Kabbalah

So that is what the L.A. Kabbalah center is doing with Madonna's money... I got snail-mail spammed from the center with an offer to buy a book called Becoming like God. Quote:

So keep asking yourself, am I like God yet? Am I manifesting Godly Powers? Have I resurrected the dead?

There is no God in Buddhism, so no becoming like him/her/it. And resurrecting the dead seems like a total invasion of privacy, doesn't it?

Dhamma Rap

Dhamma Rap
The Ministry of Culture in Bangkok, Thailand hopes to harness the power of Hip-Hop to encourage Thai youth to be more active in the Buddhist religion. According to The Vice Minister for Culture Weerasak Kowsurat, the government is introducing a new genre of rap called ‘Dhamma Rap’.
(Via Protein Feed.)

On Snow + Color

Woke up to a blanket of snow. Overcast skies with more snow to come today.

I am reading a fascinating book: Color : A Natural History of the Palette.

...light actually does affect the object. When light shines on a leaf, or a daub of paint, or a lump of butter, it actually causes it to rearrange its electrons, in a process called "transition". There the electrons are, floating quietly in clouds within their atoms, and suddenly a ray of light shines on them. Imagine a soprano singing a high C and shattering a wineglass, because she catches its natural vibration. Something similar happens with the electrons, if a portion of the light happens to catch their natural vibration. It shoots them to another energy level and that relevant bit of light, that glass-shattering "note", is used up and absorbed. The rest is reflected out, and our brains read it as "color."

Perceiving color is a social agreement. Our earliest childhood memory is tied to learning enough words. Because it is easy for our brain to file away a moment once it can be put in words. The brain can then attach tags to the event and it becomes easy to remember. Before a child has language, an event cannot be easily remembered. Our brain likes to keep reality simple and plain - only reality is not like that as anybody knows who has experimented with mushrooms, LSD, peyote or similar drugs. Reality is fluid, constantly changing. Wood or steel just vibrate at a different frequency than rubber or jello. And color is a range of frequency rather a solid substance.

That brought me to thinking about flexibility:
Compassion requires flexibility to experience a different, even opposing point of view. Most religions don't have a great history of flexibility. Just remember what happened to Galileo, when he proclaimed the world to be a globe. Nontheless, flexibility is of the greatest importance if we desire to grow as a person or as a society. Without it learning is not possible. Many people lose that flexibility at some point, which is why some in their twenties appear old and fossilized and some very old folks have a youthful aura about them.

Learning about color is very interesting, because color exists only in our minds - what a buddhist concept!

Compassion

I have been thinking about compassion lately. What is it, if not the ability to put oneself in another person's shoes. The ability to take another person's point of view. This keeps leading me to two places:

Learning a second or third language allows us to see the world through multiple filters. Each language a different window on the world, a different angle.

Having art and music classes in school also encourages multiple viewpoints. Unlike basic math and science classes where there is only one correct way - 2 + 2 cannot be 5... there is not only one way to draw a tree. When you look at a fellow student's painting or drawing you witness another point of view. That is very different from looking at a fellow student's math test - where you see either a correct answer or a wrong one. The great thing about an art education is that you don't even need any talent to get a lot out of it.

What I am getting at is that a social and political climate of intolerance may be directly related to how people are educated.

Gut Brain

Last night I was reading in the book The Art of Just Sitting until 2am. A discourse on Yaoshan’s Non-Thinking by Daido Roshi - that discourse can also be found online here.

An article in the New York Times is quoted in the discourse and here is the reference:

[Scientists say] that the body has two brains -- the familiar one encased in the skull and a lesser known but vitally important one found in the human gut....The gut's brain, known as the enteric nervous system, is located in sheaths of tissue lining the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon. Considered a single entity, it is a network of neurons, neurotransmitters and proteins that zap messages between neurons, support cells like those found in the brain proper and a complex circuitry that enables it to act independently, learn, remember, and as the saying goes, produce gut feelings.

(Reference: "Complex and Hidden Brain in the Gut Makes Cramps, Butterflies, and Valium," Sandra Blakeslee. New York Times, Tuesday, January 23, 1996. p. B5)

Now check out the definitions of Hara and Qi.

When I studied Tai-Chi in Taipei in 1978, my teacher would constantly remind me to breath from a spot about two inches below the navel. That's where the energy (Chi or Qi) comes from.

Let's take a look around: it is all connected and the more you learn, the more you see and the more you understand, the more complete the picture becomes. That giant puzzle that is mine and your life. And each new thing you discover dovetails neatly into the matrix and expands it. It is glorious!

World of Dew

Kobayashi Issa, one of Japan’s three greatest haiku masters, lived an uneasy life, marked by family trouble and the death of his children. He is perhaps best known for the poignant poem written after the death of his daughter:

This world of dew
is a world of dew
and yet, and yet. . .
(via tricycle blog)

Beautiful post...

