Category: Philosophy

Just Say Sorry

Lately, I have been avidly studying a Soto Zen text called the Shushōgi (修証義, “Meaning of Practice and Verification”), which I introduced here. It is a 19th century mashup of Dogen’s much longer Shobogenzo, but with an intended audience of lay followers, not monks.

This week, I wanted to mix up the usual schedule and post one chapter a day, Monday through Friday, five total. Each chapter is fairly short, but just long enough that each needs its own post.

Today, I wanted to explore the second chapter of five which delves into the importance of self-reflection and repentance. You find chapter one here.

As we saw in the first chapter we each have karmic burdens to carry. However, that is not the end of the story.

7. The buddhas and ancestors, because of their limitless sympathy, have opened the vast gates of compassion in order to lead all beings to awakening. Among humans and devas, who would not enter? Although karmic retribution for evil acts must come in one of the three times, repentance lessens the effects, or eliminates the bad karma and brings about purification.

translation provided by Soto Zen Text Project of Stanford University, courtesy of sotozen.net.

The idea, prevalent throughout Mahayana Buddhism, is that reflecting one your faults, and then confessing such transgressions is a way to diminish or prevent accumulated bad karma from coming to fruition. This isn’t like confession in a Western-Christian sense. It’s about weighing your conduct against a benchmark like the Dharma, and determining if you fell short anywhere. Of course, many Buddhists make mistakes regularly, but this self-reflection isn’t meant to instill shame. It’s about thinking rationally, almost scientifically. For you Star Trek fans: WWSD (What Would Spock [or Tuvok] Do?)

Captain Kirk and Spock wearing togas and laurels on their heads. From the episode “Plato’s Stepchildren”.

Joking aside, another way to look at it is rehearsing for a play. Even if you practice your lines 20 times, you’ll still make mistakes, but with time and diligence, you’ll get better and better at it, until you can recite your lines automatically. Then, you work in other acting skills, and so it becomes more than reciting lines, it becomes a performance. I find this helpful when trying to uphold the precepts in my own life. I mess up regularly, but I pick myself and try again until it sinks in and becomes a part of my life. Sometimes, this takes years.

8. Therefore, we should repent before [the] buddha in all sincerity. The power of the merit that results from repenting in this way before [the] buddha saves and purifies us. This merit encourages the growth of unobstructed faith and effort. When faith appears it transforms both self and other, and its benefits extend to beings both sentient and insentient.

Faith might seem like a strange word especially after talking about the importance of thinking rationally, but the two go hand in hand in Buddhism. Faith in Buddhism isn’t a “leap of faith” nor is it the Western-religious faith in a deity; it’s about confidence in the teacher and the teaching: the Buddha and the Dharma respectively. For new Buddhists, this faith is shaky at first, but through time and practice, one sees the fruit of living according to the Dharma, and one’s faith grows.

Further, Buddhist repentance isn’t done with a priest, it’s between yourself and the Buddha.

9. The gist of repentance is expressed as follows：”Although we have accumulated much bad karma in the past, producing causes and conditions that obstruct our practice of the way, may the buddhas and ancestors who have attained the way of the buddha take pity on us, liberate us from our karmic entanglements, and remove obstructions to our study of the way. May their merit fill up and hold sway over the inexhaustible dharma realm, so that they share with us their compassion.” Buddhas and ancestors were once like us; in the future we shall be like them.

The passage generally speaks for itself. But the final sentence is really important: what separates Buddhas from people is simply the degree of awakening. There is no separate divinity that separates us from them, and with diligent practice and good conduct, we can be assured that we will be Buddhas as well.

10. “All my past and harmful karma, born from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, through body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow.” If we repent in this way, we will certainly receive the mysterious guidance of the buddhas and ancestors. Keeping this in mind and acting in the appropriate manner, we should openly confess before the buddha. The power of this confession will cut the roots of our bad karma.

