LESSON 19
| Zen Stories: Anger is Hell and Love is Heaven | |
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By Daniel Stambler
Once there was a general of the imperial Japanese army, a brave samuri, who wanted to learn the essence of Zen. He sought out the advice of the renowned master Baso who lived alone in a mountain hut. He approached the master as he was meditating on a rock, and asked him, “What is the meaning of heaven and hell, honourable master?” Baso lifted his finger and said, “You are now at the gates of hell.” The general’s face relaxed and he lowered the sword. Baso continued, “You are now at the gates of heaven.” The general became a disciple of master Baso and soon achieved true awakening. What is the source of anger? This Zen story teaches us how the problem of anger exists on several different levels. The general was a warrior who had lived his whole life training to channel his anger into acts of violence in order to subdue others. That’s what war is all about - violence is resorted to as a means of gaining victory over people. Such is the soldier’s way, and whole societies come to understand violence, and its source, self-righteous anger, as a justified norm. On the most basic level, master Baso spits in the face of that norm. He rejects the general and all he represents, the expression of anger and the killing which comes out of it. He is used to getting his way, and if his will is opposed, he beats his opponent down. Doesn”t he sound very familiar? When we look around, and inside ourselves, we can find many examples of this form of anger. The general didn’t ask the master for a spiritual practice, or a teaching that will guide him, he just wanted to strike gold in one shot. He wanted the meaning of life without any effort, a kind of fast-food enlightenment. Just bring it all on. He made his trek up the mountain, wasn’t that enough? It makes an enemy of the world, with other people as threats. It completely warps our judgment, just like the general who was about to kill the master just because he felt insulted. If his mind wasn’t deluded by anger, would he have resorted to the sword, or would it have been more effective for him to just laugh at the situation? He missed the humour of a small, defenceless monk spitting at a huge, armed warrior. Anger alienates us from the world and from our own ability to look at life and ourselves with less defensiveness. It burns up our sense of perspective. Anger hurts. Ending anger is the initial step which readies us for other spiritual practices and insights. That is why the samuri became a disciple of Baso after he let go of his anger, for he was able to more clearly perceive just how much he could receive from this teacher, and how much he had to learn. In his anger he was still attached to his own sense of being right (meaning someone else had to be wrong,) and when he released his anger he no longer had to be in the position of right or wrong. He became a simple student of life. How does anger affect your ability to decide and act? And, more importantly, how do you feel when you let the anger evaporate? What does it feel like the moment anger vanishes? How do others appear to you when anger is totally absent? If there is one thing master Baso teaches, it is that heaven and hell aren’t out there somewhere, but they are conditions of the mind itself. Anger is hell, love is paradise. |
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Mayawati leads BSP’s ‘elephant’ to temple towns
A Rs250 crore package to revamp Mathura was announced in August; now Rs800 crore has been allocated for Varanasi
Judiciary asserts its primacy
Legal Correspondent
New Delhi: The just-concluded year witnessed a major stand-off between the judiciary and the executive over appointment of judges to the Supreme Court. In the end, the court collegium asserted its primacy, rejecting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s request that three names it recommended for elevation be reconsidered.
Following the court’s decision, President Pratibha Patil appointed Justices A.K. Ganguly, R.M. Lodha and H.L. Dattu Supreme Court judges.
The Supreme Court upheld the appointment of Justice Ashok Kumar as judge of the Madras High Court, who was later shifted to the Andhra Pradesh High Court as permanent judge. It held that the Chief Justice of India (CJI) was not bound to consult other judges in the collegium while appointing an additional judge as permanent judge.
To weed out corrupt elements in the subordinate judiciary, the CJI asked the Chief Justices of the High Courts to periodically review the performance of district judges, assess their character and integrity and, if found unsuitable, to compulsorily retire them.
In the Ghaziabad Provident Fund scam, the CJI permitted the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the allegation that Rs. 15 lakh in cash was deposited at the residence of a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The CJI also ordered an in-house probe by a committee of three-judges and he is examining its report.
The apex court expanded the scope of Article 21 (right to life and liberty), saying a person’s reputation is a facet of his ‘right to life’ and to protect this right, illegal preventive detention orders could be quashed even at the pre-execution stage through habeas corpus petitions.
