Today September 9th, also marked the 46 anniversary of Chairman Mao’s passed away. So much has changed, but more people, especially the majority poor, grassroots missed the days when he was still in power.
Category: Politics
Amituofo, Queen Elizabeth II !
Very sad news keep on coming, amid so much crisis going on. Queen Elizabeth II had left us. True to her pledge when she was only 21 – “my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service….And I asked for God’s help to make good that vow.” – for the last 70 years, she has been the rock of Gibraltar for the Great Britain, The Commonwealth of Nations and the greater world. Fully aware of the sweeping change of the modern world, she had been accepting it with “expanding discipline”. She said: “No institutions, city, monarchy, whatever, should expect to be free from public scrutiny who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those don’t……” Her grace and perseverance in carrying out her obligation set a great role model for all of us how to live a purposeful and meaningful life.
The Buddhist tradition believe in the idea of anicca, or impermanence. This means that they have to accept that, like everything, life must change, and death is an important part of this. Death is not viewed as the end, but as a transition. At the core of the Buddhist faith lies a belief in samsara – the cycle of life. And so certain funeral rituals will help those who’ve died progress to their future lives. All buddhist school had their specific rituals, but generally it is a good practice to pray right during the final hours, and repeat the ceremonies every day for 49 days because seven times seven equals 49. It is said the departed one need absolute quiet time without disturb by their own for the first 12-24 hours after passing away, then the close family/friends usually will gather close to the bed of departed love to start prayer after that.
给过世的人念诵经文，是需要念诵整部，尽管的就是地藏经，你可以分开念诵，但是呢，不能就说只念诵一部分，每天都念诵那一部分，那不行，不能每天念诵同样一部分，你可以接着继续念诵其他的，其余的那部分整部形容键盘在试点反复循环，如此就可以，或者是你念诵佛号，也是同样的功效，如果你用的时间是一样多，效果是一样的. 念”南无大愿地藏王菩萨”回向就是可以的，每天念诵60分钟，至少，这个回向效果和你念<<地藏经>> 60分钟，效果等同,多多益善吧，而且念诵佛号比念诵经文要简单易行，随时都可以念诵出声念默念都行，你走路干活，坐车完全可以念佛好，这样就是积少成多，把更多的时间用于你也送佛号回向，这效果是非常好的，注意功德回向，愿以此功德回向给出生在年月日的名字，愿你也早日离苦得乐，脱离六道轮回，往生极乐世界.
Reading loud Ksitigarbha Sutra (The Great Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva, with introduction) is a great way to mourn the deceased. Any person who reads the Sutra or worship Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha will earn extraordinary merits for themselves and for their departed loved one, be free of suffering due to past karma and ultimately, be born in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Here is a Chinese version of prayer with dedications. You can also download the whole sutra translated by Fo Guang Shan International Translation Center. Another way is praying holy Name of “Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva” for at least one hour each day, you can do it silently while doing chores. 梦参老和尚关于《地藏经》的开示，在地藏王菩萨加持下威力无穷！
For deeper understanding of Ksitigarbha Sutra, Ksitigarbha Sutra, here are some lectures with Commentary by academy of wisdom & Enlightenment, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. This sutra is the most fundamental sutra when it comes to classical teaching of Mahayana. In all sects of Buddhism, people start learning Buddhism by learning the original teaching of the Buddha Shakyamuni – fundamental prerequisites, the 4 Noble Truths, the 8-fold path, then it developed into the 37 meritorious avenues. Both Mahayana and Theravada studied those entire things. In addition, Mahayana Buddhism takes a step further. It progresses further with a higher form of ideology. Academy of Wisdom & Enlightenment offers systematic step by step three-year programs both on Chinese and English.
Puzzled by so much drastic confrontations and swirling change, I used to be an proponent of radical changes. Ignorance and frustration provoked me to say some nonsense such like pressing the nuclear button. Queen Elizabeth II, in her 96 age, while holding the world together still encouraged us, “The way we embrace it define our future….. we join all nations across the globe in a common endeavor. We will succeed and that success will belong to everyone of us.” Amituofo, Queen Elizabeth II !
“Buddhahood” Exists in Every Person and Can be Awakened – Case Study of Japan
Japan Shinzo Abe was assassinated in July this year in the ancient capital of Nara nearby the Buddhist temple Saidaiji(“Great Western Temple,”). This unfortunate event like the dark clouds has since covered not only Japan but the greater world. While saddened by the unstable development of the political trend, my thoughts were deeply connected with the calming grace and tenacity of the Japanese people. Although I had never been to Japan before, I remember the Japanese TV series I watched in 1980s. The TV series Ikkyū-san，an animation based on the recorded early life of Zen Buddhist monk Ikkyū during his stay at Ankoku-ji Temple; the famous slogan -悟性就在你的脚下(something to the effect that awakening comes from your practice), the up-lifting energy I took away from a spirit of love of life, and a strong character to overcome any obstacles in their way from the TV series Oshin. China was still a very backward, isolated place in the 1980s. Those TV series were like a fresh breeze that waken millions of Chinese from sleep, also like chicken soup for the soul leaving a long-last impression in the mind of many.
From studies of history, I know that Japan had endured the humiliation from the defeat of WWII, the disaster of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the setback of a strong appreciation of their currency in 1985-1986, the financial crash of 1992, and the last thirty years of prolonged economic downturn. So much suffering, so much hardship! In my probing, I feel it is the nurturing of spirit from teachings like Buddhism that gave Japanese people the courage to transcend their adversity, and the wisdom to keep their faith and optimism. According to the statistics by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2021, the religious corporation under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan had 135 million believers, of which 47 million were Buddhists and most of them were believers of new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185－1333). According to these statistics, the largest sects of Japanese Buddhism are the Jōdo Buddhists with 22 million believers, followed by the Nichiren Buddhists with 11 million believers. There are a wide range of estimates, however; the Pew Research Center estimated 36.2% of the population in 2010 practiced Buddhism.
