The Galleries: Three Stops...

(I'm happy to report that dialogue is blossoming on Persist: The Blog. The question sent out via various social media was this: "If you're a creative person, how do you define 'success'?" If interested, check it out, join in...! Tweet me! Or Facebook me! You'll be glad you did...)

My friend Jeff Koegel designed the cover for Persist, the book. You can hardly have missed the image on The Buddha Diaries or in one of the tireless (I hope not tiresome!) blasts I've been putting out to spread the word. Now Jeff has a solo show in Los Angeles, and Ellie and I made his show at Merry Karnowsky Gallery our first stop.

I was amazed, immediately, by the sheer volume of work that Jeff has produced in a relatively short time. These are all "new paintings," and there are a lot of them to look at. They're an interesting study in contrasts--between bold swaths of black and white, and areas of bright color; wide paths tracked, often edge to edge, and delicate connecting lines, like spiders' webs, that lead the eye from image to image, shape to shape; elements that suggest landscape, others that are severely structural, architectural; abstract form and representational image; organizational design and lyrical asides...

The paintings read something like those Japanese scroll works, hung in close proximity. They suggest narratives that the viewer can explore, following the path of his or her own eye. The recurrent theme is the relationship between man and the natural environment, a continuing adventure that is dominated by the passage of time and the inevitable process of entrop

y that accompanies it. I happen to love, particularly, Jeff's birds--direct descendants of the dinosaurs, of course, who seem to regard us human beings with beady bemusement, and who can be seen at once as creatures of sublime beauty and ominous harbingers of death. (For images, you'll have to go to Jeff's website, where you can get a much fuller sense of his work. Apologies to him for purloining this little one--I don't think he'll mind.)

Our next stop was at Edward Cella's Art + Architecture gallery, a new space, recently relocated from Santa Barbara, where we were graciously greeted by the owner himself. It's a nicely-designed, clean space--as you'd expect of a gallery devoted to the intersection between art and architecture. And the current show, Frederick Fisher's Thinking by Hand is a wonderful example of what this means. I have know Fred's architectural work for decades, and have written about it in the past, so I was delighted to have the chance to, as it were, watch his mind at work in this exhibition which combines imaginary projects for art museums with, in an adjacent gallery, a host of small watercolor "drawings" in which the architect explores the ideas for these projects.

I loved the presentation of the projects themselves--long digital prints hung as scroll paintings, with crisp images of architectural drawings, finely imagined exteriors and interiors, and a few whimsical asides. And the unassuming, gentle watercolors...

... defy the inherent arrogance of architecture and imagine instead the solidity of architectural forms in delicate blocks of color and assemblages of form, small visual treats that excite the eye and provide, even in their delicacy, a profound kind of pleasure and satisfaction. Their intimacy invites playful interaction, and brings the hard edge of architecture down to a softer, human scale. Very lovely.

The last stop I'll mention was at Acme Gallery, still installing at the time of our visit with three shows. I was attracted particularly by the work of Lisa Borgnes, a fellow blogger, by the way, who works on large-scale "samplers" stitched with wry, sardonic lyrics of her own creation. Go to the gallery site for images--well worth the side trip! Her play is on the domesticity that was expected of women back in the nineteenth century, who were taught to create those often pious objects jusat as they were taught "their place" in society; on feminism and its dicta; and on the current (highly commercialized) worship of youth and beauty. She makes cheerful mockery of the whole mess, and asserts an independence, both as a woman and an artist, that is at once irresistibly funny and seductive. I'll be adding her blog, A Bloomsbury Life, to my blogroll, and hope that readers of The Buddha Diaries will join me in delighting in her musings.

Oh, and don't forget to go see her show.

Drill, Baby, Drill...

Yeah. Thanks. Get thee to a dentist, Sarah Palin! And here's hoping the Big O will take note of this event.

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/30/2010

"Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom."

~The Buddha

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The Shadow Knows

I sat last night in my circle of men for the first time in several weeks. It's always an opportunity for each of us to take a hard look at our lives, and to explore those parts that are not working for us as they might. These are the parts we are eager, in normal circumstances, to hide, repress or deny, because it is usually more comfortable to ignore them than to pay attention to them. Still, unattended, they persist in causing us pain, and in standing between us and those around us; and all too often they block the flow of our efforts to achieve. It's a place to be authentic, to acknowledge the bullshit that we tell ourselves and others, to get back in touch with our integrity. I have been missing it...

