On Filial Piety
Mang asked what filial piety is. The Master said, "It is being obedient." Soon after, as Fan Chi was driving him, the Master told him "Mang asked me what filial piety is, and I answer him 'being obedient.'" Fan Chi asked, "What exactly did you mean?" The Master replied, "That parents, when alive, should be served according to ritual; that, when dead, they should be buried according to ritual; and that they should be sacrificed to according to ritual." (Note: "ritual" here is "Li" the idea being of developing meaningful practices that can be seen as embodying what is right. For Confucius there must be a blueprint to be followed).
Ziyou asked what filial piety is. The Master said, "The filial piety of now-a-days means providing nourishment for one's parents. But dogs and horses likewise are able to do something along that line for their own kind. Without reverence, what is there to distinguish the one support given from the other?"
On Goodness
The Master said, "A youth, when at home, should behave well toward his parents, and when abroad, respectfully to his elders. He should be earnest and truthful. He should overflow in love to all, and cultivate the friendship of the good."
The Master said, "With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow, I still have joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are a floating cloud."
Zhong gong asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, "When abroad, behave to everyone as if you were receiving an important guest; treat people as if you were assisting at a great sacrifice; do not do to others as you would not wish done to yourself. Thereby you will let no murmuring rise against in public, and none in private. . . ."
On the Chuang Tzu
The Master said, "Riches and honors are what men desire; but if they cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should be let go. Poverty and meanness are what men dislike; but if they cannot be avoided in the proper way, they should not be avoided. If a gentleman abandons virtue, how can he fulfill the requirements of his title? A gentleman not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. Even in moments of haste, and in times of danger, he clings to virtue."
The Master said, "A gentleman, well studied in literature, and abiding by the rules of ritual, will not go very wrong."
"When gentlemen perform well all their duties to their relations, the people are inspired to virtue. When they remain true to their old friends, the people are preserved from irresponsible behavior."
The Master said, "A gentleman points out the admirable qualities of men and does not point out their bad qualities. A petty man does just the opposite."
The Master said, "A gentleman is distressed by his lack of ability, but he is not distressed by men not knowing him."
The Master said, "What the gentleman demands is something of himself. What the petty man demands is something of others."
A gentleman does not wear a deep purple or a puce color, nor in his at-home clothes does he wear red. In warm weather, he wears a single-layered garment, either of coarse or fine texture, but when going out he wears it over another garment. He wears lambskin with a garment of black, fawn with white, and fox with yellow. His fur dressing gown should be long, but with the right sleeve short. His night clothes must be half again as long as his body. When staying at home, he wears thick furs of the fox or the badger. So long as he is not in mourning, he wears all the trimmings of his girdle. . . . He does not wear lamb's fur or a black cap when making a visit of condolence. And on the first day of the month he must put on his court robes and present himself at court.
On Ritual and Music
The Master said, "If a man lacks the human virtues, what has he to do with ritual? If a man lacks the human virtues, what has he to do with music?"
The Master said, "Respectfulness, without the rules of ritual becomes laborious bustle; carefulness, without the rules, becomes timidity; boldness becomes insubordination; straightforwardness becomes rudeness.
The Master said, "It is by the Odes that a man's mind is aroused, by the rules of ritual that his character is established, and by music that he is perfected [finished]. . . ."
Education is, of course, important to Confucius, as one needs to learn the traditions and profit from the wisdom of the past. Government can then be carried on by "moral force," as opposed to requiring military or legal force. As to religion, Confucius does not challenge it, but he doesn't put his hope in it either. His stress is always on living well, which means living properly, here and now and by our own actions.
Which is more important for an orderly state: food, weapons, or a government that one can trust.
On Education
The Master said, "Anyone learning without thought is lost; anyone thinking but not learning is in peril."
The Master said, "Yu, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to realize that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it: this is knowledge." The Master said, [I have been] "a transmitter and not a maker, believing in and loving the ancients. . ."
When the Master went to Wei, Ran Yu acted as driver of his carriage. The Master observed, "How numerous the people are!" Ran Yu asked, "When they are more numerous, what more shall be done for them ?" "Enrich them," was the reply. "And when they have been enriched, what more shall be done?" The Master said, "Instruct them."
On Government
The Master said, "To rule a country of a thousand chariots requires reverent attention to business, sincerity, economy in expenditures, and love for men, as well as the employment of the people only in the right seasons."
The Master said, "If the people are governed by laws and punishment is used to maintain order, they will try to avoid the punishment but have no sense of shame. If they are governed by virtue and rules of propriety [ritual] are used to maintain order, they will have a sense of shame and will become good as well."
Ji Kang Zi asked Confucius about government, saying, "What do you say to killing those who are unprincipled [i.e., the immoral] for the good of those who are principled?" Confucius replied, "Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your obvious desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass: the grass is bound to bend when the wind blows across it."
Zigong asked about government. The Master said, "The requisites of government are that there be sufficient food, sufficient military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler." Zigong said, "If one had to dispense with one of those three, which should be given up first?" "The military equipment, " said the Master. Zigong again asked, "If on had to dispense with one of the two remaining, which should be given up?" The Master answered, "Give up the food. From of old, death has always been the lot of men; but if the people have no faith in their rulers, they cannot stand."
On Religion
Someone asked the meaning of the great sacrifice. The Master said, "I do not know. Anyone who knew its meaning would find it as easy to govern the kingdom as to look on this," and he pointed to the palm of his hand.
Zilu asked about serving the ghosts of the dead. The Master said, "Until you are able to serve men, how can you serve their ghosts?" When Zilu ventured to ask about death, the answer was: "While you do not know life, how can you [hope to] know about death?"
Monday, November 15, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
A Yoga (Socio-Political) Manifesto
aTrifF
Nature should have priority.1 It's here first and sustains everything.
The guiding principle is ahimsa. Non-violence translated into deep & skeptic ecology, i.e, the interdependence of human and non-human life in a world out of joint. We cannot understand ourselves if we estrange ourselves from nature, but we're already estranged!
Socio-political starts bottom-up not top-down.2 We don't need to wait for the top to change. As real actors, close to the local/regional nodes of action, we can acquire the know-how to build connections and mobilize public opinion to challenge institutional and social alienation.
* From the bottom ---> up: The initial transformation is individual but it doesn't stop there. We are ONE: There is no true path without dharma/activism.3
* The aporia of human anthropocentric emancipation: We need to see non-human life under a different optic. The Greeks of ancient times didn't realize that non-Greeks were persons. American plantation owners in the late-18th Century didn't realize that blacks were not inferior brutes. The majority of Americans don't realize that non-human animals are more than just foodstuff. We have an obligation to treat animals with dignity4 (animal farming in America needs to be transformed from intensive farming ----> extensive farming).
* The aporia of pollution vs. development: Blaming corporations in order to feel safely excluded from the pollution cycle while feeding the very thing we try to prevent. We are the world's worst polluters! 5
* Though it may be a little late, the move towards eco-conservation is a social imperative. Let's fight to stop deforestation, to protect sea life from extinction (due to overfishing), ensuring ecological diversity for future generations. Yes, it seems daunting, but it begins by understanding, doing & telling others.
