While living in Thailand in the early 1960ās, I bought a book on Buddha published by the Buddhist Society of Ceylon, as I recall. Recently I wanted to find a copy. I finally found a translation by Paul Carus, The Gospel of Buddha Paperback, that matched my version of Buddhaās four noble truths word-for-word so […]
Continue reading…bio-hoodwink
Laws as Symptoms, not Solutions
Google [TED Is The Law Making Us Less Free] for how law affects society. Briefly, the speaker, Philip Howard, says, āThereās this fetish with rules that has kind of replaced morality. And it works both in a gotcha sort of way, and it works in an avoidance of responsibility sort of way.ā In reality, I […]
Continue reading…Mind Over Milkshake
I quit smoking a few decades ago and quickly gained 40 pounds. Not wishing to lug all that extra baggage around, I decided to eat less. Actually, I would have quit eating altogether if I could get away with it. The more I lost, the less I needed to eat to maintain whatever weight I […]
Continue reading…The Pendulum Swings
The Syrian war illustrates our intrinsic tendency to swing from one extreme to the opposite. In wondering why, chapter 64 came to mind, Its peace easily managesā¦ and so on. D.C. Lau translates this view more clearly, e.g., It is easy to maintain a situation while it is still secure. Interestingly, the adage, āa stitch […]
Continue reading…Just like Us, Just like Them
Have you noticed how much we compare ourselves to other animals to see what extent they are like us? Thatās all quite normal, of course. All animals judge other animals to some extent, although I should say size up, gauge, or perceive, rather than judge. Passing judgment is closely tied to thinking and weāre the […]
Continue reading…Who says chickens are stupid?
Who says chickens are stupid? Ignorant people, I assume. While this research reported in Science News isnāt about chickens per se, it probably would apply to chickens. I mean how much smarter is a pigeon going to be than a chicken? (Google [Pigeons match monkeys in abstract counting skills].) How much true difference is there […]
Continue reading…Guilt, Shame and the Name Game
I touched on guilt and shame in the post, I am foolish of human mind also? (p.276). Nevertheless, I feel our practice of naming such emotional experiences deserves its own post, so here goes, beginning with a personal example… Up until thirty years ago, I had never experienced depressionā¦ or so I didnāt think. Following […]
Continue reading…Imagining a Better Way
Human imagination is both a valuable survival asset and the source of lingering anxieties. Ironically, imagination also promises us ways to quell these anxieties. I say promises because fulfillment canāt truly be possible. This peculiar dynamic reminds me of the Mƶbius like geometry of Escherās Waterfall. We can imagine a better something and so we […]
Continue reading…Be Careful What You Wish
āBe careful what you wish forā, followed by āit might just come trueā is an ironic maxim concerning the perils of wishing without grasping unintended consequences. First, we need to stipulate that wishing for something is relatively synonymous with desiring, expecting, hoping and praying for something. Next, is there a fundamental source for all these […]
Continue reading…Jack of All Trades, Master of None?
Is there any true difference between a generalist ājack of all tradesā and a master? After all, isnāt a ājack of all tradesā simply a master generalist? Iāve been doing several activities for many years: yoga (~55 years), tai chi (~45 years), shakuhachi sui Zen (~40 years), gardening (~35 years) and, I have various other […]
Continue reading…Really, Have We No Clue?
As a child, I marveled at how everything seemed to work so well. The infrastructure and logistics to run society blew my mind, although I didnāt know that was the word for it. How the authorities dealt with all the sewage and garbage my hometown produced baffled me. I am still in awe that civilization […]
Continue reading…Gone Fishin’, Back Soon
The fish are still biting and Iām reeling them in, Iām just not posting them. Posting my fishy observations requires so much cleaning up to make them suitable for consumption. Finishing the last chapter of my translation of the Tao Te Ching ā Tao Te Ching, Word for Word ā was the catalyst I needed […]
Continue reading…Naturally Unnatural, Naturally!
Occasionally I hear people opine on what is or isnāt natural human behavior. Doesnāt this depend on what part of the elephant (See Biology’s Blinders, p.2) one currently perceives? Elephant parables aside, I see this issue as emerging layers of realityās onion. (See Tao as Emergent Property, p.121.) Let me sort this outā¦ Like all […]
Continue reading…Loss is Gain; Gain is Loss
This title, āLoss is Gain; Gain is Lossā, may sound a bit ridiculous because we are biologically set up to respond positively to gain and negatively to loss. Chapter 58ās, It is on disaster that good fortune perches; It is beneath good fortune that disaster crouches attempts to show how entangled gain and loss are. […]
Continue reading…See No Evil
While discussing life with a friend the other day the word evil came up. He sees America as an āevil empireā that commits acts of torture that surpass anything al-Qaeda has done. I think he was referring to all the bombs dropped over the last 100 years. In any case, this provided grist for my […]
Continue reading…We!
Knowing that we are all in this together evokes a sense of community and well-being. Not long ago humanity had a narrower view of what we are in all this together involved. Happily, science is showing us just how deep and vast the we of this actually reaches. The Science News article, Inside Job, covers […]
Continue reading…He Who Conquers Self
The details of Buddhaās Four Noble Truths (p.604) vary somewhat depending on the source. I recently dug up the source for the most succinct and useful version that I found in Thailand long ago. At that time, I had a problem with how the Third Noble Truth was stated and so I changed a few […]
Continue reading…So, You Want Enlightenment, Eh?
There are two phases of enlightenment. One is a sudden flash of knowing, the Zen Satori, as the Japanese call it. I suppose most people experience a degree of this at least sometime in their life. I mean, oneās bastion of belief is bound to crack a bit and let in the light of darkness […]
Continue reading…Beyond Spooky
The November issue of Science News, Beyond Spooky, was dedicated to āquantum weirdnessā (1). I love this side of physics. This āweirdnessā may be how it is possible, despite natureās bio-hoodwink (p.11), to sense more than just the tip-of-the-iceberg of reality. Biology requires living things to perceive reality in a way that promotes survival and […]
Continue reading…Exquisite Balance
I never ever use the word exquisite, but this morning while standing on my head I thought, āHow exquisite this moment of perfect balance feelsā. I went on to consider other facets of life such as working, eating, speaking, and shopping. In all cases, balance is possible, but is often only partial and so seldom […]
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