More adventures than Marco Polo

...so i sat still, totally still, freezing to death in the biting chill of the river i was standing in and the rain that was falling, and i waited. a few minutes later, my girlfriend's dad came down the driveway, driving a huge fucking tractor, one of those tractors with tires that are seven feet high, and he drove it right up to me, the whole time screaming "don't move, do NOT move". when i finally climbed on, the river was raging so intensely i was sure it was going to flip over the entire tractor, and both of us were going to be killed.
(Via stuart davis's blog.)

Ottmar Tags

It's been over 15 years since Nouveau Flamenco. I have shed all of my cells twice already. Time to list new Ottmar tags - with a nod to Eno:

I am -

a human
a man
a guitarist
a producer
a dreamer
a son
a father
a husband
a cook
a musician
a european by passport
an american by residence
a catholic by birth
a zen-buddhist by choice
a manifestor
a performer
a company director
an employer
an imaginer
a wine-lover
a driver
a walker
a pilates fan
a reader
a writer
a computer user
a mutt
a man with four wisdom teeth
an interviewee

Sitting

I am reading a fabulous book called The Art of Just Sitting - collected and edited by Daido Loori.

The book contains writings about Zazen, Zen meditation, from the last thousand years. What I find most interesting about this collection is that it is interesting how timeless some of the writing is. I find myself reading one of the essays from the year 1100, thinking yes, that sounds old... then I read the next essay by another Zen master and I think this sounds more modern, maybe from the last century... and I look up the author and the piece dates from the 1200's. Now, some of that is undoubtedly due to different translation styles, but I am amazed at how some people have been able to write about sitting in such a timeless fashion. Great book - highly recommended.

Different millenium - same work...

Opiate of the Masses

Spring Cleaning: I found this unfinished, old entry and while incomplete it raises some interesting issues.

I have lately been thinking of religion versus politics. It seems to me that the main issue of every society is getting people to see or feel something larger than themselves. This is a very important piece of the social puzzle. If a person feels part of something larger, they have a chance to cultivate compassion. They might take less and give more. They might not only allow other people to have differing opinions, they might even strive to understand other points of view.

Now, you don't have to have religion to feel part of something larger. You can also look to science to learn how everything is connected. But, that particular view might be dependent on a good education and a certain aptitude for that kind of knowledge - I hesitate to use the word intelligence, because it is often used wrongly. The result is that this view might leave a lot of people out, especially when a country decides to put more effort into smart bombs than smart kids. This is where religion comes in. It creates a simple framework that people of all levels and ages can feel part of. If you do good, you will go to heaven, if you do bad - you will go to hell. If a person dedicates an hour or more per week to some form of liturgy and contemplation, it will make a difference in their life.

Looking back it seems that one cannot displace or even mock religion unless we find an alternate way to make people feel included, feel part of something larger. When religion is cornered, religious people become more aggressive and conservative. Feeling threatened they cling together more, to the point of excluding anyone who is not part of their belief. Tolerance of differing opinions, views, and other religions is the first sentiment that is thrown out of the window at that point.

Certainly, efforts during the mid-20th Century by so-called developing countries like Iran and Egypt to modernize and becoming modern secular contries, alienated a lot of their people. But this has also happened here and to a lesser extend in Europe. We all have noticed what happens when people put themselves above any other person - isn't Enron a good example for that? What about the Donald, who I read gives annually to charity the equivalent of a person making $60,000 a year giving a mere 6 bucks...

When a person feels separate, not included, not part of something larger, s/he has a hard time developing compassion.

Not everyone can see the Earth as one small planet - as a few astronauts have been privileged to do. Not everyone can study quantum physics and understand the underlying matrix of all.

I really don't have an answer. I do not like the idea of religious groups getting paid by government to do social work. I do believe Church and State need to be kept separate... but I also see trouble if we cannot make more people feel included.

Everything I know I learned from music.

The leader leads. When it is my session and I am looking for a certain result, I expect musicians do try to accomplish that. When I am playing for another artist/producer, whether it's for money or for free, I do everything I can to create something that works for him/her.

The bigger the band, the less freedom we have. When I tour with a big band, like the nonet from 1997, much of the performance has to be arranged and rehearsed. A smaller band allows much more creativity and freedom. The more people inhabit this planet the less freedom each will have. One small planet - the bigger the band the less freedom... that's how it works.

Tears in the Rain

This is in response to a post from yesterday regarding three projects I am currently working on.

The title "Tears in rain" fits brilliantly to this of your directions. I like it. So many moments, feelings, experiences and stories get lost each day without us noticing it. Some time, we should capture some. To give them a memory. Respect. That life wasn't useless.
- Posted by Borya

I like that: giving a moment respect, but I disagree with your last notion. I think recording one's life does not make it useful. Life is a precious opportunity for each of us, and whether we use that opportunity well has little to do with recording our lives' moments. In other words I feel that the life of an enlightened master on top of some mountain is more useful - indeed for all of us - than the life of somebody whose life is documented and recorded and who has no realization whatsoever. Soon all of our lives will be documented anyway. Millions of bloggers write about their lives, billions of photographs are taken every day and more music is recorded every day than anybody can listen to... I mean, I am happy with the musical contributions I have made, but I'd be far more excited about being able to release the Buddha within... What will that music be like?

