(AFP) – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed the Dalai Lama on his 75th birthday Tuesday as "a man of peace and wisdom" and urged China to hold serious talks with him on his homeland of Tibet.
"His Holiness has expressed a willingness to visit China and engage directly with high level officials. It is my sincere hope that Beijing will send a confident message by inviting His Holiness to China for substantive discussions," she said in a statement.
The Democratic lawmaker, a frequent critic of China's human rights record, said the exiled spiritual leader "has made the human rights situation in Tibet an issue of international concern, and it is long past time to resolve it."
"A negotiated agreement would ensure internal stability in Tibet and bolster China?s reputation in the world," said Pelosi.
"On the 75th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, I offer my continued appreciation of his life?s work promoting compassion, peace, and human rights for all of the people of the world," she said.
China views the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959, as a dangerous separatist.
The Dalai Lama favors meaningful autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule, but Beijing accuses him of inciting unrest with a hidden pro-independence agenda. Decades of on-off negotiations with China have made no tangible progress.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Vietnam Celebrates 1000 Years of Buddhism
The Thang Long Citadel, which has witnessed Hanoi’s 1,000 year history, will host a series of Buddhist celebrations from July 27 to August 2 to acknowledge the capital city’s millennial anniversary.
Most Venerable Thich Gia Quang, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s Executive Board, said that the activities are to pay tribute to the founders of Thang Long-Hanoi and Vietnamese Buddhism, as well as those who sacrificed their lives for national liberation.
The celebrations will begin on July 27 with a procession carrying tablets that belonged to King Ly Thai To, the founder of Hanoi and Van Hanh, a Buddhist monk who raised the King after his mother had died giving birth, to the Thang Long Citadel.
Later the same day, a procession carrying Buddha’s sari from Quan Su pagoda, the headquarters of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, to the Citadel, where a talk on the history of Buddhism and Thang Long-Hanoi will be held.
The official opening ceremony will be held on July 28, followed by an exhibition showcasing Buddhist ancient artifacts and works of fine art.
A ceremony will also be held at the citadel on July 29 to pray for peace and the people as well as a requiem for fallen combatants on July 31.
The closing ceremony will be on the evening of August 2.
VOVNews/VNA
Most Venerable Thich Gia Quang, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s Executive Board, said that the activities are to pay tribute to the founders of Thang Long-Hanoi and Vietnamese Buddhism, as well as those who sacrificed their lives for national liberation.
The celebrations will begin on July 27 with a procession carrying tablets that belonged to King Ly Thai To, the founder of Hanoi and Van Hanh, a Buddhist monk who raised the King after his mother had died giving birth, to the Thang Long Citadel.
Later the same day, a procession carrying Buddha’s sari from Quan Su pagoda, the headquarters of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, to the Citadel, where a talk on the history of Buddhism and Thang Long-Hanoi will be held.
The official opening ceremony will be held on July 28, followed by an exhibition showcasing Buddhist ancient artifacts and works of fine art.
A ceremony will also be held at the citadel on July 29 to pray for peace and the people as well as a requiem for fallen combatants on July 31.
The closing ceremony will be on the evening of August 2.
VOVNews/VNA
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
4 Year Old Boy Chosen by Lama in Tibet
The 11th Panchen Lama, who is being projected by China as the successor to the exiled Dalai Lama, led the tonsuring ceremony of a 4-year-old Tibetan boy chosen as the sixth 'Living Buddha', officials said on Monday.
The Lama, Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, tonsured Losang Doje, the reincarnation of the fifth Living Buddha Dezhub, in the Tibetan capital Lhasa yesterday according to Buddhist rituals, officials in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region said.
The tonsure ceremony was held at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa following a lot-drawing ceremony that selected the boy with the secular name as the sixth Living Buddha Dezhub.
Before the tonsure ceremony, Losang Jigme, Tibet's top official in-charge of religious affairs, read out the regional government's approval of the reincarnation, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported from Lhasa.
Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, the Chinese Government-appointed 11th Panchen Lama, who is also vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, then cut a lock of the boy's hair and gave him the religious name Dezhub Jamyang Sherab Palden.
The 20-year-old Panchen Lama himself was chosen in a similar fashion 15 years ago. The Panchen Lama is regarded as second-in-command in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama, who is the political and spiritual head.
Tibetan officials in the past have defended the appointment of 11th Panchen Lama, who is now being projected by China as a successor to the 14th Dalai Lama to take over as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Panchen Lama, who lives mostly in Beijing, had made his political "debut" by addressing for the first time a congregation recently at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tibet.
The Lama, Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, tonsured Losang Doje, the reincarnation of the fifth Living Buddha Dezhub, in the Tibetan capital Lhasa yesterday according to Buddhist rituals, officials in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region said.
The tonsure ceremony was held at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa following a lot-drawing ceremony that selected the boy with the secular name as the sixth Living Buddha Dezhub.
Before the tonsure ceremony, Losang Jigme, Tibet's top official in-charge of religious affairs, read out the regional government's approval of the reincarnation, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported from Lhasa.
Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, the Chinese Government-appointed 11th Panchen Lama, who is also vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, then cut a lock of the boy's hair and gave him the religious name Dezhub Jamyang Sherab Palden.
The 20-year-old Panchen Lama himself was chosen in a similar fashion 15 years ago. The Panchen Lama is regarded as second-in-command in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama, who is the political and spiritual head.
Tibetan officials in the past have defended the appointment of 11th Panchen Lama, who is now being projected by China as a successor to the 14th Dalai Lama to take over as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Panchen Lama, who lives mostly in Beijing, had made his political "debut" by addressing for the first time a congregation recently at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tibet.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Spiritual Journey versus Ethics is the Question Sometimes
Mark Vernon
The perennial philosophy is an appealing doctrine, what with its combo-promise of universal brotherhood and ultimate truth. But it is actually a dehumanising doctrine, and one that does the pursuit of truth a disservice.
To get a feel for why, it's worth asking where much of the impetus to identify a perennial philosophy comes from today.
First, there is the consumerist agenda, which seeks to sell anything from cars to spirituality itself by appealing to the mystical. The telltale sign is the juxtaposition of product against oriental image, be that a Buddha or an incense stick. "Modern culture is defined by this extraordinary freedom to ransack the world storehouse and to engorge any and every style it comes upon", observes Daniel Bell in The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. This looting works best when backed up by a vague, perennial philosophy.
Or there's evolutionary psychology, and its attempts to understand religion. Richard Dawkins, for one, puts religious belief down to an evolutionary misfiring, "an unfortunate by-product of an underlying psychological propensity". Quite what causes that misfiring is, as yet, unclear. He has his own favourite thesis. But, he continues, "I am much more wedded to the general principle that the question should be properly put, and if necessary rewritten, than I am to any particular answer." Note the form: a variety of phenomena, but one underlying principle. It's a philosophia perennis in anti-religious guise, and that's an a priori requirement for those who want to explain religion, and thereby explain it away – and another reason to be suspicious of the notion.
Then there's the quintessential experience associated with the perennial philosophy, of supposed "pure conscious events". They are much associated with Aldous Huxley and his experiments with drugs, as well as the identification of peak experiences with religious insight, by the psychologist Ivan Maslow. But as Jeremy Carrette and Richard King reveal in their book, Selling Spirituality, " ... sampling disillusioned college graduates, Maslow would ask his interviewees about their ecstatic and rapturous moments in life." He associated the search for the meaningful with a kind of super-feel-good experience. It's an approach that finds it hard to tell the difference between a bungee-jump and the ecstasy of Saint Theresa. (And for not dissimilar reasons, medieval mystics, like Meister Eckhart, were precisely against experientialist perennialism. "If thou lovest God as God, as spirit, as person or as image, that must all go", he preached – challenging religious experience.)
