Saturday, December 7, 2013
Via JMG: Matt Barber Writes For World Net Daily: Eric Holder Should Arrest JMG For Anti-Christian Comments Left On His Blog
Matt Barber Writes For World Net Daily: Eric Holder Should Arrest JMG For Anti-Christian Comments Left On His Blog
For liberals, although the means may change, the ends remain the same. Still, equally disturbing are a number of comments posted about the incident on at least one award-winning “gay”-activist blog. Ironically, the site, “JoeMyGod,” a serial Christian-defaming cyber-rag, won the award for “Outstanding Blog” in 2011 at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards. While Joe Jervis – the blog’s militant atheist and “gay” sadomasochist founder – refused to denounce the Argentinian “hate crimes” outright, he at least begrudgingly admitted: “I really can’t see how this advances the cause of abortion rights.” Ya think? Even so, Jervis, who’s blog has a long history of anti-Christian extremism and violence-charged rhetoric, nonetheless permitted several of his regular posters to not only condone the feminist attacks, but to illegally call for a steep escalation in anti-Christian violence in general (up to and including church bombings, and both the castration and even murder of Christians in the U.S.).Barber then goes on for several paragraphs to quote these "regular posters" (none of whose user names I recognize) and then he concludes:
Indeed, to borrow from Madonna, it seems Argentina has much to cry for. And so does America. But as for “JoeMyGod,” the question is this: Will GLADD now publicly disavow Joe Jervis for allowing (and perhaps tacitly condoning) such violent (and very likely illegal) rhetoric? Will this self-styled “anti-defamation” group rescind its “Outstanding Blog” award? Don’t hold your breath. Even still, a bigger question remains: Will federal authorities investigate these threats? If it were Christians threatening “gays,” Eric Holder himself would kick-in the door with MSNBC in tow. Every newspaper in America would give it above-the-fold coverage. But it wasn’t Christians threatening “gays.” It was “gays” threatening Christians. And that just doesn’t fit the false “gay victimhood” narrative.The almost-hilarious hypocrisy here, of course, is that anybody who has EVER endured five minutes on WND knows that they not only allow their own commenters to advocate for the death penalty for homosexuals and that they cheer on violent anti-gay hate crimes, WND columnists themselves have called for executing people who oppose the Christianist agenda, as, for example, when WND's Erik Rush did last year when he declared that journalists should be executed after Mitt Romney won the election. Erik Rush: "Trials for treason and the requisite sentences would apply, and I would have no qualms about seeing such sentences executed, no matter how severe." Earlier this year WND's Erik Rush declared that all Muslims should be murdered and underscored that sentiment with this tweet: "Yes, they're evil. Kill them all." And just last week WND's Erik Rush called for the execution of the president of the United States.
OK, coming back to the world of actual sane people, actual longtime JMG readers are well aware that for the near-decade of this blog's existence, I have posted regular pleas for civility in the comments and have demanded that no one make calls for physical violence against any person or any property for any reason. One of those pleas went up here just a few months ago when I wrote:
As I regularly do, today I again caution you that even the most idle and "jokey" threats of physical harm to any person or property are completely unacceptable on JMG. Also strongly discouraged are expressed wishes of physical harm to others by any means, including natural ones. Please remain aware that JMG comments are often scoured by the enemies of civil equality who look for any opportunity to republish ill-considered reactions to the news reported here. We sometimes see more than 50,000 comments per month and I cannot personally read but a fraction of them. Therefore I must rely on the JMG community to stay self-policing and notify me by email should any comment concern you. Be advised that in many cases these comments are posted by drive-by trolls in order to grab triumphant screen-shots for use elsewhere. You've been remarkably great about observing these very few commenting rules and I thank you for that.The vast majority of JMG readers have been very good about observing these commenting rules and I thank you for that. And please do continue to alert me if you see any comments like those in today's WND column. As for Matt Barber, I suspected something like this was coming after he suddenly followed me on Twitter a few days ago after years of blocking me from following him. Barber is obviously trying to take revenge on me because I take such delight in cataloging every single loss suffered by the Liberty Counsel. And there have been SO many lately.
