Consultations are held at our Downtown Berkeley Medicine Buddha Healing Center clinic at 2210 McKinley Avenue, #4, (1 block west of Martin Luther King at Allston Way) Berkeley, 94703 - a 6 minute, 3 block walk from the Downtown Berkeley Shattuck BART (Allston Avenue Stairs Exit) station.

Director: Ven. Losang Jinpa (formerly Michael Reid Kreuzer), D.Ayur, M.A.H., Ph.D Buddhist Ayurveda   (1) 510-292-6696  Call to Book Appointment www.Ayurveda-Berkeley.com     Please CALL US, no e-mail available

Indian Ayurveda Medicine in San Francisco Bay Area - Are Computers and E-Mail Really Making Us More Productive?  Or Do They Harm Our Health?   What About Genetic Engineering?

Excess Use of Computers Disturbs Vata, Pitta, and Kapha Dosha: The Buddhist Ayurvedic Concept of Technology...

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We at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center no longer use e-mail for personal or professional use since we see it as a hindrance to our personal spiritual cultivation and sadhana practice. 

So for Ayurveda, please call us directly at 510-292-6696 or print off and send us your e-mail by U.S. Postal Mail to Medicine Buddha Healing Center, Losang Jinpa, 2210 McKinley Avenue, #4, Berkeley, California 94703/TDC.

Sorry, but we are no longer accepting e-mails from anyone since more than 90% of them are bad taste junk mails, viruses, worms, or other spam that takes up an inordinate amount of our time. The small amount of actual valid messages from our Ayurveda clients and students is small. Hence, we feel that e-mail is not a sufficiently useful tool for our small non-profit Healing Center and Ayurvedic School to continue using it. So we kindly request that you instead call us at 510-292-6696 or that you print out your e-mail, put it in an envelope and send it to us by good, old-fashioned, reliable, efficient, "Snail Mail".  Thanks for your patience.

We feel that to continue using e-mail, just because everyone else does, is not a sufficient reason. We no longer wish to “keep up with the Jones’s.” We do not believe in “technology for technology’s sake”. In so-called “progress” for the sake of “progress”.

The lecture below from the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua let’s you know how we feel. Even though it was first spoken in 1985, more than ever it still applies to us 22 years later. This is especially true now that so many e-mails are delivered without your permission with graphic embedded web-pages of pornography, Viagra or member enlargement ads, dating sites, dumb jokes, scams, greedy advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, real estate scams, or quasi-legal services. This is no longer a societal “good taste filter” as had existed with “snail mail” paper-mail.

"Electric Brains" and Other Menaces -- The Future of Humankind

A Lecture by the Venerable Buddhist Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua

University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

February 9, 1985

(Published in www.DRBA.org Vajra Bodhi Sea: A Monthly Journal of Orthodox Buddhism, July, 2000, pp. 23-26)

Source: http://www.drba.org/future_of_man.htm

"In this era, when technology and materialism flourish, we want to take a careful look at the thinking of the times and ask ourselves whether or not this is a good age to live in. Science has made great advances in technology and that certainly counts as good. But we should also realize the truth of the saying, anything taken to the ultimate point transforms into its opposite.

In the case of technological advances, good things also beckon misfortune. Let’s look at television, for example. I know people will object to my analysis of the TV, saying “Dharma Master, you’re a throwback to another age. You’re an anachronism. You’re out of step with the times. “Nonetheless, in my opinion, the television is a menace to human life. The television is a man-eater. Did you know that? Look at children these days. Instead of doing their schoolwork, they sit in front of the TV set.

They’re glued to the screen, and it eats up their very life-force" (ojas in Ayurvedic Sanskrit or qi in Chinese Medicine). "The children might as well be dead, because they will never learn the basic principles of being good people. They will learn only how to stare dully at the television.

And what does the TV teach them? Every kind of strange and freakish behavior you can imagine. They learn precious little of value. The kids very quickly learn to enact the evil and harmful lessons they watch. In no time at all, they learn all the bad things that people can do.

Before television came into the world, the people-eater was radio. Radios sucked up humans’ life-force. People used to stick a radio in their ear and completely forget everything else. Radios made us forget about eating, sleeping, and the ordinary events of life. Now the television has confused us to the point of not knowing whether we’re coming or going.

Computers have followed along right after the television. In Chinese, the word for computer translates literally into “electric brain”. In the future there will be electric eyes, as well as electric ears, electric tongues, electric noses, electric bodies. Every one of the six organs will have disposable modules, likes cassettes, and will gain an electric boost. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind will be computerized. Even the mind will tie in organically with “know-it-all computer memory banks.”

