That is the question. “The exile Tibetan administration has called for a boycott of festive celebrations during Losar.” Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay, has requested all Tibetans to forgo the usual new year festivities this year, given the “continuing tragic situation” in Tibet, and instead hold prayers and perform religious rituals. But there is another point of view from inside Tibet calling on us to not only celebrate Losar but do so with gusto, style and defiance. I came across this POV in a sublime commentary written by someone who calls himself “Invincible Courage”. The reader should study this piece thoroughly before taking the irreversible step of dumping the khapsay and sha-kambo into the garbage bin and pouring the chang into nulla . JN.
LET’S CELEBRATE COMING LOSAR IN GRAND FESTIVITY
By spobs pa mtha’ya (Incincible Courage)
translated by Sonam Gyatso
I want to celebrate the coming Losar in grand festivity because this year many martyrs of Tibet have demonstrated their selfless action by voluntarily sacrificing their precious lives for the restoration of Tibetan independence. In the Tibetan [historical] tradition, we never mourn the death of patriots who lost their lives in battlefields. I, as a Tibetan, too want to sustain this [historical legacy] by not mourning for our martyrs who have sanctified their souls by offering them for the cause of Tibet. In the mid 20th century, China’s so-called People’s Liberation Army invaded my fatherland, Tibet. The Chinese invaders killed a Tibetan martyr named Kunsang Dhargye. While leading the funeral procession of this slain martyr, instead of mourning, his sister kept singing songs, because she was very proud of him, as he had a noble death in battlefields rather than a normal one.
There is an ancient Tibetan saying:
The bravest man dies in the battlefield,
It takes only a thin arrow to transfer his consciousness to the next life,
A vulture can guide the path.
It is believed that if a person dies in a battlefield, one does not need to summon reincarnate lamas and perform phowa, the transfer of consciousness [ritual], because the most superior form of the transfer of consciousness is considered to be death in the battlefield.
Ordinary people die for [the sake of] spirituality. He or she needs a lama to perform the transfer of consciousness. He or she needs spiritual texts for guidance.
My dear fellow countrymen, we must celebrate this year’s Losar in grand festivity. Unlike all other years, the previous year was the one in which we witnessed many brave Tibetan souls. Last year was the year of regenerating the embers of the Tsenpo’s (ancient Tibet’s emperors) courage. It was the year when we could summon the bla (soul) of all three categories of martyrs.
If we do not celebrate Losar this year, then when will we celebrate it? Let’s not mourn in despair but fight for our rights. In the past, Communist China both requested and forced us Tibetans to celebrate Losar. Unlike those years, we must celebrate this year’s Losar in grand festivity. We must subject China to such a situation that it would be compelled to plead us not to celebrate Losar.
During the past few years, as many as about hundred Tibetans have set their bodies on fire while proclaiming the slogan for Tibet’s independence. Therefore, this year, we must not sit in grief and despair. There should be at least one individual from each community who takes initiatives to celebrate Losar in grand festivity.
During the celebration, we must display the images of our heroic martyrs and make offerings to them. We must invite our neighbors and share with them moments of pride and glory. We must have conversation about these brave sons and daughters of Tibet and discuss their glorious last wills. This is not just a celebration of a traditional festival but also a political statement. We must not grieve. Why should we have to feel sorrow? We have not done anything wrong to feel sorry about. We can only rejoice in pride and dignity for these great souls who sacrificed their lives for our country.
If there is someone who needs to be ashamed of and feel sorry, it should be the Chinese. They are the colonizers with blood in their hands. To resist their cruelty and failed policies, the Tibetan martyrs had opted for this drastic act of self immolation.
My dear fellow Tibetans, let us rejoice and celebrate Losar. I say it again: celebrate Losar in grand festivity. The best tea and chang during this Losar must be offered to those brave souls who have fallen for Tibet. They are our masters and deities. They are the ones who defended the existence of Tibet by sacrificing their lives. We must sing songs of praise and remembrance for them. We must engage in bro and cham to demonstrate our love and unity. We must perform gar to honor their inspiration. Only by celebrating Losar in such a grand way, we can ensure the legacies of Tibet’s heroism.
It getting to be ridiculous the way we are ordered to forgo Losar again, as if we have no respect and sympathy. You guys in Dhasa are not the sort of leaders embracing the spirit of democracy at all.
I agree. I think we as Tibetans should celebrate Losar! It’s is ridiculous that the Exile government forbids this. No matter what, even if we celebrate or not, the Chinese Government is having the last laugh. We should celebrate and honor these brave Tibetans! We need to show the world that as Tibetans we will are courageous. But most importantly, we should all unite as one and have a great time celebrating the New Year!
