"Police are not my friends" (video)

Wisdom Quarterly interview with "Caroline" (Occupy Cal)


"Police are not my friends."

If police are not your friends, why are you their friend?

"Because I'm a Buddhist, and we don't expect to succeed acting the same way as they do. They drag people to jail by the hair like cavemen. It's sexism. There's racism. It's a police state."

Why are you participating in tomorrow's campus strike and teach out?

"We want student loan gouging to stop, bank greed, police abuse, endless war, fee increases, cut courses... There are so many issues that anyone not participating has to be questioned for apathy or ignorance."

Police drag demonstrators away by the hair
There is a lot of controversy at UC Berkeley after two videos surfaced showing law enforcement officers dragging two "Occupy Cal" demonstrators by their hair. The images triggered outrage among the faculty at Cal. Officers forcefully yanked people from their huddle, eventually forcing them to the ground. At one point in the video, an officer is shown pulling Prof. Celeste Langan by her hair and then arresting her. More

The Buddha on Friendship
Sharon Salzberg (adapted from The Force of Kindness, Sounds True, care2.com)

The Buddha often emphasized the characteristics of a good friend. He spoke about a good friend as one who gives a kind of happiness based on knowing our interconnectedness. Learning to be a good friend to ourselves and being one to others is really the same thing. Here are wise words about friendship from the Buddha as we approach Thanksgiving: He spoke about a good friend, a true friend, as being someone who is a helper, who protects us when we are unprotected, surprised by life in some way. The friend is a refuge when we are afraid. A good friend is constant in our time of happiness and... More

Interfaith Community, which has joined occupations, is being arrested.

• Police to conduct review after "Occupy Cal" arrests
• CHP officer shot near Sac; police execute suspect
• Police (LAPD) shoots man in downtown
• VIDEO: Raided Oakland demonstrators chant
• Occupy Yale, the Ivy League, and New Haven
• Student loans add to angst at Occupy Wall Street
• Brilliant students seek jobs beyond Wall Street

• VIDEO: fully armed SWAT used to evict Occupy Philly
  
• Police investigate officer involved shooting
• Police shoot, kill armed man in Green Bay
• Story, photos: Police shoot, kill man outside tavern‎
• Elkridge man dies after police shoot him 8 times
• Report: Hoboken man almost gets shot over bottle of beer
• Campus police shoot man at Elizabeth City State Univ.
• Police shoot man carrying assault rifle on N.C. campus

VIDEO: Portrait of a protest

• 
  Panorama: 360° view of L.A. City Hall encampment
• 
  Audio slide show: Through the words of an artist
• 
  Audio slide show: Nightfall to daybreak

• SF police shoot, kill man after foot chase
• Police dismantle "Occupy Oakland"
• Cain accuser's lawyer says witness to speak
• Public money expected in 49ers stadium
• AUDIO: Taliban stones, shoots mother/daughter
• OH, AND, BTW: Banks quietly ramping up costs

Shift Happens, so SHINE! (video)

Seven (Co-Editor, Wisdom Quarterly)
(GR8quotes/Facebook)

The Real Meaning of "Metta"

The exclusively Buddhist language Pali has a word being incorporated into English: Mettā. This term (Sanskrit, maitri) is very much like the English meta.

Although it is usually translated as (altruistic-) love, kindness, loving-kindness, or friendliness, it has more in common with meta, which means "beyond." It is an "active interest in others" that takes us beyond ourselves.

Selfishness, self-interest, and self-absorption are the problem; the sense of love that grows so powerful it becomes compassion is part of the solution along with liberating wisdom.

Metta goes beyond. It transcends. It is universal and eventually boundless. One extends it first to loved ones, respected teachers, one's own tribe or the constellation one navigates. But with the same fervor a mother shows for a beloved child, that same concern extends to everyone without exception -- even the monsters, betrayers, Hitlers, devils, or anyone considered "other."

Of course, there's ONE horrible, almost unforgivable creature who also deserves our loving-kindness. Most find this being so odious that they just cannot bear to forgive it. Compared to this one, Adolf Hitler is easy. But it is necessary to do so. It may even be necessary to forgive this one first:

You can travel the whole universe and yet never find anyone more deserving of your loving-kindness than yourself.

