BodhGaya 18 January 2009

It's rely some time since I wrote here and I apologize to my readers. So much have changed in my life that I have late found it hard to cope with everything, I am running into a wall and need time to integrate all the changes. The computers here in Bodh Gaya are not safe so I am reluctant to insert my SD-card in any of them here to publish pictures here on the web. I will do so though and might also ad a new video from Bodh Gaya.

This is a fabulous place but to my sorrow the government of Bihar, the state that Bodh Gaya is located in is so corrupt and totally incompetent that since I was here the last time in 2000 it have gone into ruins. All of the money given by people all over the world for the restauration of the holy site of Buddhas enlightenment have been stolen, the authorities runs this pilgrimage site of the Buddhists as a holiday resort and it is the only centrum of any religion not run by the religion itself.

I went for at few days to Varanasi and to Sarnath the place where the Buddha gave the first sermon to the band of five, the first monks of Buddhism and to get to make my prayers I had to pay entry fee to the Indian government. I am sorry to see the state of things here in India when it comes to the places of Buddha, it have turned into a shopping mall.

People are selling animals outside the gate of the sanctuary and the village people are turning into beggars abandoning their fields at home as the tourists give them money. Now it is a popular holiday place for Indian tourists, not for religious reasons but for looking at westerners who gather here, the new middle class Indians sit at the holy tree chatting and screaming in the loudspeaker mobile phones to show of.

I am not happy at all, but what can one do, it is to easy to write of the place of enlightenment of the Buddha as a place of reverence for Buddhists but it is not far away from the truth, that we will have to forget this place soon.

Arambol, Goa

Some time since last I wrote here, but everything is good and cool, and nice. I went to Bodhgaya with Gelek Rinpoche from Dharamsala but ended up taking some holidays in Arambol in Goa. A friend didn't want to travel that long way by her self and as it turned out she was right as she got the flue and was rely not well at all for the major part of the journey. Now she is well and I am taking some time of here in Goa to spend X-mas here on a beach, a palm beach, white sand and the warm sea.

Not just yet.

The video above is from Tso Pema, and the cave where Guru Rinpoche, or Padmasambhava as he is known in Sanskrit meditated and instructed his consort Mandarava. This place is outside of Mandi or the old kindom of Zahor in Himachal Pradesh in northern India. Padmasambhava is famed for bringing Buddhism to Tibet.

Well I thought I was gone and away from Dharamsala didn't I, well not so at all. I went to New Dheli and then I meet a man, or he found me or the other way around, no it's old Karma, that's what it is. Anyway he is a Lama, a rely good meditator and a Buddhist teacher from the province of Kham in Tibet.

As it turns out he and me walk the same path in life and he agreed to take me on as a student on the quest towards Enlightenment, the path of the Buddhas and here I am back in Dharamsala again but now with a teacher who can guide me. Actually this is just what I wanted from the beginning so who am I to complain, and no I don't, I am rely happy.

At first he went on alone to Dharamsala and I stayed on in New Dheli intent on going to Kathmandu, but did I get him out of my mind? No that was not possible, I had to go to find him again, I piked up the phone and told him I was coming, so now we live together in a rented nice room, him and me with a nice bathroom and a small kitchen. I am trying to learn Tibetan language as best I can and every day I do a number of prayers, the meditation is coming along little by little.

Due to the changes in my life I have not taken myself the time to sit down here and write, I rely should have done so, because so many things have happened in my life since the last time. The most exiting event was going to Tso Pema, the caves of Guru Padmasambhava. That was an experience in it self and I rely do want to go back to that place soon. It is an amazing place and I would like to spend some time there doing retreat.

What has happened in my life is somewhat unusual, I always knew I had some past or another, and I knew it had to do with Tibet and the Buddhism there. My first journey to India and Nepal I did as a 16 year old kid, trying to find a teacher and maybe become a Buddhist monk. It is to early to discuss much of what it mean to be a Tulku och a recognized reincarnation of a Buddhist master, those days of more in depth knowledge about that will come later. I am however connected to the monastery of Katok in Kham province in Tibet.

