Current Shareware 1994 January/SHAR194.ISO/articles/prism083.zip/PRISM.EXE/PG17.TXT

Text File | 1993-07-24 | 37KB | 875 lines

This document was re-formatted for output to a laser
printer, and now re-formatted again for PRISM Guide.

In this process, it is likely that parts have been left
out, duplicated, and so on.  You will be doing me (the
PRISM author) a great service if you will let me know
of any inconsistencies or errors so I may correct them
for the next version.  I am aware of the need for
further formatting in this document, and hope to complete
that for the next version of PRISM Guide.  Comments and
suggestions (and offers of help!) are always welcomed
and appreciated.

What follows is a generous and thoughtful response to
the surveys in PRISM Guide, formerly called The PRISM
Electronic Glossary of Belief Systems.  The response
is from a person who read the surveys, as you may have
done while browsing through the Guide.  He answered
the urge to write out his thoughts and feelings, and
you are invited to do likewise.

Your own response to the surveys are sought, to be
considered for future versions of PRISM Guide.
****************************************************************

Gary:

The following is my response for possible inclusion in the
Electronic Glossary of Belief Systems.  I have defined
a set of terms which I feel encapsulate Buddhism, and where
possible have attempted to conceptually link these
terms with "belief systems" in general.

Prior to my definitions, I have responded to your 21 personal
belief system stimuli.  If your intent is to use these
21 responses as hyper-text, I'll give you the liberty of selecting
keywords from the text, since you'll have a better feel for how
my responses fit with the larger picture.


1.  God/Highest Principle/Source of Power

My answer to the question of God is a paradox of the highest
order.  If I ask myself if I believe in God, the answer is an
unhesitant YES!  But when someone else asks me, "Do you believe
in God?" my answer is usually some stuttering, stammering
variation of the idea NO.  The difference lies in the way I define
God, and the way I perceive most Americans to define God.

I don't believe in a god who has similar physical makeup, similar
cognitive patterns, and similar language to ourselves.  God for me
is much larger than that, far more powerful than to be constrained
by any of our human/earthly boundaries, such as skin, space and
time.  Without these qualities, God certainly doesn't think or
speak linearly, indeed doesn't think or speak at all.  God just is.

God is neither male nor female, nor human nor gnat.  God is
Everything - all sentient and non-sentient beings in the Universe,
all at the same time.

Ever since I was old enough to ponder the essence of God, I
struggled with the traditional portrayal of God as an old unshaven
man who was always sitting on his throne.  Everyone I had
ever known who fit this same description (old men sitting) was
invariably close to death.  How could we think God would be like
them?  If God never ages, why doesn't he look young and vigorous?

During these times, I was in the process of shedding my
Christianity altogether, which I finally did, and which is why
today I hesitate to define "the all-encompassing power" as God
when I'm in mixed company.

Synonyms I have used for God: Great Spirit, Nature, Buddha
Nature, All, and Everything.  I still am comfortable that all
of these fit my concept of God.

However, probably because I was raised to believe there was
nothing more powerful than God, and nothing more dangerous that to
disrespect the word God, I now find that the word God is the
ultimate omnipowerful  word for describing the vast energy that
connects and IS all things.


2.  Authority in People

We're all in this together.  Some people have been here longer,
some are richer, some have higher rank in the societal structure,
some have more experiences, and everyone has DIFFERENT experiences.
But we all eat, drink, expel our body waste, sleep, and if all goes
well reproduce.

Everything else is peripheral.  I listen to others and respect their
knowledge, but never without some questioning.

There is some irony here.  Having shed myself of Christianity, and
having practiced Buddhism now for nearly ten years, it's ironic
that my old Church of Christ structure of authority is more in
keeping with my own perspective than is Buddhism.  Buddhism
is very structured, as is Oriental culture.  You don't just bow
to the Zen master, you bow LOWER than he bows to you.

Although Buddhist  philosophy recognizes the equality of all
sentient beings, most Buddhists I know respect the enlightened
masters as superiors.  In contrast, my particular non-denomination
of the Church of Christ had no ministers or preachers.  Each
member of the congregation took their turn in conducting the
sermons.  They rotated Sundays so that each individual (men only)
would be responsible for three or four sermons a year.