“If a person against whom a preventive detention order has been passed can show to the court that the order is clearly illegal, why should he be compelled to go to jail? To tell such a person that although the detention order is illegal he must yet go to jail and he will be released later is a meaningless and futile exercise. If the person is sent to jail then, even if he is subsequently released, his reputation may be irreparably tarnished. The liberty of a person is a precious fundamental right under Article 21 and should not be transgressed.”
Despite an earlier ruling that public interest litigation should not be used to settle political scores, political issues cropped up before the apex court. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati moved the court to restrain the CBI from prosecuting her in a disproportionate assets case. According to her, after the Bahujan Samaj Party withdrew support to the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, the CBI said it had evidence to prosecute her in the disproportionate assets case of 2003.
However, after the Samajwadi Party extended support to the UPA government in the July 22 confidence vote, the CBI, on the Centre’s advice, filed an affidavit seeking to withdraw an application against the party chief, Mulayam Singh, in a disproportionate assets case in which it earlier found evidence to proceed against him.
The Centre and the CBI also came out in support of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, opposing the Bihar government’s stand on filing an appeal against their acquittal by a trial court in a disproportionate assets case resulting from the multi-crore fodder scam.
Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin came up before the court and the Centre asserted that there was no bar on her holding a constitutional post though she acquired citizenship through naturalisation and not by birth.
Setback to Anbumani
Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss suffered a setback when the court quashed his decision to bring in a law aimed at removing cardio thoracic surgeon P. Venugopal as director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The court criticised the manner in which the law was enacted to target an individual.
The CJI took the initiative to conduct three Lok Adalats to settle disputes over motor vehicle accident claims, family matters and land acquisition.
Workshops were held in Delhi, Kochi and Mumbai to train journalists in court reporting.
LUCKNOW: Chief minister Mayawati’s announcement of recruiting 1 lakh constables does promise a better-equipped UP Police. But, not at least in the
Even if the state government spares all 40 police training centres, including nine meant for training of deputy superintendents of police (DSP), inspectors, sub-inspectors, head constables and other specific short term courses for the upper ranks, and then too it will take at least nine years to complete the basic
training of new recruits before they can be called constables.The state police have nine fully equipped training centres for different ranks ranging from deputy superintendent of police (DSP) to constables. Courses like those for armourer, traffic police and ministerial branches are also available at these centres. These include the Police Academy and Police Training
College (PTC) at Moradabad, PTC and Arms Training College at Sitapur, a Regional Training College (RTC) at Chunar and a PTS each at Meerut, Moradabad, Unnao and Gorakhpur which have a total training capacity of 4,096 persons.This apart, the state police have 18 Recruit Training Centres and
Schools (RTCS) at the PAC battalions and one each at the reserve police lines of 13 different districts. Each of these centres offers a training capacity of an average of 200 recruits for the basic course spreading over a period of nine months. Put together, all these RTCS will offer training opportunity for 6,200 recruits every nine months.“We can set up RTCS at every district in case the count of recruits goes up,” says a senior IPS officer of the training wing of UP Police. “Each of these reserve police lines already has posts for instructors and trainers. With barracks at every police lines in place, the problem of accommodation can also be dealt with,” the officer points out.
Though the proposal appears impractical, still by this account a total of 14,200 recruits can be trained every nine months at all the 71 RTCS. This means at least six years will be required to train the 1 lakh recruits. It may be mentioned here that the officers of the Police Training wing themselves admit that the training imparted at these 71 RTCS will not be of the required quality and may only serve the purpose of completing a mere formality.
Even if all the police training colleges and schools in the state are spared to train constable recruits, which appear practically impossible, then too a total of 19,000 recruits can be trained every nine months thereby meaning that at least five years will be spent to touch the figure of 1 lakh constable recruits.
Sources in the state police though claim that the government was toying with the idea of enhancing the training capacities of the present PTCs and PTSs but the move would prove a herculean task. Primarily because it will not only require to double the present infrastructure but also the numbers of trainers and other such mandatory elements like firearms and bullets for arms training. So, most of the officers admit that the addition of 1 lakh constables in the UP police likely to remain a pipe dream.
