Robert Anton Wilson, R.I.P.

From Robert’s final blog post, dated 1/6/07:

Various medical authorities swarm in and out of here predicting I have between two days and two months to live. I think they are guessing. I remain cheerful and unimpressed. I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread. I love you all and I deeply implore you to keep the lasagna flying.

Please pardon my levity, I don’t see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd.

RAW

Now that’s going out in style, isn’t it?

From Al Barger’s obit:

He managed to turn all kinds of paranoia and conspiracy theories into great fun, kind of a Dr. Strangelove strategy of transubstantiating darkness into light. He was very conscious of wanting to carefully put the most optimistic interpretation of events that he could reasonably justify. You’d likely come away from a RAW book suspecting that there really is significant truth to a lot of even the cheesier conspiracy theories.

But Wilson was especially important as a “guerilla ontologist,” as he sometimes described himself, or as he listed himself last month in his official Blogger profile, “Occupation: Mind Fucker.” He was really good at illuminating the ways in which our primitive mammalian biology tends to limit and actively subvert our best higher, more rational intentions. Thus, he’s been very useful to me in sorting the wheat from the chaff in the pronouncements of alpha males both physical and spiritual – politicians and priests alike. His guerilla ontology of being baroquely skeptical of even — especially — his own epistemological ability is for one thing the most precise counterargument to the surety of Ayn Rand’s “objectivism.” It’s also a pretty sure prescription for basic humility.

[…]

Anyhow, Brother Bob has slipped this mortal coil. One might guess that Tim Leary greeted him with a dose, and they’re trippin’ like fat rats and bouncing off the stars.

His personal consciousness might not be here to continue enjoying it, but in his mortal time Robert Anton Wilson put his own distinct twist into the DNA of our collective intellect that will far outlive his weak fleshly body. He may be dead and gone, but he’ll probably always be one of the top voices I hear in my head.

I don’t have much more to add, except to say that, like many, I enjoyed Wilson’s Cosmic Trigger books, his Illuminatus Trilogy and the Schrodinger’s Cat Trilogy. What strikes me about his writing is that he’s thinking on a genius level, and this makes everything seem so absurd to him that he can’t stop laughing. He’s not laughing at us, however; he’s laughing at himself, watching himself skip along his path as if it was nothing but a cartoon. It’s this irreverence that appeals to so many of us, the way he reminds us not to take life so damned seriously, but to pay loving attention to the details.

He showed us how he did it, and encouraged us to find our own method.

I’m truly sorry that he’s left us, and my heart goes out to his family and friends.

On the other hand, I’m happy that he was able to die exactly as he lived, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, smiling all the way.

[Cross-posted at my other place….]

Renaissance Man

I went through a Teilhard de Chardin phase a few years ago, and just stumbled on some biographical information about this modern polymath that I thought may interest readers here:

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a visionary French Jesuit, paleontologist, biologist, and philosopher, who spent the bulk of his life trying to integrate religious experience with natural science, most specifically Christian theology with theories of evolution. In this endeavor he became absolutely enthralled with the possibilities for humankind, which he saw as heading for an exciting convergence of systems, an “Omega point” where the coalescence of consciousness will lead us to a new state of peace and planetary unity. Long before ecology was fashionable, he saw this unity he saw as being based intrinsically upon the spirit of the Earth:

“The Age of Nations is past. The task before us now, if we would not perish, is to build the Earth.”

Teilhard de Chardin passed away a full ten years before James Lovelock ever proposed the “Gaia Hypothesis” which suggests that the Earth is actually a living being, a collosal biological super-system. Yet Chardin’s writings clearly reflect the sense of the Earth as having its own autonomous personality, and being the prime center and director of our future — a strange attractor, if you will — that will be the guiding force for the synthesis of humankind.

“The phrase ‘Sense of the Earth’ should be understood to mean the passionate concern for our common destiny which draws the thinking part of life ever further onward. The only truly natural and real human unity is the spirit of the Earth. . . .The sense of Earth is the irresistable pressure which will come at the right moment to unite them (humankind) in a common passion.

“We have reached a crossroads in human evolution where the only road which leads forward is towards a common passion. . . To continue to place our hopes in a social order achieved by external violence would simply amount to our giving up all hope of carrying the Spirit of the Earth to its limits.”

