Buddhist Geeks Conference美国佛客会议University of Colorado, Boulder

2012年8月9日至11日。参加位于美国科罗拉多州博尔德市的佛客会议。

见：http://live.soundstrue.com/buddhistgeeks/event.php

去年2011年的一些片段：http://www.youtube.com/buddhistgeeks/

会议地点：科罗拉多大学纪念中心University Memorial Center

会场一角

会议门口

大会一角

休息期间与新朋友合影

与讲演者合影

分组讨论选组长

提问时间。提问者美籍越南裔，他自称是一行禅师的追随者。

Naropa University 美国佛教大学

2012年8月8日参访美国佛教大学Naropa University

http://www.naropa.edu/

Naropa University

每日一偈：一沙一自性——Joan Miro

接待员。校园内可以看到很多纹身的人

大学本科与研究院的注册主任

学生的禅修课室

摄于禅修课室

曾任教于大学的日本老师所建的禅修课室

大学教授巴巴拉负责教导多元文化

摄于该大学图书馆

Zen Center of Denver参访美国丹佛禅修中心

Zen Center of Denver

http://zencenterofdenver.org/AboutZCD/

 2012年8月6日启程前往美国，路过日本成田机场Narida Airport。

日本成田机场Narida Airport

Narida Airport成田机场平面图

美国西部上空

8月6日抵达美国丹佛市机场Denver International Airport

8月7日参访丹佛禅修中心Zen Center of Denver

丹佛禅修中心元为一基督教堂Zen Center of Denver

与丹佛禅修中心Karin禅师合影Zen Center of Denver

体育精神与体育道德

笔者身高只有1米69，从小爱好体育，从小学开始就代表养正学校（当时是全星小学的体育劲旅），至上个世纪的6、70年代念中学、大学时，代表新加坡国家排球队与新加坡中学联篮球队，乃至到加拿大念研究院时还成为滑铁卢大学排球队与多伦多飞虎排球队的主力球员兼教练，20多年来南征北战，屡获奖牌，并曾接受加拿大当地的报章与电视台的采访报道。

从小参与个各项体育竞赛，都是在一定的竞赛制度设计之下进行比赛，而比赛的制度经常更改；做为球员也经常要由国际的“总会”获取这些更改资料来进行调整训练。不管制度如何变更，球员们除了可以从参与比赛获得满足之外，最终都希望在设定的制度下能打败对手，获取竞赛的胜利。

这是运动员在一定设计的制度经过长期竞赛中内化而成的体育精神与道德，在不顾及制度而妄论的体育精神与体育道德是空中楼阁；然而，这一次中、韩、印三国发生八名羽毛球运动员消极比赛的事件所引起的大众议论，甚至提高到体育精神与体育道德的层次。作为一名业余运动员，笔者想提出一些看法与读者斟酌。

要作为一名业余运动员代表，首先必须要有一定完好的体格，还要经过刻苦的长期锻炼，才能成为代表。这背后当然要对体育充满无限地热爱，还要有智力与办法留在学校，才能延长自己的体育寿命。

像奥运会这种高强度锻炼的体育运动已经不是一般业余运动员可以有办法染指的活动，运动员所付出的艰辛与伤病，要比像笔者伤痛遍体的这些业余运动员要来得多。因此，笔者每每看到失败的运动员时，往往要给与更多的同情与惋惜。

运动员参与比赛的目的是要打赢对手，那么为何这八位球员如此艰辛地挤入16强时却要想方设法地输给对手，那不是一个很奇怪的事吗？

在深入了解事情的原由之后，笔者才发觉原来问题出在世界羽毛球总会所设计的制度；球员们是在世界羽球总会设计的制度下参与比赛，虽然在事发之前曾有人提醒羽总现行的比赛制度会造成孤独求败的效果来，可惜羽总不顾体育精神与体育道德，只为了可看度及可增加收入的前提下，一意孤行，八位球员（这是一个很大的数目）只想退一步海阔天空。

春秋战国时孙膑的下驷对上驷的策略，用下驷对上驷，简直是求败得策略，却使田忌打败了齐威王，说明制度的设计经过孙膑的对策运用是可以使比赛的胜负发生逆转。羽总的比赛制度所具有的漏洞使比赛出现那么大得变数而一意孤行，是使球员的体育精神与体育道德有机会产生逆转。

