Boy, this story about Japanese monks trying new approaches to bring youth under their wings sure has been popping up a lot over the few months. I’m not gonna rehash it here, but suffice it to say this story’s been recycled a lot.

And hey, no need to rehash anyway — not when good ol’ Nate at Precious Metal is getting to the heart of the matter in a different and personal way. Check it out and lend your voice.

Love this video from Rev. Koyo S. Kubose of the Bright Dawn Institute for American Buddhism — on the meaning of one of Japan’s most pervasive (and cool) Dharma-Burgers, the Daruma (or Bodhidharma, or Damo) doll. In his series of videos — some are just for young kids, all are playful — the camera is static, but the good reverend makes up for that by being so animated himself.

More videos from Rev. Koyo here.

This should be one to watch.

I think it represents a positive trend.

No surprise given the many good people behind it.

Every now and then the subject of “mindful drinking” comes up in an article or on-line. (Here’s a good one.) And goodness knows there’s all sorts of supposedly “Zen” liquors, etc — examples of pure co-optation, for the most part. But there does seem to be at least one exception.

For example, there’s Bodhichitta Winery. Based out of Oregon, BW does make wine, but insists that they adhere to the core principles of Buddhism. One hundred percent of the profits from Bodhichitta sales are donated to charity. According to founder Mark Proden, “The winery’s vision and purpose, ‘passion for wine; compassion for others’, underscores my desire to serve others while working in this great industry.”

They recently made a $12,000 donation to the Central Asian Institute (www.ikat.org), and proceeds from sales of $20 t-shirts on the winery’s website plus funds received from a private donor will cover the cost of materials for one K-5 school.

Then there’s Mantra Wines, who describe the meaning of their name thusly: “The literal translation of ‘mantra’ is’mind-protection’. A ‘mantra’ is something that is repeated over and over again to give oneself a sense of ‘peace’ and ‘bliss’ — try our liquid versions.” …Sure, a “liquid version” sounds nice, but then, that’s copywriting for ya.

What do you think? Co-optation or not, is mindful drinking a fantasy?

It is once again the Horse’s pleasure and honor to share with you a teaching from Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Born Geoffrey DeGraff and now known to many simply as “Than Geoff” or “Ajaan Geoff,” he was ordained in Thailand in 1976, and studied with Ajaan Fuang Jotiko, a teacher of the Thai Forest Tradition, until the latter’s death in 1986. In 1991, Than Geoff returned to the U.S. to help establish Metta Forest Monastery in the hills of northern San Diego County. He has translated several meditation guides from the Forest Tradition, and is the author of many books and articles available on accesstoinsight.org and dhammatalks.org, where MP3 files of his Dhamma talks are also available.

Than Geoff is such a gifted and plain-spoken teacher. And thanks to his generosity, the Horse is fortunate to be able to share this teaching of his with you. So now, with no further ado…

Shoot Your Pains with Wisdom
by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

There’s a passage where the Buddha describes how a wise person and a foolish person differ in the way they react to pain. They both feel pain. Awakened people get sick, they grow ill, and they die just like regular people. But they react in a different way. The foolish person, when struck by a pain, reacts in a way that adds more pain. The classic analogy is of being shot by one arrow and then turning around to shoot yourself with another arrow — although it’s always struck me that the classic image is too weak. Actually, you shoot yourself with your whole quiver. Whatever arrows you’ve got, you shoot yourself with them all, and no wonder you suffer. The wise person, however, doesn’t fire those extra arrows at all.

What this means is that when you find yourself suffering over something, you’ve got to look at which arrows are coming from outside and which ones are the ones you’re shooting. This comes down to a fairly abstract principle that the Buddha mentions in another passage — that when you experience a feeling of any sort, pleasant or painful, part of it is just a potential for the feeling coming from your past karma; the rest is the way you actualize that potential with your present intentions, your present karma. You fabricate the potential into an actual feeling of pleasure or pain.

