Up From Zen, part 4 of 4: Roshi Phil Jackson Torpedoes the Presidents +^

[Disbasing Zen Stories]

Up From Zen: Roshi Phil Jackson undermining the Presidency ...

Part four of four:

____ Background for Toxic Zen Stories _____________________

https://groups.google.com/group/alt.zen/msg/b4ad0ce368728934?hl=en

____ Barack Obama _________________________________________

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____ The Total Destruction of Barack Obama (44th)
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Barack Obama has always viewed himself as an aficionado of amateur basketball play and professional basketball analysis.

He has had a man-crush on Zen Roshi Phil Jackson and his NBA teams since the earliest days in Chicago. Eventually, (and to his and everyone's detriment) this man-crush would transform into a Coach-President relationship (like Zen Master and lowly apprentice monk). As we have seen from Nichiren, those who bow to and uphold the Zen Man will regret it upon their deathbed, and clearly, long before that.

After the Zen Man and his minions arrived for their White House meeting with the President on January 25th, 2010, much has changed in the Obama Administration and none of it for the good.

The Zen Man, when flushed with victory in the Oval Office, swells up physically, and it is truly something to behold. Then he displays his true aspect of evil for the defeated. His eyes flicker black, either for a long time, or only briefly, and that depends on how deeply into the attachment of evil the victim is at the moment of Zen victory.

That blackness of the eyes is actually a reflection of the fundamental darkness inside the life of the victim: the more that the fundamental darkness is front and center in the victim's life, the more it is reflected in the eyes of the Zen Man who is dominating the victim's world.

January 20, 2009: "Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the US, with Joe Biden as his vice president. Both Chief Justice John G Roberts and Obama fluff the oath. More than one million people attend the inauguration on Capitol Hill and the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

Hours after taking office, Obama requests a temporary halt to Guantánamo Bay trials." (Guardian Timeline)

"Minutes after the administration of the Oath of Office, Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, issues an order suspending last-minute federal regulations pushed through by outgoing President George W. Bush, planning to review everything still pending. In one of his first official acts, President Obama issues a proclamation declaring a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation. Obama enacts a pay freeze for Senior White House Staff making more than $100,000 per year and announces stricter guidelines regarding lobbyists in an effort to raise the ethical standards of the White House." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 21, 2009: "Obama revokes Executive Order 13233, which had been initiated by the Bush administration to limit access to the records of former presidents. At 7:35 EST on January 21, Obama retakes the Presidential Oath of Office, again administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, before four print journalists. Obama issues instructions to all agencies and departments in his administration to "adopt a presumption in favor" of Freedom of Information Act requests, reversing earlier policy set by former Attorney General John Ashcroft." (Wikipedia Timeline)

"Inspired by "an abundance of caution" Obama retakes the oath a day after stumbling on it.

Hillary Clinton is confirmed as secretary of state.

Obama suspends all military commissions for 120 days." (Guardian Timeline)

January 22, 2009: "President Obama signs an executive order announcing the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within a year, and signs a prohibition on using torture and other illegal coercive techniques, such as waterboarding, during interrogations and detentions, requiring the Army field manual to be used as a guide. He issues an executive order entitled "Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel", governing the limitations on hiring of employees by the executive branch to qualified individuals only, and placing very tight restrictions on lobbying in the White House." (Wikipedia Timeline)

"The president brings in executive orders aimed at reforming the US's detention policy. He orders the closure of "black sites", where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects. He also orders interrogations of detainees across the entire US intelligence community to adhere to the US Army Field Manual and orders the closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison within 12 months." (Guardian Timeline)

January 23, 2009: "Obama ends the funding ban for groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad, also known as the "gag rule" or the Mexico City Policy. He orders the first two Predator airstrikes of his presidency. (See Airstrikes in Pakistan)." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 24, 2009: "Obama produces his first weekly Saturday morning video address available on whitehouse.gov and YouTube, (like those released during his transition period) a policy compared to Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats." (Wikipedia Timeline)

"The new president's first Saturday address to the nation. He focused on the current economic situation, and said he hoped to bring his economic recovery plan in within a month." (Guardian Timeline)

