True Happiness

Some people find it easy to be happy and others don't. One person may be miserable regardless of money, fame, power and adoration from many (Michael Jackson) while another person with no outward fame or fortune may be in peace and bliss (Thich Nhat Hanh.) How is this possible? Here's how "Thay" (Beloved Zen Master) Hahn explains it;

Suppose you are walking in the desert, dying of thirst. Suddenly you see an oasis and know that once you get there, there will be a cool stream of water to drink so you can survive. You get excited, hopeful, full of joy. But, you aren't there yet. Peace and Happiness will come only when your thirst is actually quenched. The thought of the water is not enough.

Many people have all the conditions for happiness. You can buy the conditions, but you cannot buy happiness. It's like playing tennis. You can buy a ball and racket, but you can't buy the joy of playing. Same with writing calligraphy. You can buy the ink, paper and brush, but you don't cultivate the Art of Calligraphy without practice. Happiness is just like that. You have to cultivate happiness... you can't buy it at a store.

How do we do that -- cultivate happiness? We can't wave a wand and have it. We must look deeply to see what we are lacking and why we are craving. Of course, this only applies after the basic needs of life are met. Those without food, water, shelter or those in physical pain can't be "happy" without basic needs. This is for those with homes, computers and health care that are still unhappy.

Mindfulness Practice, meditation (walking or sitting), knowing we have a path -- the right path -- can provide a great deal of peace which cultivates happiness.

I am on and off the path a lot. But, I know when I'm on the path just being peaceful -- being rather than doing -- cultivating a calm inner landscape, I am truly happy. When I get off the path, act out, and speak harshly I soon become miserable and make myself and those around me unhappy.

Cultivation. It is a practice. Cultivating Peace and Happiness comes from being mindful of our thoughts, actions and what we are manifesting (both within and externally.)

Majority-minority?

New Mexico (where I live) is considered a majority-minority state by the U.S. Census Bureau. So is Hawaii which has never had a "white" majority population. I doubt NM was ever "white majority" either. I find this government labeling and districting system offensive and racist, especially to areas where the majority has always been something other than white/Anglo/European.

I was taught (growing up in Iowa) that Caucasian included many groups like Hispanic and Middle Eastern. (Asians were always in their own category.) But, court cases have challenged the old 1800's concept and the classifications are constantly changing based on our evolving ethnicity in America.

That's the real issue. We are evolving. We're not "free whites" and "negroes" as the dominant politicians called the groups in post Civil War America. As the article (link in the title) points out, even a rural Kansas county is now majority-minority. In time, that will change some of the remaining prejudices. The article points out that U.S. children are already 47% "minority." (I thought it was even higher. Wait for that 2010 Census.) As the older "Archie Bunkers" die off and America is left with a mainly Mulatto mocha skin color, there won't be any racist whites to perpetuate the problems, right?

WRONG! Even if America evolves to one nice even skin tone, all the cultural and ethnic wars will continue. There will be class warfare over money and means, haves and have-nots. Those with health care and those without.

My original thought was to blog about the "stupidity" of arresting the Harvard professor, and the crazy woman yelling about Obama's birth certificate. But maybe the "Orphan" movie is more poignant. Philip K Dick wrote about a dark future in L.A. where society was reduced to angry street gangs (mixed race, of course) and the battle was androids (fakes) vs. the superior real humans. The quest continues -- what is real, what is human? Zen is real, Phil. As for the crazy woman who wants her country back. I laugh maniacally. I felt that way for eight long, painful years.

"and that's the way it is"

Yes, there was a time when news was respectable, objective and some of us actually felt proud to be journalists. Walter Cronkite, dead today at age 92, was one of the last of the early newsmen who created and shaped the concept of a TV news anchor. He wasn't the first TV news anchor. My favorites, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, were doing the news the year I was born (earlier than Walter ;) I followed Brinkley all the way to his final Sunday morning show in the late 1990's. (Brinkley died in 2003)

Another favorite of mine, Howard K Smith, was so influential to me (anchor at ABC at the time I worked for an ABC affiliate) that I actually named my Yorkie Howard K (aka Howie.)
My own most memorable moment in the news biz was "scooping" both Howard K and Walter on a hot August day in 1974 when I got to announce Nixon's resignation on the noon news before them. I was 19 and was the first female and youngest TV Anchor in Iowa.