This is a formula often used in many Buddhist services (translation variations notwithstanding). The specific words do not matter; it’s about reflecting that you have committed wrong acts rooted in the Three Poisons (a.k.a. craving, anger, and conceit), and to disavow your past conduct. In this way, you turn a new leaf and start anew.

Next, onto chapter three.

P.S. If you ever needed to know how the second chapter is traditionally recited, please enjoy this video:

Why We Practice

Lately, I have been avidly studying a Soto Zen text called the Shushōgi (修証義, “Meaning of Practice and Verification”), which I introduced here. It is a 19th century mashup of Dogen’s much longer Shobogenzo, but with an intended audience of lay followers, not monks.

This week, I wanted to mix up the usual schedule and post one chapter a day, Monday through Friday, five total. Each chapter is fairly short, but just long enough that each needs its own post.

Today I wanted to explore the first chapter which delves into fundamentals of Buddhism.

The opening paragraph starts off with a bang:

1. The most important issue of all for Buddhists is the thorough clarification of the meaning of birth and death. If the buddha is within birth and death, there is no birth and death. Simply understand that birth and death are in themselves nirvana； there is no birth and death to be hated nor nirvana to be desired. Then, for the first time, we will be freed from birth and death. To master this problem is of supreme importance.

translation by Soto Zen Text Project of Stanford University, courtesy of sotozen.net

This really gets to the heart of the point of Buddhism: squaring with one’s mortality. Some of this might sound cryptic, but if you look at the Heart Sutra, there’s much the same language there too.

2. It is difficult to be born as a human being； it is rare to encounter the buddha-dharma. Now, thanks to our good deeds in the past, not only have we been born as humans, we have also encountered the buddha-dharma. Within the realm of birth and death, this good birth is the best; let us not waste our precious human lives, irresponsibly abandoning them to the winds of impermanence.

The point here is not to compare one’s karmic background to another (some people will be tempted to look down on others, this is not OK). What matters is that you are here, thankfully born as a human. Yet, life is short, and the daily grind will get you down, so use the time you have and don’t squander it.

3. Impermanence is unreliable； we know not on what roadside grasses the dew of our transient life will fall. Our bodies are not our own； our lives shift with the passing days and cannot be stopped for even an instant. Once rosy-cheeked youth has gone, we cannot find even its traces. Careful reflection shows that most things, once gone by, will never be encountered again. In the face of impermanence, there is no help from kings, statesmen, relatives, servants, spouses, children, or wealth. We must enter the realm of death alone, accompanied only by our good and bad karma.

This message is found throughout Buddhism in such works as the Parable of the Burning House in the Lotus Sutra, Rennyo’s Letter on White Ashes, and so on. But also this is an important reminder that we must all face death, regardless of whether you’re a king (or a president), or a regular Joe. It is all but inevitable that you will grow old, face illnesses, and eventually die. Buddhism isn’t just therapy: these are facets of your life that you must confront and resolve before it’s too late. Whatever you’ve done up to this point is the karma you have to carry with you in the lives to come. So, it’s important to be diligent.

4. Avoid associating with deluded people in this world who are ignorant of the truth of causality and karmic retribution, who are heedless of past, present and future, and cannot distinguish good from evil. The principle of causality is obvious and impersonal; for inevitably those who do evil fall, and those who do good rise. If there were no causality, the buddhas would not have appeared in this world, nor would Bodhidharma have come from the west.

This first sentence might seem strange, but consider a much older sutra from the Pali Canon, where the Buddha emphasizes the importance of being surrounded by good, responsible people. We do not live in isolation, and we can’t do it alone, either.

As for the Dharma (the sum total of the Buddha’s teachings) it works like the laws of physics: it’s impersonal, pervasive, etc. It just works the way it does. In same way way, karma also just works the way it does.

5. The karmic consequences of good and evil occur at three different times. The first is retribution experienced in our present life； the second is retribution experienced in the life following this one; and the third is retribution experienced in subsequent lives. In practicing the way of the buddhas and ancestors, from the start we should study and clarify the principle of karmic retribution in these three times. Otherwise, we will often make mistakes and fall into false views. Not only will we fall into false views, we will fall into evil births and undergo long periods of suffering.

