October 20, 2011: The 18 degrees of VOID by D. Y.

From the speaker's handout for this session:

"The 18 degrees of VOID
    or "Much Ado about Nothing"
    or "What is this crazy little thing called VOID?"
    or "Today, let's talk about Nothing."

Question: Why this particular fascination of attention?  Why do we need to know this answer to what was there before we existed, or to what happens to us after we no longer are alive?"
               What are the rewards of knowing: Will we stop suffering? Will we reach nirvana or enlightenment if we know?              
The question of death:  If our consciousness goes out of our body, where does it go?  To the VOID?
        or Does consciousness just extinguish/end what remains?  VOID
        Before we were all "dust" from where did we come?  Where do we go?"

     Our speaker this week raises a question about VOID versus EMPTINESS. He inquires whether the difference is that emptiness requires a container in order to define it. One of our Buddhist members disagreed and said that her teachers have always said that there is no need for a container. The Emptiness defined in Buddhist thought is more an emptiness of an individual independent self, but it is a fullness of interdependent being and relationships. It is a little hard for the author of this blog to get her mind around this concept. But the following link expresses this idea in a way that we can grasp more easily. The Buddhists in the group felt that this is the meaning of Emptiness in Buddhism and possibly also of Voidness.

     http://www.eastern-philosophy-and-meditation.com/buddhism-ii.html

     I also Googled the word Emptiness in Buddhism and got a Wikipedia article on Sunyata. I put this link below here in this summary only for all the readers to attempt to get through this Wikipedia article. It is very difficult to understand. A think a lot of different Buddhist thoughts and metaphysical concepts are cited in this Wikipedia link, but it seems to me that it emphasizes one thing that Paul N. has always told us(paraphrased): "It is not for us to understand these concepts. We as humans will never be able to answer those questions posed in the above paragraphs. And it is liberating to fully realize and accept this fact."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C5%ABnyat%C4%81#Emptiness_in_the_Tath.C4.81gatagarbha_Sutras

     D. Y. has done some research work for this session to detail 5 progressive steps of meditation on Emptiness. He offers these notes from Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rimpoche, of the Kagyu Lineage, Tibet.

     Hinayam:  1.) Sravaka  (no-self)  Remove suffering by not clinging to self, and when we remove suffering, that is nirvana!

     Mahayana 2.) Cittmatra  (mind only exists)  Mind=Matter. There is no dichotomy . Aim is to experience in Meditation, the natural spaciousness and clarity of awareness.

     Madhyamika (Rangong) 3.)  Svatantrika   -- Aim is to exhaust the reasoning mind. Preconceptions leave. this refutes "self nature" and our true nature is emptiness. The mind is a vast open space.

     Madhyamika Rangong  4.)  Prasangika  (nonconceptual) Denial of rest of the mind naturally without conrivance in the natural emptiness of mind.  ????

     Shentong Yogacara (Vajrayana?)  5.)  Shentong  (Emptiness of Other)  Mind's nature is clear light. Aim is a calm clear mind in emptiness which is enlightened and without content. The fruition is nakedness stripped of every stain.

      Our speaker this session proposes for consideration "the Arica Axiom: "The purpose of the human being is to produce Void.'  Glimpsing the void is remembering who we really are. The aim of meditation is remembering our true nature.  Prajnaparamita **-- to find the essential ."  From D. Y.'s notes.

     The author of this blog has heard our speaker. D. Y.  briefly refer before to Oscar Ichazo and his theories. This Arica Axiom comes from Oscar Ichazo who lives  Arica, Chile. If anyone wants to read a little more about Ichazo's ideas, I give you the link below. Much of this linked article has to do with logic and therefore at least for me, is hard to understand. It discusses trialectics which is the form of logic that Ichazo proposes. But the last few paragraphs at the end of this article do seem to have something to say about what we discussed on October 20. I felt a little better understanding of some of our discussion after reading these last paragraphs.

http://www.tomislavbudak.com/en/basic/trialectics-logic-for-new-millennium.html

**Also if you would like to read more about Prajnaparamita, here is a link. This word is Sanskrit and means Wisdom with Perfection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajnaparamitain

     Finally, D.Y. wanted us to consider the 18 degrees of Void. I tried to find some Internet explanation or even a listing of these 18 degrees or elements of Voidness but couldn't find much. Therefore I am just listing these as D.Y. found in his research for whatever value it might have for you readers. Here is the list:. I do not know the exact reference for this list. 1.) Internal voidness, as of sensory response to stimuli; 2.) External voidness, as of external stimuli; 3.) Internal and External Voidness n union; 4.) Voidness of Voidance, itself; 5.) Great Voidness, as of space; 6.) Real Voidness, as of the realization of Nirvana; 7) Compounded Voidness, as of the Universe;  8.) Uncompounded Voidness, as of the Uncreated, Unmanifested Nirvana; 9.) Boundless Voidness, as of infinity; 10.) Voidness of Beginninglessness and Endlessness, as of eternity; 11.) Remainderless Voidness, as of mathematical zero; 12.) Natural Voidness, as of all objective things; 13.) Voidness of Phenomena; 14.) of Predictions; 15.) of Non-Thought; 16,) of Immateriality; 17.) of Reality; and 18.) of the non-Substantiality of Reality. There are in Tibetan voluminous works and commentaries devoted wholly to the expounding of these eighteen degrees of the Voidness.


AND FINALLY, here is a link that I found which I think is the best of all regarding this Buddhist concept of Emptiness.

 http://www.katinkahesselink.net/metaphys/empty.htm

October 13, 2011: The Heart of Practice

     Unfortunately, I missed the last session and I don't have any one else's notes or a hand out. I know that Paul discussed an article and titled his presentation "the Heart of Practice."
So I decided to perform an interesting experiment this week. I just googled that phrase. There are a lot of articles on how that phrase relates to a book about theatrical work. I excluded all of those articles. That left me with the following 5 links. The first link is an article on Buddhist practice by Sylvia Boorstein. The second one is about the practice of tonglen. If you only have time for one,  the middle one is a very basic article on meditation. The last two links are audio files, or inspirational lectures really on Buddhist topics which have to do with the Heart of Practice by Don Handrick.
     Check out as many as you have time for.
     I would be curious if any of these articles are the one that Paul discussed.

http:http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/1997b/sylvia.htm//


http://www.naljorprisondharmaservice.org/pdf/Tonglen.htm

http://www.andras-nagy.com/meditation/02.htm

www.archive.org/details/TheHeartOfPracticeDevelopingThePeacefulHeart

http://www.archive.org/details/TheHeartOfPracticeMakingFriendsWithOurselves

Next week: Paul N. "The Heart of Practice"

      

October 6, 2011: The Bake Off

      True to Form for this Group: We did indeed add all the ingredients, stir everything up and we had a Bake Off.
   

Belly laughs and Bach the latest prescriptions for heart disease

DR MUIRIS HOUSTON in Paris
Mon, Aug 29, 2011
WATCHING A comedy film and listening to classical music are set to become the latest prescription for patients with heart disease, doctors at a major medical conference have been told.
Dr Michael Miller, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said watching a film or a sitcom that produces laughter has a positive effect on cardiovascular function and may be as beneficial as going for a run. However, the laughter must be intense – “more of a deep belly laugh”, Dr Miller said – and needs to last for about 15 seconds to be effective.
He told a symposium entitled Don’t Worry, Be Happy at the European Society of Cardiology Congress that laughter exerts its benefits through the release of endorphins by the brain which in turn leads to the release of nitric oxide by the lining of blood vessels. Nitric oxide is known to dilate blood vessels, reduce inflammation and help prevent cholesterol being deposited in arteries.
He and his colleagues used ultrasound to measure the diameter of arteries in healthy men and women who, on one day watched clips of comedy films, while on another day viewed stressful sequences from Saving Private Ryan . The results showed that blood flow improved by about 20 per cent in those watching a humorous film but decreased by over a third in those watching a stressful excerpt.
Previously the same researchers compared some 150 patients with heart disease with 150 controls and found that people with heart disease had a 40 per cent reduction in their ability to find humour in different situations.
“The endothelium is the first line in developing atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, so it is very possible that laughing on a regular basis may be useful to incorporate as part of an overall healthy lifestyle to prevent heart disease. In other words, eat your veggies, exercise and get a good belly laugh every day,” said Dr Miller.
Meanwhile, a German cardiologist who is also an organist told the same symposium that, in comparison to listening to Bach, heavy metal music has a “potential to be dangerous”.
Dr Hans Joachim Trappe told delegates that listening to classical music has the potential to decrease blood pressure and heart rate. He and his colleagues are undertaking research on healthy volunteers to see if there are differences in blood pressure, respiratory rate and in levels of the stress hormone cortisol when exposed to Bach, a heavy metal group and controlled periods of silence.
“Heavy metal encourages rage, disappointment and aggressive behaviour while causing both heart rate and blood pressure to increase,” he said. Dr Trappe is now planning a study titled “Bach or Beta-Blockers” in which people with high blood pressure will be randomly assigned to treatment with either beta- blocking drugs or classical music.
© 2011 The Irish Times

