Sure has been a long time since I’ve posted anything to this Blog.
I apologize.
I can remember when I was a child one of my favorite pastimes was sitting in the mud. Don’t remember what was so appealing about it, but I would spend hours sitting and playing and if an insect happened by, I would grab it and inspect it. Unfortunately for the insect it was likely that my curiosity about its anatomy would lead to its death, unless of course the insect was a wasp or a bee, in which case, I remember being confused and angry when I was ‘bitten’ by it, and would run to my mother for comfort.
I’ve always liked getting to the bottom of things, I suppose that is one of the reasons I became Buddhist.
You may have noticed that a couple of my last few articles were more about regurgitation than inspiration. I suppose I was feeling a pressure to write something, anything.
Before I began this blog, I imagined that I could write on forever drawing from my Buddhist experiences. Perhaps this is just a long winded explanation for writers block, I really don’t know. I enjoy writing the articles when I get an idea; the article simply flows.
I’ve made a decision about the blog though, I won’t write unless I have something to write about; seems pointless for me to post meaningless drivel.
Between now and my next article I intend to be introspective, maybe I’ll even take a sit in the mud, who knows.
Life is inspiration and spending some time simply living might just be what the doctor ordered.

Regards,
Ambud

Ultimately when we meditate and practice we are conditioning positive energy.
If we practice a loving kindness meditation for example, we condition love in our own hearts even though the practice is directed outward.
When we meditate regularly this positive conditioning becomes part of our interaction with our world. There’s no magic to it, just cause and condition.
We can also condition negative energy in much the same way. Certainly we don’t intend to create negative energy, especially when meditating. But if we begin our day aggravated by some minor annoyance, or become aggravated during the day and respond habitually with anger etc., over time, this is how we will react to our world.

Meditation can help us maintain a positive outlook and change the way we feel about ourselves and others. Some people seem to have a natural gift of seeing the bright side of things and we love these people. They make us feel good just being around them.
Others, myself included, need to meditate regularly to keep this mind space active.

My wife; Melissa is one of those people who manages to keep light hearted and happy most of the time. She does meditate, but when I met her she didn’t, and she has always had this pleasant disposition. I’ve talked to her about her outlook, and to her it’s very simple; she wants to be happy and doesn’t see the point in being negative.
She seems to look for positive interaction and dismiss negative without denying it.
Don’t get me wrong, if she does get annoyed, she will let you know, but she finds no value in conflict and negativity in most circumstances.

I’ve tried to adopt this way of thinking with some success, but meditation and coming back to the present are the tools that really help me in this regard. I’m curious how others who seem to maintain happiness almost effortlessly do it.
Is it a commitment to peace, or something hardwired?

Either way, I’m thankful for the people who love life and find happiness in almost all situations. For me, I’ll keep meditating and someday hope to condition this gift into my own being.

Ambud

The Sunday Times

Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA
Channel 4, 9pm
You won’t believe this. In the second episode of his full-on American series, Gordon Ramsay visits Hannah and Mason’s, a French-style bistro in Cranbury, New Jersey. Instead of the program you would expect (the food is disgusting, the kitchen is filthy and the staff are dysfunctional) he sits down and samples their menu. And a look of astonishment comes over his face. It is one of the best meals he has ever tasted.
In front of millions of viewers, he bows his head, and – in a halting, scarcely audible voice – admits he can sometimes be wrong. He apologizes to all the people he has ever offended. He says he will donate 90 per cent of his fortune to charity and will be retiring to a Buddhist monastery in Devon for the next 18 months. If only it were true.
Ambud –
I must admit that I do watch Kitchen Nightmares, I also watch Top Chef (love the show, although the latest seasons talent seems kinda weak to me).
What is it that draws our attention to shows like Hells Kitchen and Kitchen nightmares ? I suppose we could say that Gordon Ramsey adds value to our society by helping dysfunctional restaurants get back on track, but I think he takes much more than he gives.
I wonder if he actually acts the way he does on TV in his own restaurants. I can’t imagine his staff lasting for any period of time under his demeaning and abusive management style. If he acts the way he does on TV simply for entertainment value, we have to wonder why we want this kind of entertainment.
There is another show I recently noticed appearing on Spike TV. The title is ‘1000 Ways to Die’ and the previews look somewhat disturbing. Ok, I admit it; I succumbed to morbid curiosity and watched part of the show. Basically, the show reenacts the weirdest deaths you can imagine and some strange narrator comments on the reenactment with no respect for the dead at all.
It seems reality shows are constantly upping the ante; looking for new and more intense plot lines to peek our interest , almost makes me wonder if there will eventually be a show like ‘The Running man’ airing weekdays at eight.
What is this thirst we have to witness others pain? Does it somehow make us feel better about our own misery?
I sure hope that our society isn’t so miserable that we need this kind of programming to release our pain.

