Synthetic Life

Anthony wrote:

I recently read a newspaper article about how scientists are beginning to create synthetic life forms. This brings to mind the question, ‘what is life?’. Some critics say you can’t play God, for after all only God is responsible for giving life. Then I thought to myself, ‘If human can create life, do Buddhists have a problem with it?

What is Buddhists’ concept of life? Is there something behind the machine we call life 壽者相? Buddhists talk about non-self. Does it mean there is no ghost in the machine? Wouldn’t it be nice if there is an open forum where Buddhists of all persuasions could come together and explore this issue? Is it too big a dream?

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More: friendship & cheerfulness

Lan wrote:

"Hi :

Thank you all for contributing to a stimulating discussion. By now, I think we all agree on the relationship of desires and emotions. Whether it's "trimming desires" or "controlling desires" .... is only a matter of semantics. If we continue to split hair, it'll become a futile exercise.

I think what is important is to put the theories into practice. That's what Buddhism teaches us: It's a way of life, not just a theory. That's what Lung Zhi did. Prior to opening A.K.'s attachment, she already felt happy. The fact that Anthony felt cheerful on a sunny Friday morning and wanted to share it with us and meanwhile attempted to enlighten us with the Yogi's teaching is very noble and admirable. It's only a small brain like mine which had been trained to analyze everything to death became reflexive and reactive (to borrow a phrase from Stephen).

Anthony, thanks again to provide us the opportunity to dialogue. Since so many of us like to philosophize, perhaps we should start a "Shooting the Breeze Club"? :)

Cheers and Happy New Year! (No pun intended.)

Lan"

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Re: friendship & cheerfulness

A.K. wrote:

"I like lkw’s story about trimming your desires. Enlightenment is a never ending process.

Stephen was right. Our desires are intimately linked with our instincts, or life impulses. In the animal world, it is fairly straightforward. Desires are instincts, without which life would be impossible. But human is a more complex animal. Besides our animal instincts, we also have our human needs which evolve over tens of thousands of years and are deeply influenced by culture and conditioning. Not only do we live a life governed by our animal instincts but also a life governed by man made concepts and language.

So when we talk about desires, we are referring to both our animal needs as well as cultural conditioning. For example, human beings are prone to excessiveness and addictiveness which are not prominent features in the animal world. It is these human qualities that land us in trouble. Our need for more, which underlies greediness, is definitely a human quality, and it is a double-edge sword. It allows us to build up excess capital which makes culture possible, but also becomes a human vice if left unchecked.

I sometimes feel that the Ch’an practice of seeing our original face seems to be talking about reclaiming part of our animal nature.

A.K."

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Friendship & Cheerfulness

Stephen wrote:


"Dear Lung Zhi, Lan, A.K. & Kwok-wai,

Thanks for your comments and KW's powerpoint. They're all inspirational.

There are a few things worth mentioning:
- thanks for your friendship, it is a "root cause" of my cheerfulness;
- as shown in KW's powerpoint, the guru agreed that desire cannot be suppressed but can only be "trimmed;"
- unsurprisingly, even the guru/sage has desires and needed to be tempered from time to time. We don't know what those desires are, we can only guess considering he has to trim a big bush to a tiny circle, consistently and continuously...

Kwok-wai, do you know something we don't, since you've brought this up to our attention?

Stephen"

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Kept the cheerfulness...

Hi Stephen & A.K.:

Just received a power point from K.W.L., it is along the same line of thought:


LWK wrote:
"some always thought Shen-xiu was the realist;
神秀说他的树和镜子，有灰尘就檫，该怎么做就怎么做嘛；

his master's favorate, Hui-neng, was the idealist.
惠能说树和镜子都没有，一了百了，别人捧他贬他都欢喜！

one picks what one likes to be, of course,
这里面学问实在太大了，当然不能简单说：一位大师现实、一位理想；

call me dumb or lazy, but
when there's a knoll, then there's a knoll.
我笨也好、懒也好，总不能说山不是山吧。

lkw"



I am not good at rationalization, all I can feel is that I was very happy to receive the first message sent by A.K. on Friday Nov 27, without even opening the attachment or spending time to find out what the supposition was.

I kept the cheerfulness sent by Anthony, the rest.............

Thanks, A.K., Stephen and Lan.

Lung Zhi

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RE: Is desire the root cause of ALL emotions?

Stephen wrote:

Dear A.K.,

With your encouragement, I would like to further address the little "issue" I see with the title of the article: "Desire is the root cause of ALL emotions."