January 26, 2009: "Obama signs his first two Presidential Memoranda concerning energy independence, directing the Department of Transportation to establish higher fuel efficiency standards before 2011 models are released and the allowing states to raise their emissions standards above the national standard. That night he gives his first formal interview as president to Al Arabiya." (Wikipedia Timeline)

"Obama outlines his energy policy, saying America must become more self-sufficient and calling for an "energy economy" to create jobs. He said the US should not be a "hostage to dwindling resources, hostile regimes, and a warming planet". (Guardian Timeline)

January 27, 2009: "In his first TV interview, to the al-Arabiya network, Obama spoke of improved relations with the Middle East. On Israel, he reiterated US support but said: "I do believe the moment is ripe for both sides to realise that the path that they are on is one that is not going to result in prosperity and security for their people. And that instead, it's time to return to the negotiating table." His envoy, George Mitchell, is preparing to visit the area." (Guardian Timeline)

January 28, 2009: "Obama makes his first visit to The Pentagon as President, meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 29, 2009: "Obama signs his first bill, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which promotes fair pay regardless of sex, race, or age. Lilly Ledbetter, the plaintiff in the employment discrimination case Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. joined Barack and Michelle Obama at the signing ceremony." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 30, 2009: "Obama signs a presidential memorandum launching the Middle Class Working Families Task Force to be led by Vice President Joe Biden." (Wikipedia Timeline)

February 2, 2009: "Obama signs a memorandum promising $20m in aid to Gaza." (Guardian Timeline)

February 5, 2009: "The last terror trial at Guantánamo Bay is halted after the judge dropped charges against a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000." (Guardian Timeline)

February 9, 2009: "Obama holds his first press conference at the White House." (Guardian Timeline)

February 17, 2009: "In Denver, Colorado, Obama signs into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aimed at rescuing the economy. A website, Recovery.gov, has been set up so taxpayers can track the programme's spending in their area.

Obama approves the sending of 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan." (Guardian Timeline)

February 24, 2009: "Obama's first address to a joint session of Congress. In it he acknowledges the severity of the economic crisis America is facing, but offers a promise of hope, saying: "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."" (Guardian Timeline)

February 26, 2009: "Obama submits to Congress a 140-page summary of his proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The budget restates his commitment to halve the federal deficit, and commits $630bn over the next 10 years to the reform of the health care system." (Guardian Timeline)

February 27, 2009: "In a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina the President reaffirms his commitment to withdraw US troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010." (Guardian Timeline)

March 3, 2009: "Gordon Brown is visiting Washington; he holds a joint press conference with Obama.

Russia reveals it is considering an implied offer made by Obama last month to drop the US European missile defence plan in return for Russian assistance with Iran. Obama later denies the offer was made, though admits he sent the letter." (Guardian Timeline)

March 4, 2009: "Gordon Brown gives a speech to Congress." (Guardian Timeline)

March 5, 2009: "Newspapers and blogs in the US are abuzz over the possibility that Obama's hair is already turning grey." (Guardian Timeline)

March 9, 2009: "The president removes restrictions on funding for stem cell research and a memorandum to protect science from political interference, reversing the Bush administration's strict policy." (Guardian Timeline)

March 20, 2009: "President Obama releases an historic video message for all those celebrating Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, speaking directly to the leaders of Iran.

Obama appears on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the first time that a sitting president has appeared as a guest on a late-night talk show. Commenting on his bowling ability he joked "it was like the Special Olympics, or something". He apologises to Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, before the programme is broadcast." (Guardian Timeline)

March 24, 2009: "Obama publishes an op-ed piece in 30 global newspapers simultaneously, discussing the economic crisis." (Guardian Timeline)

March 27, 2009: "Obama announces a new approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan." (Guardian Timeline)

April 1, 2009: "Obama meets Gordon Brown at Downing Street, holding a press conference ahead of the G20 summit opening this evening. He and Michelle later meet the Queen, who hosts a dinner for the G20 leaders; their official gift to Her Majesty was an iPod loaded with Broadway musicals." (Guardian Timeline)

Obama holds a meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, looking to thaw relations." (Guardian Timeline)

April 2, 2009: "Obama announces the G20 measures for solving the global financial crisis." (Guardian Timeline)