To this end, he suggested that the Earth in its evolutionary unfolding, was growing a new organ of consciousness, called the noosphere. The noosphere is analogous on a planetary level to the evolution of the cerebral cortex in humans. The noosphere is a “planetary thinking network” — an interlinked system of consciousness and information, a global net of self-awareness, instantaneous feedback, and planetary communication. At the time of his writing, computers of any merit were the size of a city block, and the Internet was, if anything, an element of speculative science fiction. Yet this evolution is indeed coming to pass, and with a rapidity, that in Gaia time, is but a mere passage of seconds. In these precious moments, the planet is developing her cerebral cortex, and emerging into self-conscious awakening. We are indeed approaching the Omega point that Teilhard de Chardin was so excited about.

This convergence however, though it was predicted to occur through a global information network, was not a convergence of merely minds or bodies — but of heart, a point that he made most fervently.

“It is not our heads or our bodies which we must bring together, but our hearts. . . . Humanity. . . is building its composite brain beneath our eyes. May it not be that tomorrow, through the logical and biological deepening of the movement drawing it together, it will find its heart, without which the ultimate wholeness of its power of unification can never be achieved?”

One may wonder where all these spiritual giants have gone, and why have they seemingly abandoned us?

Truth is, the Pierre Teilhard de Chardins of the world left a legacy that we may either follow or ignore. The choice is up to us. We can’t keep expecting them to magically appear in order to hold our hands during difficult times.

Besides, if we look around, we can see that the giants have not completely died off.

If we look inside, we can see that such a thing is impossible.

The Lazy Person’s I Ching

I suppose it was only a matter of time before they came out with an online Flash version of the I Ching — and this one is really quite cool.

If you feel like consulting it,  instructions are provided at the site. Please let us know how your reading comes out….

Perennial Wisdom

It’s all here:

The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean

The Emerald Tablets of Thoth is a very important spiritual work. It is probably the oldest mystical work. The current work can be traced back to European alchemists in the 13th century, but the tablet dates back much further. Some say it was originally written in Atlantean characters, others Phoenician script. Hermes (Thoth) is alleged to have lived about 1900 BC, but other sources attribute him with immortality dating him back to the time of Atlantis and crediting him with the construction of the pyramids. His contribution to Egyptian society, including the introduction of writing, was merely another step in raising the consciousness of society following the fall of the Atlantean empire. Alexander the Great may be the discoverer of the Tablet (which may actually be green glass, rather than green stone granite), and it is one of the few remaining works of Egyptian (many burnt in the library at Alexandria). The work was known to Appollonius of Tyana (1st century Greek philosopher).

And here’s the text:

The Emerald Table of Hermes Trismegistus

I. True it is, without falsehood, certain and most true.

II. That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of One Thing.

III. And as all things have proceeded from One, by the meditation of One, so all things are born from this One Thing, by adaptation.

IV. The Sun is the Father thereof. The Moon is its Mother.

V. The Wind carried it in its belly. The Earth is its Nurse.

VI. The Father of all the Telesme (works of wonder, hidden treasure) of the whole world is here. Its strength and power is complete if it be converted into earth.

VII. Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently and with unremitting care.
VIII. It ascends from the earth to the heaven, and again descends to the earth,

IX. and thereby gathers to itself the strength of things above, and of things below.

X. By this means, all the glory of the world shall be yours, and all obscurity shall flee from you. It is the strong strength of all strength. For it shall overcome every subtle thing, and penetrate every solid thing.

XI. Thus was the world created. Hence shall wonderful adaptations be achieved, of which the means is here.

XII. Therefore I am called Hermes Trismegistus. For I hold three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.

XIII. That which I had to say concerning the operation of the Sun is completed.

Here endeth the Emerald Table of Hermes.

Indepth information at the link….

The Meaning of It All

Download Some Daily Dhamma

If you’re interested in a daily dose of the Buddha’s teachings, here’s a free ebook (.pdf) called Daily Readings — Buddha’s Words of Wisdom, by Ven. S. Dhammika:

For over two thousand years the discourses of the Buddha have nourished the spiritual lives of countless millions of people. This book contains extracts of the early Buddhist discourses from the Pali Tipitaka, and also from some post-canonical writings. Presented so that one reading can be reflected upon each day of the year. This book is an indispensable companion for anyone trying to apply the Buddha’s gentle message to their daily life.

