Who Would MLK Hate?

On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed while in Memphis, Tennessee. King will be remembered not only for his commitment to the cause of equality for African Americans but also for his attempt to unite all oppressed peoples wherever they may be.

"Black Power" was somewhat acceptable to the elite, but "Poor Power" was too much. That made many people in high places very afraid, that threat of a united front aligned against the status quo.  

They feared and hated him so much that they orchestrated his assassination, and America has never fully recovered from the loss.

But who would MLK Jr hate?

“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. 

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

- Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love

Open Your Eyes To Simplicity

"There is nothing you need to achieve.

Just open your eyes."

 - Siddhartha Gautama

We look, but we don't see. We hear, but don't listen. We eat, but don't taste. Touch, but don't feel. We survive, but don't live. Everyone is too busy striving.

Striving to achieve, but achieve what?

A more sincere existence? A better world? Peace? No.

Not in a capitalist consumer culture in which we are trained to strive for other, less honourable manufactured, profitable and ultimately soul destroying desires.

• Material Success
• Physical Perfection
• Power
• Money
• Prestige

And of course, More, More, More.

No level of achievement is ever enough, because there is ALWAYS more to buy, consume, and hoard. The thing about the School of Consumerism is that you never graduate. You are never done. You always need to achieve more.

It sounds more like a prison.

We already have everything we need. If you can't be happy with a simple life, you won't be happy with the more complicated consumeristic alternatives either. Quit striving to achieve the things you are told to want, and you break free to live in a more natural, satisfying way.

Open your eyes to the joys of simplicity.

Ever Think About That?

"What if the spider you just killed in your home had spent its entire life thinking that you were its room-mate? 

Ever think about that? 

No, you only think about yourself."

I read this recently, and laughed. Then I thought, and thought some more. It makes sense. I might think differently if I lived in Australia, but I hope not.

Since reading this I have seen it it in other places, unattributed to any author. To me it has the life-positive, anti-violent vibe of Buddhism, or Jainism. It has caused me to be even more aware of the preciousness of life, and how everything just wants to live.

This level of sensitivity to the needs of others can be applied to all situations.

How about,

"What if that computer you are typing on was made by child labour, or is toxic to workers, or destroys the habitat of wild creatures? 

Ever think about that? 

No, you only think about yourself."

Or,

"What if that flight you are taking increases your carbon footprint dramatically and adds to potentially catastrophic climate change? 

Ever think about that? 

No, you only think about yourself." 

What if our habits and desires are killing not only spiders, but the very Earth itself? Ever think about that?

"Rest easy spider

My broom

Does not sweep that far."

- Issa Kobayashi

Release Life

Taking caterpillars off kale is gardening, rescuing caterpillars and putting them
on kale is Fangsheng.

Life is precious. It is Dylan Thomas's force that runs through the "green fuse" in everything, and it wants to continue. Nothing wants to "go gentle into that good night".

There is an ancient Chinese Buddhist practice called fangsheng, or “release life,” in which caged animals are released as a way of generating positive karma through acts of kindness. If this practice delivers I am due for a major karmic restructuring.

Usually adherents release relatively attractive life forms like birds or turtles. But even ticks have the life force running through their little bodies.

Since we live in the middle of a 500 acre farm containing large areas of forest and meadows, we are in prime tick habitat. Some tick bites can cause serious health problems, like Lyme disease. Since the spring I have been clearing our back patio of ticks to try and avoid bites.

I killed the first few immediately, but that didn't feel right, so I put the proceeding individuals in a small jar. It began to add up. What to do with them?

I thought of putting them out with the garbage, or flushing them down the toilet. I thought about pouring poison into the jar, but realized I don't have any poison. But then I began to think, "Who am I to remove the green fuse from these creatures?

Humans are the biggest pests on the face of the earth. We suck the life force out of Mother Earth as we puff up our environmental footprint several times over what is required. We are killing our host.

Should we be snuffed out because of that?

While I was thinking about the (slightly creepy) creatures in my jar, a comment that gave me further reason to pause was left on my post 10 Survival Foods You Can Grow.

"I had kale one year on my balcony. It is an amazing plant! Every time I found a little caterpillar with my bought vegetables it got to live in the kale. The caterpillars ate almost all the kale, then they cocooned and later turned into something else. And the kale, it just grew right back and I could go get some leafs almost all the way through winter."

It is one thing to save puppies and kittens, but caterpillars? Ticks? Yes. All life is sacred.

So off I went on my bicycle, with my tick bottle stowed in my backpack. A few kilometres ride into the countryside I stopped at the side of the road in a place far away from people and pets. I had my little (slight creepy) Fangsheng ceremony.

