Tuesday 1 December 2015

MATTHIEU RICARD ON HAPPINESS

...

Matthieu Ricard is a French genetecist and the son of the late Jean-François Revel (born Ricard), a French philosopher.

Matthieu has become a Buddhist monk.

Matthieu has been in New York for a week, staying at a Manhattan townhouse belonging to the daughter of billionaire investor George Soros.

Matthieu says that when he looks at the expensively decorated mansion he does not regret his life living in a simple room in a monastery.

He says: "Every time I look at these things, I feel, wow, imagine the responsibility of taking care of this place.

"My teacher used to say if you have a horse, you have the suffering of having a horse. If you have a house, you have the suffering of having a house. So much trouble to fix the tap, the electricity..."

dailymail

Back at the monastery in Nepal, he gets up each day at 4am, meditates, studies Tibetan texts and writes books.

...

When Matthieu was 18, his parents separated.

In 1972, aged 26, he travelled to India to study under Kangyur Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist.

He remained in Darjeeling for seven years and claims that he was very happy there.

dailymail

Neuroscientist Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied Matthiu and other Buddhists.

He found that compassion and meditation increased levels of happiness.

Matthiu says that just two weeks of showing kindness reduces activity in the area of the brain associated with fear.

dailymail



Richard Davidson wired up Matthiu's skull with 256 sensors.

The scans showed that when meditating on compassion, there was excessive activity in Matthiu's brain's left prefrontal cortex compared to its right counterpart, giving him an abnormally large capacity for happiness and a reduced propensity towards negativity, researchers believe.


dailymail.


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Matthieu believes that a culture greater altruism and compassion can improve the world.

He says: "individuals change culture, culture changes the individuals..." – and the next generation will change it again,’ he says.

He says: "I sometimes feel sad when sadness is the appropriate response, for a disaster in Nepal or a massacre – how can you not feel sad?

"But sadness is not mutually exclusive with a genuine sense of flourishing, because it gives rise to compassion; it gives rise to the determination to do something."

"Happiness shouldn't always be pleasant."

Read more: dailymail

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According to Buddha:

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts. It is made up of our thoughts. 

If one speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows one, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the wagon.

If one speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows one, like a shadow that never leaves.



According to Matthieu Ricard:

We should not be a slave to negative thoughts.

We should not let negative thoughts stick to our mind.

We should cultivate qualities such as kindness.

"You can look at your experience like a fire that burns. 

"If you are aware of anger you are not angry you are aware. 

"Being aware of anxiety is not being anxious it is being aware."

By being aware of these emotions you are no longer adding fuel to their fire and they will burn down.

dailymail


Some Indonesians look happy?

Voltaire, like Buddha, could see that there is suffering in this world.

"Imagine the situation of a Pope's daughter aged fifteen, who in three months had undergone poverty and slavery, had been raped nearly every day, had seen her mother cut into four pieces, had undergone hunger and war, and was now dying of the plague in Algiers." (Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 12)

"Do you believe," said Candide, "that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?"

"Do you believe," said Martin, "that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they have found them?"

Voltaire appears to be pessimistic about human nature; he might suggest that there will always be spooks and generals carrying out atrocities.


Indonesia was Buddhist for longer than it has been Moslem.

But, if hawks may not be capable of fast change, what about humans?

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) said in Memories, Dreams, Reflections:

"Natural history tells us of a haphazard and casual transformation of species over hundreds of millions of years of devouring and being devoured...

"But the history of the mind offers a different picture.

"Here the miracle of reflecting consciousness intervenes."

Physicist David Bohm believes that life and consciousness are present in varying degrees in all matter, including supposedly inanimate matter such as electrons or plasmas.

He suggests that evolutionary developments do not emerge in a random fashion.

("David Bohm and the Implicate Order" by David Pratt)


Happiness is about forgetting your own happiness and being part of a happy team?

Standford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram believes in the holographic nature of reality.

