In acupuncture, I think it's a truism that people kind of by default use a certain set of points more than any other over and over, while forgetting about others. Certainly, this was true of me. But, with practice we start to break out of our mental shells, and start exploring.
One of my patients said that what he likes about me is my willingness to experiment, and try new stuff. Recently, I took his advice and used Heart 1 on a patient for the first time.
This particular patient has the beginnings of Parkinson's. The other day he came to me and said that his fingers were really cold, and uncomfortable, and with stiffness and pain in the shoulder. I stepped out of my comfort zone and needled Heart 1, and gave him heat over Ren 6. At the end of the treatment, his fingers were as warm as any other part of him, and not cramping nor uncomfortable.
A second patient, a dental hygienist with neck issues, was finding it difficult to handle the instruments of her trade, because her fingers were becoming numb and painful. Building on my experience with the above patient, I needled Heart 1 on her, but only under the arm with the more severe shoulder pain. When next I saw her, she reported that the hand on that side was pain free, but the other was still slightly problematic, with discomfort in the wrist. I needled that arm's Heart 1 on that visit.
Interestingly, in taijiquan, we try to keep our armpits relaxedly open, as if there were steamed buns under our arms, in an effort to keep Heart 1 open to allow the Yang qi to flow to the finger tips. It really is a wonderful example of how one principle can span a couple of disciplines. Keeping open allows for flow, closing off the armpit checks the flow. As in life, in the body.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
History Repeats Itself
A Middle Eastern regime caught between external powers, and engaged in a wrenching civil war, in search for its soul.
Sounds like Egypt, doesn't it? In fact, it describes the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the closing centuries before the Common Era. In his book, "Yavan in the House of Shem: Greeks and Jews 332 - 63 B.C.," author Richard Hooker notes, "After two centuries of peace under the Persians, the Hebrew state found itself once more caught in the middle of power struggles between two great empires: the Seleucid state with its capital in Syria to the north and the Ptolemaic state, with its capital in Egypt to the south...Between 319 and 302 BC, Jerusalem changed hands seven times."
The Books of Maccabees presents a story of war, of a righteous Jews fighting off Antiochus III and his attempts to crush the Jewish religion. In fact, the story is much bigger, and reflected a split within the Hebrew world at the time. Many Jews had become Hellenized, and were close to the government in Syria, while the more orthodox Jews were closer to the Ptolemies in Egypt. On the death of the Jewish High Priest Simon the II, the split in the Jewish world erupted into conflict, between supporters of Simon's son Onias the III (who opposed Hellenization and was pro-Egypt) and his son other Jason (who supported Hellenization and the Seleucids). Jason eventually became High Priest, and instituted a series of reforms to make the Jewish world more Greek.
The result eventually was civil war, one in which outside powers became drawn into, as Antiochus invaded Ptolomaic Egypt (which supported the traditionalist Jews) but was later forced to withdraw by the Roman Republic. He then sacked Jerusalem, and tried to ultimately suppress orthodox Judaism in his effort to help Hellenized Jews, but the result was a disaster, and the Maccabean revolt.
Egypt finds itself now in the same position that the Jews of two millenia ago found themselves: searching for its soul, of what kind of Egypt it wants to be, while stronger outside powers vie from the sidelines. Will Egypt turn more Western, or Hellenize, or will it turn more toward traditionalist Islam, becoming closer to the Salafists and Riyadh?
One can only speculate at this juncture. But it's clear that the old adage is true. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Osho's Crazy Wisdom
I've been reading Osho's commentary recently of the Bloodstream Sermon, a Buddhist sutra attributed to Bodhidharma. One thing is certainly clear; Osho doesn't mind saying what's on his mind, nor does he pull verbal punches. At first, I didn't almost stopped reading it before I had even fully started, because Osho attributed India's poverty and caste system to Siddartha Buddha, saying that his admonition to suffer injustice has led to people in India just sitting back and taking it. Which seems, aside from harsh, pretty unjustified, as India is mostly a Hindu, not a Buddhist, nation.
I'm glad I persevered though, because I'm finding it an enlightening read, although I haven't achieved enlightenment. If there's one thing Osho is good at, it's parsing out what was most likely to have been said by Bodhidharma, and what is a mistake by the person or persons who actually wrote the Sermon.
Because, as Osho points out, Bodhidharma of a certainty did not write the Bloodstream Sermon. No enlightened person ever wrote anything anywhere at any time. They spoke their words to wake up the people near them, and that was it. Think about it; Jesus didn't write any part of the gospels, Rumi didn't write any of the works attributed to him (his secretary and aide, by his own admission, wrote as fast as he possibly could while Rumi recited), Siddartha didn't write any of the sutras attributed to him. The disciples remember, and wanting to preserve something of their beloved masters, they wrote down what they remember hearing.
At once, these disciples do a service and a disservice to their masters and to the world at large. A service because we have some inkling, an echo, of what all these buddhas left to us, and a disservice because co-mingled in amongst the works are the words of the disciples, rather than the masters. This is why there can be dissonance even within traditions and is the source of schisms.
One example from the Bloodstream Sermon Osho points out is the use of the word, "mind." Throughout the text of the sermon, Bodhidharma is quoted as saying that the mind is important. That buddhas transmit mind to mind. That the mind is the Buddha, and the Buddha is the mind. However, the mind is one of the six senses in Buddhist psychology and phenomenology. The mind can't be the source of buddhas, because as part of the six-fold sense base, it's wrapped up in the world as much as they other senses. Mind is something to be transcended, to leave behind, in the quest for enlightenment. What one really has to apprehend is his no-mind, the clear awareness behind the mind, which the mind and its concomitant ego cover up. This is borne out in the Heart of Wisdom sutra, where it states, "...the mind is no hindrance. Without hindrance no fear exists."
How much of any tradition, one wonders, is polluted by the writings of well-meaning but nonetheless deluded disciples, all of whom not only love their masters, but also have ideas in their minds (rather than no-minds) about what those masters are about? How much of Christian love, for example, has been turned into hatred because of over-reliance on words that Jesus never spoke?
In a lovely essay on the Way, Ananda Maitreya talks about a horrible forest where people are trapped. A wayfarer plots his way out of the forest, and he leaves behind a signpost for others to follow him on the way out. However, after a time, an entire community has sprung up around the signpost, with many hundreds of people worshiping the post, writing doctrine about it, theories about it, about what it means, heaping offerings upon it; everything except what they should be doing, which is following it out of the forest!
The lesson in reading Osho's commentary on the Sermon and other things is finally this: don't be fooled by the written word, and be sure to carefully parse the true meaning. More importantly, don't waste too much time studying the words of others. Wake up yourself, and see the suchness both of yourself, and of the world itself. Everything will be luminous in a way it never was before.
I'm glad I persevered though, because I'm finding it an enlightening read, although I haven't achieved enlightenment. If there's one thing Osho is good at, it's parsing out what was most likely to have been said by Bodhidharma, and what is a mistake by the person or persons who actually wrote the Sermon.
Because, as Osho points out, Bodhidharma of a certainty did not write the Bloodstream Sermon. No enlightened person ever wrote anything anywhere at any time. They spoke their words to wake up the people near them, and that was it. Think about it; Jesus didn't write any part of the gospels, Rumi didn't write any of the works attributed to him (his secretary and aide, by his own admission, wrote as fast as he possibly could while Rumi recited), Siddartha didn't write any of the sutras attributed to him. The disciples remember, and wanting to preserve something of their beloved masters, they wrote down what they remember hearing.
At once, these disciples do a service and a disservice to their masters and to the world at large. A service because we have some inkling, an echo, of what all these buddhas left to us, and a disservice because co-mingled in amongst the works are the words of the disciples, rather than the masters. This is why there can be dissonance even within traditions and is the source of schisms.
One example from the Bloodstream Sermon Osho points out is the use of the word, "mind." Throughout the text of the sermon, Bodhidharma is quoted as saying that the mind is important. That buddhas transmit mind to mind. That the mind is the Buddha, and the Buddha is the mind. However, the mind is one of the six senses in Buddhist psychology and phenomenology. The mind can't be the source of buddhas, because as part of the six-fold sense base, it's wrapped up in the world as much as they other senses. Mind is something to be transcended, to leave behind, in the quest for enlightenment. What one really has to apprehend is his no-mind, the clear awareness behind the mind, which the mind and its concomitant ego cover up. This is borne out in the Heart of Wisdom sutra, where it states, "...the mind is no hindrance. Without hindrance no fear exists."