In a nutshell, I tend to be respectful of people in positions of
authority, as long as they acknowledge their own limitations and
equality.  I am unimpressed by anyone who feels as if he or
she is my superior.  I respect my parents, my bosses, my mayor,
my president, (not my senators), my guitar teacher, and my Zen
Master, but I do not hold them as any better people than myself,
nor do I perceive myself as "master" over my dogs or over the
mice that occasionally visit our cabinets.  Equality is the
foundation of my view of authority.


3.  Written Authority

Same as above.  To me, the Bible, the Bhaghavad-Gita, the
Tao-te Ching, and the countless Buddhist sutras all are wonderful
slices of history, and are inspiring in their poetry, insight and
wisdom, but they are not rulebooks.

There are some schools of Buddhism which place emphasis on
the sutras (scriptures) and require that monks do vast amounts
of memorization.  However for the  most part Buddhist emphasis,
and in particular Zen emphasis, is on practice through silent
meditation,  which ultimately aids us in detaching from our
dependencies, among which language would certainly be included.

The school in which I specifically practice (the Kwan Um school
of Zen Buddhism), chants sutras every morning in Korean and
Sanskrit.  Only one of the many daily chants has been translated
into English, because the words and meanings are considered
secondary to the sound.


4.  Authority of Tradition

The poet Gary Snyder has written about our human need to discover
our place.  We all have an inherited tribal need for connection to
some physical location, its qualities and its people.  I am only
now growing to accept this need.  I was raised in a town that was
small enough and conservative enough that I quickly outgrew its
mindset.  When I left at age 18, I rebelled more against the idea
of "having a place" than I did against any particular place.

I mistakenly felt that my distaste was not for my home town, but
for a binding to any single place for the sake of familiarity and
security.  I saw such a binding as a sign of weakness, and intended
to spend no more than one year of the rest of my life in any one
place.  Some of my friends are stilling living this way - from
Indiana to Houston to Sidney to San Jose to Great Britain to Taiwan
to Hong Kong to Germany, and on it goes.  I still find this
admirable, and there's still a lot out there I want to experience,
and a lot of cultures with whom I want to share my own culture.  The
world is only as large and distant as we make it!  However, I am
finding (perhaps through age) that nomadic roving - constantly
pursuing a temporary place - interferes with my higher pursuits.

Let me explain:

My perspective now is analogous to sitting meditation.  The first
thing you must do is to establish a firm foundation, a strong
posture.  Cross your legs and plant your knees solidly on the floor.
Fold your hands together in your lap and breath deeply into the
center of your being, rooting yourself.  Only after you are rooted
can you begin the journey into spiritual truth.  I am beginning
to root myself now in the soil of my friendly, progressive little
town in the Kaw Valley, on the banks of the Kansas River.

Certainly part of this rooting is to embrace the local customs and
traditions, and to learn about and appreciate the history of the
place.  It was here that I was able to learn firsthand about Zen,
and to practice it with others of like mind.

Does tradition have authority in my life?  Not much when I was
growing up.  I saw tradition as an obstacle to free thought.
Daily recitation of the pledge of allegiance in school, for
example, and recitation of the same prayer each evening at dinner
in King's English, felt like brainwashing to me, and if anything
I felt that it desensitized the "reciters" to the actual meaning
of what was being said.

Part of the big turn-off at church was that everything that was
said and done had all been said and done before - it was all one
big two hour clique every Sunday morning.  I disliked tradition in
favor of free, creative thought, invention, and exploration of
completely new ways of expression and of thinking.

So why do I now embrace tradition?   Why do I participate in
the most traditional, form-driven religion in the world?  Part
of the difference is that I have chosen this place.  In contrast,
I had no vote in where I was born and raised.  Having actively
decided to live in Lawrence, Kansas, and having actively decided
to practice Zen, I feel much more compelled to participate in
these cultures and their traditions.  Another factor is that I
have grown to see change in this country in a negative light.

Deforestation and the disappearance of  entire species of animals
or of entire tribes/groups of people has had a dramatic effect on
my life in recent years.  It compels me to respect and appreciate
"the way things were," and to especially appreciate these same
things when they remain in their historic form.  I am drawn to
19th century homes, bluegrass, folk and ethnic/ tribal music,
and to a religion that has remained fundamentally unchanged for
2000 years.


5.  Life Explanation/Purpose

Each morning I vow:

1.  To save all sentient beings from suffering.
2.  To extinguish all attachments and selfish desires.
3.  To learn all teachings.
4.  To attain the unattainable Buddha way.