Every part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole.

In a holographic universe there are no limits to the extent to which we can alter reality.

What we see as reality is a canvas where we can draw any picture we want.


Some people manage to be happy in spite of poverty.

The Buddhists believe that what we are thinking now, is what we will become.

Research has suggested that Buddhists are able to get their brains to feel happiness.

According to Owen Flanagan, professor of philosophy at Duke University in North Carolina, Buddhists appear to be able to stimulate a part of their brain which produces positive emotions and a feeling of well being.

Writing in New Scientist, Professor Flanagan referred to findings of a study by Richard Davidson, of the University of Wisconsin, who used scanners to analyse regions of a Buddhist's brain.

Parts of Buddhists brains, linked to happiness, appear to "light up" consistently.

"The most reasonable hypothesis is there is something about conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness we all seek," Davidson writes.

(Happiness. A Buddhist perspective)


Happy lepers.

Helping unhappy people to be happy brings happiness.

A good doctor entering a ward full of sick children does not allow himself to feel depressed.

The good doctor gets on with trying to make the children happy.

Tibetan Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa wrote:

Whenever I see unfortunate beings

Oppressed by evil and violent suffering,

May I cherish them as I had found

A rare and precious treasure.


The good Buddhist empties himself (or herself) of egotism, and is therefore not going to be offended by insults.

When others out of jealousy

Harm me or insult me,

May I take defeat upon myself

And offer them the victory


(The Buddhist Way To Happiness )

Strive for the happiness of the team, and not for your own happiness, and that will make you happy.

The happy person is the one who forgets about his own individual happiness and concentrates on making others happy.

(Buddhism - Jodo Shinsu - What Is Happiness?)


Thai people - are they happier than Americans? Photo by Tevaprapas Makklay 

Christmas Humphreys, 1901-83, formerly a judge in London, listed the Twelve Principles of Buddhism.

(Twelve Principles of Buddhism By Christmas Humphreys)

1. Learn how to save yourself by using direct and personal experience.

2. There is continual change, a continual cycle involving birth and death.

Consciousness is continuous.

It is forever looking for new kinds of self-expression.

Life is a continous flow.

If you know there is a tsunami coming, don't stay on the beach guarding your possessions.

If you cling on to things, you will suffer, because you are resisting the flow.

3. There is only one 'ultimate reality'.

It does not change.

It is beyond our understanding.

We are all linked to it.

We are all part of the one team.

4. What we are now is the result of our past thoughts.

We are the creator of our circumstances.

By right thought and right action we can gradually purify ourselves and eventually reach enlightenment and Nirvana and beyond.

5. We are happiest as a happy team.

We are all inter-linked and should feel compassion for everything from trees to Thais and from jaguars to Jews.

Compassion is the "Law of laws".

6. Imagine we have an urge to win at golf by cheating.

Imagine we have an urge to be the hero of the football match, by monopolising the ball.

Suffering is caused by such wrong urges.

...

7. To end suffering, we should have

(1) Right Views,

(2) Right Aims or Motives,

(3) Right Speech,

(4) Right Acts,

(5) Right Livelihood,

(6) Right Effort,

(7) Right Concentration or mind-development,

(8) "Cease to do evil, learn to do good, cleanse your own heart: this is the Teaching of the Buddhas".

8. Nirvana, the extinction of the limitations of selfhood, is attainable on earth.

"Look within; thou art Buddha".

9. Follow the path between the opposites, avoiding all extremes.

10. Meditation helps us to refrain from mental and emotional attachment to "the passing show".

11. The Buddha said: "Work out your own salvation" using your intuition.

Each man suffers the consequences of his own acts, and learns thereby, while helping his fellow man to the same deliverance.

12. Buddhism does not deny the existence of God or soul, though it places its own meaning on these terms. Buddhism has no dogmas, and points to man alone as the creator of his present life and sole designer of his destiny.

aangirfan: GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS

aangirfan: How sane, balanced, and happy are the people of the USA?.

