Peak Oil, Peak Coal, and Beyond

To transcend suffering and attain happiness, to become enlightened, we need the time to practice.

To have the time to practice, we need good fortune.

To utilize good fortune, we need the right conditions.

To foster the right conditions, we need a peaceful society and a healthy planet.

Bottom line: if there’s an environmental meltdown, we’ll be too busy struggling to survive to have the time to practice.

 

Please make the time to view Jaiaia Donaldson's conversation with Richard Heinberg called Peak Oil, Peak Coal, and Beyond. I’ve watched many of the conversations on Peak Moments Television. Janaia and Robyn Mallgren have done an amazing job of educating us. But instead of my trying to tell you how important their work is and how much I admire their dedication, I’d rather you spend the time viewing this program.

Essentials for Reading the Sutras

 

What is explained in the sutras of the great canon is no more than discipline, concentration, and wisdom.

In reading the scriptures, there are two kinds of mistakes. One mistake is to cling to the literal text and miss the inner principles. The second mistake is to recognize the principles but not apply them to your own mind, so that you waste time and just make them into causes of entanglement.

If you can fully comprehend the practice of discipline, concentration, and wisdom, this in itself is what is called constantly abiding from moment to moment in the scriptural teachings of the great canon, and being mindful of thousands and millions of volumes of sutras.

We must also recognize that this discipline, concentration, and wisdom are equivalent to the method of Buddha-remembrance [mindfully chanting "Amituofo"]. How so?

Discipline means preventing wrongdoing. If you can wholeheartedly practice Buddha-remembrance, evil will not dare to enter—this is discipline.

Concentration means eliminating the scattering [characteristic of ordinary mind]. If you wholeheartedly practice Buddha-remembrance, mind does have any other object—this is concentration.

Wisdom means clear perception. If you contemplate the sound of the Buddha-name with each syllable distinct, and also contemplate that the one who is mindful and the one who is the object of this mindfulness are both unattainable—this is wisdom.

Thus Buddha-remembrance is discipline, concentration, is and wisdom. What need is there to follow texts literally when reading the scriptures?

Time passes quickly; life does not remain solid forever. I hope all of you will make the work of Pure Land practice your urgent task. Do not think that what I say is false and fail to heed it.

~ The Pure Land Teachings Of Master Chu-Hung, trans. By J.C. Cleary

How to Change a Flat Tire

 

When we are learning Buddhism, we gradually begin to have brief glimmers of understanding. With these glimmers, we understand we need to let go of our old egoistic ways of doing things. But we need to go further. If we only drop the old without taking up the wiser way, we won’t go far.

It’s like a flat tire. If we take off the flat and then drive off we’re in trouble. We need to put on the good tire before we proceed.

Getting angry is the flat tire. Patience is the good tire.

Selfishness is the flat tire. Generosity is the good tire.

Becoming depressed because we’re not doing everything right is the flat tire. Knowing that we’re now trying to do as the Buddhas taught but it will take time for us to completely reform is the good tire.

We need to complete the process and put on that new tire before we can effectively continue our journey.

Maintaining the Calm, Clear Mind

One time when the Buddha was staying in Sravasti, an incident came to his attention. Close to where he was visiting resided a number of monks and nuns. It happened that when some nuns were spoken ill of, one of the monks would become angry. When that monk was spoken ill of, the nuns would become angry. After confirming with the monk that this was accurate, the Buddha advised the monk that he should discipline himself and hold the thoughts: “My mind will not change [be swayed], I will not utter evil words, I will abide with compassion and loving kindness without an angry thought.” [1]

The Buddha then told the monastics to always remember that even ordinarily calm minds can be disturbed in difficult times. So the monastics needed to train themselves to remain calm, regardless of the situation. The Buddha recounted how there was once a woman who lived in the same city where he and the monastics currently were. Everyone regarded the woman as gentle and quiet. She had a slave named Kali who was clever and hardworking. Kali wondered whether her mistress was as mild-tempered as she seemed. Might her mistress actually be hiding a bad temper? Perhaps Kali was so effi­cient that her mistress had not had cause to reveal her true temper!

Kali decided to test her mistress by getting up later than usual one morning. When the mistress saw Kali and asked her why she got up late, Kali responded that she did not have a reason. The mistress became angry. The next morning Kali got up even later. Once more, her mistress questioned her. And once more, Kali replied that she did not have a reason. When this happened yet again on the third morning, the infuriated mistress struck Kali. Bleed­ing, Kali ran out of the house crying out that her mistress had hit her because she had gotten up late! Word of what had happened spread and with it the report that the mistress was actually violent and bad-tempered.

The Buddha pointed out to the monastics that as long as they did not hear anything disagreeable or unpleasant, most of them were quiet and well behaved. But when they heard something objectionable, such words became a test as to whether they were truly calm and polite. The Buddha gave an example: Monks may be gentle and kind because they have everything they need. But if they become upset when their needs go unfulfilled, then they are not truly gentle.

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[1] Sister Upalavanna, translator, Kakacupama Sutta, MN 21, (http://www.saigon.com/~anson/ebud/majjhima/021-kakacupama-sutta-e1.htm)

Wish Flowers

 

One day
a field of blazing yellow.
Later, one week,
a sea of bobbing white
fluffy spheres.
Tiny living parachutes
floating off to nearby valley
carefully, with seed.

Next year
the field mowed flat.
No joyful splash of gold,
no ragged grasses
poking up around the edge.
Not one wish left
to fly along with breezes
uninhibited and free.

~ Cameo 2008 ~