i'm getting drafts with no bibliography. even with in-text citations, you need to have a bibliography list at the end of the draft

the following students should come to my office and input their first quiz

Nakescha Tabuteau, Marshall Stowe, Victor Velazquez & Luis Rodriguez

please, pass by my office and input your tests into the right scantron. this is way past due!!

if you don't do it you have no grade for the first quiz.

zen action = zen person: questioning = response

How does one think about not-thinking? The Master replied, "Without thinking."

without-thinking?

what this means is that context determines character. part of that context is the questioner's state of mind.

the master replies to the student's question rather than the student's question.

if a student reveals a nihilistic attitude, the master might say there is an essence to the person. if the student is bound to categories, the master might say there is no essence to the person. in this way, the master can more powerfully enter into the self-constituting of the student's own experiential flow (we always carry our baggage). by seeing the student's perspective (empathy), the master can modify that perspective as needed. thus, zen strives to return to the point at which experience, including thought, initially occurs. this emphasis on without-thinking is what is distinctive in the zen understanding of the person. 

zen follows the nay of thought.

heidegger helps here:  Das Fragen ist die Frömmigkeit des Denkens.

the zen context of a person is mu or "nothingness." 

through mu the student achieves personal-meaning. at the most basic, it means (hishiryô) without-thinking. at first, it may seem odd to regard hishiryô as a relationship.

in zen situations, however, personhood is grounded in without-thinking rather than thinking. so there is necessarily a gap between the zen buddhist's own without-thinking experience of relationships and an outside observer's objectified, thinking characterization of them. this is the essence of anatman.

in a sense the zen buddhist does not have a different meaning in each situation. it's like mr. X with different roles during the day: father, driver, student, cook, etc. 

a person doesn't have meaning or relationships; rather, a person achieves meaning through relationships. 

in the words of taoist zhuangtzi:

If you talk in a worthy manner, you can talk all day long and it will pertain to the Way. But if you talk in an unworthy manner, you can talk all day long and it will pertain to mere things. Tao and things—neither words nor silence are worthy of expressing it. Not to talk & not to be silent—this is the highest form of debate.

let's go tao with tao

kusta saksi, via juxtapoz

sorry, kids, this is a little bit late, but still in time for comments by next tuesday??

from our last discussion, there were different points brought up by pedro's intense but honest exploration of truth. i tried to respond to some of his points straight from the tao te ching. 

wu-wei: to yield is to come back again. 

this is deep: what lao-tzu suggests is that if "acting" means a voluntaristic approach to life, we'll be up for a stringent surprise. simply put: not all our plans bring fruit, the more reasons to yield. perplexity reigns! the process doesn't disappear: it comes back again and again multifariously! 

wu-wei also implies the ability not to "give up," but to "give forth," a mental flexibility. it means as cristopher once said "to be in tune" with tao. 

what is tao? nature doesn't have to insist.

i know, too poetic. too abstract. but nature IS poetic. the tao te ching communicates this through and through. 

being in tune with tao yields te:

te: with things, plans, projects? be a parent not a possessor, attendant, not master.

cycles: How can a man's life keeps its course if he will not let it flow?

as per pedro's suggestion: do you want to address our discussion of Bushido? 

go ahead!

sun tzu's the art of war

one of the most important treatises on war happens to be influenced by taoist principles. how come?

Lao Tzu

Lao-tzu was a native of Ch'ü-jen, a village in the state of Ch'u, which corresponds to the modern Lu-yi in the eastern part of Honan Province. 
He was appointed to the office of shih at the royal court of the Chou dynasty (c. 1111-255 BC). Though shih means "historian," in ancient China the shih were scholars specializing in matters such as astrology and divination and in charge of sacred books.

Next the historian proceeds to relate a celebrated but questionable meeting of old Tzu with a younger Confucius (551-479 BC). The story has been much discussed by the scholars; it is mentioned elsewhere, but the sources are so inconsistent and contradictory that the meeting seems a mere legend. During the supposed interview, Lao-tzu blamed Confucius for his pride and ambition, and Confucius was so impressed with Lao-tzu that he compared him to a dragon that rises to the sky, riding on the winds and clouds. 

in this painting, confucius presents prince gautama (buddha) to lao tzu 

No less legendary is a voyage of Lao-tzu to the west. Realizing that the Chou dynasty was on the decline, the philosopher departed and came to the Hsien-ku pass, which was the entrance to the state of Ch'in. 

did lao tzu really leave for the west in a water buffalo?

Yin Hsi, the legendary guardian of the pass (kuan-ling), begged him to write a book for him. Thereupon, Lao-tzu wrote a book in two sections of 5,000 characters, in which he set down his ideas about the Tao (the Supreme Principle) and te (virtue): the Tao-te Ching. 