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36 Comments:

At 30 November 2015 at 02:11 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Matthieu has been in New York for a week, staying at a Manhattan townhouse belonging to the daughter of billionaire investor George Soros."

Now that right at the start sets the alarm bells ringing. A connection to Soros ?.Really?.
Things that make you go hmmmmmm...

 
At 30 November 2015 at 02:20 , Blogger Michael K. said...

Buddah: "The Law of Laws is compassion"

Matthew 22:36-40

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

 
At 30 November 2015 at 02:46 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Capitalism is not happiness. 1 in 10 now on antidepressants. Some people might be happy, those love being at work 24/7, but most want to spend more time at home being with the families or getting on their hobbies.

Like the fish might be the last to notice the water, most people living in this capitalist work their nuts off all day for very little think it is normal for people to live like this, that they can't live any other way. But they have been conned, and many find solace in a bit of drink at weekend then it's back to daily grind again.

Capitalism wears them down, mangles their souls and their lives. Takes everything they have. Their children put through constant stress at school in a system that constantly grades them. They are on a conveyer belt to become obedient workers in the machine.

Worst still, this capitalist system might actually kill them in another war as the elite try to maximise profits, getting in on someone else's patch.

Hell on Earth Part 2

Turkeys for Christmas. Capitalism run amok, maximising profits:

Watch: Secret Video Shows Baby Turkeys Ground Up Alive by Butterball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJovxS9-RTQ

 
At 30 November 2015 at 03:00 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds goes very well with this post. It was a folk song/ country back in the 60's when things were much better and so it has a bit of a jolly feel to it. But although things are much worse nowadays the lyrics about the pointlessness of it all and how we are all churned out to be cogs in a machine is even more pertinent today.

Malvina Reynolds - little boxes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4Xs

 
At 30 November 2015 at 03:20 , Blogger Paul Hughes said...

Seriously, read some U.G.Krishnamurti.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 06:11 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Look at the dreadful situation of women and children in Thailand and you will have a good idea what Buddha was really all about. Btw he once said animals were higher than women. Only Christianity has given positive status to woman. This is easily verified by comparing Buddhist / Christian countries. http://evidencetobelieve.net/buddhism-vs-christianity/
ps if there are a lot of people on antidepressants in US or western countries generally, what does that prove? It certainly does not mean Buddhism is superior. The opposite is true. At least Christian countries care about their citizens enough to provide for their mental health. How many people in Buddhist countries / eastern countries would be on antidepressants if they could afford them and had adequate healthcare available? Which is never the case in Buddhist countries of course?

 
At 30 November 2015 at 06:41 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Open Focus technique was developed by Western medicine and came from biofeedback nowadays research. Mindfulness nowadays can be achieved without going down the arduous path of Buddhism i.e. snuffing out the flame of life, losing all desire and passion - which mainly means having very little, or no sex.

Open Focus:

This breakthrough book presents a disarmingly simple idea: The way we pay attention in daily life can play a critical role in our health and well-being. According to Dr. Les Fehmi, a clinical psychologist and researcher, many of us have become stuck in “narrow-focus attention”: a tense, constricted, survival mode of attention that holds us in a state of chronic stress—and which lies at the root of common ailments including anxiety, depression, ADD, stress-related migraines, and more. To improve these conditions, Dr. Fehmi explains that we must learn to return to a relaxed, diffuse, and creative form of attention, which he calls “Open Focus

Some Open Focus videos:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rp7Ip18hsv8

 
At 30 November 2015 at 07:44 , Blogger Annski said...

Snap. Straight away upon seeing George Soros's name, I asked the question "why has Soros allowed Matthieu to stay at his townhouse?"
There must be something in it for Soros. Hmmmm…

 
At 30 November 2015 at 08:26 , Blogger su said...

Let your only desire to be to have no more desires.
And the state of not wanting is a much wave to ride than the wave of want.
Happiness is not dependent on anything. That is why the happiest people often have so little.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 08:50 , Blogger Anon said...

