This is only a brief except from the New York Times that I happen to have read today.
Very interesting point from a religious point of view.
Many of us have a long tendency of boasting the superiority of one's own beliefs and downplaying those of others. I hope this particular article could shed some light on our relative narrow minds.
_________________________________________
By PETER STEINFELS
Published: October 9, 2009
Five decades ago, Paul F. Knitter, then a novice studying to become a Roman Catholic priest, would be in the seminary chapel at 5:30 every morning, trying to stay awake and spend time in meditation before Mass.
Last Wednesday, at the same hour, he was sitting on his Zen cushion meditating in the Claremont Avenue apartment he occupies as the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
A few hours later he was talking about his pointedly titled new book, “Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian” (Oneworld). The book is the outcome of decades of encounters with Buddhism — and of struggles with his own faith.
Born in 1939, Mr. Knitter began his path to the Catholic priesthood at age 13, studied theology in Rome during the years of the Second Vatican Council, was ordained in 1966, completed a doctorate in Germany and began a long and influential career as a scholar addressing questions of the relationship between Christianity and other world religions.
He received permission to leave the priesthood in 1975, taught for many years at Xavier University in Cincinnati and after his retirement was invited to Union Theological.
“Am I still a Christian?” he asks in his new book. It is a question posed over the years by others, including some unhappy officials in the Vatican. But the question, he writes, is also “one I have felt in my own mind and heart.”
“Has my dialogue with Buddhism made me a Buddhist Christian?” he writes. “Or a Christian Buddhist? Am I a Christian who has understood his own identity more deeply with the help of Buddhism? Or have I become a Buddhist who still retains a stock of Christian leftovers.” (more details can be obtained from NYT)
Friday, December 25, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Giving
And we think that "giving" is for those seeking a good future life to practice occasionally. Doctors are already using it for treatment purposes. Specifically, it treats physical symptoms by taking care of the patient's mentality via enhancing the person's meaning of life.
Published in Nov. 30, 2oo9 by the New York Times, a recent article described a female was treated after weeks of fatigue, insomnia, pain and preoccupation with her symptoms, by a very unusual prescription: gave a gift a day for 29 days — things like making supportive phone calls or saving a piece of chocolate cake for her husband. She detailed all the experiences in her new book: “29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life” (Da Capo Press).
Oftentimes, I came across Buddhists that appear to be committed to the intellectual teachings of Buddhism yet fail to appreciate another even more crucial aspect: to practice the teachings in their everyday life. Giving apparently falls in this category. It is attainable rather easily. Yet, we often downplay the importance of seemingly easy matters.
I urge everyone in this Happy Academy to read that article, ponder upon the idea and get going do something similar.
Published in Nov. 30, 2oo9 by the New York Times, a recent article described a female was treated after weeks of fatigue, insomnia, pain and preoccupation with her symptoms, by a very unusual prescription: gave a gift a day for 29 days — things like making supportive phone calls or saving a piece of chocolate cake for her husband. She detailed all the experiences in her new book: “29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life” (Da Capo Press).
Oftentimes, I came across Buddhists that appear to be committed to the intellectual teachings of Buddhism yet fail to appreciate another even more crucial aspect: to practice the teachings in their everyday life. Giving apparently falls in this category. It is attainable rather easily. Yet, we often downplay the importance of seemingly easy matters.
I urge everyone in this Happy Academy to read that article, ponder upon the idea and get going do something similar.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
''Time in the O.R.,is not work; it's play.''
I came across an article written by a surgeon recently published in the New York Times. It urged doctors to practice medicine and mindfulness so as to improve the very vital relationship between patients and doctors and the doctor's own well-being.
The article cited a recent study:
"...The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study examining the effects of a yearlong course for primary-care physicians on mindfulness -- the ability to be present in the moment, purposefully and without judgment, in just the way my former mentor often described his experiences in the operating room.
Seventy physicians enrolled and participated in the four components of the course: meditation, writing sessions, discussions and lectures on topics like self-care, managing conflict and setting boundaries.
The results were remarkable. The doctors became more mindful, less burned out and less emotionally exhausted; several of the improvements persisted after the course ended. And those changes correlated with a significant increase in empathy and other attributes that contribute to patient-centered care."
One solution of dealing with risings demands on doctors, according to the article author Dr. Pauline W. Chen, may be is to train them to think about their work in a different way because it is far less likely to change those external demands.
What a striking message for all of us meditation practitioners! A bit more mindfulness, in the sense of looking inward and change your view of the matter at hand instead of try to change the matter per se, is the beginning of liberation. In the end, it is the liberation.