The question of whether there was a historical Lao-tzu has been raised by many scholars, but it is rather an idle one. The Tao-te Ching, as we have it, cannot be the work of a single man; some of its sayings may date from the time of Confucius; others are certainly later; and the book as a whole dates from about 300 BC. Perhaps the name Lao-tzu seems to represent a certain type of sage rather than an individual.

in text citations for your second draft

this is a good link for in-text citations.

shu, li, zhong yong and the battle now!

early, late earth?

i'd like to stress the importance of li in relation with shu & try to problematize the quadrant of prudence (yan ren) with decisiveness (ming). the answer is zhong-yong. the right balance that best reflects t'ien. as it turns, the only way to achieve zhong-yong is practicing it.

this reflects the chun-tzu. one can read zhong-yong with aristotle glasses: 

in everything that is continuous and divisible it is possible to take more, less, or anequal amount, and that either in terms of the thing itself or relatively to us; and theequal is an intermediate between excess and defect (ethica eudemia, 1106, a 2629)

intermediate between excess and defect, which is why zhu xi, the neo-confucianist master would advise,

"a friend should neither be too close or too remote." (a deep thought)

this middle is zhong-yong. one more thing. zhong-yong has two sides: xing is the internal (thought-driven), while li is external, (behavior-oriented). the problem of unifying the li and xing is exactly the problem of combining and unifying the internal and the external. zhong-yong can be seen as a balance between internal(self)/external(others)-axis intersecting a consensus/community axis. according to confucius, this is how we become political & social individuals. there is no possibility ofjen (virtue) without a community.     
what we learn from confucianism concerning li is that as society, we face a disorientation. rituals have become fetishized. there's a fresh, redeeming possibility for genuine exchange, but it takes to turn the present value of the ritual upside down. 

perhaps in the face of fetishized and stereotyped rituals we have the imperative to create our own lifrom scratch. decisiveness is critical to find transcultural lost symbols, re-inscribing them into new contexts. there is always room for transformation and novelty. our generation is in need of material and spiritual actions-and-reactions. we could help replenish our community with a renewed sense of purpose. in the end this yajna, only a bit different. an offering to our possible best selves. 

we have speculated in class whether we still have time to change things in the world. what if that vision needs to be revised? look at the astronomy and geology of things. the process at work, the flow that moves through things. the history of the world is a history of ghosts: people, traces, remnants scattered, dispersed into geological & historical time. the world is in constant flow. why fighting that? is a doomed planet in the distant future that unpalatable? 

oh, but that's far away.

our task is the present. our deeds belong in this instant, our future is NOW, this dharma in our defective but always perfectible world.

our battle is in this generation!

i am closing this post next wednesday 11pm.

some of you need to retake the midterm. don't leave it for the last minute!

xunzi: justice? revenge?

as per our discussion of the issue of death penalty (and anton's characterization as a form of revenge). take my brief response here to a complex issue as only hinting at the danger or trivializing "pro" or "con" arguments with quick, lapidary statements.   

it all begins with xunzi's advice for government:

If a man comes forward in good faith, treat him according to ritual; if he comes forward in bad faith, meet him with punishment. In this way the two categories will be clearly distinguished, worthy and unworthy men will not be thrown together, and right and wrong will not be confused.

anton asked if xunzi's philosophy authorizes the state to kill as a form of punishment. i said "yes," but it was a tentative assertion that needs justification. this is a legal & political issue. death penalty is as old as the existence of the state. the analysis of right and wrong the political/legal realm is a bit different from the ethical/moral realm. the latter concerns selves and their actions, the former comprises institutions & rules (legislations).

¿what sort of punishment will apply in the case of a murderer who killed his wife and child? (a typical, everyday, murder case).

anton's maximum allowed penalty for the criminal's transgression is life in prison without the possibility of parole.  let's call it abolitionist lemma:

no matter the degree of the murder, the state cannot kill the murderer.

let's set aside the political aspect: if this was a rule, the state would adopt it as an enactment of consensus? (see the diagram above).

of course, there is the much debated issue of "deterrence." granted, capital punishment may not stop capital crimes. but xunzi is not going for a consequentialist argument here. he would be arguing in favor of Zhong-Yong (proper balance, measure).

 the abolitionist's lemma transgresses the very limit it purports defends.

if life was sacrosant, the criminal shouldn't be spared the limit he already trespassed twice.

xunzi would defend justice in the sense of balance or proportionality. there are degrees of severity of punishment for different degrees in mens rea. for example, the 8th amendment proportionality principle, i.e., a minor who commits murder cannot be killed by the state. why? if the deterrent value of capital punishment rests on the assumption that "we are rational beings who think before we act, and then base our actions on a careful calculation of the gains and losses involved," then a teenage offender is unlikely to make this kind of cost-benefit analysis.

adults are a different story and so, the charge of "revenge" comes in.

what's revenge? the infliction of punishment "in return", retaliation. the retaliation part of revenge may seem akin to that of justice, but there is a big difference. it's clear that not all forms of retaliation are fair.

3- revenge cannot possibly cast away these two: spite and vindictiveness & justice cannot be fair and vindictive, it cannot administer fairness our of spite. what makes for the difference is proper measure.

Xunzi's political program

Xunzi is one of the most sophisticated and influential philosophers of China's Warring States period (479–221 B.C.E.). He considered himself a follower of Confucius and was one of the central early figures in the consolidation of what came to be thought of as the Confucian tradition. Xunzi's significance has often been underestimated, with most prominent Confucians since the Song dynasty aligning themselves with his rival Mencius. His writings address topics ranging from economic and military policy, through the justification of traditional authority and institutions, to action theory and the philosophy of language.