Buddhism arrived in Japan by first making its way to China and Korea through the Silk Road and then traveling by sea to the Japanese archipelago at some point in the middle of the sixth century. As such, early Japanese Buddhism is strongly influenced by Chinese Buddhism and Korean Buddhism. The teachings were not systematic, especially the practices of precepts were very sloppy. In autumn 742, an emissary from Japan invited Buddhist Master Jianzhen (688-763)to lecture in Japan. They brought the invitation from the Japanese loyal family and the Prince with a thousand robes emboiled with the following words:
Despite protests from his disciples, Jianzhen(Ganjin) made preparations and in spring 743 was ready for the long voyage across the East China Sea to Japan. The crossing failed and in the following years, Jianzhen made three more attempts but was thwarted by unfavorable conditions or government intervention. In the eleven years from 743 to 754, Jianzhen attempted to visit Japan some six times. Ganjin finally came to Japan in the year 753 and founded Tōshōdai-ji(“Great Eastern Temple,”) in Nara. When he finally succeeded on his sixth attempt he had lost his eyesight as a result of an infection acquired during his journey. Jianzhen is credited with the introduction of the Ritsu school of Buddhism to Japan, which focused on the vinaya, or Buddhist monastic rules.
Sōka Gakkai, (“Value-Creation Society”) is another Japanese Buddhist religious movement based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren as taught by its first three presidents Tsunesaburō Makiguchi, Jōsei Toda, and Daisaku Ikeda. This center recognizing that all life has dignity with infinite inherent potential; this immanent “Buddhahood” exists in every person and can be awakened through the Buddhist practice prescribed by Nichiren. Further, a person’s social actions at every moment can lead to soka, or the creation of value (the theory of the interdependence of life). Societal change is facilitated through “human revolution”, a way of living in the world that creates value. The movement was founded by educators Makiguchi and Toda on 18 November 1930, and held its inaugural meeting in 1937. It was disbanded during the Second World War when much of the leadership was imprisoned for violations of the 1925 Peace Preservation Law and charges of lèse-majesté. After the war, it expanded to a claimed total of 750,000 households in 1958 through explosive recruitment, held to be unprecedented in Japanese media. Further expansion was led by its former third president Daisaku Ikeda, expanded into 12 million members in 192 countries and territories around the world. They have a large presence in Canada as well as in USA.
Another ancient Chinese sage who had a large influence on Japanese philosophy is Wang Yangming (王陽明,26 October 1472 – 9 January 1529), a leading figure in the Neo-Confucian School of heart, founded by Lu Jiuyuan (陸九淵, or Lu Xiangshan) of the Southern Song dynasty. Wang believed that knowledge and action were unified as one. He believed that only through simultaneous action could one gain knowledge and denied all other ways of gaining it. He held that objects do not exist entirely apart from the mind because the mind shapes them. He believed that it is not the world that shapes the mind, but the mind that gives reason to the world. Therefore, the mind alone is the source of all reason. He understood this to be an inner light, an innate moral goodness and understanding of what is good. In order to eliminate selfish desires that cloud the mind’s understanding of goodness, one can practice his type of meditation often called “tranquil repose” or “sitting still” (靜坐 jingzuo). This is similar to the practice of Chan (Zen) meditation in Buddhism.
As a country, the Japanese capacity to transform for the higher good, higher potential, is deep-rooted in its humanity and higher wisdom passed down from history. When we deviated from that wisdom, we were astray from that right path. Japan had stride huge steps in integrating Eastern and Western civilizations in the last two hundred years. It is the 3rd largest economy in the world, boasting twenty-nine Japanese laureates of the Nobel Prize since 1949 – an amazing number compared with its small population. Both Chinese and Americans have a lot to learn from Japan – its courageous exploration of a new path forward, and lessons learned from history. A big supporter of the Chinese Open Door Policy and Economic Reform of the last several decades, the largest purchaser of the U.S Treasury for decades, and recently the only contracted builder to upgrade India’s railway system, Japan had earned itself many admirations from all over the world.
Former Priminister Shinzō Abe’s legacy is famous for Abenomics – a “mix of **reflation, government spending and a growth strategy designed to jolt the economy out of suspended animation that has gripped it for more than two decades.” The objective is to increase Japanese annual GDP growth. As the longest-tenured Prime Minister of Japan since WWII, Abe no doubt had great contributed to the country’s heroic social-economic experiments to steer a steady-paced middle course with many sacrifices and contributions to world peace and growth of the economy and technology.
But history has come to a new reflection point. We are now in the beginning of a grand new cycle of 800 years of Saturn Jupiter conjunction in air element. We need to take into account the previous work and rethink our course ahead. Because what works for the past may no longer works for the future. What is the most important? Today humanity’s biggest crisis is the loss of faith being displaced by disruptive energy brought by science and financial engineering. A return to the right path is to return to our humanity. One of the Great Thinkers of the 20th century, 南怀瑾， Master 南怀瑾compared and summarized the two different methodologies of development in the Eastern and West since the 16th century and ending in the 20th-century globalization bringing East and West together. But as a result, humans all over the world are in a hypnosis state, instead of awakening.
