Thursday, October 16, 2008

Political Question

This isn't a political blog, but I've got a question on which I'm looking to get some opinions to help me understand something I cannot currently comprehend.

I’ve got a serious question that I want to ask, really because I just can’t wrap my mind around the opposite viewpoint to the one I’ve come to -- something I am usually good at -- and I’m curious as to all of your thoughts to help me understand this other side.

I watched the Presidential debate last night (October 15, 2008). Let me preface my question with the fact that I will not be voting for either party candidate, but rather for the Green Party, whose platform is one that I agree with wholeheartedly. Here’s my question:

How can anybody actually think that voting for McCain is a good idea?

After watching Obama and McCain go at it last night, I just cannot fathom anybody coming to a conscious decision to vote for McCain. Here are my reasons. First off, watching them last night, I don’t trust McCain’s judgment under pressure -- and as President he’d be under a lot of pressure! He just seems angry and snippy, two traits that make for poor decision-making. He interrupted Obama regularly during the debate, which says to me that he’s impatient and isn’t giving due consideration to others. If you watched Obama in the split-screen, he looked directly at McCain as he answered, actually paying attention. McCain generally stared off into space, making mocking faces and fidgeting because he was so impatient to retort. And while both candidates distort the other’s platform -- that's a common tactic -- McCain seemed to take it to an unreal level, particularly with Obama’s tax plan which McCain just doesn’t seem to be able to get right.

Getting off the candidates’ personalities and mindsets, let’s look at issues.

McCain's focus on deregulation is disturbing. I’ve been a regulator for the last 6 years (not a Federal regulator, but my job is to regulate financial markets), and deregulation simply doesn’t work. The whole culture of the financial world is money-based, and the markets just do NOT regulate themselves. Strong regulation is required; I’ve seen first-hand what happens when there is insufficient regulation.

In terms of energy policy, McCain is just wrong. I am personally opposed to any additional offshore drilling. However, as a national policy, I can understand performing due diligence in studying the potential for future energy to be gained by such drilling, and if that is necessary because other means of energy production will be insufficient, then we’ll have to pursue it, in tandem with reigning in our consumption. However, McCain keeps saying that we need to drill offshore NOW, and that such is necessary to bring down gas prices today. Well, additional offshore drilling simply will not have any effect for approximately 10 years. So again, I think it’s something that needs to be explored, but McCain seems to really think it’s a solution, and I think it is patently obvious that it is not. Palin’s response in the VP debate when Biden said that McCain’s focus is, “Drill, drill, drill,” that “The chant is actually, ‘Drill, baby, drill!’” shows their misplaced focus. I think both candidates are right, though, that we need to pursue further nuclear options to wean us off oil.

One further thing I don’t understand is that McCain was very hypocritical in his statements on electing judges. He said at one point (in another segment of the debate) that he’s a Federalist -- someone who favors greater regional autonomy for the States, rather than a strong centralized government (a very Republican view). But then in the section on judges, he said he wanted to overturn Roe vs. Wade, which is the first step toward a federal law outlawing all abortions (possibly with danger-to-the-mother exceptions), which is the goal he has favored in the past. So how is that possibly a Federalist viewpoint? Though I do give McCain credit for voting NO on the constitutional ban of same-sex marriage, which is consistent with a Federalist viewpoint (leave that up to the individual states to tackle).

After the debate, channel 5 interviewed Mitt Romney, who said that he felt McCain did a great job and had Obama speechless at times. I could only sit there dumbfounded, wondering if he and I watched the same debate. I saw Obama easily handling himself under McCain’s assault, and I saw McCain appearing frustrated and impatient trying to counter Obama. I saw Obama answering the questions much more directly than McCain, though he too definitely skirted some issues like we see with every candidate. I saw Obama acting like a leader, someone I might actually trust being the face of our country, someone with the mental facility to consider the complexity of all the issues when advised by his advisors; whereas McCain was tense and impatient and disagreeable, and he appeared to struggle when forced to consider the mutual impact of complex topics like the economy and energy and military policies -- definitely not somebody I would ever follow as a leader.

So I’m curious -- for those of you who plan on voting for McCain, how do you come to that decision?