“Nothing drives people crazier than seeing someone have a good … life.” ~Chuck Palahniuk
Whoever has written that,i don’t agree with this kind of conservative attitude.Actually we can have different views on things,celebrating losar or not but this year itself,so many heros of tibetans have sacrified their precious life for us.It’s a good idea not celebrate losar but it is a good idea to mourn in the name of respect for their decisions.
Dr lobsang Sangay has already remarked that,to maintain or keep our traditional festival alive,we have to celebrate it but no sort of dancing all those other things,,,,We have to listen to him,as mark of unity for all the tibetans.In our society,there are many people born with what’so called ‘little Education”little education is always like a poison in our society,thinking of our nation in our hearts,try to be unity and cooperative.
The education in the form of selfihness is an invisible seeds of something like virus in our society.so be unity and work for our nation.
Right now,Dr lobsang Sangay is infalliable leader for us and support him,follow for his ideas if you are really working for our nation.
I maybe should not comment, as I was not born in Tibet this time – only, as I practice Tibetan Buddhism and am strongly drawn to the Tibetan culture – which seems to make more sense than my own background’s culture, due to my former lives – I tend to celebrate in some way.
This year, I do not know.
YES, I will take the precepts.
YES, I will say my prayers.
But…. other than possibly the special Losar-eve soup and Losar cookies, maybe this is all….
That way – I partly celebrate and partly do not. As someone who should not really celebrate yet feels drawn to the customs…I think that ids MY ‘middle way’.
what’s the point in debating over this simple issue? All the human beings are born with a difference in mind, physique and intellect.Each and everyone of us have a different way of addressing our love and respect for the martyrs not only martyrs but also for any other species born in this world. So be it by celebrating losar or by not celebrating.
I do believe that we must enjoy this year’s losar in a festive way yet I felt uncomfortable to read the above article in some way…because, there is lack of content regarding discouragement for the self-immolators which His Holiness is always strongly opposed of. Along wid losar enjoyment, our day must begin wid prayers for the martyrs….
Forced celebrations mark ‘Losar’ in Tibet
Phayul[Wednesday, February 22, 2012 12:21]
DHARAMSHALA, February 22: Repeating tactics that were employed in 2009 and off late in other parts of Tibet, Chinese Communist Party officials in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital have issued stringent warnings against the popular call for a boycott of celebrations during ‘Losar’ Tibetan new year (February 22-24).
Tibetans in Tibet and the exile leadership have called for a moratorium on Losar celebrations following the continuing wave of self-immolation, which has witnessed 23 Tibetans torch their bodies demanding the return of the Dalai Lama from exile and freedom in Tibet.
Sources in exile earlier reported that government authorities in Lhasa had issued orders requiring Tibetan officials and the general public to prepare song and dance routines for Losar.
Selected performers who refused to take part in the mandatory show of celebrations were warned of severe consequences.
In another effort to coax Tibetans to celebrate Losar, government authorities have temporarily released few of the Tibetans who were arbitrarily detained upon their return from pilgrimage to India and Nepal.
Sources have told Phayul that the Tibetans undergoing patriotic re-education in secluded locations will have to serve detention again following Losar.
“The Chinese authorities in Lhasa have released some Tibetan detainees to celebrate Losar but they have been told that their detention will continue after the new year,” a Tibetan from Lhasa told Phayul.
In 2009, following the pan-Tibet uprisings of 2008, Chinese government officials led a counter campaign of forced merriment against the popular call for a boycott of Losar celebrations.
The Communist Party in Tibet had given vouchers worth $120 each to 37,000 low-income families to shop for an extended week-long holiday.
Last month, Phayul had reported that Chinese government officials were giving bribes of gifts and money to Tibetans for Losar celebrations. Tibetan sources confirmed that bribes of 500 Yuan for each family and 200 Yuan for each individual were being issued.
“99% of Tibetans in Tibet will not celebrate Losar but few are afraid that if they don’t celebrate then it might become a political liability for them,” the same source said.
Another exiled Tibetan who has close contacts with Tibetans inside the besieged Ngaba region of eastern Tibet, which alone has seen 15 instances of self-immolations, had told Phayul that Tibetans were “determined to skip” the upcoming ‘Losar’ celebrations.
“Tibetans in Tibet are very much determined to skip the Tibetan New Year as we do to mark a black year when someone in the family passes away,” Kanyag Tsering, a monk at the exile base of Kirti monastery said.
Tibetans around the world are marking today, the first day of Losar, with solidarity hunger strikes and vigils.
