The Heart of Being

A few days ago, I picked up a book titled The Heart of Being from the library. This book is concerned with the "moral and ethical teachings of Zen Buddhism." Essentially, though, it is about two things (which are actually two sides of one thing): the precepts of Buddhism, and how to live them.

I've read so much about Buddhism over the years, but this book is special. The Heart of Being manages to drive home a point that is easy to understand intellectually, but is useless if that's as far as you understand it. The entire book is centered on the precepts of Buddhism, such as the precepts against killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, etc. However, the author does not want you to walk away with a list of "thou shalt nots" and "thou shalts," to hang up over your desk. The real point is this:

The precepts are the definition of the life of a Buddha. They describe the way a Buddha lives his or her life. Buddha and precepts are not two separate entities.

The Heart of Being is a sort of reaction against mere intellectualized Buddhism, which is the kind that is so easy for us Westerners to buy into. It's not enough to know or understand what the Buddha taught. The Buddha did not just say "abstain from killing, abstain from intoxicating drinks." He also said that real truth, real enlightenment, comes from direct experience. Don't avoid killing or stealing just because Buddha says so -- avoid it because you know, with every molecule of your being, why you should not do it.

No matter how wonderful or valuable the precepts are, when you attach to them, they become a set of rules that come in from the outside rather than being a manifestation of one's life.

That's the truth of this book. It's not enough to memorize the precepts, or even to follow them. They're not meant to be followed, because that means they come from an outside source and they are imposed on you (no matter how willingly you accept them). The precepts, the rules for wise conduct, are meant to be lived. The truth that underlies them should be ingrained in your being, to the point that you don't obey the precepts, you embody them.

Buddhism, as is pointed out repeatedly in The Heart of Being, is not about understanding so much as it is about practice. Not practicing to become something, but practicing as something. You aren't trying to become Buddha, or to become enlightened. If for even the briefest of moments you think, speak, or act out of pure awareness and wisdom, then in that brief moment you are Buddha. You are enlightened. But even the most noble thoughts or acts are immediately cheapened if they are performed only because you "should" or because the precepts say so.

Being a Buddhist, as opposed to calling yourself one, is like swimming. You can't read lots of books about swimming and hydrodynamics and the molecular composition of water and call yourself an expert swimmer. You have to get in the water and swim. You can't swim with your mind, you have to swim with your whole being. Just because your brain "knows" how to swim doesn't mean your arms and your legs and your whole body will do it. You only exist as a swimmer during those moments when you are swimming, with all your body and soul.

So it is with Buddhism -- we are only Buddhists, we are only Buddhas, through our practice and actions, not through our intellectual understanding of the laws of karma. We are only moral people when we stop seeing morality as something outside ourselves, or as something that exists outside of our actions. Goodness does not come from just thinking about goodness -- it comes from doing it, and from being it. That is the challenge and the goal for you and me.

What is the essence of being one with the Buddha, being one with the Dharma, being one with the Sangha? It is not some idea. It is a living reality, a state of consciousness. It is a state of being in harmony with the moral and ethical teachings... The minute you practice, you personally verify the realization of Shakyamuni Buddha... And that is enlightenment. Practice and enlightenment are one reality.

Photo courtesy of h.koppdelaney.

Peanut Recall

The peanut butter recall in the USA has been expanded, and... Yikes! It even includes products that just have regular peanuts in them, not just peanut butter.

Whole Foods has recalled most (or all?) Clif Bar products, many other kinds of energy bars, and trail mixes. Some details from their most recent blog post on this subject:

The Peanut Butter Corporation of American (PCA) has now expanded their recall to include all styles of peanuts and peanut products processed in its Blakely, Georgia, facility since January 1, 2007. The recall now includes products that contain:

* peanut granules
* peanut meal
* dry roasted peanuts
* oil roasted peanuts
* peanut butter
* peanut paste

This greatly expands the scope of this health issue and every manufacturer of peanut-containing foods, including us, will need to re-examine their products.

Tread carefully, folks. Peanut butter is awesome food (as are peanuts in general), but we might want to step back from it for a bit while this all settles out.