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

June 4, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"


Contemplation

The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we much criticize ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life."
-Dalai Lama


Begin 2-minute meditation now

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

May 27, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"


Contemplation

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend -- or a meaningful day."
- Dalai Lama


Begin 2-minute meditation now






Friday, May 09, 2008

May 9, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"


Contemplation

People should remain in society and carry out their usual profession. While contributing to society, they should internally carry on analysis and practice. In daily life, one should go to the office, work, and return home. It would be worthwhile to sacrifice some late evening entertainment, go to sleep early, and get up early the next morning to perform analytical meditation."
-- Dalai Lama


Begin 2-minute meditation now






Wednesday, March 26, 2008

March 26, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"


Contemplation

If in this present moment you aren't able to meet the Buddha in person, then for countless lives to come you will have to be reborn in the three realms of samsara, always searching for something to grasp hold of that will make you feel comfortable, continually being born in the womb of an ox or ass.
--The Record of Master Linji


Begin 2-minute meditation now

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

March 25, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"


Contemplation

"Before, when I was a householder, maintaining the bliss of kingship, I had guards posted within and without the royal apartments, within and without the city, within and without the countryside. But even though I was thus guarded, thus protected, I dwelled in fear — agitated, distrustful, and afraid. But now, on going alone to a forest, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, I dwell without fear, unagitated, confident, and unafraid — unconcerned, unruffled, my wants satisfied, with my mind like a wild deer. This is the meaning I have in mind that I repeatedly exclaim, 'What bliss! What bliss!'"

His deer is obviously not the deer in the headlights. It's a deer safe in the wilderness, at its ease wherever it goes. What makes it more than a deer is that, free from attachment, it's called a "consciousness without surface." Light goes right through it. The hunter can't shoot it, for it can't be seen.

-- From Freedom from Fear by Thanissaro Bhikkhu


Begin 2-minute meditation now

Thursday, March 20, 2008

March 20, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"


Contemplation

In response to Huike, a future Zen Patriarch, looking around everywhere for the truth, Master Linju asked him, "How come you keep looking for a head when you have a head already?"
-- Master Linji, The Record of Master Linji, #21


Begin 2-minute meditation now






Wednesday, March 19, 2008

March 19, 2008 Contemplation

Since lately I've had very little time to devote to writing, I've decided to start a regular feature wherein I'll post a scriptural reference to contemplate.

Instructions: Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Breathe in for a count of 3, and out for a count of 4. Open your eyes and read the contemplation below. Read it several times if you wish. Then, click on the link to begin a 2-minute session in which you can contemplate the saying I have posted. The timer will begin automatically, and an audible sound will mark the end of the session (so wear headphones if you're at work!).

Close your eyes, and contemplate the saying along the following lines, "How can I apply this to my life?" "Have I seen evidence to support this author's statement? Where?" "If what I've seen contradicts this author's statement, could s/he have meant something else?"


Contemplation

Master Linji: If you still love the holy and hate the profane, then you will continue to drift and sink in the ocean of birth and death.

Begin 2-minute meditation now

Sunday, March 16, 2008

New to Buddhism?



If you are interested in learning about Buddhism, how do you begin? Most people begin by reading, and there's nothing wrong with this, especially if you know nothing about Buddhism. There is great benefit to learning the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold path, the Way of the Bodhisattva. One problem commonly arises with this method, however. Buddhism is not a noun; it's a verb.

I learning the following training from my teacher, Samu Sunim: Meditation is concentration; concentration is oneness; oneness is no self, no other; no self, no other is no birth, no death; no birth, no death is True Suchness. Our logical minds can only make sense of the first two of these trainings. But the last three transcend logic. The only way to understand these trainings is through practice. To be frank, the only way to truly grasp the first two is via practice as well -- while logic can give you a superficial understanding, Realization comes only from practice.

Treating the Buddhist teachings as philosophy, as a description of the way the world works, is a trap that many people fall into, and understandably so -- it's fun to philosophize and debate. But actual Buddhism is not like this. The Four Noble Truths are not to be taken as a description of the world. They are guides to practice. The Buddha once said that we should never accept a teaching based on the trust we hold in our teacher, or tradition, or mere logic. Rather, we should examine the teaching, practice it, and discover its truth for ourselves. Only then should we accept that teaching. Such is the only way to gain insight and wisdom. Remember: Buddhism is a verb!

So if you're new to Buddhism, what do you do? My recommendation is to go ahead and read a book or two -- you know you will anyway even if I were to tell you not to! :) And while you're reading, research the Buddhist temples in your area. Pay several of them a visit. There are many different types of Buddhism, with different emphases, and only by exploring different traditions can you find the one that best fits you as you are right now. Once you find a temple you like, begin to practice according to that tradition. Attend their services. Take their meditation classes. Go to their functions. Let this practice show you directly the value Buddhism holds for you.

Begin a daily meditation practice. Contemplate Buddhist ideas while on the train or bus. Train your mindfulness while you eat, cook, clean, shower, and garden. And see for yourself the truth of the trainings. Read more, if you like.

I suggest that of the time you spend on Buddhism, devote 80% to practice and 20% to study. Buddhism is a verb -- always ask yourself, "How can I put what I just read into practice?" "How can I realize the truth of this teaching for myself?"

Now, go meditate.