Now another kind of life is about to start to me and my days might not be as free as before, with learning Tibetan language and prayers and meditation, both in retreat and outside. But who am I to complain this is what I have wanted my whole life, to spend time with the Buddhas teachings. I am glad.

Last day in Dharamsala.

I sit here down in the basement, down below the buss stop in upper Dharamsala, in McLeods Ganj, in Beans Cybercafe writing my last word from this place. McLeods Ganj was nothing before the Indian government chose it as the place where H.H. Dalai Lama could settle down with his following and his government in exile. Around him have gathered over 10.000 Tibetans who all of them fled over the Himalayas to live in freedom. A freedom of religious belief, of getting an education, freedom of expression and the freedom of not being sent to the Gulags of China, the laogai's for having in your possession a picture of H.H.Dalai Lama or the Tibetan flag.

In the winter months there can fall some half meter of snow up here. Already now the air is getting colder and for me with arthritis I have to leave. Sleeping in a stone hard bed in a room made out of concrete is nothing that I go for, no, I have to go down to the lowlands. Unfortunately I still have to go to Kathmandu to see my teacher, well not unfortunately for seeing him but to go up the Himalayas again, it's somewhat painful in the nights. But no worries, I don't rely care that much.

I have been here in India for a month now and getting thinner and thinner, I have had to shorten my belt some 15cm by now, I enjoy that, but not so much my stomach problems. But apart from all this I feel that I have to enjoy myself more, I am to picky, to much aware of the problems of this country, of the beggars of the dirt, of the ill management. I have to turn around, take another look, let go.

Highlights of my stay here have been my visit to H.H. the 17 Karmapa at Gyoto Tantric College and then also the people from Tibet, the Tibetans who's friendly smiles comes easily, who are helpful, whom you most often just plainly can trust, they are nice and the Indian people get richer by their presence. An army of young Indian men from the lowlands, poor young men without money or future get employment here among the Tibetans, in the restaurants and the hotels, but I have to say at a much to low salary, well the low wages are common even to the Tibetans themselves, very often seven days a week, 15 hours a day, 30 days a month gives no more then 40 € a month.

Another surprise was the Cristian church I stumbled upon during a walk down the road. It's nice but closed, except Sundays for service. The stonework is as one would expect fascinating and all the colonial graves everywhere around, the tall treas too gives an air of old times, something gone by never to come back.

More from McLeods Ganj

It's early morning here in McLeod Ganj. I woke "arla" as we say in Sweden, up with the dawn and did my practises I had some breakfast in one of my usual places, generally I am not eating that much but today I had a nice hunger. Was up too early though, most shops and businesses here are still not awake, the internet place is though and so I sit here updating my page, checking my balance on the bank, writing letters and such important things, lol.

I've been here for some time now and slowly I get into it to be here, I look positively on the next months that I will stay in India and Nepal, my landing in these countries have never been an easy thing, with sickness and longing to go back home, I am terribly used to having a comfortable time and a place like India is hard on me, but well have to change that.

This monkey spent some time with me the other day, walking along the ledge of my balcony she settled down to enjoy the view just like I, joyfully spending half an hour there beside me looking around and just relaxing. She was rely peaceful and in a good mood, I had a good time watching her.

This week to come I will go see the Karmapa, the new reincarnation of H.H. the XVI Karmapa. Later I will also go to se Tenzin Palmo the western Yogini who spent 12 years in retreat in a cave high in the Himalayas, she is building a new monastery for nuns not far from here and having just finished the book of her life named Cave in the Snow I rely look forward to go seeing her.

Otherwise things are just fine here in McLeods Ganj with me, my life and everything. Dreamt about one of my daughters tonight and wonder in my silent mind if I could get her to come down here.

Jim Leonard

My dear friend Jim Leonard have left us. For many years the work of Jim have inspired so many people around the world. His work is one of the most remarkable contributions to the future of humankind, he named his work Vivation®. I have known Jim for many years and truly enjoyed the times we stayed together, his humor, his positive outlook on life and his intelligence is remarkable. The work he has done is so outstanding that it is to a large part unused, I think due to the fakt that we humans do not like life to be just so simple, pleasurable and happy, our egos will do anything to stay away from an instruction fasilitating the acctual growth of what we humans could become. I Love you Jim and we will meet eachother again, may your reincarnation come swift and easily, may you continue your work amongst us.