One wonders how many tens of thousands of JMG comments Barber had to wade through before he could finally pounce upon the half dozen cited in today's World Net Daily column. One also wonders if Barber didn't plant those comments himself. You'd think Matt Barber would be SUPER busy getting repeatedly smacked down by the Supreme Court or helping the Liberty Counsel with the RICO Act lawsuit which alleges that they abetted the kidnapping of a young girl. Instead, he's got time to troll JMG and cherry-pick a handful of ugly comments. What a sad clown.
NOTE: I've taken down the JMG post cited by Barber rather than deleting the offensive comments. We don't need WND's violently anti-gay readers swarming over here from Barber's link.
NOTE II: It never fails to crack me up when Barber or Porno Pete call me a "leather daddy" or says that I'm "sadomasochistic." Is it the pork pie hat? Where DO they get that?
UPDATE: Barber is pissed that I've blocked his link by taking down my post. Needless to say, if my post was still up, he'd be tweeting "Militant gay refuses to take down post." SNORK!
Labels: abortion rights, Argentina, Christianists, crackpots, douchenozzles, Eric Holder, fuckweasels, gay death penalty, hypocrisy, JMG, JMG community, Liberty Counsel, Matt Barber, religion, World Net Daily
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 7, 2013
A Reorienting Intention
The
intentions of Buddha-dharma are remarkably different from the inherited
intentions of Western culture, and this tension needs to be sorted out
by each and every practitioner in their own life. The basic intention
that gets set up in the study and practice of Buddha-dharma is that the
whole sense-linked world, samsara, is inherently unsatisfying.
|
- Mu Soeng, “Dharma for Sale”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 8, 2013
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Friday, December 6, 2013
Via JMG: RUSSIA: Elton John Denounces Anti-Gay Laws From Stage Of Moscow Concert, Dedicates Show To Slain Gay Man
"You took me to your hearts all these years ago and you've always welcomed me with warmth and open arms any time I've visited. You have always embraced me and you have never judged me. So I am deeply saddened and shocked over the current legislation that is now in place against the LGBT community here in Russia. In my opinion, it is inhumane and it is isolating. People have demanded that because of this legislation, I must not come here to Russia. But many, many more people asked me to come and I listened to them. I love coming here.
"I want to show them and the world that I care and that I don't believe in isolating people. Music is a very powerful thing. It brings people together irrespective of their age, their race, their sexuality, or their religion. It does not discriminate. Look around you tonight. You see men, women, young and old, gay and straight. Thousands of Russian people enjoying the music. We're all here together in harmony and harmony is what makes a happy family and a strong society.
"The spirit we share tonight is what builds a future of equality, love and compassion for my children and for your children. Please don't leave it behind when you leave tonight. Each and every one of you please, keep this spirit in your life and in your heart. I wish you love and peace and health and happiness. And this show is dedicated to the memory of Vladislav Tornovoi. - Elton John, reading from the stage tonight at his concert in Moscow.
NOTE: Vladislav Tornovoi was the 23 year-old gay man murdered earlier this year in Volgograd after coming out to drinking companions, who mutilated his genitals with a beer bottle and then set his body on fire.
NOTE II: I transcribed the above from a non-embeddable video posted to Facebook today. I'll post video here as soon as it becomes available.
NOTE III: It should go without saying Elton has certainly put himself at risk, although Russian authorities would likely be very hesitant to move on a star of his caliber. I wasn't crazy about the idea of him going to Russia at all, but I think he handled tonight admirably.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Via Guardan (2007): Ugandan gays demand freedom
Ugandan gays demand freedom
Ugandan government ministers are demanding the arrest of the
country's lesbian and gay human rights activists. Deputy attorney
general Fred Ruhinde and minister of ethics and integrity Nsaba Buturo
made the call last month in a series of radio broadcasts heard across
country.