* The aporia of technology vs. emancipation: What makes us human is a result of our cultural evolution: language, rituals, arts and technology. Yet, our anthropocentric-based culture is leading us to a dead end. Let's move from an anthropocentric to a bio-centric culture!6
We must learn to curb and manage our waste: Reuse, donate, recycle! The present corporate-driven/production-intensive food paradigm needs to be turned upside down, from fast food ----> slow food. 7 Let's switch our eating habits and bring back food sacralization. Let's turn environmental degradation and human exploitation into eco-erotics!8
* The aporia of development vs. under-development9: Our post-Capitalist global society is craft-deprived. Globalization has outsourced our manufacturing and trade/skills base. Let's get back to cooking, arts and crafts, organic horticulture,10 etc. We should balance our individualism with communitarianism!
Let's change our cities by fighting urban decay with environmental sustainability, changing ugliness into beauty.
Let's become eco-Romantics!11 engaging in heritage conservation, infrastructure efficiency, mass transit, regional integration, human scale, and institutional integrity.
Let's transform our neighborhoods by building sustainable structures, limiting urban sprawl, reducing car dependence, promoting pedestrian friendly urbanism.12
What to do?
ACT NOW!
____________
1 Aristotle's naturalism can be seen as a forerunner of eco-thics, as expressed by his dictum that Nature "does nothing in vain." John Clearly, Aristotle and the Many Senses of Priority, (Southern Illinois University Press, 1988) p. 60. 2 We don't have to choose between markets (Welfare Capitalism) or governments, as instruments of emancipation (Communism, planned-economy Socialism). Nor is there need to eliminate markets, trade, private ownership, the welfare state, or the institution of the corporation. What we need to do is bring about new practices for each of these institutions appropriate to a balance between prosperity and conservation. This task belongs neither to corporations nor to states: They are incapable of questioning the legitimacy on which their present institutional form is based. Citizens, not big-money interests, have to set the terms of the economic and political agenda. This is the force of emergence: Millions of people joining voluntary movements, discovering that the good life is more fulfilling than the endless cycle of accumulation and consumption. Professor Steven Buechler makes a similar (hopeful) point: "Movements can be crucial switching stations in the direction of history (...) vital free spaces that promote democratization and restore a meaningful public sphere." See Steven M. Buechler, Social Movements in Advanced Capitalism: The Political Economy and Cultural Construction of Social Activism (Oxford University Press: 2000) p. 214. Enacting Niyama at the social level can bring about a life of material sufficiency with cultural, intellectual, and spiritual abundance in balance with the environment. By osmosis, the social level can bring about needed changes in the political sphere. 3 One's embeddedness in a particular context: job, household/family, or community can lead one to recognize a problem, learn about community needs, and find a way to make life better through new -or reconfigured- social linkages. 4According to philosopher Tom Regan, animals have "inherent value" as subjects-of-a-life, and cannot be regarded as a means to an end. See, Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights, (University of California Berkeley, 2005) p. 245. 5The United States has 4.2% of the world's population and produces 24% of the world's C02 emissions. 6One must be careful not to write off culture, as if humans have fallen from paradise straight into some artificial exile of civilization. This is where the ancient Greeks can help. They understood that us humans are not completely "natural" but rather the site of a collision of nature and culture, which uniquely defines us. See Bruce Thornton, Plagues of the Mind: The New Epidemic of False Knowledge (ISI Books, 1999) p. 96. 7 "Slow food" goes against the received notion that cheap food = good food. Carlo Petrini, the man behind this movement defends the "unpolitical" idea that cheap food is really expensive, bad food, when compared with good, clean, carefully harvested food. He is right. In his book, Petrini advocates the idea of "gusto" (taste) and diversity. There is a correlation between slow food and health, which makes slow food more enjoyable. The locus for this revolucion is la osteria, a place where one can find "traditional cuisine run as a family business with simple service, welcoming atmosphere, good wine and moderate prices." See Carlo Petrini, Slow Food, the Case for Taste (Columbia University Press, 2003) p. 51-58. "Cheap food" is a Capitalist ploy to misrepresent real capital allocation and profit in the name of "abundance," hiding government subsidies for monoculture and intensive production which end up as profit for Big Business in food and energy. Take for instance American corn policies: We subsidize corn while (protect Monsanto's right to sell it to farmers as genetically modified seed). Coincidentally, corn is the foodstuff staple for raising cattle in the US (funded by whom?) and an energy commodity. Wonder why such a labor-intensive commodity such as meat is so cheap? Corn is heavily fertilized — both with chemicals like nitrogen and with subsidies from Washington. Over the past decade, the Federal Government has poured more than $50 billion into the corn industry, keeping prices for the crop — at least until corn ethanol skewed the market — artificially low. That's your Big Mac @ McDonald's, a $5 meal bargain, with 1,400 calories (more than half the daily recommended requirement for adults). 8 I thank my friend Gene Ray from Scurvy Tunes, for his suggestion. I'd like to spin his idea of eco/erotics as an embodied striving for well-being that connects us with the animal and non-animal other (life). The opposite of eco/erotics is eros gone astray, a perversion of Nishkam Karma. A desire in the form of a will-to-control that aims to secure itself by mastering all around it. Ridden with anxiety, this eros reduces other to self. In fact, there are examples of such versions in modern times: Certain "peak" historic moments, when factors motivating nations and individuals, such as the desires for profit, security, and hegemony got transformed militaristic erotics. 9 It turns out that the mantra of "emancipated" Communist development in Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean throughout the 1960's-1980's consisted in mimicking the Capitalist "anthropocentric development" model: 1- constant growth, 2- domination of nature, 3- industrialization and technologization of production and society at the expense of environmental degradation, abandonment of agriculture (land reform in this case meant very little, since arbitrary and exploitative prices were set by the bureaucrats, not by the farmers), massive migration to the cities, urban unemployment and loss of crafts skills. The deterioration of nature brought by these mistaken policies, was invoked by the communist bureaucracies as a step in the right direction for the attainment of development. 10 Who would think of pursuing horticultural studies in Miami, now, when the expected move of disenfranchised farmers is from the rural areas to the city? Precisely! This overall migration has to do with the switch from farmer-produced to corporate-produced agriculture. How can one reverse it? By encouraging simple living. Diversifying instead of homogenizing food consumption; by making good, simple food (not gourmet food) a desired commodity, so that corporations are forced to alter their mode of production. Surely, one must be watchful of corporation's good intentions! It's all about awareness: As we become more educated in our food habits, there is gradual a move from agriculture into crafted horticulture. Are people ready for it? After the subprime mortgage crisis, the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, and BP's gulf disaster, the answer is yes. 11 The new eco-Romantic is committed to ecological flourishing, but she is neither anti-technology, nor naive in her political expectations about Messianic utopias. The traditional Romantic lived in a paradox he was blind to. (H)e deprecated technology from his studio in the industrial-brought comfort of the pre-Modern city. We must see the good and bad in technology. The Industrial Revolution cannot be simply undone (the remedy would be worst than the disease). It needs to be transformed. Technology can serve us in using the ecosystem resources more efficiently. On the other hand, there is a strong historical relationship between growth in economic output and growing human demands on the earth's finite ecosystem. We've pushed since 1950's the human burden on the planet's regenerative systems, its soils, air, water, fisheries, and forestry systems beyond what the planet can sustain. Anthropocentric "development" is not the answer. Pushing for economic growth beyond the planet's sustainable limits accelerates the rate of breakdown of the whole. It also intensifies the competition between rich and poor for the earth's remaining output of life-sustaining resources. 12 See my "Miami's Urban Mess."
