The Left Forum 2014 (audio)

Amber Larson, Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; NYC, LeftForum.org

Left Forum 2014 Special Programming (KPFKorg) (ARCHIVE)

The Buddha's Noble FOURfold Path

Bhikkhu Bodhi (beyondthenet.net), Four Truths; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

"Eightfold Path? I was into it back when it was the Fourfold Path" (Elephant Journal)

 
An Elephant's Footprint

Elephant at Borobudur (TrevThompson)

The recorded teachings of the Buddha are numerous. But all these diverse teachings fit together into a single unifying frame: the teaching of the Four Noble [or Ennobling] Truths.

The Buddha compared the Four Noble Truths to the footprint of an elephant. Just as the footprint of an elephant can encompass within it the footprints of any other animal -- lions, tigers, wolves, foxes, cats, dogs, and so on -- so all the different teachings of the Buddha fit into the single framework of the Four Noble Truths.

Punk rock Buddha (Saara/Arkiharha/flickr)

The Buddha makes it clear that the FULL realization of the Four Noble Truths precedes the attainment of enlightenment itself, which means touching or glimpsing nirvana, final liberation from all disappointment.

He says that when a teaching-buddha appears in the world, what is taught are the Four Noble Truths. The special purpose of the Dharma is to make known this path to spiritual-nobility, to ultimate truth and liberation from illusions and suffering.

And the special aim of those treading the path to enlightenment is to personally know-and-see (experientially verify) the Four Noble Truths:

1. The truth of disappointment (dukkha, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, pain, suffering, misery, the unpleasant),
2. The truth of the origin of disappointment,
3. The truth of the cessation of disappointment,
4. The truth of the path, the [eightfold] way to complete and final liberation from disappointment.

Elephant's Footprint sutra (BPS.lk)

The technical Buddhist term dukkha has often been translated as suffering, pain...misery. But dukkha or "disappointment," as used by the Buddha, has a much wider and deeper meaning.

 

It suggests a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms and planes existence, even the most exalted and long lasting, all forms of rebirth, due to the fact that all forms are impermanent (even when they do not seem to be changing in heavenly planes) and without any inner core or substance.

The term dukkha indicates a lack of fulfillment, a lack of perfection, a condition that never measures up to our standards and expectations. Each word in the phrase "Four Noble Truths" is significant. What is the doctor's prescription?

• The Lesser Simile of the Elephant's Footprint (MN 27)
• The Greater Simile of the Elephant's Footprint (MN 28)
• Family Dharma: Elephant's Footprint (Tricycle)
• Chinese Buddhism owe a lot to Gandhara Civilization

Dr. Buddha, Master Physician (Prescription)

Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; BuddhaNet.net; Molly Hahn

Cats are good friends when they sleep in under the Sun (Molly Hahn/buddhadoodles.com)

 

The Buddha and my cat (Dee McIntosh/flickr)

The Buddha sets out the Four Truths as a formula a doctor would use to deal with a patient, a suffering person.

 

1. The Buddha first establishes the basic affliction, which is determined to be the problem of liability to disappointment and unsatisfactoriness; living beings are in pain.

2. Thereafter, he makes a diagnosis. That is, he explains the cause for this disease. This is the second truth, namely, that craving is part of the problem [explained in full in the 12 causal links of Dependent Origination], and craving is the link we can do something about right here and right now.

Accept what is. Let go of judgment. Remain aware of it. And you will know and see (BD).

 

3. As a third step a good doctor gives a prognosis, the possibility of the cessation of the problem. That is to say, a doctor determines whether a cure is possible. Is there some means of bringing about the end of our affliction, our problem, the pain we are sore from, complaining about, and seeking a cure for? Fortunately for living beings, the Buddha says YES: Suffering can be ended in this very life! We can stop all our suffering.

4. Finally, in the fourth step, perhaps the most important from the standpoint of the ailing patient, the doctor prescribes the course of treatment. The Buddha prescribes a fourth truth: the Noble Eightfold Path, the way to the end of all suffering, the treatment, the actions to take for enlightenment that leads to the goal of nirvana, which the Buddha very specifically defined as the final solution, the antidote, the cure, "the end of all suffering."

