Michael Staples

LOL. Very nice. I don't know much about Daoist thought, so I can't comment there.

Another perspective: Buddhist thought can take you down many roads, but in the end, all roads lead back to dukkha -- suffering -- and its reduction. With Christianity, all roads lead back to God. If you begin asking "why?" -- as in "Why pay attention to the Ten Commandments? Why refrain from killing others? and so on -- you can reduce the argument to "Because God wants it that way." And quite often, that's where you end up in some Christian dialogues -- e.g., "The Bible says it (i.e., God wants it), I believe it, and that's the end of it." The "reason," or the impetus for action is to please God. On this count, asking "What would God want me to do?" and perhaps referring to the Bible to decipher what He might want you to do, makes sense. But this is not so in Buddhism. There is no God-head, and there is no mandate to please Buddha. Instead, the Buddhist project is to reduce suffering (note: there is much to say about the translation of Dukkha as 'suffering' but lets avoid that issue here). One might ask of the Buddhist project, "Why suffering?" What is so special about that? Of course no one wants to suffer, but there are lots of things no one wants to experience. So why not go for "To please the Buddha" for "To gain enlightenment," or "To exit the wheel of life and death," or whatever...Why hit specifically on the reduction of suffering? Well... there is no reason. The reduction of suffering as the hub around which the Buddhist project revolves is fundamentally arbitrary. But "arbitrary" here does not indication "better" or "worse," it simply re-states a core Buddhist understanding of the delusional arbitrariness of all things -- i.e., that there is no better or worse in any ultimate sense, and any attempt to establish them as such is delusional (note that there is a "better" and a "worse" in Christianity, and it boils down to that which God wants. Doing what God wants is "better," and not doing it is "worse"). With Buddhism, the reduction of suffering might be a highly favorable "better" (in a limited sense) thing to focus on in the order of world delusions, but carries no ultimate voracity as might the notion of making God happy. M

Hi,I'm not entirely sure this is where I am supposed to post as a newcomer, but here goes. One of my old Students (Windwalker) sent me here. So, a quick biography: I was perhaps one of a handful of writers in the early 1970s writing about gongfu. I was a contributing editor for Inside Kung-Fu magazine, Karate Illustrated, Official Karate, and maybe another 5 magazines as well as Chinese Entries Editor for one of the first Encyclopedia's of Martial Arts, and the first Dictionary of Martial arts. My book "White Crane Gung-Fu" introduced that style to the west for the first time, as did my book "Hop-Gar Kung-Fu," and "Tibetan Kung-Fu." I wrote the first magazine articles on the Beijing Wushu Team, introducing them and a very young Li Lianjia (Jet Li) to the west, and wrote the first book introducing the Chang Chuan compulsorty routine used throughout the PRC for wushu competitions. I wrote maybe another hundred or so magazine articles about kung-fu, karate, judo... and so on. But above all, I was a gongfu practitioner... first in karate, then in White Crane, then in Hop Gar. I just finished another book entitled "Focusing Emptiness: A Mytho-Poetic Journey to the Lost Child." I thought I was writing a book about psychology. About half way through, I realized it was really a book about gongfu...but you have to look to see that. When I have time, I'm happy to correspond with anyone if I have anything to contribute. My email address is [email protected]. My website is www.focusingemptiness.com. If you buy my book (Amazon...if you look it up under my name, you have to type in Michael P. Staples), please leave a review. Every little bit helps. Michael

Hi Kar3n. I especially like the little bird you have on your icon. I may or may not have anything of interest to contribute, so I'm not looking for accolades. But it's nice to be within the same thought as an accolade, just the same. Are you practicing some form of martial art?