According to Gary Sanders: The founder of Against the Stream, (Dharma Punx author) Noah Levine had so much trouble loving Levine that he set up a picture of himself as a child on an altar. Following Jack Kornfield's advice, he developed loving-kindness towards that child for a year. When we are able to love ourselves, loving everyone else somehow becomes possible. And we can finally go beyond.

Shift happens, like an accident or job loss. But foul shytza becomes fine soil. For it is capable of fertilizing many great things. It is fundamental to our meta-morphosis into loving, empathic beings.

Meta Futures (metaphorics.co.uk)

(GR8quotes/Facebook)

"Metta World Peace" rules!

Wisdom Quarterly

It is not often one can look up to a sports star. (Unless it's a towering human titan with remnant DNA from our gigantic past due to manipulation from fallen space beings like asuras, nagas, and devas). But Ron Artest is different. He would not let anything stand in the way of a name change to wear kindness, friendliness (mettā or maitri in Sanskrit), altruism, and peace like a badge for all to see. (Badges are available from tee-shirt dealers in the form of yellow jerseys for $32.99).

(Jayamangalani) From the sutra on loving kindness. By the power of this discourse, the "demons" and ogres (yakkhas) do not bring up fearful visions. A person making effort regarding this instruction day and night (by reciting and practicing) sleeps comfortably and is freed of bad dreams among other benefits.

Metta is a Pali (an exclusively Buddhist language) word that means "altruistic love" -- loving kindness, loving friendliness, agape, fraternity, eudaimonia, non-enmity, non-animosity, non-separation.

We are all connected on some level. And in recognition of this, to break down the barriers set up by illusion, we practice loving-kindness meditation. world peace speaks for itself.

And it speaks of one of the results of cultivating metta. The other result is immediate, our own peace of mind, relief, and reconnection.

There are 11 benefits to developing metta, and those are to be expected from someone who develops metta to the level of absorption (jhana). Otherwise, the benefits may sound preposterous and overblown. Metta cultivated to any extent benefits oneself, others, and everyone. It is not possible to benefit others without benefiting oneself.

It is altruism nonetheless, just as harming others invariably harms oneself. Altruism exists but is not achieved instantly. As the delusion of self and separation fall away by progressive insight, metta is the natural outcome. There is no wisdom without compassion.

There are three poisons and their opposites, the Three Antidotes:

1. Altruism or non-greed (alobha): selflessness, concern for the welfare of others, a traditional virtue in Buddhist and many other cultures, the opposite of selfishness. Instead of being "selfish," one expresses an enlightened self-interest by being both for one's own welfare and the welfare of others simultaneously, knowing that any benefit to others does indeed benefit oneself now and/or in the future
2. Loving-kindness or non-hatred (adosa): metta, consideration for others, friendliness, nonresistance, acceptance, allowing. It is the opposite of frustration that flows in harmony with others and the situation, accepting what is and choosing what to do from there (even if that means working to oppose it). It is freedom from anger, cruelty, wrath, and annoyance (which is where anger starts).
3. Wisdom or non-delusion (amoha): insight, realization of the Four Ennobling Truths, which reveals our interdependence and interconnectedness. Far from being alone and separated, we are intimately tied and experiencing much of the same thing. Therefore, just as we would want to be treated we would be wise to treat others. It will come back to us by the mysterious workings of karma.
   

Money and the Kindness of Strangers

Wisdom Quarterly

It was raining money at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium! Club-level server Heather Allison was taking orders in the stands at a Chargers football game when she tripped and showered unsuspecting fans a level below with about $1,000 in cash. You can guess what happened.

• A man threw his baby over the railing telling him to grab as much cash as he could before hitting the bleachers?
• Fans began to fight each other resulting in two deaths in a mad scramble during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression?
• Gunshots were fired by security personnel in an attempt to clear the crowd who looked up to see money raining down before the shots did injuring many in the confusion and stampede?
  
• No, it was even more amazing. The fans surprised everyone.

Sports hooligans, susceptible to groupthink, give all fans a bad name (AP)

“All my customers began screaming over the railing to the people below: ‘That’s the servers’ money,’” explains Allison, who has sold refreshments in Sections 36 and 37 for five years.

Fans helped collect the stray bills as did the crowd below. Within minutes, a security officer returned with a stack of cash for the grateful waitress. “It was all there,” says the mother of four and full-time student who, after paying the concession, still pocketed $170 in tips. “Chargers fans are amazing,” she says. “We’re like a family.”

