Going to be: Heart Sutras, Enlightenment and Bizaan'imin

Been slowly returning to parts of myself that I let go of and thinking about this beatboxing monk and his stuff lately among other things. Enjoy.

 

Related (and partly copied/pasted from the comment section) too:

To me, wisdom is about reliable truths. What makes a lot of zen/buddhism [in general] challenging is they speak more to arriving at a sort of ideal state of "being" and leave it to folks to "be" there in whatever way they find themselves. Peace happens whenever we realize our ability to take genuine action in and from a place of love. This includes taking genuine action to surface, embrace, and transform conflict. It also includes the ability to simply be in and from a place of love.

For that last one, which I often found challenging, there's an Ojibwemowen word 'bizaan' that roughly translates to sitting in quiet/tranquility/calm/peace which really helps make a way for arriving at that ideal outcome of "just being" seem a bit more feasible than just suddenly "activating" or "achieving enlightenment" as it's often portrayed.

Some folks who study buddhist logic will say are 5 sorts of logical states--a thing can be:

1. true,

2. false,

3. true and false,

4. neither true nor false,

5. or undefinable because language+thought limits our ability and skews our paradigms for perceiving things as soon we try engaging with them

Being at peace and presence with those, especially that last notion, basically sums up the chunk of text below and what it's like to experience it even as a moment for me:

"...whatever son or daughter of the lineage wishes to engage in the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom should look perfectly like this: subsequently looking perfectly and correctly at the emptiness of inherent existence of the five aggregates also. Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form; form also is not other than emptiness. Likewise, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Shariputra, like this, all phenomena are merely empty, having no characteristics. They are not produced and do not cease. They have no defilement and no separation from defilement. They have no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compostional factors, no consciousness. There is no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no tactile object, no phenomenon. There is no eye element and so forth, upto no mind element, and also upto no element of mental consciousness. There is no ignorance and no exhaustion of ignorance, and so forth, upto no ageing and death and no exhaustion of ageing and death. Likewise, there is no suffering, origin, cessation or path; no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non-attainment. Therefore, Shariputra, because there is no attainment, all Bodhisattvas rely on and abide in the perfection of wisdom; their minds have no obstructions and no fear. Passing utterly beyond perversity, they attain the final state beyond sorrow...." -Youtube comment by Dak pinned to the page

Growing and Healing: Every Day on Earth

Trauma forces disconnection which can be seen in landscapes, our human and ecosystemic communities, and even among collective and personal identities. But relenting disruptions can often transform ecosystems the most to become places for life:

After a prairie or woodland fire, Jack Pine cones open up to release their seeds only when there's fire present. The Kirtland's Warbler will only breed and nest in the new Jack Pines that emerge from freshly burnt prairie land.

A tree falling in the middle of a Sugar Maple forest allows more light in and many plants that were previously crowded and shaded out take its place.

And while so many people tend to associate trauma with the destructive process, we often fail to shift our gaze from the terminal moments toward the cyclical progeny it can point to.

Healing is a restorative form of growth that happens when there's respite from harm that inhibits our capacity to care for ourselves and each other.

Health speaks to one's capacity to take care of their self. And wealth speaks to collective health--our capacity to take care of ourselves, each other, and everything that supports that process.

Prosperity happens when nourishment is manifested as a result of healthy growth. And hunger without extreme keens our intuition for seeking appropriate nourishment.

The difference between healthy fulfilling organizations and hate groups is surprisingly narrow: both will utilize sense of purpose, progress, and meaningful connection.

But hate groups eventually force dependency for connection among their membership and limit the scope of purpose in ways that intentionally preclude "others" while playing on ambiguity enough for it to seem innocent or a dualistic good and bad with biased emphasis on only one side and denial to the other.

Healthy organizations, in contrast, encourage emancipation and meaningful connection within and outside of the team. They allow for growing up and out depending on their role in the environment.

The pandemic is a crisis that highlights a myriad of ongoing crises--and in many circles, you might even come across the phrase "disaster capitalism"--where people choose to exploit crisis for maximum near-term profitable gain at the expense of others.

But a contrasting path exists too--disruptions can be creative as well. Whereas the news and traumatic events are often shaped and exploited for manipulative purposes without genuine solution, creative acts function as a kind of exercise in gratitude:

They frame a chosen reality (or multiple realities) with uplift, elicit our being, inspire, and tend to empower people toward relevant and significant action.

Whether in the West African Tradition of the Jele, Celtic Bards, or singular storytellers, minstrels, painters, and warrior poets of many cultures over -- people have chosen to bridge the momentary tragedies and triumphs with creative acts that let us dance between the work in our day to day lives and the magic that manifests a timeless sense of wonder for lifetimes to come.