So I had the opportunity, last night, to look at a conflict I had been aware of only as a vague feeling of discomfort and frustration. I have been noticing it particularly in the past few days--a familiar feeling that I'm so busy being busy that the real work, the writing, gets short shrift. And looking a bit closer at those feelings, I rediscovered the inner contradiction that is at the heart of "Persist"--the contradiction between the part of me that genuinely want to disattach from outcomes, and the part I'm less likely to acknowledge, the one that's ambitious, hungry for recognition and even, yes, financial reward. The part--I blush, but this is the point of getting past the bullshit--that takes guilty delight in counting the money after a good night's sales!

It's this kind of exploration of the shadow side that makes the work we do in our circle so important and so valuable. When the shadow is behind me, it's capable of controlling me in ways that provoke suffering and anger. When it's out in front where I can shine the light on it, it loses some of its power. I may be unable to get rid of entirely, but at least I'm less subject to its whims. The circle is a great way to make this happen. In the first place, I have other men to hold me accountable; I'm confident that they will recognize my bullshit, and hold my feet to the fire when necessary. And then, too, the work of self-accountability becomes more powerful when it's realized in the presence of others, and not simply in the comfortably private arena of my own mind. The commitments are less easy to make and less easy to break when other men are listening.

So I'm grateful for having discovered this work, now nearly eighteen years ago; and for having embraced it in the years since then. It's a benefit I would wish for every man--especially for those whose misplaced masculine energies contribute so greatly to the troubles of this world.

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/29/2010

"The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings."

~The Buddha

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Down in "The Muck"

Please read this post at today's entry in Persist: The Blog.

But before you do... here's the tail end of a dream that puzzles me:

I'm at a meeting or workshop of some kind at a sea-front hotel. All the participants are men. The only part I remember is a process where we walk around this big room, confronting other men with a slap on both cheeks. I am not sure whether I am supposed to slap my own cheeks first, then his, or vice versa. It's also unclear how hard the slap is supposed to be: hard enough, I think, to be something of a jolt, but not hard enough to actually hurt.

I find myself looking out of the window at the ocean. The sky is darkening, the horizon line between sea and sky clearly defined, but subtle. Now I notice the arrival of water spouts, dozens of them, white, dancing toward the shore across the surface of the ocean. It's an amazing spectacle. Children are still playing at the beach, people are swimming and water-sporting in the surf, but they seem unperturbed; and indeed, when the waterspouts approach the shore, they change into little, harmless puffs of smoke.

I'm so enchanted by this scene, I call on the others, behind me, to come to the window and take a look, but they are slow in responding, and I'm annoyed that they will miss this beautiful scene I have to share with them...

Does all this, I wonder, have to do with last night's event at the Muckenthaler? What do you think?

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/28/2010

"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill."

~The Buddha

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Huh?

This morning we had the interesting spectacle of Senator Carl Levin asking questions of a Goldman Sachs executive and getting a bit testy because the man was not answering his questions. The fact is, the two were on different planets, if not in different universes. It would have been funny, were it not so dreadfully revealing of the culture we have created.

The questions--really only one of them, repeated in different forms at least a half dozen times--seemed clear enough: Goldman Sachs, if I have this right, was asked by a client how they managed to feel comfortable with a financial arrangement that was evidently going to turn out badly. They felt comfortable, it appears, because they had a financial interest in the deal going sour--and yet they did not share this information with the inquiring client. Did they not, the senator kept asking, have an obligation to acknowledge what their interest was? After hearing numerous explanations of the issue rather than an answer to his question, the senator gave up, concluding that the executive was simply refusing to respond.

I saw it a little differently--not that the guy was refusing to answer the question, but rather that the question itself came from some other universe than the one that he naturally inhabits. The question came from the sphere of ethics. Truly disturbing was that it ran right past this undoubtedly smart, undoubtedly well-informed, perhaps even well-intentioned businessman, whose head was firmly planted in the world of business. He wanted to give a business answer to an ethical question, and simply could not see that in doing so he was missing the whole point of the question.

I was talking only a little later to a man who for many years has guided our own financial decisions, and who is well-versed in the world of finance. Without, he said, wanting to defend Goldman Sachs, he saw the issue differently. Essentially, as he saw it, GS was in this instance no more than an intermediary in a business deal, with obligations to both parties--the party that wanted to sell the "product" and the party that was willing to buy it. The product was essentially a bet between willing parties, and each side was responsible for acquiring the information needed to make their bet a sound one. The client, my friend argued, in this case, was not your aging grandmother, but a player who should accept responsibility for his own mistakes. (As I understand it--and I admit my understanding is extremely limited--GS was not only the intermediary, but also the creator and seller of the "product.")