Thursday, June 17, 2010
This Saturday at 3:30pm: Beach!
Farewell is best with nature: beach, sea, sand and sun.
If you draw a sort of semi-parallel line to Alton Rd. we'll meet around 64th St., near Hotel Casablanca.
What people are (so far) bringing:
Triff: Beer (no Bud or Miller), Middle Eastern food, some water and umbrella.
Karen: Cooler.
Jose: Ice and some food.
Angela: Some food and perhaps another umbrella.
You're more than welcome to bring food stuff (but not too much, since this is neither lunch nor dinner).
If you want to post last minute suggestions, go ahead, the comment option is available!
The koan (2 cases)
A koan should be short and more importantly non-obvious. Think cold shower to the mind. Dadaists used koans, example, the one above.
Here is a good compilation.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Your (last) assignment
The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.- Tao Te Ching
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.- Tao Te Ching
Thomas Bayrle, Maxwell Kaffee, Oil on canvas (1967).
I surmise that Thomas Bayrle takes Jean-Paul Sartre's metaphor of the cup of coffee in La Nausée as a Pop paradox of the one and the many. Let's talk about this void which calls forth the fullness, the paradoxical coexistence of Tao in both subject and object, essence and appearance. Imagine a situation, which shows itself as something not complete, an event that demands our involvement. The situation appears imperfect, out of joint, sort of what Kenyan artist Ingrid Mwuangi does when she multiplies her own id-entity:
Ingrid Mwuangi, If, digital c-prints mounted on aluminum (2001).
Really?The Tao is like a well:According to the Tao Te Ching, our will to fix things can take us into unexpected detours. Let me explain: Generally, I don't see my will as being impeded by anything other than my desire to act. But in the big realm of overall causation, I'm not alone. My will is differential, i.e., one amongst hundreds of millions of other wills. Seldom I stop to ponder my will as being a very small fraction of an overall sum of (unknown) wills, not only in the here and now, but as -already- established chains reactions which precede my time/space (and of which I'm a part of).
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities. (vers. 4)1
Mathematically speaking, what's my will vis-a-vis a higher order of will/differentials? What's the relative limit between my doing and my doing too much? Sure, voluntarism is a well-respected part of our strategy of success. But think about it, how many of the things (we think) we do turn out to be the opposite of what we anticipated?
For more (including your comment), click here.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Some recommended texts
Hindu Philosophy: 1- The Upanishads, 2- Bhagavad Gita, 3- Dhammapada (All by Nigiri Press). 4- Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, 5- The Life Divine (Sri Aurobindo), a recommended text for those versed in Western Philosophy. This is a nice edition of The Lotus Sutra.
Chinese Philosophy: Analects, The Lao Tzu, Zen teachings of Bodhidharma.
Chinese Philosophy: Analects, The Lao Tzu, Zen teachings of Bodhidharma.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Your turn #3
Good class with a nice discussion on the subject of anger.
For your comment this week, please, go to miami bourbaki. You can comment on my manifesto (which I have fleshed out a bit) or in the "Forked paths" post. Take any of the Buddhist topics discussed in class: dukkha, tanha, sunyata, Four Noble Truths, etc. Be critical, be aware, be yourself.
Remember to become a friend of both PHI 2070 and Bourbaki!
______
By the way, this is the book by Paul Lafargue (Marx's son-in-law) that I mentioned in class (yes, right to laziness, why don't we think more of these things today?).
For your comment this week, please, go to miami bourbaki. You can comment on my manifesto (which I have fleshed out a bit) or in the "Forked paths" post. Take any of the Buddhist topics discussed in class: dukkha, tanha, sunyata, Four Noble Truths, etc. Be critical, be aware, be yourself.
Remember to become a friend of both PHI 2070 and Bourbaki!
______
By the way, this is the book by Paul Lafargue (Marx's son-in-law) that I mentioned in class (yes, right to laziness, why don't we think more of these things today?).
Dhammapada
(Pali: "Words of Doctrine," or "Way of Truth"), probably the best-known book in the Pali Buddhist canon and the most quoted in other Buddhist writings. It is an anthology of basic Buddhist teachings (primarily ethical teachings) in a simple aphoristic style. The Dhammapada contains 423 stanzas arranged in 26 chapters. It also appears in somewhat different versions in Prakrit, Sanskrit, and Chinese, and there are translations in other languages. More than half the verses are excerpted from other canonical texts and include many of the most famous Buddhist sayings; others come from the storehouse of pithy sayings drawn upon by much of Indian literature.The book is popular in Buddhist countries of both Theravada and Mahayana traditions. In Sri Lanka it has been used for centuries as a manual for novices, and it is said that every monk can recite it from memory.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Buddhism (1)
Buddha based his entire teaching on the fact of human suffering.* Existence is painful. The conditions that make an individual are precisely those that also give rise to suffering. Individuality implies limitation; limitation gives rise to desire; and desire (tanha)** causes suffering -since what is desired is transitory, changing, and perishing. It is the impermanence of the object of craving that causes disappointment and sorrow (cause/effect: one suffers because one desires).
I'd like to spin this idea of desire with the idea of EROS as an embodied striving for well-being that connects us with things, animals and people, which situates us in the world with others. EROS is the fundamental energy by which we relate to all that is. SIN might be seen as human desire gone astray, a corruption of the basic potency for relation. SIN is a "desire" in the form of a will-to-control that aspires to secure itself by mastering all around it. Ridden with anxiety about its own lack of control, it reduces what is other to the self, placing a stranglehold on all that is not-I in order to guarantee absolutely its own self-perpetuation. By effectively closing itself off from the other, a genuine relation is negated in a posture of solipsism. Augustine referred to this selfish attachment "cupiditas," a need-based form of desire that seeks its own satisfaction above all else and therein refuses its genuine relation to creation and the Creator.
2- By following the "path" taught by the Buddha, the individual can dispel the "ignorance" that perpetuates this suffering. 3- Reality, whether of external things or the psycho-physical totality of human individuals, consists in a succession and concatenation of microseconds called dhammas. 4- Moreover, contrary to the theories of the Upanishads, the Buddha did not want to assume the existence of the soul as a metaphysical substance. Life is a stream of becoming, a series of manifestations and extinctions. The individual ego is a delusion; the objects with which people identify themselves -fortune, social position, family, body, and even mind-are not their true selves. Nothing is permanent.
______
*Suffering in this context is equivalent to disquietude. The mind is in a state of restless anxiety. Tahna (as mental state) is a vicious cycle (if one's desires are fulfilled it will, of itself, lead to one's lasting happiness or well-being). Such beliefs normally result in further craving/desire and the repeated enactment of activities to bring about the desired results. **I want to explore this idea of desire in the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze: "There is only desire and the social, and nothing else". What does it mean? 1- I can think of desire negatively, as striving to achieve what I do not have. 2- Alternatively, desire can be thought of affirmatively. It is not that "I" have desires; it is from desire that an "I" become. Desire will be nothing more than the development, production or assertion of what "I" will be or can become. So, Deleuze problematizes the idea of desire, as the affirmation or production of difference.