This is a further exposition on how the karma works. Even if we commit a deed in this life, the karma may not necessarily come to fruition until some later date, or even a later lifetime. It may affect how we are reborn in a future life. Of course, things done in past lives also came come to fruition in this life, whether we want them to or not.

In short, this passage reminds us that a healthy apprecation of karma helps reinforce the Buddhist teachings.

6. Understand that in this birth we have only one life, not two or three. How regrettable it is if, falling into false views, we are subject to the consequences of evil deeds. Because we think that it is not evil even as we do evil, and falsely imagine that there will be no consequences of evil, there is no way for us to avoid those consequences.

TL;DR consider your actions carefully.

I like this chapter because it covers a lot of basic Buddhism, teachings common to all traditions. Of course, there’s minor differences among traditions, but things like the preciousness of life, responsibility for one’s conduct, and the cycle of rebirth, are pretty universal.

Tomorrow, we’ll cover chapter two.

P.S. If you want to see how the first chapter is traditionally recited in a formal setting, please enjoy this video:

Continuous Growth

While reading the excellent book, River of Fire, River of Water by Dr Taitetsu Unno last week, there was a nice chapter about Buddhism being about not one, but series of small awakenings.

Many people experience this type of [radical, spiritual] awakening, but normally it touches only one aspect of life and rarely involves the total person. Furthermore, a single experience may not effect any real transformation. The awakening must be repeated and deepened for as long as we are living and breathing.

page 65

Here, Dr Unno was talking about it in the context of the experience of Shinjin (信心, the sincere entrusting of Amida Buddha that Shinran taught), but he cites a few sources, including the Rinzai Zen master Hakuin (白隠 1686 – 1769), who evidentially taught that there was the initial awakening (in a Zen context), and then subsequent awakenings.

The book What Is Zen? 禅ってなんだろう describes something similar:

True kenshō [見性, “seeing your nature”] is a very difficult practice. That being the case, only a select few individuals who are gifted with special religious capabilities will ever achieve kenshō.

One shouldn’t give up on attaining kenshō, but there is another state prior to it called sei [省]. Of course Zen disdains practice for the sake of personal attainments, but when one sits in zazen and properly regulates one’s posture and breathing, the mind gradually grows calm. In that state, the honshō [本性, “one’s original nature?”] and original self become active, if not completely.

pages 39-41

Here, the author is describing the process of reaching final enlightenment, using the alternative Zen-specific term kensho.1 But, in keeping with mainstream Buddhism, this state of mind is pretty difficult to attain, and yet one has any number of smaller awakenings (sei) along the way. One may not necessarily fully become awakened, but even those brief glimpses can be transformative. The point is of course that it’s a journey, not just an abstract goal.

In Star Trek terms (because I am a giant nerd), think of the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Spock talks to his protegé, Valeris, about the importance of logic, even for a Vulcan:

VALERIS: But is this logical? Surely we must…
SPOCK: Logic? …Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end.

source: http://www.chakoteya.net/movies/movie6.html

I think Buddhism is less about “what have I accomplished” and more about “what can I do next” or “where do I go from here?”.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

P.S. Next week I am changing up the schedule a bit. I hope you enjoy.

1 The generic Japanese-Buddhist term is satori (悟り), and they mean more or less the same thing. As someone who accomplished neither, I can’t really speak to either one. 😅

Truth and Truthier

Spock: Evil does seek to maintain power by suppressing the truth.
McCoy: Or by misleading the innocent.

Star Trek, “And The Children Shall Lead” (s3ep4), stardate 5029.5.

The season three episode of Star Trek, “And The Children Shall Lead” is widely considered a bottom-tier episode. It had a lot of problems, including its casting. Even as a classic Star Trek fan, I kind of despise this episode.