THRIVE: What On Earth Will It Take? (video)

Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; ThriveMovement.com

The world is waking up, but what on Earth will it take to finally THRIVE?

Yoga: The Art of Transformation

Wisdom Quarterly; ArtDaily.org; Dr. Jeff Durham San Francisco Asian Art Museum

Meditation is gaining popularity as a tool to de-clutter the mind and go from noise, stress, and chaos to peace, empowerment, and wellness. Learn to create positive attitudes and responses to situations by understanding universal spiritual principles through the simple, practical guidance of the ancient art of Raja Yoga meditation (Brahma Kumaris). More

 

Yogi and tantrika (Boonlieng)

SAN FRANCISCO, California - The Asian Art Museum presents Yoga: The Art of Transformation, the first major art exhibition to explore yoga and its historical transformation over the past 2,500 years through more than 130 rare and compelling artworks.

All over the world, millions of people practice yoga to find spiritual insight and improved health. Many are aware of yoga's origins in India, but few outside of advanced practitioner circles recognize yoga's profound philosophical underpinnings, its presence within Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, and Sufi religious traditions, or the surprisingly various social roles played by yogic practitioners over the centuries.

This exhibition shows yoga’s rich diversity and rising appeal from its early days to its emergence on the global stage. Borrowing from 25 museums and private collections in India, Europe, and the U.S., the artworks on view date from the 2nd to the 20th centuries, with a majority from the 8th to 18th centuries.

The wisdom of the Vedas from the ancient Vedic civilization is incorporated into Hinduism's Ayurvedic principles of healing herbs, foods, and dietary practices (Kitchen Pharmacy).

 

Throughout the exhibition, stunning examples of sculpture and painting illuminate yoga's key concepts as well as its obscured histories. Early photographs, books, and films show yogis not only as peaceful practitioners, but also satirized as sly imposters.

Artworks and audio guides also reveal yoga’s transformation in 20th-century India and the U.S. as an inclusive practice open to all.

The exhibition’s highlights include an installation that reunites three stone yoginis from a 10th century South Indian temple; 10 pages from the first illustrated book of yogic postures (asanas) from around 1600; and a film by Thomas Edison, "Hindoo Fakir" (1902), the first American movie ever produced about India.

Curated originally for the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery by the associate curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Debra Diamond, the Asian Art Museum’s presentation is organized by the museum’s associate curator of South Asian Art, Qamar Adamjee, and assistant curator of Himalayan Art, Jeff Durham [who will be in Pasadena on Saturday talking about mandalas in Vajrayana Buddhism]. 

Classical Buddhist art (WQ/Boonlieng/SFAAM)

“We are honored to serve as the only West Coast venue in presenting this historic exhibition, one of the most remarkable surveys of Indian art,” said Asian Art Museum director Jay Xu.

“We hope that by illuminating aspects of yoga and its hidden histories to Bay Area audiences, visitors can take new perspectives to their present and future yoga practices.” 

The exhibition surveys the centrality of yoga in Indian culture and focuses on core elements of yoga practice; the role of teachers; the importance of place in yoga practice; the associations between yoga and power; ways in which yogis have been understood and imagined in Indian and Western popular cultures; and the transformation of yoga into today’s contemporary practice.

Kathak Yoga: dynamic footwork and dance as a means to union of breath, body, and mind.

 

Visitors are encouraged to start their journey in Osher Gallery, followed by Hambrecht Gallery, then Lee Gallery. 

• Osher Gallery: The Path of Yoga - The exhibition begins by introducing visitors to yoga’s origins. Between 500 and 200 BCE, wandering ascetics of the [Vedic Brahminical] Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain religions developed practices for controlling the body and breath as a means of stilling the mind.

These practices introduced concepts that laid the groundwork for much of what later came to constitute "yoga." By the 7th century, many of yoga’s key concepts, vocabulary, and practices were established. This gallery reveals how artists translated yogic identities, beliefs, and practices into meaningful and eloquent visual forms.