April 4, 2009: "Following a Nato meeting in Strasbourg, Obama discusses his new approach for Afghanistan." (Guardian Timeline)

April 5, 2009: "Hours after North Korea launched a satellite many think was a cover for missile testing, Obama speaks about an end to nuclear arms in Prague. It was his first big foreign policy speech." (Guardian Timeline)

April 6, 2009: "Obama speaks to the Turkish parliament, saying the US is not fighting against Islam." (Guardian Timeline)

April 7, 2009: "Obama makes a surprise visit to troops at Camp Victory near Baghdad. In his speech he says it is time to hand over control of the country to the Iraqis, who must make political concessions first." (Guardian Timeline)

April 13, 2009: "The Obama children get their promised puppy, a six-month-old Portuguese water dog called Bo." (Guardian Timeline)

April 16, 2009: "The president releases memos from the Bush era detailing torture methods used by the CIA; he says agents involved would not be prosecuted. Dick Cheney has since defended the methods." (Guardian Timeline)

April 18, 2009: "Obama addresses the Summit of the Americas at the opening ceremony in Trinidad and Tobago. While there he controversially shakes hands with Venezuela leader Hugo Chávez, who gives him a copy of Open Veins of Latin America." (Guardian Timeline)

April 21, 2009: "Obama speaks to CIA staff at headquarters in Langley, Virginia, following the release of memos on torture last week and the outlawing of such practices." (Guardian Timeline)

April 26, 2009: "The Department of Health declares a public health emergency over swine flu. Read the press transcript on how the US is tackling the issue." (Guardian Timeline)

April 29, 2009: "Obama celebrates 100 days in office; see Guardian coverage." (Guardian Timeline)

April 30, 2009: "Obama rejects waterboarding as a legitimate form of interrogation." (Guardian Timeline)

May 7, 2009: "The administration announces the proposed 2010 budget, including cuts of $17bn (about 0.5% of the $3.4tn budget)." (Guardian Timeline)

May 10, 2009: "Obama plays it for laughs at the annual White House correspondents' dinner, making a swine flu joke about Hillary Clinton and alluding to the time Dick Cheney accidentally shot his hunting buddy. Ashton Kutcher tweeted (external site) from the front row." (Guardian Timeline)

May 11, 2009: "Obama sacks America's top general in Afghanistan, Gen David McKiernan, and replaces him with Lt Gen Stanley McChrystal." (Guardian Timeline)

May 13, 2009: "Obama blocks the release of photographs showing torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan." (Guardian Timeline)

May 17, 2009: "Obama is heckled by anti-abortion campaigners during a speech at the Catholic Notre Dame university, Indiana. The president discussed abortion during the speech." (Guardian Timeline)

May 20, 2009: "Obama announces a strict new auto emissions policy aimed at getting greener cars on the road." (Guardian Timeline)

May 21, 2009: "In an address at the National Archives in Washington, Obama says he remains determined to close Guantanamo and condemns torture interrogation techniques, a day after the Senate rejected the funding bill for the closure of the detention centre. Former vice president Dick Cheney disagreed." (Guardian Timeline)

June 2, 2009: "General Motors, the US's biggest carmaker, files for bankruptcy, the biggest manufacturing collapse in US history. Obama's restructuring plan will see the US government owning 60%." (Guardian Timeline)

June 3, 2009: "Obama begins a tour of the Middle East aimed at reviving peace negotiations and improving America's standing in the region. He will visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt, before travelling on to Germany and then France, for D-Day events." (Guardian Timeline)

June 6, 2009: "Obama speaks at the 65th anniversary memorial service of D-Day in Normandy." (Guardian Timeline)

June 9, 2009: "Ahmed Ghailani, the first detainee at Guantanamo to be tried in the US courts, appears at a hearing in New York. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2004, has been at Gitmo since 2006 and is charged with involvement in the 1998 east African US embassy bombings." (Guardian Timeline)
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Victory call to Zen Roshi Phil Jackson and the Lakers, June 14, 2009.
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June 16, 2009: "The president calls on North Korea to halt its quest for nuclear weapons." (Guardian Timeline)
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Second call to Zen Roshi Phil Jackson by President Obama, June 16, 2009. The subject of this call is unknown, but it lasts for an hour or so. Clearly, much bonding occurs between the President and the Zen Man. THe man-crush on the Zen Man deepens. [It is not known how many other calls and consultations have occurred since, during the run-up to the tea party month of August and the great swelling of hatred for the President and his programs.]
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June 17, 2009: "Obama announces an extension of health benefits to cover partners of gay federal workers." (Guardian Timeline)

