The Shoes Have It!

Can you believe that just as a statue is erected to that Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush, the Iraq government has ordered it taken down. Must be a payback for all the "good" that Bush perpetrated against the good people of Iraq.

Apparently the shoe guy has become a cult figure to these people who have suffered so much since their "liberation" and to those in the Arab world who have suffered through US foreign policy over the years.

Let's trust that Obama can embrace the spirit of the shoes and have a positive influence on the lives of people he doesn't know.

Being a student of history and the black leaders of the past he may already be following the words of his hero,

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking to his congregation in Montgomery, Alabama, who said:

" I think the first reason that we should love our enemies...is this: that hate for hate
only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit
me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that goes on ad infinitum.
It just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a little sense, and that's the strong
person. The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of
evil... Somebody must have religion enough and morality enough to cut it off, and inject
within the very structure of the universe that strong and powerful element of love. "

- "Loving Your Enemies" 17 November 1957

It Is Said!

" It is said that if you want to know what you were doing in the past,

Look at your body now;

If you want to know what will happen to you in the future,

Look at what your mind is doing now. "

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The Sense World!

" Superficial observation of the sense world might lead you to believe that people’s problems are different, but if you check more deeply, you will see that fundamentally, they are the same. What makes people’s problems appear unique is their different interpretation of their experiences. "

–Lama Thubten Yeshe.

What I really take from this quote of the great teacher Lama Yeshe is that we suffer more from our perception than from the reality of our experiences. Each person has a commonality in the nature of their suffering though individually they feel unique.

Being An Ox Myself!

Being an Ox myself it is with great anticipation that I approach this New Chinese Year with great anticipation of what's in store!

Armchair Of Emotions!

What an armchair of emotions it is that His Holiness rides in stating his case for the Middle Way approach to negotiating with China. It is true to his amazing compassion and honesty that he could deliver a sincere message such as this for the Chinese New Year.

“ On the occasion of the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, I extend my affectionate greetings to all our Chinese brothers and sisters across the globe, including those living in Mainland China.

The past year witnessed many developments throughout the world and particularly in China, at times worrying us while at other times filling our hearts with happiness. Besides having to bear the brunt of natural disasters and other problems that hit the country, China also had the proud moments like hosting the world’s greatest sporting event, the Olympic Games. The year that ended is, therefore, marked with great changes taking place everywhere.

These days, due to the global economic meltdown, the people of the world in general, and of the developing countries in particular, are plunged into an abyss of anxiety and suffering. To pray for the end of all sufferings of humanity, as well as for their happiness and well-being, is a responsibility that rests on all believers.

Besides having a long history of over 5000 years and a splendidly rich cultural heritage, China is also the most populous nation in the world. Moreover, it is emerging as a super power in terms of political, economic and military might. However, China cannot perform the responsibility of a super power in this modern and progressive world if there is no freedom, rule of law and transparency in the country.

President Hu Jintao’s policy of creating a harmonious society is indeed laudable. Such a policy is indispensable for China as well, if it were to make a mark globally. Harmonious society should, however, come about through mutual trust, friendship and justice. It cannot be brought about by brute force and autocracy.

Not only should the Chinese citizens have economic facilities, but they should also enjoy the freedom of conscience, education and to know what is actually happening around the world. These freedoms are indispensable for human societies. If - in this fast-changing modern world - one does not keep abreast of the daily happenings around the globe, then it goes without saying that one will be naturally left behind. In China today, popular news outlets such as television, radio and Internet - including the international news services like the BBC and CNN are blocked - thus preventing its people from knowing the true information about the world’s events. I am immensely disappointed by such negative actions of the Chinese government, which greatly hamper the fundamental rights as well as the short and long-term benefits of the Chinese people.

The 21st century is regarded as a century of information revolution. And yet some countries of the world, which includes China, impose restrictions on the free flow of information. Such actions are anachronistic and hence there is no way that these can be sustained in the long run. Therefore, I believe that China too will soon become more liberal in terms of disseminating and sharing information.

Last year, many Chinese intellectuals came out with a number of articles and other campaign activities, calling for freedom, democracy, justice, equality and human rights in China. Particularly in a recent development, we saw an increasing number of people from all walks of life signing up to an important document called the Charter ‘08. This is indicative of the fact that the Chinese people, including the intellectuals, are beginning to demonstrate their deep yearnings for more openness and freedom in their country. It is, therefore, a matter for all of us to take pride in.

While once again extending my warm greetings to the Chinese people, I hope and pray that in the coming year the People’s Republic of China will be able to create a meaningful harmonious society by ensuring equality, justice and friendship among all its nationalities. ”

The Dalai Lama
25 January 2009

Dispel Dualistic Thinking!

" Even though supreme awareness is the basic nature of reality, because we do not realize this, as sentient beings we develop dualistic thinking. We start making distinctions between subject and object, near and far, and so forth, and then we cling to those as real. The twelve links of interdependence arise, and, beginning with ignorance, we develop the notions of "me" and "mine," and all sorts of deluded thinking. The great master Chandrakirti taught that you begin by clinging to the ego, then you cling to "what is mine," then to "what is other," such that there is an ongoing state of delusion. Due to clinging, our habitual patterns become stronger and stronger, and all our conceptions become regimented and solid.