In yoga, the body is both what must be transcended as well as the necessary tool for attaining enlightenment... More

2014 Best Movie: "12 Years a Slave" (video)

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Irma Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly MODERN SLAVERY

(MCS Trailer)

Director Steve McQueen brings this powerful Academy Award winning film, determined the Best Picture of 2014. It is based on Solomon Northup's astonishing true story. In 1841, Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free citizen, is kidnapped and sold as a slave. He is stripped of his identity and sold into American slavery system forced to work for a ruthless plantation owner (Michael Fassbender).

 

There are many modern slaves in America and around the world today (freetheslaves.net)

 

Prof. Michelle Alexander

Now he must find the strength to survive in this unflinching story of hope that swept the Spirit Awards and earned a Golden Globe for Best Picture, Drama. 

This gripping film features an all-star cast, including newcomer Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'O, Angelina Jolie-loving Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Paul Dano. 

• WATCH "12 Years a Slave" on YouTube
• VIDEO: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration...
• VIDEO: Prof. Angela Davis on "Slavery and the Prison-Industrial Complex"
• VIDEO: Dr. Angela Davis clip, "Black Power Mixtape"
• TV: Malcolm X on PBS's "Open Mind": race relations (24:07)

(THNKR) The new "slaves" of the prison-industrial complex and drug war

 

THINK

Yale and Ohio State Univ. legal scholar Michelle Alexander's breakthrough book about the rise of mass incarceration in America argues that "by targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial subordnation and control just like the old Jim Crow system.

The world, the world! (sutra)

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; F.L. Woodward (trans.), Kindred Sayings, The Chapter on Channa and Others (Samyutta Nikaya, IV, Pali Text Society)

Saving the world, protesting economic and social injustices, Occupy L.A. (Wisdom Quarterly)

  

(84) Ven. Ananda came to see the Exalted One [Buddha]...and asked:

"'The world! The world!' it is said. venerable sir, please explain, how far does this saying go?"

"Ananda, what is transitory (paloka-dhamma = bhijjanaka, worldly phenomena, impermanent) by nature is called 'the world' in this noble doctrine and discipline [Arya-Dhamma-Vinaya].

 

"And what, Ananda, is transitory by nature? The eye, Ananda, is transitory by nature...visible objects... [The same is said for all six senses including the] mind is transitory by nature, mind-states, mind-consciousness, mind-contact [contact = the coming together of sense base, sense object, AND consciousness], whatever pleasure or pain (weal or woe) or neutral state experienced arises owing to mind-contact -- that, too, is transitory by nature. 

"Ananda, what is transitory by nature is called 'the world' in this noble doctrine and discipline."

Empty (void)

(85) Then Ven. Ananda...said to the Exalted One: "'The world IS empty! The world is empty!' it is said. Venerable sir, how far does this saying go?"

"Ananda, because the world is devoid of a self or anything belonging to a self (atta-niya, a self's property or possessions), therefore it is said, 'The world is empty.' And what, Ananda, is devoid of a self or what belongs to a self?

"Eye, visible objects, eye-consciousness... mind, mind-objects, mind consciousness are devoid of a self. Ananda, that is why it is said, 'The world is empty!'"

In Brief

Massive, sitting, golden Shakyamuni Buddha statue, Thailand (WQ)

 

(86) ...Then Ven. Ananda said to the Exalted One: "Well, for me, venerable sir, if the Exalted One would teach me a teaching in brief, a teaching which on hearing from the Exalted One I might dwell solitary, remote, earnest, ardent, and aspiring."

 

"Now what do you think, Ananda? Is the eye permanent or impermanent?" -- "Impermanent, venerable sir."

"What is impermanent, is that pleasant or painful (weal or woe)?" "Painful, venerable sir."

"Now what is impermanent, painful (woeful, disappointing), changeable by nature, is it fitting to regard that as, 'This is mine. This I am. This is my self'?" -- "Surely not, venerable sir."