Vivement le jour ou la Chine sera le N°1 et aura autant de poids que les USionistes sur la scène internationale. Les Etats arabes auront tout intérêt à s’allier à elle pour se débarrasser une bonne fois pour toute des USioniste qui gangrènent leur société via les élites(dictateurs & pseudo-monarques…) et les groupes terroristes qu’ils pilotent et financent directement pour assurer leurs intérêts dans ces pays. Le dialogues interculturel entre Arabo-Musulmans et Chinois sera beaucoup plus saint que celui avec l’Occident (principalement les pays anglo-saxons) pour 2 raisons: 1- Il n’y a pas de “traumatisme” des croisades chez les Chinois, phénomène qui a été exploité plus ou moins au courts de l’histoire pour designer les Arabo-Musulmans comme des ennemis géopolitique et culturels de l’Occident. Il n’y a qu’à regarder la rhétorique utilisée par les Etats-Unis pour envahir l’Iraq, l’Afghanistan et maintenant (peu de chances) l’Iran pour s’assurer que ce phénomène est toujours d’actualité. 2- La société Chinoise n’est pas gangrenée par les réseaux sionistes comme c’est (trop) le cas en Occident. Le discourt sera simplement et sainement bilatéral, il n’y aura pas de 3eme acteur de l’ombre pour semer la discorde et assurer ses propres intérêts au détriment des 2 acteurs principaux. Enfin, on imagine mal comment les sionistes pourront refourguer au Chinois leur mythe du peuple élu et leur shoah business pour justifier leur colonie illégale en Palestine. Les Chinois s’en foutent complètement, ne sont pas dupes (le cas de l’Occident leur a servi d’exemple) et ne verront que leurs intérêts stratégiques, le pétrole et le gaz….
3- La Chine respecte les Etat Nations et ne donne pas de leçon de morale aux pays qu’elle soutient.
I too feels and think same like this writer.By like this i feel empowered and sense of pride.But i know everybody is not the same and conditioning is different and thinking is also different. So, i think everybody do what you feel right in doing and simply be your authentic self.I want to thank the writer.Also,ccp china is pretending and saying to tone down their very garish celebration this year. So, I think we tibetans do what feels right for you and simply be your authentic self.
Losar Tashi Delek to all!
I don’t care if the CCP encourages or bans Losar. We don’t need to politicise our traditions. What we need is leadership in effecting real actions, that bring concrete results for the Tibetan cause. Not by surrendering Tibetan independence to the enemy, and calling off the celebrations of Losar. It is nothing but a political score point for the CTA leaders to show that they are doing something. If they really cared for those self immolaters, then our leaders in Dhasa wouldn’t manipulate the voices of those martyers who have called for Tibetan independence, and not Freedom, as it is being dubbed by our leaders. It also makes one wonder if CTA really had a hand in the RFA removal of Jigme Ngabo, under whose direction brought news from Tibet with no contamination.
Anyhow,thanks for putting your own thoughts in the form of writing regarding above topic.That simple mean that we are taking sort of the responsibilities for our nations.Thanks all,never give up no matter whatever.I hope that we can extinguish the injustice flame of red china in the course of the time.Continue to struggle for the truth and independence of the land of snow.Let together work for our nation in whatever form of the level.Take care and Tashi Delek to ALL!
THIS LOSAR
This Losar;
I take this pinch of Chemar and offer it first to the three jewels and then to our martyrs
May they return to us in another life and strive for our samsara; now that they are free
This Losar;
I dip into this Chang offering and sprinkle my three drops to the gods and to our martyrs
May they return to us and share our humanly joy once more; Now that they are sad no more
This Losar;
I will not bow down except to my Tsawai lama and to our martyrs who died so we may live
May they return so that we may raise up spirits; Now that they feel no oppressiveness
This Losar;
I will dance the gorshey in bright costumes for Tibet’s spirit and to our self- immolating martyrs
They will not want us to tremble under this terrible yoke; for they have shown us their fight
This Losar;
I honour the our brothers and sister still in limbo, suffering terribly under a brutal regime
They would not want us to feel hapless; but embrace Invincible Courage’s message from you
Losar Tashi Delek to the Three Jewels,
Losar Tashi Delek to our self-immolating martyrs
Losar Tashi Delek to all in detention for our sake
Losar Tashi Delek to all our brothers and sister under imminent threat
We shall not forget you this Losar or any other.
Gyalpo Tsering, Toronto
10 February 2013
This losar I will not forget the martyrs. I will bow down to them and the beautiful gods, thereby creating good karma, good merits for all my brothers and sisters who are currently suffering under the Chinese regime.
I will not take orders from Tibetan Government in Exile, but vow to have the most awesomiest losar ever, to sing and dance, to get shitfaced and lustily eye ball the little bhumos, and if buddha willing and if the alcohol is freely flowing, grind with them for the cause of Tibet.
With the 200 yuan the chinese government bribed me with, I will purchase firecrackers, tie them around the mock martyrs ankles, and drag them around the hall gangnam style. Later on in the evening I will tune into the Miss Tibet pageant and masturbate in the name of Rangzen. Those parents who lost their children, relatives, friends, those who are receiving unjust long prison sentences, those who set themselves on fire are all asking us to whoop it up and get it on, on Losar, so that such actions may help to purify the martyrs souls whereby they will reach more fortunate rebirths the quicker.