Confucius the pedagogue
Confucius was born in the small feudal state of Lu (noted for its preservation of the traditions of ritual and music of the Chou civilization). 1- Confucius' ancestors were probably members of the aristocracy who had become virtual poverty-stricken commoners by the time of his birth. His father died when Confucius was only three years old. Instructed first by his mother, Confucius then distinguished himself as an indefatigable learner in his teens. 2- Confucius had served in minor government posts before he married a woman of similar background when he was 19. It is not known who Confucius' teachers were, but he made a conscientious effort to find the right masters to teach him, among other things, ritual and music. Confucius' mastery of the six arts-ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and arithmetic- and his familiarity with the classical traditions, notably poetry and history, enabled him to start a brilliant teaching career in his 30s. 3- Confucius is known as the first teacher in China who wanted to make education available to all men and who was instrumental in establishing the art of teaching as a vocation, indeed as a way of life. Before Confucius, aristocratic families had hired tutors to educate their sons in specific arts, and government officials had instructed their subordinates in the necessary techniques, but he was the first person to devote his whole life to learning and teaching for the purpose of transforming and improving society. He believed that all human beings could benefit from self-cultivation. He inaugurated a humanities program for potential leaders, opened the doors of education to all, and defined learning not merely as the acquisition of knowledge but also as character building. 4- For Confucius the primary function of education was to provide the proper way of training noblemen (chün-tzu), a process that involved constant self-improvement and continuous social interaction. Although he emphatically noted that learning was "for the sake of the self" (the end of which was self-knowledge and self-realization), he found public service a natural consequence of true education. In his late 40s and early 50s Confucius served first as a magistrate, then as an assistant minister of public works, and eventually as minister of justice in the state of Lu. It is likely that he accompanied King Lu as his chief minister on one of the diplomatic missions. Confucius' political career was, however, short-lived. His loyalty to the King alienated him from the power holders of the time, the large Chi families, and his moral rectitude did not sit well with the King's inner circle, which enraptured the King with sensuous delight. At 56, when he realized that his superiors were uninterested in his policies, Confucius left the country in an attempt to find another feudal state to which he could render his service. Despite his political frustration he was accompanied by an expanding circle of students during this self-imposed exile of almost 12 years. His reputation as a man of vision and mission spread. Confucius was perceived as the heroic conscience who knew realistically that he might not succeed but, fired by a righteous passion, continuously did the best he could. At the age of 67 he returned home to teach and to preserve his cherished classical traditions by writing and editing. He died in 479 BC at the age of 73. According to the Records of the Historian 72 of his students mastered the "six arts," and those who claimed to be his followers numbered 3,000.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Teachings of Sri Aurobindo
There is a basic human aspiration for the good life: Freedom (as inner peace), The Spiritual (a realm of good purpose and contentment) and becoming ONE. One can become ONE, God (by overcoming adviya).
First, let's take a look at Aurobindo's general idea of planes of existence.
Nature evolves by contradiction (see dialectics). The apparent chaos of reality brings Aurobindo's idea of Harmony (sort of the kensho of Zen Buddhism)
Harmony means a deliberate decision not to fall for adviya in a given situation. Let's take world hunger, for example. The problem of food shortage in the world is not so much due to lack of food, but lack of policies and agreements in the production and distribution of food, as well as means to develop the Third World. A higher harmony takes all the parties to move beyond ego and self-concern to solve "the problem" (Is it Capitalism?). The question makes sense, but how to approach it from the position of the individual?
The greater the disparateness, the greater the opportunity for change.Aurobindo analyzes the limits of science: 1- science is fixed in the material view of reality, 2- science does not perceive the subtle forces of life based on the vital, mental, and spiritual dimension of life, thus 3- science sees only part of the truth, not the whole of the phenomenon ("the spiritual").
Aurobindo thinks that science becomes irrational by denying other planes of life. Not so, it's not the province of science to establish something beyond its province. On the other hand, Aurobindo is right that we tend to see too linearly, preventing ourselves the acquisition of more integral forms of knowledge (what I'd call broadening our symbolic insights).
For Aurobindo, both materialism and Hindu asceticism miss the point. One negates the spiritual, the other the material. Here Aurobindo comes up with the idea of Cosmic Consciousness.
Perceiving the ONENESS: For Aurobindo, matter is a form of spirit, the body of spirit. So, matter is spirit. (There is a similarity between Aurobindo and Hegel here, though there are important differences as well).
Perceiving ONENESS means seeing differently. Also "willing" a different outlook at things. Not falling for the tamas of thought. It means embracing ALL. ACCEPT ALL. It doesn't mean falling for anomie. By understanding FACTicity (the existentialists gave up and called it absurd). One learns UNDERSTAND and respect FACTicity.
This needs to be explained in more detailed with Aurobindo's Metaphysics.
Swami Vivekananda
Religion is realization; not talk, not doctrine, nor theories, however beautiful they may be. It is being and becoming, not hearing or acknowledging; it is the whole soul becoming changed into what it believes.-- Aphorisms.
They alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive. This is the gist of all worship – to be pure and to do good to others.-- Aphorisms.
Thus we find that Maya is not a theory for the explanation of the world; it is simply a statement of facts as they exist, that the very basis of our being is contradiction, that everywhere we have to move through this tremendous contradiction, that wherever there is good, there must also be evil, and wherever there is evil, there must be some good, wherever there is life, death must follow as its shadow, and everyone who smiles will have to weep, and vice versa. Nor can this state of things be remedied. We may verily imagine that there will be a place where there will be only good and no evil, where we shall only smile and never weep. This is impossible in the very nature of things; for the conditions will remain the same. Wherever there is the power of producing a smile in us, there lurks the power of producing tears. Wherever there is the power of producing happiness, there lurks somewhere the power of making us miserable.-- Maya and Illusion, Vol. II, Complete Works of S.V.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Notes on Buddhism
Julie Mehretu, Black City, 2006.
... l'homme n'est pas ce qu'il est, il est ce qu'il n'est pas.-- Jean Paul Sartre
Buddhism is a spiritual movement founded by Siddhartha Gautama in India in the 6th century BC and became the first multicultural spiritual tradition in the higher civilization of the Eurasian world. Buddhism lasted in India for some 1500 years, until it disappeared from India as that country became progressively dominated by Islam. Buddhism moved then to Ceylon, China (first century AD), Korea (fourth century AD), and Japan (sixth century AD); eastward into Burma, Thailand (third century AD), Cambodia (fourth century AD), Indonesia (third century AD) and the other countries of southeastern Asia with the exception of the Philippines. It became the dominant spiritual movement in Tibet (eight century AD), and Mongolia (thirteen century AD).
The teaching of Buddha was handed down to succeeding generations in the form of a threefold refuge: the Buddha, the teaching and the community. These are three aspects of the Buddha reality. 1- The teaching itself is a form of Buddha presence. The teaching is supreme insofar as it is in virtue of the teaching that a person is guided to experience the saving illumination concerning the nature of sorrow and the way to release from sorrow. 2- The community has a certain priority since it carries and sustain the entire Buddhist tradition. 3- The doctrine would have had no inner development or preservation or propagation except through the community. Yet supreme over everything is the Buddha reality.
The Message
Buddha's teaching was transmitted orally to his disciples. It consists of the theory, the path and the sangha. The core of the theory is the concept of human suffering and the possibility of emancipation. Individuality implies limitation, desire causes suffering since what is desired is transitory, changing and perishing.