从十六世纪以后，东西方文化有两个重大不同。中国文化思想认为，解决贫富差距，安定社会，要用好的文化政治来解决经济问题。西方文化，从亚当·斯密的《国富论》，一直到马克思的《资本论》，到凯恩斯的消费刺激生产，都是认为要用经济来解决政治、文化问题。这两个不是矛盾哦，是两个方法。现在东西方文化的结合，造成今天全世界的人类（不止中国人），只向钱看。而且都在凯恩斯的思想之下，消费刺激生产。
Master 南怀瑾 warned humanity of a huge trap of losing their purpose in life. He said we are buried in the science and economic developments, but lost our mind in a canceled culture and sub-ethical living environment. This is a huge threat to our evolution: “其实生命活着是生存问题，再其次是生活的问题，现在全世界人类在这个科技文明的社会里生存，在全世界受经济、金融影响的环境中活着，大家只为了生活忘记了生存，生存的意义和生活的章义完全不同。你们诸位担心的，也是和我们担心的一样，你们诸位都是为人类生活的问题而担心，再进一步是为人类社会、国家之间的生存而担心。但是全世界人类在今天的文化思想方面，完全是个空白，忘记了生存的意义，忘记了生命的价值，想再进一步讲生命的目的，那就是个大问题了。”
We mourn for Mr. Shinzo Abe, we hope his tragedy brought us a new awakening of the right path forward.
We Will Never Change the Outside Until We Change Within
Buddhism teaches us the truth about the universe and about ourselves. So we can be awaken from this illusory world to the meaning and purpose of life. So we know our buddha nature is in one with the universe. We each have the power within us to change. Our habitual thoughts and the content of our subconscious mind determine our behaviour and the way we act and react. When we change the way we feel and think about things, and the way we react to people and situations, our actions and behaviour change accordingly. These changes within us, create changes in our external, outer life. We will never change the outside until we change within.
Another important concepts in Buddhism is non-self. That means we are one with the universe, the within and without is one. We once thought that we were no bigger than our physical bodies, but now we are discovering that we are deeply connected participants in the continuous co-arising of the entire Universe. Awakening to our larger identity as both unique and inseparably connected with a co- arising Universe transforms feelings of existential separation into experiences of subtle communion as bio-cosmic beings.
Here, we provide deeper look into the Buddhist concept of non-self based on a Shambhala Sun interview of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh by Melvin McLeod. The article, This Is the Buddha’s Love, appeared in the March 2006 issue.
The Teaching of Non-Self
After establishing that the goal of meditation practices is to bring us back to our true home, Melvin McLeod asked, What is the difference between this true self, the self you come home to, and how we normally think of ourselves?
Thich Nhat Hanh: True self is non-self, the awareness that the self is made only of non-self elements. There’s no separation between self and other, and everything is interconnected. Once you are aware of that you are no longer caught in the idea that you are a separate entity.
Melvin McLeod: What happens to you when you realize that the true nature of the self is non-self?
Thich Nhat Hanh: It brings you insight. You know that your happiness and suffering depend on the happiness and suffering of others. That insight helps you not to do wrong things that will bring suffering to yourself and to other people. If you try to help your father to suffer less, you have a chance to suffer less. If you are able to help your son suffer less, then you, as a father, will suffer less. Thanks to the realization that there is no separate self, you realize that happiness and suffering are not individual matters. You see the nature of interconnectedness and you know that to protect yourself you have to protect the human beings around you.
That is the goal of the practice—to realize non-self and interconnectedness. This is not just an idea or something you understand intellectually. You have to apply it to your daily life. Therefore you need concentration to maintain this insight of non-self so it can guide you in every moment. Nowadays, scientists are able to see the nature of non-self in the brain, in the body, in everything. But what they have found doesn’t help them, because they cannot apply that insight to their daily lives. So they continue to suffer. That is why in Buddhism we speak of concentration. If you have the insight of non-self, if you have the insight of impermanence, you should make that insight into a concentration that you keep alive throughout the day. Then what you say, what you think, and what you do will then be in the light of that wisdom and you will avoid making mistakes and creating suffering.
Melvin McLeod: So the practice of mindfulness is to try to maintain the insight of non-self and interconnectedness at all times.
Thich Nhat Hanh: Yes, exactly.
Science is Organized Knowledge; Wisdom is Organized Life
I was someone who had never paid much attention to politics, to this day I highly dislike it. People spent lots of energy arguing instead of doing anything of substance or something benefiting their soul’s evolution. I was influenced initially in 2016 by an article from veteran astrolgist Robert Hands’ about the Great Mutation of Saturn and Jupiter Conjunction Cycle starting in 2020. Later came the Trade War, and I was trying to explain to the American people about China’s history and culture. Then Covid-19 came along – so much chaos. It is very unfortunate, but if our collective karma is fruiting, all these sufferings and catastrophes are to remind humanity to return to our ORIGINS, to return to meaning and purpose in life.
All these are happening in synchronicity when the United States is having its Pluto return to 27 Degree of Capricorn. If I understand it right, the United States is the first democratic republican government in the world since the 1688 Glory Revolution in Britain. But Democracy as a government form is certainly not the first time in history. That precursor was Athen Greece.
Democracy, liberty, and the freedom of speech are trumpeted as the bedrock of western civilization, but what was Athens really like? In this documentary – Athens: The Truth about Democracy, famous historian Bettany Hughes searches for the truth about the Golden Age of Ancient Athens, investigating how a barren rock wedged between the East and West became the first democracy 2,500 years ago. This was a democratic city built on slave labor, manipulated by aristocrats, where women wore the veil and men pursued a bloody foreign policy, slaughtering thousands in the pursuit of the world’s first democratic empire. Athens followed a policy of aggressive overseas expansion and persecuted some of its leading intellectuals. Despite its recent popularity in the West, democracy in ancient Athens did not flourish but quickly died.