There is a modern Tibetan saying:
The bravest man dies setting himself on fire,
It takes only few beers to transfer his consciousness to the next life,
A vulture can not guide the karaoke machine onto the stage all by himself.
This Losar:
I pay my homage to all the martyrs of Tibet.
I will pray for the beautiful souls of those who died in self-immolation.
Selfless, patriotic to the core, you gave your lives for our future.
I pray for your rebirth, while we hold the fort – flying our beautiful Snow Lion flag.
I will pray to all the patriots nursing wounds in homes and prisons,
May all the Bodhisattvas give them so much inner strength,
Strength of wrathful but compassionate diety,
As they struggle to take one extra step,
Or when they see the fiery reflection of their face and hand,
May they be enamored by so much inner strength and pride,
That will scare the worst of their enemies – both within and beyond.
I will always pray for all those left behind,
Trying hard to steel themselves against immeasurable loss.
I call on all the Bodhisattvas to bestow wisdom to all the Tibetans:
To extend their love, compassion, wealth and support
To help young and old left behind.
Let all the patriots’ family live with their head high – now and forever.
I will pray and pay my respect to all the nameless neighbors and friends
Out there taking care of patriots’ family – their lost child, sick father or mother.
May your hearts always be filled with strength and love.
You too are Tibetan heros – true sons and brave daughters.
May all the Bodhisattvas keep you strong all the time.
Finally, I wish happy Losar to all those who fight for Rangzen,
Think of Rangzen, write for the sake of Rangzen,or just dream of Free Tibet.
To the prostitutes like Kalden Lodroes, I give to you my middle finger.
( Can someone help translate this in Tibetan. I want those who do not read English know how many of us in Exile really feel.)
so many people still trapped in religious belief of “prayer”. What is the result of your “prayer”?
Do your lhas lus, Buddhas, Boddhisatvas, Oracles….have power to change situation? There are so many sick people posting contradictory comments under various post! Sometimes, seems against religious dogma, sometimes trapped in religious dogma, sometimes acts like most progressive liberal democrats of America, sometimes sounds like Buddhist version of Christian fundamentalist of America, even worse……Sometimes sounds like atheist whose philosophy is evolution, other times sounds like superstitious god believers…..
This is all because of “making sure to suit one’s convenience”, has no idea what coming out of mouth or the mind processes thoughts and perceptions! Hilarious….
NG
Those who against the very conception of the religious praying, without having a clear knowlegdge and religious practice is an akin to doing nothing but blaming on your precious tools.
If you don’t pratice religion in your own daily life,if you don’t have idea what is the roof of the religion,better to study well and pratice well.In some ways,it is may be right to say that we are trapping in religion belief only if one doesn’t know the very practice,cause,consequences,etc of the religions.
I often feel that the religions play an vital role in our society,in nutshell,it’s an invisible string which holds the root of the unity of our society but in broden term…we can say many more things.please study more about religions, as a tibetan,one needs to have clear conception of the buddhist as His Holiness says that it’s the century where even greats scientits are being impressed by the logic and reasoning power of the buddhist way of the analysing the nature of the things…etc.
to practice a religion or not, to believe in God or not, to study or not, to eat or not, to die or not, its all in one’s own discretion.major frictions happen due to religion also.do not be over zealous about one’s own faith too.and one do not need to pray to be successful but need to put in solid efforts to see tangible results.do not rely on unseen power but on your own strength and work hard.and have big heart to accept different colors of people.
TENZIN WANGDEN, I am in agreement with you that “religions play a vital role in society” As I attempted to reply to someone’s opinion in Phayul comment section, which the admin didn’t bother to post, which follows your train of thought…
‘Setting aside the truth base claims of Religion, I think that Religions should have a place in society, to foster solidarity, social cohesion.(although there are many ways to unite society, trivially, even social network, sports, etc) Religion gives comfort in times of deep existential crisis-DEATH! and many in our society find Religion the very lifeblood of a meaningful existence.
But religion should have no place in the government, education and law.
A liberal Democratic society should not be subservient to the church, it should really be the other way around, the Church must follow the dictates of liberalism, of cosmopolitanism, those enlightenment ideals within the democratic framework, such as freedom of thought, tolerance of all religions, equality before the law, individual freedom, the advancement of Science, and a willingness to engage in conversations.
Focusing on secular ethics, focusing on the creation of a multiparty democratic system is fine and good, I am all for them–although I feel, above all, if we want real lasting change, it must start with Education.
