lindseyandhaley: result of karma

Showing posts with label result of karma. Show all posts

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

Would've been easier if I'd been uglier (video)

Crystal Quintero and CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Ugly.org (Admin, AllChic.com)

The World's Ugliest Dog contest helps shed light on dog abuse (news.asiaone.com)

Novice and loser puppy, who did not even place in the Ugliest Dog Competition (Tuhoc)

(Bauhaus, "Swing the Heartache") "I feel that if I'd been uglier, it would have been easier..."

The Ugly Models Agency

If beauty is in eye of beholder, is ugly too?

Forget all those reality television shows that say you have to be tall, spaghetti-noodle thin, giraffe-necked and ridiculously beautiful to be a model.There is a model agency seeking people who are the polar opposite of this type. You can be as huge as a tank or as shriveled as a raisin. You can have a zillion body piercings, dark circles under your eyes, or look like death warmed over.

Peanut is "World's Ugliest Dog" winner, 2014

You may be older than dirt and have a face that makes dogs and small children run across the street. If you are a gal or guy who falls into any of these categories, you are probably just the sort this Brit-based modeling agency wants.

Allen is a "Special" from X-files

Visit this site and take a glimpse at their portfolio page and imagine you, in all your grotesque glory being featured there. Ha! Take that, Tyra Banks and American Idol! I told you you'd be seeing me again! Girls - Men - Specials - Rage

Thursday, 8 May 2014

KARMA: The 10 Courses of Action

Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Nyanatiloka (Anton Gueth)

Mental-karma is important as are deeds.

Karma: "Courses of Action" (kamma-patha) is a name for a group of ten kinds of either unwholesome or wholesome actions the Buddha taught.

He was known in ancient India not as a "Buddhist" or a Brahmin but as a Karma-vadin ("Teacher of Karma"), one who teaches the efficacy of personal deeds. There are three kinds of unskillful deeds -- of body, speech, and mind -- and three kinds of skillful ones:

I. Ten Unwholesome Courses of Action

three bodily actions: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct;
four verbal actions: perjury, slandering, harsh speech, babble;
three mental actions: covetousness, ill-will, wrong views.

Unwholesome mental courses of action comprise only extreme forms of defiled thought: The greedy (rapacious) wish to appropriate others' property, the hateful (antagonistic) thought of harming others, and the holding or clinging to pernicious wrong-views.

While milder forms of mental defilement are also unwholesome, they do not constitute "courses of action."

Good Karma

Karma is following us everywhere we go.

Bhikkhu Bodhi (Tape 5: Rebirth and Kamma, "The Buddha's Teaching: As It Is") explains that these ten are called "courses" of action rather than ordinary karma because they have the power, in and of themselves, to lead to rebirth -- a course or corridor leading to a particularly unfortunate or fortunate state.

For example, even a relatively minor good intentional-action can lead, IF it serves as the death-proximate karma (the thought passing through the mind right at the moment of passing away from one life to yet another) -- has the power to get one into a heaven. There are many heavens, and not a single one of them is eternal, so rebirth in heaven is not the goal of Buddhism. But it is a fortunate destination for rebirth in samsara, the ongoing Wheel of Rebirth and disappointment.

II. Ten Wholesome Courses of Action

three bodily actions: avoiding killing, stealing, sexual misconduct (or preserving life, protecting what belongs to others, avoiding harm);
four verbal actions: avoiding perjury, slandering, harsh speech, foolish chit chat (or honest, reconciling, gentle, and wise speech);
three mental actions: unselfishness, goodwill, right views.

Both lists repeatedly occur in the texts (e.g., in AN X.28, 176; MN 9), and they are explained in detail in MN 114 and in Commentary to MN 9 (R. Und., p. 14), Atthasālini Tr. I, 126ff.

Sivali

Ven. Sivali: shining example of good karma

An enlightened monastic from the time of the Buddha, Venerable Sivali, is remembered and venerated as having unbelievably good karma -- a store of "merit" (punya) for everyone to emulate.

There is no reason to "envy" him his good fortune because we ourselves can also accrue a similar store of merit by good works (mental, verbal, and physical), deeds that benefit ourselves and others that follow us through this life and from life to life until we find enlightenment.

We are always generating karma and always being reborn, but a human birth is extraordinarily rare, a precious opportunity to make merit with redounding pleasing and welcome karmic-results and effects (vipaka and phala).