My friend further argued, in the same vein, that in the mortgage crisis there were no innocents, that those who took out loans they could not afford were as guilty as those who let them have the money; and that the rot of greed pervaded the system, top to bottom. Okay, I hear that argument. But venality at low end of the financial markets does not excuse the even greater venality at the high end. And what's truly disturbing is not just that venality exists--I'd be surprised, really, if it didn't--but that there are so many in our society, like the executive under questioning from Senator Levin, who simply can't see or recognize it as venality. This was the man who insisted, high-mindedly and with apparent sincerity, in his opening statement, on his personal integrity and that of the firm for which he worked.

The tragedy is that we have created an alternate universe, in which we live our lives and pursue our interests in denial of truths that used to be self-evident. We have come a long way indeed since that "Wonderful Life." We used to be able to believe that the world of business and the world of ethics coincided, in most important respects. Now, though, it seems they have shifted to different, non-communicating universes.

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/27/2010

"To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him."

~The Buddha

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Buddhism without Beliefs

Buddhism without Beliefs - Stephen Batchelor
Those with an interest in Buddhism will welcome this new book by Stephen Batchelor, former monk and author of Alone With Others and The Awakening of the West. But those who are just discovering this increasingly popular practice will have much to gain as well-for Buddhism Without Beliefs serves as a solid, straightforward introduction that demystifies Buddhism and explains simply and plainly how its practice can enrich our lives. Avoiding jargon and theory, Batchelor concentrates on the concrete, making Buddhism accessible and compelling and showing how anyone can embark on this path-regardless of their religious background.

Demonoid

Sangha

What a pleasure it was to be sitting in sangha again yesterday, for the first time in several weeks. We have been kept away by the family visit, obligations in Los Angeles, our recent Santa Barbara trip... and on at least one occasion, as I recall, by sheer fatigue and the need to spend a Sunday morning at home in bed!

The sangha, of course, along with the Buddha and the dharma, is one of the three refuges, and it sure felt like one yesterday. Just the ritual of taking off the shoes and entering the room felt like a release from everything that's going on in our lives in the world out here. It was a small group, yesterday, but the greeting, after our lengthy absence, was warm and welcoming--a home-coming of sorts. Then the bell rang, three times, and we sat in silence for an hour. For a moment, I was going to write "blissful silence," but that not quite the right word. For me, true, there were moments of bliss, when I managed to lose the thoughts and get fully focused on the breath; but for much of the time it required the usual effort of persistence, to keep bringing the mind back to where I wanted it to be.

It has been a while since I sat for the full hour. In the interim, I have managed to sit pretty much every morning--with perhaps one or two exceptions--for at least twenty minutes, and usually half an hour. Our discussion after the sit centered on the inner conflict between the sense of social (and, yes, political) responsibility that most of us share, and the attachment to it that can easily form and, when it does, inevitably brings suffering. It's a topic I sometimes raised with our teacher, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, in the days when I was writing my first blog, "The Bush Diaries" and was much involved in what I judged to be the national disaster of the Bush presidency. His response was always some version of "do what you can." And not get attached, as I understood it, to achieving those things that were beyond my power.

What the meditation practice offers, by way of help for those of us who find ourselves in this predicament, is two kinds of comfort. The first is the daily practice of metta, which requires us to send out compassion and goodwill first to ourselves and those we love, then to those we know less well or not at all; and, in ever-widening circles, to all living beings--including those we don't like or with whom we disagree. It is a healthy thing, for me, in this political climate, to send out compassion to the Tea-baggers, let alone those nay-saying Republicans in Congress. To do so, I need to surrender, for the length of at least a few breaths, that angry part of me that condemns them for what they believe and how they act--a part that is only toxic to myself and does nothing to change their minds.

The second comfort, clearly related to the first, is that of equanimity. In learning, every so slowly, to simply observe the thought processes as I meditate and to let them go, I learn the benefits of detachment. Same with physical sensations and feelings. They come and go. I learn to watch myself getting hooked on them and, when that happens, to acknowledge their presence and let them drift away--as they inevitably will do. This ability to observe without attachment, this equanimity, serves me well when I find myself getting too riled up about the health care bill or financial reform. It's not that I don't care. I do. It's rather the understanding that if I get attached to the outcome of any given situation, I succeed only in creating added suffering. So I revert to simply doing what I can--and acknowledging that there are many things I can't.