While I cannot condone the “post-canonical writings,” I understand the romance of encountering Theravada Buddhism for the first time, and it’s probably good to understand the orthodox culture that has called itself “Buddhism” for the past 2,400 years. And for sure, getting a daily fix from the Sutta Pitaka is essential for anyone seeking to establish a serious practice.

Green Tara

Here’s a Buddha to whom I’ve been drawn since first seeing a thangka that depicted her. Lots of good information at this site:

The great Buddha Green Tara (the most common form of Tara) who made the vow to return always as a female Bodhisattva is resplendent in her aura of green, radiant with the attainment of all the six perfections of giving, ethics, patience, effort, meditative stabilisation and wisdom, and bright with her ever-compassionate care for all sentient beings.

Tara is immensely beautiful, youthful like a 16-year-old maiden. Her top is naked though not in a lustful way – she is bare in the way that she remains unshackled by the times of samsara, free from suffering. At the same time, she wears the slender, bright pants traditional of Indian ladies to show us that though she is enlightened, she works through samsaric conventions to help us overcome our suffering.

Because of her strong karmic connection to all sentient beings in samsara, Buddha Tara tilts towards us in her great compassion to listen to our prayers, grant us our virtuous wishes and protect us as a mother would for her child. She is emerald green, splendid in the swiftness that the coolness of the colour represents.

Her ability to come to our assistance as we invoke her presence is instant – we need only think of her to have her compassionate heart with us. Unusually, Green Tara does not sit in meditative pose; instead her right leg extends outwards, to show us that she is ready to step forward to help us in our time of need.

Her spiritual energy in the form of sound that helps to transform the mind (Mantra)

Back to the Cushion

We’ve taken some time off over the Holidays, during which we’ve stayed away from the subject of meditation (at least in terms of blogging; I hope you all have kept to your sitting routine, as have I). I thought I’d break the ice today by looking at a key passage from the Gopaka Moggallana Sutta (MN 108), sometimes referred to as “Moggallana the Guardsman; Ten Qualities Inspiring Confidence”.

My comments are scattered within the text:

“Brahman, there are ten inspiring qualities expounded by the Blessed One — the one who knows, the one who sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. In whoever among us those ten qualities are found, we now honor, respect, revere, & venerate him; honoring & respecting him, we live in dependence on him. Which ten?

[1] “There is the case where a monk is virtuous. He dwells restrained in accordance with the Patimokkha, consummate in his behavior & sphere of activity. He trains himself, having undertaken the training rules, seeing danger in the slightest faults.

Here the Buddha, who address himself to his monks throughout the Sutta Pitaka, refers to the need to train oneself in a level of discipline that promotes skillful practice. We can’t expect to live the life of a crazed partier (something with which I have a LOT of experience) and be able to simultaneously navigate the ever-deepening and expanding meditative absorption states. He’s saying that we must make a choice between getting caught up in external stimulation, and creating sufficient physical/mental/emotional space to not only meditate, but to remain saturated in jhana/samadhi (meditative absorption) throughout both the waking and sleeping cycles. If we sincerely want to take the train to the final stop on the line, there should be no hesitation here; it’s a no-brainer; we gladly toss aside our former wildness and/or unconsciousness in favor of the peace, joy and bliss that comes with skillful dhamma practice.

[2] “He has heard much, has retained what he has heard, has stored what he has heard. Whatever teachings are admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end, that — in their meaning & expression — proclaim the holy life entirely perfect & pure: those he has listened to often, retained, discussed, accumulated, examined with his mind, and well-penetrated in terms of his views.

Read the Suttas, study them deeply, let them infuse your being. They are impeccable, they are consistent, they go directly for the spiritual jugular. They are the Buddha’s gift to you from across the ocean of time, so that the Buddha may accompany you each step of the Path.

[3] “He is content with robes, alms food, lodgings, & medicinal requisites for curing the sick.

