Okay, “Enlightenment or bust” might be a bit dramatic, but… "Dang Zang" is an empty name. The blog has to do with the dharma; material related to Buddhist teachings (Tibetan style in particular, Kagyu in even more particular), meditation, gurus and lamas be they genuine or flaky, books and events.
I do have a more personal blog, Pica Pica, and a site for my work. Oh yes, it's by Alex Wilding
|
Monday February 23rd, 2009. Posted by Alex:
Went yesterday to see Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche at the new Kagyu Centre in Harris Park (see this earlier post.).
I will confess that in the days of the tiny centre mentioned in the previous blog post, I got off to a bad start with Traleg Rinpoche’s talks. I had seen him teach once many years ago in Hamburg, but that was short and long ago, and I couldn’t remember very much about it.
The format in the days of the tiny centre in Rozelle was to have a half-hour or so of shiné (silent meditation), a touch of “chanting” in English, and then about half an hour listening to an unedited recording of Traleg Rinpoche taken from some previous course. Now the thing is that TR has a somewhat hesitant – if that’s the word – way of talking, where he will often start a sentence two or three times before it is complete. At the time, 2006, I suspected that in the flesh this would not be a problem, and I can now confirm that from experience. I think it is because he thinks, and formulates his sentences, with a great deal of care; in the flesh feels as if it is within the bounds of the hesitations, ums, ers and corrections that we all make when we are speaking rather than reading off a page. However, at the time that the tapes were made he was also suffering from some kind of chest infection which multiplied the effect, and the final result was a recording that should never, without a great deal of editing, have been inflicted on the innocent public. The waiting for one false start or another to finally move through the sentence and make a statement became excruciating! It was therefore very pleasing to confirm that the tape was a very unfair representation of the reality.
So after a vacuum that persisted for some four or more years, there are now not none, not one, but two Karma Kagyu centres in Sydney. It will be interesting to see what kind of relationship develops between them. Anyway, here are some devotees relaxing after listening to the talk on mindfulness:
And here is evidence that some people were still not as mindful as they might have been:
Tuesday February 17th, 2009. Posted by Alex:
Well knock me over with a tossed feather! When I came to Sydney it appeared that Traleg Rinpoche, whose main centre is in Melbourne, had a finger in the pie here, and was the main Kagyu big-shot for the area. But then the tiny centre closed, he never came to Sydney to give any teachings, and I came to the conclusion that he just wasn’t interested in Sydney. He does, after all, have plenty of other things on his plate. The only positive upshot was getting to know Gary:
(Doesn’t he look respectable?) But I was wrong – quietly, they have got a centre together in Harris Park, soon to open, and yer man will teach there this week-end!
Sunday February 8th, 2009. Posted by Alex:
On a list I read (the kagyu group at yahoo – in fact I’m the “owner” which means that, technically, I’m the big cheese there, for which reason I make a deliberate effort not to dominate the conversations) somebody recently made a passing remark that reminded me of some of the stupid ways the “karma” doctrine is sometimes misrepresented.
It’s well known that Buddhism puts a lot of store by karma, in the sense that whenever we act (“karma” literally just means “action”) we create consequences; these consequences will rebound sooner or later. The idea is that actions leave traces in the “substratum of our being” (so to speak), and that these traces eventually, when conditions permit, draw us back to circumstances that correspond to the original action.
Well you may or may not feel that what I’ve just said makes sense. But what am I complaining about? Most of all I’m complaining about the suggestion – and you do hear this suggestion – that literally everything that happens to us is a result of our past karma. This is such a disastrous idea that even if it could be true (which it can’t) one would wish for people not to believe it. Consider this:
I smash you in the face! Don’t blame me! It’s your karma. You are the one to blame. Hey, really I’m the victim here, as your karma made me do something bad! Oh and while we are about it, it’s your karma, and therefore your fault, that you are poor, ugly, stupid, deformed, sick, uneducated, born in a family and social class that gives you no options. What bad thing did you do in the past? Obviously only the rich, beautiful and powerful have good karma, so they deserve to be rich and powerful. The poor, the starving, slaves and everyone else has clearly earnt a hard life. Ha ha! I larf, and I larf and larf out loud at your misfortune!!!