Beyond this, the meaning of life is to eat when hungry, drink
when thirsty, sleep when sleepy,  and mate when you and your
partner are in the mood.

The meaning of life also depends on the activity at hand.  When
walking, the meaning of life is to put that next foot forward.
When talking, the meaning of life is to listen.  When working, the
meaning of life is to do a good job.


6.  Statements of Faith

There have been few statements of  faith in my life.  Again, this
may have been where Christianity fell short in my experience.
There was no neatly bundled reason for being a Christian.  What
was it all about?  What purpose did it serve, other than to
fulfill my selfish desire for a home in Heaven?

The four vows, cited above, are my current statement of faith.
And there are really no aspirations in my life that are
inconsistent with these four statements.

Reciting them each morning prior to meditation ingrains in me a
reason to be.  They give guidance and purpose to each activity of
my life.


7.  Actions of Faith

Meditation is said to bring about "correct action".  For every
stimulus, there is a correct response.  We often think there are
two, three or even more alternatives because our excessive
thinking has stirred and muddied the water.  If the water is
clear, we perceive the stimulus and we immediately respond
appropriately.  All morality I think basically comes down to
correct action.  If all beings were enlightened, all beings
would always make the correct decisions, which more often then
not would be the same decisions.  My original explorations of
non-Christian religions led me to discover that many/most world
religions have similar codes of ethics and moral standards.  Most
religions place an emphasis on compassion, charity, love.

As a further example, take the following:

Five Precepts (Buddhism)
1.  No taking life
2.  No taking things not given
3.  No misconduct done in lust
4.  No lying
5.  No intoxicants, taken to induce heedlessness

Similar Judeo-Christian Commandments
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not bear false witness

9.  Filters

I came into this world gasping like a fish for oxygen.  That need
was quickly satisfied, and I spent the next year of my life eating
when hungry, drinking when thirsty, sleeping when sleepy, and
crapping whenever I felt the need.  This in my opinion, is our
true nature, which we quickly lose then spend the rest of our
lives trying to get it back.  With or without ultimate success,
this is the basic plot of our lives, which is made more
interesting by the many characters we meet along the way, and by
the unexpected twists that are introduced into the plot trough
endless arrays of cause and effect.  Below is a list of some of
the causes, and some of the effects, that have in some way altered
my course:

EARLY YEARS (small Indiana city)
Mother's and Christianity's Rules --------------------->
lost freedom, lost sight of my true nature

YOUTH
Intelligence plus High need to achieve (genetic?) ---------->
early memorization of Bible scripture----------->
reinforcement from congregation ------->
increased religiousness, increased study ----------->
awareness of Bible's/church's contradictions ------>
increased questioning, doubts
Mother's adamancy that my magic tricks were Satanic --->
my earliest doubts of the authority of Mom and of the Church
Sister expelled from church,
ostracized from family for "sins"--->
"the unjustness of Christianity"
Mother's nervous breakdown because of sister's "sins" ---->
"the unhealthiness of Christianity"
Father quit preaching because of "uncertainties in his faith"
---> my license to think freely

HIGH SCHOOL
Good friends with new perspectives (atheist, new age, Native
American/traditional, and East Asian)
The inability of Christian elders to respond to my questions
about our exclusivity.  What about
non-Christian religious persons whose every waking moments
are motivated by their religion?  ---
------>
My (unspoken) renunciation of the Church of Christ
Extended curfew/Later nights --->
deeper discussions with friends and more exploration
The boredom of small town life ---->
"Spooking" ------>
a fascination with spirits and a desire to learn more ----->
occult explorations and daily meditation


COLLEGE
Courses on Eastern religion ----->
Profound influence; led me to seek structure in my unstructured
spiritual free-for-all
Lots of new, fascinating and exciting girls ----->
my incorporation of "the beauty of sex" into my belief system
(listening, dancing, and making love
to Prince albums also contributed toward this belief) ------>
could not totally embrace Buddhism, because of my inability to
see attachments and desires
as "undesirable"
Friends playing hide and seek, making love in churches --->
deeply rooted fears --->
personal struggle with the source of my fears.  If I truly didn't
believe in a Christian God or Hell,
why was I so disturbed by my friends' behavior?
LSD ---->
an increased awareness in the unity of all things;
increased awareness of the beauty in things once ignored;
increased religious discipline.
Traveling solo through Europe --->
Association with travelers who had big global views, and with
natives who had very different
views -->
an appreciation of  cultural relativity ( a deflating of my sense of
self as defined by American
culture)
Traveling through Belize and Guatemala-->
an appreciation for the tribe, and for tradition