Would I be correct in thinking that you have never travelled around Thailand and that you have never got to know any Buddhists? The Buddhist Sirimavo Bandaranaike was the world's first female prime minister.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 08:51 , Blogger Anon said...

Very good, Su.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 08:54 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

ALL THAT WE ARE - THE TORYS AT IT AGAIN

The consequences of using something to bad effect or for a bad purpose.

Spot the difference?

BULLYING

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullying

ABUSE

www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/abuse

ANDRE WALKER

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/7414127/Tory-Andre-Walker-caught/

GRANT SHAPPS

www.theguardian.com/polotics/2015/nov/29/grant-shapps-resigned-within-hours-guardian

MARK CLARKE

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3337016/Fantastist-adulterer-bully-boy-s-revealed-To

LORD FELDMAN

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/grant-shapps-resigns-lord-feldman-to-be-questioned

ELLIOTT JOHNSON

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3259016/Secret-tape-Tatler-Tory-bullying-suicide--victim

Injected poison is not just confined to Politics

NHS STAFF

www.telegraph.co.uk > News > Health > Health News

SOCIAL WORKERS

www.communitycare.co.uk/whistleblowing-in-social-care/

POLICE

www.theguardian.com > World > UK News > Police

TEACHERS

www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Primary-school-teacher-husband-head-teacher-helped

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS

https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/.../citizen-journalist-gagged-by-north-yorkshire

COUNCILLORS

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2939129/Two-local-councillors-corrupt-police-officer

BANKS

www.thismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-3330155/Lloyds-Bank-whistleblowers-claim

GENERAL PUBLIC

www.parliament.uk/business/.../public.../report-whistleblowing-policy/

What are the Safeguarding Policies for and are they worth the paper they are written on?

researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06793?SN06793pdf

 
At 30 November 2015 at 09:45 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was most happy as a kid. We had nothing because we were all poor, but we had a bundle of fun. In those days youngsters were allowed out to play without adult supervision and we roamed for miles. We built swings in the woods, dammed up streams, climbed trees caught sticklebacks, frogs, and newts (the poor things looking back on it, but we never harmed them, we just put them back after a while). Some trees would be on the edge of great slope and we would build a swing on it then run and go right out into the sky, it seemed, with such a long way time. Scary!

With my best mate when we had sweets we would shared them equally, and if there was a last spare one it got thrown over the wall our friendship and loyalty meant more.

They say we make our best friendships in the early part of our lives, but after the age of thirty we don't make such deep friendships with new people. That's sad. I've read about teenage girls at university sharing the same bed together because they were such good friends (non sexual), and they would go everywhere with each other. The laughs I had with my mates in the pubs as a young man. Yep, they were the best times alright.

My hunch is that Buddhists make good friends, well, I've read they do, and that could be one of the reasons why they are so happy. When we feel loved we are in bliss.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 10:26 , Blogger Anon said...

In 1941, he began working for the Theosophical Society, in C.W. Leadbeater's library. How much do you know about Leadbeater?

 
At 30 November 2015 at 10:31 , Blogger Anon said...

"Buddhism i.e. snuffing out the flame of life, losing all desire and passion."

I think you have not understood Buddhism?

The Buddhist Sutta Nipata wrote:

"All the delightful things of the world - sweet sounds, lovely forms, all the pleasant tastes and touches and thoughts - these are all agreed to bring happiness if they are not grasped and possessed.

But if you regard them merely as pleasures for your own use and satisfaction and do not see them as passing wonders, they will bring suffering.

-Sutta Nipata, Blog: Pleasure and Joy

With nirvāṇa the consciousness is released, and the mind becomes aware in a way that is totally unconstrained by anything in the conditioned world.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 10:59 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

We're told, 'As above, so below'

Only occurred to me the other day just how terrifying that is, if true

We've seen 'below'. So does that mean the afterlife is just more of the same?

