Inception

The 'Inception' of Illusion or Reality?
by Shen Shi'an, The Buddhist Channel, Jul 30, 2010

Singapore -- The ingenious film that is ‘Inception’ begins with the assumption that it is possible for multiple persons to enter someone’s dream, that can even be designed without that person knowing, thus digging out deep secrets from his sub-consciousness, or even implanting ideas which eventually shape one’s decisions.

Thank goodness this doesn’t seem technologically viable at the moment… though it does seem possible in the near future? If so, may this movie be a cautionary tale for what may come to be! This is especially relevant in this information age, when the conceiving of the slightest ideas by the powerful can mushroom into world-changing actions.

In the story, dreams are elaborately crafted by architects who have an eye for detail and creativity – so as to trick the dreamer into believing the dream sequences to be real. This reminds me of the Buddha’s teaching in the Diamond Sutra, that all conditioned phenomena (including real life) is dream-like, due to their ethereal and transient nature.

Even more confounding yet rich than the Matrix movies, the dream hackers are able to delve deeper into the subject’s mind by conjuring a dream… within a dream… within a dream! With intriguing cross-interaction over layers of dreams, even the hackers are at times unsure of whether they are still in a dream, which, and whose!

Continue reading here

Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life

Day one of a three day teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Shantideva's "Guide to a Bodhisattva's Way of Life" given in New Delhi, India, from March 19-21, 2010. (www.dalailama.com)



Day two



Day three

nature of the mind

His Holiness the Dalai lama talks on the "Nature of the Mind" at the University of California Santa Barbara Events Center on April 24th, 2009. (www.dalailama.com)

Towards an integral model of Buddhism - Bhikkhu Bodhi

This lecture was given to the board members and volunteers of Buddhist Global Relief during a Board Retreat. It is an early attempt by Ven. Bodhi to develop a model for understanding and practicing Buddhism suitable for the post-modern stage of mind's evolution. The lecture was given on April 10th, 2010 at Bodhi Monastery in Lafayette, NJ

Buddhist Global Relief

Rodney Smith

Interview with Rodney Smith:

Rodney Smith lives in Seattle, Washington, where he has been running a hospice. He has also set up hospices in Texas and Massachusetts, and teaches workshops nationwide on working with death and the dying. He has been offering vipassana retreats at IMS for many years, and has recently completed a book called Lessons from the Dying, to be published by Wisdom Publications.

Read interview here

Also, a book by Rodney Smith - Stepping out of self-deception at Amazon

Or you can find a preview of the book at Google Books.

Highly recommended.

questions

We do not know in advance what are the questions to ask,
and we often do not find out until we are close to the answer.

Steven Weinberg

Wisdom: From philosophy to neuroscience

Wisdom: From philosophy to neuroscience by Stephen Hall
examines ancient concepts of wisdom through the lens of modern brain science.
In a section called “Eight Neural Pillars of Wisdom,” Hall takes a fresh look at human qualities long associated with wisdom–including compassion, emotional regulation, the ability to discern what’s important, and the skill of coping with uncertainty–and suggests that modern neuroscience is providing radical new insights about how these timeless virtues evolved.

Based in part on a 2007 article in The New York Times Magazine, Wisdom is also a meditation on the seeds of wisdom, aspects of wisdom in everyday life, and the future of wisdom in our complex society.

In conversation with HH Dalai Lama - 75th birthday

HH Dalai Lama at Emory

Introduction to Buddhism

The Heart of Altruism

The Heart of Altruism - Perceptions of a common humanity

by Kristen Monroe

Dalai Lama on spiritual harmony

Speaking at the event, His Holiness said this spiritual gathering of Buddhist devotees - among them 400 Koreans, 300 Mongolians, 300 Chinese, and hundreds of Japanese - reflects the widespread propagation of Buddha’s teachings in Asia. He said he was optimistic about the prospects for a more peaceful and non-violent world as a small but significant group of people are now focussing their attention and energy on developing secular ethics of compassion, peace, love and kindness.

These secular ethics have the possibility of promoting a happy and healthy life for believers as well as non-believers. However, many see these secular ethics as religious and hence ignore them but His Holiness said compassion is biologically inherent in all living beings, animals as well as humans, in that everyone needs love and kindness for a happy, wholesome life. “There are many non-believers who are also great human beings,” he added.

Secularism, His Holiness said, is misunderstood by some religious practitioners as rejection of religion which is not true. In the current reality, secularism means respect not only for all religions but respect also for non-believers.

Read the article here