Record Year for Everest Summits

It's the time of year for Everest summits - this month (and April, sometimes) is the best time for teams to try for a summit.  If teams go earlier, the weather is too cold and unpredictable.  The snow is too thick to cross the crevasses in the winter.  If they go later, the monsoon is an issue creating mudslides and more unpredictable weather.  

Times of India article talks about this seasons's summiters in this article. This year, a 13-year-old from the US broke the youngest person record. 

"However, while climbers continued to try to overcome human limitations on Mt Everest and make the impossible happen, in Nepal, the gateway to the magic mountain, its wizardry failed to make any impact on the greedy politicians who continued to push the country on the brink of disaster."- TOI


The article concludes with this and another paragraph addressing the political situation in Nepal these days.  It's not a pretty picture.

Buddhist-Muslim Relations in Ladakh

(click the title for the articles)

Something I have always been intrigued by, yet is so difficult to talk with anyone about.  Many deny there is any conflict. .

What EXACTLY did the Buddha say?

The world may never know.  But many scholars thinks he or she know.

Here's an article from an organization that I am not yet familiar with briefly explaining how teachings became text - three months after the Buddha passed away, a First Council happened deciding what should be preserved from his teaching.  The same source talks about how, even though Sanskrit was the language of the educated and priestly caste, Pali is the language of the region at the time when the Buddha lived, his native tongue is said to be closer to a village language called Magadha.

The Pali Cannon is the first collection of the Buddha's teachings, the result of the First Council. 

Grade Inflation Trends in US American Colleges and Universities

I find this fascinating as we just submitted grades for this semester and are bracing ourselves for grade appeals even though the grades were more than fair this semester. 

This guy from this site has been tracking trends since the 1920s in private and public institutions.  Gives an example of what a grade actually means these days. 

I have seen this in many places my last 5 years of teaching - teachers and administrators nervous about angry parents, grade appeals, and getting fired based on the option to grade honestly.  Many senior teachers I have worked with put together rubrics at the beginning of the year/semester and try their best to communicate those expectations to their students.  Only one teacher in 5 years that I have worked with has truly stuck to their rubric and skillfully helped the students take responsibility for their work, whether it was A work or C work.

The inherent subjectivity in grading is undeniable.  But, if a good teacher is able to create rubrics and hold students accountable, then it does add some piece of objectivity to the mess.  And anyway, if they are hiring you to give the grades, then someone trusts that you will know what is good and what is awful, right?  Isn't that why we've all spent so much time in school? 

You have to do it yourself

"Others’ words can’t measure your practice, and you don’t realize the dharma because of what others say. I mean the real dharma. The teachings others can give you are to show you the path, but that isn’t real knowledge. When people genuinely meet the dharma, they realize it directly within themselves. So the Buddha said that he is merely the one who shows the way. In teaching us, he is not accomplishing the way for us. It is not so easy as that. It’s like someone who sells us a plow to till the fields. He isn’t going to do the plowing for us. We have to do that ourselves. Don’t wait for the salesman to do it. Once he’s made the sale, he takes the money and splits. That’s his part.That’s how it is in practice. The Buddha shows the way. He’s not the one who does it for us. Don’t expect the salesman to till your field. If we understand the path in this way, it’s a little more comfortable for us, and we will do it ourselves. Then there will be fruition."

- Ajahn Chah, "Meeting the Dharma Alone"

Freedom

When the Mind is Free of Grasping 

The outer world in all its variety and our inner world of thoughts and emotions are not as they seem. All phenomena appear to exist objectively, but their true mode of existence is like a dream: apparent yet insubstantial. The experience of emptiness is not found outside of the world of ordinary appearance, as many people mistakenly assume. In truth, we experience emptiness when the mind is free of grasping at appearance.

-Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, "The Theater of Reflection"

Good for Practice....

7 Tips for Giving up Gossip

1. Recognize that gossip doesn’t undo the situation you’re talking about. It only puts in motion another situation based on negative feelings.

2. Know that comparing yourself to others is useless. Everyone has his or her own talents. In this way, give up jealousy and the wish to put others down.

3. Be aware of and transform your own thoughts, words, and deeds rather than commenting on those of others.

4. Train your mind to see others’ positive qualities and discuss them. This will make you much happier than gossiping ever could.

5. Forgive, knowing that people do harmful things because they are unhappy. If you don’t make someone into an enemy, you won’t want to gossip about him.

6. Have a sense of humor about what you think, say, and do, and be able to laugh at all of the silly things we sentient beings carry out in our attempt to be happy. If you see the humor in our human predicament, you’ll be more patient.

7. Practice saying something kind to someone every day. Do this especially with people you don’t like. It gets easier with practice and bears surprisingly good results.

-Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "The Truth About Gossip"