To me, it was very strange that someone like Donald Trump, who was a shabby character, declared that if he shoots someone on Fifth Avenue in New York, would still be elected as President. But I was too busy on my mind looking into many other things/topics of discussion all happening at the same time to make further sense of it. Further research, I found so many clashes and feuds happened in the last 20-40 years: the outsourcing of jobs to China, the decades of Middle East wars, the 2008 financial crisis, the unfair tax schemes of crony capitalism, the heated arguments about Socialism and Capitalism, the LGBT and transgender issues, the disorientation brought by manipulation of institutions and social media. The tremendous confrontation between eastern and western civilizations.
Where are the rule and order? To the western world, their mindset was fixed on Roman Empire and Greece experience. For Whites, with the development of Capitalism over the last few hundred years, philosophy they have been related to was Herbert Spencer’s social Darwinism, and a mentality of White Supremacy established by their ancestors conquering the Amerian indigenous Natives by mere force of violence and suppression. With this line of thought, it is logical that someone like Trump can be pushed onto the stage, to play the role of fooling the public.
I had to admit that although I study astrology to understand psychology, it had never occurred to me that Trump had a mental illness – how could it be possible government put someone who had a mental disorder to take charge of the U.S.A – the most powerful country of the world?
But I was duly surprised to see this program today. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee, had warned the public about Trump’s potential violence as early as March 2017, Dr. Bandy Lee assesses Donald Trump’s mental health and inability to be President. Of course, under U.S law, people who had mental disabilities probably do not need to even invoke the 5th Amendment or answer to the law for any wrongdoings. That was an easy arragnement for those putting Trump in the dramas for the last few years. These were unthinkable to me even a day ago!
The three Delphic maxims inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi were: “know thyself”, “nothing to excess” and “certainty brings insanity” (or “Do not Over-Commit yourself”). Insanity such as war. Insanity such as theocracy. Insanity such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. All sorts of insanity. German philosopher Emanuel Kant used to say, “Science is organized knowledge; wisdom is organized life”. How can we get back to organized life?
What Does Love Have to Do with Capitalism?
I was really lucky to born in a time of relative equal society, where even though we were all poor, but we were innocent and relatively peaceful by our own. I was lucky to born in a place that has a strong culture that were full of positive role models and the adherence to the teaching of ethical traditions. I am very very grateful. I wish to pass what I learned to the next generation.
While the media all over the places are heated with speculation of former President Donald Trumps’ resident in Florida Mar-a-Largo estate being searched under warrant, there are some other heart reckoning voices that compelled me to recorded this down. I also know the problems that is now prevalent in United States, especially the lower class, is also just as rampant in China – millions of children were left out without care in the countryside（留守儿童）while their parents were forced to taking low pay jobs in the far away cities. The children are too young to have their voices heard. These are urgent and important issues that relate to the future of humanity. Have Mercy! Pastor John MacArthur calling for the the whole society and governments all over the world to take priority to help these children. Time is of essential!
We have a massive massive problem in or society. The subject at hand, the subject of courage is really a vital vital part, first Corinthians 16, 13 – just a series of brief commands – Be on the alert, Stand firm in the faith, Act like men, Be strong and then Verse 14 – Let all you do be done in love. That is no easy recipe. To play the role of leadership, authority, responsibility, protection, to be strong when everybody around you is compromising, and do it all in love, is a challenge that can only be met by a spirit-filled man. We have face the fact that we have to do all those things in the last three years of Grace Church. I [Pastor MacArthur] have to be on the alert, I[Pastor MacArthur have to be sort of General that understood what the enemy was doing and father people, provide for them a kind of protection, a kind of safety, a kind of security that made them feel safe, loved and secure, show strength and do all of that in love. It did not work out so well the last couple of years for a lot of institutions and a lot of churches, they really did none of those things. Or they did some of those things some of the time and some of those things none of the time. The result of that is now beginning to show up as life sort of slowly gets back to normal, and may go a little faster back toward normal with Elon Musk buying Twitter.
But now as these people who didn’t really exhibit those kinds of characteristics face the aftermath of what happened when they did not act that way. They try to put the pieces back together, it is not working out too well. There are seminaries, Christian institutions, are floundering massive budget cuts, staff cuts, faculty cuts, there are churches that may never come back again, they may never be able to recover where they were or even close to that. The evangelical landscape in terms of leadership has shifted significantly once we kind of thought we knew the team and now we’re not too sure who’s on what team. It’s as if there was all of a sudden an open market and everybody could re-draft everybody, and people are winding up with new teams and new groups and new theological definitions and new associations. And the whole thing is chaotic.
People ask me[Pastor MacArthur] what happen to your friend, it was interesting who didn’t say anything for two years about what Grace Church was doing, all kind of various things in the Christian Community, no one ever penned anything about what the lord was doing at Grace Community. It is like we were either an outlier or a threat. Or they didn’t want to be compared. But this was an opportunity where balancing out all these things including doing it in love. We stood where we should have stood. We are continue to do what we have been called by God to do. We are not going to waver, we are going to take whatever comes. You want your people to be willing to put their lives, their children, their resources, their future into your care. Life is not going to get back to what it was in the past. It is going down a pathway where strength is going to be very very important…. all the things about shutting the church had very little to do with Covid, but this was an opportunity for people who resented the church to take aim at the church, and cover it with the supposed pandemic. At the same time it was important for us to take the stand that we took through all of these on the woke issues, we took those stands with love because they were biblical. (note: just a contrarian view for you to see Why some hated Pastor John MacArthur so much)
…This is a very weak culture. The men in this culture are insipid and weak. Men have slipped when they are challenged by the culture, instead of standing up to the culture, they cave to the culture. And if you do that, if you give what the culture want, the culture will pull you down to the very bottom, like a ball and chain dropping you in the ocean. If you follow this culture, you are going to end up in feminism and LGBT and transgender-ism. That is where the culture will take you. …… Last couple of days Good Morning American program had a transgender 11 year old on as a hero – a pathetic tragic little boy dressed like a girl and made a hero out of him. One of the guys clapping for him was Michael Strahan of the NFL…. what is where we (culture) are.