It should be noted that unscrupulous capitalist opportunists set up small businesses capturing the creatures released by well meaning Buddhists looking for a karmic boost. Bad karma, like so much of what the human pest does to suck the last bit of wealth out of the shell of our planet.

I don't think anyone will be recapturing my released ticks. They are free and fusing once again. Just not on my back patio.

“Old age should burn and rave at the close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of that light.”

Daigu Ryokan: Zen Simplicity

Sitting at my table watching sunbeams track across the floor. Drinking a mug of steamy beverage and reading Daigu Ryokan's poetry.



The rain has stopped, the clouds have drifted away,
and the weather is clear again.
If your heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure.
Abandon this fleeting world, abandon yourself,
Then the moon and flowers will guide you along the way.

Ryokan lived from 1758-1831 and has been referred to as "The Zen/Monk poet of Japan" as well as "The Great Fool". As a young man he rebelled against going into business and politics like his father.



How can I possibly sleep 
This moonlit evening? 
Come, my friends, 
Let’s sing and dance 
All night long.



Ryokan became a Zen monk and eventually lived 20 years in a tiny, one-window forest hut surrounded by stands of bamboo. He drew his water from a nearby spring. He invited guests, but only if they "were not averse to solitude".



Don't say my hut has nothing of offer
come and I will share with you 
the cool breeze that fills my window.



Today I will let the light, the clouds, the wind and the butterflies guide me. There are no negative energies here. Only this moment.



There is a bamboo grove in front of my hut
Every day I see it a thousand times
yet never tire of it.

Think Happiness Monday

Think happy thoughts and you will be happy.

Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are;

it solely relies on what you think.

- Buddha

Cherish Life Monday

Cherish life - we are all in this together

Some Buddhist scholars believe that the Sutta Nipata describes some of the oldest Buddhist practices. It reads like a manual for living gently with ourselves, each other, and the Earth.

The following are Buddha's words on cultivating a heart filled with loving-kindness (metta) towards all beings. Many of the world's challenges can be met by adopting an attitude that cherishes, and shows respect for, all living beings.

Yes, that includes mosquitos.

"Let none deceive another,

or despise any being in any state.

Let none through anger or ill-will

wish harm upon another.

Even as a mother protects with her life

her only child,

so with a boundless heart

should one cherish all living beings."

- Sutta Nipata, 1 8

My Wabi-sabi Life

My wood coffee table is old, and it shows. It is very basic, and wears the chips, splinters, and stains of use and time. But rather than becoming something in my life that needs to be replaced with a newer and 'better' version, I feel it has gained in beauty as the years have passed. It is totally Wabi-sabi.

The Japanese philosophy of Wabi-sabi is based on Buddhist principles, including the acceptance of impermanence and imperfection. Wabi means "rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness", and can be applied to natural and human-made objects. Sabi means "beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs".

Other characteristics of Wabi-sabi include irregularity, modesty, and economy. It emphasizes the unique quirks of natural and human made objects over mass-production and conformity. It acknowledges the "wisdom in natural simplicity".


"Wabi is to be satisfied with a little hut, a room of two or three tatami mats, like the log cabin of Thoreau," D.T. Suzuki wrote, "and with a dish of vegetables picked in the neighboring fields, and perhaps to be listening to the pattering of a gentle spring rainfall."

There is little room for Wabi-sabi in the West. You can not have "flawed beauty" if you are promptly replacing things before they begin to show their life experience.

Aging possessions are replaced before they can gain any experience or develop any character. Cars are regularly upgraded, and kitchens and bathrooms go through cycles of renovations in order to keep up with the latest styles.

Heritage buildings are torn down in the name of progress, and replaced with glass buildings that aren't nearly as interesting as the things reflected in them. And our elders, that literally have stories written in lines on their beautiful faces, are isolated out of sight.

There is no Wabi-sabi, only a ceaseless upgrading on our way to a sterile modernity cloaked in perpetual newness.


But think about what sweater is your favourite. Probably not the newest one you own. No, chances are you will choose your old, worn and dependable sweater.

You know the one - it has a tear where you got snagged on the barbed wire fence while hiking, and a burn on the sleeve from sitting by the campfire in the summer of 2005. Yes, it is your Wabi-sabi sweater. It fits you perfectly, and has a lived in feel.

It also reminds you of your own advancing age as well as your beautiful, hard-earned scars and blemishes that make you unique. This may elicit a sense of melancholy, but it is a sweet melancholy that brings you into the moment, and puts things in perspective.