How much of any tradition, one wonders, is polluted by the writings of well-meaning but nonetheless deluded disciples, all of whom not only love their masters, but also have ideas in their minds (rather than no-minds) about what those masters are about? How much of Christian love, for example, has been turned into hatred because of over-reliance on words that Jesus never spoke?
In a lovely essay on the Way, Ananda Maitreya talks about a horrible forest where people are trapped. A wayfarer plots his way out of the forest, and he leaves behind a signpost for others to follow him on the way out. However, after a time, an entire community has sprung up around the signpost, with many hundreds of people worshiping the post, writing doctrine about it, theories about it, about what it means, heaping offerings upon it; everything except what they should be doing, which is following it out of the forest!
The lesson in reading Osho's commentary on the Sermon and other things is finally this: don't be fooled by the written word, and be sure to carefully parse the true meaning. More importantly, don't waste too much time studying the words of others. Wake up yourself, and see the suchness both of yourself, and of the world itself. Everything will be luminous in a way it never was before.
Silk Reeling Workshop
Hi everyone,
I'll be teaching a silk reeling workshop at City Wing Tsun! Woohoo! It'll be a series of four classes, starting the last Sunday in October, and for the next three Sundays in November (Oct. 27th, Nov. 3, 10th, and 17th). Hope you all can come by for some fun and taiji-like goodness!
I'll be teaching a silk reeling workshop at City Wing Tsun! Woohoo! It'll be a series of four classes, starting the last Sunday in October, and for the next three Sundays in November (Oct. 27th, Nov. 3, 10th, and 17th). Hope you all can come by for some fun and taiji-like goodness!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Cause and Effect, Dog Eat Dog
They say that a sure sign of insanity is continuing to do the same thing while expecting a different result. If this is true, then the country, or at least its government, is pretty nuts.
Looking at the recent tragedy in Boston, the lives destroyed or wasted, it's clear that the Salafi/Wahabbi strain of Islam is a clear existential threat. Tamlan Tsaraev wasn't a real threat to anyone until he came into contact with and under the sway of this intolerant, vitriolic, and hatefully violent strain of Islam. Salafists don't even like their fellow Muslims very much, destroying as they do Sufi shrines (Rumi, for instance, was a Sufi), attacking Shiites, and even other Sunnis that they just don't like, or that they deem "not religious enough."
Yet, this country, as well as others in the West, continue to support and send petrodollars to the giant of the Wahabbi world, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia sends Wahabbi missionaries throughout the Islamic world, and the result is always trouble. Salafist/Wahabbist radicals have stirred trouble in Morocco, Indonesia, Tunisia, metastasizing and doing their level best to warp Islam in such places. Look at Timbuktu; a center of Islamic learning for centuries, what happened when Salafists gained control of it from the Malian government? They started systematically destroying shrines that were centuries old, attacking imams that were Sufi/non-Salafi, and generally made life difficult for the people there. Bear in mind, the people of Mali are Muslim. Even so, they weren't spared the violence of Salafist/Wahabbists.
The men who flew the planes into the WTC were Saudi. Saudi Wahabbist missionaries spread their liturgy of hatred and violence in the Islamic world, quietly and not-so-quietly, yet we and Israel are fixated on Iran as the enemy. Iran engulfs our attention, because of their designs of hegemony in the region, because they want to be taken seriously. Well, duh, everyone wants to be taken seriously, and exercise some form of influence. Why should the Iranians be any different? We do it all the time.
Someday, Israel and the West are going to have to wake up to the fact that Iran is not the real threat. Yes, Ahmadinejad is loud, but that just means he's goofy. Saudi Arabia's Wahabbist missionaries, meanwhile, continue to spread their vile message, funded by our petro dollars.
The Buddha warned that all actions create kamma, that the law of cause and effect is one that we all follow simply by virtue of acting. We have to start acting more intelligently, with wisdom, so as not to sow seeds that will bear bitter fruit later.
Looking at the recent tragedy in Boston, the lives destroyed or wasted, it's clear that the Salafi/Wahabbi strain of Islam is a clear existential threat. Tamlan Tsaraev wasn't a real threat to anyone until he came into contact with and under the sway of this intolerant, vitriolic, and hatefully violent strain of Islam. Salafists don't even like their fellow Muslims very much, destroying as they do Sufi shrines (Rumi, for instance, was a Sufi), attacking Shiites, and even other Sunnis that they just don't like, or that they deem "not religious enough."
Yet, this country, as well as others in the West, continue to support and send petrodollars to the giant of the Wahabbi world, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia sends Wahabbi missionaries throughout the Islamic world, and the result is always trouble. Salafist/Wahabbist radicals have stirred trouble in Morocco, Indonesia, Tunisia, metastasizing and doing their level best to warp Islam in such places. Look at Timbuktu; a center of Islamic learning for centuries, what happened when Salafists gained control of it from the Malian government? They started systematically destroying shrines that were centuries old, attacking imams that were Sufi/non-Salafi, and generally made life difficult for the people there. Bear in mind, the people of Mali are Muslim. Even so, they weren't spared the violence of Salafist/Wahabbists.
The men who flew the planes into the WTC were Saudi. Saudi Wahabbist missionaries spread their liturgy of hatred and violence in the Islamic world, quietly and not-so-quietly, yet we and Israel are fixated on Iran as the enemy. Iran engulfs our attention, because of their designs of hegemony in the region, because they want to be taken seriously. Well, duh, everyone wants to be taken seriously, and exercise some form of influence. Why should the Iranians be any different? We do it all the time.
Someday, Israel and the West are going to have to wake up to the fact that Iran is not the real threat. Yes, Ahmadinejad is loud, but that just means he's goofy. Saudi Arabia's Wahabbist missionaries, meanwhile, continue to spread their vile message, funded by our petro dollars.
The Buddha warned that all actions create kamma, that the law of cause and effect is one that we all follow simply by virtue of acting. We have to start acting more intelligently, with wisdom, so as not to sow seeds that will bear bitter fruit later.
Monday, April 15, 2013
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Recently, I've been reading a lot of posts by friends whom I always thought of as, "having it together." I've always admired their ability to get things done, to organize, to be positive. They've always made me feel, I have to admit, slightly ashamed of my perceived lack of ability. My inattentiveness to my own life.
The posts I've been reading, however, show that sometimes even the most positive of people go through their own personal trials. Feelings of discontent, malaise, and outright dissatisfaction with life. For all their "togetherness," they don't seem to be any happier than I am.
This goes toward something talked about in Buddhism; the levels of suffering. The most gross is, "the suffering of suffering." Suffering with an illness, a major problem, a sick relative, being assaulted. Then there is the suffering of change, wherein a person, any person, feels overwhelmed by the changes in life. Nothing is permanent, and people like permanence, or at least want pleasurable things to last. Finally, there is all-pervasive suffering, a sub-conscious dissatisfaction with life, and existence, itself. Because we all want to be free of suffering, and the ego clings to the phenomenal world. But since everything is impermanent, the world is incapable of satisfying permanently. So, we make demands on the world, changing it ourselves as we do so, and speeding our journey into dissatisfaction.
Pema Chodron writes of an image of the Buddha, where he's seated under the bodhi tree just before his enlightenment. The forces of Mara, the illusory world, are attacking him, trying to stop his ultimate Awakening. The demon army of Mara fires many weapons at Siddartha, arrows, spears, and swords. Yet just before reaching the meditating Siddartha, the sharp points of the weapons transform into lotus flowers. Chodron writes that one meaning of this image is that the very things that one experiences as a sharp sword could also be experienced as a flower; the very thing meant to cut you down can wake you up, if you pay close attention.
Easier said than done. My normal reaction to such problems has been to shut down, and let someone else take over. Ultimately, however, no one can take over your life for you. You have to live it to the best of your ability.
Life is short. Make the most of it while you can. What is this suffering, this dukkha, pointing to? Knowing that, you can perhaps start to make life your friend, and not feel so oppressed.
The posts I've been reading, however, show that sometimes even the most positive of people go through their own personal trials. Feelings of discontent, malaise, and outright dissatisfaction with life. For all their "togetherness," they don't seem to be any happier than I am.
This goes toward something talked about in Buddhism; the levels of suffering. The most gross is, "the suffering of suffering." Suffering with an illness, a major problem, a sick relative, being assaulted. Then there is the suffering of change, wherein a person, any person, feels overwhelmed by the changes in life. Nothing is permanent, and people like permanence, or at least want pleasurable things to last. Finally, there is all-pervasive suffering, a sub-conscious dissatisfaction with life, and existence, itself. Because we all want to be free of suffering, and the ego clings to the phenomenal world. But since everything is impermanent, the world is incapable of satisfying permanently. So, we make demands on the world, changing it ourselves as we do so, and speeding our journey into dissatisfaction.