Not just educating the children but educating the whole society. Now I know this is a tall order and maybe bit idealistic on my part given our ultra pious Tibetan community, given that some people don’t really give a sh!t about gaining knowledge, yet with baby steps I feel that the enlightenment values enunciated by those far sighted antecedents of liberalism would be most efficacious, most illuminating with a relatively enlightened society, a society of letters, a society which can absorb the very best of what we know about the world today.
Without real effective change via education, how can the common person really make sense of one political ideal from another? Without effective change thru education there is the danger, as history has shown; for example, the Terror of the French Revolution, etc, where societies, by duress, by misinterpretation, end up replacing one form of elitism, of clericalism, aristocracy, benign despots, philosopher kings, what have you, with the elitism of self serving intellectuals, the machiavellians, the businessmen and the lawyers.
TENZIN WANGDEN “His Holiness says that it’s the century where even greats scientists are being impressed by the logic and reasoning power of the buddhist way of the analysing the nature of the things…etc”
Excuse me but name few “great scientists” in the 21st century who are “impressed with the logic and reasoning power of buddhist way of analyzing the nature of things.” Sources please!
FYI, unless you have a dualistic notion of nature akin to Plato’s ideal of forms(some imagined perfection of phenomena, in Tushita mayhaps)– Our everyday comprehension of “NATURE” means the material world and everything in it, including plants, animals, the environment,etc: the physical forces, i.e. laws of nature.
How can any buddhist monk, a metaphysician, even one as savvy as the Dalai Lama or the buddhist institution as a whole could possibly know more about the ‘nature of things’ better than(here I will list few of the scientists I have actually read, who are still very relevant at this time, who dub themselves antithesis’s)godless heretics the likes of zoologist Richard Dawkins, biologist Jerry Coyne, physicist Jim Al-Khalili, Brian Cox, Stephen Hawking, neurologist Oliver Sacks, cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, Dan Ariely, Thomas Metzing, anthropologist pascal boyer, scott atran?
It’s assured that when it comes to Natural sciences, even social sciences, the Dalai Lama would be accepting tutorials from the scientists I have listed, not the other way around.
@TheOwl: Did you arrive at any conclusions about our argument before? Or did you try at the least my suggestions about how to prove or disprove your hypnotization of oracles? I hope you tested with your near ones, waiting for your reply……hopefully you used third person scientific method…..
What is the conclusion of JN’s rather conspiracy theory of RFA drama? BTW, China accused VOA of encouraging self-immolations….not RFA…..where are our self-righteous warriors!
NG
ng, your reading comprehension is less than stellar. I don’t have any faith in oracles, or maybe I did when I use to crawl on all fours. My post about appropriating oracles was obviously stated facetiously.
To ‘prove or disprove oracles’, I think, is beyond the ability of science (at this time)to adjudicate utilizing the theory of falsifiability.
The very epistemology of prophecies, based on teleological validity, is not conditional to laws of nature, hence not part of the world we inhabit. The general principles and axioms, the very bedrock of prophetic medium is contingent in the belief in higher powers, of gods, of deities, demons–to direct human affairs.
Revelations by an oracle where the medium, possessed by a spirit, consisting of his actions animated by his inner experience, his inner convictions to manifest truth–this, though one’s reason, and use of logic says otherwise, science cannot touch.
However, I am not the world(contrary to what certain sects in Tibetan Buddhism and soto school of Zen may think ~/s)
If one were to take a holistic view, an aerial view of the pious who are participating, partaking the rites, rituals and prayers, the audience who imbibe the atmosphere, the magical formulas, the experience which for them must be a confirmation of their supernatural world view, in their certainty of the explanatory power of the oracle—if one was to determine the psychophysical effects on their wellbeing:
this could be testable, and it has been put to the test by some researchers via, Q&A, Gallup poles, etc,(though strictly speaking, I wouldn’t call such experiments “Science” but don’t have time to go into it)the verdict which has rendered faith efficacious to the believers health.
The insight of such Religious studies seem to suggest that, what is true have very little to do with what makes one feel good.
#20 OWL
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Buddha
Dhammapada.
(from the classical Buddhist text)
#21 TSUNDDRU
We are our innate biology, inextricably affixed, bound to the environment, habituated by culture and thinking is what the brain does.
All that we are arises from the amalgam of those contingencies.
With our thoughts, we do not make the world any more than with our thoughts, we can make an omelette: the world, the vast Universe of deep space/deep time will continue to exist devoid of thinking human beings.
The Owl
Dhammanatural
scientist’s faith in continuity exhibit their stupidity and innate unwillingness to accept reality of all things natural and unnatural.
Tall
Dhammaallknowing
Still we have no problem reaping all the benefits of science. For example:the very computer you are using to call it stupid.