25 Million children(one third of total) in America live without a biological father. … Children between grade 1-12, 40 percent of them live without a biological father. So where is the influence coming on them? And if there is no biological father, there is likely no mother in the home because she’s got a living to support the family. So they are at the mercy of the faculties of their elementary schools and so forth. And with the transgender and sexual identity, what you have is essentially a large core of lesbians who are now the school teachers grooming little children to be homosexuals. Grooming should be a crime, it should be a crime and it is if you are a heterosexual groomer….But it’s not if you’re a homosexual groomer you can join the teachers union, you can get a 35 little five-year-olds ?
50 percent of children in our country are born outside of marriage. 85% of prisoners are grown up in a fatherless home. 85 percent of children have behavior disorder come from father less homes. 90 percent of youth who run away and are homeless come from fatherless home. The majority of homeless come from fatherless homes. Such children are 300 more likely to do drugs and carry weapons. We have a massive, massive problems in our society that has nothing to do with past history. It has to do with the absence of men, strong men. This is a holocaust produced by sexual immortality, the relentless assault of feminism and overexposure to perversion and then just bad fathers. Nothing is more devastating to a society. The only hope for stability in a society, the only hope for peace in a society, the only hope for tranquility is virtuous manhood. And it basically has disappeared. Evil abounds everywhere and how men respond to that will determine society’s parameters.
Masculinity, how would you define that? It is the willingness and the determination to take responsibility to reduce evil and produce good. No culture can rise above the character of its fathers or the lack of it. The feminist lie has been that patriarchy is tyrannical, patriarchy is toxic, it needs to be destroyed. To destroy father/responsibility is to destroy society.
It is disastrous into Exodus 20: I the lord your God, I am visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children. Who is responsible for a generation’s influence on the next generation? It is the fathers. That gets visited on the third and fourth generation of them to hate me. Unconverted people hate God. If you have weak, sinful, iniquitous fathers, who hate God, that is going to be perpetuated into multiple generations. The corruption of any generation produces corruption subsequently. To those who love me and keep my commandments, therein lies the only possible hope for the society. Somebody has to love and keep his commandments….
One thing in synchronicity with all these happening is the huge extreme gaps of inequality produced by a extreme distorted value system – 50 years of trickle down economy fallacy. What a crumble middle class mean? Professor Robert Reich explains why the growing federal debt enriches Wall St. bankers and wealthy Americans. We need strong governments to pool resources to help those budding vulnerable. The American Democracy is falling. For the suppressed and the suppressing class, both are Dukkha.
The Eightfold Path – Right View and Right Intention with Climate Change as a Case Study
Right Understanding is clear knowledge of the Four Noble Truths, encompassing the “Three Basic Facts of Existence”: Anicca (Impermanence), Anatta (Pali for “non self” or “insubstantiality”; in Sankrit Anatman) and Dukkha (suffering or unsatisfactoriness). Without understanding the Four Noble Truths (the “diseases”) of what use is the “cure” (The Eightfold Path)? So Four Noble Truth teaches us to live within our means and be moderate in our interaction with others and with the environment. As the three poisons (Ignorance, Greed, and Aversion) often tip our minds off balance unconsciously. We need to be very vigilant to the mindset/attitudes behind our thought processes, speeches, and actions. The eightfold path is the way to self-cultivation and self-actualization. Right Intention means do no harm, no killing, and compassion.
One of the cases in point is the discussion of Global Warming and Climate Change. These are on the agenda of the World Economic Forum as well as on that of many governments. A huge problem in modern political governments is the lacking of what Buddhism called the Right View. People are blind-minded by science, and they do not realize the limitation of science, and thus instead of believing in the Right View, they are believing in the superstition/bias of science. Modern governments do not take into account the input of Native indigenous heritage, religion, metaphysical study, or other disciplines of holistic research. Western democracy used to be the model for other “non/less democratic” countries. However, people have seen a lot of social unrest, violence, inequality, human rights violations, and abuse of political power in western countries. In recent years, people have started questioning the western way of democracy and whether western democracy is the ultimate solution for a fair society. Meanwhile, inside China, the disruptive impacts of the market economy over the last 40 years have reared their ugly head, resulting in the revival of Chinese traditional philosophies and Confucius principles. The internationally intellectual circle has started dialogues on these pressing issues. That is a huge topic we can further explore in the future.
But since we are talking about climate and environment, we can first start with the cosmology of traditional Chinese philosophy. Climate and environment were specifically discussed in ancient Chinese, but ancient Chinese philosophy is built on the relationship of human with Heaven and Earth. A fundamental concept is the resonances of humans’ energy with that of Heaven and Earth. (天人感应), Another is the dynamic equilibrium. Confucius believes that let states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish. Confucians took to heart that our human nature comes from Heaven and that the Way of Heaven is accessible through self-knowledge. To understand the Mandate of Heaven we must continuously cultivate ourselves. This completes the triad of Heaven, Earth and humankind (天地人三才. Confucian regards Humanity as a partner of both Heaven and Earth, and he regards the Earth as a living entity.
