Grasping and Non-Grasping(Detachment)

Along with the concept of ahimsa(to not harm a living thing either in action or words) another Buddhist concept I regularly talk to my two children about is upadana. This is a complex concept which, while difficult to talk to adults about, is ridiculously easy to talk to children about. Their minds are capable of seeing clearly whereas adults have too many materialistic hangups in the way.

Let's dig deeper and see why this may be.

Upādāna: Sanskrit for"clinging," "attachment" or "grasping", although the literal meaning is "fuel."^[1] Upādāna and tṛṣṇā (Skt.; Pali: taṇhā) are seen as the two primary causes of suffering. The cessation of clinging leads to Nirvana.^[2]

There are four main "clinging types" talked about in Buddhist and Hindu texts.

1. The craving of worldly things/sensations
2. completely black or white world views and view of the self
3. clinging to rites and rituals as if rites alone could lead directly to liberation
4. and maintaining a self-doctrine that one has a permanent "self" to lose when death occurs

Although children are professional players(this is literally their JOB as part of exploration) they have a much more wobbly sense of balance. Why do you think this is? This is because they are not 'firmly in their skin' so to speak. It is only through later adolescence and then young adulthood when the soul become so firmly attached to the physical form they have grown accustomed to. Naturally, this leads to clingy behavior if this form is threatened. Adults are more cautious than children when protecting this form(and material possessions seen to have worth).

In keeping a doctrine or world-view of either all "This" or all "That" we make the mistake of filling the mold of stereotypes. Fundamentalism at its finest. There is no growth through this skewed perspective. The world is not completely one way or the other and neither is our soul or connection to the divine. Without change there is stagnation. With stagnation comes spiritual death. Then one must ask themselves: what is the purpose of life if not to grow and learn? If you don't want to learn and grow why are you still hanging around? And if you're so sure of everything then this last question still applies. What is there left for you to do if not learn?

Clinging to rites and rituals is a dangerous form of upadana in that it also does not allow us to grow beyond our current perspective. This grasping behavior is the comfort of routine while in other ways it is the basis of wanting to get something far before you are ready for it. The Biblical theme of "paying to get into heaven" falls into this concept. Pushing our religious boundaries and not becoming stagnant is essential. If we are not child-like and choose instead to cling to our rituals then we are in danger of losing that vibrant connection to the divine. It becomes dull when not used in new ways on a regular basis.

A few months ago I wrote a blog post about a whisper in my ear from Pleroma. It was, quote, "you do not have a self." It is one thing to teach about non-grasping behavior in the material world and quite another to dissolve this seemingly hardwired idea in our brain that each of us is separate and therefore we have cause to do harm to one another any way we wish. If it's not hurting us then who cares, right? As long as I get what I need or want then that's all that matters.

Rising above this greed of self-identity is very difficult. In gnosis, this is the equivalent of visualizing the pattern of cloth or material which makes up Pleroma and therefore, us. We are all connected as one mind. Separate physical bodies but all connected with spirit. We think we are separate only because of miscommunication and the distractions of the material world. We're so caught up in these distractions that with each of us trying to grab a certain piece of something we think that there's not going to be enough for everyone so there must be a race to get there first.

By seeing the divine connection we share with one another it becomes unthinkable that we would wish to harm 'our self.'

Detachment is the opposite of grasping.
Nekkhamma in contrast to upādāna.

Nekkhamma is a tricky concept in relation to gnosis and this bears much further discussion.


"...From the cessation of craving comes the cessation of clinging/sustenance. From the cessation of clinging/sustenance comes the cessation of becoming. From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. From the cessation of birth, then aging, illness & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of suffering & stress."

— from "Clinging" (Upadana Sutta SN 12.52)

I think that we have to be careful, very careful, about what we become detached from. For such a lofty goal of attaining gnosis and therefore a more complete communion with Pleroma, must we detach from the world completely? What if we choose to detach from our family, friends, and neighbors? What would the purpose be? What if we sit in mute contemplation for the rest of our days?

