Views from Eagle Peak » Applied Buddhism

I’ve been Scrooged

Jack — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:49:03 +0000

A two-fer: a physical tuneup and more importantly, a spiritual tuneup. On April 29th I started having pains in my upper right abdomen. Because I knew I could get test results quicker at the emergency room, I went there the next day when the pain increased. I expected it might be something like gallstones, since I had already had the appendix out many years ago. Blood tests, ultrasound and a CT scan showed no gallstones or gall bladder irritation. Instead, I had something I never heard of–an omental infarction. The omentum is this fatty layer that hangs down like an apron over the intestines. The guy at the emergency room consulted an on-call surgeon, who said I should be admitted to the hospital. I came into the emergency room at 9:30 in the morning; 12 hours later I was on my way to the hospital, 20 minutes away. Not until the next morning did I find out what this was all about. The surgeon said this corner (?) of the omentum may have experienced some kind of twisting. Tissue death–and pain, followed. He put me on IV antibiotics and periodically pushed on the area to be sure where the pain was. Four days later, with the pain going away and no uptick in the white count, I went home. Still, I had concerns. A puffy arm from where the IV fluids had leaked. Worries over what this all meant. Nonetheless, I took it as a message from the universe that now was the time to finally begin that diet and exercise program that would achieve my weight loss/fitness goals. How would I survive to enjoy my retirement years in that New Mexico dream home otherwise? So I began walking, cut back on the food and have lost 16 pounds already. The spiritual tuneup was another matter.

Awaiting a rescan on May 17th, I daily freaked out. Going to the Gohonzon with daimoku I thought the worst as my stomach turned somersaults. The mind/body connection is amazing; more later. I reread SGI President Daisaku Ikeda’s lecture on “The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life.” I reread portions of The Buddha in Your Mirror. I reread portions of Mike Lisagor’s book, Romancing the Buddha. Most importantly, I had a long-time SGI friend come and chant daimoku with me. On the 16th, while chanting, I prayed for some word or concept that would refresh and reassure me. Soon thereafter I recalled the postcard I received from my sponsor on the occasion of receiving my Gohonzon almost 32 years ago. On it was a quote from Nichiren’s writing, “Letter to Niike.” It reads: “The journey from Kamakura to Kyoto takes 12 days. If you journey for 11 but stop on the 12th, how can you view the moon over the capital?” That did the trick. It takes as long as it takes. I got the scan on Sunday, confident that my prayers of complete recovery would be confirmed–and confident that I would use this experience to encourage others to remain steadfast in their faith. The surgeon confirmed on Monday that the omentum was healing nicely and no further follow-up or action on his part would be necessary. On Tuesday, the stomach that had been turning somersaults was now calm; a convincing demonstration of how the mind affects the body.

I must add that I have been somewhat lazy about completing my goals of reading the Gosho (the collected writings of Nichiren Daishonin) and the Human Revolution (Daisaku Ikeda’s history of the movement of the Buddhist lay organization in widely propagating Buddhism) cover to cover. Moreover, I have relaxing a bit much from encouraging fellow members. So I am now back on the front lines, assuming the responsibility of a district leader having resigned from a chapter leader position almost 7 years ago. I feel reborn, refreshed, revitalized. If this were Christmas day and the Cratchits lived nearby, I certainly would buy them a goose.

From Great Evil Comes Great Good

Jack — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:44:20 +0000

“Great events never have minor omens. When great evil occurs, great good follows.” So says Nichiren, founder of the largest sect of Buddhism practiced in the United States. While it would be an overstatement to characterize the entirety of the Bush administration years as great evil, there certainly has been plenty of it. Greed, lies, torture, imperialism, etc. At the same time, can there be any doubt that but for those evils (and the collapse of the economy, attributable in part to administration laissez faire policies), Barack Obama would not have been elected this year. Not sure about the “great good”? Consider the response to his election from ordinary citizens here and abroad. Consider the response from leaders around the world. Look at the faces among the thousands of supporters at rallies and celebrations. White, black, brown, yellow. Young, old, rich, poor, gay, straight. Compare those faces to the tiny crowds present at the McCain rallies. A diverse, large tent versus a tiny, exclusive tent. Which is the “real” America–the small-town, small-minded, “your bedroom is my business” members of the GOP (Grumbling Obnoxious Partisans?) or the hope-filled Democrats and Independents that are tolerant of differences, are tired of ideological polemic and are a mix of ethnicities?

