The truth is, regardless of the historical inequality and injustice Aaron Alexis suffered as a Blackman living in America, he was not a violent man, as the details of his ordinary life confirm.
Category: Buddhism
Exploring the philosophy (and practice) of Early and Later Buddhism.
Buddhist Monks, Sunglasses & the UK Rightwing Press
The above article entitled ‘Buddhists Behaving Badly’ appeared on page 3 of the Tuesday edition dated the 18.6.13. Astonishingly, this story takes up around three quarters of a page. It is not an original, or even a new story, but rather a report lifted from Youtube. The story evolves around apparently high-ranking Thai Buddhist monks flying in private jets, and wearing designer sunglasses. It may or may not be a troubling story for Buddhists, but the Metro reporter responsible for the story – Nicole Le Marie – demonstrates no knowledge of either Buddhist or Thai culture.
Carl Jung & Buddhism
Jung was not religious in the conventional sense, as through the use of psychological insight, he saw through religious structure and understood its historicity. He might be described as spiritual due to the obvious spiritual content of much of his work, but even this appellation is problematic. In reality Jung viewed religion as being a subject of much psychological interest due primarily to its obvious archetypal content. Through his developed psychological method, Jung demonstrated an often profound and startling insight into the inner structures of subjects like religion that at once swept away any unnecessary obscuration or excessive mystification, to reveal the true developmental nature of the teachings.
Buddhism & Islamophobia
There are a number of Buddhist monks from Myanmar and Thailand, who are advising the lay people in their communities to attack and kill their fellow citizens who happen to be Muslim. A recent BBC Radio Four documentary investigating this phenomenon found that it was a minority of high ranking Buddhist masters (in Myanmar) who were responsible for this behaviour, and that the majority of masters did not agree, or had no opinion. This demonstrates that theses rogue masters are behaving in an unBuddhist manner and not only creating hellish karma for themselves, but also causing hellish karma for all those who unthinkingly follow their delusion without question.
Ch’an Buddhist Practice: Giving Up Sleep
Many Ch’an masters, such as Ben Huan and Fo Yuan, talk of the inherent dangers for the mind whilst in the sleeping state. This is because all kinds of hellish states can be accessed when the body is dormant, but the mind remains active.
Buddhism is a Philosophy of Non-Racism
These events have occurred in predominantly Theravada Buddhist countries, and have led to an intellectual climate which feels comfortable enough to routinely express sentiments of Islamophobia – an expression that legitimises itself by masquerading as a manifestation of Buddhist wisdom, when in reality it is nothing more than the product of greed, hatred, and delusion.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 