They are backed by Christian, Muslim and Bahai religious leaders who are calling for all "homos" to be rounded up and locked away.
Buturo told the BBC that his government opposed equality for gay people and would not decriminalise gay sexual relationships. He branded homosexuality as "shameful, abominable and ungodly ... (and) unnatural". Urging gays to get out of Uganda he warned ominously: "We know them, we have details of who they are."
Buturo then went even further by attending a church-orchestrated anti-gay rally held in the capital Kampala on August 21. It was a de facto show of government support for homophobic religious zealots who denounced homosexuality as "immoral" and paraded with placards urging: "Arrest all homos." The rally was organised by the interfaith coalition against homosexuality, an alliance of Christian, Muslim and Bahai organisations.
The homophobic backlash in Uganda is in response to a new campaign called "Let us live in peace". It is organised by a small group of brave, inspiring Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) human rights activists. They are challenging decades of systematic discrimination and violence suffered by LGBTI Ugandans. Much of this homophobic persecution is incited by President Yoweri Museveni's government, by Kampala's notoriously sensationalist tabloid press and, most shockingly of all, by the Anglican church of Uganda.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has failed to condemn the homophobic witch-hunt that is being stirred up by Anglican bishops in Uganda. Indeed, he has gone out of his way to embrace and appease them in a desperate bid to stop them splitting from the Anglican Communion. Liberal and gay Ugandans are dismayed by the archbishop's silence and indifference.
The attacks on the LGBTI community in Uganda are symptomatic of the increasing authoritarianism of the government of President Museveni, who seems to be heading in the same direction as President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
President Museveni's regime stands accused of rigged elections, censorship of the media, repression of protests, crackdowns on universities and trade unions, detention without trial and the use of torture. Details of these abuses are documented in my Talking With Tatchell TV interview with Ugandan opposition activists, which you can watch here.
Despite state and church repression, the new LGBTI "Let us live in peace" campaign is defiant. It has been organised a coalition of several LGBTI organisations operating under the name sexual minorities Uganda or Smug.
On August 17, they held Uganda's first ever LGBTI human rights press conference at the Speke Hotel, where speakers called for an end to homophobic discrimination in the legal, education and health systems. Many of those who attended the press conference wore masks and gave only first names, because they were fearful of identification and arrest.
Smug speakers reported that the police are guilty of gross harassment of law-abiding LGBTI people. Officers often demand sexual favours or personal bribes in exchange for release from custody on trumped-up charges.
The Smug campaigners also highlighted the health problems LGBTI people face, particularly HIV/Aids, which often go untreated due to fear of persecution by homophobic doctors and the police. Lesbian and gay people are excluded from Uganda's anti-HIV/Aids prevention and support programmes. Smug declared: "We have had enough of the abuse, neglect and violence."
Smug is led by Victor Juliet Mukasa, a transgender lesbian who is one of Uganda's very few LGBTI activists willing to be identified and speak openly in public. Mukasa was forced to flee temporarily into exile in South Africa in fear of her life after police raided her home in 2005. She has now returned to Uganda to spearhead the new campaign and to pursue a civil lawsuit against the government ministers who sanctioned the raid on her home.
In Uganda, male homosexuality is illegal under archaic laws imposed during the period of British colonial rule. Section 140 of the country's penal code criminalises "carnal knowledge against the order of nature" with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Section 141 bans "attempts at carnal knowledge", stipulating a maximum penalty of seven years jail; while section 143 punishes "gross indecency" between men in public or private and authorises a top sentence of five years.
The Ugandan government openly flouts international human rights conventions that guarantee equal rights and non-discrimination, including the African charter on human and peoples' rights which Uganda ratified in 1986 and has promised to uphold.
The escalating attacks on LGBTI people began in 1999, when a state-owned newspaper reported that President Museveni had ordered the arrest and imprisonment of homosexuals. The New Vision newspaper quoted Museveni as saying: "I have told the Criminal Investigations Department to look for homosexuals, lock them up and charge them."
