Playing Better Games (#1067)

1. Stepping outside to a windy, damp morning, and watching clouds moving quickly across the sky, I am reminded that each day is a gift and am grateful.
2. Adams Rubble: Good morning!
   ***: Good morning Adams! I am sitting here with piles of clutter on both sides of me and having a hard time starting to work on my projects.
   Adams Rubble: Sometimes a cleanup is in order just as with our minds. We can not see clearly when our minds are trying to see through distractions.
   ***: Heh, I was about to say something along those lines. I could say this clutter is me and there is nothing I can do about it. Or I could quickly clean it up and get to work.
   Adams Rubble: Or we could just stop and blog, hehe.
   ***: Right on.
   Adams Rubble: We have been late blogging this week. Have you given up on your readings project? Nothing was posted Sunday.
   ***: I was not particularly inspired by the Old Testament and Gospel reading. The Gospel was another healing, similar to what has been in the readings for the past few weeks. I found the Epistle a bit confusing as a passage (Ephesians 4:17-28). Again, I have been thinking that it might be rewarding to take the individual epistles as wholes. In this reading, Paul is drawing a contrast between Christians and Gentiles; he means people following the Greek and Roman religions. I have never really understood how that functioned as a religion. Maybe like Hinduism is not one religion but many.
   Adams Rubble: I can’t help you there. I suspect it is not Paul but your other explorations that are coloring your feelings about this.
   ***: Ha! You are correct. I am coming around to the original explorations which led to this blog some years back.
   Adams Rubble: The blog has taken a cluttered approach to discovering our uncluttered mind. Sometimes, we just keep writing, trying to find the way to make sense of what can be very simple.
   ***: Yes, in some ways, it is a game of distraction. We play these games that keep us chasing our tales (not tails), and never seeing through the the tales.
   Adams Rubble: We forget the games are distractions and get lost in them. Maybe we need to learn more focused games. I guess that is what Play as being was trying to get at. But we need to relax. We have everything we need. We just need to let the distractions fall away.
   ***: That’s pretty much what I have been reading lately. We started out doing that at the beginning in this space.
   Adams Rubble: And have been distracted ever since.
   ***: Let’s work on it.
   Adams Rubble: You betcha.
3.  Sometimes we have good intentions but are not skilled enough to carry out them.

Absolute vs. Relative (#1066)

1. It is a cool, bright morning (green and yellow) to remind me that this day is another gift to enjoy. Do not take it for granted!
2. Last night, reading in the Dalai lama’s book _Dzogchen_, in a lecture in San Jose in 1979, the author noted that different Tibetan practices defined the terms “ultimate” and “conventional” truths differently. I feel better that I have not been able to grasp absolute and relative yet. I think it may be less important to try to grasp the absolute than to stop holding on to the relative so fiercely. When we begin to understand that everything is impermanent, we can begin to see the relative shifting like the sands on the seashore.
3. It is not the phenomena that are positive and negative, but how we interpret the phenomena. For example, if a person walks into this room, we may see them as positive or negative.
4. The Buddha said:
   

   The mind is devoid of mind.
   For the nature of mind is pure light.

Self Compassion (# 1065)

Adams Rubble: Good Morning
***: Good morning.
Adams Rubble:You did not write anything yesterday.
***: I was not inspired by the readings and have been busy with other things. One of the readings was 2 Chronicles 1:7-12 in which God offers Solomon a gift as he becomes king. Solomon chooses wisdom and knowledge to rule his people effectively.
Adams Rubble: Thinking of this election, it would be a nice gift to the citizens of the country so that they choose their leaders wisely.
***: Are you familiar with the David Steinberg sermon that he gave on the old Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour? Solomon chooses wisdom and immediately realizes he should have chose riches. It is funny but in the Chronicles passage God gives Solomon riches and wealth because he chose so wisely.
Adams Rubble: People were very offended by Mr. Steinberg at the time. What about the other readings.
***. In 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Paul tells his readers that God has given them Christ as their gift.
Adams Rubble: What an interesting juxtaposition of readings. We could talk hours about what it means to be given Christ as opposed to wisdom and knowledge. One could make a case that they are the same. What about the Gospel?
***: In Matthew 22:34-46, the Pharisees ask Christ what is the greatest commandment. The answer thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they soul, and with all thy mind. That is the first; the second: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Adams Rubble: So all three readings are tied together but not necessary with a common theme. We can aspire to wisdom and knowledge but love and compassion are what we should be doing. How are things on your other studies?
***: Most of the past week has been on secular readings except that I learned there are exercises for self compassion.
Adams Rubble: Oh yes, this is something not very much considered in the “west”.
***: I had not thought about it, but those teaching self compassion have seen the need to point out that self compassion is not self esteem.
Adams Rubble: Ohhh, self esteem is something taught to children today. At its extreme, everyone gets a trophy.
***: Self compassion is treating oneself as one would treat ones family or friends, i.e. not beating oneself up for their failings.
Adams Rubble: …as opposed to saying there are no failings.
***: At some point we all disappoint ourselves. We carry guilt for things we did to people or things we did wrong. We would forgive or overlook most of these failings in other people. We can be much harder on ourselves.
Adams Rubble: Did you find some good exercises?
***: I found some meditations but I have not found them particularly helpful to me yet. This is reminding me that I should keep looking for something that speaks to me.
Adams Rubble: I hope you find what you need.
***: Thank you.