POST-COLLEGE
Relocation to Kansas ----->
Access to an active Zen Buddhist group ---->
increased readiness to plunge into Buddhist practice
Marriage and full time professional responsibility ---->
Feeling of lost freedom --->
increased desires for an alternative life (just give me a cabin in
Alaska!) ---->
more suffering --->
more desire for an alternative life ----->
more suffering ---->
my eventual ability to accept the Buddhist premise that life is
suffering ----->
More Zen practice ------>
More Zen practice----->
More Zen practice ------>
More Zen practice ------>


10.  Your Personal Statement of Belief

I vow:

1.  To save all sentient beings from suffering.
2.  To extinguish all attachments and selfish desires.
3.  To learn all teachings.
4.  To attain the unattainable Buddha way.


11.  Your Guiding Principles

1.  To save all sentient beings from suffering.
2.  To extinguish all attachments and selfish desires.
3.  To learn all teachings.
4.  To attain the unattainable Buddha way.


12.  Your Own Belief System Charts

Gary: In an earlier correspondence I described to you my belief
system chart.  I would consider it a sacrilege to draw an ASCII
text version of this chart - what a mess it would be!  I am open
to creating a graphics file if you feel it would be beneficial
for the project.  Otherwise, feel free to use my previous text
description.  [Editor: that text follows.]

To Gary Smith:

"I want the story of Jesus to be true.  And I want to live
as though it were.  If I chose to not believe the Bible or
Christianity, I dread to think what would happen to my moral
standards.  If I believed there was no afterlife, my living
would reflect that.  I would rather
live with the hope of heaven and there be none, than to live
without that hope and be faced
with the possibility of an eternal existence in darkness, apart
from God and His kingdom."

I have read your personaI journal, and am thankful that you're
willing to share yourself at
such deep levels. Most people hide their innermost thoughts
and feelings for fear of
vulnerability. I admire your openness. However, I now feel
compelled to comment, not from a
need to defend my own beliefs or to attempt to change yours,
but becuase it's my way of
carving into stone the as yet uncarved reasons for my own
spiritual evolution. It's difficult and
perhaps unfair to extract any small portion of your
monumentous work as exemplary of your
overall belief system, but with my apologies I have selected
the above quote as a focal point
for my own belief statement. I selected the above quote
because it is highly representative of
my own belief system early in life.

As a brief self-history, let me say that my life was guided by
unquestioned Christian beliefs
throughout my developing years. There is a God, the Bible is
the Word of God which even
today is to be interpretted literally and is our guide unto
salvation, and Jesus Christ is the
physical son of God, who lived and died so that we mortal
men may be saved.

Sometime in adolescence I found myself wondering, if a
perfect God had mastered a perfect
creation, why the latter was necessary. I couldn't quite grasp
the logic behind sending one's
son to suffer in order to rectify, modify, revolutionize, or
perfect what by definition (as God's
creation) should have been perfect to begin with. All of my
long-respected Christian comrades
and elders had the same rote response to my guestioning: "It
is not for us to judge God's
intentions".

My befuddlement led to several years of questioning and
exploring, primarily trying to
rationalize the beliefs that I had been conditioned from birth
to accept as true. How could I
possibly not believe them? There were several events that
took place all within a short time,
two of which I feel are critically important, which led me to
conclude that God, or Nature (or
whatever power can ultimately be defined as the underlying
source of life) apparently did not
intend for me to be a fundamentalist Christian:

1. I discovered the Apocrypha. The fact that the Word of God
had been so grossly edited
supported my gut feelings that the Bible could not possibly be
interpretted literally.

2. I discovered cultures (particularly Asian) who devoted their
every breath - their most
minute movements - to their religion. Their entire life was a
sacrifice. This was a devotion
that I had never witnessed among Christians, and I was so
moved by it that I confronted the
elders at my Christian congregation with the following
question: "We are so exclusive as to
say that if anyone does not accept the Lord Jesus Christ as
their Savior, they will be
condemned to eternal damnation. If entire cultures of
non-Christian holy men will not accept
Christ, but live their lives far more piously than most of us
who do accept Christ, then can we
justly condemn them?"   The response: "It is not for us to
judge God's intentions".