June 18, 2009: "The president is criticised by animal rights group Peta for swatting a fly during an interview." (Guardian Timeline)

June 23, 2009: "Obama condemns Iran's reaction to protests against the disputed election there." (Guardian Timeline)

June 27, 2009: "Obama's historic climate change bill is passed by Congress." (Guardian Timeline)

July 6, 2009: "Obama heads to Moscow for talks with Dmitry Medvedev, which will include discussions on how to reduce their nuclear weapons stockpiles." (Guardian Timeline)

July 9, 2009: "Obama attends the G8 summit in Italy, meeting the Pope and Muammar Gaddafi among others." (Guardian Timeline)

July 13, 2009: "Obama nominates Dr Regina Benjamin for the post of surgeon general. The rural GP worked to rebuild medical centres along the Alabama Gulf coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina." (Guardian Timeline)

July 21, 2009: "Obama launches his campaign to overhaul the US healthcare system." (Guardian Timeline)

July 22, 2009: "Obama meets Iraqi president Nouri al-Maliki and confirms his intention to remove all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2010." (Guardian Timeline)

July 27, 2009: "A team of senior US officials visit Israel to negotiate for an end to Jewish settlements." (Guardian Timeline)

July 31, 2009: "Obama enjoys a beer with black Harvard professor Henry Gates and the white police officer who arrested him on suspicion of breaking into his own home, in an attempt to end the race row brewing over the incident." (Guardian Timeline)

August 3, 2009: "The White House confirms suspicions that Guantánamo Bay detainees who cannot be repatriated may be held in mainland US facilities once the camp closes." (Guardian Timeline)

August 4, 2009: "Following Bill Clinton's meeting with Kim Jong-Il, the most high-profile meeting between the countries in a decade, North Korea pardons two female American journalists serving 12 years' hard labour for entering the country illegally and "hostile acts". Clinton visited to negotiate for their release, in a diplomatic role similar to the one former president Jimmy Carter played previously. Obama says he is "extremely relieved"." (Guardian Timeline)

August 9, 2009: "Sonya Sotomayor is sworn in as the first Hispanic Supreme Court judge, and only the third woman to take on the role." (Guardian Timeline)

August 12, 2009: "Opposition to Obama's healthcare reforms gets nasty as he is compared to Hitler." (Guardian Timeline)

August 24, 2009: "The US Justice Department is to investigate the CIA over interrogation methods." (Guardian Timeline)

August 25, 2009: "Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the key supporters of Obama's healthcare reform plans, dies of cancer. Obama gives the eulogy at his funeral on 29 August." (Guardian Timeline)

September 8, 2009: "Obama addresses schoolchildren, telling them they are the future of America and to drop out is to fail in your duty to the country. The speech was controversial; some schools boycotted it, fearing a liberal political agenda would be forced on the children." (Guardian Timeline)

September 10, 2009: "Obama is heckled as he addresses Congress on healthcare, a first for a US president. Senator Joe Wilson, the Republican representative from South Carolina, called Obama a liar.

It emerges Obama has spoken personally to Gordon Brown over his disappointment at the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi." (Guardian Timeline)

September 12, 2009: "Rightwingers, some carrying banners that equate Obama with Hitler, march on Washington in a Tea Party protest against healthcare reform and the presidency." (Guardian Timeline)

September 17, 2009: "Obama scraps plans for a missile defence shield in Poland, a move cautiously welcomed by Russia but criticised by Republicans already angry over healthcare reforms." (Guardian Timeline)

September 20, 2009: "The president is continuing to push for severe cuts in the US's nuclear arsenal." (Guardian Timeline)

September 21, 2009: "Obama appears on the David Letterman show for the first time as president, amid a media blitz to try to regain ground over healthcare reforms." (Guardian Timeline)

September 22, 2009: "Obama holds his first face-to-face talks with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas." (Guardian Timeline)