Five years later, in 2004, government minister Nsaba Buturo ordered the police to investigate and "take appropriate action" against a gay organisation at Makerere University.
The following year, President Museveni signed a constitutional amendment that made same-sex marriages illegal. Article 31 of the constitution now states "marriage between persons of the same sex is prohibited".
The government has also attempted to silence discussion of rights for LGBTI people. The country's broadcasting council fined a radio station for hosting a discussion involving a lesbian and two gay men, where they called for greater understanding of LGBTI people and for the anti-sodomy law to be repealed.
The media is also guilty of rabid homophobia. In 2006 and again this month, the tabloid newspaper Red Pepper outed dozens of alleged lesbians and gay and bisexual men. The paper claimed it was doing this in order to "show the nation how fast the terrible vice known as sodomy is eating up our society". You can read samples of the lurid, shock-horror, gay-baiting headlines and news stories on the OutRage! photo website.
The pervasive "state homophobia," as Human Rights Watch has called it, together with the allied media witch-hunts, make it all the more extraordinary and praiseworthy that members of Smug have taken such a public and defiant stand in defence of LGBTI equality. Their courage is truly inspirational. In defending LGBTI rights against an increasingly authoritarian state, they are ultimately defending the liberties and human rights of all Ugandans - gay and straight. Bravo!
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/sep/17/ugandangaysdemandfreedom
They are backed by Christian, Muslim and Bahai religious leaders who are calling for all "homos" to be rounded up and locked away.
Buturo told the BBC that his government opposed equality for gay people and would not decriminalise gay sexual relationships. He branded homosexuality as "shameful, abominable and ungodly ... (and) unnatural". Urging gays to get out of Uganda he warned ominously: "We know them, we have details of who they are."
Buturo then went even further by attending a church-orchestrated anti-gay rally held in the capital Kampala on August 21. It was a de facto show of government support for homophobic religious zealots who denounced homosexuality as "immoral" and paraded with placards urging: "Arrest all homos." The rally was organised by the interfaith coalition against homosexuality, an alliance of Christian, Muslim and Bahai organisations.
The homophobic backlash in Uganda is in response to a new campaign called "Let us live in peace". It is organised by a small group of brave, inspiring Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) human rights activists. They are challenging decades of systematic discrimination and violence suffered by LGBTI Ugandans. Much of this homophobic persecution is incited by President Yoweri Museveni's government, by Kampala's notoriously sensationalist tabloid press and, most shockingly of all, by the Anglican church of Uganda.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has failed to condemn the homophobic witch-hunt that is being stirred up by Anglican bishops in Uganda. Indeed, he has gone out of his way to embrace and appease them in a desperate bid to stop them splitting from the Anglican Communion. Liberal and gay Ugandans are dismayed by the archbishop's silence and indifference.
The attacks on the LGBTI community in Uganda are symptomatic of the increasing authoritarianism of the government of President Museveni, who seems to be heading in the same direction as President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
President Museveni's regime stands accused of rigged elections, censorship of the media, repression of protests, crackdowns on universities and trade unions, detention without trial and the use of torture. Details of these abuses are documented in my Talking With Tatchell TV interview with Ugandan opposition activists, which you can watch here.
Despite state and church repression, the new LGBTI "Let us live in peace" campaign is defiant. It has been organised a coalition of several LGBTI organisations operating under the name sexual minorities Uganda or Smug.
On August 17, they held Uganda's first ever LGBTI human rights press conference at the Speke Hotel, where speakers called for an end to homophobic discrimination in the legal, education and health systems. Many of those who attended the press conference wore masks and gave only first names, because they were fearful of identification and arrest.
Smug speakers reported that the police are guilty of gross harassment of law-abiding LGBTI people. Officers often demand sexual favours or personal bribes in exchange for release from custody on trumped-up charges.
The Smug campaigners also highlighted the health problems LGBTI people face, particularly HIV/Aids, which often go untreated due to fear of persecution by homophobic doctors and the police. Lesbian and gay people are excluded from Uganda's anti-HIV/Aids prevention and support programmes. Smug declared: "We have had enough of the abuse, neglect and violence."