More Shameless Self-Promotion

Jack — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:08:28 +0000

A little later than I would like, but still I have to let everyone know that the new and improved Eagle Peak Press website is now up and running. The hook on which I want to hang this publisher hat is in honor of the inscription of the Dai-Gohonzon on October 12, 1279 and the passing of Nichiren Daishonin on this day in 1282. Following the deaths of three followers of Nichiren, who gave up their lives rather than forsake their faith in his teachings of Buddhism, Nichiren inscribed his life and the Mystic Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo on a large block of camphor wood. He took the martyrdom of three peasant farmers from Atsuhara as evidence that his teachings had spread and held to the point where everyone in the world should have the opportunity to experience the benefit of practicing Buddhism. Three years later he passed away, leaving the legacy of a simple means to access the same life of a Buddha that he had experienced.

Masters of the Universe

Jack — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:07:36 +0000

What news will come from the MastersButtheads of the Universe today, a continuing fall in the global economy perhaps? Maybe the MBAs should have “learned to play the guitar,” as Mark Knopfler suggests, instead of learning to play the market. At least then the suffering we are enduring would have been limited to our ears instead of our financial well-being. They have succeeded in getting money for nothing far in excess of what any member of a band might get (except maybe Mick Jagger and friends).

Nichiren says, “When great evil occurs, great good follows.” (WND, 1119). So something good can come from this, amidst all the political posturing and finger-pointing. It’s not inappropriate, rather it’s essential to look at the causes of this collapse if the effects are to be avoided in the future. When you have politicians enabling, through a laissez-faire approach to the financial sector, these Buttheads of the Universe to take free-market capitalism to its most extreme the outcome is certainly foreseeable. Not, of course, to George “Herbert Hoover” (or maybe we should call him Beavis) Bush and his friends in the Republican party. Government regulation has a place, to protect citizens and taxpayers from the worst excesses of human nature. We have laws that punish criminals. We also have regulations and regulators to help prevent crimes. It may not be possible, practical or sensible to try to protect everyone from greed and stupidity, but it certainly is reasonable to have more oversight and control of the financial sector than we have had in recent years.

Upcoming Events at Eagle Peak

Jack — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:28:55 +0000

Not today, but hopefully this week, the new and improved version of the Eagle Peak Press website will become available at a browser near you. On the site will be an Arts Showcase for SGI members to post prose, poetry, visual art and music. But I will let the site speak for itself. Check the link in this post or in the blogroll. As for Views, I am overdue in giving you some more clues on getting that book out. Many of you have landed here as a result of my ads on Google for Waiting for Westmoreland. For those of you with a book already out, that’s a hint on marketing. More about that later.

Financial Fallout and the Blame Game

Jack — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:57:00 +0000

Obama will tell you it’s Bush and his buddy McCain that helped make the current money morass happen. He is not entirely wrong but he is not entirely right either. Congress facilitated the mess by repealing the Glass-Steagal Act that kept the insurance, investment and banking businesses firewalled from one another. Institutional investors, including the pension funds that hold our retirement funds, could have exercised more of their clout in the proxy battles and the board rooms to hold management’s feet to the fire and restrained the most egregious excesses–but they didn’t. From a Buddhist perspective, to determine the causes made in the past one has only to look at the effects received today. So if we are suffering financial harm today, what did we do in the past? Well, some of us were also greedy. Some of us have cheated on our taxes, padded our resumes, paid for term papers written by others, goofed off and gotten over at work, etc. OK, so some of us may appear blameless. Nonetheless, we are suffering now. Take it as an opportunity to make the future better and take comfort in knowing that cause effect will work it’s way into the lives of the executives and the politicians who helped create this mess. We may need to help that along–in terms of the November election and the choices we make in investing our money, borrowing, etc.

A day to remember, 9/11

Jack — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:55:37 +0000

About 7 1/2 years ago, my wife felt frustrated that she had not received a promotion she had applied for. Everyone (her coworkers and associates) were surprised when someone else got the job instead of her. She worked for the Department of the Army then, before retiring in 2004. As Buddhists we recognize that sometimes we don’t get what we want–what we think we deserve, for a good reason. As it happens, the job that she applied for was at the Pentagon. The location of the section she applied for was at or near the point of the plane’s impact on 9/11. Several people in the section, including the person who did get the position, died in the attack that day. In Buddhism, we refer to this as protection from the Shoten Zenjin (Buddhist Gods or protective forces of the Universe). Karma is a strange thing, which we cannot fathom or explain completely. It’s what makes some people miss the train that crashes and others rush to get on the Titanic before it sets off from port. I empathize with those who lost loved ones on that day even as I feel great appreciation that my wife didn’t get a promotion that would have killed her.