The evil entity “Gorgan”, played by infamous laywer Melvin Mouron Belli who had no prior acting experience. It was season three Trek at its worst.

But the premise of the episode did make a really important point: given the right persuasion, people (including children), can be made to do all kinds of terrible things. It just comes down to what someone asserts is “true” and if their argument is convincing enough. There’s plenty of examples in history, so I won’t belabor the point.

Or, like that old Simpsons gag:

Of course, ignorance as to what is actually true is the basis for our suffering, according to Buddhism. As thinking human beings, we have to piece together our understanding of the world as best we can, and hopefully we have good mentors along the way, but even a good mentor is not perfect. Simply put, subtle misperceptsions and misunderstandings can provide a foundation for a mountain of bad assumptions, stupid conduct, needless suffering. Thus, in Buddhism, this fundamental misunderstanding of things is one of the Three Poisons of the mind: the other two being anger and craving. But even anger and craving derive from misunderstanding too.

This is not something that can be fixed with some clever logic, or vaguely “zen-like” words. It’s a deeply seeded part of ourselves, something we cannot normally perceive in our daily lives, and even when you suppress it with willpower, it will surface again when you least expect it.

The Buddha described the awakening experience as “uprooting”:

….he [the renunciant monk] should develop the perception of inconstancy so as to uproot the conceit, ‘I am.’

Translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu in the Meghiya Sutta of the Pali Canon (Ud 4:1 Meghiya)

Such a tree of ignorance isn’t cut down, leaving a stump; it is uprooted entirely.

Spock: “Humans do have an amazing capacity for believing what they choose and excluding that which is painful.”

Star Trek, “And The Children Shall Lead” (s3ep4), stardate 5029.5

But how can mundane people, who have yet to fully awaken, discern the truth?

The Buddha taught the Dharma. The Dharma is like a principle of existence (think: laws of physics), and it is something one can objectively measure their thoughts and actions against. In the words of the Buddha:

“Therefore, did we say, Kalamas, what was said thus, ‘Come Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another’s seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, “The monk is our teacher.”

Translation by Soma Thera of the Kalama Sutta of the Pali Canon (AN 3.65)

Intuition, logic, reasoning, or trust in a teacher or tradition is insufficient, because our own fundamental ignorance warps our understanding of such things. Instead, the Buddha encourages us to use simple benchmarks:

“What do you think, Kalamas? Does absence of greed [or hate, or delusion] appear in a man for his benefit or harm?” —

“For his benefit, venerable sir.” —

“Kalamas, being not given to greed [or hate, or delusion], and being not overwhelmed and not vanquished mentally by greed [or hate, or delusion], this man does not take life, does not steal, does not commit adultery, and does not tell lies; he prompts another too, to do likewise. Will that be long for his benefit and happiness?” —

“Yes, venerable sir.”

Translation by Soma Thera of the Kalama Sutta of the Pali Canon (AN 3.65)

Here, the Buddha is using the Five Precepts as a simple benchmark. Teachings and actions that lead to adherence of the Five Precepts (not taking life, stealing, adultery, etc) are proper teachings; choices that lead to breaking the Five Precepts are thus improper teachings. The monastic precepts are larger and have more rules, as are the Bodhisattva Precepts, but the essence is the same: a lifestyle that is honest, clean, and does not harm others in body, speech or mind.

The need for an objective benchmark such as the Dharma, is how we can know that words and teachings by others are for good or for ill. Evil can incite others to hate, or to lie and steal, but these clearly violate the benchmark that is the Five Precepts, and thus no matter what they say, we know they are false, conducive to harm, not good.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

Buddhist Priorities in a Modern Era

SPOCK: [being a Vulcan] means to adopt a philosophy, a way of life, which is logical and beneficial.