So it’s an objectionable idea. It also makes no sense. The very idea of karma is that we can act, and our acts have consequences. What happens next therefore *has* to be open ended – conditioned in part by karma, perhaps, but not determined by it to the last detail. I may act in an unexpected way – so may you.
The possibilities of what the future might become therefore shift, within the constraints of karma and karmic “seeds” which might germinate or might lie dormant. It is like being in a river with a very powerful current – karma.You can’t avoid being swept along by it, but you can still swim, and this can affect whether you are smashed against the next rocks or manage to find your way to the bank.
So the idea is nonsense because, if every detail of what happens is a result of past karma, we are not free to act, therefore we cannot be responsible for our actions, and the whole silly doctrine disappears up its own backside.
For Buddhists it should also be significant that
- according to “scripture”, events – death, for instance – can have several causes, of which karma is only one. Malice, environmental factors, and sheer bad luck are also possible causes, and
- all the Buddhist practices intended to “purify past karma” make no sense if karma has already fixed everything that is happening and is going to happen.
End of rant, and not even a picture!
Monday February 2nd, 2009. Posted by Alex:
The famous Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is in Australia, and started his tour with a week-end “transmission” in Sydney – I won’t go into details here, but if you are interested they have an effective web presence. I’ve had a few of his books for many years, but this was the first time I saw him or took teachings. I’m impressed, both by himself and by the organization.
But one thing was quite bizarre, though entirely personal. If you had known him, you might see a certain resemblance, surprisingly enough, to my father. In the flesh, in the right light and at the right distance – I was sitting a little off-centre at a distance of perhaps twelve paces – the resemblance is uncanny. For about half the time it seemed like my father was up there, having somehow grown a grey pigtail, acquired the accent of a Mafioso and gained a profound knowledge of dzogchen which he was now imparting. I don’t want to suggest anything mystical by this – but it did feel weird!
Sunday January 11th, 2009. Posted by Alex:
The other day I stumbled across something called “Tibetan Heart Yoga” being taught somewhere near here – in fact I think it was on one of the Google adverts here. “Whatever is that?”, I thought in blunter words. I’d never heard of it.
It turned out that this is the hybrid system launched by Michael Roach: (Picture Scott Vacek)
He started out as a good guy, but fell in love. Some monks fall in love and deal with it, of course. In his case he went into a 3-year retreat. Problem was, he took his “spiritual partner” Christine McNally in with him. He still wears monk’s robes, but this is OK, he says because the hours a day that they practised “special physical yogas” were a) hard work, and b) he perceived her as a divine being and “you don’t break your vows if you engage in high yoga with a divine being”. Do I need to say more? See the Diamond-cutter site if you really want more detail.
Or, on another tack try this from the so-called five Tibetan rites, who say that:
Two thousand years ago, Tibetan monks claimed that the aging process could be reversed. They developed the Rites, by condensing 21 yoga exercises into 5. What would easily take a couple of hours to perform, could then be completed in 10-20 minutes. It was not uncommon for Tibetan monks to live to be 120 years of age, while still enjoying exceptional health!
Err… the Tibetans are very proud of their religious history. There were no Buddhist monks there until just over 1200 years ago (in 779 or 781 CE). Try reading the story about how this system came to be “known”! If it were worth the candle, I could go on – it’s a juvenile mishmash of fantasy and popular hindu-based theosophy. I say nothing about whether it might work, at least up to a point, but it is a stupid and dishonest presentation.
Mind you, the guy I talked about in this message, Ronald Lloyd Spencer, is a whole league worse!
Tuesday May 13th, 2008. Posted by Alex:
 Us with Khandro Thrinlay Chodon (see Khachodling) and Tenzin Palmo (see Dongyu Gatsal Ling) at fundraising dinner.
Saturday December 1st, 2007. Posted by Alex:
Things have been a bit busy the last few weeks, as I’ve been helping set up another website for Karma Samten Choeling. Take a peek at: Karma Samten Choeling
I’ve also heard from an old Oxford buddy, Keith Bloomfield, recently retired from being UK Amassador in Kathmandu, who sent me a link of a singing friend from there, who does sound as if she has a really nice voice: Telepathy
Take a look!
|
|
