Maybe it is from both?
Petra – my offering to the employees and countless volunteers of Shambhala, International and local, would be to contemplate these slogans in conjunction with any undertaking.
As a volunteer in the Shambhala sangha and in running my own household I try to do that and always find it challenging in some way…. there is always one of the slogans i am tripping blindly past.
I think the list is put together skillfully to help us find out where we are kidding ourselves (oh those tricky Buddhist lists )

here is the list
cheers – Kristine, Halifax

Arouse faith and respect for the three jewels.
Seek out and practice the divine holy dharma.
Respect your parents and repay their kindness.
Revere those who have accomplished great learning.
Honor and pay heed to noble elders.
Be decent and trustworthy with friends and relatives.
Exert yourself for the welfare of neighbors and countrymen.
Be law-abiding, humble and act with decorum.
Continuously emulate those who are excellent.
Possess only as much food and wealth as needed.
Never disappoint those who have been kind to you in the past.
Do not waver in repaying your debts on time.
Be generous to all without bias.
Refrain from slander and maintain your dignity.
Speak gently and restrain idle chatter.
Expand your mind in the vision of mahayana.

1. I believe Barbara Blouin touched on the heart of the matter (both for our community and the world) toward the end of her article, the part about the “build up on one side,” that is, on the side of “Heaven” over against that of “Earth.” We should be able to detect there the functioning of “center” and “fringe,” usually referred to in social science as “center-periphery polarization,” especially by World-System Theorists like Immanuel Wallerstein, and especially Samir Amin. And Cosmic Mirror as beyond any imposition of “this” and “that,” and associated with drala.

2. According to Amin, the primary mark of “capitalism” is “center-periphery polarization.” In so many words, the primary mark of “egoism” is, likewise, “center-periphery polarization”–same thing as “dualistic fixation.” What if we connected the dots–which are flashing bright red–between the “micro” and the “macro” levels? Realized that “egoism” and “capitalism” are born at precisely the same instant, the moment of “dualistic fixation,” and are not in a sequential relationship, but a simultaneous one? That if you look closely, that sand grain that sticks its neck up in the “Development of Ego” has on a little red t-shirt. On the front it’s got “Maximize Profit, Minimize Loss,” and on the back, “Accumulate or Die”?

3. Another angle: on dana. We need look no further than the Vidyadhara’s definition: “Giving without expecting anything in return.” So we’ve got that straight, I think, on the individual level, the psychological level, the micro level, in the “spiritual” sphere–the level of what we usually think of as “ego.” But what happens when we cross the un-pointed out boundary between the “psychological” and “political economic,” between the “spiritual” and “temporal,” between “egoism” and “capitalism,” “psyche” and “society”? We see that “capitalism”–especially as a global system–is the virtual antithesis of dana, or generosity: there, you don’t give out anything unless you expect to get more back in return. Isn’t that what Swami Milton Friedman taught us: that “getting more back,” “making a profit,” is the essence of democracy? Wasn’t that logic behind the 1973 Chilean coup?

4. So, it seems we have the “key” to the global crisis, the so-called “economic meltdown,” if we would make these simple connections, and apply them. If we were to do that (rather than the current myopia, bolstered by ideologies of pragmatism and practicality and realistic philosophy of science “problem solving”), if we were to extend out with that “key,” our financial problems would be over: we would have gone to the heart of the “global crisis,” which reflects our own, and made a major contribution to the reduction of suffering in the world.

5. But we aren’t likely to do that, are we? We’re basically good boys and good girls. Good boys and girls aren’t too critical of (so-called) “capitalism,” are they, Americans or Tibetans? Maybe it could be a bit “kinder & gentler”? Is this an argument for “socialism”? No. It’s an argument for Enlightened Global Society.

Then, by having his servants take over many of the revenues and possessions that used to belong to the old religion, the king’s annual revenue literally doubled (according to season 3, episode 1 of the “Tudors” which I’m now watching).

It was a bad time for practitioners of the old religion, many of whom eventually lost their retreat spaces, but the king’s treasury swelled to new proportions.