Xunzi strong point is his idea of social and political order, he refers to this tradition as li-yi, “rituals and duties.” Traditional rituals and other artificial social forms help transform natural human behavior, so that people refrain from desires that lead to disorder, conforming instead to the Way.

Not unlike Plato's Republic, Xunzi's social system as a whole is overseen by the chun-tzu, guided by a class of erudites that Xunzi referred to as ru. These would be men whose education and social position gave them the perspective and virtue to oversee the myriad particular activities that Xunzi considered necessary for an orderly state. Much of Xunzi's philosophy is based upon a distinction between what is natural or spontaneous and what is a product of human effort.

Xunzi conceives nature as the unchanging context for human action and organization. Human endeavors succeed or fail depending how they respond to this fixed context—not because of any natural advantages or disadvantages. The stability of a society depends on its ability to respond to natural human desires vs. available resources. The key is to strengthen and enrich the state, by providing social and political structures to regulate people's attempts to satisfy their desires and transforming people's characters (see that this is not precisely our libertarian ideal).

Xunzi (excerpts)

The Importance of Learning:

* Learning should never cease. Blue comes from the indigo plant but is bluer than the plant itself. Ice is made of water but is colder than water ever is. A piece of wood as straight as a plumb line may be bent into a circle as true as any drawn with a compass and, even after the wood has dried, it will not straighten out again. The bending process has made it that way. Thus, if wood is pressed against a straightening board, it can be made straight; if metal is put to the grindstone, it can be sharpened; and if the gentleman studies widely and each day examines himself, his wisdom will become clear and his conduct be without fault. If you do not climb a high mountain, you will not comprehend the highness of the heavens; if you do not look down into a deep valley, you will not know the depth of the earth; and if you do not hear the words handed down from the ancient kings, you will not understand the greatness of learning.

* Pile up earth to make a mountain and wind and rain will rise up from it. Pile up water to make a deep pool and dragons will appear. Pile up good deeds to create virtue and godlike understanding will come of itself; there the mind of the sage will find completion. But unless you pile up little steps, you can never journey a thousand li; unless you pile up tiny streams, you can never make a river or a sea. The finest thoroughbred cannot travel ten paces in one leap, but the sorriest nag can go a ten days' journey. Achievement consists of never giving up. If you start carving and then give up, you cannot even cut through a piece of rotten wood; but if you persist without stopping, you can carve and inlay metal or stone. 

* The learning of the  chün-tzu enters his ear, clings to his mind, spreads through his four limbs, and manifests itself in his actions. His smallest word, his slightest movement can serve as a model. The learning of the petty man enters his ear and comes out his mouth. With only four inches between ear and mouth, how can he have possession of it long enough to ennoble a seven-foot body? In old times men studied for their own sake; nowadays men study with an eye to others.

* The chün-tzu uses learning to ennoble himself; the petty man uses learning as a bribe to win attention from others. To volunteer information when you have not been asked is called officiousness; to answer two questions when you have been asked only one is garrulity. Both officiousness and garrulity are to be condemned. The gentleman should be like an echo.

* He who misses one shot in a hundred cannot be called a really good archer; he who sets out on a thousand-mile journey and breaks down half a pace from his destination cannot be called a really good carriage driver; he who does not comprehend moral relationships and categories and who does not make himself one with benevolence and righteousness cannot be called a good scholar. Learning basically means learning to achieve this oneness.

The Chün-tzu:

* When you see good, then diligently examine your own behavior; when you see evil, then with sorrow look into yourself. When you find good in yourself, steadfastly approve it; when you find evil in yourself, hate it as something loathsome. He who comes to you with censure is your teacher; he who comes with approbation is your friend; but he who flatters you is your enemy. He loves good untiringly and can accept reprimand and take warning from it. Therefore, though he may have no particular wish to advance, how can he help but do so? The petty man is just the opposite. He behaves in an unruly way and yet hates to have others censure him; he does unworthy deeds and yet wants others to regard him as worthy. He has the heart of a tiger or a wolf, the actions of a beast, and yet resents it when others look upon him as an enemy. He draws close to those who flatter him and is distant with those who reprimand him; he laughs at upright men and treats as enemies those who are loyal. Therefore, though he certainly has no desire for ruin, how can he escape it?

* To make use of good to lead others is called education; to make use of good to achieve harmony with others is called amenity. To use what is not good to lead others is called betrayal; to use what is not good to achieve harmony with others is called sycophancy.

* To treat right as right and wrong as wrong is called wisdom; to treat right as wrong and wrong as right is called stupidity. To act on the sly is called deceit; to go back on your word is called perfidy. To be without a fixed standard in your actions is called inconstancy. To cling to profit and cast aside righteousness is called the height of depravity. He who has heard much is called broad; he who has heard little is called shallow. He who has seen much is called practiced; he who has seen little is called uncouth. He who has difficulty advancing is called a laggard; he who forgets easily is called a leaky-brain. This is the proper way to order the temperament and train the mind. If your temperament is too strong and stubborn, soften it with harmony. If your intellect is too deep and withdrawn, unify it with mild sincerity. If you are too courageous and fierce, correct the fault with orderly compliance. If you are too hasty and flippant, regulate the fault with restraint. If you are too constrained and petty, broaden yourself with liberality. If you are too low-minded, lethargic, and greedy, lift yourself up with high ambitions. If you are mediocre, dull, and diffuse, strip away your failings by means of teachers and friends. If you are indolent and heedless, awaken yourself with the thought of imminent disaster.