• Money rains on fans in freak accident (SD Union-Tribune)
• Wife severs husband's penis tosses it in garbage disposal
  
• Bay Area man drops baby into hot oven
  
• What happens when a waitress drops $1000? (NBC Sports)
• Father's testosterone drops after baby arrives (USA Today)
  

Jealous woman sets boyfriend on fire
This is the horrific moment a couple became human fireballs as they were engulfed in flames in a New York street. The first victim, 32, is pictured with his clothes burning as he desperately tried to put out the fire. He died four days later in hospital from 50 percent burns. On the floor, his 50-year-old lover, mass murderer Agnes Bermudez lies screaming in pain as flames roar along her body, as she was accidentally ignited in the attack. The terrifying images were captured on CCTV. But the blaze caught hold of their apartment block in Queens and three people died in the fire. Horribly disfigured in the attack, Burmudez was charged with four counts of murder -- because that's how things are done in America. More

Buddha's Advice: Question and Investigate

Wisdom Quarterly translation (AN 3.65) by Seven based on the work of Soma Thera
(hanciong/flickr)

The message the Buddha delivered to the Kalamas in Kesaputta (AN 3.65) is one of openness, investigation, and questioning what is taught by whoever it is taught. It is given above in brief. This is the full discourse:

The Kalamas of Kesaputta
1. Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha, while wandering in the Kosala country with a large community of monastics, entered a town of the Kalama people called Kesaputta.

The Kalamas said to one another: "Reverend Gautama, the monk, the son of the Sakyans [has had this reputation:] 'Indeed, the Blessed One is thus consummate, fully enlightened, endowed with knowledge and practice, sublime, knower of the worlds..."

Asking for Guidance
3. The Kalamas asked: "Venerable sir, there are some monks and brahmins who visit Kesaputta. They expound and explain only their own doctrines. The doctrines of others they despise, revile, and pull to pieces.

"Some other monks and brahmins too, venerable sir, come to Kesaputta. They also expound and explain only their own doctrines. The doctrines of others they despise, revile, and pull to pieces. Venerable sir, there is doubt, there is uncertainty in us concerning them. Which of these revered monks and brahmins spoke the truth and which falsehood?"



Criteria for Rejection
4. "Kalamas, it is proper for you to doubt, to be uncertain. Uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas:

• Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing
• nor upon tradition
• nor upon rumor
• nor upon what is scripture
• nor upon surmising
• nor upon an axiom
• nor upon (specious) reasoning
• nor upon a bias toward a notion that has been pondered over
• nor upon another's seeming ability
• nor upon the consideration, 'This monk is our teacher.'
  

But, Kalamas, when you yourselves know, 'These things are unprofitable, these things are blameworthy, these things are censured by the wise, when undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill' then abandon them.

Greed, Hate, and Delusion
5. "What do you think, Kalamas? Does greed appear in a person for benefit or harm?"

"For harm, venerable sir."

"Kalamas, being given to greed, and being overwhelmed and vanquished mentally by greed, a person takes life, steals, commits sexual misconduct, and speaks falsehoods. That person prompts others to do likewise. Will that be for harm and ill?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

6-7. "What do you think, Kalamas? Does hate...delusion appear in a person for benefit or harm?"

"For harm, venerable sir."

"Kalamas, being given to hate...delusion, and being overwhelmed and vanquished mentally by hate...delusion, a person takes life, steals, commits sexual misconduct, and speaks falsehoods. That person prompts others to do likewise. Will that be for harm and ill?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

8. "What do you think, Kalamas, are these things profitable or unprofitable?"

"Unprofitable, venerable sir"

"Blameworthy or blameless?"

"Blameworthy, venerable sir."

"Censured or praised by the wise?"

"Censured, venerable sir."

"When undertaken and observed, do these things lead to harm and ill or not? Or how does it strike you?"

"When undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill. This is how it strikes us."

9. "Kalamas, therefore was it said, 'Come Kalamas! Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing, nor upon tradition, nor upon rumor... but when you yourselves know: "These things are unprofitable, these things are blameworthy, these things are censured by the wise, and when undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill" then abandon them.'...

The Four Exalted Dwellings
16. "Kalamas, the disciple of the Noble Ones who in this way is devoid of greed, devoid of ill will, undeluded, and instead clearly comprehending and mindful, dwells this way:

"Having pervaded with thoughts of loving-kindness (friendliness, amity, metta) one quarter, so the second, so the third, and likewise the fourth, so above, below, and across. One dwells having pervaded all living beings in all directions, everywhere in the entire universe with a heart grown great, exalted, with boundless thoughts of loving-kindness toward everyone free of hate or malice.