Is this a good time to be a person? Impossible! This is a dark age in human history.

In this benighted era, our wisdom has been stolen away by material things. Nobody has any natural wisdom to speak of. Our inherent brightness has been replaced by products and goods And once we substitute things for wisdom, then people will grow up blank, like idiots. Wisdom will become outmoded. People will no longer serve any useful function. Mark my words: in the future, people will become obsolete. Would your say this is a serious problem or not? Look into it! People will soon be rendered useless!

For instance, some unethical scientists now are busy inventing miraculous monsters. You say it's human? It’s not really human. You say it's an animal? It’s not exactly an animal either. Since they graft human genes onto animal bodies and alter human genes with animals strains, this mutual genetic modification produces a freakish, mutant, hybrid that resembles neither parent.

Anything taken to the ultimate point, transforms into its opposite. Now people can be born with horns, or elephant-like trunks. In my opinion, a human born with a nose like a pachyderm is more a goblin than a person. These goblins and freaks are all within the realm of possibility today.

Furthermore, the range of computers has grown out of control. Within the next two centuries, telephones and the like will be totally obsolete. Televisions and computers will have disappeared. Every person’s physical body will contain the capabilities of these machines. Nobody will have to bother dialing a telephone or punching a touch-tone. A person will only need to beam out the number of the desired party from his own built-in phone, with its antennae located in the eyebrows, perhaps, or from his hair, and the other person will receive the call the same built-in way. Hello! Good morning! That’s how easy it will be to place a phone call.

Somebody may be thinking at this point, Dharma Master, that’s the craziest talk I’ve ever heard.

Well, I ask you to consider this. How many people would have believed you if five hundred years ago you had said, “In five hundred years, there will be airplanes, television, and radios”? Everyone would have considered you insane. But all these inventions are commonplace now.

We should recognize that advances in science, and in material benefits are not necessarily good for humanity in the long run. They are incomplete, imperfect benefits, Wisdom, on the other hand, is the most thorough-going benefit for all the world. Thinking and attitudes born of morality and virtue are thoroughly good for us all. The Buddha’s Four Measureless Attitudes of kindness, compassion, joy, and even-mindedness are totally advantageous to all creatures. When we base ourselves in thoughts such as these, then we can go ahead and put technology to work for us. There’s no fear that we will forget the fundamental aspects of humanity: our own bodies for example. In the future people will  forget entirely what people look like. We will all become like animals. I’m not scolding you, this prediction is a cold,
hard fact.

The superior person,
Even in poverty,
Maintains his integrity;
The petty person stops at
Nothing to strike it rich.

That’s how the world turns. Good taken to the ultimate point turns bad. Evil, once it reaches an extreme, turns good. A person who is poor to the bitter extreme of poverty can suddenly strike it rich, while rich people can lose every penny overnight. Once born, we are tiny infants, but we grow up, grow old, get sick, and die. That’s the cycle of creation and destruction rolling on in the world. It is a natural process of progressive, cyclical change. A process of metabolism, and transformation. If we recognize the state, then getting rich won’t especially appeal to us any longer. And if we should lose our wealth, then we will see things according to the proverbs.

So it is most important in this day and age of insanity to not go crazy, and to not forget what it means to be a person. We must keep in mind the original purpose and appearance of human beings.

When speaking of the meaning of human life, I can say frankly, that the most beneficial things I have run across in my entire life are The Six Guiding Principles of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas.

The first of these is not fighting. This rule applies unilaterally. I will not contend with anybody. No matter what criticism you give me, I will accept it without reservation. Call me what you will. A small cat? Fine, I’m a cat. Call me a dog? Okay, I’m a dog. However you perceive me in your mind, that’s what I am. Do you see me as a Buddha? I’m a Buddha. Do you see me as a Bodhisattva? That’s what I am. Everything is made from the mind alone. I am whatever you conceive me to be.

For my own part, I have my goals and purposes for being a person. What are they? Simply not contending with people, no matter who it is. You may call me what you please, and I will wear that label. I will acknowledge the name. That will be who I am. I won’t contend with you.

The second rule is no greed. Whatever you own, is yours. I don’t want it. And anything of mine that you want, I will give to you. I actually will hand it over. When I give, it’s not like the classic, greedy Sangha-member (monk), who constantly tells people to Give! Give! Give! and who mouths the platitude, Left-home people do not crave wealth; but the more there is, the better. Any ordinary person hopes that people will give to him, yet this monk is not at all interested in being charitable towards others. This is a wrong attitude. We should avoid it.