 * Of all the ways to order the temperament and train the mind, none is more direct than to follow li ritual, none more vital than to find a teacher, none more godlike than to learn to love one thing alone. This is called ren the proper way to order the temperament and train the mind.

* The chün-tzu uses things; the petty man is used by things.

* Men are certainly not as widely separated in their capacities as a lame turtle and a team of six thoroughbreds; yet the lame turtle reaches the goal where the team of thoroughbreds fails. There is only one reason: one keeps on going, the other does not. Though the road is short, if you do not step along you will never get to the end; though the task is small, if you do not work at it you will never get it finished. He who takes many holidays will never excel in his craft.

* If you keep piling up one handful of earth on top of another without ceasing, you will end up with a high mountain. But if you block the source of a river and break down its banks, even the Yangzi and the Yellow River can be made to run dry. Ritual is the means by which to rectify yourself; the teacher is the means by which ritual is rectified. If you are without ritual, how can you rectify yourself? If you have no teacher, how can you understand the fitness of ritual? If you unerringly do as ritual prescribes, it means that your emotions have found rest in ritual. If you speak as your teacher speaks, it means that your understanding has become like that of your teacher. If your emotions find rest in ritual and your understanding is like that of your teacher, then you have become a sage. Hence to reject ritual is to be without law and to reject your teacher is to be without a guide. To deny guide and law and attempt to do everything your own way is to be like a blind man trying to distinguish colors or a deaf man, tones. Nothing will come of it but confusion and outrage.

* This is what is meant by the lines in the Odes: He is a teacher who without considering & without thinking, obeys the laws of Heaven.

How to govern:

* Someone asked how to govern, and I replied: In the case of worthy and able men, promote them without waiting for their turn to come up. In the case of inferior and incompetent men, dismiss them without hesitation. In the case of incorrigibly evil men, punish them without trying to reform them. In the case of people of average capacity, teach them what is right without attempting to force them into goodness. Thus, even where rank has not yet been fixed, the distinction between good and bad will be as clear as that between the left and right ancestors in the mortuary temple.

* These are the essential points to remember when listening to proposals in government. If a man comes forward in good faith, treat him according to ritual; if he comes forward in bad faith, meet him with punishment. In this way the two categories will be clearly distinguished, worthy and unworthy men will not be thrown together, and right and wrong will not be confused. If worthy and unworthy men are not thrown together, then men of extraordinary character will come to you, and if right and wrong are not confused, then the nation will be well ordered. This accomplished, your fame will increase each day, the world will look to you with longing, your orders will be carried out, your prohibitions heeded, and you will have fulfilled all the duties of a king.

* Fair-mindedness is the balance in which to weigh proposals;4 upright harmoniousness is the line by which to measure them. Where laws exist, to carry them out; where they do not exist, to act in the spirit of precedent and analogy—this is the best way to hear proposals. To show favoritism and partisan feeling and be without any constant principles—this is the worst you can do. Where ranks are all equal, there will not be enough goods to go around; where power is equally distributed, there will be a lack of unity; where there is equality among the masses, it will be impossible to employ them. The very existence of Heaven and Earth exemplifies the principle of higher and lower, but only when an enlightened king appears on the throne can the nation be governed according to regulation.

* Thus, a king enriches his people, a dictator enriches his soldiers, a state that is barely managing to survive enriches its high officers, and a doomed state enriches only its coffers and stuffs its storehouses. But if its coffers are heaped up and its storehouses full, while its people are impoverished, this is what is called to overflow at the top but dry up at the bottom. Such a state will be unable to protect itself at home and unable to fight its enemies abroad, and its downfall and destruction can be looked for at any moment.

Heaven:

* Heaven's ways are constant. It does not prevail because of a sage like Yao; it does not cease to prevail because of a tyrant like Jie. Respond to it with good government, and good fortune will result; respond to it with disorder, and misfortune will result.

* If you practice the Way and are not of two minds, then Heaven cannot bring you misfortune. Flood or drought cannot make your people starve, extremes of heat or cold cannot make them fall ill, and strange and uncanny occurrences cannot cause them harm. But if you neglect agriculture and spend lavishly, then Heaven cannot make you rich. If you are careless in your provisions and slow to act, then Heaven cannot make you whole. If you turn your back upon the Way and act rashly, then Heaven cannot give you good fortune. You must not curse Heaven, for it is merely the natural result of your own actions. Therefore, he who can distinguish between the activities of Heaven and those of mankind is worthy to be called a man of virtue.

* To bring to completion without acting, to obtain without seeking—this is the work of Heaven. Thus, although the sage has deep understanding, he does not attempt to exercise it upon the work of Heaven; though he has great talent, he does not attempt to apply it to the work of Heaven; though he has keen perception, he does not attempt to use it on the work of Heaven. Hence it is said that he does not compete with Heaven's work.