As I write this there are estimates that our national unemployment rate may get as high as 10% in 2009. No matter whom you are, this economy will have an effect on you.

The company that I do most of my work for has already begun its expense reductions in hopes of finding its way through the din.

I would love to report that I have no anxiety about this situation, but in fact, the prospect of being unemployed weighs heavy on my mind. While I’m sure that we have all had enough bad news, I think preparing ourselves to weather the storm is a good idea.

When I refer to preparing ourselves I’m not speaking about squirreling away money or selling our possessions, I am talking about preparing our minds.

I’m thankful that I recently took the tri-cycle 90 day meditation challenge since it reminds me that the hardest times to meditate are often our most challenging times, which are the times we need meditation the most.

When I look at my mind during meditation I see resistance to change as my biggest obstacle to overcome during this time of economic uncertainty.  It’s interesting how changes that come from this kind of turmoil often do turn out for the best, but it’s still difficult to find comfort in that.

I decided that what I need is an antidote, one that will help me to re-enforce that everything is change; constant and unrelenting. The attachment I feel when I am anxious about unemployment is a result of my desire for permanence and perfection in the universe and in my life. I find that it is far easier to keep the proper perspective about things while meditating, than it is when not meditating. This is why I am choosing an antidote to help me during the day.

So, what’s my antidote?

I’m taking wisdom from the words of Paul McCartney; ‘let it be’.

Sounds simple I know, but what else can we do? The economic climate, unemployment rate and other uncertainties are not within my control. I will modify my practice to develop more patience for life’s imperfections, my imperfections, I will add more meditations to my routine that will help me be more rooted in my own emptiness, but when it comes down to feeling anxious about unemployment I will soften to the experience of it, accept it, and ‘let it be’.  I will ask myself; “what’s happening to me right now”, and if I’m not currently starving or sitting at the end of the unemployment line, I will let it be. If I am starving then I’m sure that my mind will instruct me on the best way to find food.

As we welcome the New Year we are often reminded of the past.

The TV recounts all the events that occurred in the prior year and we recollect all of our failures and successes, we think about the loved ones lost and the new friends we have met.

For many of us this is a particularly emotional time with feelings of optimism for what might come and regret for what has passed.

Buddhism offers solace in its commitment to being present, being now. I often wonder how other Buddhists relate to their own pasts; do they explore it, or refuse to see it as relevant. To me this is sort of a recurring topic; the opportunity to move with change and learn from it, or the often delusional position of denial that can come through a flawed Buddhist practice.

I don’t pretend to speak for other Buddhists, but I have attended group functions where many of my peers and I, had an understanding of concepts that were in retrospect, somewhat perverted.

Its an easy trap to fall into when you are learning about the ideals of Buddhism; be present, be now, can easily be misinterpreted as ‘don’t look back’ and ‘don’t look forward’.

This is certainly a slippery subject to write about; on the one hand, we want to get to a place in our practice where the only moment that matters is now, on the other, we can’t progress on our path without understanding our past. It’s easy to jump over our past and pretend it never happened and attempt to live in the ‘now’ without it.

What happens when we deny our past and pickup our lives from ‘now’, putting on a peaceful and serene face for others to see?

Are we Charlatans?

Can we force peace through denial?