Pema Chodron writes of an image of the Buddha, where he's seated under the bodhi tree just before his enlightenment. The forces of Mara, the illusory world, are attacking him, trying to stop his ultimate Awakening. The demon army of Mara fires many weapons at Siddartha, arrows, spears, and swords. Yet just before reaching the meditating Siddartha, the sharp points of the weapons transform into lotus flowers. Chodron writes that one meaning of this image is that the very things that one experiences as a sharp sword could also be experienced as a flower; the very thing meant to cut you down can wake you up, if you pay close attention.
Easier said than done. My normal reaction to such problems has been to shut down, and let someone else take over. Ultimately, however, no one can take over your life for you. You have to live it to the best of your ability.
Life is short. Make the most of it while you can. What is this suffering, this dukkha, pointing to? Knowing that, you can perhaps start to make life your friend, and not feel so oppressed.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Gratitude
Hi folks. I know, I know, I've been a very bad blogger, leaving lots of time between posts. I'm going to have to amend my peripatetic ways.
In fact, I'm grateful to have the opportunity to fix my said peripatetic ways. Which is the purpose of this little post, I suppose. To express my gratitude.
My mom, as many of my friends know, had a stroke in 2010. Not entirely debilitating, it nevertheless deprived her of her prized independence, forcing her to rely on help and considering moving from her home in Puerto Rico into an assisted living residence.
Last week, she interviewed at such a residence. In two days, we got the response; not eligible at this time. My dad took that news kind of hard, but my mom took it with grace and aplomb. She told me, "Things happen for a reason. We always have to be grateful, even when bad things happen, because we don't know what it ultimately leads to."
How often are we actually grateful? How often do we actually just go about our activities, all the while complaining to ourselves, in our minds, about life's injustices? Able-bodied, well-off, and complaining. This can describe a lot of people, I think. My best friend, who works on Wall Street, talks about co-workers who pull in huge salaries complaining that it's never enough. That they've been rooked. That they deserve more.
Perception is a funny thing. Here are people with everything, acting poor. My mom, not wealthy, not hale, acting as if she's rich. Well, at least acting content. I find a lot of inspiration in that.
Cicero said that gratitude isn't only the greatest of all virtues, but is the parent of all others. I think that's very profound. Do you?
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Happy New Year!
Gong xi fa tsai!
This February 10th, today, marks the day of the largest mass migration of people in the entire calendar year; it's the Lunar New Year. Celebrated in Asia for thousands of years, we now leave the Year of the Dragon, and enter into the Year of the Snake.
According to Chinese astrology, children born this year will be smart, yet possessive. Easy to love, but jealous. Charismatic and intelligent, the snake is good at, well, snaking things out of people and catching vibes. Snakes are thinkers, motivated, creative, but also prone to revenge.
It's a lot of fun to posit all this stuff about Snakes and all, but of course it doesn't really pigeon-hole people anymore than Western astrology does. Still, it's all in good fun, and makes a great excuse to go out and eat pork-soup dumplings and gui zhou beef.
So, enjoy this year of the Water Snake, and get your slither on!
新年快樂
This February 10th, today, marks the day of the largest mass migration of people in the entire calendar year; it's the Lunar New Year. Celebrated in Asia for thousands of years, we now leave the Year of the Dragon, and enter into the Year of the Snake.
According to Chinese astrology, children born this year will be smart, yet possessive. Easy to love, but jealous. Charismatic and intelligent, the snake is good at, well, snaking things out of people and catching vibes. Snakes are thinkers, motivated, creative, but also prone to revenge.
It's a lot of fun to posit all this stuff about Snakes and all, but of course it doesn't really pigeon-hole people anymore than Western astrology does. Still, it's all in good fun, and makes a great excuse to go out and eat pork-soup dumplings and gui zhou beef.
So, enjoy this year of the Water Snake, and get your slither on!
新年快樂
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
A Strange Achilles Heel
Buddhism and Christianity share the same Achilles heel. That's a strange statement to make about two religions that share almost nothing in common, but it's true. The shame of it is that this (for lack of a better word) flaw results in a misunderstanding that confounds followers in both traditions.
The two faiths have doctrines that at first glance seem very dissimilar. In Buddhism, there is the idea or concept of emptiness; things are said to be empty, and you can extend this idea to all things in the universe. I am empty, time is empty, this earth is empty, even the dharma and karma are empty. Christianity has the doctrine of grace. That is, that people are not under the law of Judaism any longer, but are justified by the sake of grace.
The two doctrines have had great people within their respective traditions that formulated them and brought them to the fore in the thinking of the people who came after them. In Buddhism, it was Nagarjuna who fully elucidated the idea of emptiness, while in Christianity, it was Paul who expounded the idea of grace.
The two men probably could not have been farther apart in their thinking, but in the end they laid the same trap for people who came after them. Namely, the idea that one could act in all sorts of abominable ways and that it was alright.
In the Christian tradition, all sorts of tortures, killing, and horrific acts have been perpetrated in order to spread the faith. This is well known. Less well known in the West is the behavior of people ostensibly Buddhist, but who also have acted in less than exemplary ways. Japan has a strongly Buddhist background, for instance, yet they fell prey to militaristic behavior that has been documented as among the worst of the 20th century. More recently, the regime in Myanmar has also given pause to people who believe that Buddhists are all peaceable and cuddly.
How could this happen? The two religious traditions abhor wrong behavior, and admonish their adherents to behave in as moral a light as possible. How could a tradition such as Christianity produce the behavior of the Inquisition? How could Zen monks march to war with rifles slung over their shoulders? Grace and emptiness, or more precisely, the misunderstanding and misapplication of the two doctrines, are to blame.
To think that one is justified by grace and faith alone results in a curious phenomenon; that is, people think that so long as they "have Christ in their hearts" and say sorry at the end of their lives, they can get into heaven. That leaves the door open to acting in all sorts of atrocious ways. Repeatedly stealing, lying, abusing substances, womanizing. After all, how many TV evangelists in recent years have been shown to be serial adulterers? The Book of James makes very clear that faith without works, in other words, practice, is a dead ideal. Yet, many who followed Luther and Pauline doctrine have proclaimed that faith alone is enough to justify you. James, however, understood that this alone was insufficient. Repeated works, or practice, is needed to occupy and restrain the mind, and someone's proclivities. Otherwise, they are prone to mouth proclamations of faith, while acting in a very base manner.
Similarly, the doctrine of emptiness has been misunderstood. The strict definition of emptiness is to be empty of permanence. Everything changes. Yet, the doctrine of emptiness has been seized upon to justify acting like a complete ass. Just as the Japanese during WW II; the sword is empty, you are empty, I am empty. So, I can kill you, no problem. Yet Bodhidharma condemned these people. In the Bloodstream Sermon, he says, "Still others commit all sorts of evil deeds, claiming karma doesn't exist. They erroneously maintain that since everything is empty committing evil isn't wrong. Such persons fall into a hell of endless darkness with no hope of release. Those who are wise hold no such conception."
It's quite sad, in a way. Just before getting to a mountain of riches, followers in both paths are fooled into taking a wrong turn by the misapplication of ideas. Christ and Shakyamuni Buddha would agree; such people have no share in the kingdom of heaven, lost as they are in the labyrinth of wrong ideas.
Jesus said a bad tree does not bear good fruit. If the fruit of your actions is debasement, sorrow, and alienation, maybe a reexamination of your ideas is in order. Shakyamuni would have heartily agreed.
The two faiths have doctrines that at first glance seem very dissimilar. In Buddhism, there is the idea or concept of emptiness; things are said to be empty, and you can extend this idea to all things in the universe. I am empty, time is empty, this earth is empty, even the dharma and karma are empty. Christianity has the doctrine of grace. That is, that people are not under the law of Judaism any longer, but are justified by the sake of grace.
The two doctrines have had great people within their respective traditions that formulated them and brought them to the fore in the thinking of the people who came after them. In Buddhism, it was Nagarjuna who fully elucidated the idea of emptiness, while in Christianity, it was Paul who expounded the idea of grace.
The two men probably could not have been farther apart in their thinking, but in the end they laid the same trap for people who came after them. Namely, the idea that one could act in all sorts of abominable ways and that it was alright.