Reality
Reality is composed of dharmas (components) or a succession of microseconds of existence. Buddha departed from the teachings of must Hinduism by not having a precise eschatology (a theory of final things). Life is a stream, a river, of manifestations and extinctions. There's nothing permanent and thereby no fixed self. To make clear this concept Buddhism puts forward the theory of five constituents 1- rupa or corporeality or physical form, 2- feelings or sensations (vedana), 3- ideations (sanna), 40 mental formations or dispositions (sankhara), and consciousness (vinana). Human existence is only a composite of these aggregates.
Karma
Buddhists accept the notion of karma, however, this presented a problem with their notion of no-self. How could one prove that one can reincarnate with a no self, i.e. with no permanent subject? Some scholars have considered this to be unsolvable. The relations between existences has been compared to the analogy of fire, which maintains itself unchanged in appearance and yet is very different in every moment. A sort of ever changing identity.
The Four Noble Truths
There are four noble truths. 1-The truth of sorrow, 2-the truth that sorrow originates within us from the craving of pleasure, 3-the truth that this craving can be eliminated and 4-the truth that a methodical path must be followed to obtain this goal. Otherwise human beings would remain indefinitely in samsara.
The Eightfold Path
Hence Buddha formulated the law of dependent origination or paticca-samuppada) whereby one condition arises out of another, which in turn arises out of prior conditions. Given the awareness of this law, the question arises as to how one may escape the continually renewed cycle of births, suffering and death. There must be a purification that leads to overcoming this process. Such a liberating purification is effected by following the Noble Eightfold Path constituted by 1-the right views, 2-the right aspiration, 3-the right speech, 4-the right conduct, 5-the right livelihood, 6-the right effort, 7-the right mindfulness and 8-the right meditational attainment.
Nirvana
The aim is to be rid of the delusion of the ego, freeing oneself from the fetters of this mundane world. One who succeeds has achieved enlightenment. The term is nirvana translated as dying out. But nirvana is not extinction. And Buddha repudiated this. Buddhists search for salvation, not annihilation. Although nirvana is often presented as negative, it can be seen as the ultimate goal for salvation in Buddhism.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
List of terms for our test next Thursday (Vedanta, Jaina & Yoga)
EARLY VEDANTA
Atman/Brahman: The two-in-one idea of the universal Self. As a monad, it’s the real immortal soul of human beings. Atman is hidden deep, but it can be known by discipline and meditation.
Brahman: An essence without attributes, or beyond attributes: The Universal principle of selfhood.
Brahma: God as creator, one of the trinity in Hinduism, the other two Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer.
Bhakti: Devotion, worship, love.
Maya: Illusion, what we take for “reality” but it’s not. It’s similar to Plato’s “forms.”
Avidya: Ignorance: that is, the path of evil and alienation from true selfhood.
Moksha: The final liberation and release from all worldly bonds. Moksha is the highest of the four human goals: artha (wealth), kama (pleasure) and dharma (duty)
Dharma: (skt: “carrying, holding”): That which determines a true essence. Righteousness; the basis of human morality; the lawful order of the universe and the foundation of all religions. Dharma is inseparable from one’s karma since dharma can be realized only to one’s karmic situation.
Karma: (skt: “deed”) 1- A mental or physical action, 2- The consequence of a mental or physical action, 3-The sum of all consequences of an individual in this or in previous life. Each karma is created by each person’s samskara (or impressions= mental formations forces)
Jñana: Wisdom, higher knowledge.
OM: The cosmic sound, heard in deep meditation; Holy word taught in the Upanishads.
Samsara: The constant and endless cycle of life and death.
Yajna: Sacrifice
JAINA
Karman: Bits of material, generated by the person's actions, that bind themselves to the life-monad or soul through many births. This has the effect of thwarting the full realization and freedom of the soul.
Kalpa: A world cycle. A period of time comprising 4,320,000 yrs. Pali-kappa is an endlessly long period of time. The metaphor is that of a piece of silk rubbed one on a solid piece of rock one cubic mile in size every 1000 yrs. When this wears the rock away, a kalpa has passed.
Jiva: “One who lives in the body,” a mortal being. The embodied self, which identifies with the mind as ego. It creates the notions of duality and causality and thereby becomes bound to the cycle of birth and death. It has been defined as a life-monad.
Ajiva: Non-soul, inanimate substance. Ajiva is divided in two categories: non-sentient (i.e. a feeling being) material and non-sentient and non-material.
Kevala: State of omniscience. Kevala is necessarily accompanied by freedom from karmic obstruction by direct experience of the soul's pure form, unblemished by its attachment of matter.
Ratnatraya: The basis of Jaina ethics. It comprises 1- the right knowledge, 2- right faith and 3- right conduct. They must be cultivated at once. Right faith leads to calmness and tranquility, but right faith leads to perfection only when followed by right conduct. Knowledge without faith and conduct is futile. Right conduct is spontaneous, not a forced mechanical quality. Attainment of right conduct is a gradual process. The process to achieve this is ahimsa.
Ahimsa: Skt (non-harming) Jaina doctrine of non-violence. Since thought gives rise to action, non-violence of thought is more important than non-violence of action. It is also one of the five virtues in Raja-Yoga.
YOGA
Pakriti: The matter-principle, uncaused cause.
Purusha: The supreme self.
Dukkha: Sorrow or basic condition of existence because of the essential nature of the
unrealized man.
Gunas: the primary qualities of Nature. They are three in number:
Sattvas: The goodness in matter, that which can be realized only through the knowledge of the enlightened subject. Tamas: The opacity, the dark quality of matter, its propensity to destruction. Rajas: The tension, dynamic force behind matter.
Yama: Restraint, the fixing of the path, to curb, to bridle.
Niyama: Spiritual discipline.
Asana: Posture.
Pranayama: Controlled breathing.
Pratyahara: Abstraction of the senses.
Dharana: (One-point concentration) or total stillness.
Dhyana: Sustained attention, chan, jhana, or zen; the eightfold path of self- absorption.
Samadhi: Simple and total overtaking of the mind by the cosmic mind.
Atman/Brahman: The two-in-one idea of the universal Self. As a monad, it’s the real immortal soul of human beings. Atman is hidden deep, but it can be known by discipline and meditation.
Brahman: An essence without attributes, or beyond attributes: The Universal principle of selfhood.
Brahma: God as creator, one of the trinity in Hinduism, the other two Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer.
Bhakti: Devotion, worship, love.
Maya: Illusion, what we take for “reality” but it’s not. It’s similar to Plato’s “forms.”
Avidya: Ignorance: that is, the path of evil and alienation from true selfhood.
Moksha: The final liberation and release from all worldly bonds. Moksha is the highest of the four human goals: artha (wealth), kama (pleasure) and dharma (duty)
Dharma: (skt: “carrying, holding”): That which determines a true essence. Righteousness; the basis of human morality; the lawful order of the universe and the foundation of all religions. Dharma is inseparable from one’s karma since dharma can be realized only to one’s karmic situation.
Karma: (skt: “deed”) 1- A mental or physical action, 2- The consequence of a mental or physical action, 3-The sum of all consequences of an individual in this or in previous life. Each karma is created by each person’s samskara (or impressions= mental formations forces)
Jñana: Wisdom, higher knowledge.
OM: The cosmic sound, heard in deep meditation; Holy word taught in the Upanishads.
Samsara: The constant and endless cycle of life and death.