* Are order and disorder due to the heavens? I reply, the sun and moon, the stars and constellations revolved in the same way in the time of Yu as in the time of Jie. Yu achieved order; Jie brought disorder. Hence order and disorder are not due to the heavens.

* When stars fall or trees make strange sounds, all the people in the country are terrified and go about asking, “Why has this happened?” For no special reason, I reply. It is simply that, with the changes of Heaven and earth and the mutations of the yin and yang, such things once in a while occur.

* You pray for rain and it rains. Why? For no particular reason, I say. It is just as though you had not prayed for rain and it rained anyway.

* The fate of man lies with Heaven; the fate of the nation lies in ritual. If the ruler of men honors rites and promotes worthy men, he may become a true king. If he cares only for profit and engages in much deceit, he will be in danger. And if he engrosses himself in plots and schemes, subversion and secret evil, he will be destroyed.

* Is it better to exalt Heaven and think of it, Or to nourish its creatures and regulate them? Is it better to obey Heaven and sing hymns to it, Or to grasp the mandate of Heaven and make use of it? Is it better to long for the seasons and wait for them, Or to respond to the seasons and exploit them? Is it better to wait for things to increase of themselves, Or to apply your talents and transform them? Is it better to think of things but regard them as outside you, Or to control things and not let them slip your grasp? Is it better to long for the source from which things are born, Or to possess the means to bring them to completion?

* Hence if you set aside what belongs to man and long for what belongs to Heaven, you mistake the nature of all things.

The Importance of Rites:

* What is the origin of ritual? I reply: man is born with desires. If his desires are not satisfied for him, he cannot but seek some means to satisfy them himself. If there are no limits and degrees to his seeking, then he will inevitably fall to wrangling with other men. From wrangling comes disorder and from disorder comes exhaustion. The ancient kings hated such disorder, and therefore they established ritual principles in order to curb it, to train men's desires and to provide for their satisfaction. They saw to it that desires did not overextend the means for their satisfaction, and material goods did not fall short of what was desired. Thus both desires and goods were looked after and satisfied. This is the origin of rites.

* Rites are a means of satisfaction. Grain-fed and grass-fed animals, millet and wheat, properly blended with the five flavors—these are what satisfy the mouth. The odors of pepper, orchid, and other sweet-smelling plants—these are what satisfy the nose. The beauties of carving and inlay, embroidery and pattern—these are what satisfy the eye. Bells and drums, strings and woodwinds—these are what satisfy the ear. Spacious rooms and secluded halls, soft mats, couches, benches, armrests and cushions—these are what satisfy the body. Therefore I say that rites are a means of providing satisfaction. The chun-tzu, having provided a means for the satisfaction of desires, is also careful about the distinctions to be observed. What do I mean by distinctions? Eminent and humble have their respective stations, elder and younger their degrees, and rich and poor, important and unimportant, their different places in society.

* He who seeks only to preserve his life at all cost will surely suffer death. He who strives only for profit at all cost will surely suffer loss. He who thinks that safety lies in indolence and idleness alone will surely face danger. He who thinks that happiness lies only in gratifying the emotions will surely face destruction.

* Rites have three bases. Heaven and earth are the basis of life, the ancestors are the basis of the family, and rulers and teachers are the basis of order. If there were no Heaven and earth, how could man be born? If there were no ancestors, how would the family come into being? If there were no rulers and teachers, how would order be brought about? If even one of these were lacking, there would be no safety for man. Therefore rites serve Heaven above and earth below, honor the ancestors, and exalt rulers and teachers. These are the three bases of rites.

On The Danger of Obsessions:

* The thing that all men should fear is that they will become obsessed by a small corner of truth and fail to comprehend its overall principles. If they can correct this fault, they may return to correct standards, but if they continue to hesitate and be of two minds, then they will fall into delusion.

* What are the sources of obsession? One may be obsessed by desires or by hates, by the beginning of an affair or by the end, by those far away or those close by, by breadth of knowledge or by shallowness, by the past or by the present. When one makes distinctions among the myriad beings of creation, these distinctions all become potential sources of obsession. This is a danger in the use of the mind that is common to all men (insistence on the ONE).

On Rectifying Names:

* When the king sets about regulating names, if the names and the realities to which they apply are made fixed and clear, so that he can carry out the Way and communicate his intentions to others, then he may guide the people with circumspection and unify them. Hence to split words and recklessly make up new names, throwing the names that have already been established into confusion, leading the people into doubt and delusion, and causing men to argue and contend with each other is a terrible evil and should be punished in the same way that one punishes those who tamper with tallies or weights and measures. If so, then the people will not dare to think up pretexts for using strange words and throwing the established names into disorder...

Man's Nature is Evil:

* Man's nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity. The nature of man is such that he is born with a fondness for profit. If he indulges this fondness, it will lead him into wrangling and strife, and all sense of courtesy and humility will disappear. He is born with feelings of envy and hate, and if he indulges these, they will lead him into violence and crime, and all sense of loyalty and good faith will disappear. Man is born with the desires of the eyes and ears, with a fondness for beautiful sights and sounds. If he indulges these, they will lead him into license and wantonness, and all ritual principles and correct forms will be lost. Hence, any man who follows his nature and indulges his emotions will inevitably become involved in wrangling and strife, will violate the forms1 and rules of society, and will end as a criminal. Therefore, man must first be transformed by the instructions of a teacher and guided by ritual principles, and only then will he be able to observe the dictates of courtesy and humility, obey the forms and rules of society, and achieve order. It is obvious from this, then, that man's nature is evil, and that his goodness is the result of conscious activity.