Does this absolve me of social and political responsibility? It doesn't feel that way to me. When I succeed in getting past those attachments--and believe me, it doesn't happen all the time; far from it--I remain committed to the cause of improving the lives of those beings with whom I share this planet. I am absolved, though, from the compulsion to do those things I am neither qualified to do, nor in a place where I could achieve them. It occurs to me that this might be the difference between struggling and striving. Without striving, I fall into inertia and my spirit dies. To struggle, though, only makes me suffer.

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/26/2010

"As the fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts."

~The Buddha

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/25/2010

"He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye."

~The Buddha

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/24/2010

"What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind."

~The Buddha

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What is the Dalai Lama's Favorite Sport?

(The Dalai Lama seen sitting in the stands of Gillette Stadium, which is where the New England Patriots American football team plays home games. Taken before a public talk about Buddhism. He is wearing a hat with the team logo on it. PHOTO CREDIT: Reuters).

The Dalai Lama isn't much of a sports fan but CLICK HERE to find out what his favorite sport might be. I liked how he said he played this one particular sport despite not knowing the rules!! Awesome!! Who needs the competition in sports?!! What a great lesson he gave us with his self-deprecating style and humor that you can have just as much fun playing a sport in a non-competitive way.

He saying just do it to enjoy it!! Don't be so serious about getting it "perfect" and not making any mistakes. Now, if only we could teach that to the ego-driven professional athletes, and parents at their kids' sporting events who take the game more seriously than the kids!! Sometimes leading to fights amongst parents of players from the opposing team!! I'm not saying all competition is negative but it can easily lead to a lot of unnecessary suffering.

But I digress. The Dalai Lama is such a joy to behold and I adore his childlike innocence and his infecteous laughter and giggling. He is so disarming and I can't help but be uplifted by his essence. He is deeply inspiring, and listening to him and his common sense Buddhism always reinvigorates my dedication to my Dharma practice. He is a true treasure to the world.

~Peace to all beings~

Breakfast.... and Home

Yesterday, Thursday, was the last day of our Santa Barbara jaunt. After packing our bags and checking out, we headed north and up the San Marcos Pass to join the very beautiful, very narrow, steeply winding road...

...that leads to the delightful aerie...

... where Seyburn Zorthian and her husband, Mark, roost. Seyburn, attentive readers might remember, is the artist whose friendly encouragements were instrumental to bringing me to Santa Barbara, and in particular to the Contemporary Arts Forum. Here's one of her paintings, nicely installed in the living room of their home...

As you can tell, she works in the area of color abstraction that seems to have been our major focus in the past few days. She prepared a marvelous breakfast for us...

... along with a fellow artist, her neighbor, and a friend of his visiting from Amsterdam--convivial company and an excellent scramble of (again!) fresh-laid eggs, a treat for city slickers like ourselves. We have been greeted with this kind of generous hospitality everywhere in Santa Barbara, and it was with some reluctance that, after breakfast, we wound our way back down the mountainside and headed for home.

Once back in the office, I made the dreadful mistake of getting right back to work, with the kind of results I could have anticipated: inattention, irritation, mistakes... and a frustrating sense of incompetence. I should have left well enough alone, put my feet up, taken a nice nap. But no. I was impelled by what I saw to be the need to immediately catch up. And this morning, notice, I'm still splitting infinitives. Or maybe you don't care.

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/23/2010

"There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind."

~The Buddha

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Spring Rain Meditation and Haiku.

crackling night sky

illuminating soaked leaves
man silently sits

-By James R. Ure

James: The clouds have been crashing up against each other since last night. Swollen with water they are showering a budding expanse of green. The entrancing sound of the methodical rain quiets the noise of the bustling city and centers the mind upon the present moment. It is a beautiful call to slow down, breath deeply, open awareness and absorb the moment. Opening the window to hear the rush of water falling from the heavens is the original call to meditation. It is nature's Dharma bell gently bringing our attention in line with the rhythm of nature, which is nothing short of Buddha Nature. Meditating while it rains is a very special experience, which relaxes tense muscles and frayed nerves. It is a soothing balm to the heated mind of suffering.

So, I stepped out onto the drenched patio to silently watch the rainfall and focused my attention on one tiny area of the porch edge where water was dripping from the roof. As I took in the surroundings with my senses the rich, relaxing smell of damp Earth filled my lungs and eased my tense body. As my attention grew I noticed that in the middle of the constant rushing of water cascading off my roof there was one spot that dripped off rhythm from the other spots. So, I timed it and discovered to my joy it splattered every five seconds. A smile exploded across my face as I meditated for a few moments on the order of all things. It made me feel small in a good way--It reminded me that I'm apart of a bigger plan unfolding exactly as it should whether I'm aware of it or not.