Star Trek, “Journey to Babel” (s2ep10), Stardate 3842.3

Recently, while I was doing some soul-searching, I found this very helpful article online by Dr. Jacqueline Stone. The article is an overview of how different Japanese-Buddhist monks of the Kamakura Period (12th-14th century), the same monks who founded important Buddhist sects we see today, addressed the concept of Dharma Decline. The site requires registration, but it’s free and easy. The article is worth a read if you are curious about the topic.

In any case, I found this great quote in Dr Stone’s article:

“The Zen sect regards the precepts as being of first priority,” he [Eisai] wrote. And, “By means of the precepts, meditation and wisdom are brought forth.”

Eisai (栄西, 1141 – 1215) also known as Myōan Eisai (明菴栄西) is the original founder of the Rinzai Zen-sect in Japan (more on its convoluted history here), and isn’t someone I really talk about much, but he was one of the founders of this “new” Kamakura-era Buddhism.

Anyhow, this quote really struck me.

In my limited experience, I rarely heard the importance of precepts from Western Zen sources, or that they are the basis for other Zen practice. That’s not to say it’s not there, but it often seemed to get lost in the message of Zen mysticism.

Bluntly speaking, precepts aren’t sexy like mindfulness, koan riddles, or meditation.

And yet, Eisai is taking a more traditional, conservative standpoint and reiterating that one should not put the cart before the horse. This is not limited to Eisai, by the way: the 19th century Soto-Zen text for lay-followers, the Shushogi, stressed the importance of the precepts, reflection on one’s actions, and practicing kindness, patience and generosity whenever possible.

But if you’re familiar with Zen, this might seem odd. Isn’t Zen all about meditation, being in the moment and so on?

Consider the Marvel movie Ant-Man (2015). In the movie the villain, a bald tech-CEO who bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain CEO and founder,1 brags to a coworker about some deep thoughts he had during “morning meditation”. This is not far from the mark: many ambitious people use meditation and mindfulness as a way to get what they want, not what it’s intended for. If a person can’t regulate their day to day conduct towards others, meditation will not avail them.

Put another way: a rotten person might meditate, but a person who follows the precepts is probably not a rotten person.2

Further, this focus on the precepts fosters mindfulness because one is monitoring their own actions, etc. It has concrete impact on one’s sense of self-worth, one’s relationships with others, and leads to greater peace of mind, even when not meditating. So, there’s a clear benefit, both short-term and also long-term to taking up the precepts first, and then letting other disciplines and practices extend from it.

Finally, upholding the precepts is something any Buddhist can do, regardless of background or circumstances. It is very accessible, beneficial (just like Spock says), and opens many doors to Buddhist practice.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

P.S. I’ll cover this issue of precepts in more detail later, but TL;DR both Rinzai and Soto Zen both encourage people to take up the Ten Bodhisattva Precepts specifically.

1 Played by the excellent Corey Stoll.

2 Put another way: watch your temper, and don’t be a dick.

Full Circle

SPOCK: There’s no further need to observe me, Doctor. As you can see, I’ve returned to the present in every sense. 

Star Trek, “All Our Yesteryears” (s3ep23), Stardate 5943.7

I spent this past week volunteering as a chaperone for my son’s school camping trip, which was chaotic and busy, but also bought me some much-needed quiet time to read and reflect on some things. Exhausting, but nice.

Lately, while reviewing some old Buddhist material, I realized that I had conflicting thoughts about my own Buddhist path. I have spent much of my past 20 years as a Buddhist following the Pure Land path, especially Jodo-Shu/Jodo-Shinshu sect Buddhism, and this is reflected in many posts here, including recent posts like this one. This has been really formative to my understanding of Buddhist religion and teachings.

And yet, the reason why I left my old community nearly 10 years ago was that I felt there was more to Buddhism than just passively allowing the power of Amida Buddha to lead me (i.e. tariki 他力 in Japanese-Buddhist parlance). I wanted to pursue other facets, more active practices, and so on. This is reflected in my exploration of Buddhism in general, including recent posts like this one. But even then, I never could quite pin down what I should do for Buddhist practice, or what to prioritize. I had a general sense of things, but struggled to articulate what I think I should do.