Yajna: Sacrifice
JAINA
Karman: Bits of material, generated by the person's actions, that bind themselves to the life-monad or soul through many births. This has the effect of thwarting the full realization and freedom of the soul.
Kalpa: A world cycle. A period of time comprising 4,320,000 yrs. Pali-kappa is an endlessly long period of time. The metaphor is that of a piece of silk rubbed one on a solid piece of rock one cubic mile in size every 1000 yrs. When this wears the rock away, a kalpa has passed.
Jiva: “One who lives in the body,” a mortal being. The embodied self, which identifies with the mind as ego. It creates the notions of duality and causality and thereby becomes bound to the cycle of birth and death. It has been defined as a life-monad.
Ajiva: Non-soul, inanimate substance. Ajiva is divided in two categories: non-sentient (i.e. a feeling being) material and non-sentient and non-material.
Kevala: State of omniscience. Kevala is necessarily accompanied by freedom from karmic obstruction by direct experience of the soul's pure form, unblemished by its attachment of matter.
Ratnatraya: The basis of Jaina ethics. It comprises 1- the right knowledge, 2- right faith and 3- right conduct. They must be cultivated at once. Right faith leads to calmness and tranquility, but right faith leads to perfection only when followed by right conduct. Knowledge without faith and conduct is futile. Right conduct is spontaneous, not a forced mechanical quality. Attainment of right conduct is a gradual process. The process to achieve this is ahimsa.
Ahimsa: Skt (non-harming) Jaina doctrine of non-violence. Since thought gives rise to action, non-violence of thought is more important than non-violence of action. It is also one of the five virtues in Raja-Yoga.
YOGA
Pakriti: The matter-principle, uncaused cause.
Purusha: The supreme self.
Dukkha: Sorrow or basic condition of existence because of the essential nature of the
unrealized man.
Gunas: the primary qualities of Nature. They are three in number:
Sattvas: The goodness in matter, that which can be realized only through the knowledge of the enlightened subject. Tamas: The opacity, the dark quality of matter, its propensity to destruction. Rajas: The tension, dynamic force behind matter.
Yama: Restraint, the fixing of the path, to curb, to bridle.
Niyama: Spiritual discipline.
Asana: Posture.
Pranayama: Controlled breathing.
Pratyahara: Abstraction of the senses.
Dharana: (One-point concentration) or total stillness.
Dhyana: Sustained attention, chan, jhana, or zen; the eightfold path of self- absorption.
Samadhi: Simple and total overtaking of the mind by the cosmic mind.
Ramakrishna & Vivekananda
On the Ramakrishna Mission (click Ramakrishna on the left-hand side, the link takes you to Ramakrishna's Gospel). Yet another link for Vivekananda, Ramakrishna's main disciple.
For the complete works of Swami Vivekananda, here.
Vivekananda was a known Hindu poet (Here is a small selection).
list of terms for midterm exam (fall 2016)
Hinduism Vedanta / Upanishads/ Gita
Atman/Brahman: The two-in-one idea of the universal Self. As a monad, it’s the real immortal soul of human beings. Atman is hidden deep, but it can be known by discipline and meditation.
Brahman: An essence without attributes, or beyond attributes: The Universal principle of selfhood.
Brahma: God as creator, one of the trimurti in Hinduism, the other two: Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer.
Bhakti: Devotion, worship, love. Bhakti is the love felt by the worshiper towards the personal God.
Maya: Illusion, what we take for “reality” but it’s not. Similar to Plato’s “forms.”
Avidya: Ignorance: that is, the path of evil and alienation from true self-hood.
Moksha: The final liberation and release from all worldly bonds. Moksha is the highest of the four human goals: artha (wealth), kama (pleasure) and dharma (duty).
Dharma: (skt: “carrying, holding”): That which determines a true essence. Duty. Righteousness. The basis of human morality; the lawful order of the universe and the foundation of all religions. Dharma is inseparable from one’s karma since dharma can be realized only to one’s karmic situation.
Karma: (skt: “deed”) 1- A mental or physical action, 2- The consequence of a mental or physical action, 3-The sum of all consequences of an individual in this or in previous life. Each karma is created by each person’s samskara (or impressions= mental formations forces)
Jnana: Wisdom, higher knowledge.
OM: The cosmic sound, heard in deep meditation; Holy word taught in the Upanishads.
Samsara: The constant and endless cycle of life and death.
Yajna: Sacrifice. In the Gita it means an economy beyond the calculus of exchange. Action for the sake of the action.
Jaina Philosophy / Niyamsara
Karman: Bits of material, generated by the person’s actions, that bind themselves to the life-monad or soul through many births. This has the effect of thwarting the full realization and freedom of the soul.
Kalpa: A world cycle. A period of time comprising 4,320,000 yrs. Pali-kappa is an endlessly long period of time. The metaphor is that of a piece of silk rubbed one on a solid piece of rock one cubic mile in size every 1000 yrs. When this wears the rock away, a kalpa has passed.
Jiva: “One who lives in the body,” a mortal being. The embodied self, which identifies with the mind as ego. It creates the notions of duality and causality and thereby becomes bound to the cycle of birth and death. It has been defined as a life-monad.
Ajiva: non-soul, inanimate substance. Ajiva is divided in two categories: non-sentient (i.e. a feeling being) material and non-sentient and non-material.
Moksha: liberation from Samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth.
Kevala: state of omniscience. Kevala is necessarily accompanied by freedom from karmic obstruction by direct experience of the soul’s pure form, unblemished by its attachment of matter.
Ratnatraya: The basis of Jaina ethics. It comprises the 1- right knowledge, 2- right faith and 3- right conduct. They must be cultivated at once. Right faith leads to calmness and tranquility, but right faith leads to perfection only when followed by right conduct. Knowledge without faith and conduct is futile. Right conduct is (becomes) spontaneous, not a forced mechanical quality. Attainment of right conduct is a gradual process. The process to achieve this is ahimsa.
Ahimsa: Skt (non-harming) Jaina doctrine of non-violence. Since thought gives rise to action, non-violence of thought is more important than non-violence of action. It is also one of the five virtues in Raja-Yoga.
Pudgala: It refers to the different aspects of reality that cause the world we live in. It includes jiva & ajiva
Yoga Philosophy / Patanjali Sutras
Pakriti: The matter-principle, uncaused cause.
Purusha: The supreme self.
Dukkha: Sorrow or basic condition of existence because of the essential nature of the
unrealized man.
Gunas: (or qualities of pakriti). They comprise: 1- Rajas: The tension, dynamic force behind matter.
2- Sattvas: The goodness in matter, that which can be realized only through the knowledge of the enlightened subject. 3- Tamas: The opacity, the dark quality of matter, its propensity to destruction.
Yama: Restraint, the fixing of the path, to curb, to bridle.
Niyama: Spiritual discipline. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a set of prescribed actions comprising observances, requirements & obligations.
Asana: Posture associated with the practice of yoga. Usually seated in the lotus position.
Pranayama: "prana" or life force, and "ayama" to draw out. Controlled breathing in yoga.
Pratyahara: withdrawal from the senses. At this stage of supra consciousness the sensations from the senses become quiet.
Dharana: (One-point concentration) or total stillness of the mind.
Dhyana: Sustained attention, chan, jhana, or zen; the eightfold path of self- absorption.
Samadhi: Simple and total overtaking of the mind by the cosmic mind.