Let's take a look at the definition: Desire, is "a conscious impulse towards something that promises enjoyment or satisfaction in its attainment;" while emotion, is "a psychic and physical reaction". (Merriam Webster's dictionary)

So desire is pre-eminently a conscious, obvious, insistent state that is hard to ignore and sometimes difficult to resist. It has a tendency towards "something that promises satisfaction in its attainment." But emotion, being a "psychic and physical reaction," like joy, anger or fear, may or may not have anything to do with enjoyment or satisfaction. Nobody in the right mind would 'desire' a pain by cutting his finger. Hence, I rest my case.

One comment you made is that philosophy should not be used to explain emotion. While both Lan and myself have been commenting from the psychological & physiological perspectives, I don't mind to add a philosophical perspective if that makes it more appropriate.

We are taught that unless we cultivate indifference to what happens outside our control in the world, while at the same time strictly governing our thoughts, desires and feelings that arise within ourselves, we will attain peace of mind. While I see there are certain merits in this austerely self-denying view, I think wiser reasoning may help to put the true and value of our desires and emotions in the right perspective, which in turn will set our mind free.

"Desire is nature's instrument of self-perpetuation." Without desire there would be no humanity.

Reasoning and emotions are equally great gifts, and equally important & necessary. Like many other things of life, we have to learn how to appreciate them. They exist for a reason. It is, therefore, like our reflexive and reflective systems, needed to be tempered by one another to achieve the best balance. If not, the result can only be spiritual and intellectual impoverishment, yielding a life, scarcely worth living.

May we all make our lives worth living.


Stephen

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More on: The root causes of cheerfulness?

A.K. wrote:

Hi Lan and Stephen,

The passages I sent to you was actually an excerpt from a book by a yogi, hence the argument appears incomplete. He did not advocate suppression or repression of our desires, but proper understanding and sublimation of our desires so we can have better control of our emotions. Happiness or cheerfulness could be attained only when we turn our negative emotions into positive ones.

We might assume that everyone desire happiness, but experience has shown that a lot of people are actually sabotaging their own happiness because they do not understand the dynamics of their emotions or why they are taking certain actions. Even though they yearn for happiness, their actions often speak otherwise. So when we analyze this issue from a philosophical perspective, it is not the same as when we analyze it from an existential or religious perspective. In philosophy we strive for rationality, but the human psyche is far from being rational.

What interested me about these passages was how the author analyzed the different emotions and how they were related to desires. There might be other ways of analyzing human emotions but this particular approach struck me as being quite insightful, hence my urge to share it with you on a sunny Friday morning.

Our minds are generally focused on external factors. It takes training, or shall we say wisdom, to be able to decipher the labyrinth of human emotions. It is one of those things where everyone has an opinion because everyone is experiencing it in different ways. And we have not even begun to talk about religious practices.

Thank you for the responses. Keep it going.
A.K.

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Re: The root causes of cheerfulness?

A response from Lan:

"Hi A.K.:

Never thought that your kindness to enlighten us will elicit such a debate?!

When I first read the article, due to time constraint, I sent you an instant teaser because I was not sure that I totally agreed with it. I'm glad that Stephen has further elucidated us on the subject.

My humble opinion is: "The root causes of cheerfulness" and "the pursuit of happiness" are profound subjects which can be viewed from different perspectives.

The article you sent is from a religious perspective, while Stephen's exposition is from a philosophical, psychological, and physiological perspective. And "The pursuit of happiness" is American's Constitutional right perspective.

As human beings, as long as we're breathing and alive, it's difficult to control all the impulses firing from our brain cells all the time. Desire is one of the impulses. Desire is the source of motivation. Be it good or bad, it's how our lives come to be.That's why we try to control the bad ones with all kinds of means, external means such as reward and punishment; internal means such as moral, ethics and self-discipline; and physical means such as meditation, focussing techniques, biofeedback,etc. Confucius says, "A sage has no dreams." because he/she has already achieved the art of controlling the firing impulses, I guess.

By the same token, I think in Buddhism, when you have no desires (even the desire to be cheerful or happy), you have achieved the no I-ness, leading to Nirvana.

Lan"

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The root causes of cheerfulness?

Stephen wrote:

"Thanks for the article. It has triggered some thoughts.
The questions we've been asked are real: how do we control our emotions and desires? how do we maintain our cheerfulness?
While the article was well written, except for two little problems: the author didn't explain to us how to control our desires; and how to maintain cheerfulness?
The devil, I believe, is always in the details.

While we all live in the real world, we need desires and emotions in many of our endeavours, without which we won't be able to survive. As much as we want to eliminate the 'bad' emotions, to a large extent our behaviors are pretty much driven by 'emotional shortcuts' which have been developed in the last tens of thousands of years during which our ancestors gone thru the evolution process(it's been ongoing, even as we speak).