In Remembrance of Thich Quang Duc

Forty-seven years and one month ago today this picture was taken at a busy crossroads in Saigon, North Vietnam. It shook the world. President Kennedy nearly fell out of bed reading the paper the following morning, exclaiming, "Jesus Christ!"

Buddhists monk Thích Quảng Đức, (b. 1897 – d. 11 June 1963) Burned himself to death with gasoline and a match to protest the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngô Đình Diệm administration.

As much as I strive to walk the middle path and veer not too far to one or the other side concerning my emotions or beliefs, this act deserves a moment of silent respect and at the same absolute grief and compassion. This sixty-six year old Buddhist monk had seen his country raped and pillaged by it's own government for years. The Vietnam War had raged for several years already and it appeared as though South Vietnam was going to end up with the same type of intolerant government as the North... but with a literalist religious slant.

The First Lady of South Vietnam is quoted as saying she would "clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue show."

In the end, pressure by the United States forced Diệm to sign the Joint Communique which (supposedly) gave religious and social equality to the people of the country.

The Buddhists pushed for a five point agreement: freedom to fly religious flags, an end to arbitrary arrests, compensation for the Huế victims, punishment for the officials responsible and religious equality. Diệm labeled the Buddhists as "damn fools" for demanding something that, according to him, they already enjoyed.

Diệm was a staunch Catholic and blatantly favored those countrymen of the religious group.

Wiki says:
In a country where surveys of the religious composition at the time estimated the Buddhist majority to be between 70 and 90 percent,[5][6][7][8] President Ngô Đình Diệm was a member of the Catholic Vietnamese minority, and pursued policies widely regarded by historians as biased. Specifically, the government was regarded as favoring Roman Catholics for public service and military promotions, as well as in the allocation of land, business arrangements and tax concessions.[9] Diệm once told a high-ranking officer, forgetting that he was a Buddhist, "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted."[10] Many officers in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam converted to Roman Catholicism in the belief that their military prospects depended on it.[10] Additionally, the distribution of firearms to village self-defense militias saw weapons only given to Roman Catholics, with some Buddhists in the army being denied promotion if they refused to convert to Roman Catholicism.[11] Some Roman Catholic priests ran their own private armies,[12] and there were forced conversions and looting, shelling and demolition of pagodas in some areas, to which the government turned a blind eye.[13] Some Buddhist villages converted en masse to receive aid or avoid being forcibly resettled by Diệm's regime.[14] The "private" status that was imposed on Buddhism by the French, which required official permission to be obtained by those wishing to conduct public Buddhist activities, was not repealed by Diệm.[15] Roman Catholics were also de facto exempt from the corvée labor that the government obliged all citizens to perform, and U.S. aid was disproportionately distributed to Roman Catholic majority villages by Diệm's regime.[16] The Roman Catholic Church was the largest landowner in the country and enjoyed special exemptions in property acquisition, and land owned by the Roman Catholic Church was exempt from land reform.[17] The white and gold Vatican flag was regularly flown at all major public events in South Vietnam,[18] and Diệm dedicated his country to the Virgin Mary in 1959.[16]

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Diệm was the Vietnamese version of Hitler. He was a literal nobody who after decades of worming his way into Joseph McCarthy's arms managed to garner American support to liberate Vietnam from the colonialist French and communist elements from the North. That's not so bad. But once Diệm got power he decided that the majority religious group in his country had to be subjugated- the Buddhists.

Catholicism murdered South Vietnam. It's really that simple. It wasn't only a war against communists. It was about personal favoritism, trade, and control. What is truly disheartening to learn is that whatever Diệm's faults he was ultimately the only chance South Vietnam had for separating from the communist North.

With US support, Diệm was assassinated by his own General on November 2st, 1963.