In the Christian tradition, all sorts of tortures, killing, and horrific acts have been perpetrated in order to spread the faith. This is well known. Less well known in the West is the behavior of people ostensibly Buddhist, but who also have acted in less than exemplary ways. Japan has a strongly Buddhist background, for instance, yet they fell prey to militaristic behavior that has been documented as among the worst of the 20th century. More recently, the regime in Myanmar has also given pause to people who believe that Buddhists are all peaceable and cuddly.
How could this happen? The two religious traditions abhor wrong behavior, and admonish their adherents to behave in as moral a light as possible. How could a tradition such as Christianity produce the behavior of the Inquisition? How could Zen monks march to war with rifles slung over their shoulders? Grace and emptiness, or more precisely, the misunderstanding and misapplication of the two doctrines, are to blame.
To think that one is justified by grace and faith alone results in a curious phenomenon; that is, people think that so long as they "have Christ in their hearts" and say sorry at the end of their lives, they can get into heaven. That leaves the door open to acting in all sorts of atrocious ways. Repeatedly stealing, lying, abusing substances, womanizing. After all, how many TV evangelists in recent years have been shown to be serial adulterers? The Book of James makes very clear that faith without works, in other words, practice, is a dead ideal. Yet, many who followed Luther and Pauline doctrine have proclaimed that faith alone is enough to justify you. James, however, understood that this alone was insufficient. Repeated works, or practice, is needed to occupy and restrain the mind, and someone's proclivities. Otherwise, they are prone to mouth proclamations of faith, while acting in a very base manner.
Similarly, the doctrine of emptiness has been misunderstood. The strict definition of emptiness is to be empty of permanence. Everything changes. Yet, the doctrine of emptiness has been seized upon to justify acting like a complete ass. Just as the Japanese during WW II; the sword is empty, you are empty, I am empty. So, I can kill you, no problem. Yet Bodhidharma condemned these people. In the Bloodstream Sermon, he says, "Still others commit all sorts of evil deeds, claiming karma doesn't exist. They erroneously maintain that since everything is empty committing evil isn't wrong. Such persons fall into a hell of endless darkness with no hope of release. Those who are wise hold no such conception."
It's quite sad, in a way. Just before getting to a mountain of riches, followers in both paths are fooled into taking a wrong turn by the misapplication of ideas. Christ and Shakyamuni Buddha would agree; such people have no share in the kingdom of heaven, lost as they are in the labyrinth of wrong ideas.
Jesus said a bad tree does not bear good fruit. If the fruit of your actions is debasement, sorrow, and alienation, maybe a reexamination of your ideas is in order. Shakyamuni would have heartily agreed.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Give an Inch...
Now I'm getting really hot under the collar. A lot of people are fulminating about how God didn't protect the children of Newtown because, "He isn't allowed in public schools."
There are so many fallacies wrapped up in this one simple statement, it's hard to know where to begin. Blaming the victims, a 'God of the gaps' logic, ignoring the fact that the victims involved were undoubtedly Christian, etc. But what burns my butt the most about this statement is the clear direction it faces. It, and the people who utter it, ultimately want to subsume the entire fabric of this country under the dominance of Judeo-Christian thinking.
Let's face it; Christians, especially fundamentalist Baptist-types, always find something to complain about. Okay, fine; let's assume that prayer is officially endorsed in public schools (children are allowed to pray in school, it should be noted. Just not officially promoted). What would happen? There would be another shooting massacre, of course, because guns are awash everywhere in this country, while services for mental illness are not. Then what would the bible-thumpers say? "Well, obviously it's because not everyone in the school believed in Jesus. If those children had been converted, this would never have happened."
This kind of logic can go on and on, because there really is no end-point with it, except that everyone is baptized Christian, the government scraps the Constitution and endorses theocracy, and the USA as it is now ceases to exist, along with minority rights. Does anyone seriously think that if official school prayer is endorsed, that Christians would stop harping about the "lack of God" in this country? In this, the most religious country in the Western industrialized world?
If you follow this logic to its end, then to be safe, we'd all have to be praying all the time everywhere. Do people pray on the freeway? If not, better watch out; God won't be there and then you're bound to have an accident. On the job? Let's hope your surgeon prays in the operating theater, otherwise, you're not going to make it. Eventually, the argument brings itself to reductio ad abdsurdum.
So please, let's avoid blaming the victims here along with trying to promote our political strategies. The best thing is to bow one's head in mourning, in sympathy, and say nothing at all. However, if you're so inclined and you really want to pray, you can do as Jesus instructed, "...when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private."
There are so many fallacies wrapped up in this one simple statement, it's hard to know where to begin. Blaming the victims, a 'God of the gaps' logic, ignoring the fact that the victims involved were undoubtedly Christian, etc. But what burns my butt the most about this statement is the clear direction it faces. It, and the people who utter it, ultimately want to subsume the entire fabric of this country under the dominance of Judeo-Christian thinking.
Let's face it; Christians, especially fundamentalist Baptist-types, always find something to complain about. Okay, fine; let's assume that prayer is officially endorsed in public schools (children are allowed to pray in school, it should be noted. Just not officially promoted). What would happen? There would be another shooting massacre, of course, because guns are awash everywhere in this country, while services for mental illness are not. Then what would the bible-thumpers say? "Well, obviously it's because not everyone in the school believed in Jesus. If those children had been converted, this would never have happened."
This kind of logic can go on and on, because there really is no end-point with it, except that everyone is baptized Christian, the government scraps the Constitution and endorses theocracy, and the USA as it is now ceases to exist, along with minority rights. Does anyone seriously think that if official school prayer is endorsed, that Christians would stop harping about the "lack of God" in this country? In this, the most religious country in the Western industrialized world?
If you follow this logic to its end, then to be safe, we'd all have to be praying all the time everywhere. Do people pray on the freeway? If not, better watch out; God won't be there and then you're bound to have an accident. On the job? Let's hope your surgeon prays in the operating theater, otherwise, you're not going to make it. Eventually, the argument brings itself to reductio ad abdsurdum.
So please, let's avoid blaming the victims here along with trying to promote our political strategies. The best thing is to bow one's head in mourning, in sympathy, and say nothing at all. However, if you're so inclined and you really want to pray, you can do as Jesus instructed, "...when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private."
Thursday, November 29, 2012
What Center?
For anyone who's ever read any of Pema Chodron's books, there's a familiar theme. It's the theme of no exit, of groundlessness, of not clinging to hope. Not in a negative, nihilistic way, but in a way that says once you surrender to groundlessness, you'll feel grounded, and you'll be liberated.
Taijiquan is very similar, I thought this morning as I was walking back from practice. In the practice of the form, it's very easy to feel a feeling of stolidity, of being a mountain. However, once you enter into the realm of pushing hands, you find that this relaxed feeling of being a mountain gets you pushed all over the place. In essence, there is no fixed place, no center.
One push-hands partner of mine at our Sunday Meetup group would start to roll-back as I began my push towards her, but then sink into a horse stance. She had a karate background, so it was a natural response, but I realized that she was sinking into more than just a physical stance. She was sinking into a feeling of stolidity, retreating to an idea of groundedness. She wanted to feel immovable, to feel safe.
Buddhism and taiji are the same in that they offer no sure havens. In Buddhism, you get rocked on your cushion as you sit with all your ideas; dashed hopes, dreams that didn't fructify, all sorts of ideas about yourself. In push-hands, you learn that resisting the forces on you only make them all the more powerful, that you cannot always stand against the outside. In both instances, you have to yield. On the cushion, you yield to the idea and let it pass unhindered, and in taiji you yield to the push and let it move you.
The Art of War states that, "...if the enemy is quietly encamped, he can be forced to move." Therefore, the idea of stability in itself carries within it the seed of instability. Falling back like my partner onto something that feels always stable has within it the potential to be moved.
The Buddhist and the taiji practitioner first try to accord his or herself with the idea of being moved. No one likes it, but it's inevitable, and one may as well get comfortable with the idea. After long practice, and acceptance of being moved, one is moved less and less. Finally, one day, it appears to the outside observer that the practitioner cannot be moved at all. They still can, of course, but they move along with "it" so well that it appears as if they are unmoved, as if they are unperturbed.
Sink first into this leg, than that one. Let this idea arise, and then watch it fall. Hold the center, and move along with it. Therein is liberation.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Mechanism Unknown
Does anyone actually eat food anymore? I know, of course they do. But you could be forgiven for thinking that people are chucking food in favor of pills these days, what with all the advertisements for more and more prescription drugs.
Plenty of my colleagues have already posted and written about food as medicine, and that with a balanced diet, you don't need half the drugs out there, so aside from that sentence, I'm not going to address it. I would like to focus on the hypocrisy of the drug industry vis-a-vis those of us who prescribe herbs.