In the west, English writer and speaker Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was well known for pioneering the interpretation and popularization of Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Zen, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy for a large Western audience. Alan Watts has 5 most important commendations for the people in the 21st century. In answering the question “How does one bring oneself into accord with the Tao?” He wrote in Become What You Are, “If you try to accord with it(Tao), you will get away from it(Tao)”. For to imagine there is a “you” separate from life which somehow has to accord with life is to fall straight into the trap. If you try to find the Tao, you are at once presupposing a difference between yourself and the Tao.” This is very much the same interpreation of Buddhism’s teaching of One (non-ducality). Alan Watts continued to explain:
In the West, “nature” is something that’s equated with the countryside or the mountains — a place that is wild and out there. Nature is thus something you enjoy from the safety of your couch via a David Attenborough documentary or when you finally get out of the city on the weekend. This divide between our daily life and the natural world has grown so much that most of us don’t know where the food we eat every day comes from and feel out of place in the silence and vastness of open, cementless spaces. In Chinese, the word for nature is ziran(自然）, which means “self so”, or “so of itself”. Ziran doesn’t mean green pastures over yonder. There is no word to distinguish between “us” and “nature” in Chinese. It means a spontaneous process that happens in and of itself. This notion of ziran （自然） — the natural, spontaneous process of life — is the basis of the principle of “Tao”. The Chinese philosophy based around living in accordance with the Tao, and that is attributed to the person (or likely persons) Lao Tzu, is called Taoism.
To continue combatting the issue of climate change/environmental protection, the native Indigenous American should be brought into the discussion as well. Before the Whites came to America, Indigenous Native America has been living in harmony with Heaven and Earth. But nowadays Native tribes are experiencing an environmental peril exacerbated by policies — first imposed by white settlers and later by the United States. Everything that we do as humans affects the environment in some shape or form. This fundamental belief put the Native American human on equal footing with the animal they hunted for food or the berries they took from the bush. It is said that United States Constitution is based on the Iroquois Constitution, the oldest living Constitution, also known as The Great Law of Peace, shares the Field Museum in Chicago. Our Founding Fathers, including Benjamin Franklin, were in contact with the leaders of the Iroquois Confederacy, and they were invited to speak to the Continental Congress in 1776. In 1988, the U.S. Senate recognized the Great Law of Peace as an inspiration for the United States Constitution, stating, “The confederation of the original 13 colonies into one republic was influenced by the political system developed by the Iroquois Confederacy, as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the constitution itself.” The Native Indigenous Americans helped the whites in many ways to adjust to the newfound land. Mother Teresa reminds us not to forget those who had helped us.
Among the religious group, there is quite a consensus on how the mind affects the climate and the unseen energy vibration. Here is what Pope Francis said on climate change:
Buddhist Monk Venerable ChinKung fully shares the view with that of Pope Francis. He said the craving mind of humanity accounts for the vibration of the magnetic field. This magnetic field to a large degree electrifies the personal level of individual circumstances and invigorates the collective level social atmosphere and environmental conditions. To testify to this point of view, we can look into the story of Master Xu Yun (虚云老和尚）prayed for the relief of severe drought conditions in the hot summer in August of 1900. During the war, the City of XiAn was in chaos: many people died, and disease and pandemics were rampant. The air was highly populated and smell very bad. Master XuYun led a group of over a thousand monks to pray and chant for seven straight days, eventually, the miracle happened and people got snow in the summertime. The Empress of that time, Chixi was so grateful that she made long bowed to Master XuYun.
So we definitely need to allocate resources to battle climate change. But we need to get into the root cause and have a holistic consideration. The resources should be given to the most needed area rather than political interest groups/or lobbying groups. Just like we are against a drug abuse economy, we are against a climate change economy. Science and technology, by themselves, will not be able to reverse the effect of climate change. Professor Chomsky explains why social, racial, and economic justice is just as crucial as science in determining how humans can reverse climate catastrophe. Looking into Green New Deal, the Degrowth movement, the tension between unions and the environmental movement, and climate change are more of a democracy problem rather than an economic issue.
Finally all it boils down to love and mind, Famous mystics and Astrologist Isabel Hicky summarized it the best:
Eight-Fold Path – Right Livlihood
The eight-fold Path is truly a tool for living in a time of crisis. Buddhists suggest avid jobs that lead you contrary to the Eightfold Path. These could include:
- Meat plant workers
- Arms dealers
- Drug dealers
- Pornography and prostitution
- Con men
- Jobs requiring the misrepresentation of the truth.
- Butcher
- Work in the Army
Although I had written many articles before talking about medical drug abuse, but still I am so shocked by the extent of substance abuse in America. I really go far beyond my imagination. It is said at least 1/3 of people in the U.S use substances. This is truly a manifestation of the crisis of lost faith. Compare with the Chinese Culture Revolution, now I just found out that the Beat Generations in the U.S.A for the same period is an understatement. Drugs: What does America get wrong about addiction and policy? Look at these teenager-affected numbers, to me, these are the best hide secrets.
We heard arguments about the ideology of “left” and “right”. We are bombarded with economic data, but there is no voice to be heard from those that are beaten. Maybe the sickness in the west is a mentality of separateness to all “non-me” as Master Thick Nant Hanh described. How come the Supreme court does not even consider overhauling marijuana’s legal usage and putting an end to substance abuse by taking some measures to help those needed? Has it ever occurred to your mind that we all might be those victims in some incarnation?
What is Wrong With the United States?
