Black house spider

I have a 'pet' - a black house spider - 'a common species of cribellate Australian spider, found throughout much of Australia and New Zealand' (Wikipedia). She (I presume) is 2 years old (I presume) and has been living in the corner of the bathroom window for that span of time. They are not supposed to live for much longer than that but she has had a relatively stress-free life - no kids, no partner - so maybe that explains it. I allow her to live there because I always know where she is - she never leaves the window. A huntsman that wandered all over the place I would struggle with. She can be relied on to stay where she is. She has remained unfound by a male black house spider. Why I don't know. Now if she had chosen the shed....

However, she must sometimes be very hungry. Not much edible food wanders into that part of the bathroom, or into the bathroom at all. What was she thinking when she chose that spot? It isn't location, location, location. Although they like habitating around light sources (eg a window) that may attract insects.

Over summer there were blowflies in the house for a while and that must have been feast time for her. Every time I caught one I would fling it into her expansive web. She would wait a polite (cautious) amount of time before heading out of the corner to get her catch. The fly, once in the web, would stop struggling - a survival strategy probably. But there was no hope. She is big, about the size of my thumb and about the same shape (body and legs included) and she knows what she is about once the food is in the larder. Lately though there hasn't been much happening. I caught a moth the other day and flung it into her web. She didn't wait a seemly amount of time but raced out to get it. She seems to be able to survive on not much food.

Sometimes when I am in the bathroom cleaning my teeth at the basin, she will come out. I think she has realised that I am not going to hurt her, and might in fact be her main source of food! In the middle of the night if I go to the bathroom, I sometimes see her well out of the web, looking as though she is smacking herself on the bum. In fact she is producing the stuff her web is made of (so I'm told). It's a very cute-looking activity for a creature who would not normally be described as 'cute'. Studying her through living with her has made her a 'person'. She is a spider like no other, because I 'know' her. She is not really my pet of course - I don't own her - but we have a relationship.

There will come a day when she dies. Not sure what the signs will be but it might be a 'curl up' affair. I will be sad; she has become part of my life in this old house.

Meanwhile, my black house spider is not only in the web, she's on the web!

Ladakh: view from a monastery

These images were taken of and from monasteries in Ladakh in 2009. They show the Himalayas and the kind of climate people have to deal with there, but also the lofty (literally and spiritually) position of the monasteries in their culture (still, I hope).

This is a little bit linked to A Buddhist take on the environment

A Buddhist take on the environment

These two Buddhist-flavoured poems say it all for a deep ecology view of the world:

His Holiness the Dalai Lama writes in his poem on the environment:

In the remoteness of the Himalayas
In the days of yore, the land of Tibet
Observed a ban on hunting, on fishing
And, during designated periods, even construction.
These traditions are noble
For they preserve and cherish
The lives of humble, helpless and defenceless creatures.

Thanks to the Tibetan Environmental Watch

And from the Buddha himself, on social action:

He who has understanding and great wisdom does not think of harming himself or another, nor of harming both alike. He rather thinks of his own welfare, of that of others, of that of both, and of the welfare of the whole world. In that way one shows understanding and great wisdom.

— Anguttara Nikaya (Gradual Sayings) Fours, No. 186

Thanks to Buddhism and social action: an exploration by Ken Jones

Corellas are in town

For 3 days in a row corellas (native Australian white cockatoos) have visited our area, specifically my pine trees (and trees in the backyard) as well as the street pines (Norfolk Islanders).

They first came on Sunday morning at 6am (thanks very much), waking me up with their cries which could only be described as squawks and that is probably too kind a term. They stayed for about half an hour, then flew off wheeling and circling in a group of about 30.

On Monday morning they revisited with a larger crowd, again at 6am. They hung around in the trees for a bit longer, till about 7am. You could hear them chewing away, occasionally squawking, before they again rose into the air simultaneously and flew off.

About 100 (!) came again on Tuesday morning at 6am but this time they stayed until 8am, to make sure they really finished the job. This time they left a HUGE mess - in the street, in my garden, on cars, everywhere within range, before flying off to leave someone else to deal with it. That night, even though it was really hot, I swept up the street mess, as I wanted people to like them rather than hate them, and let's face it, we don't like our lives being inconvenienced by nature any more.

They haven't as yet returned. It was an invasion, yes, but one I enjoyed. I got a really good close up shot of this bird in the backyard, and if they had come back for long enough and I had talked to him for long enough, I reckon he might have got tamer. They do listen to you when you speak to them. At least, they look like they do.

I couldn't think of a better way to herald Australia Day! (Which I never celebrate.)

Living Ahimsa

Living Ahimsa is a peace vow which anyone can take. 'It is about taking back the world. That is, the world within - by cultivating harmony in our thoughts, speech and action.'

Mother Maya, the founder of this movement, is touring Australia. Her interactive session on meditation was amazing! Here are the notes:

You can find solutions to challenges through meditation.

Breathing

Breath enlivens memories within us (past lives, cells etc).