Veil of Ignorance (#1064)

Adams Rubble: Good morning! I see there is not too much to talk about this morning.
***: On the contrary, Adams. I have had an eventful night. I went to sleep, and woke up early this morning, thinking I had understood something important.
Adams Rubble: Oh good, tell me about it.
***: Well, I went back to sleep and when I finally got up, it did not seem that important.
Adams Rubble: Like a dream. Please tell more about it.
***: As you know, I began to be interested in the Tibetan Nyngma School, so before turning out the light, I looked at the bookcase and pulled out Bruce Newman’s _A Beginners Guide to Tibetan Buddhism_ and found my way to Chapter Ten beginning on page 95.Adams Rubble:Did you find what you were looking for? [rule: never end a sentence in a preposition] Did you find that for which you were looking?
***: No but I found something different. It begins with the four noble truths of [Lord] Buddha
Adams Rubble: I know: the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path.
***: Newman notes that he wondered about the difference between the Hindu deprivation practices done by Buddha and his insights about suffering and desire. It dawned on Newman that what Buddha discovered was that the basic nature of all states. The Hindu yogi position was that of aversion to the state we are in, and seeking something else in the meditation.Buddha noticed that he kept returning to the original state and had to work on this over and over again.
Adams Rubble: That sounds similar to fundamentalist Christian concept of being saved. There is a public statement by the individual and all feels great. But then it slips away and needs to be done over and over again.
***: Apparently then, what Buddha  discovered is that there is no difference in the state of the yogi (or saved Christian) and our everyday state.
Adams Rubble: Well that sounds pretty important. Pema always taught us that there is no path, that we can start at the end.
***: Buddha dedicated himself to curing human beings of their suffering. Maybe my disconnect comes from not stopping there 🙂
Adams Rubble: Ah, so there is more. I was wondering what the title of this post had to do with this.
***: After discussion of the above, Newman goes on to talk about the causes of suffering. For the Theravada it is desire; for the Mahayana it is aversion; for the Yajrayana it is ignorance.
Adams Rubble: Wow, that is a mouthful.
***: I should note that Newman concludes that maybe there is not much difference between the three. However if the cause is desire, then the approach is to draw away from life into a more monastic approach. If it is aversion, the approach would be the opposite. To renounce the active life would be avoiding the issue. For the Vajrajana, the approach would be to find ways to see through our ignorance to see our true Buddha nature. I think the revelation I had was I began to think of a veil. I don’t necessarily think on terms of my Buddha nature.
Adams Rubble: Pema had a word for it but I forget too.
***: In any case, I think of the veil as being in layers. I think this is in line with Vajrayana thinking for their teaching is done in stages. One needs to master one level before going on to the next.
Adams Rubble: That is where the Play as Being thinking diverges I guess, starting at the end. There is no program for breaking through the levels.
***: Each of us are different and have different obscuration. That is my belief anyway.
Adams Rubble: Religion can either be the cause of a veil of ignorance or a lifting of a veil of ignorance.
***: Sadly yes. Religion can be the source of intolerance or it can sow seeds of compassion. It has made many people, especially young people, intolerant of all religion.
Adams Rubble: Blessed are the religious people who sow seeds of compassion. This brings us to a point I wanted to make about your post yesterday.
***: Yes?
Adams Rubble: The lesson about being invited to a feast and sitting in a lesser seat so one will not be embarrassed and asked to move down appears in both the Old and New Testament as you noted yesterday. There is one thing that always bothers me is the reason, that is not to be embarrassed. It seems to me that with that as motivation, one would be sitting in one’s lower seat thinking about how arrogant those in the higher seats are being. It would work on one’s mind and poison the original intent is choosing a lesser place.
***: You bet; there are “sins” or “poisons” of the mind as well as those of the body. For Buddhists there is a third “poison” and that is ignorance.
Adams Rubble: A good place to end. Maybe you had a bit of your veil lifted last night. That would be nice.
***: Thank you.