I am reminded of a young man I met many years ago, he was very eager to begin a new life as an ordained monk in a Tibetan Buddhist community. When he put on his robe, he shed his past; the years of drug abuse and poor behavior as a result of it disappeared in his mind as though they never existed. He had changed his path, he was now pure and on his way to enlightenment through his commitment to Buddhism.

I didn’t have any more contact with this monk after he was ordained, so I can only speculate on what happened as practice progressed. I imagine that since he studied with an exceptional teacher that he found his way, but not without seeing how his past created his ‘now’.

Working with the past skillfully

I’m not suggesting that living in our past is the right way, I’m not even suggesting that we should continue to revisit our past over and over, I am suggesting that our past is relevant to how we will practice, and what challenges we will meet along the way.

If we are reluctant to see it with clarity, understanding, and compassion, we will remain stuck in it. One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves, as we work with love and compassion for others, is to throw ourselves a bone, forgive and remember to love ourselves.

If you have ever really worked through why you did something awful in the past, you likely found that it wasn’t because you were some horrible monster that wanted to make pain for someone else; rather it was a result of excessive attachment to self. We are wired to preserve self at all cost and as such make dreadful decisions about the greater good.

As we meditate, or go through our day with some awareness, we will occasionally experience a trigger that will bring a painful experience from the past into clear view.

This is when we have the option to accept and acknowledge our pain, or push it away and pretend it doesn’t exist. If we push the pain away, we can be certain that it will return; at some point another trigger will make us rehash our dastardly deed.

If we sit with the pain, understand its texture, feel its effect on our body, bravely watch it pass with compassion; the pain will lessen and we will begin to let go.

The more we acknowledge and accept our past when it visits, the more we will be able to sit in the present and truly experience the ‘now’.

I’m happy to see that there is a resurgence of interest in Buddhism in the United States.

It would be nice to undo some of the stigma created in the 60’s and 70’s as a result of false gurus and misinterpreted concepts of ‘free love’.

What is it that has so many suddenly embracing a spirituality that’s been around over 2500 years; apparently, it is the often misunderstood notion of reincarnation.

China has inadvertently created this new interest with its attempts to quell the beliefs and practices of the Tibetan people. Sort of ironic; China’s perversion of the age old practice of the identification of the Panchen and Dalai Lamas, has brought new interest to Buddhism.

Traditionally “living Buddhas” are identified in boyhood through a mixture of tests and divination by Buddhist monks after a lama dies. But this summer Beijing announced it would control the process and reserve the right to approve incarnations .

Tibetans have already seen this happen with the second most senior figure in Tibetan Buddhism, the Panchen Lama. There are now two rival Panchens. The boy recognised by the Dalai Lama is now 19, and is said to be in a Chinese prison.

                        -The Guardian

Read More.. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/nov/28/china.religion.

But what about reincarnation, does Buddhism actually embrace the idea of a permanent soul that moves from Life to Life, seems like something is askew here, how can a philosophy that denies permanence support reincarnation?

The simple answer is; it doesn’t.

We need to take a look at the difference between rebirth and reincarnation to help clear up some of this confusion. Rebirth happens from moment to moment; each thought we have, and all the cells that make up our body die and are replaced, often at lightning speeds. While the new thoughts that come, and the replacement cells that rejuvenate us are a direct result of our last moment, they are not the same. Essentially, we are reborn from moment to moment.

My favorite illustration of this is: shooting pool; when we hit the cue ball its energy forces the eight ball to move forward. The eight ball isn’t the cue ball, but its movement is certainly the result of it.

Reincarnation is different from rebirth since it espouses a movement of an entity from one lifetime to another. Of course this is dependent on what religion etc. we are referring to;  Hinduism for example supports the idea of the soul (atman) moving between  different realms of existence; when the body dies, the soul either resides in Hell until it repays all its sins or in heaven until it has worn out its welcome, and then incarnates into some sentient form on earth.

Buddhism on the other hand supports the notion of a sequence of lives stretching over countless millennia without a ‘self’ that ties these lives together as illustrated above. There isn’t a belief that the personality continues after death, only that in the last moment of life we condition the next moment of existence, like the cue ball hitting the eight ball.

Ambud