Smug is led by Victor Juliet Mukasa, a transgender lesbian who is one of Uganda's very few LGBTI activists willing to be identified and speak openly in public. Mukasa was forced to flee temporarily into exile in South Africa in fear of her life after police raided her home in 2005. She has now returned to Uganda to spearhead the new campaign and to pursue a civil lawsuit against the government ministers who sanctioned the raid on her home.
In Uganda, male homosexuality is illegal under archaic laws imposed during the period of British colonial rule. Section 140 of the country's penal code criminalises "carnal knowledge against the order of nature" with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Section 141 bans "attempts at carnal knowledge", stipulating a maximum penalty of seven years jail; while section 143 punishes "gross indecency" between men in public or private and authorises a top sentence of five years.
The Ugandan government openly flouts international human rights conventions that guarantee equal rights and non-discrimination, including the African charter on human and peoples' rights which Uganda ratified in 1986 and has promised to uphold.
The escalating attacks on LGBTI people began in 1999, when a state-owned newspaper reported that President Museveni had ordered the arrest and imprisonment of homosexuals. The New Vision newspaper quoted Museveni as saying: "I have told the Criminal Investigations Department to look for homosexuals, lock them up and charge them."
Five years later, in 2004, government minister Nsaba Buturo ordered the police to investigate and "take appropriate action" against a gay organisation at Makerere University.
The following year, President Museveni signed a constitutional amendment that made same-sex marriages illegal. Article 31 of the constitution now states "marriage between persons of the same sex is prohibited".
The government has also attempted to silence discussion of rights for LGBTI people. The country's broadcasting council fined a radio station for hosting a discussion involving a lesbian and two gay men, where they called for greater understanding of LGBTI people and for the anti-sodomy law to be repealed.
The media is also guilty of rabid homophobia. In 2006 and again this month, the tabloid newspaper Red Pepper outed dozens of alleged lesbians and gay and bisexual men. The paper claimed it was doing this in order to "show the nation how fast the terrible vice known as sodomy is eating up our society". You can read samples of the lurid, shock-horror, gay-baiting headlines and news stories on the OutRage! photo website.
The pervasive "state homophobia," as Human Rights Watch has called it, together with the allied media witch-hunts, make it all the more extraordinary and praiseworthy that members of Smug have taken such a public and defiant stand in defence of LGBTI equality. Their courage is truly inspirational. In defending LGBTI rights against an increasingly authoritarian state, they are ultimately defending the liberties and human rights of all Ugandans - gay and straight. Bravo!
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/sep/17/ugandangaysdemandfreedom
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 6, 2013
Social Action and Buddhism
Understandably,
Buddhism often appears to promote personal transformation at the
expense of social concern. Some Buddhist teachings claim that the mind
does not just affect the world, it actually creates and sustains it.
According to this view, cosmic harmony is most effectively preserved
through an individual's spiritual practice. Yet other Buddhists amend
the notion that mind is the primary or exclusive source of peace,
contending that inner serenity is fostered or impeded by external
conditions. Buddhists who place importance upon social factors and
social action believe that internal transformation cannot, by itself,
quell the world's turbulence.