Now, all that said, I suspect there is a common human characteristic that lies behind the appeal of the perennial philosophy. We are the creature who is blessed, or cursed, with the desire for more. We are the animal for whom our own existence is too small for us. We crave understanding and purpose. Philosophy, science and religions alike are some of the diverse manifestations of this need. (Conversely, those philosophies that seek to contain and curtain the desire for more only achieve what Jonathan Swift recognised when he noted: "The stoical scheme of supplying our wants, by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.")
However, the mistake is to collapse the diversity which springs from that desire into one undifferentiated whole. And there's at least two reasons for that. One is that human experiences are inevitably particular. My experiences are conditioned by my context. Yours by yours. The differences should not be minimised – consumed, say, by some high expression of benevolence. Rather, they should be maximised – sorted and sifted. This is because our growth as individuals lies in discerning our experiences, and that means keeping them sharp, not dissolving them in some soggy universal.
Second, our ethics needs the same treatment. Immanuel Kant noticed this in relation to the golden rule, often cited as a feature of the perennial philosophy. He called it "trite", arguing that a criminal could refuse their sentence on the grounds of doing to others as you would have done to you. With that, though, goes justice. Rather, we need the grit of particularity for our ethics to gain a grip on us. Without it, ethics ceases to make serious demands.
And there's a final reason to resist the pull of perennial philosophy. It forgets that truth, ultimately, lies beyond us. To be human is to see through a glass darkly. The only way to pursue truth is, therefore, to deploy a dialectical approach. One "insight" must be challenged by another. My experience undermined by yours. Critique is of the essence. But we need to keep talking. We need to find ways of engaging conflicting differences in an open spirit. Journeying is all for we humans, the creature that seeks more. But we must keep journeying. For the perennial philosophy, treated as an arrival, is deadening to us.
The perennial philosophy is an appealing doctrine, what with its combo-promise of universal brotherhood and ultimate truth. But it is actually a dehumanising doctrine, and one that does the pursuit of truth a disservice.
To get a feel for why, it's worth asking where much of the impetus to identify a perennial philosophy comes from today.
First, there is the consumerist agenda, which seeks to sell anything from cars to spirituality itself by appealing to the mystical. The telltale sign is the juxtaposition of product against oriental image, be that a Buddha or an incense stick. "Modern culture is defined by this extraordinary freedom to ransack the world storehouse and to engorge any and every style it comes upon", observes Daniel Bell in The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. This looting works best when backed up by a vague, perennial philosophy.
Or there's evolutionary psychology, and its attempts to understand religion. Richard Dawkins, for one, puts religious belief down to an evolutionary misfiring, "an unfortunate by-product of an underlying psychological propensity". Quite what causes that misfiring is, as yet, unclear. He has his own favourite thesis. But, he continues, "I am much more wedded to the general principle that the question should be properly put, and if necessary rewritten, than I am to any particular answer." Note the form: a variety of phenomena, but one underlying principle. It's a philosophia perennis in anti-religious guise, and that's an a priori requirement for those who want to explain religion, and thereby explain it away – and another reason to be suspicious of the notion.
Then there's the quintessential experience associated with the perennial philosophy, of supposed "pure conscious events". They are much associated with Aldous Huxley and his experiments with drugs, as well as the identification of peak experiences with religious insight, by the psychologist Ivan Maslow. But as Jeremy Carrette and Richard King reveal in their book, Selling Spirituality, " ... sampling disillusioned college graduates, Maslow would ask his interviewees about their ecstatic and rapturous moments in life." He associated the search for the meaningful with a kind of super-feel-good experience. It's an approach that finds it hard to tell the difference between a bungee-jump and the ecstasy of Saint Theresa. (And for not dissimilar reasons, medieval mystics, like Meister Eckhart, were precisely against experientialist perennialism. "If thou lovest God as God, as spirit, as person or as image, that must all go", he preached – challenging religious experience.)