Perhaps because of my earlier experiences with the "judge
not" argument, I percieved the
elders' response as an avoidance of rational theological
discussion, and I was compelled at
that point to explore theologies that could be more strongly
supported with logical thought.  I
didn't immediately embrace the religions of which I felt so
much fascination, primarily
because I was an American with materialistic interests and
needs, who was not prepared to
make the huge sacrifice that I felt Buddhism in particular
required.   My spiritual pursuits in
the next few years were varied, brief, and largely exploratory,
and from a ritualistic standpoint
involved music,  meditaton,  drugs, and intense all night
philosophical and spiritual
discussions.

The current chapter of my life came about through "settling
down" - A full time career, a
wife, family, social and financial responsibilities.  Although I
treasure my relationships, I
suddenly became convinced that my twenty four years of
unfettered freedom had crashed to
an end.  The first premise that Buddhists must accept in order
for Buddhism to make sense is
that "Life is Suffering".  I now experienced this, and was now
ready to make the sacrifice.
After several years of practicing Zen while still refering to
myself as either "agnostic",
"Unitarian", or "undeclared", I now am comfortable in saying
that Buddhism is the belief
system with  which I most closely identify. I practice in the
Korean-based Kwan Um
(literally "Perceive Sound") school of Zen. Having proclaimed
this,  I curiously feel no need
to continue this writing. For me, this moment  really
illustrates the difference in Christianity
(in my life) and Buddhism (in my life). I feel a need to write
paragraph after paragraph, page
after page, to try to make some sense of my Christian beliefs.
Buddhism, on the other hand,
just is. Life just is. The only way to understand these
statements is to practice. Nothing
meaningful is revealed through my verbosity.

I can't stop here, though, because my primary intention was to
focus on your above
paragraph, which I have not yet even commented on.
Without intending to sound critical or
at all derogatory, the two lines that I feel most strongly about
are these:   "If I chose to not
believe the Bible or Christianity, I dread to think what would
happen to my moral standards."
"If I believed there was no afterlife, my living would reflect
that."

Morality is not religion-specific. Most religions have the same
underlying themes. The Five
Primary Precepts in Buddhism (no killing, stealing, adultry,
abusive speech, intoxicating
drink) sound very similar to Christian commnadments, and the
emphasis in both (and most
other) religions is on the importance of charity, or
compassion.  You seem to be looking at
the issue in a very  bi-polar way. On one hand, there's the
Bible and Christianity (Jesus). On
the other hand, there's evil and immorality (Satan). You take
away one, you've got the other. I
think the world is much more complex than this. I like to
invision it as a circle, with God (or
Nature or Karma or Buddha or etc.) in the middle, and all
religions scattered around the circle
at approximately equal radii from the center. Sure there's evil
and immorality, but it's outside
the circle.  Actually this a neat exercise. Draw your own
circle. If you feel that some religions
are farther from God (closer to evil) than others, feel free to
lengthen their radii. I find this
exercise really helpful in understanding my global spiritual
views, and in decreasing my
ethnoreligiocentrism.   Regarding life with no afterlife, I can
only share my personal
vantagepoint -- I recognize that many, indeed most people,
probably would not share my
perspective -- but my life has never been more meaningful,
now that I have stopped living for
an afterlife. I don't disbelieve in an afterlife, but I don't
believe in one either. I just don't
know, and I accept that I don't know and will never know
until I get there. Until then, I also
accept that all I do know is THIS. The here and now is all I
know. I am one of a billion
people who exist in this time, and I will soon pass and be
eternally unknown to the billions of
people who passed before, and to the billions of people from
future generations. I realize this
perspective SOUNDS bleak. Having, however, spent countless
hours meditating upon this
meaninglessness, I now am utterly moved by the humility it
creates. It's the same feeling as
lying in the wilderness at night and staring up at a black sky
which explodes with stars. I feel
small, and I recognize that this is the way I truly am, and the
way that all beings truly are,
and this makes us all much more equal, and makes me much
more willing to make that extra
effort to help my fellow small beings in any way I can.
That's me in a nutshell. My Spring
is becoming increasingly filled with NOMDA responsibilities
and a plethora of extra-
curriculars, so I'm afraid my time may be limited on the
Prism project. However, within the
next few weeks, I would like to define/discuss at least the
following religious terms, if you
feel that  they fit into the PRISM picture:   Buddha Siddharta
Gautama Dukkha (suffering)
Bodhi Tree Mara (parallels devil, evil) Enlightenment Nirvana
The Three Jewells Buddha
Dharma Sangha Samsara The Three Marks of Samsara The
Four Noble Truths The Eightfold
Path Sutra Theravada Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism
Samadhi Bhiksu & Bhiksoni (monk &
nun) The Five Primary Precepts Siddhis Bodhisattva
Bodhisatva Monk Avalokiteshvara
Boddhisatva Soto Renzai Sumyata Mantras, mudras &
mandalas Tanras & tankas Kido Zen
(evolution from Dhyana -> Ch'an-na -> Chan) Bodhi Dharma
Za Zen zendo Koan (Kong-an)
Inka Karma Kyol Che Moktak Paramita Prajna Sarira
Shikantaza Zafu   Let me know if any
of these terms are already taken, or if there are other related
terms that you would like
defined by someone with my religious perspective. I still
think this is a fascinating project,
and hope that my input will be as helpful for you as it is
enriching for me.    Sincerely,
Terry