The article cited a recent study:
"...The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study examining the effects of a yearlong course for primary-care physicians on mindfulness -- the ability to be present in the moment, purposefully and without judgment, in just the way my former mentor often described his experiences in the operating room.
Seventy physicians enrolled and participated in the four components of the course: meditation, writing sessions, discussions and lectures on topics like self-care, managing conflict and setting boundaries.
The results were remarkable. The doctors became more mindful, less burned out and less emotionally exhausted; several of the improvements persisted after the course ended. And those changes correlated with a significant increase in empathy and other attributes that contribute to patient-centered care."
One solution of dealing with risings demands on doctors, according to the article author Dr. Pauline W. Chen, may be is to train them to think about their work in a different way because it is far less likely to change those external demands.
What a striking message for all of us meditation practitioners! A bit more mindfulness, in the sense of looking inward and change your view of the matter at hand instead of try to change the matter per se, is the beginning of liberation. In the end, it is the liberation.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Call it meditation
What would you do?
I am living now in a remote small town, close to a small private university.
Renting a small apartment, which is really quiet and peaceful in the neighborhood, I thought I have found a heaven for meditation. That is, I thought so until three days ago.
Two college kids moved into my next door apartment. It is a duplex, so there are just one drywall away from me. I saw the guy moving a huge woofer and an electronic guitar into the house. My heart started to feel heavy and stomach sinking.
The first night was all right. They were not in. The next day, more stuffs moved in by three different groups of people.
Last night, my nightmare has come true. The super base of their game machine dutifully sent over my most hated noise. My heart beat increased and blood pressure raised. I struggled for two hours. The sound just won't stop. Finally, I decided to simply lie on bed and turn on the very noisy fan to cover up that base. Still, I couldn't have my peace of mind. Illusion or not, I could still hear them. In fact, I was expecting them, reaching my ears all way out to search for them.
Then, all of a sudden, I laughed at my own foolishness. With such intense expectations, I would have noticed some of the originally noises to bother myself. Why would anyone want to do this to torture himself?
But then, people do foolish things all the time. I guess this is meant to be a test for my meditation lessons. So, we'll see. Like I said last time: the self is the beginning point.
I am living now in a remote small town, close to a small private university.
Renting a small apartment, which is really quiet and peaceful in the neighborhood, I thought I have found a heaven for meditation. That is, I thought so until three days ago.
Two college kids moved into my next door apartment. It is a duplex, so there are just one drywall away from me. I saw the guy moving a huge woofer and an electronic guitar into the house. My heart started to feel heavy and stomach sinking.
The first night was all right. They were not in. The next day, more stuffs moved in by three different groups of people.
Last night, my nightmare has come true. The super base of their game machine dutifully sent over my most hated noise. My heart beat increased and blood pressure raised. I struggled for two hours. The sound just won't stop. Finally, I decided to simply lie on bed and turn on the very noisy fan to cover up that base. Still, I couldn't have my peace of mind. Illusion or not, I could still hear them. In fact, I was expecting them, reaching my ears all way out to search for them.
Then, all of a sudden, I laughed at my own foolishness. With such intense expectations, I would have noticed some of the originally noises to bother myself. Why would anyone want to do this to torture himself?
But then, people do foolish things all the time. I guess this is meant to be a test for my meditation lessons. So, we'll see. Like I said last time: the self is the beginning point.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Self is the beginning
I'd like to share with my fellow practitioners of "happiness" the following paragraphs from THERAVADA BUDDHISM:
"In the Buddha’s view, both idealism and materialism, though theoretically opposed,converge both in their starting-point and in their goal, for “self is their beginning and satisfaction their end.” Between these two extremes, therefore, of materialistic self-indulgence and idealistic self-denial (not as a comprise, but, “avoiding both”), the Buddha formulated the Middle Way, “the way of knowledge and wisdom,” not in the wavering of speculation, or in the excitement of discussion, but “in tranquillity of mind and penetrative insight, leading to enlightenment and
deliverance, enlightenment with regard to the real nature of things and deliverance from suffering and its cause.”
For years, I have been trying to explain the idea of the "middle way" to English speakers. Often, my interpretation was not very convincing or interesting to them. The above paragraph struck me all of a sudden. The very reason why my interpretation could not interest them,in addition to my incompetence of course, is the the American society is so individualistic and competitive that people feel the "middle way" goes against their second nature, the socialized self-centered nature.