羽总不对自己的一意孤行从而使体育精神与体育道德堕落来道歉，却以重罚运动员来遮掩自己的过失，令人遗憾！错误的制度无法内化成高尚的体育精神与体育道德，运动员的道德建立是由正确的制度长期培育而成。

在批评球员的时候，我们是否应该也对世界羽球总会的比赛制度提出应有批评，要求羽总甚至是世界各项体育总会，设计出一套首先能够有利于体育运动员提高体育精神与体育道德的制度来。不能要求运动员像马匹一样的冲刺，毕竟人是有人性的。

笔者打了半辈子各式的球类比赛，南征北战，常要受到这些“总会”很多的窝囊制度的气，而这些设计制度的老爷们，很多不是球员出身，根本不了解球员，最后还反倒打一把，说球员没有体育精神，更甚的还提到体育道德的高度上去批评。

在奥运会的商业气氛越来越浓之时，球员已经被当为马场上的竞赛马匹来看待，如果球员竞赛合观众之意，观众就喝彩，反之就喝倒彩，还有人提议要退票。

如此发展下去，世界的体育运动员将会成为赛马场上的马匹一样，在骑师的鞭策之下，在裁判员的严格监视之下奋勇冲刺，最后口吐白沫为止，成最具有体育精神，最有道德的马。希望经此一役，各体育总会与奥委会应该会有所反省。

2012年8月3日

Buddha in the West: Even Bill Clinton Turns Toward Meditation - NAM EthnoBlog

Buddha in the West: Even Bill Clinton Turns Toward Meditation - NAM EthnoBlog

By Andrew Lam, Aug 21, 2012 9:19 AM

Buddhism made a bleep in the news early this month when theTimes of India, and other news outlets, citing an unnamed source, reported that Bill Clinton, has turned to Buddhism for mental and physical well-being. The former president went so far as hiring a Buddhist monk to teach him the arts of meditation.

This may come as a surprise to some but to many others it's only a natural course of how things transpire in the globalized world. In the last half of the 20th Century, America cunningly exported itself overseas, marketing its images, ideologies, products and religions with ingenuity and zeal, but what it has not been able to fully assess or prepare for are the effects in reverse. For if Americanization is a large part of globalization, the Easternization of the West, too, is the other side of the phenomenon.

I take it as some cosmic law of exchange that if Disneyland pops up in Hong Kong and Tokyo, Buddhist temples can sprout up in Los Angeles, home of the magic kingdom. Indeed, it comes as no surprise to many Californians that scholars have agreed that the most complex Buddhist city in the world is nowhere in Asia but Los Angeles itself, where there are more than 300 Buddhist temples and centers, representing nearly all of Buddhist practices around the world.

In October of 2009, CNN reported that, "programs and workshops educating inmates about meditation and yoga are sprouting up across the country." There are more than 75 organizations working with some 2,500 people, most of them prisoners, and they inspired a documentary called "The Dhamma Brothers." where inmates reached inner peace and spiritual maturity through meditation and the practice of compassion.

This was the same year that Thomas Dyer, a former Marine and one-time Southern Baptist pastor, became the first Buddhist chaplain in the history of the U.S. Army and he was sent to Afghanistan to administer to Buddhist American soldiers.

Over the past quarter-century, Buddhism has become the third largest religion in America behind Christianity and Judaism, according to a 2008 report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Evidence of Buddhism spreading deep roots in America is abundant. The UT San Diego newspaper estimated that there are at least 1.2 million Americans who are buddhist practitioners, the majority of whom live in California. Other scholars estimated that number to be as high as 6.7 million.

Even if small in population, the influence of Buddhist ideas are clearly strong on the cultural spheres. When the Dalai Lama visited the US three years ago, for example, he was a celebrity at every American institution. One scene in particular remains memorable: the most famous monk in the world sat on the dais, lecturing on wisdom in the modern world and exploring the concept of the soul, as hundreds of enthralled monks and laymen look on below. The scene harks back to the golden era of Tibet, with the halls festooned with hundreds of strings of colorful Tibetan prayer flags, except the event took place at American University.

Yet, despite Buddhism's message of inner peace and compassion, it, in its own way, is a very radical spiritual practice for its refutation of the existence of a creator. In essence, the serious practitioner aims to extinguish the self by defeating his own ego and, thereby, seeing beyond the illusion spun by the ignorant mind.