When you wake in the morning, the breath needs to be stronger in the left nostril. You can test this by breathing on the palm of your hand, first with one nostril, then with the other. If the breath is stronger on the right, you can balance that by doing the following exercise:

1. Make your left hand into a fist.
2. Place it under the right armpit.
3. Breathe in first through the left nostril with the right one closed, then out through the right nostril with the left one closed, using your thumb and two fingers of your right hand to close and open your nostrils (nadi shodhan).
4. After 5 minutes, test the strength of the breath in each nostril once again.

You only need to do this once - the body intuits what you want; you don't need to force it.

The left nostril is lunar, the right one is solar. The right nostril should be stronger at night.

To do anything (thinking, action), you need the breath force.

Ahimsa

This is a Vedic word meaning to have an intent not to hurt (not causing harm by thought, word or deed).

We can choose to hold our awareness of grief, hurt, happiness etc hostage. We all have a set of memories, but our true gift is awareness. If you get caught up in your bundle of memories, you will shadow your awareness.

Surrender to what you don't understand. Surrender is the only solution.

'I am awareness.' Diffuse your memories by making awareness come first.

Don't depend on the mind to solve the 'junk'.

Meditation

Meditation is a break into consciousness. Meditate to preserve the sanctity of your human inner space.

The human vibration is more powerful than any other species (because we can choose, reflect etc). Therefore we should aim to influence the world in positive ways.

We have the power to change through our own actions.

Our energy reaches out beyond ourselves. We are the caretakers for that energy inside ourselves.

We control the cultivation of happiness or unhappiness - it is a seed. What we can't control is these feelings spilling out and affecting everyone else, so it makes sense to nurture the happiness seed!

Our role in meditation is awareness. We are awareness.

We don't meditate to control the mind. Meditation is being present in the awareness and not engaging the mind but accepting it for what it is. Let the mind be free.

****

Meditation practice:
Do this for half an hour (if you can).
Here are two interpretations of 'Om Namah Shivaya' - My reverence to that which destroys my ignorance or Om and salutations to that which I am capable of becoming.

1. Use mala beads (108) to count.
2. As you count the beads (in your own time) chant 'Om Namah Shivayah' (once per bead).
   
3. Practise first out loud many times, then say silently.
4. Use your breath and go at your own pace.
   
5. Be aware of (observe) everything but engage with nothing (detach).
6. Go back to the mantra if you start to focus on your thoughts.
   

These two activities practised together will help you to disengage from responding to the mind. They are focal points.

The mantra is your rescue at all times. You can chant Om Namah Shivayah while driving, sitting in a train, walking etc.

The inner witness observes, and works with the awareness.

Distance, do not attach.

****

Awareness brings a solution to problems:
If you have been the cause of hurt because of your actions:

1. Sit in yourself.
2. Create a skeletal experience of the situation.
3. Sit with the unease and observe; hold it in a kind of space and be the inner witness.

The solution is in the inner witness.

'I trust, I surrender to my witness.' We have to learn to trust.

Call on your awareness - the witness or observer.

****

We are by nature spiritual. Seek to know 'god', the divine (the atman, self).

The senses report to the mind; the mind is the 'editor'. The intelligence is in the higher mind, which works with your awareness.

The witness is there to keep the balance.

Often we don't know our questions.

'I am the chief instrument of peace within me.'

There will be fluctuations in our awareness. Remember to keep yourself in a state of balance.

The Ahimsa Vow

You can take this vow on the Living Ahimsa website.

I take the vow of Ahimsa
In my thoughts, speech and actions.
I take the vow of Ahimsa
I make inner harmony my first priority.

Hear within yourself the sound of the Earth crying

The most important thing you can do is hear within yourself
the sound of the Earth crying.

These words may be attributed to Thich Nhat Hanh, but the whole sense of this is conveyed in John Seed's Introduction to the Mourning.

'Life is a web, we are like a leaf on a tree...We have disconnected ourselves from this intelligence of the Earth, we only need to look at the kind of world we are creating to see that maybe we need to go back to an older way.'

We suffer from the illusion of separation from other living things – anthropocentrism (the tendency for human beings to regard themselves as the central and most significant entities in the universe, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective).

To wander off the track (but not really), here are 3 simple lines of poetry from Gary Snyder:

stay together
learn the flowers
go light

To stick with 3s, here are 3 key processes from the Council of Beings

1. The great turning (gratitude)
2. Seeing with new eyes
3. Going forth

Once we stop repressing the pain we feel for the world, our empowerment remains and strengthens. Doing inner work removes our fear of being fully open to the feelings of what is happening to the earth.

'May all sorrows ripen in me' (Shantideva)

World leaders need to think like a planet
Without emotions, truly realizing the interconnectedness of all life stays stuck at the intellectual level. Mental concepts alone do not affect our attitudes and behaviors. According to Macy, humans' connections to other life forms are based on more than the emotional attachments to places and beings we have loved.

"They are also organic, woven by shared ancestries, embedded in our bodies. Each atom in each molecule of our being goes back to the beginning of life and has belonged to far more ancient and varied forms of life than our own. The human form we wear now is just the latest and briefest chapter of a long evolutionary journey."

In The Dream of the Earth, Fr. Thomas Berry refers to the "shamanic personality," which can understand and speak for other life forms, Macy said.