So, for some time now, I have been plagued with self-doubt, and feeling conflicted about how best to be a “good Buddhist”. I was worried that I had lost my way. I read a few sources from different Buddhist traditions in my spare time, but it only made me feel more confused.

So, I decided to get back to basics. Using my spare time at camp, I started writing down what I genuinely believed in, and not what a particular tradition dictated to me. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I would just jot down notes on my phone, a sentence here or there. Over a few days, I had a list of items, and they had certain recurring themes. I was relieved to see that I came to the same conclusions as before, but now with a greater sense of conviction. What a relief.

I felt a bit like Captain Kirk in the season one Star Trek episode “This Side of Paradise” (s1ep24), after he has been affected by the mind-control spores. He is just about to leave the ship for good, but at the last minute, he comes to his senses and realizes that what he really valued was the ship, and his role as captain. It was as if he came out of a fever dream. This is how it felt for me.

But also with this new sense of conviction, I will probably be changing tack a little bit on the blog. Nothing dramatic, but I feel that it’s time to close the book on certain topics, and focus on other things that I want to explore more. Time will tell, but that’s what I want to do for some upcoming blog posts.

Thanks for reading!

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

P.S. Photos from camp.

P.P.S. Bonus episode this week. I felt like posting sooner than later. Enjoy!

The Healing Power of Nature

In the past, I talked about the four-character phrases, or yojijukugo, popular in Japanese culture. Recently, I learned about a new phrase that I hadn’t heard before: kachō-fūgetsu (花鳥風月). This phrase describes the beauty of nature, literally the Kanji characters for “flower”, “bird”, “wind” and “moon”.

The meaning here is various aspects of nature, but also in a positive healing sense.

Spock: Indeed, gentlemen. May I point out that I had an opportunity to observe your counterparts here quite closely. They were brutal, savage, unprincipled, uncivilized, treacherous; in every way, splendid examples of homo sapiens, the very flower of humanity. I found them quite refreshing. [he returns to the science station]

Kirk: I’m not sure, but I think we’ve just been insulted.

McCoy: I’m sure.

Star Trek, “Mirror Mirror” (s2ep4), stardate unknown

For all our veneer of civilization and advancement, we are still deep down biological creatures. We come from nature, and we need nature. Nature heals us and sustains us.

A small patch of grass in my yard, taken in April of 2025.

These days, it’s not hard to feel stressed by all the things that are going on, but I also found solace knowing that nature continues on regardless of what humans do or become. That doesn’t mean the future of humanity will necessarily be positive or negative, but it does remind me that life goes on nonetheless.

It also underscores how important protecting nature is.

P.S. More tips here for protecting the environment.

The Death of Gods

“I hope that your Engels and your Lenins never replace the religion that I hate, or the superstitions I have battened upon. You Babakov, have more blood on your hands than I have ever drunk. In destroying the gods of light you are also destroying the Dark Ones. We shall be avenged!”

Roger Zelazny, “On the Road to Splenoba”

I found this quote recently in an old, obscure Roger Zelazny short story titled On the Road to Splenoba, in which a vampire comes into contact with a Communist official with a surprise ending. No spoilers, sorry.

Anyhow, I just thought this quote was really neat because it speaks to the way the modern world has kind of destroyed the worldview where higher powers manage everything. We can’t attribute the motions of the planets, or the weather to deities the way we used to, because we know “under the hood” how these things work. People are no longer at the mercy of diseases thanks to medical technology.1 Of course, with the benefit of science, we also have a much better picture of the origins of the Earth, life, etc.

However, as the quote alludes to, it also feels like a bit of the magic of the world is gone too.

This reminds me of the Star Trek episode “Who Mourns for Adonais?“, when the Enterprise encounters the ancient Greek deity, Apollo, on a remote planet, and ultimately kill him in order to escape his grasp.

The “god” Apollo, played by Michael Forest.

