October 23, 2009
Tricycle's Daily Dharma

Being a Buddhist Police Officer

For thirteen years I was a law enforcement officer. In the dark humor of that environment, we called ourselves “paid killers for the country.” No one else wanted to be in out boots. I did not identify myself as a Buddhist; I was not aware that the way I behaved and experienced the world fit squarely with the Buddha's teachings. It is clear to me now that we could have been, and were, instruments of karma. But skillful action, discriminating awareness, karma, the law of causality were not terms in law enforcement basic training.

For a Buddhist in police work, the most important thing is to be constantly aware of ego. It is not your anger, not your revenge, not your judgment, no matter how personal the event. I was paid and trained to take spirit-bruising abuse. I endured things of which the majority of women in America will never even dream. For me it was not judgment, in the Western sense, but discernment. This kept me, and others, alive and healthy. This discernment allowed me to act skillfully in crisis. The law of causality allowed me to know that if I could not stop the perpetrator of violence or pain or loss, that some other vehicle would reach that person—karma.

- Laurel Graham, from “Vajra Gun,” Tricycle, Winter 1998

"If I could meditate, I'd be a better person."
When people start to meditate or to work with any kind of spiritual
discipline, they often think that somehow they're going to improve,
which is a sort of subtle aggression against who they really are. It's
a bit like saying, "If I jog, I'll be a much better person." "If I
could only get a nicer house, I'd be a better person." "If I could
meditate and calm down, I'd be a better person"... But loving-kindness
- maitri - toward ourselves doesn't mean getting rid of anything.
Maitri means that we can still be crazy after all these years. We can
still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous
or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to change
ourselves. Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves
away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are
already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right
now, just as we are. That's the ground, that's what we study, that's
what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.

- Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness from
Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith

Grasping Fire
The Buddha's teaching is all about understanding suffering--its
origin, its cessation, and the path to its cessation. When we
contemplate suffering, we find we are contemplating desire, because
suffering and desire are the same thing.

Desire can be compared to fire. If we grasp fire, what happens? Does
it lead to happiness? If we say: "Oh, look at that beautiful fire!
Look at the beautiful colors! I love red and orange; they're my
favorite colors," and then grasp it, we would find a certain amount of
suffering entering the body. And then if we were to contemplate the
cause of that suffering we would discover it was the result of having
grasped that fire. On that information, we would hopefully then let
the fire go. Once we let fire go then we know that it is not something
to be attached to. This does not mean we have to hate it, or put it
out. We can enjoy fire, can't we? It is nice having a fire, it keeps
the room warm, but we do not have to burn ourselves in it.

--Ajahn Sumedho, Teachings of a Buddhist Monk
From Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

“Those are some nice pantyhose” he says again, “where do you get pantyhose like that?” A direct question. A lifetime of conditioning that says girls should be nice and friendly forces me to reply.

I look down at my legs, emerging from my pink wool skirt in a pattern of large, lacy flowers. “I think I got them at Target.” The little girl is darting back and forth between the bus shelter and the curb. Her mother tells her to sit down. Her father says, “maybe when you grow up you can have some pantyhose like that.” I give them a tight lipped smile.

I don’t want to be held up as role model for this girl. My lace tights, drawing so many eyes, wanted and unwanted, are too flamboyant, too sexy, too feminine. Despite all the time and energy I spend advocating for my right to wear such clothing, to be flamboyant, feminine and sexy while also being queer, smart, and respected, I don’t want little girls to see me and think that this is how to be a woman. But why not? My parents worked really hard to shield me from mainstream representations of women, and, well, look how I turned out. It would have been nice to have some role models for femininity that was consciously chosen and not just directed at being attractive for boys. But I don’t think there was a middle ground, and since my parents didn’t want my sisters and I [sic] to be brainwashed with images of sexualized womanhood, we were stuck in a gender-neutral world of legos and American Girl dolls.
(Linky)