Tons of these medications are being marketed directly to patients despite the lack of hard evidence for why they work. Don't believe me? Try looking up some on the web, or wikipedia, and you'll often times find the phrase, "...mechanism of action unknown."
Perhaps the biggest class of drugs with unknown mechanism that has been marketed most fiercely is the antidepressants. Knowing people that are clinically depressed, I'm all for prescribing someone something that may possibly help. However, the propensity to prescribe these drugs to anyone at the drop of a hat or at the earliest signs of sadness is definitely overkill.
People should give good nutrition a chance first, then move on to stronger medicine as warranted. Just today, it was reported on CBS This Morning yet again that exercise is definitely good for your brain. From a Chinese medicine point of view, exercise moves the Liver Qi, helping to augment the Kidney Qi and thus benefitting the "Sea of Marrow" (a Chinese Med term for the brain).
So, the next time a doctor sneers at you for getting acupuncture (admittedly an occurrence happening with less and less frequency as more doctors embrace Chinese medicine), just ask him: If big pharma doesn't know how they're stuff works, why so hot and bothered about knowing how acu works?
Plenty of my colleagues have already posted and written about food as medicine, and that with a balanced diet, you don't need half the drugs out there, so aside from that sentence, I'm not going to address it. I would like to focus on the hypocrisy of the drug industry vis-a-vis those of us who prescribe herbs.
Tons of these medications are being marketed directly to patients despite the lack of hard evidence for why they work. Don't believe me? Try looking up some on the web, or wikipedia, and you'll often times find the phrase, "...mechanism of action unknown."
Perhaps the biggest class of drugs with unknown mechanism that has been marketed most fiercely is the antidepressants. Knowing people that are clinically depressed, I'm all for prescribing someone something that may possibly help. However, the propensity to prescribe these drugs to anyone at the drop of a hat or at the earliest signs of sadness is definitely overkill.
People should give good nutrition a chance first, then move on to stronger medicine as warranted. Just today, it was reported on CBS This Morning yet again that exercise is definitely good for your brain. From a Chinese medicine point of view, exercise moves the Liver Qi, helping to augment the Kidney Qi and thus benefitting the "Sea of Marrow" (a Chinese Med term for the brain).
So, the next time a doctor sneers at you for getting acupuncture (admittedly an occurrence happening with less and less frequency as more doctors embrace Chinese medicine), just ask him: If big pharma doesn't know how they're stuff works, why so hot and bothered about knowing how acu works?
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thanksgiving
Here's hoping everyone out there has a happy, and safe, Thanksgiving! Be sure to stock up on plenty of Boa He Wan for the calorie-fest, both for this month and Christmas.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Mind, Desire, and Suffering
Right now I'm reading an interesting book; "Buddha at the Apocalypse," by Kurt Spellmeyer. In it, he talks about what a lot of Buddhist books and scholars talk about; namely, that the source of suffering is the desire for things to be other than they are. Not seeing things as they are is opposite to Right View, one of the branches of the Noble Eight-fold Path.
What's interesting about Mr. Spellmeyer's book is how he equates this wrong view, of wanting things to be different, or to our liking, with what he calls "Apocalyptic thinking," the idea inherent in Abrahamic tradition that time has a beginning and it's on a path toward an end. Since all is slated for destruction at this future "end," there's no need to be conservative with resources, the world, or nature. Another term for this kind of thinking is what Mr. Spellmeyer calls "world despising."
Not only does this kind of thinking cause the thinker to suffer, it causes many, many other sentient beings, people and other creatures, to suffer because as resources and the natural world are consumed, destroyed, or befouled, those sentients find their lives negatively impacted, or even erased altogether.
Looking at the state of our natural world, it's clear that we have to look for a better way. A better way is not a negative better way, wherein one says, "You shouldn't do 'x'..." but a positive way, wherein one says, "Love your neighbor." In fact, I think someone did say that. If you really loved your neighbor, would you go about polluting his water? Tainting his food? Ruining his air? All of that is world despising and, in Buddhist terms, ego grasping. The polluter is doing it, because he doesn't like things as they are.
If you can bring mindfulness to what you're feeling vis-a-vis the external world, and see that this mind that wants to change things brings suffering, to you and others, perhaps you can shift your perspective a little. It would seem that there is nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.
What's interesting about Mr. Spellmeyer's book is how he equates this wrong view, of wanting things to be different, or to our liking, with what he calls "Apocalyptic thinking," the idea inherent in Abrahamic tradition that time has a beginning and it's on a path toward an end. Since all is slated for destruction at this future "end," there's no need to be conservative with resources, the world, or nature. Another term for this kind of thinking is what Mr. Spellmeyer calls "world despising."
Not only does this kind of thinking cause the thinker to suffer, it causes many, many other sentient beings, people and other creatures, to suffer because as resources and the natural world are consumed, destroyed, or befouled, those sentients find their lives negatively impacted, or even erased altogether.
Looking at the state of our natural world, it's clear that we have to look for a better way. A better way is not a negative better way, wherein one says, "You shouldn't do 'x'..." but a positive way, wherein one says, "Love your neighbor." In fact, I think someone did say that. If you really loved your neighbor, would you go about polluting his water? Tainting his food? Ruining his air? All of that is world despising and, in Buddhist terms, ego grasping. The polluter is doing it, because he doesn't like things as they are.
If you can bring mindfulness to what you're feeling vis-a-vis the external world, and see that this mind that wants to change things brings suffering, to you and others, perhaps you can shift your perspective a little. It would seem that there is nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Superstorm Sandy, People, and the Five Elements
Just a little thought regarding Five Element (Phase) Theory in light of Hurricane Sandy.
Sandy, as everyone already knows, wreaked untold havoc on the east coast, especially the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. I'm not going to go into the damage here, as that information is easily found elsewhere. I do want to talk about something that came out in conversation while walking around the city today.
At the entrance to Fort Tryon Park, a woman and I got to talking about trees that came down. During the course of the conversation, it struck me how accurate the Chinese were in formulating Five Element theory. Wood indeed controls Earth, by rooting into it and securing it. Water indeed controls Water, by forming natural berms and dams that channel it. Water indeed controls fire but extinguishing it or lowering heat, one of the three legs of the fire stool (the others being fuel and oxygen). Fire indeed controls metal by melting. Metal controls Wood by cutting.
This is the controlling, or ke cycle. The flip-side is the engendering, or sheng, cycle: Wood begets Fire by fuel (there's that stool again). Fire begets Earth by converting Wood to ash. Earth begets Metal by virtue of ores found in the Earth. Metal begets water, mostly in this case by condensation. Water begets Wood, by nourishing trees.
These Five Elements are always seeking to balance each other, in much the same way that the body seeks homeostasis. There is nothing static. Therefore, if there is a disturbance in the system, the system will look to balance itself. Always. If the system is, however, is always being disturbed, then it will always seek to balance itself to the point of running amok.
This is happening now, with out climate. What we have is a case of Metal over-controlling Wood. How? Axes, chainsaws, earthmovers; all the Metal accouterments of modern civilization. With this disruption, the system (Earth, or Gaia) is now looking to balance itself. The result? Weather run amok; Earth is eroding and sliding into the sea; Fire is rampant, adding heat to the seas and with this energy, Water has new-found force, with little to counter-balance it.
We love Metal. It's in everything that we identify with in the modern world; jewelry, cars, iPhones, Blackberries, our homes. Everything. Metal, the Son, is running rampant and drawing way, way too much on Earth, the Mother. But that's because we are drawing far too much on our Mother, making demands on her that go way beyond her ability to balance out what we are asking.
We as people have to recognize that we, contrary to what it says in some doofy book, are not masters of all that we survey. We are a part of this world just as much as any tree, rock, bird, fish, dog, pig. We are not apart from, but part and parcel with all that we see. It's incumbent on us, then, to take care of, and be mindful towards, the others who inhabit this rock with us. Because if we are not mindful of this green paradise, it can very well turn against us. And we have nowhere else to go.
Sandy, as everyone already knows, wreaked untold havoc on the east coast, especially the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. I'm not going to go into the damage here, as that information is easily found elsewhere. I do want to talk about something that came out in conversation while walking around the city today.
At the entrance to Fort Tryon Park, a woman and I got to talking about trees that came down. During the course of the conversation, it struck me how accurate the Chinese were in formulating Five Element theory. Wood indeed controls Earth, by rooting into it and securing it. Water indeed controls Water, by forming natural berms and dams that channel it. Water indeed controls fire but extinguishing it or lowering heat, one of the three legs of the fire stool (the others being fuel and oxygen). Fire indeed controls metal by melting. Metal controls Wood by cutting.