Now, all that said, I suspect there is a common human characteristic that lies behind the appeal of the perennial philosophy. We are the creature who is blessed, or cursed, with the desire for more. We are the animal for whom our own existence is too small for us. We crave understanding and purpose. Philosophy, science and religions alike are some of the diverse manifestations of this need. (Conversely, those philosophies that seek to contain and curtain the desire for more only achieve what Jonathan Swift recognised when he noted: "The stoical scheme of supplying our wants, by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.")
However, the mistake is to collapse the diversity which springs from that desire into one undifferentiated whole. And there's at least two reasons for that. One is that human experiences are inevitably particular. My experiences are conditioned by my context. Yours by yours. The differences should not be minimised – consumed, say, by some high expression of benevolence. Rather, they should be maximised – sorted and sifted. This is because our growth as individuals lies in discerning our experiences, and that means keeping them sharp, not dissolving them in some soggy universal.
Second, our ethics needs the same treatment. Immanuel Kant noticed this in relation to the golden rule, often cited as a feature of the perennial philosophy. He called it "trite", arguing that a criminal could refuse their sentence on the grounds of doing to others as you would have done to you. With that, though, goes justice. Rather, we need the grit of particularity for our ethics to gain a grip on us. Without it, ethics ceases to make serious demands.
And there's a final reason to resist the pull of perennial philosophy. It forgets that truth, ultimately, lies beyond us. To be human is to see through a glass darkly. The only way to pursue truth is, therefore, to deploy a dialectical approach. One "insight" must be challenged by another. My experience undermined by yours. Critique is of the essence. But we need to keep talking. We need to find ways of engaging conflicting differences in an open spirit. Journeying is all for we humans, the creature that seeks more. But we must keep journeying. For the perennial philosophy, treated as an arrival, is deadening to us.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Reincarnation of Living Budda Dezhub Named
LHASA, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Reincarnation of the 5th Living Buddha Dezhub was selected following a lot-drawing ceremony held early Sunday morning in Lhasa, capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China.
A candidate with the secular name Losang Doje was selected as the reincarnation in accordance with a regulation on reincarnation of living Buddha of Tibetan Buddhism, issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, and historical conventions and religious rituals.
The ceremony was held in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.
Losang Doje would become the sixth Living Buddha Dezhub after the approval of the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
A candidate with the secular name Losang Doje was selected as the reincarnation in accordance with a regulation on reincarnation of living Buddha of Tibetan Buddhism, issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, and historical conventions and religious rituals.
The ceremony was held in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.
Losang Doje would become the sixth Living Buddha Dezhub after the approval of the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Zen Master Plays BasketBall
The story of Phil Jackson is already the stuff of legends, but after leading the Los Angeles Lakers to yet another championship victory this year, the so-called "Zen Master" isn't ready to close the book on his sports career just yet.
Today, 65-year-old Jackson -- whose health has reportedly been ailing in recent years -- reversed course on earlier statements indicating he would retire and announced that he will, in fact, be returning to coach the Lakers for a record-setting 11th tenured season.
Besides the possibility of achieving a flabbergasting 12th NBA championship -- and a fourth "three-peat" at that (that's four sets of three years of consecutive championships, for all those non-NBA fans out there) (trademark Pat Riley) -- why else would the winningest coach in NBA history elect to put himself into the stressful, demanding situation of attempting to steer a larger-than-life team to victory yet again?
One distinct possibility: his personal philosophy -- heavily influenced by Zen philosophy, as espoused in several books, interviews past and his own recent words on his decision to return. Here, Surge Desk attempts an explanation of the Zen Master's recent statement in light of that philosophy:
After a couple weeks of deliberation1, it is time to get back to the challenge2 of putting together3 a team that can defend4 its title in the 2010-11 season. It'll be the last stand5 for me, and I hope a grand one6.
1. Deliberation, i.e. Meditation, "Zazen." Meditation is one of the most fundamental of all Zen Buddhist practices, and Jackson is said to have taught the Chicago Bulls "dream team" of the 1990s the practice to allow them to relax and think more clearly before making split-second on-the-court decisions, a practice he carried over to the Lakers and implemented as recently as the 2010 championship, according to some sources. No doubt the old sage practiced extensive meditation to arrive at his own peaceful inner conclusion to return as coach.
