Bruce Fein is still fighting for impeachment. So am I. The US Government broke laws at the behest of the President. They committed unconstitutional and immoral actions in torturing prisoners, spying on the People, and a long list of other corrupt, authoritarian and violent actions. The President, with cooperation from quisling democrats and goose-stepping followers broke the law and the constitution -- and continues to do so.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1205-28.htm
By the way to enter links type "<" "a=url" ">" Text "<" "/a" ">"
Some good recent movies: "The counterfeiters", manages to combine a movie about the Holocaust with a crime and technology tale. It's well worth seeing. The real story is even better: http://www.lawrencemalkin.com/kruegers-men-the-story.html .
Another good movie to watch is "There will be blood" which profiles turn of the century wild-catting and corporate shenanigans.
Both profile a world where self-interest is betrayed by moral confusion, and where people are making decisions of life and death in a world that seems darwinian.
Anyone who studies the theory of Ichinen Sanzen, or the totally different but equally interesting theories around the Sephirot (or vessels) will soon see that this world is an interpolation of different forces. The "darwinian" existence exists. That existence is always present. Yet movies like "The Counterfeiters" and "There will be blood" tell us that even in the most despairing, depressing conditions people are people, and yet people can be more than mere animals.
"There will be blood" tells us that there can be hell in the heart of the digging for Gold. The main characters ruin themselves because they are driven by greed, lust, and insatiable desire that no amount of Gold -- or black gold -- can satisfy. The character played by Daniel Day Lewis builds a fortune -- and in the process kills people, drives off or kills family, and winds up rich, depressed, and alone. The preacher in the story uses religion to pursue wealth and loses his fortune in bad investments. Murder, betrayal, and oil. They seem to go together.
On the other hand the Counterfeiters is almost light-hearted by comparison. To the tune of beautiful tangos the story unfolds as a counterfeiter winds up in the death camp of Sachsenhousen and comes to be entwined with the German who caught him as a counterfeiter and a Jew. The story is about counterfeiting and comradery. The hero is willing to do anything to survive except rat out a fellow inmate and so goes along with one fellow inmate who sabotages the effort to counterfeit dollars. This eventually makes all of them "heroes". But mostly it reveals them as human beings surviving as human beings among animals.
Hell is in wealth. Heaven is in loving fellow human beings. Scientists have found that the strongest source of endorphins is the act of giving. Yet people seem determined to do anything to find oil, to defeat one another, and to destroy those who get in their way. It is said that the measure of the Buddha was in his actions as a human being. When are we human beings? Does it take awful situations to wake us up even a little?
Chris
We were having our interminable (and sometimes fun) arguments and we got a sort of dialogue going:
Mark Rogow wrote:
> Hi Chris. There are two basic ways to change the real world
> [the tendency from the Lower Six to the Higher Four] to achieve
> a desireable end: Mandates, laws or rules and regulations from
> without; and an awakening from within.
Chris:
> No, laws, rules, mandates and awakening are not enough. Action is what
> changes the 6 worlds. Those who go into the forest to awaken awaken to
> the level of "Self-enlightenment" but that doesn't translate to full
> and complete enlightenment because we are connected to the Saha world
> through our actions. Both awakening and mandates are means towards
> that end.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robin:
> I think the Lotus Sutra refuted that. You are expressing a partial
> view of provisional mahayana. Also, the use of the term pratyeka would
> likely only apply to those who never heard the dharma at all. I do not
> think the Suttas tell us much about pratyekas. There is some
> contradiction. Perhaps in terms of life philosophy, we can say
> pratyeka is a necessary partial aspect of full awakening.
Want to read my response, continue...
Chris;
No it still takes action to become a Votary of the Lotus Sutra and
bridge the apparent illusory gap between a Buddha and a common mortal.
Lessening Karmic retribution:
http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=200&m=1&q=action
"I expounded this principle a long time ago, so it should not be new
to you. One of the six stages of practice in the perfect teaching is
the stage of perception and action. At this stage
"one acts as one speaks and speaks as one acts."
Those at the stage of being a Buddha in theory only and at the stage
of hearing the name and words of the truth believe in the perfect
teaching; but even though they praise it,their actions fail to reflect
their words. For example, countless people study the non-Buddhist
works known as the Three Records and the Five Canons, but not even one
case in ten million is found where a person governs society and
behaves as the texts teach. Thus it is very difficult to establish
peace in society. One may be letter-perfect in reciting the Lotus
Sutra, but it is far more difficult to act as it teaches...."
Chris