* A warped piece of wood must wait until it has been laid against the straightening board, steamed, and forced into shape before it can become straight; a piece of blunt metal must wait until it has been whetted on a grindstone before it can become sharp. Similarly, since man's nature is evil, it must wait for the instructions of a teacher before it can become upright, and for the guidance of ritual principles before it can become orderly. If men have no teachers to instruct them, they will be inclined towards evil and not upright; and if they have no ritual principles to guide them, they will be perverse and violent and lack order.

* In ancient times the sage kings realized that man's nature is evil, and that therefore he inclines toward evil and violence and is not upright or orderly. Accordingly they created ritual principles and laid down certain regulations in order to reform man's emotional nature and make it upright, in order to train and transform it and guide it in the proper channels. In this way they caused all men to become orderly and to conform to the Way.

* Someone may ask: if man's nature is evil, then where do ritual principles come from? I would reply: all ritual principles are produced by the conscious activity of the sages; essentially they are not products of man's nature. A potter molds clay and makes a vessel, but the vessel is the product of the conscious activity of the potter, not essentially a product of his human nature. A carpenter carves a piece of wood and makes a utensil, but the utensil is the product of the conscious activity of the carpenter, not essentially a product of his human nature. The sage gathers together his thoughts and ideas, experiments with various forms of conscious activity, and so produces ritual principles and sets forth laws and regulations. Hence, these ritual principles and laws are the products of the conscious activity of the sage, not essentially products of his human nature.

* Phenomena such as the eye's fondness for beautiful forms, the ear's fondness for beautiful sounds, the mouth's fondness for delicious flavors, the mind's fondness for profit, or the body's fondness for pleasure and ease—these are all products of the emotional nature of man. They are instinctive and spontaneous; man does not have to do anything to produce them. But that which does not come into being instinctively but must wait for some activity to bring it into being is called the product of conscious activity.

what is your favorite topic in the dhammapada?

we read about 9 chapters from the dhammapada:

the twin-verses
vigilance
mind
flowers
the immature 
the saint (guru)
thousands
evil
punishment...

there's plenty of wisdom in these chapters. what did you take with you?

let's discuss it in class next thursday.

Confucius's Bio

Confucius was born in the small feudal state of Lu (noted for its preservation of the traditions of ritual and music of the Chou civilization).

1- Confucius' ancestors were probably members of the aristocracy who had become poor by the time of his birth. His father died when Confucius was only three years old. He was then instructed by his mother and distinguished himself as a great learner in his teens. 

2- Confucius had served in minor government posts before he married a woman of similar background when he was 19. He mastered the six arts-ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and arithmetic- and his familiarity with the classical traditions, notably poetry and history, enabled him to start a brilliant teaching career in his 30s. 

3- Confucius is the first teacher in China who wanted to make education available to all men and who was instrumental in establishing the art of teaching as a way of life (before Confucius education was for the aristocracy). He believed that all human beings could benefit from self-cultivation and started a Humanities program for potential leaders. in Confucian, learning builds character.

4- For Confucius the primary function of education was to provide the proper way of training the chün-tzu, a process that involved constant self-improvement and continuous social interaction.

In his late 40s and early 50s Confucius served as a magistrate and as an assistant minister of public works, and eventually as minister of justice in the state of Lu. His political career was, however, short-lived. At 56, when he realized that his superiors were uninterested in his policies, Confucius left the country in an attempt to find another feudal state to which he could render his service. He was accompanied by an expanding circle of students during this self-imposed exile of almost 12 years. His reputation as a man of vision and mission spread. At the age of 67 he returned home to teach and to preserve his cherished classical traditions by writing and editing. He died in 479 BC, at the age of 73. 

what to do about india?

we had a heated discussion last thursday. anton kept coming back at his idée fix: what to do about india?

the question rubbed some people in the class the wrong way. anton's relentless persistence seemed a form of ego-trip.

but india is part of the ONE, and we are part of the ONE. we shouldn't pretend india doesn't exist. we are an individualistic society. we've had a history of political isolationism.  if we all care for what is close to us. isn't that an excuse to inaction? of course not.

helping india is helping the ONE. helping west africa, syria, sudan needs is helping INDIA. helping our homeless and our poor right here in miami is helping the ONE.

in oneness/language india is really not that far. this is where epictetus comes in with his advice of doing what is most immediate to each one of us. there was a passionate argument from angie and destiny in this regard.

what ifs "close" is too comfy?

but speaking in onenes/language, geographical distance is relative. india as near as our own backyard.

how come?

oneness cannot be segregated.

yet, anton may rejoin: "if each part is as valid for the constitution of the whole, the oneness may present --as valid-- an appeal for india proper, over our own backyard."

& in the end this point is also valid. no one can disown it. the only exception being that doing your dharma here, in liberty city or little haiti or little havana, is as valid.

from oneness we get pluralism: there is no one exclusive path in the ONE. as the gita counsels:

As people approach me, so I receive them. All paths lead to me.

so?

have the courage to do what you need to do.