September 23, 2009: "Obama speaks to the UN general assembly, calling for countries to work with America to tackle global problems." (Guardian Timeline)

September 24, 2009: "Obama chairs a session at the UN security council as a resolution on nuclear non-proliferation and eventual ban is announced." (Guardian Timeline)

September 25, 2009: "As an allegedly secret nuclear base in Iran is revealed, the US president, Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy issue a harsh ultimatum to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." (Guardian Timeline)

October 1, 2009: "Iranian and American diplomats meet face to face in Geneva for talks on Iran's nuclear programme, the highest level of contact for many years." (Guardian Timeline)

October 9, 2009: "Obama wins the Nobel Peace prize; the president says he is "surprised" and "humbled". In a Guardian poll, 70.1% of respondents said it was too early to judge Obama's suitability for the award." (Guardian Timeline)

October 12, 2009: "Obama repeats his promise to allow open gays in the military." (Guardian Timeline)

October 13, 2009: "The healthcare reform bill is passed by the Senate finance committee.

Relations between the administration and Fox News become strained when Obama refuses an interview.

Obama will send a further 13,000 troops to Afghanistan." (Guardian Timeline)

October 15, 2009: "The president pays a three-hour visit to New Orleans, his first since taking office, amid criticism that he had left it too long." (Guardian Timeline)
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Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009: Zen Roshi Phil Jackson and the L.A. Lakers kick off their 2009-2010 season, which could be Phil's 11th Championship season against the Los Angeles Clippers.
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October 27, 2009: "Matthew Hoh of the state department is the first US official to resign over the Afghan war." (Guardian Timeline)

October 30, 2009: "HIV positive visitors will be able to journey to the US for the first time in 22 years, from January 2010." (Guardian Timeline)

November 2, 2009: "The US endorses Hamid Karzai as the new Afghan president, after his opponent Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of a second round run-off amid claims of widespread vote-rigging." (Guardian Timeline)

November 5, 2009: "Army major Nidal Malik Hasan kills 13 at the Fort Hood army base in Texas. Obama attended a memorial there on 9 November." (Guardian Timeline)

November 8, 2009: "The House of Representatives has passed Obama's health bill." (Guardian Timeline)

November 13, 2009: "Five men accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks will be transferred from Guantánamo Bay to New York to stand trial, on the president's orders." (Guardian Timeline)

November 15, 2009: "Obama launches his four-nation tour of Asia in Japan, seeking closer ties with Pacific countries." (Guardian Timeline)

November 24, 2009: "Michaele and Tareq Salahi, hopefuls to star in a US reality show about Washington housewives, gatecrash a White House party and meet Obama, as the president hosts his first state dinner." (Guardian Timeline)

December 2, 2009: "Obama sets out his strategy for Afghanistan, aimed as a final push." (Guardian Timeline)

December 10, 2009: "Obama accepts the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo." (Guardian Timeline)

December 14, 2009: "Oprah airs a special show "Christmas at the White House"." (Guardian Timeline)

December 16, 2009: "Obama writes to Kim Jong-Il to encourage North Korea to return to nuclear proliferation talks." (Guardian Timeline)

December 20, 2009: "After several days of intense negotiations, Obama hails the Copenhagen climate deal as a big step forward, but it is criticised by people on both sides of the climate change argument." (Guardian Timeline)

December 22, 2009: "Congressman Parker Griffith switches allegiance from Democrat to Republican. He had voted against the economic stimulus package and the healthcare reform bill." (Guardian Timeline)

December 24, 2009: "The Senate passes Obama's historic health care bill to extend health insurance to 30 million more Americans." (Guardian Timeline)

December 25, 2009: "Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempts to set off a bomb on a flight bound for Detroit." (Guardian Timeline)

December 28, 2009: "Obama makes his first public remarks on the Christmas Day attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 3, 2010: "Obama talks tough on terror as Republicans criticise him for being too soft." (Guardian Timeline)

January 5, 2010: "Obama holds a major security meeting in the wake of the attempted attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 6, 2010: "Obama faces a possible midterm election backlash, as several Democrats step down.