Making decisions 2

Jack — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:47:47 +0000

I promised an update on priorities within a week in the recent post, Making decisions. So here it is: I am focusing on writing a sci-fi book next. The story will be about the withering away of the military industrial complex and its replacement by the multinational Entertainment-Food-Cosmetic Consortium–sponsors of extreme reality TV. Which will lead to an unexpected peril to Earth from what initially seems like a much needed injection of more extreme programming but actually is a conspiracy to take over the planet.

More decisions: We have determined that Silver City is indeed the place for us; we will make a concerted effort to buy some land in the next couple weeks. Also, I have decided to start buying some ads from Google Adwords for my book website, Waiting for Westmoreland. Since I will be out of pocket for that, I am also going to start running some ads from Google and Amazon on this site. Look for ads and a privacy policy soon. Decisions! Ah, the power of the mystic law (Nam-myoho-renge-kyo) is indeed limitless.

Making decisions

Jack — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:26:07 +0000

Thirty-one years ago, among other reasons, I began practicing Buddhism to make better decisions. Actually, not just to make better ones but to decide period. I had no difficulty seeing alternatives but real difficulty choosing among them. Over the years I have become better at it but from time to time it still comes back to haunt me. Choosing a place to relocate to in retirement is no small decision–and it’s not mine alone. Nonetheless, my wife and I continued to evaluate one place after another, employing criteria meaningful to us. We have decided on Silver City, New Mexico for reasons not important to you or this post. The daily practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo assists in many things, including decisions like this. A determination, held in the heart and the head while engaged in the practice offers clarity–eventually. The subtlety lies in evaluating how far to go with analysis based on objective criteria and how much to rely on the subjective that Buddhist practice brings.

Having made that decision, I must now grapple with a decision on what my next book should be. Some time ago I thought it should be political satire. From time to time science fiction seems the right choice. Other times it’s an extension of Waiting for Westmoreland, the memoir I published last year. I had also thought before I would just do some short stories and articles until we are settled in a new house in a couple more years. The problem is, while I procrastinate, I put off writing any of them. Perhaps I could work on several of them alternately; that’s what my wife does successfully with her quilting projects. She suggests I should still have a priority among them. In other words, make a decision. She’s right of course. So that brings up another point about the reality of life and Buddhism–one has certain innate tendencies, both good and bad, that need to be taken into account and dealt with again and again. While progress may be made, a complete personality change is probably neither possible nor desireable. So I will let you know, within the next week, what that priority is.

Iraq, Afghanistan and the American Psyche

Jack — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:38:34 +0000

For those whose loved ones are there now or who suffer after effects from time they spent in combat, Iraq and Afghanistan remain an immediate concern. For others, like myself, the conflicts are an abstraction. The sufferings of the soldiers and the civilians do not pain my psyche. I have to remind myself again and again, despite regular news coverage, of the real pain that war causes. Am I alone in that respect? I suspect many Americans find themselves in the same place, given the relative scarcity of antiwar protests for some time now. How much more removed from our psyches are the conflicts elsewhere in the world, with far greater casualties. Few American families have a substantial stake (i.e., loved ones) fighting elsewhere in Asia or in Africa. There are dictatorships as bad or worse than that of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein yet America makes no efforts to replace them as we did Saddam. There are perhaps people and situations that require a military response; dictators with whom no negotiation is possible or useful. Yet war inevitably leads to massive suffering. Each war in which America has been involved over the past fifty years has resulted in more serious and longer lasting injuries over the immediate trauma of death. Families suffer and soldiers suffer. Typically, it is the young who are sent off to fight and die (or suffer horrible injuries). In Africa, children are conscripted to fight. If the leaders of all the countries in the world were to agree that no one younger than age 50 could be sent into combat, do you suppose a substantial reduction in wars would result? I do. An unlikely proposition perhaps, but one worth considering. Then again too, it is far past time for the people, not the leaders, to make such decisions. How could they do so in dictatorships? It all comes down to a matter of will. As for me, a belief in the power of prayer–specifically the invocation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the critical element. For others, a different prayer will be their focus. But in all cases, the intention to view fellow humans as other than villains or the enemy and instead with respect is critical.