7 steps to follow for your philosophy paper!

1. Introduction: Your introduction should be clear, provocative and provide a road map to your research paper. It doesn’t have to be as specific as detailing what each section will contain, but it should certainly describe what you’ll be examining, analyzing, and proving. Readers begin forming judgments about a research paper after just viewing the introduction, which is why it’s so important to make it shine.

2. Clear Thesis: A good thesis statement expresses your main idea, perspective or position. It is not a statement of known fact. For extra help with writing a thesis statement, visit Questia’s 9-step writing guide.

3. Organization: “Writing Papers Grading Criteria” from Writing-tipstoday.com suggests that your paper be checked for: presentation of references, clarity of language style, spelling, punctuation, grammar, length and overall presentation.

4. Integrating Sources: Professors expect sources—that’s what puts the “research” in “research paper.” Moreover, they expect you to integrate those sources and fuse them with your ideas, equally. If you have 10 sources and only use two, for example, a professor will notice and grade you down.

Just as important, make sure you are using reliable research sources. Ask your professor ahead of time whether your sources are okay—most will not accept sources such as Wikipedia or blog entries; some will only accept sources from approved journal databases.

5. Be Concise: Wordy, bombastic writing will impress no one, especially not your professor. The longer it takes them to understand what you’re saying, the less clear you’ll be and the quicker your grade will drop. If you think you might be rambling, consider having a roommate, peer, or friend read your research paper and offer feedback.

6. Originality: Your writing should be your own. In other words, anything not in quotations should be your ideas and analyses, not anyone else’s. It’s not uncommon for students to pursue the same research topic, but most professors will try to ensure that each one is unique. Many instructors request the thesis ahead of time so they can evaluate it, as well as verify that each student is working on a different research paper. To avoid plagiarism, check out the tips Loraine Blaxter offers in How to Research.

7. Editorial Style: Many professors require a certain research paper format such as APA, MLA, or Chicago. This isn’t a suggestion, and your professor may lower your grade if you don’t follow the correct style. Some grade more harshly than others, but style is especially important in your parenthetical references and on your works cited page. Questia helps you to format your citations, bibliographies and works cited pages in multiple writing styles to help you do well on your research paper.

so, what have you learned from the gita? (second post for comment, due wednesday 11pm)

the battle for berlin, 1945

fight this battle!

midterm behind us, next, bring your dhammapadas for tuesday 's reading

facebook link for midterm reviews!

this is the new facebook link for midterm reviews. 

metaphoring autopoesis

what i mean by metaphoring is entertaining spiritual possibilities with the aim of producing worshiping dispositions. (worship here means just devout attention.)

devout means deliberate & disciplined.

attention means focused and persistent.

buddhist ecology (not what you think)

i found this great article by aspiring buddhist and evolutionary biologist david barash for aeon. 

Part of this sensitivity to nature is a Buddhist grasp of suffering, whose existence constitutes the first of Buddhism's Four Noble Truths. It is no coincidence that Henry David Thoreau, America's first great environmentalist, was also a student of Indian religion and the first translator of the ‘Lotus Sutra’ into English. In this classic teaching, Shakyamuni Buddha compares the ‘Dharma’ — the true nature of reality — to a soothing rain that nourishes all beings.

a buddhist idea of self can shed light on a more progressive (darker) view of ecology:

Each of us arises in conjunction with others, dependent on and inseparable from those others. Trying to locate an inviolate particle of selfhood within anyone (or indeed, in any living thing) is not like finding a solid pit inside an apricot. It is more like peeling an onion: we are layers within layers, with nothing at the centre. Or, like an eddy in a river, each of us can be identified and pointed to, but nonetheless, there isn’t any persistent ‘us’: just a constantly moving pattern of flow, with everyone composed entirely of non-self stuff, all of it passing through. For Buddhists and ecologists alike, we are all created from spare parts scavenged from the same cosmic junk-heap, from which ‘our’ component atoms and molecules are on temporary loan, and to which they will eventually be recycled.

let's be sincere about our doubts:

High on the list of such absurdities are the phenomena of iddhi, supernatural events that are supposed to be generated by extremely skilful and committed meditation. They appear often in Buddhist texts, and I don’t believe a word of them. Higher meditators are claimed to possess various supernatural abilities, becoming invisible on demand, walking through walls, on water, through the air, hearing people and other beings very far away, mind-reading, recalling past lives, even possessing ‘divine eyes’ that permit them to see the arising and passing away of karma.

barash admits the absurdity of it all. ecological poesis has an inseparable noir component.

Ecology is many things: a science, a world view, a cautionary tale. It can be nearly incomprehensible in its mathematical thickets, downright tedious in its verbal pomposity, theoretically abstruse yet dirty-under-the-fingernails practical, often ignored and derided although desperately needed as a voice for basic planetary hygiene and a practical corrective to human hubris. It has been called the ‘subversive science’, since it subverts our egocentric insistence on separateness, and with it, our inclination to ride roughshod over the rest of the natural world.

methinks some of this can still be salvaged as metaphoring auto-poesis.

