Japanese Zen Buddhist Philosophy 1. The Meaning of the Term Zen The designation of this school of the Buddha-Way as Zen, which means sitting meditation, is derived from a transliteration of the Chinese word Chán. Because the Chinese term is in turn a transliteration of the Sanskrit term dhyāna, however, Zen owes its historical origin to early Indian Buddhism, where a deepened state of meditation, called samādhi, was singled out as one of the three components of study a Buddhist was required to master, the other two being an observation of ethical precepts (sīla) and an embodiment of nondiscriminatory wisdom (prajñā). Meditation was picked as the name for this school because the historical Buddha achieved enlightenment (nirvāna) through the practice of meditation. In the context of Zen Buddhism, the perfection of nondiscriminatory wisdom (Jpn.: hannya haramitsu; Skrt.: prajñāpāramitā) designates practical, experiential knowledge. 2. 3. 3.1 The Adjustment of the Body 3.2 The Adjustment of Breathing 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Mindfulness Everyday Who Benefits From the Fed? - David Howden We recently looked at the Federal Reserve’s 2012 results. In particular, we pointed to some positive and negative developments. On a positive note, the Fed managed to shrink down the size of its balance sheet by approximately one-third of a percent. (Hey, it’s a start.) On a negative note, this decrease occurred because banks shifted their holdings of reserves into cash, thus forcing the Fed to sell off some of its assets. I explained that this is a potentially negative result, as the shift into cash brings with it inflationary pressure on prices. In this article I want to point out who has benefited from the Fed’s operations over the past year. There has been a lot of discussion about the large increase in reserves, and especially excess reserves, held by the banking system. Interest on reserves is set at 0.25 percent, and is paid from the Fed’s operating revenues to its member banks. Figure 1: Interest paid on reserve balances (annualized, $bn) Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St.
Qualia In philosophy, qualia (/ˈkwɑːliə/ or /ˈkweɪliə/; singular form: quale) are what some consider to be individual instances of subjective, conscious experience. The term "qualia" derives from the Latin neuter plural form (qualia) of the Latin adjective quālis (Latin pronunciation: [ˈkʷaːlɪs]) meaning "of what sort" or "of what kind"). Examples of qualia include the pain of a headache, the taste of wine, or the perceived redness of an evening sky. As qualitative characters of sensation, qualia stand in contrast to "propositional attitudes".[1] Daniel Dennett (b. 1942), American philosopher and cognitive scientist, regards qualia as "an unfamiliar term for something that could not be more familiar to each of us: the ways things seem to us".[2] Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961), the famous physicist, had this counter-materialist take: The sensation of color cannot be accounted for by the physicist's objective picture of light-waves. Definitions[edit] Arguments for the existence of qualia[edit] E. J.
Comments on Community Dear Reader, When I last wrote, I concluded with a comment on the high level of activity and energy here in my adopted hometown of Cafayate. And never is it busier than during the annual Serenata, a festival celebrating the folkloric music of the region. Bursting to the seams, almost literally, the pueblo's simple streets become a continuous parade of festival-goers, more often than not packed seven to eight to a car with happy songs pouring out of all windows. Large families, old gauchos, hippies (or at least that's what they used to be called), and sundry teens and twenty-somethings all come together for three nights of lively music and good times. And, boy, do they have a good time. (Note that the photo shown here is taken not as the sun begins to set, but just after sunrise.) I attended the Friday night performances as part of a small group guided by a local coca-chewing, cigar-chomping cardiologist friend of mine and ended up dragging myself home around 4 am. Comments on Community
Collective consciousness Doug Casey on G20 Economic Suicide (Interviewed by Louis James, Editor, International Speculator) L: So Doug, the G20 declared that there will be no currency war. Other than a belly laugh, any reactions? Doug: First, we should define what a currency war is. I believe that Argentina is still a member of the G20, although hanging on by its fingernails. L: That may be, but it strikes me as being... just so ridiculous. Doug: The new Japanese prime minister has come out and said that the Bank of Japan needs to redouble its efforts to create new yen. This reminds me of the story of the guy who jumps off a 100-story building and yells as he passes the 50th floor, "So far, so good!" L: Does anyone even know if it's possible for the G20 economies to grow at a rate that would make their deficit/debt levels manageable? Doug: I understand that it would take growth on the order of what made China famous in the previous decade, but if anything their growth rates are going down. Consider again the example of Argentina. Doug: Quite right.