Biology is fact, composition of atomic particles. The example is our own body. The survival of this body is intimately related to the environment, we say external environment or Chi Nue kyi Chongwa {External environment as the container, all beings coexisting as the content}. We {Tibetan Buddhist or Buddhist in general} also defines internal environment or Nang chu kyi Chongwa (Body as internal environment or the container and consciousness as the content) where all elements should be in tunes in both the environments either internal or external, otherwise, we get sick, emotional sickness due to loss of mental balance or pysical pains due to changes in the external environment. So, now the problem is the interface of consciouness and our physical biology in relation to external world. Extreme materialist believe, there is no such thing as consciouness, rather a biology, but this view is slowly fading away as many researches are done in recent years and there are whole body of scientific literature about role of consciousness and its relation to the physical as well as mental health or wellbeing. In my view, if consciousness is denied altogether as mere fiction, it is just like denying existence of one’s own thought, perception, and awareness, or even denying one’s own existence which existed in reality. Buddhist long settled on a rich definition of consciousness which is textualized in the forms of kangyur and tenguy, our forefathers {great lotsawas are exempt and exception} ignorantly assumed them sacred and never knew the meaning in its entirety, however, the essense of message helped them in coping with their daily lives. Western science still dont have a clear definition of consciousness but do not entirely reject it at the same time. It is an ongoing exploration. Following quotes elucidate what I tried to convey above about the position of western scientific tradition on consciousness:
“”The evolution of the capacity to simulate seems to have culminated in subjective consciousness. Why this should have happened is, to me, the most profound mystery facing modern biology” Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene. Since 1976, it has remained so.
In 2004, eight neuroscientists felt it was too soon for a definition. They wrote an apology in “Human Brain Function”:[75]
“We have no idea how consciousness emerges from the physical activity of the brain and we do not know whether consciousness can emerge from non-biological systems, such as computers… At this point the reader will expect to find a careful and precise definition of consciousness. You will be disappointed. Consciousness has not yet become a scientific term that can be defined in this way. Currently we all use the term consciousness in many different and often ambiguous ways. Precise definitions of different aspects of consciousness will emerge … but to make precise definitions at this stage is premature.””
The problem with @OWLl is, he obstinately tying essential Buddhism to culture and religious practice that his papas and mamas do in front of a physical altar with a mantra and prostration in order to cope with the meaning of one’s existence. Furthermore, he extrapolates this action as Buddhism’s way of doing things. Therefore, lacking the essential meaning of the phisolophy itself.
First let get it straight, theory of dependent origionation {subdividing the dependent origination into 12 links of dependent origination} is a fact, nothing religion here. Fortunately, many Tibetans dont see it when Buddhism is mentioned. Consciosness is a fact and every first person can feel 24 hours, even in sleep. Unfortunately, Tibetans dont know it when we talk of Buddhism. Excuse me here, as far as I know, consciousness is not a fixed entity like our our physical body parts or organs which can be fixed with surgery or other means of modern medication. The medicine of troubled mind must find in the mind itself. The mind pervades the entire body. The five main consciousness categorized as, visual consciousness, auditory consciousness, olfactory consciousness, gustatory consciousness, tactile consciousness, and mental consciousness. Out of these five conscousnesses, mental consciousness is the main consciousness which observe all phenomena, internal as well external including mind itself and all other consciousnesses as well as subconsciousnesses. In short, consciousness means state of awareness. There is nothing religion and dogma here. This five major categories are subdivided into 51 sub-consciousnesses. From this consciousness point of view, Buddhism is a mode of way to observe how mind and body interact each other and with the external world or phenomenon, more precisely, it is study of psychology. There is nothing religious dogma here. What we observe on a daily basis regarding Buddhism or what we are taught in schools by our geshes are not the real Buddhism, it is Tibetan Religious culture which is conditioning our mind. Still it is good because of conditioning of mind, we have so many diverse cultures on the face of planet and every one acknowledges the importance of diverse cultures from less sophisticated to the most sophisticated cultures, and the right to existence and defence is enshrined in the fucking hollow and empty United Nation’s charter. Nobody is saying cultures should be done away with coz it conditions our mind. Science is mainly a study of physical environment or the physical world, with an observer and confirmation by another person, so it is established as theory. However, to observe our own rich experiences of emotions on a daily , hourly or even second by second or milisecond basis, no powerful telescope can observe the functions of mind or the consciousness, no huble telescope can pin point the mind, no the most powerful microscope can magnify the role of consciousness in our daily life like magnifying an algae or amoeba and observe its decision making process. The only tool awailable is to look inward, by using the telescope of the mind and observe the activities of mind itself. There is nothing religion here. The process is in Buddhist term called meditation. Dont confuse meditation with sitting and closing your eyes alone. It is way to observe the mind without even forcing the mind either to run or stay. Simply observe its adventure into the external world of universe or running towards your loved ones or wondering why your mind behaves like this crazy shit.