The North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh is reported to have said, "I can scarcely believe the Americans would be so stupid." The political chaos afterward did indeed reveal just how idiotic the US was to support such a coup instead of taking alternate actions to assist in humanitarian ways. South Vietnam fell and it hasn't risen since.

Diệm was a US puppet who got out of control. Publicity about a monk immolating himself in protest to human rights abuses got out and suddenly the US couldn't stop the train wreck they'd set up years ago. It was imminent. There was no stopping it. Diệm refused to see reason and kept the violence escalating even after the Communique was signed.

President Nguyễn Minh Triết, the current president of South Vietnam was formerly the head of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Hồ Chí Minh City. The country is communist and has been since.

Does it seem as though only evil has happened since our monk made such a sacrifice? On the surface it appears so; that his sacrifice was in vain. But let us look deeper.

The day after Thích Quảng Đức self-immolated, the entire world was brought to it's knees in mourning. (Excluding China and North Vietnam, of course.) The world mourned that such a sacrifice apparently had to take place in order to garner attention to what was truly happening. The monk was only concerned with doing what he thought was right. The rest he left up to the people. And that is where responsibility always lies: with the people. The monk did not think he would miraculously stop war with his actions. He knew there was much more bloodshed to come. But he wanted to get word out and take a stand.

The gnostic gospel of Philip says,

Light and darkness, life and death,
on the right and left, these are children,
they are inseparable together.
But the good are not good, the wicked not wicked,
life not life, death not death.
Each element fades to an original source.
But those who live above the world cannot fade.
They are eternal.

Ahimsa And The Control Factor

Being married to a literalist Christian I feel the impulse to strangle him sometimes. I even blog about our mutual frustrations. (Managing Stress entry.) In some of the earlier days of our marriage it seems I swung wildly between wanting to scream at him or hug him and kiss him.

And other times I lie beside him and can literally feel the purity of his soul. I think to myself, "this is a bright spark" and can look far beyond the flaws we argue about so frequently.Words don't matter. Sometimes we coexist better in silence and facial expressions.

I had a roommate once who I honestly wanted to physically hurt in the morning. She'd let her snooze button go off like, oh... fifteen times... before getting up. The walls were thin. We worked different shifts. I was losing sleep. I finally lost my cool one morning and stormed into her bedroom, ripped out the alarm clock, opened up the window, and tossed it outside. Not my most shining moment, I admit. I could have handled that better.

My point is that I cannot control other people. I can only control me. But that also means that I should not feel badly for their rotten decisions or ignorant behavior. Overdraft your checking account? What do you want me to do- sit there for an hour while you rant and scream about the evil bank? ummm... no. I'm not a martyr and I won't sit passively and act like one. I can give you good advice, though, on how to not have it happen again. Then again, sometimes silence is golden. Letting other people work out their own problems is a good thing.

The Buddhist term "ahimsa" --to do no harm to a living creature-- applies not just to those times when we are contemplating going vegetarian or seeing someone neglect an animal. Ahimsa applies every single time we open our mouths. This Gandhian interpretation of ahimsa means being mindful of the result our words can have is one giant step toward gnosis. Why? Because if your eyes are truly open and so is your heart, you cannot in good conscience injure another being. In gnosis you see and feel that spiritual connection between you and the other person. Why would you injure yourself? Both you and the other person are part of the fabric of Pleroma. You are literally cut from the same cloth.

Still confused with the visualization?

Try this: imagine the irritating person in front of you as a younger and more immature version of yourself. You will be a lot less inclined to speak in anger. This younger and more immature version of yourself has not had the life experiences you have had yet; so how can you be boiling angry at simple inexperience? It's like screaming for a baby to shut up when all they want is to be held and fed. The baby is doing what he is meant to at that stage in his life. And so should you.

With gnosis and the concept of ahimsa physical age isn't a factor. An eighty year old could have the mental age and control of a ten year old.