This is the controlling, or ke cycle. The flip-side is the engendering, or sheng, cycle: Wood begets Fire by fuel (there's that stool again). Fire begets Earth by converting Wood to ash. Earth begets Metal by virtue of ores found in the Earth. Metal begets water, mostly in this case by condensation. Water begets Wood, by nourishing trees.
These Five Elements are always seeking to balance each other, in much the same way that the body seeks homeostasis. There is nothing static. Therefore, if there is a disturbance in the system, the system will look to balance itself. Always. If the system is, however, is always being disturbed, then it will always seek to balance itself to the point of running amok.
This is happening now, with out climate. What we have is a case of Metal over-controlling Wood. How? Axes, chainsaws, earthmovers; all the Metal accouterments of modern civilization. With this disruption, the system (Earth, or Gaia) is now looking to balance itself. The result? Weather run amok; Earth is eroding and sliding into the sea; Fire is rampant, adding heat to the seas and with this energy, Water has new-found force, with little to counter-balance it.
We love Metal. It's in everything that we identify with in the modern world; jewelry, cars, iPhones, Blackberries, our homes. Everything. Metal, the Son, is running rampant and drawing way, way too much on Earth, the Mother. But that's because we are drawing far too much on our Mother, making demands on her that go way beyond her ability to balance out what we are asking.
We as people have to recognize that we, contrary to what it says in some doofy book, are not masters of all that we survey. We are a part of this world just as much as any tree, rock, bird, fish, dog, pig. We are not apart from, but part and parcel with all that we see. It's incumbent on us, then, to take care of, and be mindful towards, the others who inhabit this rock with us. Because if we are not mindful of this green paradise, it can very well turn against us. And we have nowhere else to go.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Cat Fancy
Anyone with cats will appreciate this...
So, my friend Gloria is a bit tender-hearted. So much so, that she invited a friend who was down on her luck to stay with her. However, there was a problem; her friend is allergic to cats, and Gloria has a cat named Fred.
So, Gloria asked me if I would watch her cat so long as her friend stayed with her. I said, "Sure, no problem." This last Saturday, Gloria brings over Fred, a black cat. Right there, we know there's no good luck in this.
I buzz Gloria into the building, and I can hear fried crying in his carrier the entire way up the stairs. I greet them, and Gloria sets down the carrier in the living room and opens it. Not having had cats for several years after the deaths of my own little furballs, I have a bedroom window open.
Fred comes out, still crying, and begins wandering around the apartment and into the bedroom. Gloria and I are chatting while Fred noses around, and then we realize we can't hear crying anymore.
We look around. No Fred. Look in the closet. No sign. Look out the window. Gone. Fred has vanished, like out of an episode of "Without a Trace."
Gloria is a little concerned, but leaves not in such bad shape. I canvass the building to make sure Fred hasn't gone down my fire escape into another window. No dice. I ask the super if he's seen Fred. Nope, not a whisker.
Now, I'm panicking. I text Gloria, who really starts to come unglued at this point, thinking her cat went out my window, onto the street, and out into the cruel city. She e-mails me flyers promising a reward and asks me to post them. Naturally, as I now feel like The Worst Friend on Earth, I comply. They have a cute pic of him and Gloria's info. I also hunt down my neighborhood cat people (every nabe has them) and tell them to be on the lookout. Fred as an RFID chip, so I call the vet and tell them to be on the lookout. Pleasantly, I get to see my neighbors, who are, for the most part, boisterous Dominicans, in a new light, as they all assure me they're keeping an eye out, that pets are like family, and that they'll certainly grab Fred when they see him.
This morning, I put up some more flyers, but have already mentally admitted defeat. If he high-tailed it out my window, he could be anywhere. I go about my day, head downtown, and prepare for a morose evening at my zendo.
Just before I get to the zendo, an amazing text comes through my phone, from my wife, Joy. FRED HAS BEEN FOUND!! "Where?!" you ask? IN MY FREAKING CLOSET!!!!! He never left the apartment!! SInce Saturday afternoon, he's been hiding in there, without making a sound! As I write this, he's STILL in there!! I can't wait for him to come out so I can kill him myself!
There it is; a story about the love-hate relationship we all have with our aloof little furball overlords. Nothing like "owning" a cat to make life more interesting.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Early Riser Blues
This month, I started to teach my class in Fort Tryon Park again. It's a free taijiquan class I've offered for the past two (or three?) summers. As much as I love teaching, there's one thing about this class that I think I could do without. It's at 6:30 in the morning.
Actually, it makes sense to do it early. The qi in the park is clear, the birds are singing, the setting is serene. It's also good as the mind is clear in the morning also. It just really, really bites getting up at 5:45 so I can pull my clothes on and get there on time.
Recently, I've been thinking a lot about little inconveniences like this, and how they relate to life. I've come to realize that the Buddha Gautama was absolutely right; living involves a certain amount of suffering.
Nothing is free, and everything worthwhile involves some inconvenience, suffering, elbow grease, whatever you want to call it. We all know that this is true. However, knowing something and actualizing it are two different things. Otherwise, we'd all act in our best interests all the time, no complaining. The reality is, however, that we do complain. We do want to stay snug in bed rather than go for an early run; we do want to drink that extra beer rather than stay sober to drive home, we do want to eat the pint of ice cream rather than the fruit.
This is the heart of procrastination, what Buddha included in his First Noble Truth about suffering; separation from what one wants is suffering, and having what one doesn't want is also suffering. Who wants to get up before six a.m. to do taiji? This morning, aside from myself, just one. And a skunk, but I think it was already in the park.
Of course, people do realize that a certain amount of discipline is necessary in daily life, otherwise nothing would get done. But I wonder; how much of this 'getting done' is still a kind of avoidance? Working hard to change the outside world to our liking only to wind up with yet other circumstances that we don't like? Circumstances that through our engineering, we've actually brought about? Like hamsters on the wheel, we spin and spin, moving out feet as rapidly as possible, yet not going anywhere.
Non-activity isn't the answer either, of course. To be human is to work. Otherwise, we'd starve. So what's a person to do?
It would seem that the thing to do is to accept that life has its moments we'd rather not have. To deal with the snow on the street, and the sun during the dog days of summer. We have to accept that early morning is the best time to rise to exercise, and that tedium is necessarily a part of mastering some process, be that taiji or stamp collecting.
Embrace the unpleasant. You'll feel so much better after.
Actually, it makes sense to do it early. The qi in the park is clear, the birds are singing, the setting is serene. It's also good as the mind is clear in the morning also. It just really, really bites getting up at 5:45 so I can pull my clothes on and get there on time.
Recently, I've been thinking a lot about little inconveniences like this, and how they relate to life. I've come to realize that the Buddha Gautama was absolutely right; living involves a certain amount of suffering.
Nothing is free, and everything worthwhile involves some inconvenience, suffering, elbow grease, whatever you want to call it. We all know that this is true. However, knowing something and actualizing it are two different things. Otherwise, we'd all act in our best interests all the time, no complaining. The reality is, however, that we do complain. We do want to stay snug in bed rather than go for an early run; we do want to drink that extra beer rather than stay sober to drive home, we do want to eat the pint of ice cream rather than the fruit.
This is the heart of procrastination, what Buddha included in his First Noble Truth about suffering; separation from what one wants is suffering, and having what one doesn't want is also suffering. Who wants to get up before six a.m. to do taiji? This morning, aside from myself, just one. And a skunk, but I think it was already in the park.
Of course, people do realize that a certain amount of discipline is necessary in daily life, otherwise nothing would get done. But I wonder; how much of this 'getting done' is still a kind of avoidance? Working hard to change the outside world to our liking only to wind up with yet other circumstances that we don't like? Circumstances that through our engineering, we've actually brought about? Like hamsters on the wheel, we spin and spin, moving out feet as rapidly as possible, yet not going anywhere.
Non-activity isn't the answer either, of course. To be human is to work. Otherwise, we'd starve. So what's a person to do?
It would seem that the thing to do is to accept that life has its moments we'd rather not have. To deal with the snow on the street, and the sun during the dog days of summer. We have to accept that early morning is the best time to rise to exercise, and that tedium is necessarily a part of mastering some process, be that taiji or stamp collecting.
Embrace the unpleasant. You'll feel so much better after.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Extra Points and Modern People
I was going to write an article on the use of extra points in treating traumatic conditions, like back pain, but then I realized that I also wanted to touch on something about the use of not only those points, but acupuncture in general.