Sunday, 27 April 2014

The Fruits of Recluseship (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Tipitaka Network (Digha Nikaya 2)

Golden Buddha cloth hanging on city street (Georgie_girl/flickr.com)

(Matthew Ahmet/dailymail.co.uk)

The Samannaphala Sutta [samana = recluse, shaman, hermit, wandering ascetic, Buddhist monastic; phala=fruit; sutta=sutra, discourse] is second among the Long Discourses of the Buddha.

This sutra gives the background and explains how an ancient Indian royal, King Ajatasattu, became a Buddhist lay disciple. It starts with the king in his palace seeking advice from his Brahmin ministers about which wandering ascetic or Brahmin to go see.

Ignoring the recommendations of those six ministers, the king turns to the royal physician Jivaka Komarabhacca for advice. Jivaka informs him that the Buddha is staying at a Mango Grove in Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha, and suggests visiting him there.

Monks and novices in Theravada Thailand (T.O. Johnson/T.O.OtisPhoto/flickr.com)

Accepting this suggestion, Ajatasattu sets out on his royal mount together with Jivaka, a large number of women on elephants, and a procession of torch-bearing attendants.

Later, we learn that the king had already spoken to the other six ascetics his ministers recommended and was not pleased with their teachings.

According to the Buddha, on hearing the Dharma (the Buddha's teaching), King Ajatasattu would have become a stream-winner -- if it were not for his "heinous" karma, patricide, as he had recently killed and deposed his father, the beloved Buddhist King Bimbisara, who was himself a stream-winner. Such action is especially weighty karma with results that are certain to ripen in the very next rebirth. (Killing a stream-enterer is also very heavy karma to bear but is not among the Five Heinous Actions: harming a buddha, killing one's mother, killing one's father, killing an arhat, or creating a schism in the Sangha).

Japanese Zen (Arashiyama)

It is the night of Komudi, the full-moon day in the month of Kattika, at a time after Ajatasattu has already deposed his father Bimbisara, former king of Magadha, who was a devoted noble disciple of the Buddha (a stream enterer, the first stage of sainthood).

The dialogue is mainly between the Buddha and young Ajatasattu. Other personalities mentioned are Queen Vedehi, his mother, Prince Udayibhadda, his newborn son, and the six rival ascetic teachers of the Buddha's day. The six includes the founder of Jainism, Mahavira, who is known in Buddhist texts as the Nigantha Nataputta ["Possessionless Son-of-Nata"], whose family name is Aggivessana.

The Six Rival Teachers

The rival teachers mentioned are characterized as representative of various Indian philosophical movements at that time. They are Purana Kassapa, Makkhali Gosala, Ajita Kesakambala, Pakudha Kaccayana, Sancaya Belatthaputta, and Nigantha Nataputta (Mahavira, which like the name "the Buddha" is simply a title meaning "Great Hero," an epithet used for the Buddha in earlier times).

This discourse opens a window into their individual teachings, as reported by King Ajatasattu to the Buddha. Unfortunately, each of these accounts is very brief.

Respect of Ascetics

Novice with candle in Shwe Yan Pyay, Burma (UrsulasWeeklyWanders.com)

Indian culture respects ascetics. Here an "ascetic" (samana) refers to a person who has given up his or her family and social life to search for greater happiness by finding answers to the ultimate questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life?

This goal of asceticism was later expanded in Buddhism to include the greater happiness of the world. King Ajatasattu, one of the most powerful royals of the day in India, expressed his respect for recluses, even if that person was formerly his servant.

Prior to Mahavira and the Buddha accepting female disciples into their wandering ascetic orders (sanghas), all samanaswere male. Mahavira was first to admit them. But the Buddha, whose mission was to establish the Dharma with male and female monastics and male and female lay disciples, was the first to do so as a world-religion, a universal teaching that spread all around the world.

Jainism, on the other hand, though slightly older, never traveled beyond India to become a universal teaching. Jains did travel and therefore there are communities elsewhere but not Mahavira's teaching itself.

Females were given the same duties and responsibilities as their male counterparts in the Buddhist monastic order. (The widespread belief that the Buddha imposed eight additional rules on his stepmother, the first Buddhist nun, is not the case, as a textual analysis of the Bhikkhuni Vinaya reveals, according to Ven. Ayya Tathaaloka).

Fruits of becoming a Buddhist recluse

Theravada Buddhist nuns of California, with Ayya Tathaaloka, fourth on the right (AFB)

The title of the sutra literally means "recluseship-fruits," the benefits of becoming an wandering ascetic, a Buddhist monk or nun.