Atman/Brahman: The two-in-one idea of the universal Self. As a monad, it’s the real immortal soul of human beings. Atman is hidden deep, but it can be known by discipline and meditation.
Brahman: An essence without attributes, or beyond attributes: The Universal principle of selfhood.
Brahma: God as creator, one of the trimurti in Hinduism, the other two: Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer.
Bhakti: Devotion, worship, love. Bhakti is the love felt by the worshiper towards the personal God.
Maya: Illusion, what we take for “reality” but it’s not. Similar to Plato’s “forms.”
Avidya: Ignorance: that is, the path of evil and alienation from true self-hood.
Moksha: The final liberation and release from all worldly bonds. Moksha is the highest of the four human goals: artha (wealth), kama (pleasure) and dharma (duty).
Dharma: (skt: “carrying, holding”): That which determines a true essence. Duty. Righteousness. The basis of human morality; the lawful order of the universe and the foundation of all religions. Dharma is inseparable from one’s karma since dharma can be realized only to one’s karmic situation.
Karma: (skt: “deed”) 1- A mental or physical action, 2- The consequence of a mental or physical action, 3-The sum of all consequences of an individual in this or in previous life. Each karma is created by each person’s samskara (or impressions= mental formations forces)
Jnana: Wisdom, higher knowledge.
OM: The cosmic sound, heard in deep meditation; Holy word taught in the Upanishads.
Samsara: The constant and endless cycle of life and death.
Yajna: Sacrifice. In the Gita it means an economy beyond the calculus of exchange. Action for the sake of the action.
Jaina Philosophy / Niyamsara
Karman: Bits of material, generated by the person’s actions, that bind themselves to the life-monad or soul through many births. This has the effect of thwarting the full realization and freedom of the soul.
Kalpa: A world cycle. A period of time comprising 4,320,000 yrs. Pali-kappa is an endlessly long period of time. The metaphor is that of a piece of silk rubbed one on a solid piece of rock one cubic mile in size every 1000 yrs. When this wears the rock away, a kalpa has passed.
Jiva: “One who lives in the body,” a mortal being. The embodied self, which identifies with the mind as ego. It creates the notions of duality and causality and thereby becomes bound to the cycle of birth and death. It has been defined as a life-monad.
Ajiva: non-soul, inanimate substance. Ajiva is divided in two categories: non-sentient (i.e. a feeling being) material and non-sentient and non-material.
Moksha: liberation from Samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth.
Kevala: state of omniscience. Kevala is necessarily accompanied by freedom from karmic obstruction by direct experience of the soul’s pure form, unblemished by its attachment of matter.
Ratnatraya: The basis of Jaina ethics. It comprises the 1- right knowledge, 2- right faith and 3- right conduct. They must be cultivated at once. Right faith leads to calmness and tranquility, but right faith leads to perfection only when followed by right conduct. Knowledge without faith and conduct is futile. Right conduct is (becomes) spontaneous, not a forced mechanical quality. Attainment of right conduct is a gradual process. The process to achieve this is ahimsa.
Ahimsa: Skt (non-harming) Jaina doctrine of non-violence. Since thought gives rise to action, non-violence of thought is more important than non-violence of action. It is also one of the five virtues in Raja-Yoga.
Pudgala: It refers to the different aspects of reality that cause the world we live in. It includes jiva & ajiva
Yoga Philosophy / Patanjali Sutras
Pakriti: The matter-principle, uncaused cause.
Purusha: The supreme self.
Dukkha: Sorrow or basic condition of existence because of the essential nature of the
unrealized man.
Gunas: (or qualities of pakriti). They comprise: 1- Rajas: The tension, dynamic force behind matter.
2- Sattvas: The goodness in matter, that which can be realized only through the knowledge of the enlightened subject. 3- Tamas: The opacity, the dark quality of matter, its propensity to destruction.
Yama: Restraint, the fixing of the path, to curb, to bridle.
Niyama: Spiritual discipline. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a set of prescribed actions comprising observances, requirements & obligations.
Asana: Posture associated with the practice of yoga. Usually seated in the lotus position.
Pranayama: "prana" or life force, and "ayama" to draw out. Controlled breathing in yoga.
Pratyahara: withdrawal from the senses. At this stage of supra consciousness the sensations from the senses become quiet.
Dharana: (One-point concentration) or total stillness of the mind.
Dhyana: Sustained attention, chan, jhana, or zen; the eightfold path of self- absorption.
Samadhi: Simple and total overtaking of the mind by the cosmic mind.
Stoic cosmogony (Epictetus)
I've found a good site with Epictetus' Discourses. Check it out.
For a better choice, I recommend this one.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Your turn #2
Please, become a friend of miami bourbaki. Yes, it's my personal site and sort of a higher forum for discussion. Be who you are, be argumentative, be yourself.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Yoga terms
Buddhi/cittam: Thought faculty, still within the mind.
Kaivalya: The ultimate state of perfection in Yoga.
Pakriti: The matter-principle, uncaused cause.
Purusha: The supreme self.
Dukkha: Sorrow or basic condition of existence because of the essential nature of the unrealized man.
Gunas: The qualities of pakriti.
Sattvas: The goodness in matter, which can be realized only through the knowledge of the enlightened subject.
Tamas: The opacity, the dark quality of matter, its propensity to destruction.
Raja: The tension, dynamic force behind matter.
Kevala: Life-monad for Jaina and Yoga.
Mahat: The Great One, or what emerges from pakriti.
Mana: The lower mind, the third in the cycle from Mahat.
Yama: Restraint, the fixing of the path, to curb, to bridle.
Niyama: Spiritual discipline.
Asana: Posture.
Pranayama: Controlled breathing.
Pratyahara: Abstraction of the senses.
Dharana: (One-point concentration) or total stillness.
Dhyana: Sustained attention, chan, jhana, or zen; the eightfold path of self- absorption.
Samadhi: Simple and total overtaking of the mind by the cosmic mind.
Kaivalya: The ultimate state of perfection in Yoga.
Pakriti: The matter-principle, uncaused cause.
Purusha: The supreme self.
Dukkha: Sorrow or basic condition of existence because of the essential nature of the unrealized man.
Gunas: The qualities of pakriti.
Sattvas: The goodness in matter, which can be realized only through the knowledge of the enlightened subject.
Tamas: The opacity, the dark quality of matter, its propensity to destruction.
Raja: The tension, dynamic force behind matter.
Kevala: Life-monad for Jaina and Yoga.
Mahat: The Great One, or what emerges from pakriti.
Mana: The lower mind, the third in the cycle from Mahat.
Yama: Restraint, the fixing of the path, to curb, to bridle.
Niyama: Spiritual discipline.
Asana: Posture.
Pranayama: Controlled breathing.
Pratyahara: Abstraction of the senses.
Dharana: (One-point concentration) or total stillness.
Dhyana: Sustained attention, chan, jhana, or zen; the eightfold path of self- absorption.
Samadhi: Simple and total overtaking of the mind by the cosmic mind.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Gandhi's logic of ahimsa
* ... a steady progress with discipline.
Discipline is auspicious, we get more from it which gives us -more- reasons to go on.
* The power of the satyagrahi is greater than if he were violent.