Although Buddhism spread to most of the Asian countries, it varies from country to country, due to cultural practices. But the main theme remained the same, consciousness and web of interdependency of everything in the universe. ALthough Buddhism did not mentiona clearly the four forces in the universe, namely gravitational force, eletromagnatic force, strong force, and weak force. So, it is a fact Buddhism is like a baby when deals with specific external world as compared to science where Buddhism can learn a lot. It does not contradict anything of Buddhism, but enriches the already existed body of litrature. However, Buddhism took a holistic and realistic sight of the external world, by saying web of inter-depedency which is quite amazing as compared to western Judeo-christian religions which denies this simple fact and attribute everything to almighty God as the source of everything, external universe and internal universe.
Now the question is, why Buddhism did not look deep into external world instead of simply including external phenomena into theory of dependency. It is to do with the motivation of Buddhists. Buddhist acknowledges that universe is infinite, it says “beginingless and endless”, it is law of nature and to know the entirety is imposible. Such exploration do not serve day to day life of human beings. Buddhism mainly questions why human beings suffering and its answer is, it depends on how you handle your fucking wild mind. Knowing the conditions of mind and its attribute, we can at least improve our mental hygiene and have more productive life at inidvidual level as well as societal level. In my view, maybe not true, Buddhist thought improving one’s life is better than living a miserable life having the knowledge of entire universe. It is like a doctor who can advice people how to be happy, but doctor oneself is always unhappy. So now the question is, is the having the knowledge of happiness worthwhile when yourself is not happy?
BTW, Tsundu’s phrase:
“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.” — Buddha
It means our thoughts construct the identity we label onto external world or internal world including ourself. All what we want to do is first arising in the mind, not arising in the hand or brain or even the heart. Mind is like the boss telling physical biology to what the mind wants. Because of thought, we construct our own world. Contructing world should not be confused with building a world. It means what already existed, we label it according to the command of the mind. The main advise is, take care of your mind first. Taking care of mind is as important as taking care of physical body if not important.
Disclaimer: I am not a trained Buddhist. Neither I have a formal Buddhist training nor I ever read a lot of Buddhist literatures. I simply examined the true essense of Buddhism with my own consciousness.
Next time, whenever there is debate on Tibetan issues, dont bring up the issue of oracles or your papas and manas thankas at your own homes as Budhdhism. It diverges the real issue itself, neither it is true Buddhism nor it is scientific. Simply leave it in the domain of Buddhist religion for the ignorant and Tibetan unique cultural heritage which the fucking Chinese bend on to destroy. Your papas and mamas ran away like a mice and wandering into a foreign land like a beggar, not because of western science allured them away or your understanding of western scientific literature, but because your papas and mamas are not allowed to live according to their tradition, be it superstition or scientific…..real life is life, does not matter even if you think everything is shit and everybody is shitt headed. As long as you feel comfortable with your culture or religion or philosophy, that’s it, nothing matters.
Whenever Buddhism is mentioned: First think along these terms:
1. Emptiness
2. Dependent Origination
3. Consciousness
If needed further explanation, call on a trained literary Buddhist scholar, if needs experience, ask an advanced scholar cum practioner like great Yogi Milerepa since most of you cannot accept living logis, I just cite a dead scholar cum practitioner, it at least wont irritate your fucking arrogant and ignorant self.
If you dont feel it is scientific, get the fuck out of it, the world will not collapse simply because you dont buy the mode of investigation or Buddhist will not be frightened because some ignorant faggots quit his or her parental or ancestral tradition. At least, shut the fucking up and stop imposing your half baked knowledge. In my view, there is no inherent contradiction between Buddhist way of approach to all phenomena and western scientific way of investigation of external world. They are complimentary, knowing both, actually create a wholesome body of knowledge, merge of internal as well as the external. AWESOME!!!!!!!
Warning: dont bring up the belief in reincarnation of tulkus, lamas, geshes, or believe in the existence of others beings which you and me cannot see as sign of religion. Let it be like that, some people believe and some people dont. Maybe someday science catch up and will be surprised by finding existence of other beings like Buddhist cite through inference or indirect mode of investigation about most hidden phenoma, maybe science will disprove it, then its ok…..people will stop believe in it if they want….maybe science can never find it. Whatever maybe the cases, all possibilities are there and be open minded, dont bog down in fanaticism and be a extreme fundamentlist. If you think you are shit…be it, you are shit. If you think you are human, be it, you are just as human as rest of us……
Never ever bring Judeo-christian Church’s uncomfortable relation with scientist, competing claim of God’s creation with scientific explanation into our debate, simply because Buddhism is not Judeo Christian belief systems. Buddhist do not hanged scientist like Christians did, starting with Galileo. Buddhist dont buy the iotas of Judeo-Christiam- Muslim ideas of creation. Buddhist appreciate the rich and mystery of our infinite universe, and we the human are as tiny as a bleep in it, a speck of insignificant dust in the infinite cosmo. Therefore, dont get too excited with your knowledge of social conflict in the west and brand Buddhism as such. YOU ARE DEAD WRONG, ignorant faggot! The first step of critics is not the criticism devoid of knowledge, unless you are here to showcase yourself a fucking idot and a fool. Rather, first step is study the logics and then give hardcore ass rebuttal. Just like the founder of Jonang who refuted the main stream notion of “emptiness” by propounding the notion of “other-empitiness”.