The ending is melancholy:

KIRK: Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?

Star Trek, “Who Mourns for Adonais?” (s2ep2), stardate: 3468.1

The human race had outgrown Apollo, and gone on to accomplish many great things, yet it also cost something in the process. Maybe this is like growing up, trading a child’s imagination and wonderment for an adult’s self-mastery and freedom to choose one’s life…

1 Skepticism toward medical science is a modern issue though… 🙄. I doubt few who lived in the era of measles would object to taking a vaccine, but people have the luxury of choice now, even if those choices are reckless ones.

Madness

SPOCK: Jim, madness has no purpose or reason, but it may have a goal. 

Star Trek, “Alternative Factor” (s1ep25), Stardate: 3087.6

I was going to write something based on this excellent quote, but then the good folks at Extra History published this fascinating and hilarious video about Goodwin Wharton (1653 – 1704), and his autobiography describing his secret life as the King of the Faeries, unbeknownst to the rest of the world:

There is also a great blog post from 2015 that goes into more details.

It’s kind of baffling that someone like this could be a (more or less) functional individual yet also be completely consumed by their own fantasy, and so totally divorced from reality. Goodwin Wharton had goals, per Spock’s comment, though. However, Wharton was totally devoid of both reason and purpose. He was just quietly living out his fantasy life as “King of Faeries”.

It kind of makes one wonder how many more such people exist in a world like this. Would we even recognize them?

Thinking further on this, could any one of us be living in such fantasies? Could I, the writer of this blog, be similarly devoid of reality? I assume “no” of course, but then again, how would I even know? Are my personal goals just further extension of my own madness?

Looking at it form a Buddhist standpoint, our understanding of the world around us is obscured by ignorance, or misconceptions, which become the foundation of how we interact with the world. In a loose sense, this can be a form of madness, but most of us are functional adults with varying degrees of emotional maturity.

Further, we do have the capacity to ask ourselves, “is this the right thing to do?” or “does this even make sense?”. I think that ability to analyze ourselves is what helps counterbalance ignorance and madness. Further, the Dharma, that which is taught by the Buddhas, is meant to act as a kind of benchmark for one’s actions. It doesn’t what you think is right, if it aligns with the principles of the Dharma, than it is considered skillful, wise, and conducive to liberation and well-being. The Buddha doesn’t decide this, it is just how things work.

Conversely, those who never bother to analyze themselves, though, can go through life in a single trajectory and not realize their mistake. Just like Goodwin Wharton…

P.S. I felt like posting a bonus episode today since it is Spring Ohigan week. Please enjoy the weather and have a great weekend! 😊

Big Changes, Little Changes

A beach scene with a rocky shore, and waves lapping up to teh shore. In the distance is a cloudy sunset.

Q: The redoubtable Commander Riker, whom I noticed before. You seem to find this all very amusing.
RIKER: I might, if we weren’t on our way to help some suffering and dying humans who–
Q: Your species is always suffering and dying.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Hide and Q” (s1ep10), Stardate: 41590.5

Something a little embarrassing I want to confess: sometimes, when I am uneasy or stressed, I go back and read some of my own posts. I don’t do this because of vanity (hopefully) or conceit, but I like to remind myself of certain things I might forget amidst daily turmoil. I suppose I write some of these blog posts as for myself to sort out what’s bothering me, as I do for the dear readers who follow the blog.1

One of my favorite posts of all time is this one. After visiting the Royal British Columbia Museum in 2022, and watching the excellent documentary about the different geologic ages of Antarctica, I walked away deeply impressed. These experiences help give a larger perspective about the world around us, and show how change is a constant of the universe whether we see it or not.

Change happens on the micro-level in our daily lives: one day to the next, we get older, our hobbies change, things at work happen, hairstyles change, etc. When I look at old photos of me and the kids, I am amazed at how much skinner I was, and no grey hear. 🤣

The world around us changes too: political, economically, and so on. The neighborhood you live in will look different 10 years from now, or looking back it’s probably changed in the past 10 years. Thinking about my life as a college kid in the early 2000’s, the Dot-com Era, it’s amazing how much has changed in a mere 20 years. Some things got better, some things got worse.