So what do our narratives for post-traumatic healing look like? It's likely a way of being that allows for independent and collective sense of purpose, progress, and connected relationships to flourish.

For sustaining prosperity, any act will tend to have characteristics that allow for creative, comprehensive, and continuous existence at appropriate scale.

At what point do we recognize the growth that's inherent to our healing?
What will be done for prosperous growth to happen?
As a person?
As a people?
As a population?
As a place?
As a planet?

Seeking answers to any of the above questions brings us into sacred moments--the ones that connect us to sense of purpose and compel us to live in good accord with ourselves and the world alike.

 

 

 

 

 [ ] kirtland's warbler + cultural burning / indigenous knowledge  traditional knowledge ecology {tending the wild}

[ ] Leila Janah's note on seeking post-traumatic growth

[ ] delivering happiness framework for fulfilling / sustained happiness

[ ] neuroscience of hate

[ ] 

Expertise vs Curiosities in Experience

​Expertise, experience, and the depth it can bring to a situation are necessary for putting evrnts into proportion. Yet not at the expense of curiosity and not to the degree that it should altogether silence the validity of other people's experience.

21:21

Nov 27th?

Morning questions

Questions I frequently asked myself every morning, by year:

2012: What is my responsibility regardless of how I feel?

2013: What's something I'm willing to die for, is it the same as what's worth living for?

2014: How will I push myself to find myself today? What can I push myself to overcome that's very uncomfortable?

2015: "Every morning before getting out of bed I ask myself three questions: 1) what is my purpose? 2) what is my mission for the day 3) how am I taking my first steps" -advice from a dream that stuck with me

[by taking this advice, there were certainly days where I stayed in bed for a looonnng time haha; also some nuances behind the meaning of purpose but that's for another conversation]

2016: What does taking care of myself look like?

2017 starting as of today: What does loving myself mean?

Greatness in your voice

There is greatness in your voice.

I can hear it.  You can feel it.  We know it.

If it quavers and shakes in fear:
let it be for the reasons we share with you.
Speak your truth with courage, and all your heart.

Inspire, then move us--with each word you expel, and each breath you spend.  We'll catch our breaths, and then we'll respire.

We'll breathe as we move closer toward something worth every spirited breath of speech, story, and song before our lives expire.

But it ends not at your life, nor ours.  Greatness flows over and through endeavors of legacy everlasting.

Free it with your voice and contribution to the world.
Let it ebb and flow from heart to heart: yours to mine, theirs to yours.

Call again!

Through sacred passage of wisdom in your call and listening--let your curiosity open the greatness of others, share your reliable truths, and always ask for the greatest of truth even when the only answer may be silence from your fellows.

The echoes of utterance will be great, and the world may quaver and shake in new movement as it awakens with the warmth of your voice for the reasons we share with you.

Share our Truth with courage and all hearts.

Hollow tree in Interlochen State Park, MI

#09:34 16 X 2013

Love for sustainability

"In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." -Baba Dioum

“What we need to match the science of human health is what the ancient Israelites called ‘hocma’—the science of the heart. . . the capacity to see. . . to feel. . . and then to act. . . as if the future depended on you. Believe me, it does.”-Bill Moyers

Alright, in heed of Valentine's Day, I've realized love is necessary for sustainability.
Again, there are some who’d argue that love goes well beyond romance, it's really about finding ways to embrace life to its fullest with other people whom you can trust, even in trying circumstances [1]. Perhaps in essence, much of the world is enamored with romance because it exists as the opportunity and hope for lightening discovery. But overall, love's about fostering relationships and circumstances that celebrate others as much as it invites and encourages them to become the best they can be at all times. Perhaps that's a key element for distinguishing love from compassion.

Love then becomes a requisite ideal for sustainability because people must move beyond a sense of duty in compassion. Compassion wholeheartedly considers a humane cause or misfortune, and like love, it may operate on a notion or ethos of improvement and hope. However, without commemoration or celebration-- outcomes from possible merits also fosters awareness about the products of something deeply appreciated. On some level, this can imply a deep understanding as well. The more you know, you're more capable of appreciating, and thereby loving. Which brings us back to Baba Dioum's statement:

"In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught."

Those who find pain in loneliness or comfort in solitude have learned something profound as well, and in many cases, have an opportunity to articulate the experience in profound ways, often in the arts or through their commitment to substantive endeavors [2]. That's what makes the arts so elusive: they can commemorate an experience and guide us toward our shared humanity in tremendous ways. They can also inspire deeper appreciation and learning about the world we live with, and why the things we live with matter. That's necessary for sound conservation--the practice of ensuring near-term and long-term well-being.