If you have evidence of quarrel between scientist or even worse, Buddhist hanged and crucified natural scientist like Christian Church did…..give us the example. We will crucify the fucking fanatific monk if he is a Buddhist of Tibetan origin. Dont conflate Church with Temple. They have different social and cultural origins. We dont put a fucking son of almighty God in the temple, we house monks or nuns or rather wanna be Buddhas or world Buddhist scholars who are willing (note: not forced!!!) to be a monk and dedicate life towards study, training, and comtemplative practice. Dont follow your agu JN by conflating Church with Temple because he only learnt the seperation of “Church and State” in a western social and cultural context. Ours should be seperation of “Temple and Government or Administration”, cause we are not a state yet because all fucking run away dogs like you guys do not contribute towards a success of creation of Tibetan State from the bloody hands of Communist China. You not only bark at the wrong door these days with wrong ideas, but also barking with the wrong label. Translate your newly learnt western concept into appropriate and equivalent Tibetan literature according to our fuckng dying linguistic tradition. If you accuse Chinese of destroying the culture and language, you try to promote and invent. Transporting raw western terminology into Tibetan cultural and linguistic world, only helps the CHinese to fasten the death of our language. Be aware, we are all at least fucking educated and know how to read, how to criticize, but we are fucking failing in our our own language and culture. If need example, as JN cited of great 13th Dalai Lama, he translated western concept of electrical polarity as lo po (positive or male pole) and lo mo (negative or female pole), he did not directly trasport positive polarity and negative polarity into Tibetan lexicon. This what we want and what we call innovation. Not fucking puting Church in Tibetan lexicon as it is, the most simple reason is we dont go to the fucking temple only on sunday and feel good there as if almighty God zap your consciousness through some fucking holy Ghost period. Be a innovative, not a copy cat whose action destroys our already dying linguistic heritage.
Again back to the topic of science and Buddhism, let me cite again, they are not enemies. They are not competitors. They are two fucking good friends, each brings the best and unique knowledge and contribute to form a new field of study. At least I feel in this way, if you dont feel…..be it, sun will continue to shine tomorrow. Dont coin into some big names to support your arguments, I dont need big names to believe or convinced, if someone says something of truth, I will put trust in the concept, not in the person. Most importantly, my mind is the warrior in me who does everything including making critical analysis and investigation to trivial act of going and getting a fucking green tea in the morning. Therefore, if there is a knowledgeable person, then its good. If not, I can carry on with my own analysis and live with fact and make peace with the world around me, with both the visible and invisible. Wait, I put a citation above, it is because someone, @TheOWL cite the fucking bastard English Christian boy rebelled against the CHURCH (dont miss, the Church, not the TEMPLE), and turned to Atheism and kept waging war against his English religion and religious heritage. I did not see he waged war on Buddhist ideas….if so, THEOWN, shed light on the fight!
This is NG…. I do not simply buy into some shit headed’s spilling of unorganized and incoherent knowledge. I am not a trained Buddhist, but always give prime importance to this freaking mysterious mind and try to observe its galloping around the universe faster than speed of light. This mysterious mind can construct so much abstract ideas which this biology is unnable to reach because it is limited where as this fucking mind is unlimited. This ideot biology simply serves as a basis for my myseterious consciousness. As I type this ending, my hand does not do it by itself, my mind tells it write because my mind thinks in this way, at the same time my mind also observes the brain and mind itself at the same time. I am mersmerized with this complexity of me, but I cannot pin point where is this fucking “me”….is it a feeling generated by brain…certainly not…..then where is it……investigation continues…..
Yours NG
hi,i just want to know about the year.if somebody born on 11th feb 2013, then which year we should count to them ?? for example;-like he/she is Dragon or Snake year ?
Something that preoccupies us all is how to live and die peacefully. Death is a form of suffering, it is an experience we would rather avoid, and yet it is something that will definitely befall each and every one of us. Nevertheless, it is possible to adopt a course of action so that we can face this unwelcome even without fear. one of the principal factors that will be help us to remain calm and undisturbed at the time of death is the way we have lived our lives. The more we have made our lives meaningful, the less we will regret at the time of death. The way we feel when we come to die is thus very much dependent on the way we have lived.
Hey! foolish Jamyang por do!
Saying easy and do hard.