A Fistful of Sand

The recent bombings and increased activities of religious extremists have provoked a myriad of responses, both rational and irrational. In the United States people of power tend to react instead of responding. The reaction is normally superficial and immature. They miss the point by creating their own, much like the main behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. The genuine issues are often ignored, hence the term “ignorance.” The Buddha made much of this word. With the recent bombings in Paris, at least 30 Governors, the vast majority conservative Republicans in the United Sates, who seem to hold humanity disdain anyway, found an excuse to apparently attempt an unlawful move to block the intake of Syrian Refugees. Well, the “American dream” idea never did mean all that much to them anyway. They make a weak claim that their decision would make America a safer place in which to live; but so would putting every man woman and child under house arrest, but this is not realistic, is it...

Samsara by Paul de Luna We have a problem — you have and I have it.   I may have worked on it a little longer on it than you have, but maybe not. Here is the problem: we have very little motivation to give up our comforts for something that is greater than we are. There is nothing in our life that we are willing to sacrifice everything else for. I’m not talking about the belief that we would sacrifice our lives for our loved ones. We all claim that we would sacrifice our lives for the ones we love. I have always been skeptical of those kinds of statements, and I continue to agree with myself. When we have no cause, no purpose, to our life, then we have to ask ourselves, “What is it that we are living for.” Are we really living for tomorrow so we can visit with our friends and talk smack? Some people live for tomorrow so they can go to a party or maybe meet that someone special, a someone like a “soul mate” (whatever that might mean) that will finally make them fe...

I n the past I was able to teach the Buddha’s Dharma throughout the day without ever mentioning him or using a Pali or Sanskrit word. I’ve given up on that. Once the Buddha is taken out of the equation people are free to twist the teachings anyway they want to because the teaching has no context. I’ve seen psychoanalysts of all stripes damage a patient’s life by using Dharma teachings secularly avoiding what might be perceived as a religious connotation.   Whether or not “Buddhism” is a religion or not is a matter of interpretation. As a practitioner of the Dharma I find the Buddha is immensely important to me. It is after called Buddhadharma. If we can all agree that these teachings originated with the Siddhartha Gautama then the importance of the Buddha cannot be over estimated.   It is true that Dharma, as taught, is to be used in secular settings but I am just a tad skeptical of a secularized Dharma having great long lasting value. If one cannot ha...

We live in a society that demands we be fair, honest and sensitive to the “needs” of others. There is the claim that we want every voice to be heard. We sometimes, albeit rarely, make the distinction between “hearing” and “listening.” An executive was once told by her Personnel Department, “People just want to be heard. You don’t have to do anything or say anything.” If this is true, then what was the point of the “conversation”? In catering to someone’s personal agendas, individual schemes and idiosyncratic motivations as if they represented the common or greater good is harmful to both the individual and the greater community. It is just plain dishonest and dishonorable. Sometimes the speaker does have something valid to say, at other times it is just a matter of someone trying to get what they want. We have to listen mindfully if we are going to understand which it is. In Buddhist practice we all take the first five precepts or guidelines, pañca-sila (in Pali). Essentiall...

Visit the  Hongaku Jodo Website Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. We observe reality from a point denied by our species (and cultural, and individual) makeup, our observations can only be made through representations, and representations always both add to and subtract from what they represent. —Derek Bickerton The idea of a skillful desire may sound a little off beat, but a mature mind intuitively pursues the desires it sees as skillful and drops those it perceives as not. As the Buddha explains when discussing Right Mindfulness and appropriate attention, a skillful desire is a way of fabricating a better delusion, one that is helpful to us on our journey towards the other shore. Fundamental to all living beings is the desire for happiness and avoid pain. Every other desire can be seen as a strategy for attaining that happiness. You want a new car, a better job, a sexual partner, or even have the desire for inner peace because you probably think it will...