Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The Green Thing

 Reproduction

The Green Thing

I wanted to write about good old days and by some stroke of luck this came in today in my email.

It save me writing another.

Even in my twilight years I practice some of them but at a leisurely pace unlike when I was young.

This is a reproduction!

Please consider the environment… do you really need to print this e-mail?

I SAY PRINT IT IF YOU CHOOSE TO SHARE W/ A NON-COMPUTERIZED PERSON!

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.”

The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. 

Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”

She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. 

But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. 

But she was right. 

We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. 
We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. 

We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. 

But she’s right. 

We didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. 

But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. 

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. 

And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart young person.

Remember: Don’t make old people mad.

We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to pi= us off.

Constitution, Dhamma and the Lullaby.

Constitution, Dhamma and the Lullaby.
 
I am sorry for repetition but this has a political impact.
I hate the use of Buddhism as opposed to Dhamma.
Let me make some qualifications.
 

1. Dhamma has no parallels in philosophy, politics or science.
 

2. It is boundless and timeless and permeate all spheres of human mental activity.
 

3. It is not an institution in a religious sense.
 

4. It does not belong to a particular country or race or a constitution.
 

5. It belongs to the human race.
 

6. Having said that it does not disregard existence of the right of other living beings.
 

7. It accept the presence of extraterrestrial beings of higher or lower order to human beings.
 

8. It is a way of life with special attention to mental purity (getting rid of defilements).
 

9. It has a very simple moral code, “Live and Let Live Principle”.
 

10. It has no rigid rules and bylaws.
 

11. Above all it is open to Question or inquiry but not at global sense but at Individual Level.
That is why I say it is not a religion but a simple way of life for every individual with an iota of intelligence.
 

12. It does not exclude mentally weak and that is why it emphasize the “Sardha” or the Devotion or reverence to the exalted one.

If you take all the above qualifications it should be Above of All the World Constitutions and not within a structured articles of intent be that it may be United States or Ceylon.

Constitution in brief, in my opinion is a piece of paper article to govern weak subjects by supposed to be powerful and the elite by coercion or rigidity of laws and bylaws.
 

It took almost 2500 years for the Human Rights Charter to be declared (only on paper but violated left, right and center depending on the declared sovereignty of a state or government).
We cannot do without it.
It is the political will of a set or group or collection of people.
It got to be simple to interpret.
It should have a practical value.
It should have the political will to harness harmony and disengage discrimination.
On all the above grounds it cannot be called a perfect article of faith.
It is a near enough document but since it is not perfect it should be scrutinized, restructured, revised on a regular basis.
 

Dhamma does not need any of the above revisions and that is why it should be kept above all constitutions.
That is my view.
By putting it on paper called constitution won’t have any impact on the state or the corrupt people in service or politics, except as a cosmetic exercise.
What I said above won’t apply to Christianity and Muslim religions since they are invariably bound by power, politics, commerce, money and conspiracies to cover up corruption.
In exalted ones and the ones who are on the path of 

Dhamma are completely detached from power, money and corruptions, conspiracies of all kinds.
 

Dhamma is for the Mind and not for an Institution.
That is why Buddha did not appoint a successor and let the boundless Dhamma takes it own course.
It does not mean Dhamma could survive on its own since there is always room for distortion within and from without.
That is the very reason I have penned down my thoughts and the constitution lobbyist (Lullaby) would find a way to insinuate and lower its status of universality.

Repetition below is a previous piece.

 

Dhamma is boundless and timeless.

It permeates all reams and universes (There is no one world but many worlds).

Four abodes of the enlightenment or the sublime states are;

Metta
Karuna
Muditha (no proper word in English nearest is “Sympathetic Joy”)
Upekka

Way forward is Meditation either;
Samatha Bhavana-Concentration or Focused Attention to the Present
Samatha Bhavana, the development of mental tranquility with concentration, is accompanied by three benefits; it gives happiness in the present life, a favorable rebirth, and the freedom from mental defilements which is a prerequisite for attainment of insight.

Vipassana Bhavana-Insight Meditation
Vipassana bhavana is realization of the three signs of being, anicca, dukkha, and anatta,

My Focus are

Metta Meditation

Moment Meditation or Living in the Present Moment (admittedly very difficult poor memory and attention span)

Memory is redundant in my belief and mere reciting and memorizing Dhamma won’t get one nowhere. It had a historical value passing down the ancient wisdom but in digital age there is abundance of textural messages but very little practice.
That is why I highlight meditation (detached attention) as the only way forward.

One needs a good teacher not BOOKS.