As to the above re: Buddhism -- it would take a determinedly focused mind to ignore the heartbreak around us. The advice about focusing on 'happy' in order to lift the vibration of our dimension may be the way to go. Maybe it's sound advice, albeit counter-intuitive. We do become focused on trying to fight and repair the wrongs. And as they say, if you lie down with animals you pick up fleas. In order to 'fix' the problems, we focus on the wrong-doers

It's a big-ask, though, isn't it? We arrive as babes and most of us try to do the decent thing. It's a rough trip, this life. Couldn't things have been designed differently? Why does it have to be the way it is? Who's responsible? It seems that in order to survive, everything is forced to destroy something else. And as long as we're confined to bodies, it's doubtful things will ever change.

So we focus on 'happy' to lift the vibrations. Would require considerable fakery in the happy-department, wouldn't it? An animal's being treated cruelly, but we walk serenely by, ensuring we generate happy-happy -- all with the best of intentions, obviously -- in the hope our generated happiness will lift our dimension to the point animal-cruelty will eventually cease? So, not genuine happiness (because who could be genuinely happy in a dimension awash with all sorts of cruelty) but a fake, altruistic form of happiness

How deep does that sort of happy go, I wonder? We're distraught by the cruelty we witness, but on the surface we radiate happiness for the greater good? Or do we twist ourselves to the point we become immune to genuine compassion and awareness of the cruelty, in order to tell ourselves how much good we're doing via our superficial pretence of altruistic happiness

Isn't that madness? Isn't that self-created schizophrenia?

Anyway, I've reached the point where derision and disgust are usually what I feel when I see/read about those who parade around in religious garb. The men (and sometimes women) in frocks who've cottoned-on to a cushy lifestyle while pontificating to others

I'd like to grab hold of the saffron-robed one (Mattheiu) for a few days. I'd show him around and give him a taste of what real suffering looks like, what real work, real sacrifice, real effort, real poverty and homelessness etc. are. I'd sit him down on the pavement and at the unemployment centres, at the pawn shops, in threadbare homes, and ask him to get inside the minds of women with no food for their kids, no school uniforms, no shoes, not a penny in their purses. I'd ask him to listen to the terrified thoughts of parents at the end of their rope, the thoughts of those an inch from suicide. I'd like to see if Mattheiu could project his happy-happiness into the lives who desperate need a bit

Fine to be staying in the luxurious homes of billionaires. The Dali Lama seems to mix with those same crowd, doesn't he. Always jetting around, ministered to by armies of the worshipful and devoted. Everything scented and plush. No ugliness intrudes. 'Spiritual rock-stars'. Easy to be happy-happy in those circumstances. Wonder how sublime would be the expressions of the Dali Lama and Mattheiu after a week in an abattoir? Guess we'll never know. The Mattheius and Dali Lamas and their ilk for some reason seem to establish rapport instead with the one-percent. Wonder how that happens? Why, instead, aren't they where happiness is in extremely short supply?

I'd better shut up. I'm losing the will to be happy-happy ...

 
At 30 November 2015 at 11:22 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

"as above, so below" is a hermetic dictum. It relates to the movement of the planets and their, alleged, effect on us. It's astrologically based.

Note, I am in agreement with your expressed philosophy.

cheers

 
At 30 November 2015 at 11:22 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is that the same Thailand to which men flock in order to buy themselves children for sex? The same Thailand which features in an enlightening and very well-patronised online forum dedicated to mainly Western men who've moved to south-east Asia in order to shack up with desperately impoverished young women who in turn support their extended family by pimping themselves to mostly older men?

And why do those tens of thousands of young children and young women pimp themselves? Is it because they're 'happy happy' with nothing other than the enlightenment & joy provided them by their faith? Or is it because they want to eat and grasp a bit of money, even some form of security which Buddhism fails to provide?