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1. This morning, looking across the river, watching the rush hour traffic on the highway, the church bell began to chime the hour, reminding all that there was a peaceful place amidst the rush of Monday morning.

Changing Directions (# 1063)

1. The readings for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost are Proverbs 25:6-14; Ephesians 4:1-6; and Luke 14:1-11. A miner but common theme in the readings is to choose the lower seat, Ephesians stressing “lowliness and meekness”. In the Gospel, Jesus heals a sick man on the Sabbath and his method of argument with the Pharisees is framed very much like the kind of arguments found in the Talmud. The arguments of the Pharisees is not developed but it appears they are against the healing. Jesus then tells them that if they had an ox or an ass that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, they would pull it out. This is similar to the reasoning seen a few weeks ago in which Jesus tells them they would water their ass on the Sabbath. It is so interesting that the Pharisees, the group that led to the beginnings of the Talmud are the victims of their methods of reasoning in these exchanges. Quite obviously it was intentional.
2. Another day and for that I am grateful. It is the first time today that this has occurred to me.
3. My readings are elsewhere right now. I have become interested in learning more about the Nyngma School in Tibet, have begun re-reading Tarthung Taulku, _Time Space and Knowledge_, trying to practice tonglen, and beginning a poetry course. Rather than concentrate on these readings, I have been thinking it would be interesting to try to read Paul’s Epistles in their entirety, at least his main letters. Still, the poste of the last few weeks have been an interesting exercise, and if the readings interest me, there will be more.

Still Water and Lillies of the Field (# 1062)

1.The river seemed to be on the same level as, or even higher than, me on my walk along the banks this morning — even though my eyes were about six feet above the surface. I expect the visual effect had something to do with the fact that the water was almost completely still. Of course this happens twice a day when at high tide but I rarely am there to witness the peacefulness of the still water. It is enough — reminding me to be grateful for another day of life.

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2.The Visit

***: Hello
Adams Rubble:  See the little baby, Amen
Wrapped in a manger Amen
On Christmas morning,
Amen, Amen, Amen
***: Ah, the song from the 1963 Lillies of the Field movie with Sidney Poitier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdtl4SwNEW0
The movie title actually refers to the parallel passage in Luke 12:27-28 that is part of the sermon on the mount.:

²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!                          – Revised Standard Version

Adams Rubble:  Do you know that the lillies mentioned in Matthew have not been identified. Some people think it is the scarlet anemone because of the comparison to Solomon’s temple.
***: J.B. Phillips in his translation simply refers to them simply as wildflowers. This is closer to the Arabic use of lillies to mean simply wildflowers. I quoted the RSV version because of the translation “they neither toil nor spin” which is derived from the Codex Bezae and other early Syriac texts. In other words, the flowers do neither men’s nor women’s work, they just grow.
Adams Rubble:  We usually think of the beatitudes when we think of the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are those who are grateful for the beauty of the wildflowers and the appearances of nature. Blessed are those who respect and preserve nature for they will make it possible for future generations to walk among the lillies.
***: Amen.
Adams Rubble:  Looking at the title I can not help but think of water lillies and lotuses although that is a very different metaphor: beauty growing from muck…and…a different religion.
***: The utpala flower of Tara; the utpala is the symbol of the pure and it rises up from muck… but yes, we digress, we do, Adams.
Adams Rubble:  There was so much more in the Matthew passage that you could have discussed in yesterday’s post.
***: I was discussing the Galations reading but felt inspired to mention the lillies of the field.
Adams Rubble:  I find it interesting that the reading starts out talking about not being able to serve two masters but switches to a theme of not worrying about where the next meal or clothes will come from.
***: Yes, two readings in one. Maybe I better quote Matthew 6:24-34 here:

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,^[b] or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?²⁷ And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?^{[c] 28} And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³² For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
³⁴ “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today    –RSV

Adams Rubble: We are not used to thinking in terms of two masters but the theme works very well with the Galatians part. It is difficult to satiate our desires for materialistic things while remembering to practice every day, religiously :).
***: Maybe impossible to satiate our materialistic desires. In the west we have so much difficult practicing on a regular basis. Your use of “religiously” to mean “systematically” is certainly suggestive of the importance of practicing regularly.
Adams Rubble:  We can’t even blog regularly any more.
***: Once upon a time there were daily blogs recording the results of practicing the 9 second stops.
Adams Rubble:  The nine second stops turned into 15 minute writings. Hard to keep that up. I understand that you met a rock over the weekend and tried to do the subject-object switch.
***: It was a rather large rock. Most of my attempts produced a subject/indirect object, i.e the rock stood next to “me”. The only sybject object I could come up with was the rock fell on “me”.
Adams Rubble:  Maybe one of these days that exercise will have some more meaning. It would be nice to revisit some of the things we pondered in the past, like my koan.
***: Well, that will be for some other day. Bye for now.
Adams Rubble:  Bye.

 

Freedom II (# 1061)

1. Continuing with last weeks source for the readings, for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost they are: I Kings 17:8-16; Galatians 5:25-6:11 and Matthew 6:24-34. I the Epistle sounds familiar, it is because these are the verses following last week’s Epistle beginning with advice about living a spiritual live:

²⁵  If our lives are centered in the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit.
²⁶ Let us not be ambitious for our own reputations, for that only means making each other jealous.
6 Even if a man should be detected in some sin, my brothers, the spiritual ones among you should quietly set him back on the right path, not with any feeling of superiority but being yourselves on guard against temptation.
² Carry each other’s burdens and so live out the law of Christ. ….
^3-4 If a man thinks he is “somebody”, he is deceiving himself, for that very thought proves that he is nobody. Let every man learn to assess properly the value of his own work and he can then be glad when he has done something worth doing without dependence on the approval of others.
⁵ For every man must “shoulder his own pack”.
⁶ The man under Christian instruction should be willing to contribute towards the livelihood of his teacher.
^7-10 Don’t be under any illusion: you cannot make a fool of God! A man’s harvest in life will depend entirely on what he sows. If he sows for his own lower nature his harvest will be the decay and death of his own nature. But if he sows for the Spirit he will reap the harvest of everlasting life by that Spirit. Let us not grow tired of doing good, for, unless we throw in our hand, the ultimate harvest is assured. Let us then do good to all men as opportunity offers, especially to those who belong to the Christian household.

-J.B.Philips Verson

Lots of advice here starting with not feeling puffed up about our position in life; this is a major source of pain and unhappiness in the twentieth century workplace and beyond, Not only does it make others jealous, but it goes both ways; it makes us jealous as well. We should be more concerned with the way we treat people. The second piece of advice is not to lord it over others who commit transgressions; we are all in this together.

The advice to contribute to one’s teacher is interesting. Churches support their ministers. Students pay tuition at colleges and universities. Buddhist pupils brought gifts when approaching a teacher for teaching.

The last paragraph is a bit like karma. One’s behavior has repercussions. When we are kind it not only has an effect on the person receiving the kindness but it spreads to us as well. We are the happiest when making others happy.

2. The Gospel reading has that wonderful poetic metaphor:

²⁸ And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
²⁹ And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

-King James Version

Altruistic Motivation (# 1060)

1.A dark, overcast, wet morning to remember that it is enough. Grateful for another day.

2.

***: A surprise, what are you doing here?
Adams Rubble: I was reminded of your passage from Paul you discussed a few days ago.
***: Oh?
Adams Rubble: Paul said:

The Spirit however, produces in human life fruits such as these: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, tolerance and self-control—and no law exists against any of them. (Galatians 5:22)

***: Yes, we discussed that. Paul believed there was no need for law concerning these “fruits” of our living a spiritual life.

Adams Rubble: Thubten Chodron in his book ” how to Free Your Mind” says:

…enlightened activities spontaneously and effortlessly flow from that pure state. These activities will naturally be beneficial, because they stem from an altruistic motivation coupled with deep wisdom.  (p. 15)

***: I see. The common message from both is that some of our behavior arises from our state of mind.
Adams Rubble: Something like that.