Granted, there are times when it is essential to make your point and yeah, we're only human; we will fail at controlling our temper. It's going to happen. We're not Vulcans and we certainly don't have to act like we are. But slowing down, relaxing the muscles in our face, belly breathing, ..... all that... in those steps.. can make all the difference in the world in how you handle yourself when upset with something somebody did.

When dealing with a person who has bad habits, leaves you to clean up their messes, is irresponsible, and just plain doesn't seem to give a damn about anything you are not expected to just accept their bad behavior. The way I see it you really have three options. The third has interchangeable terms for obvious reasons, for all the different types of relationships which exist.

1. Get mad, yell, and forcefully try to change the person's behavior.
2. Detach and don't take it personally. Try logic and reasoning. If this doesn't work then you're left with option number three.
3. End the relationship/divorce/separate/move out and move on
   

A person only changes if they meet the two following requirements:

1. They have been convinced through logic and reasoning that it is within their best interest to change and
2. They want to change.
   

If those two requirements are not met then you're basically talking to a brick wall. Breathe and move on.


PS. Talking to your children about ahimsa works!! We have regular discussions about 'harmful things' we do or say to one another. You'd be surprised at the kinds of things children pick up on and will actually use if you remind them to.

Book Review

Zen Fables For Today
By: Richard McLean

Zen? Buddhism? ... how exactly does this relate to gnosis and why would a gnostic read a book about Zen or Buddhism let alone a combination of the two? Ahhh but Grasshopper, the answer is in the question. Gnosis means knowing. The path to knowing winds and turns, rarely in a straight line, overlaps itself and then delves deeply into other religions to ferret out their kernels of gnostic truth. Zen Buddhism certainly contains some tasty morsels for thought.

In giving you a taste I hope that you will feel inclined to search out more. Here are two short excerpts.

Page 103:

"Tell me about apples," said the Roshi(teacher) to his three most promising students as he placed an apple on the table. "Whoever explains them best gets to go to Kyoto with me."

The first student explained the apples' origin and introduction into Japan and other historical lore.

The second pointed out the marketing uses for apples in cider, desserts, and applesauce.

The third said nothing. Instead he took a pen knife, cut a wedge, slipped it into the Roshi's mouth and gently pushed hi teacher's jaw upwards so the apple would squish inside his mouth.

"Precisely," said the Roshi talking around his slice of apple. "Apples cannot be explained with words. They must be experienced on the tongue. The only way to know about apples is with your mouth shut."

The class shared the remains of the apple and the third student went to Kyoto.

Lesson: Like "knowing" apples, the only way to "know" about one's place in the universe is not through the ears but through the heart.

Page 10, Mindfulness

The Zen concept of mindfulness could be described as "time hedonism." Zen offers a view of the world that is starkly practical; it says we can (and must) live in the present. And the only way to live in the present is to be present in the moment. For example, if we are washing dishes, Zen says to be there washing the dishes and living that simple action rather than tuning out. Zen labels as wasteful recriminations over the past or worry about the future. "Live now," it commands and gives us the tool to live now: mindfulness of the moment, living in the present, not squandering this precious span of life, not putting consciousness on "automatic pilot" or dreaming away today in favor of an impossible-to-predict tomorrow

Falun Gong

Falun Gong is a spiritual sect begun in mainland China. Gnostics. And they are being tortured, murdered, and even harvested for organs.

Wiki says:

"Falun Gong (alternatively Falun Dafa) is a system of beliefs and practices founded in China by Li Hongzhi in 1992. The practice emerged at the end of China's "qigong boom" as a form of qigong practice. Falun Gong differs from competing qigong schools through its absence of daily rituals of worship, its self-consciousness about outside critics,^[1] its greater emphasis on morality and the purported theological nature of its teachings.^[2][3] There is on-going debate about Falun Gong's classification as a religion, a new religious movement (NRM), or a "cult", term used by the Chinese government to describe the movement.^[4] Its teachings are derived^[5] from qigong, Buddhist and Daoist concepts.^[6][7][8]