First few days in McLeods Ganj

At upper Dharamsala that goes under the name McLeods Ganj is the wonderful but dirty place where H.H.Dalai Lama resides. Well I could leave out dirt and poverty but that would not be nice would it. As everywhere in India there are beggars, but it is truly difficult to rely know who is a beggar and who is not.

And the place is wonderful, in a horrible way. Don't go here expecting perfection in any way. But out of all of this, this India with dirt and shitting in the street and beggars and dogs that bark all night long you find the Tibetans working hard to build a life in midst of nothing.

The food is great enough and the service of the Tibetans working and owning the restaurants is also great, many many small restaurants and coffee shops and internet places where one can for a small sum of money spend an hour or more talking to the loved ones home or to upload films from the road and other things.

I went to the Tibetan doctor today to get medicine for my ill health, I sure do hope this will help. A lady next door to where I live recommended him as a friend of hers also suffered from rheumatism. I spend the days walking around to take a look at this place, trying out the restaurants, talking to people and yes I do do meditation and I do start up the yoga, but the bad stomach that I have suffered from since I got here makes me weak and not able to do much.

I got some medicine to stop the stomach pain and in a day or two a will go to see the Karmapa. H.H. the Dalai Lama is holding teachings here for tree days but on a topic that am not so much for listening to right now, so sitting there for hours just to see him talk is not an alternative right now. I much rather go see the Karmapa.

The practice as such, my Buddhist practice is going well, I would say rely well. The heart of compassion is opening and growing and I do not regret that I went on this trip even if I sorely miss my children and my Lady at home.

My Tibetan friend that went with me from New Delhi have turned out to be a rely good friend, he is so nice, the pinnacle of the human race, no I am not kidding. Lol. The Tibetans are great, if you travel stay with them and don't worry they are religious nice people and their wish to help you and to get to know you is genuine and soothing in a place where everything is about money.

14 september

Today is a week here in Delhi or something and I am starting to get tired. In two days I go to Dharamsala, man is it going to be nice without the smog and the same heat. I spend the days in my room doing mantras of the Guru and in the internet kaffees, in the air conditioned restaurant of witch there is only one as far as I know that is something like western standard here in this part of town.

The Tibetan are stuck here, crowds of young Tibetan children risk their lives to walk over the Himalayas in the middle of winter to come to India and the hope of a future. Tsemdu is one of them and I have gotten to know him, he is like all Tibetans a rely nice young man, few words, lots of smiles and you feel at ease and trust him e mediately. In India they get some rudimetary education that is for Indian market rely great but going to University to get a higher education is out of the question.

So here they are thousands of them working in restaurants and other places if they have the luck to get a work, but at the cost of their health. They work 15-16 hours a day, seven days a week, all year around for 50 Euro a month. But still they manage to save, to be presentable, to have a smile, to be kind and proud, to be gentle and helpfull. Of the meager money they have they invite you to share as a friend and you look at the longing in their eyes. ..."Can I go to the west to get a life, here is nothing, no future, not for me or my family", but they never press you to do anything, they are too noble to do that even though a young man like Tsemdu is alone in this part of the world, his whole fmaily left in occupied Tibet.

12 September in New Dheli

Well after a long night of no sleep and after hundreds of mantras if not thousands and spending long time with thoughts of Guru Rinpoche i finally went to sleep at six, got a few hours of sleep and I am happy, no worries.

India is a place where world meet, I can sit in a nice restaurant eating a nice dinner, or sleeping i a bed getting a shower and when I step into the streets there are people there wondering which world I come from, the distant world in there behind that door where people are not hungry or dirty or sick and miserable.

The Tibetans live here as refugees, with no land, with no rights, with nothing unless they create it themselves. And they did. Thirty years ago or forty they came and still do over the mountains with nothing but their bare hands and started to work. They are the Jews of the orient, turning to trade as the only means of surviving and successfully so they have made a life for themselves in India and Nepal often much richer than any of the Indians or the Nepalis.