We're taking violence in the subjunctive, the necessity of what doesn't occur. Think of my power vis-a-vis an ant's power. Or the sublated possibility of a miracle, one that doesn't need to happen because if it did, it would destroy the very possibility of being itself. "The miracle it happens before it happens."
* There is no defeat in a-himsa.
Not a put on, one would be defeated if the motive was wrong. Defeat begins when we give up our principles.
* In a-himsa the bravery consists in dying, not in killing.
A problematic one, because if one dies the bravery seems empty. There is another angle, "bravery" needs to be seen as a balanced, proportioned, response. And yes, sometimes people die without killing, particularly if "killing" means transgressing one's threshold.
* The satyagrahi should never have any hatred toward his opponent... must be prepared to suffer until the end.
In Hinduism, hatred is toxic, it achieves nothing. Does hate make me understand love? Yes. But there is a limit to hate. This suffering needs to be justified. It must be suffering for the right reasons.
* ...truth never himsa a cause that is just.
If it does, the cause if unjust.
* A satyagrahi is never vindictive. He believes not in destruction but in conversion.
Vindictiveness is worse than hate.
* A-himsa presupposes the ability to strike.
Here there is the presupposition, to strike presupposes the option of not-striking. Better, ahimsa means striking in a different way. A non-violent strike, the symbolic strike of not striking.
* ...injustice must be resisted. A-himsa is better, but where is does not come naturally himsa is both necessary and honorable.
* So long as one retains one's sword, one has not attain complete fearlessness.
My favorite one. Gandhi presents the carrying of the sword as a condition of fear. On the other hand, Aristotle would disagree with Gandhi that fearlessness is something worth pursuing. It would not be balanced.
* A-himsa is impossible without self-purification.
* A weak man is just by accident. A strong satyagrahi is unjust by accident.
* A satyagrahi is dead to his body even before his enemy attempts to kill him, i.e. he is free from attachment to his body and only lives in the victory of his soul.
Discipline is auspicious, we get more from it which gives us -more- reasons to go on.
* The power of the satyagrahi is greater than if he were violent.
We're taking violence in the subjunctive, the necessity of what doesn't occur. Think of my power vis-a-vis an ant's power. Or the sublated possibility of a miracle, one that doesn't need to happen because if it did, it would destroy the very possibility of being itself. "The miracle it happens before it happens."
* There is no defeat in a-himsa.
Not a put on, one would be defeated if the motive was wrong. Defeat begins when we give up our principles.
* In a-himsa the bravery consists in dying, not in killing.
A problematic one, because if one dies the bravery seems empty. There is another angle, "bravery" needs to be seen as a balanced, proportioned, response. And yes, sometimes people die without killing, particularly if "killing" means transgressing one's threshold.
* The satyagrahi should never have any hatred toward his opponent... must be prepared to suffer until the end.
In Hinduism, hatred is toxic, it achieves nothing. Does hate make me understand love? Yes. But there is a limit to hate. This suffering needs to be justified. It must be suffering for the right reasons.
* ...truth never himsa a cause that is just.
If it does, the cause if unjust.
* A satyagrahi is never vindictive. He believes not in destruction but in conversion.
Vindictiveness is worse than hate.
* A-himsa presupposes the ability to strike.
Here there is the presupposition, to strike presupposes the option of not-striking. Better, ahimsa means striking in a different way. A non-violent strike, the symbolic strike of not striking.
* ...injustice must be resisted. A-himsa is better, but where is does not come naturally himsa is both necessary and honorable.
* So long as one retains one's sword, one has not attain complete fearlessness.
My favorite one. Gandhi presents the carrying of the sword as a condition of fear. On the other hand, Aristotle would disagree with Gandhi that fearlessness is something worth pursuing. It would not be balanced.
* A-himsa is impossible without self-purification.
* A weak man is just by accident. A strong satyagrahi is unjust by accident.
* A satyagrahi is dead to his body even before his enemy attempts to kill him, i.e. he is free from attachment to his body and only lives in the victory of his soul.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Become a friend of 2070
By the way, it would be a good idea to become a follower of this site. Please, sign in! Be a friend!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Your turn #1
Below, Kafka's "Prometheus" and a bit of my reference to spirituality* as "the inexplicable." I didn't want any talk about mystery in the traditional sense. We're trying to pay close attention here to metaphors. I go by the verse of Carvaka:
Springing forth from these elements itselfWe have a better grasp of the Upanishads and some of its main ideas: Brahman, atman, moksha, karma, samsara, avidya. Let's try to see the big picture. All this is pointing to a path of liberation from samsara: MOKSHA. I liked the flavor of ONENESS as doing for others, as seeing ourselves in others. What I termed social activism.
solid knowledge is destroyed
when they are destroyed—
after death no intelligence remains.**
What's our duty to others?
If he who departs from the body goes to another world,Which brings the discussion of karma back to the table. As Jose suggested, Karma seems like double edge sword (it needs to be further discussed).
how is it that he come not back again, restless for love of his kindred?***
We talked in passing of meditation as separating time/space that is worthwhile. Let's try to seek peaceful, constructive, hopeful thoughts (remember, hope should not be blind).
Let's not fall ever for what I call thetic happiness!! Mildly, detachedly, happy; a deceiving sign. As I suggested in class, suffering has a -too- bad a reputation.
I'm sure there is more, but this is the best I can do right now. Go ahead, say what you want, but say it meaningfully, sincerely (close to 100 words!).
______
*One can find solace in "the spiritual," a highly personal symbolic constellation, where all these metaphors we've been discussing bear fruit. ** Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha by Madhava Acharya, translated by E. B. Cowell and A. E. Gough. (Paul Kegan: London, 1914). *** Patanjali Sutras.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Vedas
The Vedas is the product of the Aryan invaders of the Indian subcontinent and their descendants, although the original inhabitants (disdainfully called dásyus, or "slaves," in the Veda) may very well have exerted an influence on the final product. The Veda represents the particular interests of two classes of Aryan society, the priests (Brahmans) and the warrior-kings (Ksatriyas), who together ruled over the far more numerous peasants (Vaishyas). Vedic literature ranges from the Rigveda (Rgveda; c. 1400 BC) to the Upanishads (c. 1000-500 BC). This literature provides the sole documentation for all Indian religion before Buddhism and the early texts of classical Hinduism.
2- The most important texts are the four collections (Samhitas) known as the Vedas (i.e., "Books of Knowledge"): the Rigveda ("Wisdom of the Verses"), the Yajurveda ("Wisdom of the Sacrificial Formulas"), the Samaveda ("Wisdom of the Chants"), and the Atharvaveda ("Wisdom of the Atharvan Priests"). Of these, the Rigveda is the oldest.
3- In the Vedic texts following these earliest compilations, the Brahmanas (discussions of the ritual), Aranyakas (books studied in the forest), and Upanishads (secret teachings concerning cosmic equations), the interest in the early Rigvedic gods wanes, and they become little more than accessories to the Vedic rite. Polytheism begins to be replaced by a sacrificial pantheism of Prajapati ("Lord of Creatures"), who is the All.
4- Deities: One of the principal Vedic deities was Indra, the god of war and thunder; nearly one quarter of the Vedic hymns are dedicated to him. Other key deities were Varuna, the sky god who maintains cosmic order and protects moral action; Mitra, the sun god who stimulates life and brings prosperity; Rudra, the god of violence, destruction, disease, and death; and Soma, the god of intoxicating juices consumed in ritual.