As an outsider of politics or ideology and a person grown up in Asia, in the last 5-6 years, I frankly never experienced so many discords and media arguments in my life. I feel like escaping someplace that can get away from all these squabbles. Granted, the country is having its Pluto return opposing its natal Mercury, a transit Neptune in opposition to its natal Natune in the last 10 years, and now a transit Chiron returning against its natal Saturn and natal Juno (which is an asteroid symbolized committed equal partnership). In addition, the baby boomers of this country, which represented at least 16 percent of the population (according to 2019 numbers) are also having their natal Pluto in Leo being opposed by the transit Saturn in Aquaria. Astrologically speaking, we are at the start of a very new cycle. So this is a huge inflection point, for the country and for each of us individually.
Colloquial English idiom speaks about change being constant. The Chinese slant says Fengshui take turns: thirty years river east and thirty years river west. Buddhism talked about Impermanence. Life is an ongoing journey for elevating our soul’s evolution. Let us face reality and go with the flow of transformation.
We humans all have a tendency to like being prosperous and dislike being poor, enjoy sunny days and dislike stormy weather, and delight in taking and aversion to giving. Appreciate the comfort and loathe suffering. But just as with so many things in life, there are ups so there are downs, there are left so there are right. there are roots so there is fruit, the duality of the nature of our world requires us to think more philosophically about the silver lining of the dark cloud, so speak. Suffer and loss serves their meaning. In the endless cycles of destruction and rebirth, we have all been there at some point in time. Before he became a Buddha, Shakyamuni had suffered a lot in many lives. He made a lot of mistakes, like all of us. He made himself suffer, and he made people around him suffer. Contrary to what most people think that there is nothing to gain from negativity ( here I mean unpleasant experience), the YinYang Symbol shows us that for every loss there is some gain on the other side, for every gain, there is some loss on the other side. Ultimately, nothing is really gained, and nothing is really lost if we see if your the perspective of energy.
On many levels, our country is experiencing unprecedented shock as we realize how our ideas and the social-political system had failed the test against reality. However, this is not the first time. We had this shock when John Kennedy was assassinated, we had this shock when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and We had this shock when Trappist monk and Theologian Thomas Merton, a groundbreaking leader who challenged the hypocrisies of our age and instead offered his meditations on the power of prayer, and We had this shock when President Nixon announced the end of the Bretton Woods International Monetary System and replace it with the Fiat U.S dollar. What we perceived as threatening/hostile circumstances are actually the echo of a series of choices we made decades earlier, and some much-needed adjustments we had rejected thus far.
2020 was a watershed. On top of all the chaos of the pandemic, we had an outdated medical system that failed to meet the challenge of our era, and we have an economy that advocates heavily on consumerism to boost GDP and a private central bank that lives on a rent-seeking system of fractional banking. As a result, the majority of the countrymen are wiped out by disaster Capitalism and suffer from high inflation caused by the energy shortage and supply chain reconfiguration. But our agony was actually rooted much further, basically, we were trapped in neoliberalism – a fundamentally biased worldview of destructive individualism, secularism that denies the higher purpose of life and rejects the cause-effect spiritual path, and an attitude of exceptionalism toward highly differentiated crony capitalism that dismissal responsibility and tradition. We have been so busy projecting our energy outside that we forget to look inside to ask for what we really need to lead a happy life. We had ambitiously asserted our ideology to the world, only to find decades later so many revolutions/coups/assassinations turned out to have unintended consequences and backfire on our higher purpose. We have lived in our own lying for so long that we are not able to distinguish between delusion and reality. It is not that our enemies did not had their share of problems, faults, and misjudgments, but for the purpose of our soul’s growth, we own to ourselves to do self-searching and introspection.
As we went through all the crises, we became more aware of the nature of interdependence (not co-dependence) in this world. I was recently watching a documentary about Iran, In one of the episodes it said, “Iran’s greatest enemy is the United States”; which naturally lead me to think, “who is United States’ greatest enemy?” and the question reminded me of the long list, although I almost forgot about it the last 3-4 years with all the talking about the trade war with China. And now with the Russia Ukraine war, the American media, and perhaps the media in the Western world all claimed that Russia invade Ukraine, but Professor Jeffery Sache, in an interview, said, cold war thinking remains very strong even today. I do not quite agree with his point of view on climate-change, but his analysis of Ukraine’s Russian war is good for sharing with the countrymen.
In the 1990s when Soviet Union Gorbachev said we are going to have massive political reform; Sache advised giving Russia more help, “Help them? Are you kidding?” That was the kind of attitude the U.S government had towards the USSR. Professor Jefferey Sache said he regards that as the underline deep source of our problem since then.The USA just wants to be in control, that is the kind of mentality that goes way back, it is American exceptionalism; It is the deep belief of many Americans, also at the top of the system, that the world is only safe if only American runs the show; Sache doesn’t share the view, he thinks other people don’t want to be run by outsiders; they want to run their own affairs, in a cooperative way, therein lies the tension, Everyday to now with this war we still hear: the US, leader of the free world, US, leader of the west; the US, leader of Nato, much American think, of course, that is the way, but what he said fell on deaf ears.
What we hear from the rhetoric from mainstream media in the USA, is that Putin is a Hitler, he has to stop, and we have to defeat him. The man is crazy, living a dream world of Russian Imperialism. There is no stopping him, any agreement is to rip up a piece of paper. Professor Sche said he lived through this kind of characterization, what we hear is not real, it is propaganda, and we should be negotiating. Every decade there is a new Hitler we can not deal with. Whether it was Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao or Nicaragua, Iraq, or Syria, we are really good at this game of rhetoric. Since Professor Sache is all over the world, virtually all the time speaking with world leaders, Professor Sache said what we hear is propaganda, not real. We should be negotiating, actually, Biden refused to negotiate with Putin in 2021 because Putin raised a very specific set of points. One was the enlarged Nato, and there was a chorus here in the USA saying that was herring, that was a phony issue. But that was not fake, Sache said he had been in this issue since 1990 when the West promised Gorbachev that no nato enlargement. We are liars. The USA cheated and continued to do so, and Biden Adm refused to negotiate. That is straightforward, except that was not the story that was told. Then there is the question of Ukraine itself which is an ethnically divided country because there is a significant Russian minority. Those are real issues by the way, although war is the answer to them in any sense. But there was a very complicated, very difficult conflict where the USA was stirring the pot also, back in a decade ago and especially around 2014-2015, there were actually agreements reached for the area where the fighting is raging right now – the Don-bass region.