2. Challenge, i.e. "Koan." Another cardinal Zen Buddhist tradition, koan refers to a vexing, pithy, often personalized thought-problem posed as a question or statement by a Zen Master to one of his initiates. The initiate must then meditate on the koan and attempt to arrive at a meaning. More than a mere Buddhist riddle, the koan is designed to get the problem-solver to think beyond the preconceived notions and limitations of the rational mind. Broadly speaking, Zen is often concerned with a series of escalating personal challenges.
One of the most famous Koans goes, "If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him," which advocates a seemingly a bizarre piece of aggression founder of the philosophy. Yet it actually reinforces the Buddhist notion that thinking about, i.e. "encountering," the master is inherently delusional, that one should concentrate on bettering oneself rather than embodying or living up to an outward ideal. Interestingly, Jackson himself has even riffed off this parable, writing: "If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball."
3. Together, i.e. "Sesshin" and "Dharma Transmission." Many Zen teachings have been imparted during gatherings of students and Zen Masters. Gatherings that involve intensive meditation are called "sesshin." In fact, the ideal form of Zen knowledge transmission is a mental unification, a "one-to-one" transmission, where a teacher imparts wisdom to a student during a gathering without words or explicit physical expressions of any kinds. The most famous example is of course the first, conveyed a parable called the "Flower Sermon." It goes something like this:
Gathering together in an orchard of blooming sweet lime trees, the students waited for their esteemed teacher, Kasyapa. Slowly walking down the dirt path, relying on his danda walking staff for balance, Kasyapa joined his students. He sat quietly for a long time, enjoying the fragrance of the lime blossoms. Finally, he raised his danda staff. Everyone stared at Kasyapa -- serious, intent, focused and silent. Only Shifu Miao Zhang [a student] smiled, and then lifted his cane and pointed at a lime blossom. Kasyapa pointed his danda at Shifu Zhang. Another transmission was completed. The sacred thread remained unbroken.
Jackson himself has described the kind of unity he seeks to achieve on the court in a 2004 interview with EnlightenNext magazine. As he put it: "It's interesting -- the other players are consciously aware of the fact that they're anticipating their teammate's behavior. Somehow, mysteriously, they just know the timing is right. They simply feel something out ahead of themselves and make their move."
4. Defense, i.e. Zen Warriors. Jackson and the Lakers are certainly ready to defend their position at the top of pro basketball's hierarchy, but does that not not betray a sort of worldly affectation not in keeping with Buddhism? Not according to scholar Thich Thien-An, who notes:
The first supporters of Zen when it was introduced from China to Japan were the samurai, the warrior class, who found in Zen's emphasis on self-control and equanimity of mind a method of discipline conducive to their own ends. Zen has also influenced the development of techniques of self-defense like judo and karate. The principle underlying these different applications of Zen is that any field of activity can serve as a means for realizing the truth of Zen.
5. Last Stand, i.e. "Enso." On the surface, this type of Zen calligraphy appears to be the opposite of a last stand, as it is repeated over and over and over again until it is mastered. The object is to draw a perfectly round circle, symbolizing many things: the artist's connection with the moment, the universe, enlightenment. And yet, as the artist continues to draw circles, he or she transcends through different levels of awareness, just as Jackson has transcended through playoff after playoff and emerged victorious. As one Buddhist who had achieved enlightenment wrote:
At the right time, you will be able to break through to the state of nothingness. You will attain this realization because of some thing and you will know with your entire being that you are at the center of absolute nothingness, at the center of an infinite circle. To be at the center of an infinite circle in this human form is to be Buddha himself. You have been saved from the beginning. You will know all these things with certainty.
6. Grand One, i.e. "Roshi." Although he was describing the upcoming season itself, it's hard not to interpret Jackson's words as a bit of self-reflection. Of course, the old Zen practitioner would toss in a reference to himself as a "Grand One," or the "venerable master of a great school."