Open Letter to Larry King

During Friday's panel discussion, I was trying very hard not to offend the other panelists, all of whom represented theistic religions. Buddhism is unique in that it does not have any concept of a creator God; it explains all phenomena (including disasters such as the tsunami) within the context of the law of cause and effect. Some might say, in fact, that it offers a more down-to-earth and tangible explanation for natural disasters than Christianity's "trust in the will of God'' approach. Much of modern physics, in fact, agrees with the teachings of Buddhism.

Interesting letter from the Abbot of the Bhavana Society Forest Monastery in West Virginia. Unfortunately you rarely get a second chance on national TV, meaning - he should have said what he wanted to say.

Magic

RE: Ottmar Liebert @ INJournals: Nails and Reason

A friend once summed this up nicely for me: 'E, sometimes a red light is just a f***ing red light!
(Via vedana.net.)

Yes indeed. In fact I would have to say that a red light is always just a red light... unless you are a hunter-gatherer, in which case everything is a sign from the gods...

Turn on the Discovery channel or the Travel channel, mute the sound of your TV, and put on some music. Your brain will find/create connections between the visual input from the eyes and the auditory input from the ears. It's how our brain works. Creating connections is the brain's strength and and also its weakness, because it will try to see a connection where there is none.

Nails and Reason

This morning I broke the nail of my right hand's ring finger. I was bummed, because I was looking forward to practicing a lot today and now I have to take a couple of hours to repair the damage with crazy glue and silk. And that started this chain of thoughts:

So many people like to say that things happen for a reason. They look for some kind of cosmic purpose in why a person gets sick, gets run over by a bus, or loses a limb in a chain-saw accident. Here in Santa Fe you can hear New Agers say stuff like: so-and-so got sick - I wonder what s/he did to deserve that.

I think it is an understandable need human beings have, to try to explain their fortune or mis-fortune. I also think that it is bunk. See, when you walk down a path you probably inadvertently kill and maim hundreds of insects. If that insect, whose leg you broke by accident, could think... should it say - well, this must have happened for a higher purpose. I am supposed to learn something from this now, while I wait for that spider to come eat me...

Don't get me wrong, we can turn everything that happens to us into a lesson, but that does not mean that it happened in order for us to learn something in the first place. There is a big difference in those two views! If I break a nail, I might use that to study patience. I might consider that I should move less hasty etc. But it does absolutely not mean that the universe or a God arranged for me to break a nail in order that I might learn something. Nails break and Tsunamis happen, but not because we deserve them, and not to teach us a lesson.

Zen masters get sick, angels die, evil people survive and there is no purpose in that whatsoever! We can turn events into little Koans and learn from them - when life hands you lemons make lemonade! But please don't say that some poor soul was run over by a car for a reason.

Of Mice And Men

yesterday i came out to the studio and found the little guy kicking and squeeking trying to get free from the plastic stick-trap i'd set out for him the day before, carefully stocked with a slab of chocolate. that makes three dead mice this week, all my doing.
(Via stuart davis's blog.)

Stuart has a rodent problem. That reminds me...

I once killed a mouse with a German 12" cooking knife raised in my hands - samurai style.

The year: 1980
The location: my loft in Boston.
My girlfriend was talking to her friend when I noticed a mouse running across our make-shift kitchen counter. I got up and grabbed my large kitchen knife. The women were laughing at me standing there - unmoving....

Well, the mouse re-appeared on the table and down came the blunt side of the knife... damn was I impressed with myself and the shrieking women were an added bonus. Mouse dead instantly without any blood spilled...

My father has a better way: In 1997 he stayed in Tuscany with me. During the month of April a lot of centipedes and millipedes leave the olive trees and come inside the house. Many times I noticed him letting those creatures crawl on his hand, so he could take them to safety outside...

Birthday

Music: Bjork - Vespertine

Today is my 46th birthday. I have completed 46 years since my birth in 1959.

In a few days I will be 48 according to the Chinese way of counting. In China one is considered 1 year old when born and a year is added on the first day of every lunar calendar. In 1959 the lunar year started on February 8th, exactly a week after I was born. That means a week after I was born I was already 2 years old according to the Chinese count...

Because the lunar year started February 8th, I am a dog (1958) rather than a boar (1959).

February 9th, 2005 is the beginning of the new lunar year of the rooster - and I will turn 48. Two birthdays in one month. But, Chinese people don't celebrate a meager 48 years...

Traditionally, Chinese people do not pay a lot of attention to birthdays until they are 60 years old. The 60th birthday is regarded as a very important point of life and therefore there is often a big celebration. After that, a birthday celebration is held every ten years, that is the 70th, the 80th, etc, until the person's death. Generally, the older the person is, the greater the celebration occasion is.
about.com

Western: It is all about me and my birthday. Birthday is a celebration of the individual.
Eastern: It is about us and we all celebrate our birthday on the same day - lunar new year. Birthday is a celebration of the group/society.
(Zen: What birthday? Who's born?)