True Freedom Is an Inward State of Being
Morality as taught by way of rules is extremely powerful and valuable
in the development of practice. It must be remembered that it, like
all the techniques in meditation, is merely a tool to enable one to
eventually get to that place of unselfishness where morality and
wisdom flow naturally. In the West, there's a myth that freedom means
free expression--that to follow all desires wherever they take one is
true freedom. In fact, as one serves the mind, one sees that following
desires, attractions, repulsions is not at all freedom, but is a kind
of bondage. A mind filled with desires and grasping inevitably entails
great suffering. Freedom is not to be gained through the ability to
perform certain external actions. True freedom is an inward state of
being. Once it is attained, no situation in the world can bind one or
limit one's freedom. It is in this context that we must understand
moral precepts and moral rules. - Jack Kornfield, Living Dharma from
Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

http://www.tricycle.com/issues/2_536/dailydharma/4135-1.html

Mindfulness vs. Concentration
Some people do not know the difference between "mindfulness" and
"concentration." They concentrate on what they're doing, thinking that
is being mindful. . . . We can concentrate on what we are doing, but
if we are not mindful at the same time, with the ability to reflect on
the moment, then if somebody interferes with our concentration, we may
blow up, get carried away by anger at being frustrated. If we are
mindful, we are aware of the tendency to first concentrate and then to
feel anger when something interferes with that concentration. With
mindfulness we can concentrate when it is appropriate to do so and not
concentrate when it is appropriate not to do so.
-- Ajahn Sumedho, in Teachings of a Buddhist Monk
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/2_482/dailydharma/4048-1.html

1. Good news for la_directora: As evidence of a major shift in Spain's attitude toward animal rights and violence, Spain's state-run TV service has decided to stop showing bullfights at times when children might be watching. I wonder if they allow lesbian kisses? Full story from The World here. Scroll down to "Spanish TV cancels bullfight coverage"


2. The Goddess is alive and magic is afoot. Evidence of older, female-centered rituals exist in the Islamic tradition, too. The description of Zar (or Zaar) music in the last segment of the same show listed above sounds awfully familiar. It's led by women, it builds to a fever pitch or trance, it has healing qualities, it's designed to get the participants in touch with their own spirit, or the spirits, or The Spirit. It's familiar because it's the same thing I've been doing in ritual here in the US for well over ten years. It's also similar to what I know of Sufi ritual.
   
   A Google search on the topic turns up mixed results. These are three I found interesting:
   
   
   • Arabic writings on Zar (PDF) A scholarly bibliography of a number of sources. Useful if you'd like to do some library research.
   
   
   • Chapter Twelve of The Influence of Animism on Islam. The Christian/modern patriarchal bias (they liken the ritual to Black Mass) makes me squicked, but if you can read past it you may actually find accurate details.
   • Homosexuality in "Traditional" Sub-Saharan Africa and Contemporary South Africa I find it interesting that zar appears to be linked to homosexuality. Well, it is female-centered, so men who participate must be gender-suspect. Funny how humans constantly conflate gender identity with sexual orientation.
   
   


3. Okay, so I really dug last night's show of the The World. There was a great story on women in combat in Iraq. The segment includes excellent interviews with a number of female soldiers profiled in Band of Sisters, a book written by journalist Kirsten Holmstedt about women in combat situation. Military law still states that women cannot fight "in combat," but as Holmstedt notes, "in Iraq, the front lines are everywhere--and everywhere in Iraq women in the U.S. military fight."
   



4. Daily Dharma quote about right livelihood:
   

   
   Right Livelihood Today
   Right Livelihood appears to be harder to practice these days than in
   the time of the Buddha. The rule is still the same: Right Livelihood
   is organizing one's financial support so that it is nonabusive,
   nonexploitive, nonharming. However, these days what is abusive and
   exploitive is not necessarily self-evident. When the Buddha taught,
   unwholesome livelihood categories were easy to distinguish.
   Soldiering, keeping slaves, manufacturing weapons and intoxicants--all
   were on the proscribed list. In our time, soldiers sometimes serve as
   peacekeepers. It's hard to know the wholesomeness of all the products
   of any corporation, corporate mergers being what they are. Who knows
   what else is being manufactured by my detergent company's
   subsidiaries? . . . For me, a complete picture of wholesome Right
   Livelihood is even larger than the proscriptions that reflect external
   choices. Wholesome internal choices--healthy attitudes about one's
   work--also contribute to mental happiness and peace of mind.
   Everyone's livelihood is an opportunity for self-esteem.
   -Sylvia Boorstein, It's Easier Than You Think
   from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
   http://www.tricycle.com/issues/2_478/dailydharma/4044-1.html
   

   
   This is a question I struggle with quite a good deal. Anyone who saves for retirement by investing in mutual funds may inadvertently be funding a company that participates in icky things like warmongering or child labor. I've looked into the new lines of "socially responsible" investment funds, but find that their rate of return is less than stellar. And one still needs to wonder about who decides what company is socially responsible. They tend to be heavy on the tech stocks, which leads to extra volatility.
   