I am so sorry for the beggars, the children, the handicapped, the sick slowly and desperately dragging their bodies along the streets here. How do the two world meet, I usually give if not much so at least a few rupees. But it makes me sorry and not knowing what to do, I must spend more time and attention to each of the persons approaching me for help, to smile at them, to givet them a few more rupees and to get to know them.

I am amazed and in ave of the masters of our human world, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and others who as one single person could change a whole country or can one say the attitude of a whole world, they are the real Bodhisattva's, the ones who stop and look the beggars in the face.

Majnu Ka Tilla, New Delhi

Hello everyone, first impressions from India. Man it's hot, my god. I woke up last night at something past two in the night from an asthmatic attack. Had to sit meditating and chanting mantras for four hours until I collapsed six in the morning, woke up at ten and had no idea what so ever where I was. My whole body aced and my mind in a turmoil, sitting there for awhile not knowing how to cope my Lady called me from Sweden and that put me back on my tracks again.

India is India, a mix of everything. Rich men end poor, computer nerds and beggars without legs. Small girls with babies on their arms begging for a few cents. The baby might not last for another month, people with all kind of handicaps flock to the Tibetan comunities to gather what little they can from the westerners who are here to partake of the Buddha Dharma. One see things here that make one heart crumble into pieses. Shutting of is the only thing to do or is it, what can one man like me do? Not much, talk kindly to them, give a few rupees...

I am going on to Darjeling, the heat here is killing me and well no the smog is killing me, lorries only run during the night by law and a stone throw away from my hotel room is the big highway to whereever. A bus will take me to Darjeling in 12 hours running al night, in a few days I will go, go to see the new Karmapa. Pictures will have to wait I am just not ready for that yet.
Nils

Heading for India.

Tomorrow I depart for the first stop on the way to India, the town of Gothenburg. That's were I was born some fifty years ago. If you ever find the oportunity to go to spend some time in Gothenburg i recomend you to do so. I will stay over a few nights with a Buddhsit friend giving me time to meet with my children and to finaly "get it" that I am on my way. Gods or should I say "Buddha" I've been thinking about this for a long time and for me this is a restart in life.

A ray of Light

In the corner of my eye I catch a ray of sunlight on the wooden surface of my desk. I turn to pick it up.

The reality of Reincarnation.

The word reincarnation is Spanish I think, yes I think so. I consists of four words re-in-carne-tion, re means back, in means into, carne is meat, and -tion signifies “to do”. Thus reincarnation means back into the flesh. I might be wrong about this as I am no specialist but this is what it is anyway.

Most people think of a child growing in the uterus of a mother to be a product of the mother an father, that is so genetically and the mother provides the sustenance during the months of growing but the way I see it it, it is the presence of a person and it is this persons focused mind of energy that “grows” the child, the child is a product of it's own and not of the parents. A person enters this world and it's presence grows into a human being. This is the way I see it.

Living the life of a Buddhist who do indeed consider reincarnation gives an uncommon view of time. The world ceases to be a desolate place were death is the only reward. For a Cristian there is an eternal time with God, for a Buddhist there is an eternal time of consequence of ones own presence of action and in this action a life together with other people.

There is no such thing as a Buddhist, that is only a word invented by the Christians. We “Buddhists” do not even call ourselves Buddhists. We are the followers or students of the man named Siddharta Gautama who attained Enlightenment under a ficus religiosa in Bodhgaya in India nearly 3000 thousand years ago. And we ourselves usually ask “with whom do you study?”, when we meet another of our kind, LOL.

Common to all Buddhists is the concept of reincarnation. If you like to understand what goes on inside the head of a Buddhist consider reincarnation.

Visit from Stockholm summer 08

For the past few days I have had the honor to be visited by five good friends of mine from Stockholm Sweden, Martin and Maria with their four months old daughter Tara and Mats and Maggan.
I superbly enjoyed that and to stay with them is a blessing.