Basic rewards

When asked what these fruits are, the Buddha provides the king with satisfactory answers on the many rewards of practicing in accordance with the Buddha's Dharma and (Monastic) Discipline.

One is respected even by kings, as well as being provided with one's basic necessities, safety, and protection.
One is endowed with restraint and virtue (as explained in the The Net of All-Embracing Views).
One remains with guarded sense faculties.
One is mindful and clearly aware (sati-sampajana).
One is contented.

Intermediate rewards

Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist nuns with prayer wheel and beads (colunas.epoca.globo.com)

By withdrawing and detaching from the Five Hindrances, further spiritual benefits arise as one succeeds in the practice of "meditation" (bhavana, jhana, jhaneti, kammathana):

the first four meditative absorptions (rupa-jhanas),
insight-knowledges (vipassanā-ñāṇa),
advanced capacities.

The Highest reward

The highest reward, which is the ultimate goal of the Buddhist path, is the realization and full penetration of the Four Noble Truths, which leads to enlightenment and NIRVANA, which is complete freedom from samsara (the otherwise endless round of death and rebirth and suffering).

Bodhi Bytes and Campus News

The title of this sutra is from Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation. Other translations are "The Fruits of the Homeless Life" (Maurice Walshe), "The Fruits of the Life of a Recluse" (Rhys Davis), "The Fruits of the Life of a Samana" (BPA), and "The Rewards of Spiritual Practice" (by Ayya Khema in German as Die Früchte des spirituellen Lebens and Visible Here and Now in English), another German version is available from Pali Kanon.

Thursday, 20 March 2014

God kills anti-gay Westboro Baptist preacher

I. Rony, Wisdom Quarterly (EDITORIAL); SCPR.org via the Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

People-hating, gay-bashing, God-fearing Westboro Church members (npr.org)

The New Hate

It is a sad day in West Hollywood as news arrives that the tribal god of the Judeo-Christians has struck down yet another wayward minister/sinner who preached hate instead of love, prejudice instead of tolerance, bias instead of forbearance. Yea, know ye that the "wages of sin is death" (i.e., that the god will kill you if you stray). Fred Phelps, Esq. leaves us this day for a grander vision of karma (vipaka) in the hereafter than we are yet privy to see. For, lo, he preached invective and damnation on his walk with the lord from on high, frequently stating that "God Hates F*gs" and "Obey or Perish" without a trace of irony.

Wah! I take it back! I take it back!!

Have we anything to learn from his example, or shall we too stray in the fields of the lord disregarding the good news that we are capable and responsible for the decisions that lead inevitably to our actions (karma)? May he rest in peace and find renewal of spirit, not wrestling as those he condemned in life, but in the fullness of the mercy he now seeks. Aum'n. [In all seriousness, we hope he's okay, for to hate a hater is a great mistake.] See the full story.

"As it turns out, God actually hates small-minded, bigoted, blind fanatics..."

Monday, 24 February 2014

Going from Light to Darkness (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly translation based on Ven. Thanissaro, Abbot Wat Metta (accesstoinsight.org, Tamonata Sutra: Darkness, AN 4.85)

[The Buddha taught:] "There are four kinds of people in the world. What four?

"One is in darkness headed for darkness,
one is in darkness headed for light,
one is in light headed for darkness,
one is in light headed for light.

"How is one in darkness and headed for darkness? In this case some person is born into a lowly family -- the family of a scavenger, a hunter, a basket-weaver, a wheelwright, or a sweeper -- a poor family with little to eat and drink, living in hardship, where food and clothing are hard to come by. Moreover, one is unsightly, misshapen, stunted, sickly: half-blind or deformed or lame or crippled. One does not receive any [offerings or gifts of] food, drink, clothing, or vehicles, garlands, perfumes, or creams, bedding, shelter, or lights.

"[Therefore,] one engages in bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, and mental misconduct. Having engaged in such misconduct, one -- on the dissolution of the body after death -- reappears in a plane of deprivation, an unfortunate destination, a lower realm of rebirth, even in the hells. This person is in darkness headed for darkness.

Psychedelic Buddhas in polymer clay (mariannamicherina/flickr.com)

"And how is one in darkness but headed for light? In this case a person is born into a lowly (lower class or outcaste) family -- the family of a scavenger, a hunter... One is unsightly... One does not receive any [offerings or gifts of] food, drink, clothing, or vehicles... [Yet] one engages in skillful bodily conduct, skillful verbal conduct, and skillful mental conduct. Having engaged in such conduct, one -- on the dissolution of the body after death -- reappears in a fortunate destination [such as the human world], even in a heavenly world. This is a person in darkness but headed for light.