The ultimate Buddhist experience entails neither god nor self, neither "out there" nor "in here," for that membrane that separates the practitioner's being and that of the world, upon awakening, has been lifted. All that remains is - ohm - absolute awe and bliss. Imagine, if you will, Moses not turning his face away from the burning bush that is god but approaching it then fully merging with that terrifying fire. To reach spiritual maturity, the I must, at least temporarily in meditation, be dissolved.


"Buddhism," writes Diana Eck, professor of comparative religions at Harvard University, "challenges many Americans at the very core of their thinking about religion -- at least, those of us for whom religion has something to do with one we call God."

As ties deepened between the two continents, as immigration from Asia continues unabated, and as the Dhamma [Buddha's teachings] spreads beyond all borders, we are entering what many thinkers and philosophers call the second axial age, an age of pluralism where the various spiritual traditions co-exist.

In these global days, no single system can exist as a separate entity, nor can its borders remain impervious to change, all exist to a various degree of openness and exchange. And the old Silk Road along which so many religious ideas traveled has been replaced by a far more potent thoroughfare: unprecedented global migration, mass communications, and the information highway, which transcends geography.

I once kept on my study's wall two very different pictures to remind me of the way East and West have changed. One is an issue from a Time magazine on Buddhism in America. In it, a group of American Buddhists sits serenely in lotus position on a wooden veranda in Malibu overlooking a calm Pacific Ocean. The other is of Vietnamese-American astronaut named Eugene Trinh's space shuttle flight. The pictures tell me that East and West have not only met, but also commingled and fused. When a Vietnamese man who left his impoverished homeland can come very close to reaching the moon, while Americans are becoming psychonauts - navigators of the mind - turning inward, trying to reach nirvana with each mindful breath, I think that the East-West dialogue has come a long, long way.


New America Media's editor, Andrew Lam, is the author of "East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres," and "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora." His next book, "Birds of Paradise Lost," is due out in Spring, 2013.

Avalokitesvara Dharma-Gate

Avalokitesvara Dharma-Gate

I have always been asked by my students through which Dharma-gate（法门） can we attain perfect penetration or awakening more effectively. As we all know, human beings are formed by Five Aggregates（五蕴）. From that, our eighteen Dhatus（十八界） or realms can derive into eighty-four thousand Dharma-gates（八万四千法门） which will help us enter Samadhi. （禅定）

To answer the above question raised by my students, I used the statement made by Shakyamuni in Surangama Sutra（楞严经）. The question raised by Shakyamuni was: “Through which expedient（方便法门） did you enter Samadhi?”

In the Surangama Sutra（楞严经）, Shakyamuni’s disciples - many Bodhisattvas and great Arhats reported to the assembly on how they gained Samadhi. 25 groups/individuals which included Kaundinya who represented five other Bhikshus and Avalokitesvara who used the Dharma-Gate of sound made reports at the assembly.

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva was the last one to report to the assembly, He rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and said to the Buddha:

"Bhagavan（世尊）, I remember when, as many eons ago as there were sand grains in the Ganges, there was a Buddha in the world named Guanshiyin or Guanyin (Contemplator of the World's Sounds in English). I aroused the Bodhi-Heart while with Guanshiyin Buddha, who taught me to enter Samadhi through a process of hearing, reflecting and retreating."

"Initially, I started from the flow of hearing and entered into Buddhahood nature（佛性） gradually diminishing the point of hearing entry. Since the entry point was quiet, the two attributes of motion and stillness cancelled each other out and did not arise. After that, gradually advancing, the hearing and what was heard both disappeared. Once the hearing was ended, there was nothing to rely on, and both awareness and its objects became empty. When the emptiness of awareness was ultimately perfected, emptiness and what was being emptied then also ceased to be. With arising and ceasing gone, tranquility was revealed."

"Suddenly I transcended the worldly and transcendental, and a perfect brightness prevailed throughout the ten directions. I obtained two supreme states. Firstly, I united above with the fundamental wonderfully enlightened mind of all the Buddhas of the ten directions, and gained a strength of compassion equal to that of all Buddhas, Tathagatas（如来）. Secondly, I united below with all beings in the six paths, and gained a kind regard for all living beings."