Filed under: Sports, Surge Desk
Today, 65-year-old Jackson -- whose health has reportedly been ailing in recent years -- reversed course on earlier statements indicating he would retire and announced that he will, in fact, be returning to coach the Lakers for a record-setting 11th tenured season.
Besides the possibility of achieving a flabbergasting 12th NBA championship -- and a fourth "three-peat" at that (that's four sets of three years of consecutive championships, for all those non-NBA fans out there) (trademark Pat Riley) -- why else would the winningest coach in NBA history elect to put himself into the stressful, demanding situation of attempting to steer a larger-than-life team to victory yet again?
One distinct possibility: his personal philosophy -- heavily influenced by Zen philosophy, as espoused in several books, interviews past and his own recent words on his decision to return. Here, Surge Desk attempts an explanation of the Zen Master's recent statement in light of that philosophy:
After a couple weeks of deliberation1, it is time to get back to the challenge2 of putting together3 a team that can defend4 its title in the 2010-11 season. It'll be the last stand5 for me, and I hope a grand one6.
1. Deliberation, i.e. Meditation, "Zazen." Meditation is one of the most fundamental of all Zen Buddhist practices, and Jackson is said to have taught the Chicago Bulls "dream team" of the 1990s the practice to allow them to relax and think more clearly before making split-second on-the-court decisions, a practice he carried over to the Lakers and implemented as recently as the 2010 championship, according to some sources. No doubt the old sage practiced extensive meditation to arrive at his own peaceful inner conclusion to return as coach.
2. Challenge, i.e. "Koan." Another cardinal Zen Buddhist tradition, koan refers to a vexing, pithy, often personalized thought-problem posed as a question or statement by a Zen Master to one of his initiates. The initiate must then meditate on the koan and attempt to arrive at a meaning. More than a mere Buddhist riddle, the koan is designed to get the problem-solver to think beyond the preconceived notions and limitations of the rational mind. Broadly speaking, Zen is often concerned with a series of escalating personal challenges.
One of the most famous Koans goes, "If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him," which advocates a seemingly a bizarre piece of aggression founder of the philosophy. Yet it actually reinforces the Buddhist notion that thinking about, i.e. "encountering," the master is inherently delusional, that one should concentrate on bettering oneself rather than embodying or living up to an outward ideal. Interestingly, Jackson himself has even riffed off this parable, writing: "If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball."
3. Together, i.e. "Sesshin" and "Dharma Transmission." Many Zen teachings have been imparted during gatherings of students and Zen Masters. Gatherings that involve intensive meditation are called "sesshin." In fact, the ideal form of Zen knowledge transmission is a mental unification, a "one-to-one" transmission, where a teacher imparts wisdom to a student during a gathering without words or explicit physical expressions of any kinds. The most famous example is of course the first, conveyed a parable called the "Flower Sermon." It goes something like this:
Gathering together in an orchard of blooming sweet lime trees, the students waited for their esteemed teacher, Kasyapa. Slowly walking down the dirt path, relying on his danda walking staff for balance, Kasyapa joined his students. He sat quietly for a long time, enjoying the fragrance of the lime blossoms. Finally, he raised his danda staff. Everyone stared at Kasyapa -- serious, intent, focused and silent. Only Shifu Miao Zhang [a student] smiled, and then lifted his cane and pointed at a lime blossom. Kasyapa pointed his danda at Shifu Zhang. Another transmission was completed. The sacred thread remained unbroken.
Jackson himself has described the kind of unity he seeks to achieve on the court in a 2004 interview with EnlightenNext magazine. As he put it: "It's interesting -- the other players are consciously aware of the fact that they're anticipating their teammate's behavior. Somehow, mysteriously, they just know the timing is right. They simply feel something out ahead of themselves and make their move."