It's hilarious when Westerners -- with their full tummies and wardrobes and medical benefits and employment, aged and other pensions, state-provided housing, etc. -- think they've split the atom when they 'discover Buddhism' from plush books, Youtube, etc. (none of which are available to those who were born into Buddhism) and imagine themselves to have 'found the answer to their spiritual search' ... when actual Buddhists are scraping filthy scraps from the gutters. Oh, but it's so lucrative for those of the saffron robes when they arrive via private jet in the West to be greeted by what they consider to be 'rich and stupid' Westerners, all earnestly clamouring for enlightenment at seminars in 5-star Western hotels. LOL. No wonder Mattheiu's 'happy happy' all the time ! (a) he was born in the West in any case, so he's never known what it's like to be a home-grown, impoverished, disadvantaged Buddhist and (b) he hangs around in luxury with Western trillionaires, being treated like a spiritual Einstein. Must be hard damn work, huh? And he can always point to a -- gasp -- Buddhist female prime minister ! Oh well, Ok. That solves it all for the kids in the Thai brothels -- their worries must be over. All our problems are erased. We just have to focus on deep denial and grin and dispense happy-happy to everyone and everything. Now will the puppeteers who run the universe just beam us up please. We've erased all suffering via our endless smiling. So just get us off this accursed planet ! We're grinning ! We're bloody HAPPY ! Buddhism worked its magic ! Now get us OUT of here !

 
At 30 November 2015 at 11:23 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

It does sound nice. One day there can be peace within oneself. But the peace comes from the acceptance of chaos. Some western Buddhists call Radical Acceptance.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 11:23 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

"which mainly means having very little, or no sex. "

Doing a lot of wanking ?

cheers

 
At 30 November 2015 at 11:39 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Besides the Soros connection, I also note the following references in the Daily Mail article which raises further suspicion:

"a regular fixture at the World Economic Forum in Davos"

"the right-hand man of the Dalai Lama" [longtime CIA asset]

Ricard appears to be quite valued by the Globalist crowd so pardon me if I remain skeptical of him ...

 
At 30 November 2015 at 11:41 , Blogger Anon said...

The problem is understanding why someone is suffering.

Buddha believed that we must be compassionate, but, that we must not hold on to a 'self' that creates suffering or that is infected by suffering.

Some Buddhists talk of a "great self" which is not at the mercy of outside stimuli.

A "great self" is without boundaries, not limited by attachment or "I-identification."

 
At 30 November 2015 at 11:41 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Krishnamurti ? But didn't he agree to be a sexual playmate -- a homosexual playmate -- in return for fame and the goodies of the West?

 
At 30 November 2015 at 12:25 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

If someone is beating an animal, I don't need to 'understand' why the animal is suffering. It's suffering.

So what would Buddhism have me do --- ignore it? Feel compassion but cast aside that compassion rather than allow myself the indulgence of pity, of despair, of wanting to shoot the one responsible for the animal's suffering?

And what if it's a child suffering?

What would Buddha have us do?

Without the assistance of Buddhism, I'm learning to observe without reacting. My training-ground are alternative news forums and 'conspiracy forums' online. Their content used to affect me deeply. Now, after many years, I read dispassionately for the most part. The reason I've reached this point stems from numerous precognitive experiences which in turn have shown me that everything is predetermined. So, no point in allowing myself to be jerked around by those who've already written our lives

What I've noticed about those who frequent alternative news and conspiracy sites however, is that they're not motivated by personal gain OR the fear 'they' are allegedly attempting to instill in us. No, people are driven to try to thwart those engaged in destroying our world and lives by a sense of injustice/justice. People are acutely sensitive to injustice, in my opinion. Injustice and/or sense of justice is a primary motivator. Yet you very rarely see the self-styled experts (psychologists, sociologists, etc.) give humans credit for it. It's almost as if it's ignored. People sacrifice their lives in the interest of justice. They put themselves in danger. They get hurt. They catch diseases. The flame of justice burns hot in the human breast. Clearly, it's inherent. It refuses to be extinguished. I believe it deserves a lot more attention and applause and ranks -- along with compassion, sympathy, empathy, etc. -- as one of mankind's most admirable qualities