I look nice, but I'm a well born, right-wing maniac pushing for more oppressive rule in Israel.

"And how is one in light but headed for darkness? In this case one is born into a well off family -- a royal (ruling) family, a Brahmin priest (intellectual) family, a prosperous householder (merchant) family -- a family that is rich, with wealth, with many possessions, with a great deal of money, a great many spoils of wealth, a great many commodities to trade. Moreover, one is beautiful, well built, extremely attractive, endowed with a lotus-like complexion. One receives [offerings or gifts of] food, drink, clothing, and vehicles, garlands, perfumes, and creams, bedding, shelter, and light. [Yet,] one engages in bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, and mental misconduct. Having engaged in such misconduct, one -- on the dissolution of the body after death -- reappears in a world of deprivation, in an unfortunate destination, in a lower [subhuman] realm, even in the hells. This is a person in light but headed for darkness.

"And how is one in light and headed for light? In this case a person is born into a well off family... One engages in skillful bodily conduct, skillful verbal conduct, and skillful mental conduct. Having engaged in such conduct, one -- on the dissolution of the body after death -- reappears in a fortunate destination, even the heavenly worlds. This person is in light and headed for light.

"These are the four kinds of people found in the world."

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Motives for Gift Giving (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly translation based on Ven. Thanissaro, "Discourse on Generosity" (Dana Sutta, AN 7.49)

Giving has the added benefit of resulting in easier meditative absorption (adbusters)

Sariputra was wise to ask (TA)

CAMPA, Gaggara Lake, ancient India - Ven. Sariputra said to the Blessed One:

"Does one person give a certain gift that does not bear great fruit and benefit, whereas another person gives the same gift and it bears great fruit and benefit?"

"Yes, Sariputra."

"Venerable sir, why, what is the cause, what is the reason?"

The Buddha answers (TA)

1. "Sariputra, in one case a person gives a gift seeking profit, with a mind/heart attached [to gaining some reward], seeking to store up [merit with the thought], 'I'll enjoy this after death.'

"One gives a gift -- whether food, drink, clothing, transportation, garland, sweet scent, balm, bedding, shelter, lamp -- to a wandering ascetic or Brahmin. What do you think, Sariputra? Might one give such a gift?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

"Having given such a gift seeking profit with heart/mind attached, seeking to store up [merit with the thought], 'I'll enjoy this after death' -- on the break up of the body, after death, one reappears in the company of the Four Great Space Kings. Then, having exhausted that karma, that power, that status, that sovereignty, one returns, falling back to this plane.

2. "There is a person who gives a gift but not seeking profit, mind/heart not attached, not seeking to store up [merit with the thought], 'I'll enjoy this after death.' Instead, one gives a gift with the thought, 'Giving is good.' ...What do you think, Sariputra? Might one give such a gift?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

"Having given this gift with the thought, 'Giving is good,' on the break up of the body, after death, one reappears in the company of the devas ["shining ones"] of the World of the Thirty-Three. Then, having exhausted that karma, that power, that status, that sovereignty, one returns, falling back to this plane.

Sariputra's sacred relics (Camerabhai/flickr)

3. "Or instead of thinking 'Giving is good,' one gives a gift with the thought, 'This was given in the past, done in the past, by my relatives. It would not be right for me to let this family tradition end'... on the break up of the body, after death, one reappears in the company of the [Yāma] devas of delight. Then, having exhausted that karma, that power, that status, that sovereignty, one returns, falling back to this plane.

4. "Or instead... one gives a gift with the thought, 'I am well off. They are not well off. It would not be right for me, being well off, not to give a gift to those who are not well off'... on the break up of the body, after death, one reappears in the company of the contented devas. Then, having exhausted that karma, that power, that status, that sovereignty, one returns, falling back to this plane.

5. "Or instead... one gives a gift with the thought, 'Sages of the past made great sacrifices -- Atthaka, Vamaka, Vamadeva, Vessamitta, Yamataggi, Angirasa, Bharadvaja, Vasettha, Kassapa, and Bhagu. Just so will this be my contribution'... on the break up of the body, after death, one reappears in the company of the devas who delight in creating. Then, having exhausted that action, that power, that status, that sovereignty, one returns, falling back to this plane.