In April 1999, over ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners gathered at Communist Party of ChinaZhongnanhai, in a silent protest following an incident in Tianjin.^[9][10][11] Two months later the Chinese government banned the practice through a crackdown and began a large propaganda campaign.^[12][5][13] Since 1999, Falun Gong practitioners in China have been reportedly subject to torture,^[14] illegal imprisonment,^[15] beatings, forced labor, organ harvesting, and psychiatric abuses.^[16][17] Falun Gong has responded with their own media campaign, and have emerged as a notable voice of dissent against the Communist Party of China, by founding organizations such as the Epoch Times, NTDTV and the Shen Yun Performing Arts to publicize their cause.^[18] headquarters,

The number of Falun Gong practitioners is unknown, and the group has no organized membership system. In 1998, the Chinese government published a figure of 70 million practitioners in China.^[19] Falun Gong asserts over 100 million practitioners of Falun Dafa in "114 countries and regions around the world".^[20]

Falun Gong was introduced to the public by Li Hongzhi(李洪志) in Changchun, China, in 1992. Its teachings cover spiritual, religious, mystical and metaphysical topics. Falun Gong is an introductory book that discusses qigong, which introduces the principles and provides illustrations and explanations of the exercises involved in Falun Gong practice.

The main body of teachings is articulated in the core book Zhuan Falun (轉法輪),^[21] published in late 1994. According to the texts, Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa) is a "complete system of mind-body cultivation practice" (修煉).^[22] 'Truthfulness' (眞), 'Compassion' (善), and 'Forbearance' (忍) are regarded as the fundamental characteristics of the cosmos—an omnipresent nature that permeates and encompasses everything. In the process of cultivation, the practitioner is supposed to assimilate himself or herself to these qualities by letting go of "attachments and notions," thus returning to the "original, true self." In Zhuan Falun, Li Hongzhi said that "As a practitioner, if you assimilate yourself to this characteristic, you are one that has attained the Tao."

Falun Gong draws on Oriental mysticism and traditional Chinese medicine, criticizes self-imposed limits of modern science, and views traditional Chinese science as an entirely different, yet equally valid knowledge system, according to Yuezhi Zhao, professor in the University of California. Concomitantly, it borrows the language of modern science in representing its cosmic laws. Zhao says: "Falun gong is not conceptualized as a religious faith; on the contrary, its practitioners, which include doctorate holders from prestigious American universities, see it as 'a new form of science.'"^[23]

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The Ban

On 20 July 1999, the Chinese government declared the Research Society of Falun Dafa and the Falun Gong organization under its control to be illegal for having been "engaged in illegal activities, advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardizing social stability."^[47] Xinhua further declared that Falun Gong was a highly organised political group "opposed to the Communist Party of China and the central government, [that] preaches idealism, theism and feudal superstition."^[48] Xinhua also affirmed that "the so-called 'truth, kindness and forbearance' principle preached by Li has nothing in common with the socialist ethical and cultural progress we are striving to achieve."^[49] In response, Li Hongzhi declared that Falun Gong did not have any particular organization, nor any political objectives.^[50]

The Chinese authorities branded Falun Gong, along with some other practices, movements or organizations xiejiao (Chinese: 邪教),^[51] it used the English word "cult" or "evil cult", and introduced a barrage of media material criticizing Falun Gong.^[48][52] A nationwide crackdown ensued with the exception of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. In October 1999, four months after the ban, legislation was created to outlaw "heterodox religions" and applied to Falun Gong retroactively.^[15] Leung remarked that the effort was driven by large-scale propaganda through television, newspapers, radio and internet.^[15] According to Johnson, the campaign against Falun Gong extended to many aspects of society, including the media apparatus, police force, military, education system, and workplaces.^[13] An extra-constitutional body, the "6-10 Office" was created, charged with monitoring and taking action against various religious groups.^[53] Human Rights Watch (2002) noted that families and workplaces were urged to cooperate with the government's position on Falun Gong, while practitioners themselves were subject to severe coercive measures to have them recant.^[54]

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"Severe coercive measures to have them recant"... hmm... Doesn't that sound like TORTURE to you?