"Bhagavan, because I served and made offerings to the Guanyin Tathagata, I received from that Tathagata a transmission of the Vajra Samadhi（金刚定） of All Being like an Illusion as One becomes Permeated with Hearing and Cultivates Hearing. Because I gained strength of compassion equal to that of all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, I attained thirty-two response-bodies and entered all lands."

This is known as the Avalokitesvara Dharma-Gate. He attained enlightenment by means of the faculty of hearing or by means of listen inwardly to our self nature - our nature is also of the nature of Tathagatas.

ASEAN nations want rich, peaceful, cosmopolitan China

ASEAN nations want rich, peaceful, cosmopolitan China——Tommy Koh


许通美：亚细安期待富裕、和平、世界主义的中国

Illustration: Sun Ying

Most of the ASEAN countries have a benign view of China. This is based in part on their reading of Chinese history and, in part, on the behavior of China in the past 20 years.

Our understanding of Chinese history leads us to conclude that, except for the two periods when China was ruled by the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and the Manchus under the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), China was not an aggressive or expansionist state. On the contrary, China was frequently invaded by foreigners. The preoccupation of China has been to defend its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

China's relations with Southeast Asia go back many centuries. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the kings and sultans of Southeast Asia acknowledged China as the superior power and civilization. They sought China's protection and rendered tribute to the Chinese emperors. A sultan of Sulu and a sultan of Brunei, for example, died while they were in China. Their tombs have been maintained by the Chinese authorities through the centuries.

In subsequent centuries, China turned inward and declined. At the same time, the West colonized many of the countries in Southeast Asia. During the period of Western domination, relations between China and Southeast Asia progressively declined.

However, during the early part of the 20th century, the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia played a crucial role in supporting Sun Yat-sen's revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and to introduce republican rule. There are centers in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia to honor Sun and to commemorate the contributions of the Chinese communities of the two countries to the 1911 revolution and the end of dynastic rule in 1912.

During the Japanese invasion of China, many idealistic young men and women in Southeast Asia of Chinese descent volunteered to help China. Some volunteered to drive the trucks which brought much-needed fuel, food and other essentials, through the perilous mountains of Myanmar and Yunnan, to Kunming.

Many lost their lives. Others were stranded in China when the project was abandoned. Other young men brought relief by air, piloting decrepit planes dubbed the "flying tigers," with US General Claire Lee Chennault. It is only in recent years that the archives of China and Singapore have curated exhibitions to honor the memories of those brave young men and women.

After World War II, many countries in Southeast Asia gained their independence. Relations between the newly independent countries and the People's Republic of China went through some difficult years during the 1960s and 1970s, because of the Cold War and because some of the ASEAN countries were fighting against insurgencies which had the support of external parties, including China.

The tour by then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore in 1978 was a turning point. Relations between China and ASEAN have grown better and stronger in the past 20 years. The conclusion of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement was a critical moment. Today, China is ASEAN's No.1 trading partner.

ASEAN wants China to be a strong and prosperous country. The reason is that ASEAN has benefited from China's growing prosperity. ASEAN prefers a China which is exporting goods, services and investments. A weak and disgruntled China would be more difficult for ASEAN to deal with than a strong and prosperous China.

However, as China's power continues to rise, it should be very sensitive in its dealings with its smaller neighbors. In China's conduct of its disputes with Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam, in the South China Sea, it should scrupulously eschew the use of force or the threat to use force.

The disputes should be settled peacefully, through negotiations, mediation, arbitration or adjudication or by way of joint development. The disputes should also be settled in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

During the past two decades, China has pursued a policy of good neighborliness toward her neighbors in Southeast Asia. China has also been generous toward and supportive of the ASEAN countries. This has gained China enormous goodwill. China should not squander this goodwill, but continue to treat its neighbors with equality and mutual respect. As China grows more and more powerful, it should learn to speak more softly and exercise its power with great sensitivity.

The rise of China is the biggest story of this century. As I look to the future, my wish for China is that it will be inspired by the China of the Tang Dynasty (618-906).