New Year, in Circles

Funny how things go sometimes. Yesterday was, more or less, Chinese New Year. On the calendar, it's actually today -- but yesterday was Sunday, which is more convenient for celebration, and also it was really Chinese New Year in China at that time after you factor in the time zone differences.

Anyway, yesterday Suzy and I spent most of the day doing stuff with my mom. We ended up going to Costco to look for a digital camera for my mom to buy, and while we were there we ran into somebody from my first trip to China in 2006. We didn't even notice him, but he noticed Suzy -- a tribute to how memorable she is, since we had not seen this guy since that trip, and he had only seen Suzy a few times when I wasn't busy running off to hang out with her. ;-) Turns out he was there with most of his family, a number of whom had also been with us during that 2006 adventure.

As if that wasn't interesting enough, we went to the Chinese New Year Gala at UNM later in the day. While there, we ran into another person from my 2006 trip, who I also hadn't seen since that time. It seems that the Year of the Ox is not only a year to work hard, it is also a year for some things to cycle back on themselves. The more days that go by in my life, the more I see the little cycles and circles that occur. People drift in and out, experiences repeat (albeit usually with different scenery around them), lessons learned but forgotten come back to remind you.

No doubt, 2009 is going to be an interesting year!

春节快乐！ - Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy "牛” Year, everybody! :-)

Go Obama

Whatever you think of Obama, you have to believe that it's a very good thing that he did today:

President Obama signed executive orders Thursday ending the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret overseas prisons, banning coercive interrogation methods and closing the Guantánamo Bay detention camp within a year.

About freaking time, and a wonderful start for Obama. He's keeping one of the central promises of his campaign, and he's not wasting any time doing it.

During my two years in China, I always had this nagging shame. It was shameful in some ways to be an American abroad. Look at what our government did to our own country, and to other countries. Every time a waterboarding scandal or a story about the latest civilian death tolls in the Middle East was rolled out in the media, I had to feel that shame rise up as a lump in my throat. I was surrounded by Chinese who were proud to be from China, but there were times when it was honestly very difficult for me to be proud of America.

My shame started to dissolve when Obama won the election, and today I've seen it fade away even further. As long as he lives up to his promises to restore the integrity of our country, especially our moral integrity, that will go a long way towards making us great once again. With each passing day, I'm finding it easier to be proud of being an American.

I did enjoy this part of the article, reflecting the immorality-hiding-behind-practicality that many of our officials possess:

Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said the decision to close Guantánamo by a year from now “places hope ahead of reality — it sets an objective without a plan to get there.”

Yeah, Peter, it's a real conundrum. Gee, how are we ever gonna close down Guantanamo? Let me give it a shot:

1. Transfer the prisoners to real American courts and prisons.
2. Turn out the lights at Guantanamo.
3. Lock the door.
4. Walk away.
5. Turn around.
6. Lob a few molotov cocktails at the prison.
7. Let it burn.

This kind of stalling and governmental hand-wringing has to end. It looks like Obama's taking encouraging strides forward despite the discomfort of people like Peter Hoekstra. When it's time to do the right thing, you don't quibble about "objective plans." You just do the right thing. Sometimes it really is that simple. And if you're sure it isn't in this case, then your moral compass needs a tune-up, bubba.

Peace, or Anxiety?

"The wise will realize that many things in life are beyond their control. They do not want to trade their freedom and peace of mind for the life of anxiety that accompanies wealth and renown."
- Lieh-Tzu, tr. Eva Wong

Rooms and Phones

Not much new here, just workin'... 2009 is well on its way now. Suzy and I found a house to share. We moved most of our stuff into the new place today, but the room is not yet ready. Paint's still dryin' and our bed hasn't been delivered yet. But we'll be there fully in a couple of days.

What I really wanted to blog about is, we also settled on cell phones -- nice Motorola phones from TracFone, which cost us about $30 each. My first cell phone (about 10 years ago) was a TracFone, and it worked rather well. It's a pay-as-you-go phone. So we can either add money to the phone when we need it, or subscribe to have minutes added every month. If we don't use all our minutes, the extra minutes roll into the next month and we can keep them basically forever.