 

"Eye, visible objects, eye-consciousness, eye-contact -- is that permanent or impermanent?" [This same is said of all six senses, types of sense objects, consciousness, and contact between the three].

"Then of what is impermanent, disappointing, and changeable by nature, is it fitting to regard that as, 'This is mine. This I am. This is my self'?" -- "Surely not, venerable sir."

"So seeing, Ananda, the well-taught noble disciple... [is] freed of conceits; one grasps at nothing in the world [does not cling to anything in the world or anything regarding an illusory ego]. Being free from grasping, one is not troubled. Being untroubled, one is by oneself set free. Thus one realizes, 'Rebirth is destroyed, lived is the highest life, done is the task. There is no more of this [suffering] to come.'

 

"This, Ananda, is the proper approach to the uprooting of all conceits [delusions]."

 

The Heart of Wisdom Sutra

(COMMENTARY)

The later Mahayana tradition says all of this much more cryptically in the "Perfection of Wisdom" literature (Prajna Paramita), epitomized in the Heart Sutra.

 

There the Five Aggregates of Clinging are laid bare: form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are empty. 

 

That is, they are devoid of a "self" through and through. Illusion exists. These constituents of being/becoming are generally regarded as a "self" by untaught, ordinary worldlings.

 

But because they are impermanent and unsatisfactory (disappointing), it is incorrect to regard them as personal. They are impersonal (not-self), beyond our control, brought into transient or momentary existence by causes and conditions. They do not arise by themselves but are brought into being by causes and conditions, which is to say they are dependently originated or arisen. 

 

All of this happens again and again based on ignorance. When liberating-insight arises, enlightenment dawns, and all suffering is brought to an end.

Revolution: East and West (Ukraine, Thailand)

Amber Larson, Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; FEMEN.org/en; BBC.co.uk

The EuroMaidens for freedom in Ukraine, Baltic states, and worldwide (femen.org)

Thailand wants a people's coup, as does Ukraine, and Pussy Riot wants to protect prisoners

  

FEMEN (feminist topless protest collective) started its fight with the dictatorship in Ukraine, a former member of the Soviet Union now leaning in favor of joining the West through the European Union, four years ago. Now FEMEN's brothers are making a revolution and it appeals to the world for help. Ukrainians need our support! Revolution cannot be stopped! Ukraine must be cleansed of its dictatorship! Together we will win this fight -- and with it the struggle against sexism (patriarchal systems, bias based on gender or biological sex), racism, and extreme class divisions. 

Gov't panel: NSA's bulk collection of phone records is ILLEGAL

An independent congressional panel has concluded the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records is illegal. In a new report, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board says the NSA program should be brought to an end, is illegal, and has had only minimal benefits in stopping any kind of "terrorism." 

(Tom Tomorrow/thismodernworld.com)

The panel says the program "lacks a viable legal foundation under [PATRIOT Act] Section 215, implicates constitutional concerns under the First and Fourth Amendments [about intrusions into our privacy, searches, and seizures], raises serious threats to privacy and civil liberties as a policy matter, and has shown only limited value, adding: "The board recommends that the government end the program." President Obama said last week he intends to reform the bulk collection, but his plan would preserve it.

NSA-GCHQ Snowden leaks: Glossary of key terms

When The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers published the first of Edward Snowden's NSA-GCHQ leaks in June, it unleashed a stream of abbreviations...

• NSA "gets data from Angry Birds"
• "How to hide from surveillance" (BBC)
• U.S. State of the Union: Is anyone listening?
• US makes Bitcoin exchange arrests
• No gay people in Sochi, says mayor
• Looks of early European revealed
• Farting cows cause Germany explosion
• Pope John Paul II relic stolen

Sextremism: FEMEN means death for patriarchy (sexist male domination)

 

Ukraine to scrap anti-protest laws

(BBC.co.uk, Jan. 27, 2014)

Police state (Sergei L. Loiko/latimes.com)

The Ukrainian president and opposition leaders have agreed to scrap anti-protest laws that had fueled anger at the government, the presidency says.