"One lives having pervaded with thoughts of compassion (karuna)... thoughts of gladness-over-their-success (mudita)... equanimity (impartiality, upekkha)... with a heart grown great, exalted, with boundless thoughts of equanimity toward everyone free of hate or malice.

The Four Solaces
17. "Kalamas. the disciple of the Noble Ones who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, such a purified mind is one who finds four solaces here and now.

"'Suppose there is a hereafter and there is fruit and results of deeds done well or ill. Then it is possible that at the dissolution of the body after death, I shall re-arise [be reborn] in heavenly worlds, which are states of bliss.' This is the first solace found.

"'Suppose there is no hereafter and no fruit or results of deeds done well or ill. Yet in this world, here and now, free from hatred, free from malice, safe and sound, and happy, I keep myself.' This is the second solace found.

"'Suppose unpleasant (results) befall doers of ill. I, however, think of doing il. to no one. Then, how can ill (results) affect me who does no ill deed?' This is the third solace found.

"'Suppose ill (results) do not befall an doers of ill. Then I see myself purified in any case.' This is the fourth solace found.

"Kalamas, the disciple of the Noble Ones who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, such a purified mind is one who finds here and now these four solaces."

"So it is, Blessed One! So it is, Sublime One! The disciple of the Noble Ones, venerable sir, who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, such a purified mind is one who finds, here and now, these four solaces.



"Marvelous, venerable sir! Marvelous, venerable sir!

"Venerable sir, it is as if a person were to turn up what was upside down, or to uncover what was concealed, or to point the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the darkness, thinking, 'Those who have eyes will see'!

"So has the Dharma [truth] been set forth in many ways by the Blessed One. Venerable sir, we go to the Blessed One for guidance, to the Dharma for guidance, and to the Community of [accomplished] monastics for guidance.

"Venerable sir, may the Blessed One regard us as lay followers who have gone for guidance from this day forward!"

• A Look at the Kalama Sutta by Bhikkhu Bodhi
• The Right to Ask Questions by Larry Rosenberg
• Looking closely at Equanimity by Rasa Spa
  

My Meditation Spaceship (Tent)

Ashley Wells, Seven, CC Liu

"Inhale, Exhale, Hike" backpacking yoga trip, Canyonlands Nat'l Park (zozi.com)

Mornings of backyard relaxation or epic hiking and yoga woven around reconnecting to living in the moment? Both are available. An awe inspiring adventure trip offers days of backpacking, yoga, and travel through the red-hued rocks of Canyonlands. The same level of adventure is possible in the backyard, awakening to a morning practice in the cool outdoor air at home. Meditation means getting grounded in the moment. But "all space is here, all time is now" as Wendy Rule sings. So a tent can be a spaceship to travel anywhere in a relaxed and imaginative state. No practice? No problem. Now is the time to learn.



Learn Meditation from Wildmind

• Our posture workshop is where we suggest you start if you don't already have a meditation practice (and perhaps even if you do). We'll take you step-by-step through the process of setting up a meditation posture that will allow you to be both alert and relaxed.
• The mindfulness of breathing is a fundamental meditation practice that everyone should know. The benefits? You'll find that this practice helps you to calm your mind so that there's less inner chatter (especially the stuff that makes you unhappy). You'll find also that you're less distractable and better able to pay attention.
  
  
• The development of loving-kindness (metta) works directly on our emotional habits, helping us to become more emotionally positive. You'll learn to be kinder to yourself: more patient, more understanding. You'll find that you're more considerate to others and that it's easier to forgive. You may even find (as others have) that others around you mysteriously become easier to be around. Hmm... wonder why that is?
  
  
• Walking meditation is a great way to bring more meditation into your daily life; it's a practice that can be done even in a busy city street. In this form of practice we develop greater mindfulness of the body, but we also become more aware of our thought patterns, our emotions, and even of the outside world. It's a calming practice. Walking meditation can also be a loving-kindness practice, especially when you're walking in a public place.
  
  
• Our mantra meditation section is the most popular destination for our visitors. Mantras are simply phrases that we repeat (usually internally, but they can also be chanted out loud). As well as occupying the mind and thus calming it by preventing it from getting up to the usual mischief that causes us pain, mantras also have a symbolic value that evokes spiritual qualities.
  