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it claimed that Buddhist pioneered self-defence/unarmed combat/martial arts? Which means Buddhists weren't prepared to accept their own demise, but instead trained in how to save their own skins. But were they prepared to put their necks on the line to save someone else's skin? If not, non-Buddhists surge to the fore in common decency alone, imo

I do understand what you mean about the 'great self', though. And I learned that, I think, from personal experience of precognition .. accurate, validated and witnessed precognition which showed me that Life is an illusion very possible. At very least, our lives (and those of animals) are predetermined. So that alone tries to tell me to remain detached. But feeling (if not always expressing) emotion is actually a needless indulgence. It's such a human thing though, isn't it, the feeling and expressing of emotion.

But, we humans seemed wired to want to help, to try to 'fix' things. It's been our undoing. The day we master not only control of our emotions but refuse even to let them register on us, is the day it will be Game Over. If that day comes, the tide will well and truly turn. The string-pullers' jaws will drop. Their days of control will be finished. The curtain will fall. And maybe we'll see the shabby behind-the-scenes. And the puppeteers had better start running. Because there is no doubt, none, that it's all orchestrated. Precognition tells that tale

So maybe Buddha knew what he was talking about, although he could have done a much better job of explaining. Maybe Buddha experienced accurate precognition too, and often enough for it to leave no doubt in his mind that we are being messed with and the only way to call the puppeteers' bluff is to -- basically -- refuse to dance on the end of their string. Just take it in and let it go. Don't react. Refuse to play. Don't feed the beast. Maybe if we ignore it long enough, it will tire of its game. Maybe that's what Buddha was trying to say

 
At 30 November 2015 at 13:10 , Blogger Paul Hughes said...

Plenty! Sounds like a pretty horrible individual. Anyway, like I say, read some of his stuff, it's great!

Little taster:
"Look here, there is no present to the structure of the 'you'; all that is there is the past, which is trying to project itself into the future. You can think about past, present, and future, but there is no future, there is no present; there is only the past. Your future is only a projection of the past. If there is a present, that present can never be experienced by you, because you experience only your knowledge about the present, and that knowledge is the past. So what is the point in trying to experience that moment which you call 'now'? The now can never be experienced by you; whatever you experience is not the now. So the now is a thing which can never become part of your conscious existence, and which you cannot give expression to. The now does not exist, as far as you are concerned, except as a concept. I don't talk about the now.

 Whatever you are doing is blocking its happening. It is misleading to put it that way, because there is nothing to happen. You don't realize that whatever you are doing is a self-centered activity. Whatever you are doing in any direction is only strengthening or distorting the whole thing. 

Meditation is a self-centered activity. It is strengthening the very self you want to be free from."

 
At 30 November 2015 at 17:34 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Buddhist Jews, that is what they are. I used to work for this so called buddhist writer. She preaches this alternative life style of the poor. She lives in a two millions dollars home. Her Buddhist retreat is a paradise that only the Hollywood celebrities can afford. When you have a billionaire to back you up, you can travel all over the world pretending to be poor and if you get in trouble, you are a phone call away to get help. Where I work I see all these rich Jewish madames complaining that theyare living on social security money, but when I look outside, I see them driving away on a brandnew car (Lexus, Merceds Benz, Ferrari, etc)

 
At 30 November 2015 at 19:44 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

It takes a lot of money for a Buddhist monk to travel and stay in to New York ...oh...that's right only the person who funded the monk gets to bear the 'suffering' of having the money and the house. The only way b. monks can survive is via groups and hierarchies. You never see a'lone' monk who writes and mediates...he's owned by the group. People who walk the 'middle way' are in the world but not of it and not recognized. This is much more of a spiritual challenge then a monk with an orange robe living off of other people.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 22:32 , Blogger Anon said...

