GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE.

PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE.

PEOPLE WITH GUNS.

 

 

Gun control doesn't mean taking guns from gun owners.  It doesn't mean that we shouldn't own guns to protect our home or hunt or shoot competition.   It means that no civilian needs to own military type weapons or guns with extended clips.   It means that background checks would keep a lot of violent and crazy people from purchasing guns and ammunition.  

No one really needs to be packing an AK-47 into a restaurant, store or other public place where it will intimidate people.

What we see now is not sensible gun ownership, but people on the down side of the IQ curve open carrying weapons for attention.  

I own weapons.  I was on the the US Navy Pistol Team and am probably more skilled with a pistol than most.  

I am not scared of terrorist; I am not scared to go downtown unarmed; I am scared as hell when I see some functional retard with a pistol on his belt or a rifle on his shoulder at some public venue.   

The Second Amendment was written when there was no standing army and it was necessary to call up a militia when the need arose; and each citizen soldier was expected to provide his own weapon. 

We now have a standing military and military reserves, and an armed militia is no longer necessary.

The Second Amendment needs to be redefined.

We now have these soldier wannabees, these military ass sniffers that are too insecure to actually join the military and place themselves in harms way; so they dress up and play militia. You talk about keeping guns out of the hands of mentally ill - these people occupy that grey area just this side of rational.

It is not guns that kill people
It is people that kill people
People with guns.

the Ol'Buzzard        

MOREZEN

Buddhism is more than meditating.

Here in the west we hold ideas of how things ought to be and how we ought to live.  We are constantly at war with our environment trying to make everything fit into our desired outcome – and when we fall short, which we most often do, we carry the stress of failed expectations.

We hold a fixed idea of who we are and how we want to be perceived.   But there is no fixed I or Ego because everything changes – new causes produce new effects. 

“One and the same human being is, at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being.

Solzhenitsyn:  The Gulag Archipelago

The Buddha realized that most often people were carrying stress, and that this stress prevented them from appreciating the refreshing taste of cool water – the beauty of a young girl – or the satisfying taste of rice (his awakening.)   

Buddha also realized that the stress is most often self-inflicted.   He addressed this in The Four Noble Truths.

The Four Noble Truths

1.     Duhkha*: Life is often like a wheel out of kilter. We are constantly dissatisfied.    We feel we have to fight for control.   We move from one crisis to the next – reacting – never satisfied with our outcome. 

2.     Our dissatisfaction originates from our own expectations and desires.

3.     By focusing on, and being content in the present, instead of fantasizing on future or the past, we can alleviate much of our dissatisfaction.  

4.    The Eight Fold Path is the Buddha’s teaching – a suggested path toward a fulfilling and contented life.

   

*(Spelled Duhkha in Buddhism Plain and Simple; spelled Dukha in The Essence of Zen; spelled Dukkha in Intro to Buddha – and probably other spellings.   There are four major sects of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana and Zen; this probably creates confusions in spellings and definitions.  It is the concept that is important.)

THE EIGHT FOLD PATH

1.    RIGHT VIEW:  accepting the way your world is, though not necessarily the way you would like it to be.  Understanding that nothing is static and everything is changing. 

2.    RIGHT INTENTION: address each problem in your life with resolve; but always choosing the noble path – you instinctively know what is right and what is wrong: for the good of all – unselfish centered.

3.      RIGHT SPEECH: speak the truth; but never to injure.

4.     RIGHT ACTION: act from a clear mind, not from preconceptions or prejudices.  

5.     RIGHT LIVELYHOOD: we should strive to choose an occupation that benefits others, and one that satisfies our needs; but we should apply ourselves in whatever endeavor we occupy.

6.    RIGHT EFFORT: live in the NOW.

7.    RIGHT MINDFULNESS: conscious of how we are actually engaged in the world from moment to moment.

8.    RIGHT MEDITATION: practice zazen regularly

Notice that the Buddha does not give commandments – there is no ‘thou shall not…’   These are the Buddha’s suggestions – his clarity.

Buddhism is not a belief system.  It is not about accepting beliefs or following rituals.   It is about seeing the world clearly.  