Simplify your life. Challenge that which you habitually desire. Investigate the roots of your material longings. Most of us are not monks. We live in the world as householders, participating in the local economy, going to work, providing for loved ones and so forth. As such (especially in the West), we are constantly bombarded with material temptations. We are sold products that we don’t need. We are sold a lifestyle that keeps us enslaved to the need for ever more, as if our “stuff” could ever truly offer fulfillment. The Buddha, who was raised as royalty, a prince being groomed to be king, recognized that suffering is not alleviated by “stuff.” In his Noble Eightfold Path, he laid out a bare-bones set of instructions that, if followed diligently and with faith born of experience, he promised would lead to an ultimate transcendence of suffering. The sooner we drop our attachment to our “stuff,” the sooner we’re able to recognize what has actual value. The sooner we drop our attachments, the more skill we’re able to bring to our absolute highest calling: to awaken from this dream once and for all.

[4] “He attains — whenever he wants, without strain, without difficulty — the four jhanas that are heightened mental states, pleasant abidings in the here-&-now.

This requires commitment to lots of time on the cushion. Once the signs of absorption begin, we must work with them throughout the day and night. We must avail ourselves of absorption so that, “whenever he wants, without strain, without difficulty,” he moves in and out of the four jhanas (samadhi states, i.e., meditative absorption states) “that are heightened mental states, pleasant abidings in the here & now.” Here he’s talking about skillful navigation of the material absorption states, which he taught were of the utmost importance in attaining Nibbana in this very lifetime. Here, as in many other places throughout his discourses, the Buddha made clear that attainment of the jhanas is essential for a successful journey along the Path — despite what subsequent teachings say about the meditative absorption states being Makyo.

[5] “He experiences manifold supranormal powers. Having been one he becomes many; having been many he becomes one. He appears. He vanishes. He goes unimpeded through walls, ramparts, & mountains as if through space. He dives in & out of the earth as if it were water. He walks on water without sinking as if it were dry land. Sitting crosslegged he flies through the air like a winged bird. With his hand he touches & strokes even the sun & moon, so mighty & powerful. He exercises influence with his body even as far as the Brahma worlds.

Here the Buddha refers to the non-material jhanas, otherwise known as the four arupa jhanas. These states were taught to him by his gurus before his enlightenment under the bodhi tree. While he recognized and encouraged skillful navigation of the arupa jhanas, he put most of his emphasis on the rupa (material) jhanas. At his Paranibbana (mahasamadhi, or death), he entered and traversed the rupa (material) jhanas, then passed through the arupa (non-material) jhanas, turned around and came back “down” through the arupas, into the fourth rupa jhana, third rupa jhana, second rupa jhana, first rupa jhana… turned around again, entered the second rupa jhana, third rupa jhana, fourth rupa jhana… and then launched out of his body for the final time. In this way, he showed that the rupa (material) jhanas are essential to liberation, while the arupa (non-material) jhanas are a sign that the meditator is filled with skill and mastery. In each case, attachment to the absorption states is never discouraged, but held forth as the only desire worth pursuing.

[6] “He hears — by means of the divine ear-element, purified & surpassing the human — both kinds of sounds: divine & human, whether near or far.

Saturation in meditative absorption is another way of saying “constant communion with God.” Tapping into the Divine energy, our physical being becomes an instrument of That which brings life to us. The famous “ringing in the ears,” which is a self-arising manifestation of jhana (as opposed to the pathological condition known as “tinnitus”), is a very common thing for those who’ve attained even the first jhana. It was the first jhana nimitta to arise for me, halfway through 1995. I’ve lived with it every moment of every day ever since — and my “human” hearing is as good as it ever was. It’s been a wonderful guide for me.

[7] “He knows the awareness of other beings, other individuals, having encompassed it with his own awareness. He discerns a mind with passion as a mind with passion, and a mind without passion as a mind without passion. He discerns a mind with aversion as a mind with aversion, and a mind without aversion as a mind without aversion. He discerns a mind with delusion as a mind with delusion, and a mind without delusion as a mind without delusion. He discerns a restricted mind as a restricted mind, and a scattered mind as a scattered mind. He discerns an enlarged mind as an enlarged mind, and an unenlarged mind as an unenlarged mind. He discerns an excelled mind [one that is not at the most excellent level] as an excelled mind, and an unexcelled mind as an unexcelled mind. He discerns an absorbed mind as an absorbed mind, and an unabsorbed mind as an unabsorbed mind. He discerns a released mind as a released mind, and an unreleased mind as an unreleased mind.

