Globalove Think Tank

I dream of a Star Trek world. This think tank will focus on creative actions
designed to initiate a global paradigm shift towards a world where racism, poverty
and war will be a thing of the past.

Category: buddhism

Become Samurai

The Art of Peace
Morihei Ueshiba

The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter.

One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train.

All things, material and spiritual, originate from one source and are related as if they were one family. The past, present, and future are all contained in the life force. The universe emerged and developed from one source, and we evolved through the optimal process of unification and harmonization.

The Art of Peace is medicine for a sick world. There is evil and disorder in the world because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one source. Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty desires, and anger. Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything. (read more)

Karmic Law

What you put out into the world

comes back to you

How you live your life

determines what kind of life you will have

The Buddha


The Buddha’s final words were, “All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence.”

At his death, the Buddha told his disciples to follow no leader, but to follow his teachings.

Some of the fundamentals of the teachings of Gautama Buddha are:

The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and annihilation, that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this.

The Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.

Rejection of the infallibility of accepted scripture: Teachings should not be accepted unless they are borne out by our experience and are praised by the wise. See the Kalama Sutta for details.

Anicca (Sanskrit: anitya): That all things that come to be have an end.

Dukkha (Sanskrit: duḥkha): That nothing which comes to be is ultimately satisfying.

Anatta (Sanskrit: anatman): That nothing in the realm of experience can really be said to be “I” or “mine”.

Nibbana (Sanskrit: Nirvana): It is possible for sentient beings to realize a dimension of awareness which is totally unconstructed and peaceful, and end all suffering due to the mind’s interaction with the conditioned world.

According to tradition, the Buddha emphasized ethics and correct understanding. He questioned the average person’s notions of divinity and salvation. He stated that there is no intermediary between mankind and the divine; distant gods are subjected to karma themselves in decaying heavens; and the Buddha is solely a guide and teacher for the sentient beings who must tread the path of Nirvana themselves to attain the spiritual awakening called bodhi and see truth and reality as it is.

The Buddhist system of insight and meditation practice is not believed to have been revealed divinely, but by the understanding of the true nature of the mind, which must be discovered by personally treading a spiritual path guided by the Buddha’s teachings.
(read more)

Fly Your Freak Flag

(make a wish)

Quiet

joker

A buddhist walks up to a

hot dog vendor and says…

make me one with everything

Two Choices

You have two choices

as you live your life

you can be “happy” or

you can be un-“happy”

which will you choose?

“There is no way to happiness…happiness is the way”

The Way Of Peace


Statement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the 51st Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day
March 10th 2010

Today marks the 51st anniversary of the Tibetan people’s peaceful uprising in 1959 against Communist China’s repression in Tibet, as well as the second anniversary of the peaceful protests that erupted across Tibet in March 2008. On this occasion, I pay homage to those heroic Tibetan men and women, who sacrificed their lives for the cause of Tibet, and pray for an early end to the sufferings of those still oppressed in Tibet.

Despite the great hardships they have faced for many decades, Tibetans have been able to keep up their courage and determination, preserve their compassionate culture and maintain their unique identity. It is inspiring that today a new generation of Tibetans continues to keep Tibet’s just cause alive. I salute the courage of those Tibetans still enduring fear and oppression.

Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, it is the responsibility of all Tibetans to maintain equality, harmony and unity among the various nationalities, while continuing to protect our unique identity and culture. Many Tibetans in Tibetan areas are working in various responsible posts in the party, government and military, helping Tibetans in whatever way they can. We recognise the positive contribution that many of them have made up to now, and obviously when Tibet achieves meaningful autonomy in the future, they will have to continue to fulfil such responsibilities.

Let me reiterate that once the issue of Tibet is resolved, I will not take any political position nor will members of the Tibetan Administration in exile hold any positions in the government in Tibet. I have repeatedly made this clear in the past. To understand the situation of the Tibetans in exile and their aspirations, I invite Tibetan officials serving in various Tibetan autonomous areas to visit Tibetan communities living in the free world, either officially or in a private capacity, to observe the situation for themselves.

Wherever Tibetans in exile have settled, we have been able to preserve and promote our distinct cultural and spiritual traditions, while generating awareness of the Tibetan cause. Unlike other refugees, we have been relatively successful because we have also been able to give our children a sound modern education, while bringing them up according to our traditional values. And because the heads of all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the Bon religion are in exile we have been able to re-establish various institutions for religious training and practice. In these institutions over ten thousand monks and nuns are free to pursue their vocations. We have been readily able to provide educational opportunities for those monks, nuns and students who have continued to come from Tibet. At the same time the unprecedented spread of Tibetan Buddhism in both East and West and the prospect of continuing to flourish in the future gives us hope that it may yet survive. This is some solace to us during this most critical period in Tibet’s history.