We could use more Wabi-sabi in consumer-oriented countries. In embracing a youth oriented, perpetual newness and obsession with perfection, we hide the very beauty found in 'battle scars' earned over time. We are lulled into thinking that if only we have the right house, the right granite and stainless, and the right accessories, we will live in perfection forever.

My Wabi-sabi coffee table is rustically simple and fresh, just like my Wabi-sabi life. Embracing the beauty found in aging, imperfect objects has liberated me from the endless (and expensive) pursuit of 'new and improved'.

It has helped me make the transition to a simpler life, and removed the weight of material concerns.

autumn twilight

the wreath on the door

lifts in the wind

- Nick Virgilio

Toward Right Livelihood

Hours before my 96 year old grandfather passed away years ago, he addressed me as I stood at his bedside. His voice was fading, but he gripped my hands strongly as he looked into my eyes.

The dad of my dad knew he had only a few precious moments left, and the usual joking twinkle was gone from his eyes. He looked at me and said, "Do something with your life to make the world a better place." I didn't know it at the time, but he was talking about right livelihood.

The concept of right livelihood is usually associated with Buddhism. Basically it means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that it should be gained through moral and peaceful means.

Examples of 'wrong' livelihood are highlighted to help guide those on the path. Accordingly, work one would want to avoid would be:

• manufacturing or dealing in weapons
• dealing in living beings - the slave trade and prostitution are more extreme examples, but this could include any exploitation of other living beings.
• meat production - Buddhists are vegetarian
• producing or dealing in drugs or poisons - or industrial pollutants

Also out are widely accepted business practices such as scheming, lying, exaggerating, persuading, hinting, belittling, and pursuing gain with gain.

The Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 to honour and support people working toward making the world a better place, and has become known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'. David Suzuki, Canadian environmental activist, shared the award in 2009 for his many decades of selfless work.

The award is recognized as an important source of support for individuals and groups implementing social and environmental transformation.

The recipients of the 2011 awards highlight and celebrate the good work taking place globally:

Huang Ming (China)

“… for his outstanding success in the development and mass-deployment of cutting-edge technologies for harnessing solar energy, thereby showing how dynamic emerging economies can contribute to resolving the global crisis of anthropogenic climate change.“

Jacqueline Moudeina (Chad)

“… for her tireless efforts at great personal risk to win justice for the victims of the former dictatorship in Chad and to increase awareness and observance of human rights in Africa.”

GRAIN (International)

“… for their worldwide work to protect the livelihoods and rights of farming communities and to expose the massive purchases of farmland in developing countries by foreign financial interests.”

Ina May Gaskin (USA)

“… for her whole-life’s work teaching and advocating safe, woman-centred childbirth methods that best promote the physical and mental health of mother and child.“


My grandfather's words have resonated with me, and guided me, since the night he imparted them. They helped me decide that it is not true that any job is better than no job. What good is having a job if it contributes to the destruction of people or the planet?

I strive to do no harm while I earn my living and conduct my affairs - it has become my prime directive. I want to make the world a better place.

Was Goldilocks A Buddhist?

Repeated surveys on human happiness yield the same result - once a person has enough resources to cover the basics, more fails to produce increased happiness. I like to think of it as the Goldilocks Effect.

If our pile of cash is too small we cannot achieve optimum happiness. And although it goes against all we believe, if our pile of cash is too big we may also struggle in the contentedness category. Goldilocks was pursuing the Middle Path. I wonder if she was a Buddhist?

Developing a sense of having "enough" is crucial to simple living. We know that too little money will create hardship. But we must remember that too much can make us unhappy, too. When we are happy with enough we become unfettered. We can work less, and worry less on the middle path of enough.

Enough is being able to cover the basics of life for yourself and your family. And because I am not an ascetic (yet), it is nice to have just a little bit more. How much more are we talking here? More enough to be able to explore our limitless human potential in simple, creative, and wonderful ways. More enough to learn, to play, to laugh, and love.

The amount of money it takes to achieve this elusive "enough" differs from person to person, but would be a modest sum in all cases when compared to what most people live on today in developed countries.

If optimal happiness is gained when we have just enough, and this is a modest sum, then what is all the extra work and money for? Why not just stop at the modest sum that provides enough, and skip all the grief and pressure of always trying to get more?

Not too little, not too much. Enough is just right. It is the Goldilocks Effect, and endless surveys tell us it leads to optimal human happiness.

"Being sated is something people can learn - and it is after they have managed to control their instincts and impulses in the best interests of themselves and society that they are truly free." - Raj Patel