  
• The six element practice is a profound reflection on interconnectedness and impermanence. It's a very beautiful form of meditation. It not only helps us to calm the mind and give us a reassuring sense of our place in the great scheme of things, it can be unsettling and challenging as well. Yes, I know. Reassuring and unsettling, that's Buddhist practice for ya!
  
  

• Obama's summer fashions during a time of war and quakes
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• 3 years for UN driver trafficking minerals
• Aruba releases more photos of missing US woman
• US asks UN Council to unfreeze Libyan assets

Slaughter-Free Milk

If you must drink milk (or consume dairy products like cheese, whey, lactose sugar, ice cream, or other things that do more to leach calcium from bones -- due to their acidifying of body chemistry and the ammonia produced from the break down of protein -- than they provide in any assimilable form), use slaughter-free. It's the least we could do to give thanks for what is taken from moo cows.

PRODUCTION:

The Lotus Trust has finally found a suitable farm to produce slaughter-free milk after two years of searching. Working in partnership with OMSCo (Organic Milk Suppliers Cooperative), an organic dairy in SE England has agreed to pilot the production of Ahimsa [nonviolent, harm-free] milk with a select herd of cows.

Commonwork is an environmental charity, study center and an organic dairy near Sevenoaks in Kent [England]. It has a well established educational program that explores local and global sustainability. The thrust of its work is towards a just and sustainable world.

Due to parallels in its vision with The Lotus Trust for a fairer world, one where there is collaboration and connection with nature, it has agreed to run this first pilot.

Ahimsa milk will be produced to the following minimal standards:

• No cows, calves, or bulls will be slaughtered
• Cows can graze freely on open pasture
• Cows will be protected for life

Commonwork Organic Dairy is fully responsible for all milking cows. The Lotus Trust has set up a new not-for-profit organization -- the Ahimsa Dairy Foundation (ADF), which will be responsible for ongoing care of all non-milking cows, specifically calves, bulls, and retired milking cows.

Meat and milk as commodities -- cash cow

Cows at Commonwork are looked after to Soil Association organic standards, which means:

• they are not injected with hormones or steroids;
• they are on a diet of non-GM forage (mainly plant leaves, stems, legumes, and grass) primarily grown on the farm;
  
• they graze in open fields during spring, summer, and autumn.
  

Winter housing is spacious and they have areas where they can walk around with access to food 24 hours a day. The health and welfare of the cows is foremost, they are treated with homeopathy and alternative treatments when possible. Antibiotics are used only when no other approaches work. More

• Genetically-altered cows produce human milk
• Cow escapes slaughterhouse, new adventure
  
• Cow Dharma
• Save the Cows

Living beings treated like unfeeling factories

11 Advantages of Loving-Kindness (sutra)

"Discourse on the Advantages of Loving-kindness" (Mettanisamsa Sutta) translated from the Pali by Piyadassi Thera edited by Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha on tour by foot through India teaching (buddhagautama.com)

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Buddha was staying near Savatthi at Jeta's Grove in Anathapindika's abbey. He addressed the monastics there, "Monks."

"Venerable sir," they replied.

"Eleven advantages are to be expected from the release of heart/mind by [the absorbed] practice of loving-kindness (metta), by constantly increasing thoughts of loving-kindness, by regarding loving-kindness as a vehicle and as something to be treasured, by living according to loving-kindness, by putting these sentiments into practice, and by establishing them. What are the eleven? The practitioner:

• (1) sleeps in comfort, (2) awakes in comfort, (3) sees no bad dreams, (4) is dear to human beings, (5) is dear to non-human beings, (6) is protected by devas, (7) is safe from fire, poison, and swords, (8) concentrates the mind quickly, (9) is of serene countenance, (10) passes away free of confusion, (11) and if one does not attain full enlightenment here and now in this very life is reborn in a brahma world [a literal divine abode].

The Buddha returning from the "Space Realm of the Thirty-three" (buddhagautama.com)

"These advantages are to be expected from the release of heart/mind by [the absorbed] practice of loving-kindness, by constantly increasing thoughts of loving-kindness, by regarding loving-kindness as a vehicle and as something to be treasured, by living according to loving-kindness, by putting these sentiments into practice, and by establishing them."

So said the Buddha. Those monks rejoiced at the words of the Blessed One.