~Peace to all beings~

Two Studios, One Museum, Another Speaking Gig...

A lazy start to the day--no exercise this morning, not even our usual walk. But we did treat ourselves to a cup of hotel coffee, before heading up to top of State Street and around a couple of corners to visit our new friend Hugh Margerum's studio...

... where we were impressed by his colorful abstractions, which combine organic with suggestively biomorphic forms in canvases of varying sizes--and in a plethora of drawings that have a whimsical energy and charm. It seems that everyone around here has, or had, or is associated with a vineyard of some kind, and the Margerum family is no exception. We made a note to try their wines. We enjoyed, no less than the studio, Hugh's lovely garden, where chickens roam, hunting and pecking for food amongst the flowers and vegetables; and the fresh-laid eggs that he cooked up for breakfast. What a treat.

After breakfast, we headed back down State Street to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art where we stopped in to see two excellent current shows: Delacroix to Manet, a selection from the distinguished Walters collection from Baltimore, including some first-rate paintings by Turner and a number of 19th century French painters other than those referred to in the title; and Colorscope: Abstract Painting 1960-1979--a fine survey of expressionist, hard edge and op art from that period. It was of special interest to me because at least half of the names were previously unknown to me--a useful reminder of one of the topics of my book, that there are many artists whose work is of museum quality who do not necessarily acquire the fame we too often associate with success. A useful starting point for my lecture in the evening.

The museum also has its own reputable collection of historical and contemporary work. I noted particularly a pair of huge paintings by Matt Mullican, hung nicely across from each other in a high-ceilinged hallway; and, a new acquisition, a painting by the Los Angeles based artist Lari Pittman, about both of whom I have written in the past. Then, too, in neighboring galleries, there are a couple of those wonderful atmospheric paintings by Monet, a terrific early Stuart Davies landscape, and more... Much to enjoy, then, and much to learn from, in a museum whose scale I find especially pleasing--the kind of museum where you can spend just an hour and still have a satisfying experience.

On the recommendation of a friend of a friend (we're acquiring a number of them in Santa Barbara!) we stopped for lunch at Jane's--a bowl of soup, on a remarkably cold and gusty day--after which I dropped in on the local Starbucks for a cup of coffee and spent a while preparing for my evening talk at the Contemporary Arts Forum (CAF), while Ellie did some further exploration of the State Street shopping scene. Fortunately, there was still time to put our feet up for a few minutes in our hotel room before heading south to our second studio for the day--this one belonging to Ann Diener, whose work readers may remember from our visit to the University Art Museum yesterday.

Ann has a beautiful studio, adjacent to her home by the shore, a few miles south of Santa Barbara...

As you might imagine from yesterday's images, including a detail showing her intricate work with graphite, Ann has a love affair with pencils. I have never, anywhere, seen so many of them. Here's a fine bowlful of stubs...

Having followed the work for some years now, it was a delight to spend time in the studio, surrounded by works in various stages of completion, and to have the opportunity to catch up with Ann's progress in getting word out. She has been fortunate in many respects, but still deserves the attention and support of a first rate gallery in Los Angeles or New York. I'm confident that her work would stand up well to that challenge.

We spent a few minutes in the lovely living environment that Ann and her husband have created for themselves, with its spectacular view out over the ocean. Then drove back to the city in time for my speaking engagement at CAF. I was pleased to find that, once again, a good crowd showed up, and that my talk received an enthusiastic response--plenty of questions, and a gratifying line of book buyers at the end. It's an indication, I think, of the hunger for a discussion of the issues that I raise about the contemporary art world and the cultural environment at large.

We finished late, and found a number of the restaurants already closed, so we decided to make it simple for ourselves and returned to the place we had so much enjoyed the previous night--the Wine Cask. We sat, the two of us, quietly, after a hectic day, and enjoyed a peaceful meal, preceded, in my case, by a deliciously cold glass of ginger-infused vodka, and accompanied by a good glass of wine...

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/22/2010

"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell."

~The Buddha

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"You Don't Know Jack." The Real Jack Kevorkian.