|
- Kenneth Kraft, "Meditation in Action"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 7, 2013
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Thursday, December 5, 2013
Via JMG: LGBT Groups React To Mandela's Death
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force
Nelson Mandela was an inspiration to the millions of people who yearn for freedom across the world. With great personal sacrifice, he fought Apartheid and state-sanctioned racism. His principled approach, his willingness to reach out to former enemies, led to the introduction of multi-party democracy and real change in South Africa. Indeed, South Africa's post-apartheid constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation. His legacy is hope; hope that people can achieve peace and freedom in a world with more than its fair share of conflict.Human Rights Campaign
Nelson Mandela tore down oppression, united a rainbow nation, and always walked arm-in-arm with his LGBT brothers and sisters—and with all people—toward freedom. Though every man, woman and child who seeks justice around the world mourns this loss, his vision of an equal future lives on undimmed. Mandela, who was South Africa’s first post-Apartheid president, was an outspoken advocate for LGBT equality. He appointed an openly-gay judge to South Africa's High Court of Appeal and during his presidency, South Africa became the first nation in the world to constitutionally prohibit sexual orientation-based discrimination. Mandela will be remembered for his social justice activism and commitment to equality for all people.Lambda Legal
Lambda Legal joins others around the world in mourning the loss of Nelson Mandela, one of the 20th century's giants in the struggle for justice and human dignity. Every one of us who continues the fight for equality and civil rights in our own communities labors in the shadows of this man who withstood imprisonment as a consequence of his courageous leadership and grew only stronger, more resolute and more dignified. As South Africa's first elected black president, he led the people of his country toward reconciliation and forgiveness. Under his leadership, the new constitution of South Africa included explicit prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation - a degree of legal protection that LGBT people still do not have in the United States.All Out
We are deeply saddened to hear about Nelson Mandela’s passing. Yet, we are hopeful his legacy of tolerance and mutual respect will live on for generations," Andre Banks, Executive Director and Co-Founder of All Out said. “As All Out continues to work with partners throughout Africa to free those who are oppressed and imprisoned for who they are and who they love, we will be inspired by Nelson Mandela’s story and words.”
Labels: activism, LGBT rights, Nelson Mandela, South Africa
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 5, 2013
No Easy Answers
People
come to Buddhism looking for answers, but Buddhism is not about giving
you some easy formula. It’s all about you needing to question yourself.
When you think you’ve got it, that’s when you especially need to
question it—and if you don’t question it right away, you’ll run into
situations that will make you question it, if you’re fortunate. Life is always throwing monkey wrenches into the machinery of your calculating mind.
|
- Reverend Patti Nakai, "Get Real"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 6, 2013
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 4, 2013
Noble Truths
Of
all the amazing things the Buddha could have reported from his
awakening, this is what he chose to focus on: what exactly suffering is,
how it’s caused, and how to put an end to it. This indicates that these
truths deserve to be placed before all others.
|
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "What's Noble about the Four Noble Truths?"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 5, 2013
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Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 3, 2013
Consuming Mind
Spiritual
experience and goods can certainly reinforce a consuming mind, too, and
it is no surprise to see this happening in a consumer culture.
Marketers are successfully targeting spiritual consumers as a market
niche and figuring out exactly what fulfills their self-centered
yearnings. How many of these products are necessary for spiritual
enlightenment? Probably not one.
|
- Stephanie Kaza, “Ego in the Shopping Cart”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 4, 2013
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Monday, December 2, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 2, 2013
The Ultimate Bliss
Blissful is solitude
for one who’s content,
who has heard the Dhamma,
who sees.
Blissful is non-affliction
with regard for the world,
restraint for living beings.
Blissful is dispassion
with regard for the world,
the overcoming of sensuality.
But the subduing of the conceit 'I am'—
That is truly
the ultimate bliss.
|
- Gautama Buddha, “The Ultimate Bliss”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 3, 2013
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma: Do Nothing
I’m going to talk a little about shamatha meditation, and I thought it would be good to try and actually do the meditation as we go along. The actual technique is very simple. All the great meditators of the past advised us to sit up straight when we meditate. When we sit up straight, there is a sense of alertness, a sense of importance—it produces the right atmosphere. In this particular instruction, I’m going to suggest we don’t use an external object, such as a flower, but instead follow the standard Theravada tradition of using our breath as the object. So we concentrate on our breathing: we simply follow our breath in and out. That’s it. Our mind is focused on the breathing, our posture is straight, our eyes are open. That’s the essential technique: basically doing nothing.
Let’s do that for a while.
Short meditation session
Short meditation session
Short meditation session
Just sit.
