here) at ted last winter that i really recommend. it’s a flash movie that plays right in the web site. he describes the basic buddhist ideas in very modern and succinct language. in particular, he uses some technology metaphors and presents some ideas that were quite interesting.

one idea he includes is that perhaps the best way to inspire compassion and interdependence is relating to how they bring joy and fun, more than teaching that they’re the best thing to do. he gives examples, inviting us to consider how we feel when we help another person or go beyond a self centered point of view. i can’t do his presentation justice, but i recommend watching the short talk. prof. thurman is in a different tibetan buddhist lineage than my lineage, but this presentation is completely in accord with the teachings i’ve received.

i’m irregular in my meditation practice, some weeks steady with a morning practice, and other weeks not. but i labor on, for it has been a refuge for me unlike any other. today i’m inspired by jarvis jay masters, who has been on death row and until recently in isolation the entire time i’ve lived in california; and just a few miles north of me. he writes in his published book about his life there:

“I now begin every day with the practice of meditation, seated on the cold morning floor, cushioned only by my neatly folded blanket. Welcoming the morning light, I realize, like seeing through clouds, that home is wherever the heart can be found.”

one of my favorite buddhist teachers, ani pema, often quotes from his book and from his letters to her. she has said she is also inspired by his practice in the midst of such a difficult situation.

i’m surprised, however, in reading more about him that he is possibly innocent and wrongfully imprisoned. during appeals, the california supreme court found eight major issues and in a highly unusual move unanimously demanded the attorney’s office respond to them. it seems likely that a retrial will occur or he may be freed outright sometime in the next few years, after spending over sixteen years on death row. he’s on death row convicted of making a shiv that other inmates at san quinten used to kill a guard in 1985. ironically, the two perpetrators of the murder are not on death row but serving life without parole.

to read or download a detailed pamphlet about his case in pdf format, click here. It is written by a supporter of jarvis, so it is not an unbiased account. but it details some of the issues with the case. the san francisco chronicle also wrote about him recently. to support his case, make a donation to the buddhist peace fellowship at P.O. Box 3470, Berkeley, CA 94703 and denote that they are for the “Jarvis Jay Masters Fund”. to write to jarvis directly, send letters to Jarvis Jay Masters, C35169, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California 94974.