Today, the Chinese authorities are conducting various political campaigns, including a campaign of patriotic re-education, in many monasteries in Tibet. They are putting the monks and nuns in prison-like conditions, depriving them the opportunity to study and practise in peace. These conditions make the monasteries function more like museums and are intended to deliberately annihilate Buddhism. (read more) (the global community)

The Medicine of Altruism

Altruism: unselfish interest in the welfare of others.


“In Tibet we say that many illness can be cured by the one medicine of love and compassion. These qualities are the ultimate source of human happiness, and need for them lies at the very core of our being. Unfortunately, love and compassion have been omitted from too many spheres of social interaction for too long. Usually confined to family and home, their practice in public life is considered impractical, even naive. This is tragic. In my view point, the practice of compassion is not just a symptom of unrealistic idealism but the most effective way to pursue the best interest of others as well as our own. The more we- as a nation, a group or as individuals – depend upon others, the more it is in our own best interests to ensure their well-being.”

“Practicing altruism is the real source of compromise and cooperation; merely recognizing our need for harmony is not enough. A mind committed to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir – a constant source of energy, determination and kindness. This is like a seed; when cultivated, gives rise to many other good qualities, such as forgiveness, tolerance, inner strength and the confidence to overcome fear and insecurity. The compassionate mind is like an elixir; it is capable of transforming bad situation into beneficial ones. Therefore, we should not limit our expressions of love and compassion to our family and friends. Nor is the compassion only the responsibility of clergy, health care and social workers. It is the necessary business of every part of the human community.”

The Dalai Lama

(read more)

The New World Order

We have the choice

of two outcomes

when it comes to the so called

“New World Order” …..

the present day “Nineteen Eighty-Four” or

the possible world of “Universal Responsibility”

It’s Time To Change The World

“I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace, the equitable use of natural resources, and through concern for future generations, the proper care of the environment.”

read more of “The Global Community”

Buddha road

Buddha’s observations on the nature of the mind come closer to modern-day neuroscience than any other philosophy I’ve read ..and his investigations did not end there ~ they had just begun. He saw how mental activity was mostly noise. A mixture of chatter ..imaginary offenses ..anticipatory dread ..feelings of betrayal and other fabrications. For six years he practiced watching this stream of debris flow by and vanish ..until he realized that there was nothing substantial or permanent about any of it ..and that believing so only created suffering. He continued down this road ..going past the conceptual ..through the neuro-sensory ..and beyond the phenomenal layers of consciousness. The further he went ..the freer he felt ..until he punched a hole through the ceiling and found an ever-expanding universe where all living beings are interconnected ..and he saw, first-hand, how the true nature of existence lay beyond the momentary vicissitudes of thought and feeling. He felt relief .. the fear of separation vanished. He chose to return and help others find the way out. We still hear the echo of his teachings resonating today. I do anyway.

Slipstream

There’s a stream running through my head. I sit and watch it go by ~ one instance after another. When I try to push it ~ or tweak it ~ I disperse it. Now I’ve got several streams running through my head. I see images of my father holding me on his knee ~ Jisho Perry stops by; but can’t stay for tea ~ my neighbor Don appears telling me it’s going to be a good day. I see images of Big Sur smoldering after another fire and I start to feel anxious. Now I’m trying to peek at instances that haven’t arrived yet. I hear Jisho’s voice gently reminding me that I’m leaning forward too far ~ but it’s too late ~ I’m tumbling head over heels ~ hoping I’ll land someplace soft. I’m lying on my back when Dr. Jones leans over and says I gotta’ get a grip ~ I’m having an out-of-sequence experience. Now I’m behind the wheel of a jeep and the warning signs are coming up fast ~ curva peligrosa ~ I swerve to avoid them when I hear sirens begin to wail. But ‘la policía’ are all in my head ~ it’s my wheels that are screeching ..spraying dirt and sand from the desert bed.

A Little Bit of Wisdom

The right time to show your good character is when you are pestered by somebody weaker than you.

-Buddha

We want only peace

“Tibet has been turned into a living hell”

…His Holiness the Dalai Lama…

The Eternal Now!

Practically all the great religions, spiritualities and philosophies of the world advise us to live in the present – to live in the NOW! NOW, I am no follower of a particular church though I was born and reared a Roman Catholic and lived the first forty years of my life as such. Since then I am more a sort of agnostic Buddhist who is open to all the possibilities that lie anywhere – in any area of human knowledge from science to literature to religion even – for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of human kind. I read the Bible as a wonderfully inspiring piece of literature – with the exception of those blood-thirsty sections of a very racist Old Testament. However, the teasing out of the latter is a matter for another post.