"It is essential to our survival," she said. "It helps us to … dispel the trance of industrial civilization."

INTERESTING: TO BE EXPERIENCED!

When does something become a fact?

A friend recently said that her daughter had to write an essay on climate change - there was no option for her to dispute it.

This raises the question 'When does something become an accepted fact?' The debate around climate change has been raging for years (since the 1980s at the very least). Has it slowed down? Have the skeptics been silenced, overwhelmed by science? Does this mean that children or people should no longer bother looking at the arguments for and against? The answer to the last question is yes. As with philosophy which is famous for arguments (or should I say, intellectual debate), some things become accepted and are no longer disputed. This saves time and allows people to argue about something more disputable and important to progress.

I for one believe in climate change (accept it as a fact) and have done for a long time. Perhaps I have never debated it but always had 'blind faith'. If we can stop arguing about its existence, then maybe we can get on with doing what we can to keep our world liveable for all living beings. However, being who we are, this seems unlikely. I pray that I will never have to say 'I told you so'. Bring on whatever change in consciousness 2012 is purported to create (providing it is sustainable)!

What is meditation?

Meditation is my most favourite thing!

But apart from that:

From Ani Tenzin Palmo, Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism:

'As we begin to develop awareness of the mind, the mind itself appears to divide into two. A new aspect of the mind arises. This is referred to variously as the witness, the seer, the knower, or the observer. It witnesses without judgment and without comment. Along with the arrival of the witness, a space appears within the mind. This enables us to see thoughts and emotions as mere thoughts and emotions, rather than as "me" and "mine". When the thoughts and emotions are no longer seen as "me" or "mine", we begin to have choices. Certain thoughts and emotions are helpful, so we encourage them. Others are not so helpful, so we just let them go. All the thoughts and emotions are recognized and accepted. Nothing is suppressed. But now we have a choice about how to react. We can give energy to the ones, which are useful and skillful and withdraw energy from those which are not.'

From Dzogchen Ponlop, Mind Beyond Death:

'We should think about how we can make the best use of our practice so that we get the most out of it in the short time we have in this life. We do not have the leisure of wasting our time here by delaying the benefits of our practice. We have to use these situations as effectively as we can.

Before you begin any practice, first think very carefully about your motivation. When we are engaged in the threefold process of study, contemplation and meditation, we should be very specific, very clear about why we are doing it. We should remind ourselves, "I am doing this to transcend my negative emotions and my ego-clinging." This is a general example of a specific intention. However, to be more precise, we need to consider the unique make-up of our own individual kleshas [intense states of suffering, and ignorance]. Once we have identified our strongest emotion, then we can focus on the practices that will alleviate it. We begin with whichever emotion is strongest for us and then we move on to the next strongest, followed by the next, and so on.

It is important for us to prioritize our practice in this way. We have to keep our intention very clear in all three phases--in our study, in our contemplation and in our meditation. During shamatha or other practices, when thoughts come up, we recall that our purpose is to overcome our disturbing emotions and kleshas. We have to have a sense of willpower or determination in our minds. In order for the remedy to work, we must tell ourselves, "Yes, I am going to transcend this anger. I am going to work with it." Otherwise, if we do not have a clear idea, if we simply sit there with an indefinite or vague intention, then the effect also will be vague. We may have sat for one hour and although that time will not have been wasted, because it was not directed in an intentional way, the experience will not be so sharp, to the point or effective.'

[This relates to the blog post Resolutions for contentment]

These quotes are from A view on Buddhism: Meditation practice

To be added to ... there will be more! If you have a great definition for meditation to share please please let me know.

Resolutions for contentment

With the coming of 2012, Tibetan Buddhism is easily accessible, even in Adelaide! Here are some teachings from Khentrul Rinpoche to get us on the right track in the new year.

What is meditation?
Meditation is not just about being calm and quiet, it has a broader brush. When you meditate, do it to benefit all sentient beings (including yourself).

Meditate to develop:

• compassion
• wisdom
  
• love

If you are mindful, you will be more happy because you will be stronger and more stable. Being strong helps you to recognise and accept pain rather than denying it.

You need to understand and be mindful of the nature of impermanence. This will help you to stop predicting and to know reality.

In 2012?
Give your resolutions a sense of urgency. Every day we 'die' little deaths (we are always changing). Actually dying is a 'big death'.

• Do important things rather than silly things.
• Prepare for death and you will know what you are going to do with your life. This gives you motivation for your resolutions. Motivation is important because of cause and effect.
  
• Meditate on impermanence (What? So what!).

6 perfections
Practise the 6 perfections:

1. generosity - be mindful of opportunities
2. ethical discipline - right things you try to do (right intention!)
3. tolerance - patience (not following your ego)
4. diligence - inspiration, courage (not wasting time and energy)
5. concentration - you can control your mind
6. wisdom - increase as an outcome of the other 5 practices
   

Practising the 6 perfections will mean you always make the right decision! (and develop extraordinary mind)

When the 6 perfections become perfect they are bodhisattva.

Don't forget the purpose and motivation of meditation.

Our mind is universe. Hari om.