4. Defense, i.e. Zen Warriors. Jackson and the Lakers are certainly ready to defend their position at the top of pro basketball's hierarchy, but does that not not betray a sort of worldly affectation not in keeping with Buddhism? Not according to scholar Thich Thien-An, who notes:
The first supporters of Zen when it was introduced from China to Japan were the samurai, the warrior class, who found in Zen's emphasis on self-control and equanimity of mind a method of discipline conducive to their own ends. Zen has also influenced the development of techniques of self-defense like judo and karate. The principle underlying these different applications of Zen is that any field of activity can serve as a means for realizing the truth of Zen.
5. Last Stand, i.e. "Enso." On the surface, this type of Zen calligraphy appears to be the opposite of a last stand, as it is repeated over and over and over again until it is mastered. The object is to draw a perfectly round circle, symbolizing many things: the artist's connection with the moment, the universe, enlightenment. And yet, as the artist continues to draw circles, he or she transcends through different levels of awareness, just as Jackson has transcended through playoff after playoff and emerged victorious. As one Buddhist who had achieved enlightenment wrote:
At the right time, you will be able to break through to the state of nothingness. You will attain this realization because of some thing and you will know with your entire being that you are at the center of absolute nothingness, at the center of an infinite circle. To be at the center of an infinite circle in this human form is to be Buddha himself. You have been saved from the beginning. You will know all these things with certainty.
6. Grand One, i.e. "Roshi." Although he was describing the upcoming season itself, it's hard not to interpret Jackson's words as a bit of self-reflection. Of course, the old Zen practitioner would toss in a reference to himself as a "Grand One," or the "venerable master of a great school."
Filed under: Sports, Surge Desk
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Coal Plant Adds Solar Panels
Jeremy Alm
Cameo, CO -- The Cameo power plant is doing something that no other coal power plant in the country has done before. It's going green by implementing solar panels.
"It's the technology of the future and it's a great way to prove it out," says David Eves, President and CEO of Public Service Company of Colorado, an Xcel Energy Company.
Earlier today Ccel reps at the Cameo power plant unveiled it's completed project and gave themselves a pat on the back.
"It's the first time the technology has been developed and deployed like this in the world," says Eves.
Ccel says the solar panels heat the water before it goes into the plant's boiler, saving power and making the plant greener.
"We'll continue to get integrate more and more renewable energy in our mix, cleaner energy. We're looking at all our coal plants around our system now. And looking to see if we can improve on our emissions and our environmental performance," says Eves.
The 4. 5 million dollar project started in August of 2009. Depending on the results, the technology might be used across the country.
"Solar has a lot of potential to be a major source of energy for this country. And so we're kind of on the beginning cusp of integrating solar power into our existing power structures," says Hank Price, Abengoa Vice President.
For now, Price says Xcel is looking to use the technology at it's larger coal plants in Colorado.
"It offers a low cost opportunity for integrating solar into our existing power grid," says Price.
There's no word when other Xcel power plants will use this technology.
Cameo, CO -- The Cameo power plant is doing something that no other coal power plant in the country has done before. It's going green by implementing solar panels.
"It's the technology of the future and it's a great way to prove it out," says David Eves, President and CEO of Public Service Company of Colorado, an Xcel Energy Company.
Earlier today Ccel reps at the Cameo power plant unveiled it's completed project and gave themselves a pat on the back.
"It's the first time the technology has been developed and deployed like this in the world," says Eves.
Ccel says the solar panels heat the water before it goes into the plant's boiler, saving power and making the plant greener.
"We'll continue to get integrate more and more renewable energy in our mix, cleaner energy. We're looking at all our coal plants around our system now. And looking to see if we can improve on our emissions and our environmental performance," says Eves.
The 4. 5 million dollar project started in August of 2009. Depending on the results, the technology might be used across the country.
"Solar has a lot of potential to be a major source of energy for this country. And so we're kind of on the beginning cusp of integrating solar power into our existing power structures," says Hank Price, Abengoa Vice President.
For now, Price says Xcel is looking to use the technology at it's larger coal plants in Colorado.
"It offers a low cost opportunity for integrating solar into our existing power grid," says Price.
There's no word when other Xcel power plants will use this technology.
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