It is said that at his death the Buddha told his followers ‘Look not for refuge to anyone beside yourself.’    

the Ol’Buzzard

George Bush visits New Orleans on the anniversary of Katrina.  

Really? 

You have to ask yourself where was Hell Of A Job Browny?

Jezus: how can they show their face after the disastrous eight years - and even more unbelievable Bush and his minions were voted in for a second term.  

American exceptionalism - that is an oxymoron.  
the Ol'Buzzard

MEDITATION IS THE VEHICLE OF ZEN

Meditation is the vehicle of Zen.

When I attended a Zen teaching I realized that meditation was not being practiced as a refreshing reset of the mind but an endurance sport.  My legs went to sleep, my butt ached and my back hurt.  It was a grand effort to keep my mind empty while my body was expected to remain in a stress position.   After what seemed an eternity we hobbled up and did walking meditation around the room and then back to the torture.  

It is said that during Japanese Zen meditation in monasteries Zen masters walk around with bamboo canes and whip the backs of neophytes that are flagging in their meditation zeal.

I can’t believe that this is what the Buddha expected.  

The Buddha’s awakening was that cold water from a well was delightful and refreshing; that a young girl was beautiful and that simple rice tasted delicious.

After searching for the meaning of life the Buddha realized that the meaning had always been surrounding him, but he had been too distracted to see.   Being alive is being in the moment and the ability to put aside distraction and enjoy the Now. 

Meditation helps us to control distractive thoughts and to focus the mind.   There are monkeys in our minds and they swing from tree to tree and constantly chatter.   Through meditation we can learn to calm the monkeys and take control of our own thoughts.

Joan Sutherland said it best in This Floating World: “Awakening is not a destination and meditation is not a bus ride.”

Meditation is simply a tool to empty your mind and relax your body – to empty your thought process so that subsequently you can focus on the present without distractions from the past, or the future or fantasies of how you would like things to be. 

Zen meditation is known as Zazen.

Zazen aims to develop the individual’s power of concentration.

1. Find a quiet pleasant place to meditate.
2. Provide a cushion or pillow to raise your butt allowing you to comfortably cross your legs in front of you.
3. I place one hand in the other in my lap with thumbs touching (I find that after practicing this a while it becomes an automatic indicator to the mind that it is time for meditation.)
4. I prefer to close my eyes at the beginning and begin focusing on my breathing while consciously relaxing my body, but at the same time keeping an upright posture.
5. Some people count their breaths but I find that distracting; I prefer to visualize the air going into my lungs and then expelling.  I visualize this process over and over while slowing down the breaths as the body relaxes.  
6. The monkeys will try to run through your mind and distract you with random thoughts.  When this happens you don’t give them pride of place, but refocus on your breath. 
7. You might start with five minutes; but stop if you become uncomfortable – you can increase time with practice
8. When you are done, sit for a few moments and continue to regulate your breathing while you look around – come out peacefully.

“A thought rises.  A thought last awhile. A thought goes away.   What a relief it is when every passing thought or reaction doesn’t automatically take pride of place, doesn’t need us to bend the world according to its whim”     Joan Sutherland

I can have my blood pressure taken, then place my hands together with thumbs touching and clear my mind and have the blood pressure taken again, and it will have dropped at least ten points.

Meditation works in the moment to calm you; but with constant practice it helps your ability to stay focused on the activity and surrounding of each moment. 

The beauty of life, the meaning of life is happening in the present moment if you can only take the time to see it. 

the Ol’Buzzard  

THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

We modern day humans are the human equivalent of an asteroid strike.  We have fouled the atmosphere, acidified the oceans, deforested the rain forest and introduced invasive species around the world to the result that humankind will, at some point in the not so distant future, pay the price.

Excerpt from Los Angeles Times article: 
Ancestral Diet Gone Toxic

By Marla Cone

The arctic Inuit are being contaminated by pollution borne north by winds and concentrated as it travels up the food chain

About 200 hazardous compounds, which migrate from industrialized regions and accumulate in ocean-dwelling animals, have been detected in the inhabitants of the far north.

The bodies of Arctic people, particularly Greenland's Inuit, contain the highest human concentrations of industrial chemicals and pesticides found anywhere on Earth -- levels so extreme that the breast milk and tissues of some Greenlanders could be classified as hazardous waste.