Essentially, the ugly truth about acupuncture is that it can hurt sometimes. A lot. And when it comes to taking a little discomfort in the present to mitigate a lot of discomfort for a long while, most modern Americans are, quite frankly, pussies.
Acupuncture is old; in fact, it's very, very old. The Huang Di Nei Jing, the Chinese classic that first dealt with acupuncture as a subject is at least 2500 years old. That means that people in China were receiving acupuncture 500 years, at least, before Jesus was born; before Rome was transformed from a republic to an empire. More than that, there's archaeological evidence to support the idea that acupuncture is even older than the Huang Di Nei Jing.
In that time, of course, acupuncture has undergone a lot of change; from using stone probes to finer and finer needles and instruments. However, the people have changed considerably also. People back in ancient times led a much rougher, harsher existence. Physical discomfort was part of daily life. No one wanted it, anymore than they do now, but they knew that it was part of life, and they tolerated it. The life of a peasant, or farmer, in ancient China was almost unimaginably different than it is now. Times were brutal. Medicine also at that time was a bit brutal.
People today are, by contrast to our hale and hearty ancestors, much softer. They're also much more out of shape, leading to a whole host of diseases and syndromes unknown to our forebears. That's another post for another time. It's enough to note for this post, that most people are much less tolerant of discomfort than before.
Very often, when I'm confronted by someone who is in a lot of pain at a clinic, the first question he or she will ask me about acupuncture is, "Will it hurt?" Also very often, when I tell them truthfully that it does involve some sensation, they will ask to skip it. Not exactly a very robust group of patients, the modern individual.
To be fair, acupuncture marketing hasn't done a great job of helping. Acupuncture is marketed in quite a lot of media as "painless." Naturally, when patients come in, they expect there to be absolutely no pain or discomfort involved with the treatment, and when there is, they may or may not come back. I try to tell my patients truthfully that acupuncture is not sensationless, and that they will feel something. That way, they're not so shocked when they feel "de qi" at the needle site.
More than this, however, is an entire generation that has grown averse to experiencing discomfort on any level. Everything in modern living is sanitized, and made easier and easier. You no longer have to kill your own food; elevators eliminate the need for climbing steps, a journey of more than 10 blocks needs the bus. When that mind-set of avoiding discomfort becomes bedrock, it becomes very hard to move.
The body, as a living organism, needs to move. All of TCM is predicated on the idea of promoting movement, growth, inflow and outflow. "When there is free movement, there is no pain." We've become very comfortable in modern civilization, but we hardly seem to be healthier for it. A few people out there seem to get it, and they are committed to the idea of a body in motion; urban athletes who get out and move, even in inclement weather. But for a great many other people, it's just too easy to not move. Which is why the First Lady, Michelle, has to promote the "Let's Move" campaign. A campaign that is at odds with marketing which extols the virtues of hardly lifting a finger to get something done.
What is there to do? Perhaps we need to recognize that effort, even painful effort, is not inimical to enjoying life, and indeed, enhances it. In acupuncture, this would be taking a little pain from the needle to ward off much worse down the line. In life, it would be going anaerobic from time to time, taking the stairs every so often, walking, taiji, yoga; a whole host of things that people can do to ward off stasis from lack of movement. Is the cure worse than the disease, in this case? I think not. As is often said in Buddhism, pain is inevitable, suffering is not. Perhaps in embracing small pains, you can help stave off an old age of suffering.
Essentially, the ugly truth about acupuncture is that it can hurt sometimes. A lot. And when it comes to taking a little discomfort in the present to mitigate a lot of discomfort for a long while, most modern Americans are, quite frankly, pussies.
Acupuncture is old; in fact, it's very, very old. The Huang Di Nei Jing, the Chinese classic that first dealt with acupuncture as a subject is at least 2500 years old. That means that people in China were receiving acupuncture 500 years, at least, before Jesus was born; before Rome was transformed from a republic to an empire. More than that, there's archaeological evidence to support the idea that acupuncture is even older than the Huang Di Nei Jing.
In that time, of course, acupuncture has undergone a lot of change; from using stone probes to finer and finer needles and instruments. However, the people have changed considerably also. People back in ancient times led a much rougher, harsher existence. Physical discomfort was part of daily life. No one wanted it, anymore than they do now, but they knew that it was part of life, and they tolerated it. The life of a peasant, or farmer, in ancient China was almost unimaginably different than it is now. Times were brutal. Medicine also at that time was a bit brutal.
People today are, by contrast to our hale and hearty ancestors, much softer. They're also much more out of shape, leading to a whole host of diseases and syndromes unknown to our forebears. That's another post for another time. It's enough to note for this post, that most people are much less tolerant of discomfort than before.
Very often, when I'm confronted by someone who is in a lot of pain at a clinic, the first question he or she will ask me about acupuncture is, "Will it hurt?" Also very often, when I tell them truthfully that it does involve some sensation, they will ask to skip it. Not exactly a very robust group of patients, the modern individual.
To be fair, acupuncture marketing hasn't done a great job of helping. Acupuncture is marketed in quite a lot of media as "painless." Naturally, when patients come in, they expect there to be absolutely no pain or discomfort involved with the treatment, and when there is, they may or may not come back. I try to tell my patients truthfully that acupuncture is not sensationless, and that they will feel something. That way, they're not so shocked when they feel "de qi" at the needle site.
More than this, however, is an entire generation that has grown averse to experiencing discomfort on any level. Everything in modern living is sanitized, and made easier and easier. You no longer have to kill your own food; elevators eliminate the need for climbing steps, a journey of more than 10 blocks needs the bus. When that mind-set of avoiding discomfort becomes bedrock, it becomes very hard to move.
The body, as a living organism, needs to move. All of TCM is predicated on the idea of promoting movement, growth, inflow and outflow. "When there is free movement, there is no pain." We've become very comfortable in modern civilization, but we hardly seem to be healthier for it. A few people out there seem to get it, and they are committed to the idea of a body in motion; urban athletes who get out and move, even in inclement weather. But for a great many other people, it's just too easy to not move. Which is why the First Lady, Michelle, has to promote the "Let's Move" campaign. A campaign that is at odds with marketing which extols the virtues of hardly lifting a finger to get something done.
What is there to do? Perhaps we need to recognize that effort, even painful effort, is not inimical to enjoying life, and indeed, enhances it. In acupuncture, this would be taking a little pain from the needle to ward off much worse down the line. In life, it would be going anaerobic from time to time, taking the stairs every so often, walking, taiji, yoga; a whole host of things that people can do to ward off stasis from lack of movement. Is the cure worse than the disease, in this case? I think not. As is often said in Buddhism, pain is inevitable, suffering is not. Perhaps in embracing small pains, you can help stave off an old age of suffering.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
No Sweat
Once again, I bow to the power of Chinese herbals. Or, at least, correctly prescribed herbals. I have a patient who suffers from hyperhidrosis. Basically, she busts out in a sweat that soaks her and whatever she is wearing. The situation is worse in stressful situations, which is a real bummer as she is a lawyer. Stressful situations are legal's stock in trade.
Chinese medicine calls sweat the, "fluid of the heart." Indeed, sweat, the loss of fluid, definitely has an effect on blood, since that water lost by sweating has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is from the bloodstream. This is why professional cyclists experience an increase in their blood viscosity during a Grand Tour, such as the Tour de France, and why replenishing fluids is so important.
The Heart is situated in the Upper Jiao (or Upper Burner) along with the Lungs. The Heart is also Fire, and if out of control, or disturbed in some way, this Fire may effect the Lungs, which are Metal. The Lungs control the pores of the skin, the gateway for sweat. So, if Heart-Fire starts to burn too bright, or a little out of control due to a disturbance to the Heart-Spirit, either by stress, fear, or some other emotional factor, the Lungs may lose their ability to control the pores effectively, and allow inappropriate sweat, further effecting the Heart.
For this patient, it was important not to let this sweat get too out of control, otherwise, the condition could progress to a stage of fulminant Heart-Fire, with real Shen (Spirit) disturbance, and night sweating and further to Yin Deficiency Fire.
I prescribed for her a modified version of Mu Li San (Oyster Shell Powder). This marvelously balanced formula is ideal for strengthening the Lung-Metal control over the pores, and has cool medicinals in it to help curb Heart-Fire before it gets too hot, and astringes sweat. The cool, salty oyster shell, Concha Ostreae, nourishes the Heart Yin, soothes irritability, and contains fluids. Along with qi tonifying astragalus (Rx. Astragali Membranacei) and Heart-nourishing wheat (Semen Tritici Aestevi L.), harmony is restored to the Upper Burner between the Heart and Lungs, stopping inappropriate sweating, and easing the Heart-Spirit.