The president heavily criticises the CIA over failings that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board a flight to the US." (Guardian Timeline)

January 7, 2010: "President Obama meets with former President Bill Clinton at the White House." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 8, 2010: "In a speech, Obama takes the responsibility for failings surrounding the would-be Detroit bomber." (Guardian Timeline)

January 13, 2010: "President Obama holds a press conference discussing the operations of US government organizations such as USAID and the Department of Defense in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 14, 2010: "President Obama commits $100,000,000 to help Haiti recover from the 2010 earthquake, while calling on former American Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to assist." (Wikipedia Timeline)

"Obama announces a $100m aid package for Haiti, after the island is hit by a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake." (Guardian Timeline)

January 16, 2010: "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USAID Director Rajiv Shah travel to Haiti." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 17, 2010: "Obama travels to Boston, Massachusetts to campaign for Martha Coakley in the Senate special election." (Wikipedia Timeline)

"Obama goes on the campaign trail in Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy's old seat, with Democrat candidate Martha Coakley, in a bid to retain the seat for his party." (Guardian Timeline)

January 18, 2010: "Obama engaged in community service to honor slain civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr., while also visiting the American Red Cross headquarters and personally submitting his first Twitter update." (Wikipedia Timeline)

"Approval ratings dip as Obama faces criticism one year into his presidency." (Guardian Timeline)

January 19, 2010: "Republican Scott Brown wins Massachusetts Senate special election, sinking chances of passing the Obama agenda's centerpiece, universal health care." (Wikipedia Timeline)

January 20, 2010: "Today marks Obama's first year in office.

Scott Brown wins the Massuchusetts ballot, taking Edward Kennedy's old senate seat and shifting the balance from Demomcrat to Republican. The loss of the Massachusetts seat, historically one of the safest for Democrats, is seen by critics as a sign that Obama's honeymoon period is over." (Guardian Timeline)

January 22, 2010: "A bitterly divided Supreme Court vastly increased the power of big business and unions to influence government decisions Thursday by freeing them to spend their millions directly to sway elections for president and Congress." (Business Week)

"Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit - Overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.

The 5-to-4 decision was a vindication, the majority said, of the First Amendment's most basic free speech principle — that the government has no business regulating political speech. The dissenters said that allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace would corrupt democracy." (NYTimes)

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Obama White House victory visit by Zen Roshi Phil Jackson and the Lakers, January 25, 2010
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January 27, 2010: "President Barack Obama delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress." (Wikipedia Timeline)

In that address, President Obama ends the mission to the moon, which is the last remnant of the manned space program.

January 29, 2010: The 'Obama Girl' loses her 'crush on Obama' - "I just don't have that big crush like I used to ... yeah, I mean it was two years ago, and if I had this crush on him the same way as I did in the beginning I'd be the fool, y'know? It's like a relationship, when you get into a relationship with somebody, they're all great and perfect, they say all the right things, and then once you're in the relationship, it's like, 'okay, they're not that perfect.'" (FOX News)



What will happen now is anyone's guess.


-Chas. (who stepped up from Zen)


____ Previously ... ________________________________________

Up From Zen III: Parking a Killer Asteroid: Roshi Phil Jackson and the Zen Lakers Sneak Attack on the Obama White House, looming in early 2010.

(12/03/09)

____ The News ______________________________________________

Once again, the brutal lesson of what happens when you uphold the Zen man is demonstrated for all to see and hopefully, learn from that negative example.

The last lesson learned was from John Edwards, whose campaign support centered on the "Mystic River" boys (Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, and Laurence Fishburne, who meditated every night at the Boston Zen center during the filming of Mystic River). His career, his public life, and his family have been dragged through the mud due to that association: complicity with making zen fashionable or acceptable is the cause for raising demons in your life, both inside and outside.

Now we have a new negative example.

Mike Huckabee was a star on the political right, and had cornered the evangelical right in the Iowa caucases and the Southern stretch of the the early primaries. But his biggest supporter was roundhouse-kicking Zen man Chuck Norris ("All of the martial arts are based on Zen" -Chuck Norris), the famous martial arts star and promoter of that Christian Zen practice.