To wit, Dutch Philosopher Benedictus Spinoza once said: "It is necessary to know the power and the infirmity of our nature, before we can determine what reason can do in restraining the emotions, and what is beyond her power."

As we learn from many psychologists, the human brain is run by both the reflexive(driven by intuition) and reflective(driven by logical analysis) systems. Think of the former as 'on auto-pilot' in order to steer us away from immediate threats or troubles; it must be rapid-fire. The latter being a slow, analytical process where our check-and-balance system kicks in. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, most humans make judgments and decisions primarily by the reflexive system. (If not, we are all dead by now!)

That leaves us with the big question: theories aside, how do we practically, consistently control our desires & emotions?

The next key question - how to 'maintain cheerfulness' as opined by the author seems to be alot easier to put into practice, at least in theory. If I understand correctly from my philosophy classes (don't blame me, since I took my PHL101 class during lunch time when I was in the engineering school), the first lesson about cheerfulness or happiness is that the surest way to be un-cheerful or unhappy is to think that they can be directly sought of. (repeat after me please)

The fact of the matter is, things like cheerfulness or happiness is an epiphenomenom(you see, that's all I know to impress you?) - that is, something that arises as a by-product of other things. It comes unconsciously and from the side; it isn't and can never be a direct outcome that it can be mechanically attained by pushing a few buttons. Neither can we 'try to maintain cheerfulness' with a snap of fingers.

So what are the 'things' or activities of which its by-products will make us cheerful or happy? Activities that are worthwhile in themselves, that bring senses of satisfaction and achievement in the doing, that give a sense of well-doing and well-being. Examples like enjoyment with family, good friendship, arts/music, scenic places or beautiful things, of success(in achievement sense, not just material rewards), charity etc. are invariable sources of satisfaction and happiness.

Last but not least, the fact that 'the pursuit of happiness' is written in the American constitution has no guarantee that we can all be happy. The key is how do we put those 'things' or activities mentioned above into actions. That is something we can really control.


Be cheerful,

Stephen"

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The Root Cause of All Emotions is DESIRE

My friend A.K. sent me the following email:

Some thoughts to share on a cheerful Friday morning. May your life be blessed by cheerfulness.

"The Root Cause of All Emotions is DESIRE"

by Swami Rama

Life in the external world is important, but life within is even more important because your actions are actually your thoughts. Your thoughts are based on your emotions, and your emotions are virtually your desires. When you desire something, that desires become the motivation that moves your whole being. You should understand this principle. The root cause of all emotions is desire. Millions of desires are there in the mind and those desires are creating thought patterns. You have a desire to fulfill, and if your desire is not fulfilled, you become angry. Anger comes about because your desire is not being fulfilled. If it is fulfilled, you become greedy and egotistical. Ego is the I-ness or my-ness that separates you from the whole. You become proud because you have something. Your desire has been fulfilled and somebody else’s desire has not been fulfilled, so you become proud. Attachment is the cause of misery. You are always afraid that you might not get what you want or that you might lose what you have, so you cling to it. If someone has something you want, you become uselessly jealous. These are the seven main sources of emotions. These seven streams are the products of the four fountains (i.e. four primitive urges: food, sleep, sex and self-preservation). By properly analyzing your emotions and the origin from which the emotions come, you can help yourself.

If you understand the sources of emotions, you can easily understand any emotional problem, no matter how hidden the emotions are, and you will not be disturbed. A disturbed person is one who is weak. If some one disturbs you, you are weaker than that person. It is not good for you to be disturbed when somebody else is disturbed because you will be affected by their disease. You can easily be controlled by somebody who is disturbed. When the conscious mind is ruled by undesirable emotions, fantasies, and problems are constantly coming and going, then you lose control of the conscious mind. Always tell yourself that no matters what happens, you will not allow your mind to be disturbed. Samkalpa-shakti is built through this. If a hypnotist uses suggestion, it is called hypnosis. If autosuggestion is used by a yogi, it is called samkalpa-shakti.

If mind is disturbed, if mind is depressed, or if mind is agitated by emotions, that mind cannot taste cheerfulness. The greatest physician in your life is cheerfulness. If you want to enjoy good health, you should have a friend with you called cheerfulness. Do not allow yourself to be depressed by thought patterns because you are not your though patterns. Do not allow your thoughts to influence your internal states. Try to maintain cheerfulness.