In other words, we’re not totally passive in our experience of pleasure and pain. Life is not a TV show, where you passively watch whatever’s going to happen, and the show will go on whether you watch it or not. It’s more like an interactive video game. Only when you participate can the game progress. Some things you can’t change in the game, such as the ground rules, but some things you can. (more…)

Big thanks to Derek of the Dharma Bums Temple for this one:

If you’ve got 10 minutes, check it out. It’s pretty rad (the bit about “smart boys” and “pretty girls” notwithstanding). And if you wanna read the Casket Seal Dharani Sutra, you’ll find a translation of it here.

Now if I only knew how to build a stupa… Oh, wait! Here we go.

Hey, Horses… I just posted the first of three interview segments with Noah Levine (of Dharma Punx, Against the Stream, and Meditate and Destroy fame) over at Shambhala Sun. I think you’ll dig, and hope you’ll check it out.

While you’re there: there’s a pretty interesting discussion going on about downloading dharma materials — when they’re not expressly for free distribution. The mighty Than Geoff even makes a cameo via a comment. Y’all are web-heads, so you might have something to say. Click here if you’re interested, and thanks!

Kin, one of the Horse’s two brothers from another mother, recently pointed out some lyrics from the band Embrace. Embrace were, essentially, Ian MacKaye — previously of Minor Threat, and later, of Fugazi — backed by three former members of fellow 80’s/DC hardcore pioneers, The Faith. The pointing-out was aimed at the track, “Do Not Consider Yourself Free.”

Take a look:

I didn’t want to see people
Hurting people
But I refuse to close my eyes
So in front of me
I see ugly people
Seething and believing ugly
Lies

And yes, of course, I’m
Scared of being hurt
And yes, of course, I’m
Scared of being wrong
But at the same time my silence
Will convict me
And the evil will carry on
If I can do some good
I want to do it
If I have a choice
I want to make it
It’s my human responsibility
That life lives
Selfishness gives
And death becomes natural

So you can stay cool behind
Your window
And choose the view
You want to see
But as long as there are
Others held captive
Do not consider
Yourself free.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I am in NO WAY suggesting that this is a “Buddhist” song, or that MacKaye and company are or were Buddhists. Not at all. But still: is it just Kin, and me, or are these lyrics a wonderful take on the Bodhisattva’s Vow?

And more importantly: what songs do you know of, Buddhist-created or not, that inspire and uphold your practice?

Over at Shambhala SunSpace, I’m asking You the Readers to let others know your favorite Buddhist books, and why they had an impact on you.

Weigh in! There’s nothing better than being turned onto a great dharma book.

Reader Frank D. writes:

“Future Weapons is a television program series first shown on on the Discovery Channel and Military Channel. Host Richard Machowicz, a former Navy SEAL, reviews and demonstrates the latest modern weaponry and military technology. In this video, with Navy battleships in the background, this bold shaved head shows the source of his inner power, Zen Buddhism:

“‘Future Weapons: Zen Buddhism’ starts off showing a Tibetan Monastery and you can hear Tibetan bells and gongs. Richard shows two tattoos on his arms: his dharma name and ‘zen-shin’. “I trained to be a priest for five years,” he says. I wonder if he got the precepts bit. Confusing stuff.”

It is confusing, no doubt, Frank, and big thanks to you for bringing this to the Horse’s attention. It’s worth considering, though, that there are many for whom being a Buddhist and being a member of the military aren’t mutually exclusive, and they seem to make it work. Take a good look at the good folks at the Buddhist Military Sangha, for example. And it should be noted that the mighty Josh Bartok, a dharma teacher and an editor at my alma mater of Wisdom Publications, keeps a copy of The West Point Way of Leadership on his dharma-bookshelf, insisting on its value for practitioners. If Josh insists, I’m prone to insisting that there’s got to be something to that.

Maybe the question to ask and discuss here is: would we rather have people in the military who’ve trained in compassion, or not? Weigh in, everybody — especially if you’ve served, yourself.

And thanks again, Frank!