Comments on: Balance is for Buddhists

By: Muddling along – Guy McPherson's blog

Muddling along – Guy McPherson's blog — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:27:33 +0000

[...] of living close to our neighbors and close to the land that supports us). I don’t believe in half-measures. Yet, as I visited San Diego and Tucson and their wide array of cultural exhibits and restaurants [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:49:39 +0000

Interesting solar cell calculation. It seems fine, and optimistic. If you rework the hours of sunlight (12hrs/day, everyday) to say 4 hrs/day on average (remember that without tracking, the glancing morning and evening rays are unlikely to generate much electricity) the square footage goes up by three. You could do a similar calculation if the average efficiency is closer to 20% as well.
Not that either adjustment really adds to the point of the calculation. Other than that many of our industrial techno-fantasies are just that. Fantasies.

By: Michael Irving

Michael Irving — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:30:36 +0000

Stan,
Maybe you should check the population per square kilometer of Tibet prior to the Chinese takeover. You may be confusing Hong Kong with the homeland of the DL.
To use the ideas expressed by one actor in one film to judge a religious philosophy is lame at best. So is the idea that a better response to the world is “just let me bang around bumping off other people and kicking ass if necessary and, oh and by the way, I want everyone else out of my wilderness.” Lame.
Of course, maybe you have some insight I don’t have. I guess “knowing” there is an afterlife makes mistakes in this life subject to a do-over. Budhists agree about a do-over but seem pretty concerned about what level the do-over starts from. Hence, it is important to be mindful of what you do in the here-and-now.
Sorry about your ruffled feathers.
Mike

By: Stan Moore

Stan Moore — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:37:39 +0000

One last little tidbit –
I know a wonderful 87 year old woman in Berkeley named Kendra Smith, whose husband is Huston Smith, author of various books on world religions and a deep scholar of the subject. I visited with Kendra recently and it was sad to see that she appears to be aging at an accelerated pace and she has to stop and rest or even lie down and that sort of thing, though her mind is sharp as a tack when she feels strong.
I shared a couple of my poems with Kendra and she like the one called “The Condor and Me”. One of the lines was sort of Buddhist-like (I think). It went — “I asked the condor, what is eternity? He told me to wait and see.”
Kendra is a superb human who has lived a fascinating life. I hope that whatever eternity brings, I will get to meet up with her in some other realm after this sojourn is over for both of us. I think she actually knows the Dalai Lama (she has tenants from Tibet), so maybe it could be arranged through DL, but I don’t intend to be presumptuous and ask. I’ll just wait and see.
Stan Moore

By: Stan Moore

Stan Moore — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:22:13 +0000

I think “The Dude” is the American Dalai Lama with a little chemical support. I never saw such great wisdom as he showed when the thugs shoved his head into the toilet, demanding to know where “the money” was, and when they pulled him up and out of the toilet he told them to reinsert it because he was not able to find “the money” the first time. Such humility
By the way, I just watched a pretty good political movie called “The Contender” that I recommend. In this one Jeff Bridges played the President of the United States trying to replace a deceased vice-president by nominating the first woman to the position (played by Joan Allen, another favorite of mine). The political shenanigans played by both parties and the surprise ending made this movie quite gripping. And I really like Jeff Bridges, either as “The Dude” or as POTUS. He shows how you can deeply admire or despise the same politician within a couple hours’ time.
Stan Moore

By: Bill Fugagli

Bill Fugagli — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:14:46 +0000

You post made me think of this Newsweek article http://www.newsweek.com/id/212155

By: Charlene

Charlene — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:28:23 +0000

Stan, we agree on something: I love the Dude.
Buddhism has its moments, but it isn’t without flaws. As far as that goes, great concepts tied to whacky human behavior seems like a running theme in the world’s religions:
“I’ve got a great idea, let’s all just be nice to each other.”
“Yeah, that’s a great idea, but before we tell anyone else I think we should come up with some really crazy rituals and some dogma that will prevent at least a portion of humanity from wanting anything to do with us.”
“Great, I’m in!”
…..
I have to confess, the Dalai Lama does say some interesting things from time to time. He’s obviously a deep spiritual thinker along the lines of most high mucky-mucks in a religion. I just don’t get the big love affair Westerners seem to have with him. Nothing against him, I just don’t really see it.
Buddhism’s history wasn’t all peace love and happiness, either. There were theocrats and sexists in the bunch there, too. Some sects thought women needed to be reborn with male parts to be worthy of Nirvana. Don’t get me started on the whole nun thing.
I’m not saying Buddhism lacks insight, but I do think it has a hyped status. And I don’t really buy that everything Buddhist is very cosmic and “chill”. It’s got its high points, but has to be treated with a thoughtful eye, just like any belief system.
Just saying.
And I still love the Dude.

By: Frank Mezek

Frank Mezek — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:40:32 +0000

Question for Our Stan:
I like the “wilderness and wildlife” also.
But I need to live in the city.
So what can I do?
Double D

By: Stan Moore

Stan Moore — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:28:36 +0000

What about Buddhism? What about the Dalai Lama?
I have to confess that I know little about Buddhist practice or theory or the Dalai Lama. But I have heard discussions from time to time on the radio and recently heard some interviews of westerners who are supposed to be very close to DL and claimed to have insights as to his “greatness”. And what I heard caused me to be relatively unimpressed.
I came away with the feeling that Buddhism is sort of a “grin and bear it” type of philosophy, and DL has that as sort of a mantra and lifestyle. DL appears to me to be a man with little power over his life except the power of the mind, convincing himself that life is good and bearable. His people are in bondage to a great power and neither he nor they can do much about it. So, he inverts his thinking and obtains a sort of “freedom from worry” and implements a life philosophy of being eminently agreeable with everyone all the time. He cannot flip the bird at the Chinese. He cannot tell anyone to “f… off”. He has to politely agree or disagree or find words to cleverly change the subject or find the good in a difficult situation.
This seems to be the sort of philosphy/semi-religion of people living in high densities with potential pressures and threats all around. The best course is to be agreeable and pleasant and not to antagonize anyone for fear that anyone may be a threat to you.
I would not like to put myself in such a mindset or lifestyle. I prefer low density, individualism, rigorous debate and profound disagreement and even heated exchanges. I don’t want to be passive and smile as though I have no cares. I want to be able to throw my shoe at my oppressor or flip the bird at the driver who is tailgating me, even if he is in a semi-tractor and I am in a subcompact car.
I think humanity is at its best in low density agrarian lifestyles. I think the Orient tends to be overly dense, overly anthropocentric, and supercivilized. I like wilderness and wildlife. I crave freedom and quiet. I prefer solitude and tree hugging to chants and monks beating drums.
Stan Moore

By: bubbleboy!

bubbleboy! — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:49:25 +0000

What about an army of trained policy bureaucrats? Surely with teamwork we are greater than the sum of all our parts. We CAN get more than we put in! That would push the dynamo over. That would give us our perpetual motion machine of human life on earth, forever. It is funny that the market could be built on the irrational belief in such a free lunch, at least for the guy wearing a suit.
An old high school friend returned from Iraq and showed up smiling on my doorstep yesterday. He said that this third time, well, there weren’t many other bullies in the sandbox. The young guys could never understand his nervousness or apprehension. They had never known anyone who did not make it back home. Another thing he said is that since the election, now we aren’t allowed to just call in an air strike on any building that offers a bullet or two. “Every city has violence. We could leave that place any day now, if we only would.”