Before they left they all came over to me and gave me a farewell gift and a birthday gift, something for my 50^th birthday, some wonderful flowers and more money than I usually see. A gift for my travel to India to practice the Dharma. I was so happy, incredibly happy, I didn't think I could become so happy to receive flowers but I did.

the Beatles

I was born 1958, in Gothenburg Sweden. My mother dated Ingemar Johanson and she knew Floyd Patterson. She worked at the Café Japan and we all lived on Skolgatan in Haga in the old parts of Gothenburg. During the sixties and the seventies my heart was for ever given to the Beatles. In some way their lyrics and their music shaped who I am, this is one of my favorites all times. I remember buying their white album 73 with all of their pictures in it as portrait photographs, four beautiful photos to frame.

Summers day in Lysekil

A nice summers day in Lysekil overlooking the north harbor. Seaguls. Me. The Ocean. Sun.

Summer is here.

Summer is here and the treas are in bloom. Everywhere in my beautiful city treas bloom in every color. Sun is shining and the wind is warm.

H.H. Dalai Lama

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them. -Dalai Lama
From the very core of our being we desire contentment. For harmony each individual's identity must be fully respected. -His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Human Rights.

The human is a group-being, a being depending on and thriving only as an individual amongst others. Humans identify with their thoughts and ideas of who they are, the quest for individuality is the ever ongoing human endeavor, still - a flaw in human design is our inability to understand that we as humans can not survive without “the group”. Without other people around us we will die. Likewise the human mind can not fully fathom this, it can not fathom the world and what the world is, and what it is to live the life of a human. “The structure of thought can not fully describe what the world is and it can not understand that it can not.” Jim Leonard.

Humans is something fantastic, truly amazing. Still we murder each other, we murder ourself, we murder the planet on witch we are living. Du to our “flaw” we think ourself to be immortal. We feel no responsibility, no remorse, no fear. We don't cry in horror about the thousands of nuclear weapons ready to extinguish humankind and all other life on this lovely planet. We feel safe, the safety of a blind idiot.

There is much talk about the over populated world, about hunger and shortage of food. This is all a lie, the governments are as prone to make the same mistakes as any human. In fact governments are human and they do not think beyond their own horizon, except perhaps in making new weapons to kill of the human race. Did you know that the Ganges valley is fertile enough to feed the entire human race with the same methods they use in Holland. That is if every one of us gave up eating animals, those other people with faces, well not like ours but still.

Every year hundreds of millions of weapons are manufactured. Anyone able to look beyond the human flaw weeps. A human is a holy being and the value and dignity of every single human being is infinite. We can not loose a single one, every death of hunger in Africa, every death of aids in the world, every child dying of mines in war plagued lands is a loss to us all. And the fearsome thing for me is that humans can not see it. Why don't you all weep when you look at the world?

I will give you some thoughts to widen the horizon. We are 6.5 billion humans on this fragile planet. How many is that, oh – that is many, many. But on the other hand not as many as you might think, we could move the entire human race to the small country of Denmark and every one of us would get 6,6 m² or 71,2 feet², its not much, it's a small room. As everyone moves to Denmark, witch by the way is a beautiful country, the rest of the world is empty. Not a single person anywhere. We are not as many as we think. We are not beyond extinction, 5000 meters up life ends. Atomic weapons are still in the hands of warlords. Diseases are invented and stored that could in months wipe us all out.

If you ever went on a travel you would soon discover that the world is mostly empty of people, moreover you would also discover that there is no shortage of food anywhere. But you will also find borders, you will find border police, you will find capitalism governing the everyday life of people, at the same time you will find generosity and friendliness. You will find the majority of humans wanting nothing but peace and friendship. But not everyone, there are those who thrive on making war, taking prisoners, taking slaves, making profit of human misery. In this world Gulags thrive, many many millions of people, old people, women and children are taken slaves every year and have to work slave-labor, are sold in brothels, executed for organ-donation.

Throw away your innocence and look at the people in the world living the life of a monster. Give up the manufacturing of arms, shun people who will take a gun in his hand. I would like to quote Einstein: “Those who march in rank and file have already earned my contempt.”

The Human Rights declaration is a thought to marvel at. It is based on very natural principles. The principle of humans as an individual, as a social being, as a communicative being. We have a body, with arms legs and sensory organs, we have a brain and ability to communicate.

Out of this fact is formed the Declaration of Human Rights.