In order to dispel ignorance and dualistic thinking, Vajrakilaya arises in a wrathful form. The wrath of Vajrakilaya is not the wrath of anger or jealousy; it is the wrath that destroys anger and jealousy. It is not like being angry with enemies and being attached to friends. This wrath is totally based upon great compassion. Directed toward duality, ego-clinging, grasping, and ignorance, Vajrakilaya's anger demolishes the causes of delusion throughout the six realms. Since it is based on immeasurable loving-kindness and immeasurable compassion, it is known as the phurba of immeasurable compassion.

To apply this phurba in a practical way, rather than becoming angry toward external situations, we begin by feeling great compassion for sentient beings. Then we start working with our own emotions to demolish ignorance, attachment, anger, jealousy, pride, fear, and doubts. We remove these emotions according to the way we interact with the world. At the same time, we expand our compassion for all beings in the six realms. "

from The Dark Red Amulet: Oral Instructions on the Practice of Vajrakilaya by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche.

Heat and Politics!

“Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth.”
Denis Diderot quotes (French man of letters and philosopher, 1713-1784)

“In political discussion heat is in inverse proportion to knowledge.”

The concept of Heat and Politics is certainly topical, considering the critical decisions that get made in the heat of the moment, wars in the Middle East for example.
It seems on a world level that knowledge equates to diplomacy and heat fuels ignorance though having said that could ignorance and diplomacy be two sides of the same humanitarian coin!

We are truly living in an extraordinary age but is the tide of daily events too much even for those whose genius could stem this tide, after all the leaders of the world are only human.

Even if people are averse to the cut and thrust of politics and the heat that it generates, it is our collective duty to use what personal resources we have, be they intellectual or material, to change the society around us, we are "the mass that flows forth" and we can hold the decision makers to account.

The concept of "Global Warming" is an environmental reality but also intensifies on a human level as conflict continues in spite of the evidence that anger, hate, ignorance and violence are destructive forces which continue to test the human spirit beyond its capacity to endure.

Times of Change!

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” - Eric Hoffer

These are certainly times of change and let us all hope that new "Obama" revolution may be governed by the "learners" and not the so-called "learned", GW was no student of history but may the rhetoric be converted to meaningful change.

So much talk of "Interdependence", conceptually perfect and realistically a difficult challenge to achieve the understanding and ego-less state that goes with making it a reality.

The world that Obama has inherited already no longer exists, so we wait to see whether he is equipped to help us all create that future, a more peaceful and happy world in which to live and realise that by-word he has staked it all on "Freedom"!

A Mouse On Interdependance!

I was sent this moral tale and thought it captured wonderfully the Buddhist concept of Interdependence.
The mouse's story shows that whether we acknowledge it or not, our actions are inter-related and we should be mindful of the consequences of our body, speech and mind.

The link in the title is to an article on Tibetan Medicine referring to how the "Buddhist teachings tell us that we have interdependence with the whole environment, and that there is no enemy existing from its own side."


"A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

'What food might this contain?', the mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning :
There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!'

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,
'Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.'

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, the pig sympathized, but said,
'I am so very sorry, Mr Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.'

The mouse turned to the cow, the cow said,
'Wow, Mr. Mouse, I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose.'

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap . . . alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey..

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember, when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk."

It appears that the mouse had some notion that the emergence of the mouse-trap would affect all the animals in the farmyard but the other animals couldn't get through their ignorance to see the truth.

What is Loneliness Doctor?

A report released recently, "identifies loneliness to be a potentially very serious and widespread problem with profound implications but it also highlights the most ‘at risk’ groups and the pattern of loneliness across the life course. It strongly suggests that loneliness has reached unprecedented levels and that it may have as much to do with reduced social connectivity and networks as the quality of the social bonds."

What seems to be at stake here is the ability of people to socialise in a world that values the individual's success over the formation and continuation of community spirit.

Research on the topic of loneliness makes for fairly grim reading, in 2007 34% of women and 33% of men aged 25-44 agreed with the statement ‘Loneliness has been a serious problem for me at times’, " Put another way, one third of both Australian men and women in the prime of life have experienced loneliness as a serious problem at times. "

Why can't we be more like Elephants I ask? A documentary on TV about the socialisation of Elephant groups said that their community bonds are strong and they openly celebrate coming together after a period of separation. It's amazing to see footage of Elephants openly expressing affection for one another.

It appears that the breakdown of communities is threatening the happiness of Australians in an unprecedented way and it may be the spiritual void that needs to be filled. Consumerism and sport may bring temporary relief from loneliness but they are so fleeting as to be inadequate in bringing about change in the way we live our lives and a way to find liberation from the sufferings of the mind.

" The great problem facing modern man is that the means by which we live have outdistanced
the spiritual ends for which we live. " -Martin Luther King, Jr.