Notes on Buddhism

... l'homme n'est pas ce qu'il est, il est ce qu'il n'est pas.-- Jean Paul Sartre

Buddhism is a spiritual movement founded by Siddharta Gautama in India in the 6th century BC, the first multi-cultural spiritual tradition in the higher civilization of the Eurasian world.

Buddhism lasted in India for some 1500 years, until it disappeared from India as that country became progressively dominated by Islam. Buddhism moved then to Ceylon, China (first century AD), Korea (fourth century AD), and Japan (sixth century AD); eastward into Burma, Thailand (third century AD), Cambodia (fourth century AD), Indonesia (third century AD) and the other countries of southeastern Asia with the exception of the Philippines. It became the dominant spiritual movement in Tibet (eighth century AD), and Mongolia (thirteenth century AD).

The teaching of Buddha was handed down to succeeding generations in the form of a threefold refuge: the Buddha, the teaching and the community. These are three aspects of the Buddha reality.

1- The teaching itself is a form of Buddha presence. The teaching is supreme insofar as it is in virtue of the teaching that a person is guided to experience the saving illumination concerning the nature of sorrow and the way to release from sorrow. 2- The community has a certain priority since it carries and sustain the entire Buddhist tradition. 3- The doctrine would have had no inner development or preservation or propagation except through the community. Yet supreme over everything is the Buddha reality.

The Message

Buddha's teaching was transmitted orally to his disciples.

1- The theory, 2- the path and the 3- sangha. 

Reality

Reality is composed of dharmas (components) or a succession of microseconds of existence. Buddha departed from the teachings of must Hinduism by not having a precise eschatology (a theory of final things). Life is a stream, a river, of manifestations and extinctions. There's nothing permanent and thereby no fixed self. To make clear this concept Buddhism puts forward the theory of five constituents 1- rupa or corporeality or physical form, 2- feelings or sensations (vedana), 3- ideations (sanna), 40 mental formations or dispositions (sankhara), and consciousness (vinana). Human existence is only a composite of these aggregates.

Karma

Buddhists accept the notion of karma, however, this presented a problem with their notion of no-self. How could one prove that one can reincarnate with a no self, i.e. with no permanent subject? Some scholars have considered this to be unsolvable. The relations between existences has been compared to the analogy of fire, which maintains itself unchanged in appearance and yet is very different in every moment. A sort of ever changing identity.

The Four Noble Truths (hinting at the path)

There are four noble truths. 1-The truth of sorrow, 2-the truth that sorrow originates within us from the craving of pleasure, 3-the truth that this craving can be eliminated and 4-the truth that a methodical path must be followed to obtain this goal. Otherwise human beings would remain indefinitely in samsara.

The Eightfold Path

Hence Buddha formulated the law of dependent origination or paticca-samuppada whereby one condition arises out of another, which in turn arises out of prior conditions. Given the awareness of this law, the question arises as to how one may escape the continually renewed cycle of births, suffering and death. There must be a purification that leads to overcoming this process. Such a liberating purification is effected by following the Noble Eightfold Path constituted by 1-the right views, 2-the right aspiration, 3-the right speech, 4-the right conduct, 5-the right livelihood, 6-the right effort, 7-the right mindfulness and 8-the right meditational attainment.

Nirvana

The aim is to be rid of the delusion of the ego, freeing oneself from the fetters of this mundane world. One who succeeds has achieved enlightenment. The term is nirvana translated as dying out
But nirvana is not extinction. And Buddha repudiated this. Buddhists search for salvation, not annihilation. Although nirvana is often presented as negative, it can be seen as the ultimate goal for salvation in Buddhism.

near death experience (as studied by science)

don't miss this article in science daily about so called NDEs (near death experiences).

 In this case, consciousness and awareness appeared to occur during a three-minute period when there was no heartbeat. This is paradoxical, since the brain typically ceases functioning within 20-30 seconds of the heart stopping and doesn't resume again until the heart has been restarted. Furthermore, the detailed recollections of visual awareness in this case were consistent with verified events.

so? as they say:

Further studies are also needed to explore whether awareness (explicit or implicit) may lead to long term adverse psychological outcomes including post-traumatic stress disorder.

what's your favorite gita theme? (post for comment)

there are specific themes in the gita:

"fight the battle," action in inaction, the importance of karma yoga, one's duty,  the idea of karma vs dharma, the gunas, salvation, spiritual discipline, ignorance of avidya, maya, etc.

what's your favorite (if it's not here bring it forth),

go ahead.

problems with your submission so far...

these are some of the problems i've found,

1- you've researched very little and it shows. without conscientious research you cannot put together a good paper.
2- your counters are generally flimsy, many showing bias, which is not good in principle. remember: your paper is as good as the counters you present!
3- avoid too many points and arguments,  for a 1,500 words you have to maximize the best arguments and counters. prioritize your best arguments!
4- say things clearly! read it out loud and see if you understand what you've written. the art of argumentation is about clarity and elegance.

VICES

excessive superfluous wordiness (use more sentences instead of long prepositional phrases),
tedious repetition (begging the question)
vagueness in your statement (beating around the bush)
hyperbole (big words don't mean a thing),
emotional outbursts,
belittling your counter, instead of proving it wrong is a form of ad hominem.