The beautiful thing about having less obsessions and ambitions—and just sitting straight and watching the breathing—is that nothing will disturb us. Things only disturb us when we have an aim. When we have an aim, we become obsessed. Say our aim is to go somewhere, but somebody parks right in front of our car, blocking us. If something gets in the way of our aim, it becomes a terrible thing. If we don’t have an aim, though, it doesn’t matter.
Meditators often have a strong ambition to achieve something with their meditation. But when meditators get distracted, they go through all kinds of hell: they lose their confidence, they get frustrated, they condemn themselves, they condemn the technique. This is why, at least during the first few moments of meditation, it doesn’t matter whether we are getting enlightened or not, it doesn’t matter whether the hot water is boiling in the kettle, it doesn’t matter whether the telephone is ringing, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s one of our friends. For a few moments, things don’t matter.
Short meditation session
You
don’t have to meditate for the sake of attaining enlightenment. If you
are not interested in enlightenment, you can practice shamatha to be
natural—to not be so swayed by circumstances. Most of the time we are
not in control of ourselves; our mind is always attracted to, or
distracted by, something—our enemies, our lovers, our friends, hope,
fear, jealousy, pride, attachment, aggression. In other words, all these
objects and these phenomena control our mind. Maybe we can control it
for a split second, but when we are in an extreme emotional state, we
lose it.Letting go of ambition is a bit like the renunciation that Buddhists talk about. The Buddha renounced his palace, his queen, his son, and his parents, and went out in search of enlightenment. You can say that the Buddha was trying to diminish his ambition. At least, he was trying to see the futility of it, and he was letting go. Letting go is quite important if you want to become a shamatha practitioner. We do shamatha meditation so we can achieve this power to let go.
Meditation is one of the rare occasions when we’re not doing anything. Otherwise, we’re always doing something, we’re always thinking something, we’re always occupied. We get lost in millions of obsessions or fixations. But by meditating—by not doing anything—all these fixations are revealed. Beginners might find this a little frightening, but slowly they will gain inner confidence, and these fixations will automatically lessen. The classical meditation instruction texts say our obsessions will undo themselves like a snake uncoiling itself.
Short meditation session
Short meditation session
Short meditation session
Keeping it short is important because if you do too much at the beginning, you’ll get fed up with the technique. We are human beings—we don’t like to get bored. We like to change what we eat, we like changing our clothes. We like change.
Likewise, the spiritual path is a long process, and we need a lot of patience. We need to like the path, so keep the meditation short and precise and frequent. That way we develop strong habits. Later on, it becomes part of us. It’s like drinking alcohol: when we first start drinking, we drink a little; we don’t drink two or three bottles at one time. If we did, we’d get so sick we’d never touch it again. So practice shamatha for a short time but many times. That way you’ll get habituated. This is necessary. Shamatha should become part of your life.
And during the off sessions, also, if it’s possible, remember you are breathing. We always forget that we are breathing.
Also, you should not limit your meditation to only in the morning or only in the evening: you should do it any time, all the time. Practice time is always now—it’s never in the future. Don’t ever leave your shamatha thinking, “I’m going to do it next weekend, next month, or next year.” Do it now.
Anyway, you’re only doing it for about forty-five seconds, if you’re a beginner. It’s easy. You can do it anywhere. It only requires this: to sit straight.
Short meditation session
The frustrating thing about our life is that there is no control over these emotions. That’s why there’s no fun. The whole purpose of Buddhism is to have fun, isn’t it? And in order to have fun you have to have control. If someone else has control over you, that’s it: there’s no fun.
Short meditation session
But at least it will lead you somewhere.
Keep it simple, don’t make it complicated. Concentrate on the breathing, sit straight—that’s all. Every day, do a few minutes, and, on top of that, do it spontaneously in different places—not just in front of the shrine, but everywhere. There’s so much merit in just sitting there.
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche was born in Bhutan in 1961 and is recognized as the main incarnation of Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1894-1959). From early childhood, he has studied with some of the greatest contemporary masters, including His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He has established dharma centers in Asia, North America, Australia, and Europe.
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