Is Consciousness Universal? For every inside there is an outside, and for every outside there is an inside; though they are different, they go together. —Alan Watts, Man, Nature, and the Nature of Man, 1991 I grew up in a devout and practicing Roman Catholic family with Purzel, a fearless and high-energy dachshund. He, as with all the other, much larger dogs that subsequently accompanied me through life, showed plenty of affection, curiosity, playfulness, aggression, anger, shame and fear. Yet my church teaches that whereas animals, as God's creatures, ought to be treated well, they do not possess an immortal soul. It was only later, at university, that I became acquainted with Buddhism and its emphasis on the universal nature of mind. As a natural scientist, I find a version of panpsychism modified for the 21st century to be the single most elegant and parsimonious explanation for the universe I find myself in. We Are All Nature's Children
The Ethics of Repudiation - John P. Cochran Do you ever get the feeling that no one in the Washington power elite is willing to seriously deal with the major economic threat to future prosperity facing the United States today: mounting government debt and the associated deficits? The problem, as pointed out by Murray Rothbard over 20 years ago: Deficits and a mounting debt, therefore, are a growing and intolerable burden on the society and economy, both because they raise the tax burden and increasingly drain resources from the productive to the parasitic, counterproductive, “public” sector. Moreover, whenever deficits are financed by expanding bank credit—in other words, by creating new money—matters become still worse, since credit inflation creates permanent and rising price inflation as well as waves of boom-bust “business cycles.” Henderson wrote, Henderson sees default as likely to occur eventually and, given current trends and other alternatives, the more moral alternative. I’m unconvinced. Per Rothbard, Rothbard continues,
Magic Mushrooms Expand Your Mind And Amplify Your Brain’s Dreaming Areas. Here’s How Psychedelic drugs alter consciousness in a profound and novel way that increases the breadth and fluency of cognition. However, until recently, we were unable to offer an explanation for how the brain was altered to account for these effects. In a new study, published in Human Brain Mapping, we scanned the brains of volunteers who had been injected with psilocybin – the chemical found in magic mushrooms which gives a psychedelic experience – and a control group who hadn’t, and discovered two key things: that psilocybin increased the amplitude (or “volume”) of activity in regions of the brain that are reliably activated during dream sleep and form part of the brain’s ancient emotion system; and that psychedelics facilitate a state of “expanded” consciousness – meaning that the breath of associations made by the brain and the ease by which they are visited is enhanced under the drugs. Ego and emotion This finding of a similar pattern to dream activity is intriguing. Building a picture
The Ethics of Repudiation - John P. Cochran Do you ever get the feeling that no one in the Washington power elite is willing to seriously deal with the major economic threat to future prosperity facing the United States today: mounting government debt and the associated deficits? The problem, as pointed out by Murray Rothbard over 20 years ago: Deficits and a mounting debt, therefore, are a growing and intolerable burden on the society and economy, both because they raise the tax burden and increasingly drain resources from the productive to the parasitic, counterproductive, “public” sector. Moreover, whenever deficits are financed by expanding bank credit—in other words, by creating new money—matters become still worse, since credit inflation creates permanent and rising price inflation as well as waves of boom-bust “business cycles.” Henderson wrote, Henderson sees default as likely to occur eventually and, given current trends and other alternatives, the more moral alternative. I’m unconvinced. Per Rothbard, Rothbard continues,