As someone who supports a terminal patient's, "right to die "(euthanasia) I am really interested in a new movie out about the famous Dr. Jack Kavorkian. It will soon be aired in America on the HBO cable channel on April 24th. Dr. Kevorkian is a champion of the rights of people to die with dignity. He is known world wide for personally assisting many terminally ill people kill themselves:

In each of the above mentioned cases, the individuals themselves allegedly took the final action which resulted in their own deaths. Kevorkian allegedly assisted only by attaching the individual to a euthanasia device that he had made. The individual then pushed a button which released the drugs or chemicals that would end his or her own life. Two deaths were assisted by means of a device which delivered the euthanizing drugs mechanically through an IV. Kevorkian called it a "Thanatron" (death machine). Other people were assisted by a device which employed a gas mask fed by a canister of carbon monoxide which was called "Mercitron" (mercy machine). This became necessary because Kevorkian's medical license had been revoked after the first two deaths, and he could no longer have legal access to the substances required for the "Thanatron".

Handsome B. Wonderful: Here is the trailer for the movie, "You Don't Know Jack:"
Handsome B. Wonderful: Why is that we not only allow for our beloved pets to die peaceful by lethal injection but see it as merciful action, yet we won't allow humans to die the same way? That's backwards, inhumane and unnecessary. Why should terminally ill people have to slowly and painfully waste away in a hospital bed as the family helplessly watches? I don't care if people find it morally offensive and "sinful" because death is a very personal issue.

Yes, suffering is inevitable as well as death but what about unecessary suffering? At what point does allowing the continuance of physical suffering become cruel? At what point does it become the merciful and compassionate thing to help people pass into their next life peacefully if they consent to such an action? If we are to embrace death as we are taught in Buddhism then why should we Buddhists oppose a terminally ill patient's right to die? If a person is barely alive anyway and just in constant anguish then I think forcing someone to stay alive at that point is cruel. Some say that Buddha died from poisoned mushrooms and that he knew it before he ate them, so couldn't one argue that he was engaging in voluntary euthanasia?

What lessons can be learned in slowly watching yourself (or a loved one) die from cancer as you bleed from every orifice on your body or in spending months wracked in pain throughout your core? You might say that the terrible suffering teaches that suffering is inevitable but I think a person would get that lesson right quick after a few days of their body slowly and excruciatingly painfully turning on them. So, then what do they do after that point? They suffering needlessly. Or, you might answer that modern drugs allow the patient to be quite comfortable during the dying process but I would argue then, "Isn't that already a form of voluntary euthanasia?" Those pain drugs numb people out so much that they might as well be dead because they basically just put them into a chemically induced coma.

If doctors are going to decide to drug a person up so that they are basically unconscious most of the time then what is the point of that?? What can the family learn from such a situation besides the unnecessary suffering of their loved one? I would think that the loved one's and family and friends would learn more by knowing ahead of time when the person was going to die and that way everyone could spend precious time with their loved one and exchange love and sincere feelings knowing that these would be their last days/hours/minutes with them. It would also allow everyone to arrange to be present upon the passing of the terminally ill person so that no one would have to go through unnecessary suffering by knowing that they missed the last minutes of their loved one's life.

And what about in the Jataka stories (stories of the Buddha's previous lives) where, as a Bodhisattva, the Buddha slits his own throat so that starving tiger cubs may feed off his blood? (The Hungry Tigress).

There was also the case of Vietnamese Buddhist monks in the 1960s who set themselves alight in protest against anti-Buddhist policies.

In the end religious arguments shouldn't matter because we don't make laws based on religious beliefs. As long as the action is taken willingly and by consent from a psychologist that they are in a frame of mind to make that decision then I think it should be legal. We have freedom of religion in this country, so I won't tell you what to believe as long as you afford me the same respect. If you are terminally ill, I shouldn't be able to force you to be injected with a lethal drug if you don't wish but that also means that you shouldn't be able to force me not to be able to die that way. As Dr. Kevorkian says, "Dying is not a crime."

(Some of this post was put together with quotes from a previous post on this issue).

---End of Transmission---

Petition to Save Lumbini, the Birthplace of Buddha.

Lumbini is said to be the location of the birthplace of Buddha, which is located in present day Nepal. The importance of Lumbini is not only marking the region where Siddhartha was born but with his birth it is also where Buddhism itself was born. However, the site has fallen into disarray and ruin, unlike it's more famous pilgrimage site of Bodh Gaya where Buddha was said to have awoken from delusion and realized full enlightenment.