For one who is suffused and saturated in meditative absorption, intuitive sensitivity grows with each passing moment. A true spiritual master exhibits the above discerning abilities in abundance, such that we know there’s nothing we can hide from him or her. Such a person is completely absorbed and no longer expresses from his or her limited human condition.

[8] “He recollects his manifold past lives (lit: previous homes), i.e., one birth, two births, three births, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, one hundred, one thousand, one hundred thousand, many aeons of cosmic contraction, many aeons of cosmic expansion, many aeons of cosmic contraction & expansion, [recollecting], ‘There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.’ Thus he remembers his manifold past lives in their modes & details.

[9] “He sees — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away and re-appearing, and he discerns how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: ‘These beings — who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, & mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings — who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech, & mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.’ Thus — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — he sees beings passing away and re-appearing, and he discerns how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.

More description of the arupa jhanas — what one encounters when absorption “blasts off” like a rocket, carrying the meditator far beyond body-consciousness and into four clearly-delineated “infinite” states. Here, the limited conscious mind is absorbed into the limitless “superconscious” mind, the collective unconscious of Carl Jung, where all knowledge is instantly available, where the full sense of one’s existence across countless aeons is presented in full color. And it happens naturally through the course of skillful meditation, when our surrender is so complete, when our commitment is so unchallenged that the mechanics of deliverance take over automatically.

[10] “Through the ending of the mental fermentations, he remains in the fermentation-free awareness-release & discernment-release, having known & made them manifest for himself right in the here & now.

Meditative absorption is taught by the Buddha because he knew that it quickens the enlightenment process. Nibbana literally means to “extinguish the lamp.” Meditative absorption (jhana/samadhi) burns away the “mental fermentations” — the cumulative mental garbage that constantly diverts us and brings us nothing but suffering — until there’s nothing left to burn away. There’s no way to adequately describe the wonderful things that replace what is burned away… but you can find out for yourself if you apply yourself with skill and dedication.

“These, Brahman, are the ten inspiring qualities expounded by the Blessed One — the one who knows, the one who sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. In whoever among us these ten qualities are found, we now honor, respect, revere, & venerate him; honoring & respecting him, we live in dependence on him.”

The Buddha inspires and encourages his monks by revealing the spiritual treasures that await those who follow his instructions. Sounds simple and many hear the call… but few answer. For those who do, it’s difficult to understand why anyone would refuse.

Soon, I’ll return to our “skillful meditation” series, as promised.

Meantime, keep on with your practice with no other expectation than to continually avail yourself of the rewards that come through patience and diligence. The good stuff starts in simple and small ways, usually. Soon enough, in payment for the meditator’s full surrender, the good stuff grows in frequency and intensity — and then we’re talking about skillful meditation, for sure.

Craziness in India

Khatu Shyam in non-butterfly form….

Life can be odd:

Jan. 1 – Superstitious Indians flock to see butterfly with ‘holy’ feathers.

The butterfly, which recently appeared at the home of a Hindu devout in India’s northern Gorakhpur city, has been placed carefully in a glass bottle.

A replica of the image of Khatu Shyam, a popular deity synonymous with Hindu God, Lord Krishna, left many baffled in the home of Baijnath Baijal, where it first appeared.

SOUNDBITE: Baijnath Baijal, in whose home the butterfly first appeared, saying (Hindi):
“Our whole family religiously worships the Lord everyday. When I came back from work recently and was performing my daily prayer, this butterfly came and sat on my hand. It did not move for the entire duration of the prayer, leaving us pleasantly surprised. It has increased our devotion for the Lord. Its feathers have the exact replica of the statue of the Lord established at the temple of Khatu Shyam in (northwestern) Rajasthan state and has immense importance for us.”

SOUNDBITE:Vimla, Devotee, saying (Hindi):
“We have no option but to believe what we are seeing. But after seeing it, our devotion to the Lord has increased.”

Go to the link to watch a short video report.

A Buddhist Library

I just stumbled onto an online library filled with 432 books on Buddhism. It runs the gamut between Tibetan, Theravada, Zen, Pure Land and Chinese Mahayana, and should keep any interested reader away from trouble for a period of time.

Enjoy!