[1] http://www.theschooloflife.com/blog/2013/02/romantic-love-busting-the-myth/
[2] http://www.theschooloflife.com/blog/2013/02/the-pleasures-and-pains-of-solitariness/

... there's more to this notion of love for sustainability (I feel like the ideas are 3/4 baked at this point). In particular, the role of concepts like compassion, love, hocma, and their relation to appropriately bringing one's courage, wisdom, and capacity for expressing it in life that signify the significance of an individual in the world. I can see it, but it'll take me a while to put it down into writing...

Mandatory Compassion

What's the difference between compassion and love? When does compassion become mandatory for good character? I started exploring those questions through this tune and the stories behind it. [Edited: 19 IX 2013]

Willie (in reply to a complement about him as a tremendously compassionate person): "Ian, I appreciate that.  I'll humbly accept that, but in some ways I didn't have a choice--you know how my life's been..."

Some people become notably extraordinary in response to or as a product of extraordinary circumstance and exposure.  He had gone to prison three times, and started turning his life around through his determination to be who he knew he was capable of becoming--a better person and an artist.

If you get a chance to hear to his story there several key moments during his final time in prison:
1) choosing not to eat meat (at a time when vegetarian options were almost non-existent) while in prison as a way to prove he had control over something in his life
2) one night, a neighboring cell mate who had a reputation for drawing passed one of his pieces over to one of Willie's cellmates, and from then forward he knew he could draw and started sketching
3) seeing the sense of peace that painting brought to one of the inmates
4) a moment where another inmate noticed he was drawing and sat down to show him how to draw with three dimensions for about 5 minutes

He ended his addiction to drugs and later earned his GED, then a college degree, ran 3 Detroit Free Press marathons, and worked at the University of Michigan-Dearborn Wellness Center for a little over 20 years before retiring early to live the wisdom he preaches and pursue his art with greater focus.

It's important to acknowledge that his addiction had negative impacts for other people beyond himself--and that's at the core of his statement "but in some ways, I didn't have a choice--you know how my life's been..." He'll be one of the first to acknowledge and warn people about addiction and the realities of prison and its role in criminal justice. At the same time, he also understands that many of the events which led up to addiction could have been circumvented in many ways--whether it was through the attitudes instilled in him by others as a child to having an earlier exposure to healthier and creative means for expression.

Willie has been a mentor and a champion for my own efforts.  I learned so much about compassion and artistry from sporadic visits with him in the past year as he Worked at the Wellness Center--sometimes just from watching him sketch as he told some of the stories I shared above. Or by the way he remained relentless about encouraging me and finding opportunities that could advance my musicianship even as I focused on other kinds of work.

Willie attributes the magnitude of his compassion in large part to his experiences, though I could say there's a fair amount of credit due to his character and commitment too.  His life story's tremendous, and I wish more people have met him or can spend time with him to learn about it firsthand.

However, through his reply to my appreciation for what he does and how he lives, I realized he noted a distinction in gauging one's character: there's more to being and becoming a great person than just meeting circumstance with magnanimous compassion.  Perhaps actively seeking opportunity to help others becomes the next distinguishing gradation in our humanity.  While it's something both Willie and I do, the extent of which that it happens as a regular basis is something new for me to focus on.  Not necessarily because I didn't care about or didn't do it before, but because I hadn't seen life with this degree of clarity until I meditated over Willie's reply.

Another question arises about actively helping others: at what point do we let another person be as they are?

Perhaps it behooves us to examine a maxim of life:  be as you are unless you yourself find compelling reason to change.   I suspect many try to live by it, yet what does this maxim say about our relationship with other people?  A distinction and balance exists between seeking--active, and intentional form of aid--to help and helping as an outcome of a reactive/passive or perhaps something simply receptive to opportunity.

I'm still exploring this concept, and I've also titled a new piece "Mandatory Compassion" based on this conversation.

Start 9 I 2013, # 12:24 pm 18 I 2013

.  .  .

I've since realized the difference between love and compassion.  Love is a proactive endeavor which exists in the interest of helping others be at their best.  Compassion tends to be reactive and circumstantial.  We may help others upon recognizing some need that can be met, but if not, we might empathize for a moment and move on. I also attribute some of this to sharing lunch with a homeless man, Mr. Westberry, at a time when I just happened to have enough extra food to share a hot meal during a very cold December day in Ann Arbor.  That event ran through my head as I started playing the opening notes of the piece, and Willie's conversation versus my encounter with Mr. Westberry galvanized concept behind this title.  [#edited 19 IX 2013]