• I am a social being, I have ears and eyes, I have a mouth and thus I have the birth right to express my feelings and thoughts. No person or state have the right to tell me otherwise.

• I am a social being, I have ears and eyes, I have legs and I am inquisitive, thus I have the birth right to use my legs to travel freely on this planet of my birth. I am born here so the world is mine. No person or state have the right to tell me otherwise.

• This world is mine so I have the birth right to make my life livable by having a home, and to feed myself and my children. No person or state have the right to tell me otherwise.

• I am a social being so I have the birth right to form a community together with others, to give birth to children and to live in peace. No person or state have the right to tell me otherwise.

There are so many other things one can look upon from this viewing angle, to have the birthright to freedom. Respect towards oneself and through that to others ought to be a “religious” practice enjoyed every moment of the day by every living person in this world. This world could be a paradise, it rely could. It would not take much work at all. And the cost of it would be much lower than that of the military.

About I

More coming soon.

Anarchism, short version.

Anarchism according to Wikipedia: Anarchism (pr. "anar-kisim") (from Greek ἀν (without) + ἄρχειν (to rule) + ισμός (from stem -ιζειν), "without archons," "without rulers") is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which reject compulsory government (the state) and support its elimination, often due to a wider rejection of involuntary or permanent authority. Anarchism is defined by The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics as "the view that society can and should be organized without a coercive state."

We have a tendency to tell others what to do.
... to form hierarchy.
... to solve problems with violence.
... to form religions that enslave the minds of humans.
... a tendency to take slaves.
Humans have a tendency for war.

A question in life of a human is finding the balance between personal freedom and involvement in social life with ones birth-group. Anarchism defines the freedom of the individual and the individuals right to freedom towards ones own social group and in a larger sense towards the whole of humanity. We are born humans on the planet of Gaia, being borne here we have the right to be here, we have the right to be free here. There are rights that come along with being born a human.

We are born with fundamental human abilities. We have a brain, a mind, a consciousness, we have a mouth and ears. This gives us a fundamental birth-right to think freely and to express freely our own thoughts and our experiences in this world. We have arms so we have the freedom for artistic expression. We have legs so we have the freedom to travel and to explore this world were we are born. We Anarchists do not acknowledge any governments right to restrict anyones birth-right.

An Anarchist holds firm the right of a free individual according to the Declaration of Human Rights. In large one can say that this declaration is a good one even though it has it's flaws as some paragraph are set up as a compromise to ease tension with dictatorial states. An Anarchist do not think such things are valid as there are no shortcuts to human freedom. We can never accept genocide.

We the Anarchists understand that we are social beings who need each other and who need to form a functioning society. Humans need each other to survive but the survival also depends on the freedom for the individual to express him or her self, it is an axiom as the society consists of individuals. Without the free individual in a free society there is no progress and humankind faces extinction.

We anarchists do not acknowledge a few peoples right to form a leadership of government not based on true democracy, we also do not acknowledge that a government has the right to limit a persons life in any way as long as that person do not wish to take part of the society. We do not acknowledge the right of a government to set up borders or countries and to hinder people from traveling this planet were we were all born. We do not acknowledge a governments right to form an army and to draft people into service waging war against others.

Thus the international symbol of the Anarchist movement is the all black flag. The white flag is a symbol of surrender under siege. The black flag thus is the opposite, we will never give up the fundamental human rights. Doing so would be to give up on humankind. The institutionalized governments greatest fear is that Anarchism will be understood. Thus Anarchism is given the label of chaos and terrorism, of violence and social destruction. This is as far from the truth one can come. Anarchism is based on individual responsibility. On respect towards oneself as a basis for respect towards others. Anarchism is a peace movement, a movement of freedom and equality.

The implications of Anarchism from a Buddhist perspective is truly amazing. Very few people have enough insight into both Buddhism, the human mind and Anarchism to understand the fusion of Buddhism and Anarchism. And such an endeavor, to find this fusion is highly rewarding. As the world turn Buddhist we will see more and more people turn towards Anarchism as a way of structuring our daily lives.

We Anarchists will never surrender.