The Buddha and his four chief monastic disciples, male and female, Wat Yai Chai Mongkol (Mongkhon) in Ayutthaya, Thailand (Rainer Lott/Steffi Esch/flickr.com)

6. "Or instead... one gives a gift with the thought, 'When this gift of mine is given, it makes the heart/mind serene; appeasement and joy arise'... on the break up of the body, after death, one reappears in the company of the devas who wield power over others' creations. Then, having exhausted that karma, that power, that status, that sovereignty, one returns, falling back to this plane.

7. "Or instead of thinking, 'When this gift of mine is given, it makes the mind/heart serene; appeasement and joy arise,' one gives a gift with the thought, 'This is an ornament for the heart/mind, a support for the mind/heart.' One gives a gift... What do you think, Sariputra? Might one give such a gift?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

"Having given this --

not seeking profit, not with a heart/mind attached, not seeking to store up [merit with the thought], 'I'll enjoy this after death,'
nor with the thought, 'Giving is good,'
nor with the thought, 'This was given in the past, done in the past, by my relatives, so it would not be right for me to let this family tradition end,'
nor with the thought, 'I am well off...,'
nor with the thought, 'Sages of the past made great sacrifices... in the same way this will be my contribution,'
nor with the thought, 'When this gift of mine is given, it makes the mind serene; appeasement and joy arise,'

The Buddha and arhats (Horus2004/flickr)

7. "but with the thought, 'This is an ornament for the heart/mind, a support for the mind/heart' -- on the break up of the body, after death, one reappears in the company of Brahma's Retinue.

"Then, having exhausted that karma, that power, that status, that sovereignty, one is a non-returner. One does not come back to this plane.

"This, Sariputra, is why, this is the cause, this is the reason one person gives a certain gift and it does not bear great fruit or benefit, whereas another person gives that gift and it bears great fruit and benefit."

Friday, 11 October 2013

"Hungry Ghosts Outside the Wall" (video)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly based on Ven. Thanissaro verse translation of Tirokudda Kanda (Petavatthu 1.5, also in Khp 7)

Gilded alabaster Buddha, Wat Si Chum, Sukhothai, Thailand (slowboat.teamworkz.asia)

Hungry ghosts depicted on ancient scroll scavenging foul nutriment in charnel grounds

Hungry ghost (preta or peta)

Outside the walls they [the hungry ghosts or pretas] stand, at the crossroads. At door posts they linger, returning to human homes of old.

But though a meal with plentiful food and drink is served, no one remembers them. Such is the karma (the legacy of well- and ill- done deeds) of living beings.

Who feels sympathy for dead relatives, give timely donations of appropriate food and drink -- exquisite and clean -- with the thought, "May this for our relatives' sake be! May our relatives be well and happy!"

Can hungry ghosts eat our happiness? No.

Those gathered there, assembled phantoms of relatives since deceased, with appreciation give their blessings for such plentiful food and drink (and thereby themselves make merit, so hard to make in that place of deprivation): "May our relatives live long because of whom we have gained [gifts]! We have been honored, and our donors are rewarded, too!"

Death and rebirth there, like life and addiction here, means insatiable hunger (Dimmu)

For there [in that gloomy realm or its earthly counterpart] there is no farming, no herding of docile beasts, no commerce, no trade with money.

They live on what is given them from here, hungry ghosts whose time is run out. As water raining upon a hill flows down to the valley, even so what is given here flows down to the benefit of the dead and dearly departed.

As rivers full of water fill the ocean full, even so does what is given here flow to the benefit of the dead and dearly departed.

The ancient Pali Buddhist canon has a section called "Ghost Stories" (Petavatthu). This is documentary video footage of ghosts (poltergeists) from "Unsolved Mysteries."

"He gave to me, she acted on my behalf, they were my relatives, companions, friends" -- offerings should be given for the sake of the dead when one reflects on things done in the past.

For no weeping, no sorrow, no other lament benefits the dead -- a waste for relatives who persist in that way. But when offerings are given, well-placed in the [noble] Sangha, it works for long-term benefit of the dead, who profit immediately.

In this way one's appropriate duty to dead relatives [defined by the Buddha as going back seven generations] has been shown! Great honor has been done for the sake of the departed! And monastics [preservers and intensive practitioners of the Dharma] have been given strength: The merit one thereby acquires [for oneself as the giver] is not small.

Gloria Steinem Responds to MileyGate

Feminist icon and activist Gloria Steinem has something to say about daft Miley Cyrus. But it isn't what one might expect! The 79-year-old journalist weighed in on the Miley issue while speaking to "OMG! Insider" at the 2013 Women's...