Having understood that, I have also come to realize more why Buddhism is something to be practiced rather than preached. Only those who start to look seriously at the crux of the "self" issue through adjusting their way of thinking and acting can gradually comprehend the "middle way."
"In the Buddha’s view, both idealism and materialism, though theoretically opposed,converge both in their starting-point and in their goal, for “self is their beginning and satisfaction their end.” Between these two extremes, therefore, of materialistic self-indulgence and idealistic self-denial (not as a comprise, but, “avoiding both”), the Buddha formulated the Middle Way, “the way of knowledge and wisdom,” not in the wavering of speculation, or in the excitement of discussion, but “in tranquillity of mind and penetrative insight, leading to enlightenment and
deliverance, enlightenment with regard to the real nature of things and deliverance from suffering and its cause.”
For years, I have been trying to explain the idea of the "middle way" to English speakers. Often, my interpretation was not very convincing or interesting to them. The above paragraph struck me all of a sudden. The very reason why my interpretation could not interest them,in addition to my incompetence of course, is the the American society is so individualistic and competitive that people feel the "middle way" goes against their second nature, the socialized self-centered nature.
Having understood that, I have also come to realize more why Buddhism is something to be practiced rather than preached. Only those who start to look seriously at the crux of the "self" issue through adjusting their way of thinking and acting can gradually comprehend the "middle way."
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The docter is within
I came across an article by Pico Iyer (New York Times, July 22, 2009) that described how and when he met with the 14th Dalai Lama, and some very intriguing ideas proposed by the latter.
This is what Pico Iyer cited from the Dalai Lama:
"“Dream — nothing!” is one of the many things I’ve heard the 14th Dalai Lama say to large audiences that seem to startle the unprepared. Just before I began an onstage conversation with him at New York Town’s Hall this spring, he told me, “If I had magical powers, I’d never need an operation!” and broke into guffaws as he thought of the three-hour gallbladder operation he’d been through last October, weeks after being in hospital for another ailment. For a Buddhist, after all, our power lies nowhere but ourselves.
We can’t change the world except insofar as we change the way we look at the world — and, in fact, any one of us can make that change, in any direction, at any moment. The point of life, in the view of the Dalai Lama, is happiness, and that lies within our grasp, our untapped potential, with every breath."
Whether this is realistic and practical to any one of you is a question open for debate. For those of you who have tried hard to seek happiness within, I gather, the statement is realistic and practical.
Here is the hyperlink of the original article: http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/the-doctor-is-within/.
This is what Pico Iyer cited from the Dalai Lama:
"“Dream — nothing!” is one of the many things I’ve heard the 14th Dalai Lama say to large audiences that seem to startle the unprepared. Just before I began an onstage conversation with him at New York Town’s Hall this spring, he told me, “If I had magical powers, I’d never need an operation!” and broke into guffaws as he thought of the three-hour gallbladder operation he’d been through last October, weeks after being in hospital for another ailment. For a Buddhist, after all, our power lies nowhere but ourselves.
We can’t change the world except insofar as we change the way we look at the world — and, in fact, any one of us can make that change, in any direction, at any moment. The point of life, in the view of the Dalai Lama, is happiness, and that lies within our grasp, our untapped potential, with every breath."
Whether this is realistic and practical to any one of you is a question open for debate. For those of you who have tried hard to seek happiness within, I gather, the statement is realistic and practical.
Here is the hyperlink of the original article: http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/the-doctor-is-within/.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
News
Two major developments concerning the ELEAD have occurred during the past month:
1. Our organization, ELEAD, has acquired federal and state of California approval as a non-profit educational organization and can now start promoting our agenda using the official titles. After two years of preparation, and with invaluable assistance from a few key supporters of ELEAD, this was a real exciting news for us all!
2. On the other hand, our spiritual leader Ven. ZhiZhong was nearly invisible during the past month due to a very serious health condition. Specifically, he laid unconscious for almost a month. Luckily, for him and for the rest of us, he is back now. Let's look forward to a grand opening of the ELEAD during the 2009 summer!
1. Our organization, ELEAD, has acquired federal and state of California approval as a non-profit educational organization and can now start promoting our agenda using the official titles. After two years of preparation, and with invaluable assistance from a few key supporters of ELEAD, this was a real exciting news for us all!
2. On the other hand, our spiritual leader Ven. ZhiZhong was nearly invisible during the past month due to a very serious health condition. Specifically, he laid unconscious for almost a month. Luckily, for him and for the rest of us, he is back now. Let's look forward to a grand opening of the ELEAD during the 2009 summer!
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