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Due to its ban in mainland China, Falun Gong practitioners have taken to their cause internationally, especially in Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Britain. Since the ban in China, Falun Gong has alleged that its practitioners in China were subject to torture.^{[citation needed]} Falun Gong related cases comprise 66% of all reported torture cases in China, according to the Special Rapporteur on torture,^[63] and at least half of the labour camp population.^[64] Amnesty International urged the government to "take seriously its commitment to prevent torture and take action immediately."^[65][66] The United Nations asked the Chinese government to respond to the various allegations by Falun Gong and human rights groups.^[14] Falun Gong practitioners in the United States routinely file cases in U.S. federal courts against Chinese leaders once they step upon foreign soil. According to International Advocates for Justice, Falun Gong has filed the largest number of human rights lawsuits in the 21st century and the charges are among the most severe international crimes defined by international criminal laws.^[67][68]

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So Amnesty International is involved. GREAT! Not that they've been able to do much of anything about the torture going on except spread the word about it and be appalled by it. Be outraged all you want. But what are you doing about it?

The Epoch Times is an international and multi-lingual publication by the Falun Gong. This is what they are doing about the abuse:

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The paper has been in publication since May 2000.

The newspaper was founded by practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline, after the government of the People's Republic of China banned the movement in 1999.^[1][2] Its stated focus is coverage of China and human rights issues, but much of its content is general-interest.^[3][4][5] Its editorial stance is heavily critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and sympathetic to dissidents. The Chinese government blocks those in mainland China from accessing the Epoch Times website.^[6]

Headquartered in New York City, the newspaper has local bureau and a network of local reporters throughout the world. It is sold and also distributed free-of-charge in roughly 30 countries worldwide, and maintains editions in English, Chinese, nine other languages in print, and 17 on the web.

On the paper's integrity:

"- the journal's credibility as media professionals has been damaged by Wang Wenyi,^[18] who used her Epoch Times journalist pass to gain access to a White House lawn press briefing where she hurled insults at Chinese President Hu Jintao.^[44] President George W. Bush apologized to the Chinese for the incident.^[45] In turn, The Epoch Times apologized to the U.S. President,^[46] whilst denying any direct ties to, or funding from, Falun Gong.<sup>[18]

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So let me get this straight. You've got a pissed off Chinese woman who voices her opinion and all of a sudden the credibility of her newspaper is on the line??! Yes, the publication is anti-communist. Yes, they are fighting for the right to survive. And if the Epoch Times hadn't denied ties to, or funding from, Falun Gong there would have been an international incident. They've had to ... shall we say... retract/redact/backslide on their original theme of being a publication completely about the Falun Gong spiritual sect. They've had to slip in some other types of stories with their original rants. It's too dangerous to do otherwise. Even though they're still being hunted down and killed. Because of course Falun Gong is outlawed in China. The US would be seen as harboring criminals from China. Do you see the delicate dance in motion here?</sup>

• ^{Falun Gong: We know we're being hunted.}
• ^{Amnesty International: We know you're being hunted, tortured, killed, and your basic human rights are being ignored and even outlawed. Even if you had pictures it wouldn't do any good.}
  
• ^{China: DIE all you religious people! Communism will prevail!}
• ^{The US: We know what's going on but we can't do shit about it because we need the products China makes for us. We'd go bankrupt otherwise.}

Last I checked yoga and qigong never taught violence; it teaches passive resistance. So the only thing China's pissed about is that Falun Gong's followers don't want to be under the communist regime any longer.

Here is a link to the Epoch Time's official website: http://www.theepochtimes.com/ You can select your language at the very top of the page.