There is more than one Krishnamurti.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 22:38 , Blogger Anon said...

Would I be correct in thinking that you have never travelled around Thailand and that you have never got to know any real Buddhists?

You cannot judge Atheism by looking only at Stalin's Russia.

You cannot judge Christianity by only looking at Belfast.

If a person stops clinging on to negative thoughts and practises altruism, then things improve.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 22:50 , Blogger Anon said...

The brothels in Thailand are owned by various mafias - American, Russian, Jewish, Chinese etc. It is no different from the USA and Europe. There are more sex workers in Moslem Surabaya than in Bangkok. At the end of the day the CIA runs the Thai military which in turns runs Thailand.

If a person stops clinging to negative thoughts, and starts practising altruism, then things improve.

 
At 30 November 2015 at 23:08 , Blogger Anon said...

Some of the comments on this post are very negative.

"If we are constantly bombarding our cells with the same negative attitudes, emotions, and beliefs, our biochemistry adapts by creating more receptor sites for those particular brain chemicals which cause our problems.

"People often become physically/chemically addicted and dependent on various negative states of being such as depression, victimization, frustration, or jealousy.

"Over time we crave more of the peptides (certain brain chemicals) we're addicted to and create repetitive dramas in our lives in order to receive our next dose."

The good Buddhists actually improve the chemistry of their brains and bodies by being altruistic.

 
At 1 December 2015 at 01:52 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's all true about Buddhism. Carl Jung noted that the East went inwards to free themselves from suffering where they said that outer reality was an illusion, but the West said the outer world was real and acted upon it to make life better. So they worked at science, engineering, and medicine to improve life. We created this vast modern world.

Carl Jung and Hegel also noted that democracy formed in the West because of Christianity. In the Old Testament god spoke to the Israelites through Moses, it was always collective, i.e., Israel had sinned. But in the New Testament God spoke to individuals, and every person was important. The parable of the lost sheep and how God knows every hair on your body. This contrasted to Roman religion which was collective with only the emperor as an individual. The legions did what they were told.

Then the protestant religion went one step further especially as the bible had then been translated to English. The East went inwards and became an introverted religion of self development, but the West went extrovert and collective praying together in churches, but became very individualistic too where each person is important. Democracy came about from this and the modern world advanced with science.

Mathieu Ricard can probably only live the way he does because of advances made by western science. In other words neither the East or West is superior, just different, and so it is time for syntheses as is happening now because both need each other. This was Jung's and Hegel's view.

 
At 1 December 2015 at 02:05 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

There was a Buddhist centre near me and the women were lovely. But then I found out that they were really like nuns and no sex was allowed. I lost interest in Buddhism after that which I thought it was a very cold religion. But western religion is much worse with its barbarity, so I became an atheist, but I practice mindfulness. And I still have an interest in Buddhism.

 
At 1 December 2015 at 05:54 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe he didn't use enough words ... :)

 
At 1 December 2015 at 05:59 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous30 November 2015 at 11:22
"as above, so below" is a hermetic dictum. It relates to the movement of the planets and their, alleged, effect on us. It's astrologically based.

That's one of the things it relates to, for sure. But I think it also describes many other aspects of reality.

 
At 15 February 2016 at 10:00 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

To Anon @ 30 November 2015 at 10:59: Excellent erudition on what Ive come to suspect is a covertly self-serving twist on the credo of 'being at peace'. Matthieu coped out in a way IMO, given his previous life choices and the direction he could have gone in his life that had more pragmatic applications: the genetic cell doctorate and research (and thus therein lay the rub for the man - too prosaic and more competitive than he could hack but hey, finding a cure for cancer or some other worldwide plague seems worth the hassle, doesn't it?). Instead ruminates on how to pontificate and excepts others to do the hard work in the mundane world. He's what I believe the term 'covert' narcissist represents. Any connection to Soros puts one's integrity in a questionable position.

 

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