In recognition of its religious significance, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Lumbini as a World Heritage Site in 1997. Today, environmental pollution from heavy industry (cement and steel plants) that have located in the Lumbini region of Nepal is degrading air and ground water quality and local agriculture. It is likely impacting human health as well. A campaign has been underway for some years now to stop this desecration of Lumbini's sacred space. As the collective voice of Lumbini's friends around the world, LEPA [Lumbini Environmental Protection Alliance] is writing to humbly request your support in an international effort to protect and safeguard Nepal's Lumbini from the growing impacts of environmental pollution.

This petition is an appeal to Nepal's Ministry of Industry’s Industrial Promotion Board (IPB) to:

(1) create an industry-free zone around Lumbini,
(2) freeze the establishment of new industries outside of this industry-free area, and
(3) strictly monitor existing industrial firms.

The document requests that the Ministry of Environment of the Government of Nepal undertake a continuous, professional industrial pollution monitoring and assessment program of the industries and environment in the Lumbini Road Industrial Corridor, with certain provisions as noted therein.

Impact on Archaeology in Lumbini Area:

Air polluting substances (particulate matter, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants) emitted by the factories in Gonaha VDC 6 – 8 and Kamhariya 3 - 6 are likely to damage the Lumbini Ashoka pillar with its inscription and the archaeological remains at the World Heritage Site Lumbini and other archaeological sites. Historic stone structures in Europe, notably the Cathedral of Seville, Spain, have been damaged by air pollution in a manner similar to what is occurring at the ruins of the great Maya cities in Mesoamerica. This is what we will experience shortly.

TPJ: Obviously we all know that everything crumbles, dies and disappears forever but I think it is beneficial to Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike to maintain historical sites for as long as possible. They are an inspiration to many and help the local economies via tourism. They remind us where we have come from and allow us to better connect with our roots, beliefs and common human heritage. I encourage you to sign this petition if you care about history, humanity, Buddhism, Asian culture, etc. It only takes a few minutes. Please sign the petition by clicking on this sentence. Special thanks to Zen Cohen for bringing this to my attention. Thanks everyone!!

PHOTO CREDIT #1: Ashokan pillar at Lumbini by Buddhism Pilgrimage Site. They have some other great Lumbini photos at their site. I recommend you visit it. The pillar says, "King Piyadasi (Ashoka), beloved of devas, in the 20 year of the coronation, himself made a royal visit, Buddha Sakyamuni having been born here, a stone railing was built and a stone pillar erected to the Bhagavan having been born here, Lumbini village was taxed reduced and entitled to the eight part (only)".

PHOTO CREDIT #2: Garden at Lumbini.

~Peace to all beings~

A Walk, a Hard Rain, a Lecture...

Up in time for an early walk along the harbor before the rains came in. A cool morning of low clouds and gathering winds...

... but beautiful along the shore front nonetheless. Walking past the marina, we headed out along the breakwater, pausing only to watch the harbor patrol bring in a large boat for winching up out of the water...

... for inspection? For repair? We did not hang out for long enough to find out. Out along the breakwater, we admired a lingering egret… and a giant starfish, attached to a rock by the water line… and continued out to the end before turning back to return to the hotel, where we enjoyed a perfectly adequate “complimentary” Continental Breakfast—a cup of coffee, a toasted English muffin, a hard-boiled egg.

By the time we were ready to leave, the rain had started in earnest. Parts of the parking lot outside our room, indeed, were inches deep in water—a condition that existed too, we discovered, on the main streets of Santa Barbara. State Street, in places, was a river rushing down toward the ocean. Our progress was hampered by one of those tiny electric scooters for the handicapped proceeding at a snail's pace in the dead middle of the road--understandably, since the rise at the center made this the shallowest path. We did, though, find a parking place near where Ellie needed to go shopping, and I retreated to a local coffee shop with my notes to prepare for the afternoon's lecture--a preparation somewhat hampered by a very loud-voiced and opinionated neighbor at the next table, hectoring his companion about matters on which he was, according to himself, extremely well-informed.

I was rescued from this dire situation by Ellie in an hour or so. The rain had stopped, and we walked up to the Arts & Letters Cafe, across from the museum, where we had been told we could get a good lunch. Which proved to be the case, after an unpromising start that included the spillage of an entire glass of water by Ellie and a surprisingly long wait, despite the small numbers of lunchers, for attention. I had what was surely among the best hamburgers I have ever eaten. We paused in Arts & Letters gallery, after lunch, to admire the ceramic work of an artist with whose name we were unfamiliar, working much in the tradition of the Natzlers and Beatrice Wood.