13.  Stories

Buddhism has accumulated 2000 years of stories which both
entertain and draw one's mind closer to enlightenment.  I will
happily send you some at a later date at your request.  Meanwhile,
here is one that I read to my wife last night.  I don't know the
origin or history of this story, but the author of the book I was
reading attributes it to Krishnamurti:

"There were two monks traveling by foot together.  On their way
they met a woman sitting beside
a river.  She asks them to help her to cross the stream.
Courteously, they lift her up, putting her
on their shoulders, and, with the water up to their knees, after
reaching the other side of the river,
they lay her gently down.  Then they keep on walking silently
along the road.  After some time,
one of the monks asks his friend, "Was it not a sin to take her in
our arms?"  The other monk
answers: "You still carrying her on?  I left her a long time ago!"


14.  Techniques

There are countless books out there on Buddhist techniques, Zen
techniques, and meditation
techniques.  There is a correct form for virtually everything one
can do in Zen, from chanting to
bowing to eating to greeting someone to performing manual
labor to entering the meditation hall
to exiting the meditation hall.

Most of this is tradition, and not necessary for the lay person
wishing to obtain some benefit from
meditative practice.  Let me extract from all this a few
fundamental techniques for sitting
meditation.

Find a quiet, comfortable place where you won't be distracted.  It
helps to have a place that you
can designate as "your meditation area", a special place for you
(or a place that can become
special) where you can return on a regular basis.  You can
meditate in a chair, or sitting on a
cushion on the floor, as long as your are centered and rooted at
the center of your spine, and you
are comfortable keeping a straight spine all the way up to your
cerebellum.  If you are sitting on
the floor, it is important that your weight be equally distributed
between the base of your spine
and both your knees, which should be resting on the floor.  I
have found that the best posture for
achieving this is to sit cross legged on a cushion on the floor,
my feet crossed and turned upwards
in my lap, leaning slightly forward to put weight on my knees as
they contact the ground.

Fold your palms together in your lap, face upwards.  Breathe
gently through your nose.  Slowly
gently inhale, then slowly gently exhale, so gently that the air is
barely perceptible.

Don't force yourself to breathe a certain way, and don't hold
your breath, just relax and slowly,
gently breathe.  Now notice the air as it travels through your
nose, through your throat, and into
your lungs.  Be aware of your breathing, watch your breathing.
Quiet your mind.  As thoughts
and perceptions enter your mind, just watch them.  Don't attach
to them, and don't angrily force
them away.  Just watch them, as if they were flowing gently by
on a river.  Eventually they'll
disappear.

Eventually all thoughts will disappear.  But don't hurry toward
this end.  Just watch.  Be attentive.

Zen meditation is traditionally an "eyes open" meditation, since
what you are actually practicing is
how to perceive, and to be totally in tune with your world and
your surroundings.

If you find open eyes to be distracting, however, and achieve
more profound results with eyes
closed, eyes closed meditation is fine.


Meditation is best performed at thirty minute intervals.  For
many this means thirty minutes in the
morning prior to a healthy breakfast - a great way to establish a
sense of balance as
attentiveness as you start your day.  Many also enjoy an
additional meditation after work in the
early evening to relieve stress and to renew energy and focus for
evening activities.