True Religion?:
True religion, if such exists, is one which seeks to find its spiritual base and disavows the abuse of power. However, history and common sense tells us that the abuse of power is endemic in all organised religions. But, in my experience there are oases of spirituality in the great Religions, in certain religious orders of monks and nuns and denominational charity workers who follow a vision of asceticism and sharing and caring and peace etc.

The Pain of Yesterday:
By this I mean that many of us can be slaves of our past, namely enslaved to hurts and regrets and maybe even remorse, which one of our national poets, Patrick Kavanagh describes as “the devil’s contrition.” A powerful metaphor! Maybe even we cannot forgive ourselves for some past wrong against another. It is my experience that often self-forgiveness can be more difficult than forgiving others. In this sense, regrets can eat our soul away. We cannot live in the NOW if we are slaves to the past, not having let go or allowed our past brokenness to be healed.

The Fear of Tomorrow:
We can be slaves of the future, too. How many of us are slaves to the empty dreams of how much we will earn and how much we will achieve? How many of us are never happy with where we are NOW in our lives. As Shakespeare says in Sonnet 29:

And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least.

We can be slaves also to fear, which is probably as endemic as wishful thinking and base greed and desire. We may fear what tomorrow will bring: whether by way of breakdown in relationships or loss of jobs or whatever.

The Answer is NOW!
Buddhism teaches us through meditation practices to cease to be slaves to our past and our future, and by being mindful to live in the endless possibilities of the present moment. Be aware of the rhythm of your breath. Awake to the wonder of being alive. Find hope within the beauty of your own soul, even if the body is getting old and breaking down. Observe the cycles of the seasons, how they come and go. Such is life and such is death. Neither is the opposite of the other really. Actually both are part of the greater cycle. Both belong to the eternity of NOW!

Above I have uploaded a picture I took from the bank of the Tiber, Rome, Easter, 2007. A brief peek at the beauty of NOW!

Man of Peace

Be kind whenever possible.

It is always possible.

…..His Holiness The Dalai Lama…..

Thich Quang Duc


All that is required for the triumph of evil…….is for good men to do nothing.

Ten to the One Hundredth Power

I have submitted an entry to Google “Project 10 to the 100” contest and we are all in it together. The following is my mission statement to Google entitled “A mothers’ love” inspired by a speech from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

“A Mothers’ Love”

Instead of the Orwellian nightmare that is our world today……we could have something else…….we can do better…….we deserve GlobaLove Inc.

The purpose of GlobaLove Inc…… is to initiate a global paradigm shift towards the “Star Trek” world. A world where money is not necessary to “survive”, a world where food, shelter, education and healthcare is a non-profit endeavor and the right of every human on the planet……..a world where profit is no longer the primary goal.

It is possible to eliminate all poverty and starvation, everything is free. What that means is that if we choose to, we could move to a higher level of community by working for ourselves and the group, like a union, a union of earth people……if you’re a human, you belong to the union. This union of earthlings will insure the basic human rights to food for the prevention of starvation, shelter to eliminate homelessness, education to lift us into the realm of awareness, and basic healthcare to sustain us in our difficult journey through human existance……..a mothers’ love. GlobaLove Incorporated will serve as The Human Union….a mothers’ assurance of love for all of earths’ children. The Human Union……you are a member…….everyone is a member.

I know there are many wonderful organizations that provide much needed aid to the many poor and starving unfortunate of the world but……with an estimated 30,000 people starving to death every single day…….we will have to create a union that agrees to the basic human rights that we all deserve and works to link all global aid efforts. With starvation being our primary concern, the many innocents who want only for a mouth full of food to survive will be first on our list.

GlobaLove Inc. has created GlobaLove Think Tank……we intend to create a brainstorm by linking as many minds together as we can to identify creative actions that will cascade into an unstoppable force……to initiate “Paradigm Shift.”

The “Paradigm Shift” would be the optimal outcome……from the “every man for himself” world to the “one for all, all for one” world of the Three Musketeers. Of course I don’t expect that to happen overnight but, if we can begin the process, the journey will begin. The primary goal is getting food to starving mouths, then we’ll work on housing, education and healthcare. I would have to say that measuring our success would be reflected in how many hungry mouths we feed, how many people we can save from dying of starvation. Like a mother’ love, GlobaLove Inc. wants to give what is needed……love and life. Remember your mother…….she bore you……cared for you……loved you.

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