News Feed: 50 years in exile : the recent "splittist activities" of HHDL in Bay Area, USA

The 14th Dalai Lama, perhaps the most revered and famous exile, is back on the road. This time he is in the Bay Area in the USA.

In line with their campaign to smear the old Tibetan monk the Chinese used the opportunity and issued the customary protest:"The words and deeds of the Dalai Lama over past decades are self-evident that he's not just a religious figure but a political exile bent on separatist activities under the disguise of religion," Yunliang Zhou, a spokesman for the Chinese consulate in San Francisco said.

Pictures:The Dalai Lama helps serve lunch at a San Francisco soup kitchen on Sunday, April 26, 2009. Addressing visitors at the Martin de Porres House of Hospitality, the Dalai Lama spoke of his position as Tibet's exiled spiritual leader saying 'Me too, homeless person.' (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Let's see what exactly are those "separatist activities" this time:

1.Serving lunch at a homeless soup kitchen in San Francisco on Saturday.

2.Giving a speech at University of California Berkley in front of a 7000 crowd mostly students. Topic of the lecture: "Peace Through Compassion." (picture)

3.other lectures, University of California Santa Barbara, press conferences, etc

Selected things His Holiness the Dalai Lama said during those "separatist activities":

"Everybody, including animals, want peace. It is clear," he said. "Our long-term goal should be a more compassionate humanity."

“A healthy society comes not from government, but from families, from individuals,” he stated, reasoning that since a large portion of humanity today is not particularly religious, “We must find ways and means of reaching these people about the importance of moral ethics."

"Ethics, is not a religious matter at all, but rather a matter of achieving a spirit of globalism — of rejecting an “us versus them” mentality, and focusing attention on our inner values. "

The Dalai Lama, cracking jokes, serves pesto pasta to guests at a San Francisco soup kitchen http://www.startribune.com/nation/43752077.html
"Our lives depend on others," said the Dalai Lama. "Me too. My life depends on others. You are still in human society, human community. Please feel happy and feel dignity."

So, he talks about ethics, peace, compassion and human dignity.

As a Buddhist monk and a Nobel Peace prize laureate perhaps he has the qualification to speak about those and use any opportunity to do so, isn't it? !

Just a thought.

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News articles:

Dalai Lama: Creating a peaceful 21st century will take all 6 billion of us

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/04/27_dalailama.shtml

Dalai Lama promotes peace through dialogue

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/26/BAHP17961C.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

The Dalai Lama Talks Secular Ethics His Holiness Holds Press Conference, Lecture on Ethics for our Time

(Santa Barbara Independent)http://www.independent.com/news/2009/apr/26/dalai-lama-talks-secular-ethics/

words of wisdom: About Love

I'm having sort of a writer's block...The only thing that remains for me to do in order to fill-in the "silence" is to quote others.
And since anyway "nothing is said that has not been said before", here are some words by the Wise.*

Today I feel the need to say something, but also feel my words are not adequate to express it so publicly and I definitely lack the wisdom to say anything meaningful on the subject and remain abstract and impartial...So I use the words of others instead.

/*Based on personal experience and by deduction I totally agree with all of them./

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"Love in its essence is spiritual fire. "
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence. "
Erich Fromm

"Love is the beauty of the soul. "
Saint Augustine

"The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope. "
Walter Benjamin

"It's better to have loved and lost than to have to do forty pounds of laundry a week. "
Laurence J. Peter

"We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love, never so forlornly unhappy as when we have lost our love object or its love. "
Sigmund Freud

"Love is a serious mental disease. "
Plato

Helix Nebula

As a teenager (without any particular person's influence) I was very fascinated with (layman's) astronomy descriptions of the Cosmos, galaxies, constellations, stars, black holes, "red dwarfs", nebulae...

I remember when I was around 11 or 12 I read my first astronomy introductory book written by Issak Asimov (who at that time was one of my favourite writers since at the time I was reading a lot of science-fiction).

The names of this stellar objects and events have always sounded very mysterious to me.

For some reason I always felt the most fascinated with the word "nebula".*

It sort of rolls on the tongue, an implosion of sound.

The thought of it is absolutelly unfathomable, impossible, beautiful.

Here is a picture taken by NASA's Hubble telescope of the Helix Nebula in 2003. A very rare (and incredibly mysteriously beautiful) event.

For its grandeur and mystical beauty it was dubbed by some as "The Eye of God".

The Helix Nebula (what a name!) is the closest to us, standing at 690 light years from the Earth.

It's unimaginable.

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*A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness depending on the way the mass absorbs or reflects incident radiation.

words of wisdom

"Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself. "

Plato

* * *

To study the Way is to study the self.

To study the self is to forget the self.

To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

To be enlightened by all things is to remove the barriers between one's self and others.

quote from Dogen's "Genjokoan" (lit. "Manifesting Suchness")

First Post : Karma Police

Why "Karma Police"?

"Karma Police" (as some of you may well know) is originally the title of a song.

I find this combination of words very intriguing and actually to an extend suitable to what I am attempting with this blog, i.e. making a sort of a systematic record of my daily "sense and sensibility" observations and musings. Be they political, social, cultural, personal, emotional, etc.

Hm, I'll try to explain why I chose this title for the blog.

"Karma" is the Sanskrit word for "action". Action not only as deed, but also, as thought, feeling, attachment, and all the result that comes with it.

This word (or rather the idea) carries the ancient Indians' worldview and believe that every action has consequence and this consequence has far reaching results. It's a special force that connects the past, the present and the future.

Being an Indian teaching, Buddhism has also adopted the idea about karma.

It so happens that I'm very much interested in Buddhism.
In many things my worldview is very similar to the basic Buddhist worldview. Buddhists believe that each and every action has consequence, and by our actions we build our own lives. It's a complex past-present-future system.

There is no one else responsible for us. The responsibility for what we are, for what we will be is only decided by us.
So in "karmic" terms our lives are consequence of past "deeds", our present is a complicated result, but also is a cause for future consequence. So in fact there is actually no one else to "police" us. We are both "police" and "thieves".
In a way "karma police" describes this action-reaction connection.

The "trick" is, as Buddhists teach, to be able to get out of this "system" and reach a state were there is no longer need to produce action which has to be "policed" anymore. That state is called nirvana. And since I am (obviously) no near that state I can only try to observe action and muse over its meaning, reason and possible consequences. To an extend observation can also be a worthwhile Buddhist practice.

But this blog is NOT about Buddhism, nor is it attempting at preaching anything. (Although unavoidably there would be a lot of Buddhist things that will appear now and then, ...or perhaps even quite often.)

To an extend it may appear that it is a blog about China, notes of my impressions, observations, thoughts...But not exclusively. But since for the past decade my thoughts, feelings, and live experiences are linked with China, it is natural that my postings will be very much China connected.

It's a sort of a diary of things I notice, observe, think or feel about all sort of things. Anything.

I have no idea what will come out of it. Or for how long.

I have never been able to keep a diary, but since lately I have been thinking a lot about some things and have the urge to write them down...

Let's see how it goes...

P.S. And please feel free to comment and/or share your views.