From lunch, we emerged into... sunshine! And walked back to the car for the drive back to our hotel, and a brief rest before heading out to the university in god time, we hoped, to see our friend Ann Diener's show at the university's art museum. Parking, however, proved an unexpected challenge, as was the task of finding the location for my lecture and, from there, the way to the museum. We arrived, finally, a little breathless, in time to spend about ten minutes with the curator, who was gracious enough to open the gallery for us in off-hours. Ann's wall drawing is quite spectacular...

... a towering, exuberant display that includes a shower of collage elements along with the line drawing. A complex, restless work that excites the eye (here's a detail):

... and that required a lot more time than we were able to give it.

My talk was scheduled in one of those large university lecture halls with seats arranged, amphitheater-style, in rising tiers--a new circumstance for one used to talking in more intimate circumstances. A generous introduction by an old friend, Colin Gardner, now chair of the host department, a fellow Brit and Cantabrian (as we who graduated from Cambridge University are traditionally called...), and I launched into my musings about the culture in which we artists, writers, and creative people of all kinds find ourselves, and about the power of the mind of help us to persist in the work we're given to do...

Hard to gauge this large audience, and I was distracted by a young Asian man, dead center, who slept peacefully through the entire presentation. But by the end, I was happy to get a good number of questions and comments--a good sign that my audience has been listening and engaged. And the response from those who came up afterwards to buy a book was gratifying.

Later, with evening approaching fast, we headed back into the city to meet up with Colin and his wife, Louise... for wine and dinner at The Wine Cask. A memorable evening of lively talk, including an earful from Colin about the demands of a chairmanship in an educational system gone mad with the explosion of media and information systems--a nightmare I'm happy to have avoided, having withdrawn from academia now nearly twenty-five years ago. I can hardly imagine what it must be like to be available, as an administrator, to students, faculty, and the administration at large via email and cell phone twenty-four hours a day. Let alone to fulfill those other academic requirements, to make a showing in one's own field of interest.

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/21/2010

"I reached in experience the nirvana which is unborn, unrivalled, secure from attachment, undecaying and unstained. This condition is indeed reached by me which is deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, tranquil, excellent, beyond the reach of mere logic, subtle, and to be realized only by the wise."

~The Buddha

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To Santa Barbara

An eventful day, yesterday. Our new assistant, Emily arrived in good time to say hello to George, who will be in her charge for the next three days, while we are in Santa Barbara. We left the pair of them on good terms, and drove up through relatively easy traffic, first to Ojai, where our friend Peter Sims lives now with his wife, Yvonne. Peter is a faithful member of our artists' group, and we were impressed, as we completed the one and a half hour drive, that he manages to make it nearly every month down to Los Angeles to join us. The couple live in a small but pleasantly spacious-feeling house just outside of Ojai, with an expansive property that includes not only Yvonne's studio and a salt-water swimming pool, but also a boules court, a citrus orchard, and a beautiful garden that is still a work-in-progress.

Yvonne works in mosaic, using fragments of glass and ceramic objects that she collects, seemingly in bulk, from local junk shops. This studio shot will give you some idea...

Her work is both large-scale...

... here a gazebo beside the swimming pool, and a detail...

... showing the fine quality of the work; and small...

... like this whimsical, free-standing sculptural object. Yvonne manages, enchantingly, to transform kitsch into art, re-contextualizing what once was utilitarian or cheesy decorative stuff into surprising and elegant arrangements. The garden is slowly turning into a single aesthetic environment, something akin to Simon Rodia's Watts Towers in Los Angeles or Grandma Prisbey's Bottle Village. Perhaps, one day, this too will be a pilgrimage destination!

Lunch with Peter and Yvonne at a pleasant restaurant in Ojai, then back on the road to Santa Barbara. Peter directed us on a back road from Ojai to Carpinteria, avoiding the busy 101 that leads along the coast. This back road took us around the spectacular Lake Casitas and through miles avocado orchards lining the inland hillsides--a beautiful drive in a California landscape that we entirely new to us. A special treat.

Once in Santa Barbara, we found our hotel--the Inn by the Harbor, which I have to say truthfully us neither an inn nor by the harbor, but which provides us nonetheless with perfectly adequate accommodation for our three-night stay. After unpacking, we decided on a long-ish walk up State Street to the Japanese restaurant, Arigato Sushi, where we had arranged to meet our friend Seyburn and a small gathering of her friends for dinner.

A memorable evening. Excellent food and conversation, a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Seyburn's family vineyard (Buttonwood. Check it out!) a good deal of merriment, and a chance to make new friends. What could be better?

Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 4/20/2010

"If a man who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain the greater."

~The Buddha

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