As for not seeking, it means don’t look for opportunities to make a killing, or to score a fat profit. Everybody in the world fights for advantages. If we understand the principle of not seeking, and resting content, with few desires, then we won’t contend with people any more. Someone who grasps this point truly understands the Six Great Principles.

Why don’t we seek? It’s because we don’t want to be selfish. The only reason a person would seek for things is because of selfishness. With no self, there’s no reason left to seek. And free of selfishness, one won’t run after personal benefits. These two of the Six Guidelines are inter-related. No selfishness creates the condition for not seeking personal advantages. The two names: no selfishness and no self-benefit sound similar: in fact, they have distinct differences.

The last one is no lying. The only reason a person would lie is out of fear; he’s afraid of losing his selfish advantages. This fear moves him to criticize everybody else, saying, All of you are wrong. I’m the only one who’s right. Why does he feel this way? Because he fears he’ll lose his benefits to other people. Somebody who didn’t hanker after personal profits would have no reason to tell a lie. In the final analysis, what’s a lie worth, anyway? If you can truly understand these Six Guiding Principles, then you know what it means to be a person.

If you don’t understand the Six Guidelines, then you’re simply running in lock-step with the rat-race of this mad age. As long as you flow with the tide of insanity, you’re just another madman, as crazy as the next person.

That’s my message for you all today. I hope the young people among you who hear me won’t go insane; The elderly among you should even more keep a grip on your sanity. The little children here can learn along with the adults. Learn how not to go crazy

I always say "Everything’s okay, no problem!"

There’s a bit more to add here. Don’t get scared when you hear me call television, radios, and computers man-eating goblins. No need to be afraid. My hope is that you will clearly recognize these things for what they are. Once you recognize them, then electric gadgets lose their power to confuse you. That’s enough to know. But if you’re confused by them, then they can gobble you down.

The same principle applies to beauty. If the sight of a pretty figure has the power to confuse you, then you’ve been swallowed by a man-eater. If the sight of money confuses you, then you’ve just been devoured by a man-eater. If your purpose is to establish a big reputation, and fame confuses you, then you’ve just been swallowed by the goblin of fame. If good food confuses you, although you feel you’ve just enjoyed a tasty dish, in fact, the food has eaten you. The food has eaten your spiritual soul, your Dharma-body. It has eaten up your wisdom, and left you as stupid as can be.

If sleep keeps you in a stupor for several centuries, and when you finally wake and see by your wrist watch that it’s already half-past noon, and if then, you simply roll over and go back to sleep, then you’ve been devoured by sleep. Get the point?


For further articles on our perspectives on technology, please see: Jerry Mander's 1991 book:
In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations,
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/AoS/theSun.html

http://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/mander.html
http://spam.abuse.net/

Genetic Engineering

"Buddhism and Biotechnology." Edited from a Talk Delivered at "Spiritual Dimensions of Our Technological Future,"  AHIMSA Sixth Annual Conference, International House, University of California at Berkeley, Oct. 3, 1998. Unedited version entitled "Biotechnology: A Buddhist/Vedantic Perspective" published in Ahimsa Voices: a Quarterly Journal for the Promotion of Universal Values5(4), Oct. 1998, pp. 6-7. Also reprinted in Prabuddha Bharata (Calcutta, India) v. 105 (June 2000) 315-316. Edited version entitled "Buddhism and Biotechnology" reprinted in Vajra Bodhi Sea: A Monthly Journal of Orthodox Buddhism, Jan. 1999, pp. 39-41.

"Ethical and Spiritual Issues in Genetic Engineering." Ahimsa Voices: a Quarterly Journal for the Promotion of Universal Values, 5(4), Oct. 1998, pp. 6-7.

"Ethical Dangers of Genetic Engineering." Synthesis/Regeneration 20, Fall, 1999, pp. 2-4.

"Genetic Engineering: A Buddhist Assessment." Religion East and West, June, 2001, pp. 39-47.

"Genetic Engineering: A Major Threat to Vegetarians." Vajra Bodhi Sea: A Monthly Journal of Orthodox Buddhism,
v. 23, series 55 (February, 1993), pp. 44-45.

"A Modest Proposal Regarding Genetic Engineering in Mendocino County." Letter to the Editor, Ukiah Daily Journal, January 17, 1999, pp. A6-7.

"Redesigning the World: Ethical Questions about Genetic Engineering."

"Why Genetically Engineered Food Should Be Labeled."

"Why You Should Be Concerned About Genetically Engineered Food."