Meditation retreats have always been a part of Buddhist culture,
and involve extended periods of
meditation, anywhere from several hours to several weeks (or
several years for some of the great
masters).  Still, sitting meditation in my experience is only
performed in 30 minute blocks.  In the
extended meditation retreats the 30  minute meditation periods
are separated by several minutes
of silent, contemplative walking meditation.

An important idea behind Zen practice is that you take it with
you.  The state of mind that you
establish through meditation can help you throughout your day.
Maintain that gentle, relaxed
attentiveness to the world around you so that you are better able
to listen, better able to
concentrate, better able to BECOME the work that you perform
and the people that you
interact with.  Again it is important not to force this.  It will
come naturally with increased
practice.


15.  Personality Profile

I'm not sure what you're after here, Gary.  I consider all of my
previous responses here as
indicative of my personality profile.  Beyond that, I stay away
from "I AM" statements, such as "I
am Buddhist" or "I am this quality" or "I am that quality"
because I feel that they all oversimplify
things.


16.  PRISM Questions

For now, Gary, your 21 questions are very thorough.  I ran
across a page in the latest issue of
Sierra Magazine which I found interesting, and which seems
relevant here, although I'm not
necessarily suggesting that you use it in PRISM.  Each issue,
Sierra prompts the readers for their
responses to a specific question.  A variety of the responses are
then printed in the next
issue.  The question for the latest issue was "Has Organized
Religion Benefited or Harmed the
Planet?"  The responses were interesting.  I'll mail you a copy.


17.  Graphics

Gary: Give me some examples of some graphics you already
have, or some types of graphics that
you feel I could contribute.  I don't currently have any graphics
files regarding my belief system,
but I do have a scanner, and plenty of photos and drawings.


18.  Resources

I'm not aware of any text files that could be incorporated into the
PRISM project.  If your intent is
to compile an ambitious, all-inclusive religious glossary, I
believe I mentioned
a hardback reference that I have on my shelf called An
Encyclopedia of Religions.  It's by Maurice
Canney, and was published in 1921 by George Routledge &
Sons, LTD.  (London) and E.P.
Dutton & Co.  (New York).  Because of its age, I find it pretty
lacking and ethno-centric for the
most part.  I imagine there must be something out there more
current though.


19.  Technical

Hypertext and Multimedia are the new waves in communication
and education.  I think you're
definitely barking up the right tree.


20.  Potential Uses

I envision PRISM in use in homes by people with a dual interest
in things computerized and things
religious.  I don't like to think of projects like this in terms of
monetary profitability,
but I'm sure if you play it right there are MILLIONS of potential
users out there.  We're ALL
trying to make sense of our lives in a dissonant and often unfair
world.  I think PRISM could be
an excellent tool to help individuals from all religions who are
basically on the same path - the
path to higher truth and meaning.

I'm not sure what your specific plans are with contributors'
personal anecdotes and life histories (i.
e.  , these 21 prompts).  Will they be incorporated into the final
product?   I think the most useful
and marketable product would exclude them for the most part,
and would simply provide
unbiased hyper-linked definitions of a vast quantity of terms
from all world religions.

Such a product could be marketed toward individual seekers of
all faiths, and may be an excellent
tool for college philosophy and theology students and even for
ministers and churches, and for
anyone in business and government who have a need for a
greater
understanding of other cultures and belief systems.


21.  Marketing and Distribution

It's hard for me to comment on this until I see the finished
product.  On the other hand, I realize
that an understanding of who the market is, is necessary in
manufacturing a product that will best
meet that market's needs.  My comments from above (#20) are
appropriate here as well.  There
may be a market for a PRISM product that hyperlinks various
individuals' perspectives together
thus highlighting the similarities between belief systems that on
the surface seem disparate.
However, there may be a larger market for a PRISM product that
only hyperlinks unbiased
definitions, and supplements them with multimedia.

Given the above-mentioned potential users, this product could be
sold through religious
newsletters, new age magazines -- anything read by spiritual
seekers.  For the college students,
distribution through college bookstores may be worth
considering.

Also, you once mentioned that the Windows version would be
much more extensive than the
DOS version.  My feeling is that they should be the same, with
the obvious exception that the
Windows version should contain multimedia.  I think the only
limitations the DOS version should
have are limitations mandated by the technology.