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Re: the pursuit of happiness

Stephen wrote:

"Dear Lung Zhi & Anthony,

Thanks for your questions. You both have raised some very good inquiries for all of us to reflect or meditate.

First of all, those people that Lung Zhi described thought they were pursuing happiness, but actually it's not. They were accumulating wealth, power and fame, which by itself has nothing to do with happiness. As we all know, accumulation of certain material means are of prime importance to our survival, and there is no two ways about it (after all, we need to bring bread to the table). But as Abraham Maslow has taught us, once we have acquired the lower needs, self-actualization is the holy grail for us to pursue. That's why history praised great artists, scientists or musicians for their contributions to humanity, rather that some rich billionaires.

Anthony has found a new hypothesis about happiness. But I wonder if happiness is a moving target, or is it just us, our mind, which is moving second by second, chasing dreams after dreams, day in day out?

I'm not totally convinced about Martin Seligman's theory either. But to be fair to him, he is advocating the optimum 'flavor' for sensual pleasure (not addiction), 'flow' for engagement (not obsession) and 'fit' for gratification (not aggressiveness or over-stretched ourselves). But most important of all, his emphasis is on combining these goals in 'particular' ways so as to achieve its optimum levels (best fit for ourselves); only then can we achieve satisfaction in our life.

Hope the above clarify some misunderstandings. (or create more confusion?)

Your pal,
Stephen

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In pursuit of happiness...

Would someone please enlighten me on this:

There are many people out there who hurt and harm others in the pursuit of their own happiness. And in order to attain their own happiness, they sacrifice others' happiness. Their happiness is built onto the pains of others.

There are people who looks happy in front of others, put on a happy front, or even consider themselves happy persons but deep down inside they crave for power, fame or financial status to cover up their misery or deficiency.

There are people who use the "Happiness of the common" as the pretext to crucify others... Pretending to be noble to fool themselves and others... Thinking and saying that they are carrying out Bodhisattva deeds to belittle others.

Does end justify means?

Our minds are very good at fooling ourselves or fooling others.

Saying is one thing, performing is another.

What will you do when you encounter people like that? What should you do when you are one of them?


May GOD bless us all...

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Happiness is a moving target.

Sharing Anthony's article with you:

"Happiness is a moving target.

It is one of those things, like the meaning of life, once you make a definition, you can always find fault with it.


A truly happy person has no need of happiness, that’s the irony, because he/she is busy doing what he enjoys and finds meaningful.

Academics can only lay out the socio-political conditions necessary for the pursuit of happiness in a civil society for the majority of the people. For the minority, such as artists, poets and spiritually more developed people, the rule doesn’t always apply.

Jesus said, ‘Turn the other cheek.” For most people who are used to an eye for an eye, this will be the pinnacle of pain and humiliation. A truly loving Christian will derive much satisfaction from it.

For the three conditions that Seligman mentioned, every one of them could become a source of pain if they are held too tightly and without wisdom. Lao-tzu said,

‘The five colors blind the eye…..The five flavours destroy the palate.’ Too much sensual stimulations are not always good. It could lead to increased tolerance and addictions. The same can be said about relationships. Many men kill their ex-spouse because they could not walk away from their relationship.

So when we say certain conditions are necessary for the pursuit of happiness, we have to ask, ‘for whom, and when?’ The Buddhists list ten levels of Bodhisattva attainment and they all have different level of enjoyment. So happiness has something to do with your level of spiritual attainment as well.

Without getting into a Socratic dialectic about happiness, the best I can say about happiness is it is an absence of unhappiness because everybody knows in their guts what unhappiness feels like. While moments of happiness are fleeting, unhappiness are more stubborn and quite often overstay their welcome.

Let’s hope that everybody becomes a hotel for unhappiness rather than a home. When they check out, at least you have a break.

Keep smiling.

Anthony"

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Life after death

Anthony’s friend wrote:

Thanks Anthony for your detail analysis.

I think Chinese, especially Taoism, have accepted for years that anything known and unknown are part of nature and thus "Tao"?

For Buddhism, they do not emphasis the term "God" who could comfort you when you are in need. Rather they preach that you have to achieve the level of Buddha to have that comfort? (Correct me if I am wrong?)

Of course, the existence of religion is due to the fear of death and they promise a better life after death...but I wonder whether this is self-deceiving?

I would rather accept the concept that you live a good life while you still have a life?

**************

My response:

I just like to correct a misconception.

Buddhism is not about life after death.

Real Buddhism is about finding out the Truth of Life and how to live our lives to the fullest extent at present.

Only when we can fully utilize our potential, we can live a forever good life. In Buddhism we do that through practice and enlightenment.