Agreements were called the Minsk-I and Minsk-II. They were signed by the Ukraine government. Then Ukraine’s government said we don’t want to do those, and when Putin says well what about the Minsk agreements? He was shouted down or ignored. Oh, they don’t exist, they were unfair, they were this, they were that. But there were actually agreements. Professor Sache said when he said this, he can only tell you how many emails he is going to get from Ukrainian Canadians, Ukrainian-American: Sache, are you crazy, what are you saying? But the truth is, diplomacy is crucial if you’re going to avoid wars. Signing agreements matters. You can’t just walk away from them. That is true of Russia, and it is true of Ukraine, it is true of the United States also. We actually should be sitting down and negotiating. All our media don’t discuss the substance of what this war is really about. Or what its roots are or even what its claims of Putin are. Just say repeatedly he is Hitler, he is a madman. He is out of control, there is nothing to do but defeat him. that is our mantra, that kind of the mantra that can get us all killed if we do down this route. Because it is false, and it’s extraordinarily dangerous. Because like it or not, Russia had 1600 active nuclear warheads. And we don’t even want to sit down to talk and shame our government for not having diplomacy with Russia. At least sit, talk, discuss and explain. We don’t do that, we just say victory victory victory on the battlefield. Sache said he is not in for that because this is a very dangerous and unwise approach.
Professor Sache said, a peace agreement was on the table actually back at the end of March and then Ukraine walked away because the U.S told them to walk away. We’re providing the weapons and the U.S, and even more, the U.K which is a more experienced empire than the U.S, which has a mindset even though it is long gone but still has an imperial mindset that is even more imperial than our mindset. They said to Ukrainians: don’t negotiate, you don’t have to, just beat them, beat them on the field, so what was on the table at end of March was basically neutrality for Ukraine so that Nato and Russia wouldn’t be right up against the border with each other. When you have two forces right up against each other, you are in a tripwire of nuclear war, we should have a zone where we’re apart, where there is some time to talk. Some time to work out problems for deconfliction, but no, we wanted to be right up against the border. But what Brzezinski said back at the end of March was neutrality, neutrality with guarantees. Okay, what is a very valid one. Point two was something on the Donruss. Even though there were Minsk-I and Minsk-II, you can’t just walk away, you have to do something about them.The third point is everybody on the inside acknowledges there is no answer is Crimea. Because Crimea is a weird story of Russia’s seaport on the Black Sea – its naval base in Sverdlovsk, is so crucial for Russian security. But Khrushchev in 1954 of what was then a completely symbolic gesture. When Russia was administrative lines that were within an overall state. he said, okay, we gift Crimea from Russia to Ukraine, it didn’t mean anything when there was a soviet army and soviet naval base and all the rest. but after 1991, it certainly meant something, and what happened in 2014 was the pro-Russian President was overthrown. Russia views that as the U.S instigated a coup. There is something to that, and that is one of those things that the western media simply will not discuss and it’s so deeply hidden in classified documents, that may be in 50 years, someone will write a good book about Ukraine 2014 if we get to 50 years from now.
In 2014, the Russian President Yanukovych was overthrown, at that moment, Putin seized Crimea and there was a referendum, hard to know much about it. But Crimea became part of Russia. Just say there are three things on the table: neutrality, the Donbas, and Crimea. Crimea, the basic answer was Okay, we continue to negotiate, it is a frozen conflict. the Donbas something like the Minsk agreements, and then the government of Ukraine walked away from this. Even after reports that were close to an agreement, then we have our defense secretary and our state department which used to be diplomats, but now it’s warriors, saying we’re gonna defeat Russia, and so everything went away about the negotiations. That is the long-winded answer to your question. We weren’t so far from actually having a negotiated outcome. And then Ukraine walked away under the instigation of the United States.
Maybe we should ask, why U.S government had so many enemies? Without the propaganda and rhetoric of untruth from our government and media controlled by interest groups, we the people will not be this confused. Along the line of thought, how does it benefit the People of the United States and world peace with the murder of Soleimani, the Iran general? And how does it benefits the People of the United States and world peace when the government claims Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel? How does it benefit the People of United States to had a historical lowest tax rate for the super rich when the wealthy 10 percent of population owns 89 percent of stock in USA? Federal Reserve data indicates that as of Q4 2021, the top 1% of households in the United States held 32.3% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50% held 2.6%. In recent decades, wealth inequality has substantially increased in the United States. From 1989 to 2019, wealth became increasingly concentrated in the top 1% and top 10% due in large part to corporate stock ownership concentration in those segments of the population; the bottom 50% own little if any corporate stock. From an international perspective, the difference in US median and mean wealth per adult is over 600.
Without those self-serving irresponsible policies from our government for the super riches, the United States may be able to have better usage of resources to provide better living conditions to its constituents? A better medical system, a better education system, a better economy? A narrowed gap of wealth? A more just and inclusive society? A better system to assist the immigrants from the Global south. And to align better our speech and actions with God’s will? To foster our spiritual growth and accumulate more good karma? Iran is a good example, and so does Turkey.