I was too young to remember Walter pulling off his glasses and wiping a tear as he announced the hour of Kennedy's death. I saw the replay many, many times in subsequent years and thought it was fabulous -- fabulous because it was a rare moment of emotion, not the norm the way anchors and reporters carry on today over everything. I do vividly recall Cronkite's reporting of the moon landing, and how we gathered around the B&W TV for that monumental event.

Watching the coverage tonight of Cronkite's passing, what feels the most tragic is how (like MJ) he had no recognition in recent years and had to die to get his much earned acknowledgement. In Walter's case after a forced retirement (28 years ago), and because of Dan Rather's insecurity, he was not even allowed to do commentaries or cover Presidential campaigns. What a waste! We could have benefited from his wisdom and journalism might have had a few more years of objectivity and credibility. But, today tabloid news rules and unfortunately "that's the way it is."

The Cosmic Race?

Watching the Sotomayor confirmation hearings I cannot help but react to the "two wise Latinas" testifying. Clearly there was a somewhat radical Chicana that sat on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund and that the La Raza group is salivating to see seated. Remarkably, there is also a stoic judge here that purports to be an impartial strict legal constructionist. It's that dichotomy that is driving the right-wing Repubs crazy. Sotomayor is tap dancing as fast as she can to distance herself from any radical comments she might have made while inspiring young Latino legal wannabes.

I find it kind of amusing. Italian and Irish Americans got their "come-uppin's" years ago. It was not politically astute to be an angry Irishman (or woman). We had to amalgamate into the American melting pot and like a well-trained dog accept our Anglo label (which still gets my Irish ire up.) A good-looking, clean, calm, affluent Irish American John F Kennedy was acceptable to be elected president in 1960. My dad, who had to change his name from O'Hagan to Hagans (in the early 1900's) was amazed. Nearly fifty years later, a good-looking, calm, affluent, well-spoken black man was acceptable material for President. The obvious question that is veiled in these politically-correct hearings, is whether the Senate is ready to confirm a card-carrying La Razan to the Supreme Court.

Let's be honest -- a lot of Americans are as intimidated by a La Raza/Chicana/Puerta Rican radical as they were a fist pumping black man named Obama. But if the real goal of La Raza Cosmica (One Race) is to be realized, we're all gonna have to stew in that U.S. melting pot that is "us." America has more minorities than "white" people (whatever that means). The One Race is not going to be Aryan the way Nazi's or the Klan wanted, nor Hispanic of the Iberian Pennisula variety. It's going to be a big mish-mash of everyone. So, with Hispanics or more correctly Latinos the largest growing population group, just confirm her. I just wish she would embrace her heritage rather than act like the milk-toast namby-pamby politicians interrogating her. Political pandering sucks!

Zen Battles

After nearly two weeks of non-stop MJ coverage on TV, I decided today I would not turn on the tube. This would be a day for reflection and spiritual practice. In reading Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese Zen Master I so love, I read one of the lessons and commentaries. In this one, a reluctant "Zen Master" asks the gathered monks, "Is there any Warrior willing to step out onto the Battlefield?"

I realized that's what was so special about MJ -- he did step out on the battlefield. All the greats do. Jesus, Gandhi, and the current Dalai Lama had to. But, so have artists and performers. Those who offer a different view, that try to shake things up and make us SEE are always persecuted.

Coming back to the Zen lesson, the master was hesitant to teach the monks by lecturing. He knew that what they were seeking (Enlightenment) could not be realized through words and concepts. But, he also knew if he simply sat and smiled, that would not work either. This is how Zen Battles came about. The great master hoped that through confrontation a spark might burn through the Veil of Ignorance and reveal the true Buddhist Dharma. Through Koans (riddles and puzzles) and sometimes shouting ("Do you really need yet another definition of Zen?") the master hoped the monks might Awaken.

We can put all our thoughtful explanations in books or blogs, but does it benefit anyone? You may listen to a teaching or read the words but was anything conveyed that is truly useful? Something you can apply to your life? If I say that Mindfulness practice really can relieve craving and suffering does it convince you to try? Probably not, especially if I still have weeds in my own garden. Perhaps if a more perfect person, like the Dalai Lama, speaks more people will believe his words. But often, only through witnessing death are we shocked into the realization that happiness is here within us.

Romans thought Jesus was a freak. Uptight Americans have persecuted a host of artists, writers, musicians and anyone who looks or acts "differently." At the Zen monastery when the monk asks where is Buddha, the master slaps him. When you find yourself and inner peace, you know that answer -- the Buddha is within. Everything else, including MJ's rhythms and dance moves, are just fingers pointing to the Moon (or MoonPie, perhaps ;)