I don’t know if this relates to Barbara Blouin’s article, but it’s an interesting tv show.

As the MIs love to say, sowhaddyouthink?

Gregg

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7248965622078417393#

I will leave the discussion how Trungpa Rinpoche and the Sakyong teach to others.

Underlying most talk about “creating enlightened society” is the notion of having some cultural relevance and outreach and partnerships with key others in the world. I’m not addressing the kind of enlightened society where everyone uses the same esoteric catch phrases, drinks lukewarm sake because the founder did, manifest other forms of group think, and generally don’t get many results outside the tribe. There are a few specific ways that can be pursued on local levels and supported regionally, i.e. they generally don’t require central approval.

A policy that can be implemented tomorrow at the local level is to extend a minimum of a 50% scholarship to K-12 school teachers going through Shambhala Training.

With no evangelical agenda, having more grounded teachers is only going to have a beneficial cascading effect in the local culture. If Shambhala Training weren’t explicitly Buddhist, relationships and alliances could be formed with school administrators so outside organizations can become feeder mechanisms to ST sequences. With explicit religious affiliations, it’s not likely to happen. That’s just a practical observation.

For extra credit, extend a similar pricing policy to all registered nurses going through Shambhala Training then promote it so there’s an influx of RN’s continuing their education. Having more grounded caregivers can only be a good thing. Making it much easier for nurses to access the ST teachings is one small but real way to promote service and we’d help people that very directly help people in the most difficult of circumstances.

The other significant program that can be run on small scale, certainly smaller expense lines than the Shambhala Hiltons, are dathuns. This is the majorly transformational program in the Shambhala mandala. There is a discernible before and after in the lives of dathun alumni; they change for the better.

For dathuns, there are underused Scout and Church camps where big programs could be conducted and priced for break even. The Pacific Northwest dathun is an example. Localizing dathuns make them more accessible to people when the travel costs and time are reduced.

In particular, if this were to be done in the American South and Texas, what is called “contemplative Christianity” can become a real partner. Father Thomas Keating and Thomas Merton before him were exponents and examples of contemplative Christianity: meditation is part of their spiritual lives.

see next

You know, we don’t actually live in democratic countries, we live in republics. A democracy means majority rules. When a mob lynches someone, that’s a majority rule situation– a unanimous vote save one, in fact.

I’m not a fan of mob-rule situations. But polls are pretty simple and harmless, I suppose, if used properly. Just another means at our disposal, like corporate structures and automobiles and flower arrangements.

All depends on what you want to achieve, I guess– what heaven you want to join with what earth.

I read a lot of ideas on this site, a lot of good discussion. But as I pointed out in another thread, the discussion-only format of this website might convey the impression that there are no common concerns or proposals that any one group of people all agree on.

In a good discussion, of course, you don’t repeat what someone else said just because you agree with it. You offer a slightly different way of looking at it, or you might stay silent and just listen and let someone else speak who sees things differently. A great discussion might appear to have absolutely zero agreement! It could be very beautiful and educational.

However….

If I was a ruler and I was told that a bunch of citizens were having discussions, and venting their concerns, and sharing their opinions with each other and nitpicking about how money is spent or who knows what, I might say, “OK. Well… let me know if they come to any conclusions. Otherwise, how am I supposed to relate to endless discussions and random opinions from this or that individual? You can help some people some of the time, but you can’t please everybody all the time– that’s the first thing I learned in Ruler 101 class!”

People like to complain; the less you listen, the better, perhaps.

However… It would be interesting if this website could implement something like online polling… to add an additional interactive component to these discussions.

People have suggested that rather than having endless complaints and negative talk, that there be positive suggestions made, solutions proposed. Well, one way to do that could be through polls.

If one person criticizes using land centers as collateral for huge loans, maybe he is a crank, you know, a trouble-maker. Take the mike away from him and do us all a favor.

But if other people shared his concern, and if that was expressed in a simple visual way, that might be interesting, perhaps.

Or perhaps that’s way too complicated.

I do think that to a large extent the medium IS the message, whether we’re talking about rituals or group meditation or online communications media.