22 April, a room with a view.

I lately moved into a new apartment overlooking the sea, out there is Skagerak and somewhere in the distance is Denmark, with Skagen its not that far away, a couple of hours with a good sailing boat.

Then looking to the west the North Sea and England, but that then is further, a few days in a boat. But the North Sea is not all that deep, only some 20 meters overall depth.

Sunset last night towards the west.

21 April

My journey to India and Nepal to continue my journey towards Enlightenment lays in its cradle. The first of September I plan to start, depending on my retirement this summer. I am now fifty years old and my children are growing up nicely. The way of life I have now is not satisfying to me anymore, I get nothing from this and I will go away, meditate, write and travel the holy sites of The Buddha Dharma and it's Sangha. Might become a monk or a yogi in the lineage of Milarepa, I don't know yet, it will unfold as the next year pases.

16 April

Something for the rest of you.

The World of Buddhism.

A lovely short film on the peace of Buddhism, an exploration into the future of human-kind.

The Lotus Sutra in Sanskrit

6 April

Sunday morning and not a ray of sun anywhere. It's eight in the morning and there is a bluish gray light kind of light everywhere.

The sea is still and I can see some 25 kilometers right out towards the ocean from my kitchen window. A warm cup of rosehip tea is steaming on the table beside me. My computer is buzzing and in another room I can faintly hear the television set. The lights in the lampposts are still on outside, what a wast.

This is my tenth day of fasting and I am feeling just fantastic. The first few days were bad without eating anything but now I am fine. It is highly social to eat, even if one eat by oneself as I usually do eating is almost a human religious ceremony when it comes to social interaction. I found that that is for me the most difficult part of not eating. If it was not for that, why eat at all.

The western world – the humans in our culture, we are eating ourselves to death. We just stuff our mouths out of insatiable hunger, a hunger I think originating in anything but need for sustenance. Who am I to talk, look at me, here I sit, a huge mountain of a man. I hope things will change, I know I can.

The silence in my mind, the quietness in my head is a tool I have refrained from using to my advantage.

Buddhism

Since many many years I am a Buddhist. Some people might be interested in knowing what Buddhism is, it have become famed throughout the world during the last years. Buddhism or as the Buddhists themselves say Buddha Dharma and its Sangha, the community of practitioners, is not so difficult to understand.

It can be explained very easily. The Buddhist believe in reincarnation. Without this concept Buddhism do not work, it do not find a meaning. If so is that you do believe in reincarnation then the following is easy.

There is pain and suffering in this world, there is grief, loneliness and despair without end. Getting out of pain one can only hope it will last. This is a fact. But sweet times never last because the entire creation is in constant change, an ever ongoing change from moment to moment. Nothing stays the same. One can never gather security against change and death. And where one will go then is not certain. It is not certain because of cause and effect. As we live in a world where we deeply believe in dualism, and as few are willing to take full responsibility for their lives, they plant seeds through negative actions that in the future will lead to ripening of difficulties. If on the other hand one are willing to take responsibility for ones future one can be of great help both for oneself and for others.

So there are some laws of life that are natural: Suffering; constant change; the law of cause and effect named Karma; and there is the hope for the future through taking responsibility for ones life.

Now these are obvious, anyone knows them. What then is Buddhism? Buddhism was handed down to us by a man claiming to have solved the problem of suffering. Under a tree in BodhGaya in Bihar in India some 2500 years ago he attained what came to be known as Enlightenment. He said that through certain meditations one could uncover the construction of the dualistic Ego and within ourselves find the freedom from pain and suffering rebirth.

These meditations were tested by others and found valid. They where then handed down from one master to a student, who in his or her turn became a master to be given to the next student and so on in an uninterrupted chain or lineage of enlightened masters that live until our days. These people are know as the Sangha of the Buddha.

This is Buddha Dharma and its Sangha, a way of ending suffering and death. I will comment on this by saying that Life itself is not suffering, the dualistic Ego is. Life is just what it is. And there is a brilliance to it that gives rise to fascination with the physical world, the root of dualism.

Nils

5 April 2008

This is a start. I plan to go to India and Nepal this autumn to spend time there in meditation and learning from the Tibetan masters. Here I will publish my travel journals and let people know what is going on.
Nils