   Right livelihood is why I refused a gig at Raytheon, a defense contractor and pretty big employer here in the Boston area. But defense contractors often come up with new technologies that substantially improve one's quality of life--and I'm not just talking Tang. My second-generation-immigrant grandfather spent his life working at Lockheed, which makes both passenger aircraft and war planes.
   
   Boorstein's notion of "wholesome internal choices" is helpful. And one must be centered and well to do good effectively in the world. But it's also easy to become complacent and believe that living well and taking care of oneself is enough. It's not.
   
   



5. I received some feedback recently regarding my communication style, which was described as "abrasive." While opportunities for self-improvement abound, I find myself caught in the same conundrum many women in business face. Early on in my career, a friend of mine suggested I read a book called Hardball for Women, which did an excellent job at helping me adapt to a culture that was originally made for men, by men, and about men--I'm talking about the business world. It helped me to understand the different ways that men and women communicate, and I began to modify my communication style as a result. But here's where the dilemma sets in: they see my tits. So they expect different things from me than they would of someone with no tits (or man-boobs). A man expresses anger or impatience, he's seen as powerful or important. A woman expresses anger or impatience, she's seen as out of control or moody. And God forbid you mention these different expectations in the actual business world! That's playing the gender card!
   
   The tightrope, the challenge, the opportunity for personal growth (or AFGO, as they call it in some circles), is this: to appear competent, powerful, in control, while still personable and approachable. It's fun, kids! Now you try!
   
   

China Insists on Naming Living Buddhas
China on Friday asserted the sole right to recognize living Buddhas, reincarnations of famous lamas that form the backbone of the religion's clergy.

All future incarnations of living Buddhas related to Tibetan Buddhism "must get government approval," the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the State Administration for Religious Affairs.
[...]
A copy of the new rules posted to the administration's Web site said the selection of reincarnates "must preserve national unity and solidarity of all ethnic groups."

"The process cannot be influenced by any group or individual from outside the country," it said in an apparent reference to the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.
[...]
China in 1992 rejected the exiled Dalai Lama's choice for the latest reincarnation of the Panchen, seizing the boy and appointing another boy in his stead.

Teachers in Many Forms
[I]n India, I was living in a little hut, about six feet by seven
feet. It had a canvas flap instead of a door. I was sitting on my bed
meditating, and a cat wandered in and plopped down on my lap. I took
the cat and tossed it out the door. Ten seconds later it was back in
my lap. We got into a sort of dance, this cat and I. I would toss it
out, and it would come back. I tossed it out because I was trying to
meditate, to get enlightened. But the cat kept returning. I was
getting more and more irritated, more and more annoyed with the
persistence of the cat. Finally, after about a half-hour of this
coming in and tossing out, i had to surrender. There was nothing else
to do. There was no way to block off the door. I sat there, the cat
came back in, and it got on my lap. But I did not do anything. I just
let go. Thirty seconds later the cat got up and walked out. So you
see, our teachers come in many forms.
--Joseph Goldstein
( http://www.tributetea.com/ )
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/2_446/dailydharma/3954-1.html

If I have a feeling of anger, how would I mediate on that? How would I deal with it, as a Buddhist, or as an intelligent person? I would not look upon anger as something foreign to me that I have to fight, to have surgery in order to remove it. I know that anger is me, and I am anger. Nonduality, not two. I have to deal with my anger with care, with tenderness, with nonviolence. Because anger is me, I have to tend to my anger as I would tend a younger brother or sister, with love, with care, because I myself am anger, I am in it, I am it. In Buddhism we do not consider anger, hatred, greed as enemies we have to fight, to destroy, to annihilate. If we annihilate anger, we annihilate ourselves. Dealing with anger in that way would be like transforming yourself into a battlefield, tearing yourself into parts, one part taking the side of Buddhism, and one part taking the side of Mara. If you struggle in that way, you do violence to yourself. If you cannot be compassionate to yourself, you will not be able to be compassionate to others. When we get angry, we have to produce awareness: "I am angry. Anger is in me. I am anger." That is the first thing to do.
-- Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, p. 46. Parallax Press. Berkeley, California: 2005.

"Love all Creation.
The whole and every grain of sand in it.
Love every leaf,
and every ray of light.
Love the plants.
Love the animals.
Love everything.
If you love everything,
you will perceive the Divine Mystery
in all things.
Once you perceive it,
you will comprehend it better every day.
And you will come, at last,
To love the whole world
with an all-embracing love."
- Dostoyevsky, Brothers Karamazov