Ashok Gehlot wins trust vote in Rajasthan
Jaipur, Jan 3 (IANS) The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan won a vote of confidence in the state assembly Saturday.
The Congress, falling short of the clear majority, had won 96 of the 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan and Governor S.K. Singh had asked the government to prove its majority in the house in a month’s time.
Eleven of the independent lawmakers had announced their support to the government. Gehlot has given ministerial berth to four of these legislators.
To the surprise of many, six of the Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also supported the Congress government in the state assembly when the trust vote motion was moved.
Rajendra Singh Gudha, leader of the BSP legislature party, said the party’s support would be issue based.
Soon after winning the trust vote, Gehlot said some of the decisions taken by the former Bharatiya Janata Party government would be re-examined.
He said his party’s aim is to provide a sensitive and transparent government.
Gehlot, 57, acknowledged as the main architect of the Congress’ comeback in the state, was Dec 13 sworn in as the Rajasthan chief minister.
Indian ‘Aboriginal Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is, the Great Prabuddha Bharath (Untouchable(SC/STs))’ aims for top job
To her supporters, she is India’s answer to Barack Obama: the “Aboriginal Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is, the Great Prabuddha Bharath (SC) queen” fighting to overcome centuries of disdain for her “Aboriginal Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is, the Great Prabuddha Bharath (untouchable(SC/STs))” caste by becoming prime minister.
Kumari Mayawati’s opponents, however, believe she is a dangerous populist whose imperious manner, spendthrift ways and grandiose statues carry the whiff of megalomania.
Her ambition has already propelled Mayawati to become chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
It has also driven her to construct five enormous parks, at an estimated cost of £650 million, celebrating Aboriginal Inhabitant of Jambudvipa, that is, the Great Prabuddha Bharath(SC/STs) history in the state capital, Lucknow, where 14,000 labourers are shaping mountains of pink, Rajasthani sandstone into huge statues. “Seeing these monuments makes me so proud,” said Inderpal Verma, a dalit rickshaw wallah. “Behenji [sister] is doing things that even the Brahmins could not imagine.”
Under normal circumstances, the diminutive Mayawati (always known by this name alone) would not be a candidate to replace Manmohan Singh as prime minister next year. Her Bahujan Samaj Party is only a fraction of the size of Mr Singh’s Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which are running neck-and-neck in the polls just months before the May general election.
But Mayawati is banking on a hung parliament, a result she believes would allow her to sail into power with the support of India’s powerful Left-wing.
To this end she has been expanding her base beyond Uttar Pradesh, contesting elections in five other states to mark herself out as a national figure.
Her opponents in both parties have looked on in dismay.
Her monuments are intended to erase the humiliation of 5,000 years of “untouchability”.
Despite laws banning “untouchability”, India’s 165 million Aboriginal Inhabitants of Jambudvipa, that is, the Great Prabuddha Bharath (SC/STs)are, in practice, still persecuted by higher Hindu castes.
These statues are meant to etch into history the name of Mayawati, whose image also stands 15 feet atop classical plinths in each of the parks.
During her rare press conferences, she reads out a statement and leaves, refusing to take questions. Nor is anyone in her party permitted to talk to the media.
Mindless of the controversies swirling around her, Mayawati lives a reclusive life in Lucknow. She has never married, never drinks, eats frugal vegetarian meals, works till midnight, does not read books or listen to music, has no social life, and never takes a holiday.
Mayawati rarely emerges from behind the high walls of her home or official residence except to travel to, and from, Lucknow airport.
Barack Obama’s success, however, has reinforced Mayawati’s belief in her greatness.
Whereas he has erased only a couple of centuries of discrimination, she wants to be known for wiping out a far longer legacy of bigotry if she becomes prime minister. Though she is not the first “untouchable” to reach high in Indian political circles. Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar became law minister of the government of India in 1947, until 1951.
“She feels Obama is a kindred spirit,” said an aide. “She was so thrilled that she sent him a message of congratulations.”
UP police to arrest suspended policeman for engineer’s killingHoshiyar Singh, the suspended station officer of Dibiyapur police station in Auriya district where engineer M K Gupta was lynched for refusing to pay money for Mayawati’s birthday celebrations, would be arrested soon in connection with the incident, Director General of Police Vikram Singh told newspersons here.