 

Pres. Viktor Yanukovych also offered an amnesty to protesters, but only if they cleared barricades and stopped attacking government buildings. The president made the offer in talks with the three main opposition leaders.

 

The demonstrators had demanded the protest law be repealed, but they also want Mr. Yanukovych [who is accused of being a traitor who is selling out Ukraine to Putin and Russia] to quit.

 

The law was hastily passed in parliament by Yanukovych loyalists on 16 January. The changes included a ban on unauthorized tents in public areas [, a ban on wearing protective helmets or masks], and criminal responsibility for slandering government officials. 

 

Correspondents say it is likely to be overturned during a special session of parliament on Tuesday, arranged last week to discuss the crisis.

 

Unrest spreads east

The [anti-protest] law angered protesters and helped to spread unrest across Ukraine, even to Mr. Yanukovych's Russian-speaking strongholds in the east. The protesters, closely allied to the opposition parties, targeted government buildings and have briefly occupied several ministries in Kiev. More Watershed moment - Who are the protest leaders? - Media: Point of no return? - Q&A: What's behind crisis?

 

Thailand's Red Shirts vs. Yellow: People's Coup

Red: leftwing, Yellow: rightwing

(BBC, Jan. 26, 2014) BANGKOK, Thailand - Protesters block early election vote. They have surrounded polling stations, blocking early voting ahead of next week's [hastily convened] general election, officials say. [Street demonstrations are bringing down Thailand's first female prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of corrupt billionaire and former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra, who pulled her strings.] Meanwhile, one opposition leader was shot dead as he addressed a crowd at a rally outside a polling station in east Bangkok where advance voting was supposed to take place. Jonathan Head reports from Bangkok. More + VIDEO

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• Obama Launches Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault 
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Who am I?

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ven. Karunananda, Ph.D., Wisdom Quarterly

But I am. I am this I am! "I think; therefore, I am"! I am my thinking, no, the Thinker, right?

 

Continued from Explaining the Parable of the Raft. All we see is an illusion, seeming to be what it is not: seeming to be stable, seeming to be able to satisfy/fulfill us, seeming to be a thing (when it is really a composite).

A composite? Things are not single-things but amalgamations of things. We can see it all around us, as things fall apart. So long as they seem solid, we repeatedly forget that they are something else.

 

But what we never see, never dream, are never told, are never taught except that a buddha rediscovers and teaches the world is that ALL things are impersonal. "I" is an aggregate-thing, "ego" is a thing, "self" ("soul") is a thing. What is it composed of?

 

Self/No-self (gingernutdesigns/flickr.com)

It is composed of FIVE HEAPS of things (and those things themselves are things, dharmas, composite-aggregates of other things). 

1. Forms, 2. sensations, 3. perceptions, 4. formations, and 5. consciousnesses are the categories of heaps, things, bundles of phenomena that keep giving rise to the illusion, "SELF," the idea or assumption that there is a "self" and, likewise, that there are others. And we never see, or more correctly, and never is seen. What is not known-and-seen? We never awaken to what is real. Nirvana is real.

Why do we neglect the highest good, the ultimate goal of knowing-and-seeing? There are many reasons, which seem private and idiosyncratic. But for all they come down to the defilements (āsavas, the inflows and outflows that swirl in samsara). So why are we surprised that we feel disappointed, empty, unfulfilled, desperate, miserable, alone, out of control? All of that is dukkha.
 

Budai (Hotei) hears, sees, speaks no harm.

The "defilements" are of different kinds: taints of [clinging to] sensuality, being, views, and delusion. The Buddhist scholar Isaline Horner translates the original terms kāmā-, bhavā-, diṭṭhā-, and avijja-āsava -- quoted by Padmasiri De Silva in An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology (2000) -- as the "cankers" of "sense-pleasure, becoming, false views, and ignorance." The word canker suggests something that corrodes or corrupts slowly. These figurative meanings perhap describe facets of the Buddha's conceptual teaching of āsava: kept long in storage, oozing out, [seeping in], taint, corroding, and so on.

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