                                                                          VERSUS

     Hit the Read More key to view our discussion of this and other topics on this date.

September 29, 2011: Guenther Pohlmann Society Meeting

     Recall that when a month has 5 Thursdays, on that 5th Thursday, our Spirit Mind Body Group holds a meeting of the Guenther Pohlmann Society in our friend, Guenther's honor. For those newcomers to our group and our blog, Guenther was a remarkable human being. He was a member of this group from the very beginning until his sudden demise several years ago. Guenther was born in Germany, and immigrated to the United States when he was a young man. His father had resisted the Nazi movement in Germany and suffered because of this resistance. Yet many 19th century German philosophers made their mark on Guenther. He read and frequently quoted: Hegel, Schopenhauer, Heidegger, and (though Danish) Kierkegaard. He also did a lot of writing about his own world view. He thought that our human brain was "hard wired" for the need for religious belief, perhaps because many of our religious groups and ideas were formed while our early human family lived in a place devoid of stimulation, the Middle Eastern desert. Yet he also believed that even Eastern religions have many similarities to our Judeo-Chrisitan background. I remember him questioning whether even Jesus could have traveled to the Far East, to become affected by some of these similar ancient belief systems. He often quoted Lao Tsu and the Zoroastrians. In addition, Guenther was highly well read in many other fields. He could speak on almost any topic. We always joked at this meeting, if our speaker was not present yet, or we had an opening in presentation, that Guenther would walk in the door, and we would say: "Guenther, can you present something to us today?" and lo and behold, he would! In his field of work, Guenther was known as the "physician's physician." He had a remarkable questioning mind for medicine at its finest. At our weekly Grand Rounds educational meeting at Columbia Hospital, no matter the topic, the speaker knew that eventually during the meeting, Guenther would raise his hand and pose a deep question about the medical topic and then he would often answer the question himself right then. He was a pulmonologist and nuclear medicine doctor who then became an intensivist. He always taught the internal medicine residents at Columbia and also the entire medical staff. He announced his retirement and we had the usual retirement party for him at Columbia, but he never really retired. He still taught the medical students and residents and still over saw various functions at the hospital that kept his figure seen in the corridors right up to his death. Guenther was also an excellent photographer and we have held sessions at this meeting to view some of his photos. He left a volume of writings and we have often used our meeting of the Guenther Pohlmann Society to read through some of these writings. On other occasions we read material that would have likely represented Guenther's view of things, in his memory. Such is the case for this week's meeting. Todd D. led the discussion.
Please read on for the article featured for this meeting: Why We Are All  Addicted by Andrew Weil.

September 22, 2011: Continued: "Bottom Up or Top Down"

     This week we continued with the very knowledgeable and intellectual presentation by Gary S. His entire article was included in last week's blog. We read the last half and it prompted considerable discussion about our world view and our belief systems. All attendees felt strongly that Gary's article is publishable. I think it represents Gary's intellectual work in sorting out questions about: "Why are we here?"  "What is the purpose of life?" and "What is the meaning of life's events -- both good and tragic?" Again go back and reread this article to restimulate your own questions and answers!