During that dynasty, China was a superpower. It was rich, cultured and powerful. It was at peace with itself and with the world. It was cosmopolitan and open to other countries and civilizations. China had good relations with all countries, including those in Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

The author is the chairman of the Centre for International Law of the National University of Singapore. He is also the co-chairman of the China-Singapore Forum.

opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

许通美：亚细安期待富裕、和平、世界主义的中国

（2012-07-04）

● 许通美

　　大多数亚细安国家都认为中国是个善良的国家。这一方面是基于它们对中国历史的理解，另一方面是基于中国在过去20年的行为。

　　对中国历史的理解让我们得到的结论，是除了在两个时期，即中国被蒙古人统治的元朝（1271－1368）及被满洲人统治的清朝（1644－1911），中国并不是一个具侵略性和扩张主义的国家。相反的，中国不时被外人侵略。它所专注的是保卫其主权、独立及领土完整。

　　中国同东南亚的关系可以追溯到数世纪前。在明朝（1368－1644），东南亚的国王和苏丹承认中国是更强大的国家和文明。他们寻求中国的保护并向中国皇帝进贡。比如，苏禄国（Sulu）及文莱的苏丹便在向中国朝贡期间在那里去世。他们的坟墓多个世纪来一直得到中国官方的维修。

　　接下来的几个世纪，中国变得内向并开始衰落。与此同时，西方则把东南亚的许多国家变成它们的殖民地。在西方主宰世界的时期，中国和东南亚的关系也日益疏远。

　　然而，在20世纪初期，东南亚的海外华人，在支持孙中山推翻清朝和建立共和制度的革命中，扮演了至关重要的角色。在新加坡和马来西亚的槟城，都有记录孙中山和这两个国家华人社群对1911年的革命，以及于1912结束王朝统治的贡献的纪念中心。

　　日本侵略中国时，东南亚的许多热血华裔青年男女挺身而出帮助中国。一些人自愿驾驶卡车，运载急需的燃料、食物和其他重要物资，经过缅甸和云南的危险山区到昆明。

　　许多人丢了性命。一些在计划放弃时被困在中国，另外一些年轻人则同美国的陈纳德将军（Claire Lee Chennault）驾驶被称为“飞虎”的陈旧飞机，通过空路供应救济品。一直到近年，中国和新加坡的档案馆才开始主办展览，来纪念这些英勇年轻人的事迹。

　　二次世界大战后，许多东南亚国家取得独立。这些新独立的国家同中华人民共和国的关系，在1960及70年代经历了一些困难的时期。除了冷战，也因为一些亚细安国家，正努力平息得到包括中国在内的外来势力支持的叛乱。

　　中国领导人邓小平于1978年访问泰国、马来西亚和新加坡是个转折点。中国和亚细安的关系，在过去20年变得更好和更牢固。中国－亚细安自由贸易区的签署是个关键时刻。今天，中国已是亚细安的最大贸易伙伴。

　　亚细安希望中国成为强大和繁荣的国家，因为亚细安已从中国的日益繁荣受惠。亚细安期待一个出口商品、服务和投资的中国。对亚细安来说，一个软弱和不满的中国，比一个强大和繁荣的中国更难相处。

然而，中国在实力日增时，在同较小的邻居交往时，也应该更敏感。在处理同文莱、马来西亚、菲律宾和越南在南中国海的纠纷时，它应该小心翼翼地避免使用武力或恫言使用武力。

这些争执应该通过谈判、调解、仲裁、裁决或共同发展和平地解决。纠纷也应该根据国际法，特别是1982年的《联合国海洋法公约》来解决。

过去20年，中国对东南亚的邻国奉行了“好邻居”的政策，对亚细安国家也很宽厚和支持。这为它争取了它不应该浪费的许多善意。中国应该继续以平等和相互尊重的态度对待其邻国。中国在越来越强大的同时，也应该学会更轻声说话和更敏感的运用它的实力。

中国的崛起是这个世纪最引人注目的发展。展望未来，我希望现今的中国会从唐朝（618－906）时期的中国得到启示。

在唐朝，中国是个超级强国。它富有、文化丰富及国力鼎盛。国内和睦并与世无争。它是个对其他国家和文明开放的国际化国家，也同包括中亚、中东和欧洲的所有国家维持良好关系。

作者是新加坡国立大学国际法中心主席，也是中国—新加坡论坛联合主席。原载7月2日英文《环球时报》（Global Times）。叶琦保译。

中国在越来越强大的同时，也应该学会更轻声说话和更敏感的运用它的实力。