Green Cones & Koans

I couldn't let this one go without comment, Poole town centre has just erected a giant green cone to replace the traditional Christmas tree on the grounds of "Health and Safety"!

What's the link? Well, here on the Island (which you can see from Poole) we have our own daft cone, a weird multi coloured "Art installation" in front of the Island's hospital, St. Mary's, and the Buddhist connection? For some totally inexplicable reason the wretched thing is called the "Koan"!

Basil Brush and the Bhikkhunis

Further to the last posting, Ajahn Khemadhammo's "signature" on the iPetition was apparently from someone with the email address "Basil Brush".... well, Boom, Boom Mr. Derek.

To find out more check out the comment by Thanissara at the foot of Bhikkhuni Ordination - Latest.


I have also checked out a couple of the "famous" signatures myself and they are pukka.

Bhikkhuni Ordination - Latest

Now there appears to be some controversy over the "Petition in support of Ajahn Brahm and Bhikkhuni Ordination" itself! Ajahn Khemadhammo says that he did not sign it although his name does appear in the list of signatories. As he goes on to say that "My advice is to drop all this nonsense and get back to practising Dhamma",I'm inclined to believe him! Read more Here.....

150th Anniversary of the Publication of “On the Origin of Species”

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”, his momentous work, which he started here on the Island, explaining where we, and all of life, actually came from. There has been recent speculation that Darwin may have been influenced by Buddhist teachings. It turns out that Darwin's friend Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, the botanist and explorer, visited Tibet in 1847. He became familiar with Buddhist concepts there. He also wrote letters to Darwin.

Psychologist Paul Ekman has said that Darwin's descriptions of compassion, as well as his view of morality as it relates to compassion, closely mirror Buddhist ideas. For Darwin and Buddhists, the seed for compassion is in the mother-infant relationship - this is "simple compassion," Ekman said. Then there's global compassion - for example, sending money and clothes to victims of a natural disaster. Finally, heroic compassion means risking your own life to save another, just as the Buddha said a mother would to save her only child.

The fundamental idea in both Darwin's writings and Buddhist views of compassion is that "when I see you suffer, it makes me suffer, and that motivates me to reduce your suffering so I can reduce my suffering," he said.

Ekman, co-wrote a book with the Dalai Lama on compassion called "Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion." after reading him some passages of Darwin's work, Ekman recalls the Dalai Lama saying, "I am now calling myself a Darwinian."

Petition in support of Ajahn Brahm & Bhikkhuni Ordination

If you have been following the recent controversy over the expulsion of Ajahn Brahm for ordaining four Bhikkhuni as nuns and agree with me that in the 21st century women’s aspirations should not be subservient to dubious medieval cultural traditions, you may consider showing your support for Ajahn Brahm by signing the following petition.

Buddhism and women: calling for Bhikkhuni ordination and gender equality in the Forest Sangha

Another "Thought for Today"

Vishvapani been at it again. Yesterday he again gave the "Thought for Today".

Buddhist teachings remind me that, while suffering often prompts a cycle in which rage and frustration create further suffering, it can also be a gateway to compassion. But it's hard to move on from your own sufferings when they haven't been acknowledged.......

"Dalai Lama" Mantra - a Correction!

I'm embarrassed to report that our previous posting Dalai Lama's Healing Mantra is incorrect. The mantra is in fact not chanted by his Holiness but by Hein Braat, a , self effacing Dutchman whose devotion to chant and mantra has over many years produced many extraordinary versions of some of the most sacred chants and beloved mantras in the canon of mantra.

When Hein was told that this version of his recording was making the rounds and people were coming out and saying that the voice of the Dalai Lama was healing them, he became very concerned.

Not because of the fact that they thought it was the Dalai Lama's voice - but that if they subsequently knew that it was not his voice but Hein Braat's, their healing might drop away and they would become ill again!

Also the chant is from the Veda, which is Hindu not Buddhist. Tri-ambaka-m is the three-eyed one e.g. Lord Shiva.

Should Buddhists be Paying Taxes?

I recently saw a newspaper story about new laws being introduced by Harriet Harman as part of the Equality Bill, presently before Parliament, which will force councils to exempt the Church of Scientology from council tax and business rates, allowing the controversial ‘religion’ to receive the same tax breaks that the Church of England and other organised religions currently enjoy.

Now here's the point, the current exemptions apply to "Places of Worship" as defined by "The Places of Worship Registration Act 1855" which provides for places of meeting for religious worship to be certified to the Registrar General but does not apply to the established Church. When considering the registration of a building which has been certified as a place of religious worship, the Registrar General applies the judgment by the Court of Appeal in the Segerdal case. The main finding in the judgment is that the words ‘place of meeting for religious worship’ in the Act connote a place of which the principal use is for people to come together as a congregation to worship God or do reverence to a deity. Apart from the Church of England and the Church in Wales, any faith or denomination which meets these criteria would be capable of recognition under the 1855 Act.

Among the "faiths or denominations" listed are "Buddhists of the New Kadampa Traditional", "Friends of Western Buddhist order", "Zen Buddhists" and "Buddhists". Well, to simplify, they are all Buddhists and as such don't worship a god! Buddhism is non-theistic if not outright atheist. So maybe we've been getting away with it all these years. The Equality Bill calls on councils to protect “any religious or philosophical belief” from local tax increases.

A new “public-sector equality duty” not only bans all authorities from discriminating against any philosophical belief but forces them to “advance equality” of those who hold philosophical beliefs. So that's us covered, at last!