He said Hoshiyar Singh is prima facie an accused in the case and would be arrested soon in order to ascertain his exact role in the crime.
“When such a crime is committed under the very nose of a police official, it is either his involvement or deriliction of duty and it would be ascertained after his arrest,” the DGP said.
BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari and his supporters allegedly lynched Gupta at his residence and dumped his body before Hoshiyar Singh who had taken the victim to hospital where he was declared as brought dead.
Mayawati had raised a question mark on the role of Hoshiyar Singh saying he had been posted at the police station during the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav rule and had very close ties with SP leaders. She had also hinted at some political conspiracy in the crime.
Two jeeps used in the crime, a Tavera and a Scorpio, have been seized while a Honda city car that was also recovered belongs to the BSP MLA though it was not not used in the crime, the two officials said. PTI
‘The slain engineer also declined to pay extortion money to the MLA’s goons,’ Vikram Singh told a press conference.
He could track down four key accused in the murder - BSP Auraiya district president Yogendra Dohre alias Bhatia and three others including inspector Hoshiar Singh.
‘We will get them soon,’ he said.
‘We have announced a reward of Rs.2,500 on Dohre, and we will soon announce a reward on the inspector also.’
Mayawati suspects ‘drunkard’ legislator was ‘used’ by opposition
12/27/2008 10:43:00 PM
Lucknow, Dec 27 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh’s opposition Samajwadi Party had apparently ‘used’ a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator to ‘get involved’ in the murder of a government engineer, Chief Minister Mayawati said here Saturday.
‘In their bid to defame my government, the opposition has apparently used BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari to indulge in vandalism and get involved in the murder of PWD executive engineer Manoj Kumar Gupta,’ BSP chief Mayawati told a press conference here.Tiwari has been arrested for his alleged role in the murder of Gupta who was lynched in Auraiya, about 250 km from here, early Wednesday.
‘I have a reason to suspect some mischief on the part of the opposition because Shekhar Tiwari is a party hopper and had switched loyalties from the Samajwadi Party to our party. Being a drunkard, he could have been easily used by the Samajwadi Party to indulge in criminal acts to defame the BSP,’ she said.
‘I am thinking of getting him subjected to a narco-analysis test to get to the bottom of the whole thing,’ she said.
‘Revelations about Tiwari’s alcoholism and criminal antecedents were brought before me only after the unfortunate incident,’ she added.
However, she skirted a query about who was responsible for Tiwari’s induction into the party.
‘We are trying to find that out,’ she quipped, before dismissing the press conference.
For Tiwari’s criminal background too, she sought to pass the buck on the opposition.
‘Tiwari had his roots in the Congress after which he did a stint in the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), before joining the Samajwadi Party, where he got a free hand to build a criminal career,’ she said.
She added: ‘He had not indulged in any criminal activity after joining BSP.’
Asserting that her government was committed to bringing the guilty to book under all circumstances, she said: ‘There is no way such a person would get reprieve from my administration. We have already sent him to jail and slapped all the stringent laws on him. The police have also sought his remand now.’
“Concrete evidence including verbal, circumstantial and scientific have been collected by investigators,” the DGP said.
On the motive of the crime, Singh claimed that Shekhar had ‘confessed’ that he wanted Gupta to give some contract work to his associates.
“The MLA was also angry with Gupta because unlike his predecessors, he never came to meet him nor provided him with money to the tune of Rs 50,000 to 70,000 that was demanded frequently,” the DGP said.
“Gupta was also not clearing the bills of some contractors, who used to provide money to the MLA on a regular basis,” he said.
On the role of the dismissed Station House Officer Hoshiyaar Singh, the DGP said, “He was in regular touch with the MLA at the time of crime and had also failed to take prompt action when the body was dumped at the police station.”
The DGP said that Hoshiyar has been charged with criminal conspiracy and connivance in the crime.
On the role of MLA’s wife Vibha, who alongwith four others has been accused of being involved of criminal conspiracy, he claimed that she was present at the time of crime as well and visited it later to destroy the evidence and had also been in touch with Hoshiyar.