I mentioned that this formula is modified, and since she is a little blood-deficient, I added He Shou Wu and Shu Di Huang for her, both blood tonics. After taking this formula in the form of granules (100g), she told me her sweating had stopped. I love when that happens.
Chinese medicine calls sweat the, "fluid of the heart." Indeed, sweat, the loss of fluid, definitely has an effect on blood, since that water lost by sweating has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is from the bloodstream. This is why professional cyclists experience an increase in their blood viscosity during a Grand Tour, such as the Tour de France, and why replenishing fluids is so important.
The Heart is situated in the Upper Jiao (or Upper Burner) along with the Lungs. The Heart is also Fire, and if out of control, or disturbed in some way, this Fire may effect the Lungs, which are Metal. The Lungs control the pores of the skin, the gateway for sweat. So, if Heart-Fire starts to burn too bright, or a little out of control due to a disturbance to the Heart-Spirit, either by stress, fear, or some other emotional factor, the Lungs may lose their ability to control the pores effectively, and allow inappropriate sweat, further effecting the Heart.
For this patient, it was important not to let this sweat get too out of control, otherwise, the condition could progress to a stage of fulminant Heart-Fire, with real Shen (Spirit) disturbance, and night sweating and further to Yin Deficiency Fire.
I prescribed for her a modified version of Mu Li San (Oyster Shell Powder). This marvelously balanced formula is ideal for strengthening the Lung-Metal control over the pores, and has cool medicinals in it to help curb Heart-Fire before it gets too hot, and astringes sweat. The cool, salty oyster shell, Concha Ostreae, nourishes the Heart Yin, soothes irritability, and contains fluids. Along with qi tonifying astragalus (Rx. Astragali Membranacei) and Heart-nourishing wheat (Semen Tritici Aestevi L.), harmony is restored to the Upper Burner between the Heart and Lungs, stopping inappropriate sweating, and easing the Heart-Spirit.
I mentioned that this formula is modified, and since she is a little blood-deficient, I added He Shou Wu and Shu Di Huang for her, both blood tonics. After taking this formula in the form of granules (100g), she told me her sweating had stopped. I love when that happens.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Yoga, Taijiquan, and the Human Ego
A friend of mine recently brought me an article that appeared in the New York Times. Entitled, "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body," by William J. Broad, this article has been making the rounds on Facebook and other sharing sites, and is creating quite a buzz out there in the blogo/twitter/sharing-verse. As pointed out in an article in the British paper The Guardian, proponents have been knocked off their yoga mats and are anything but serene about the article and its allegations.
Perhaps this should come as no surprise, as The Guardian notes that yoga is now a $5 billion a year industry; mats, tapes, DVDs, classes. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that no industry likes to be attacked, and it will retaliate, no matter if they espouse a philosophy of inner peace and balance.
Having studied and taught taijiquan for some time, it's not hard to see how injuries occur in a class setting like yoga. Simply put, people's egos get in the way of the actual learning; both the ego of the teacher and the student (I'm guilty of this also). People in packed yoga classes can get bullied into trying postures, or asanas, that are simply beyond their point of development (teacher ego), or the over-enthusiastic pupil can try things that are too advanced for him/her (pupil ego). Years ago, I taught a free taiji class under the Queensboro bridge, and I kept trying to get one student to practice a basic posture. Inevitably, she'd sneak over to where I was with the more advanced pupils, and try to do what they were doing. Patience often times is not a quality you find in abundance.
Srila Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, in his seminal book, "Bhagavad Gita: As It Is," said of yoga, "Unless the mind is controlled, the practice of yoga (for show) is simply a waste of time." He also goes on to denigrate the enthusiastic practice of hatha yoga and its popularity in the West. For a guru like Prabhupad, yoga is not about exercise, but about union with the Supreme, and without that, there is no yoga.
Although perhaps a bit extreme in his outlook, Prabhupad does touch on an important aspect to all these practices, be they yoga or taijiquan; that is the role of the mind. All such practices are for helping to control the mind and curbing ego; not strengthening ego by taking pride in what posture you can do. Perhaps this kind of pride is inevitable; people naturally take pride in their achievements, in something they worked hard to acquire. But the ones who have achieved ability through hard work are also the ones most apt to recognize the arduousness of the journey, and should be the ones to advice caution, and patience in these practices, not haste. Sometimes, of course, these high-level teachers also forget what it was to have been a beginner, and try to hurry their charges along, but that doesn't result in ability so much as it does with injury.
Studying taiji under Mr. Yu was this type of experience. Mr. Yu, in his late 60s and early 70s, was able to do things that most people one-third his age could not do. The discipline he had over his own body was awe inspiring. As a form instructor, he was very exacting and demanding. But, for me, after three years or so of studying his form, I had to leave him. My knees couldn't take it. I had to find another way, and I did, in the taiji forms of Yang Zhenduo and his grandson and heir, Yang Jun. One has to find the way that fits them, and not contort themselves to fit the way of another, and this, also, ties in with mind.
When your practice flows, and everything is as it should be, the mind can become quiet. You can be absorbed in what you're doing, rather than in stretching for something you're not ready for. When I teach class these days, I'm aware of how much my students are ready for and how much they can strive for. I don't insist on deeper stances, only what the person can do. I do try to encourage them to stretch, but not past their limits. Limits may readjust, but this is a process of growth, not force. When the mind is calm, limits are seen as milestones, and not as barriers to punch through.
So, maintain your practice, but do it mindfully. Use this practice to curb your ego, not enlarge it.
Perhaps this should come as no surprise, as The Guardian notes that yoga is now a $5 billion a year industry; mats, tapes, DVDs, classes. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that no industry likes to be attacked, and it will retaliate, no matter if they espouse a philosophy of inner peace and balance.
Having studied and taught taijiquan for some time, it's not hard to see how injuries occur in a class setting like yoga. Simply put, people's egos get in the way of the actual learning; both the ego of the teacher and the student (I'm guilty of this also). People in packed yoga classes can get bullied into trying postures, or asanas, that are simply beyond their point of development (teacher ego), or the over-enthusiastic pupil can try things that are too advanced for him/her (pupil ego). Years ago, I taught a free taiji class under the Queensboro bridge, and I kept trying to get one student to practice a basic posture. Inevitably, she'd sneak over to where I was with the more advanced pupils, and try to do what they were doing. Patience often times is not a quality you find in abundance.
Srila Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, in his seminal book, "Bhagavad Gita: As It Is," said of yoga, "Unless the mind is controlled, the practice of yoga (for show) is simply a waste of time." He also goes on to denigrate the enthusiastic practice of hatha yoga and its popularity in the West. For a guru like Prabhupad, yoga is not about exercise, but about union with the Supreme, and without that, there is no yoga.
Although perhaps a bit extreme in his outlook, Prabhupad does touch on an important aspect to all these practices, be they yoga or taijiquan; that is the role of the mind. All such practices are for helping to control the mind and curbing ego; not strengthening ego by taking pride in what posture you can do. Perhaps this kind of pride is inevitable; people naturally take pride in their achievements, in something they worked hard to acquire. But the ones who have achieved ability through hard work are also the ones most apt to recognize the arduousness of the journey, and should be the ones to advice caution, and patience in these practices, not haste. Sometimes, of course, these high-level teachers also forget what it was to have been a beginner, and try to hurry their charges along, but that doesn't result in ability so much as it does with injury.
Studying taiji under Mr. Yu was this type of experience. Mr. Yu, in his late 60s and early 70s, was able to do things that most people one-third his age could not do. The discipline he had over his own body was awe inspiring. As a form instructor, he was very exacting and demanding. But, for me, after three years or so of studying his form, I had to leave him. My knees couldn't take it. I had to find another way, and I did, in the taiji forms of Yang Zhenduo and his grandson and heir, Yang Jun. One has to find the way that fits them, and not contort themselves to fit the way of another, and this, also, ties in with mind.
When your practice flows, and everything is as it should be, the mind can become quiet. You can be absorbed in what you're doing, rather than in stretching for something you're not ready for. When I teach class these days, I'm aware of how much my students are ready for and how much they can strive for. I don't insist on deeper stances, only what the person can do. I do try to encourage them to stretch, but not past their limits. Limits may readjust, but this is a process of growth, not force. When the mind is calm, limits are seen as milestones, and not as barriers to punch through.
So, maintain your practice, but do it mindfully. Use this practice to curb your ego, not enlarge it.
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