But if we step back even further, we can see with the benefit of hindsight slow-moving, multi-generational historical changes. From following the excellent History of Byzantium podcast, it’s amazing how much changes in the Eastern Roman (a.k.a. Byzantine) empire across generations. During the time of emperor Justinian the Great, chariot races were still hugely important in Byzantium, the empire had tenuous toeholds in North Africa and Spain, and many people still actively spoke Latin. By the time of emperor Manuel Komnenos, the Eastern Roman empire was far smaller, Greek language had long since replaced Latin, and the single universal church had long since split between Roman Catholic and Orthodox faiths. Between the 6th and 12th centuries, many changes happened, but because they stretch across many generations, it’s not possible for someone living within the city of Byzantium to fully grasp the scale of the changes. It was still the same Eastern Roman empire, and would continue for another 200+ years, but it had changed and evolved as external circumstances changed.

But let’s step even further back. An Egyptian peasant working the fields, or helping to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu, would be utterly stunned at the world today. Such a world would feel totally alien to him or her. It’s not just the level of technology we enjoy today, or the quality of our medicine, but also the way we view the world. Things that seem like common sense to such a peasant would feel strange or silly to us. Things that we inherently believe as 21st century adults would feel strange or bizarre to that peasant. We can’t really pin down when or how such things changed, but it’s series of gradual changes, each one piling on top of the rest.

And yet we can step even further back. If we look at the human race, it is new to the planet Earth. People can deny this using specious reasoning, but science doesn’t care what people believe or don’t believe. The natural world just works the way it does. We humans are just here, living on the Earth, but the Earth does not belong to us. We are its stewards. If not us, perhaps the Apes or Squids will be its stewards. 😏

Which I think brings me to my point: of all the craziness and turmoil going, I think there are two things to take away from all this:

  • We may lament how things have taken for the worse, but in a dispassionate sense, this is just more change unfolding due to causes and conditions that until now we may not have ever noticed. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are good changes, or harmless, but change is change. Also, by extension, the way things are now won’t always be this way in the future. Change is still happening, even if we can’t see it.
  • Of all the things to concern ourselves with most, in my humble opinion, the Environment (with a big “E”) is the most important. If we want to benefit Mankind, the Earth, and all life on it in ways that we’ll never see in our lifetime, if we want to get the most “bang for our buck”, then anything we can do to help the Environment works towards that end. Small changes and efforts now will ripple across generations we will never see, and help shape the Earth, hopefully in a positive way.

At times like this, I truly believe my old minister Rev. Don Castro of Seattle Buddhist Church was onto something when he described Buddhism, including Pure Land Buddhism, as an eco-religion. Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, embodies many things:

  1. As an embodiment of the Dharma, Amida sheds light on the continuous nature of all things: impermanent, fluid, changing.
  2. Also as an embodiment of the Dharma, Amida doesn’t require praise or devotion. The Dharma is just there, whether people notice it or not, whether they believe it or not. But as a Buddha, Amida tirelessly works to help all beings, to awaken them, to provide peace of mind.
  3. Also as an embodiment of the Dharma, Amida embodies how all things relate to one another. The small things that we do day to day to help improve, or degrade, life around us affect others even if they are far removed.
  4. Finally, Amida Buddha as the Dharma teaches rational, not selfish, thinking and non-fear. In a sense, WWTD: What Would Tuvok do?

All this is to say, I suppose, even amidst crazy times, do not fear. Take inspiration from the Buddha, make rational, wholesome choices, yet never assume things will stay a certain way forever. Do not be complacent, nor take things for granted.

Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. featured photo taken at Richmond Beach in Shoreline, WA earlier this year.

1 This blog is small-time, but it’s a labor of love, and I genuinely appreciate each and every reader.