1987, Dr. Eric Dewailly, an epidemiologist at Laval University in Quebec, was surveying contaminants in breast milk of mothers near the industrialized, heavily polluted Gulf of St. Lawrence when he met a midwife from Nunavik, the Arctic portion of Quebec province. She asked whether he wanted to gather milk samples from women there.

Dewailly reluctantly agreed, thinking it might be useful as "blanks," samples with nondetectable pollution levels.

A few months later, the first batch of samples from Nunavik -- glass vials holding a half-cup of milk from each of 24 women -- arrived by air mail at the lab in Quebec.   Dewailly soon got a phone call from the lab director. Something was wrong with the Arctic milk. The chemical concentrations were off the charts. The peaks overloaded the lab's equipment, running off the page. The technician thought the samples must have been tainted in transit.   Upon checking more breast milk, the scientists soon realized that the peaks were, in fact, accurate: The Arctic mothers had seven times more PCBs in their milk than mothers in Canada's biggest cities.

It is one thing to be ignorant; it is another to be Georgia Republican Paul Broun and head the House Science, Space and Technology Committee in Congress.    

What hope is there to avoid the Sixth Extenction?
the Ol'Buzzard

BULLSHIT BUDDHISM

Coming out of sleep I lay in bed

The fan blowing a gentle breeze across my body

I kicked off the covers and stretched

I cleared my mind from monkey dreams

And listened to the quietness of the house

Zen

I have been to a Zen sangha – a Buddhist teaching community – and have read extensively; and one lie that is promulgated throughout, is that it is necessary to have a physical teacher in order to achieve enlightenment – to become a Buddhist.

  

Buddhism, and in particularly Zen, in its most basic teachings is not about teachers or chants (Koan), not about robes, bells, whistles, icons or timed meditation.   Buddhism is simply a path to help a person achieve contentment by appreciating every conscious waking moment; and Zen is a path to achieve that consciousness through meditation.

The Buddha found enlightenment by himself and each of us have a Buddha nature.  When we are seeking a more contented nature me can distill Buddhist writings and lectures to a basic path that fits our own individual needs.

  

Christianity became a religion in 325 AD at the council of Nicea (Nicaea) when men decided that Jesus was a god, and what writings would compose the bible, and what the laws and teachings should be.

Likewise after the death of the Buddha, men who had been explaining the simple concept of achieving contentment through focusing on the beauty of the Now, began adding trappings and rituals and requirements that was not the intent of the Buddha.   Teachers venerate themselves, they set themselves up as somehow superior to us – again not the intent of the Buddha. 

If you are interested in alleviating stress and living a more conscious life I would suggest you read Buddhist materials – but not take them as gospel.

 In my opinion, the best Buddhist (Zen) teachings, the most distilled and easiest practiced and understood can be found in two books by Steve Hagen:  Buddhism Plain and Simple and Buddhism Is Not What You Think.

 

“Buddhism is not about beliefs and practices… it is not a religion.   It is about the teachings of awakening – about examining the world clearly.”

Steve Hagen

The Ol’Buzzard

BACK TO ZEN

BACK TO ZEN

TRY AGAIN

LIVE IN MINDFULNESS

How many times I have come back

The crazy world

Distracting

Unsettling

I find myself wandering in a forest of anxiety

Dashing about in frustration

Seeing no way out

Never noticing the path I am standing on

And the beauty of the trees around me.  

This morning I got up, did some stretches, weights, and then meditated for five minutes.

  

I have fallen away from the beauty and contentment of the path less traveled, and become lost among the masses that trod the well-worn road that inevitably leads to anxiety and discontent ((Duhkha.)

I am over the hump of my seventies and seem to be aimless.   I am reacting instead of acting; I am focusing on things I have no ability to change; the stream of the world is flowing by around my ankles and I am stomping at the waves; I have lost my mindfulness – and it is time to return…  to Zen.

It is not a distant journey; it is only one step.

As I move back to mindfulness, I will post the journey.  

Zen reminds us that if we don’t see the beauty and mystery of our present life – our present moment; it is unlikely we will live in the beauty of any moment of life.

NOW is holy

the Ol’Buzzard