Suzy and I hardly ever actually talk on the phone. We just send the occasional text message and make quick calls to figure out where to meet, what to grab at a store, etc. So TracFone makes a lot of sense.

The coolness is twofold: the monthly plans have no contract, and can be upgraded/downgraded/canceled without any penalties at any time; and the minutes added each month can roll over pretty much indefinitely if they are not used. So we've got two phones for $16 total with plenty of minutes, cheap text messaging (about 3 cents per message), and the ability to add a one-time batch of extra minutes on the fly if we have a sudden need for long phone calls.

$16 a month for two phones, and more minutes than we'll probably ever need. Can't beat that, except by going to China where the phone service is even cheaper. ;-)

Contracts suck. I'm glad I don't have one... :-)

Books in Progress: Deepak Chopra

I'm reading a couple of books at the moment, both of them by Deepak Chopra. He's been the subject of some controversy lately, mostly for his political comments. I've not paid much attention to the controversy, nor do I care really. My main interest is in his writing, and if there's anything I can learn from it.

The two books I'm reading are The Book of Secrets and The Way of the Wizard. The latter, at first glance, seems rather cheesy -- it attempts to give spiritual lessons through a mixture of prose stories about King Arthur and Merlin and exercises to play with in your mind. It's not as cheesy as it seems; Chopra does a decent job of writing the short stories of Merlin and Arthur.

The other book, The Book of Secrets, is more recent and seems to be a bit more mature. Chopra here is trying to write a guide to the "secrets" of life -- secrets that are out there in the open, but we tend to miss them or hide from them without even knowing it. Most of the secrets are about how we trap ourselves in duality (us vs. them, good vs. bad) and ruin our lives by seeing things as we think they are rather than experiencing them as they truly are.

I'm only about 30% into each book. I've gotten some useful quotes to put in my collection of spiritual stuff, but although I am fascinated by Deepak Chopra's ideas and his writing, something still nags at me. He's a great writer, he has some amazing insights, and he touches on important topics. But in both of these books, he makes a point of downplaying the value of having a roadmap or structure to spiritual things. He's right in the sense that knowing exactly where you are going can ruin the fun, or completely distract you from the process itself. But in some ways, structure is important.

Any given "secret" or truth that Chopra will show to you in the book is very interesting, and many of them are amazingly powerful for finding spiritual freedom. But both of these books, so far, seem to lack any consistency even within themselves. It is hard to see how each chapter fits into a larger, over-arching reality. It's like having a bunch of puzzle pieces on your kitchen table -- each individual one is beautiful, hinting at the potential for the completed puzzle as a whole. But I'm finding that the puzzle pieces don't fit together at all -- some are square, some are circular, some are too big, some too small, some are made out of liquid.

I'm going to continue reading the books, because there's lots of good stuff inside. But I'm not finding Chopra's writing to have that internal consistency that I've found in Buddhism. In Buddhism, there's one underlying current of thought and one only, across all teachings: the truth of suffering and its cessation. That thought is like a flowing river, upon which all the teachings and practices and concepts of Buddhism float, bobbing along together towards a common purpose. Chopra's writing is more like an endless ocean, with jewels of various colors floating on the surface, with little to hold them together.

We'll see if Chopra can surprise me by tying it all together as the books progress!

Windows 7 Beta

Woohoo! I got the Windows 7 Beta and booted it up in a virtual machine... Pretty slick. I may try installing it on my laptop next, although I fear it is underpowered. I'll have to clean the DVD drive first, though, since it can't read any discs at the moment... Bleh.

Anyway, here it is. Hello, world!

Happy 100th, Grand Canyon!

Okay, so the Grand Canyon is quite a bit older than 100 years. But as an official U.S. National Monument, this is its 100th birthday. So... Happy Birthday, Grand Canyon!

Overheard

"And my ability to blush on command..."

(said by some random woman walking along with another woman, near my workplace)

It really is interesting to think about what people are really talking about, when you overhear just a snippet of their conversation as you walk by. This one leads to endless possibilities!

One Year in 40 Seconds

This seems suitable to post on January 1st. :-) Enjoy!


One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

Happy New Year!