Mike Huckabee unblushingly worshipped the Zen man, as shown by this article in the Washington Post (11/18/2007):

.. Huckabee's First Ad is 'Chuck Norris Approved'
..
.. Mike Huckabee starts airing the first ad of his
.. presidential campaign this week, and it co-stars one of
.. his biggest (meanest?) supporters: Chuck Norris.
..
.. The star of the TV's "Walker, Texas Ranger" and movie
.. classics like "Top Dog," "The Delta Force," and
.. "Slaughter in San Francisco," among others, recently
.. announced his support for Huckabee, saying the former
.. governor is "The David among them."
..
.. The ad debuted this morning during an interview with
.. Huckabee on "Fox News Sunday." The former governor said
.. he hopes the ad will increase interest in his campaign,
.. by convincing folks to visit his Web site to learn more.
.. He also acknowledged the goofy nature of the ad is meant
.. to remind Americans that a presidential campaign can
.. also be fun.
..
.. The 60-second "Chuck Norris Approved" commercial show
.. Huckabee and Norris going back and forth on various
.. "facts" about the two men.
..
.. "Mike Huckabee is a life-long hunter, who will protect
.. our Second Amendment rights," Norris says.
..
.. "There's no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard, only
.. another fist," Huckabee says.
..
.. "Mike Huckabee wants to put the IRS out of business,"
.. Norris says.
..
.. "When Chuck Norris isn't lifting himself up, he's
.. pushing the earth down," Huckabee says. "Chuck Norris
.. doesn't endorse, he tells America how it's gonna be," he
.. adds.
..
.. Various reports says Huckabee has already shot other TV
.. ads that are expected to air closer to Jan. 3, 2008, the
.. date of the Iowa Caucus.
..
.. -- Ed O'Keefe

Now, we see that the demon he raised in his life through those evil causes has produced more than just his political defeat by a man who was unpopular in the Republican Party, John McCain.

The young Maurice Clemmons, who was 16 years old when he was sentenced to 108 years, but who had already served 10 years of hard time in Arkansas State when Governor Huckabee compassionately commuted his sentence to time served, has repaid that compassion by ending Huckabee's political career.

Clemmons recently murdered 4 police officers in cold blood for merely spotting his gun in a cafe in Washington state, and was then cut down by an officer who spotted him in his car after a massive manhunt.

Conservatives, who used Willy Horton's commutation to crush Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts in his 1988 run for the Presidency against George H. W. Bush, will not have any sympathy for Huckabee. Huck is wriggling on the hook, but he is dead, dead, dead: <http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/03/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5879156.shtml>.

Zen complicity is most immediately fatal for the friends and admirers of Zen. Meanwhile, the Zen man goes on and on, wreaking havoc in the lives of those who uphold him, until that black hole has consumed all of those stars who would come into his orbit. Chuck Norris got his start in the movies with the help of Steve McQueen, and we saw what happened to him. Norris has left a long trail of destruction behind him. Who will be Chuck's next buddy? [Ultimately, of course, cause and effect rules the world, and Chuck Norris will spend countless existences in hell, unless he chants the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra before his exit from this life.]

Consigning Edwards and Huckabee's political careers to the ash heap of history, Barack Obama's future now precariously hangs in the balance, but disaster still might be averted.

A killer asteroid, if its destructive orbital path is determined early enough, can be moved from that orbit and parked in a "safe orbit". The best way to do that, is to continuously apply small amounts of force along a long stretch of its path, such that the destination slowly moves away from the danger zone. Then, you continue this process, until the asteroid is "parked" in an orbit that is permanently stable and safe, and will never conceivably be perturbed back to cross paths with the danger zone.

Now that Zen Roshi Phil Jackson and the Zen Lakers have acquired their fully lethal state as NBA champions with the potential of becoming a Zen dynasty or a basketball Zen legend, the only component that is missing for an utter disaster to occur is a White House visit, or even a Presidential recognition of the fact that Phil Jackson has become the winningest professional basketball coach in history, surpassing Red Auerbach.

As was noted previously, this precarious state of affairs began in June, with the Presidential phone call to the NBA victors, and Obama's astonishing slide into political hell can be traced back to that point. Also noted, was the continuing series of celebrity deaths that kept the victors off of the the front pages and out of the news. This "parade of compassion" prevented some of the worst from happening to the nation, the state of California and Los angeles, but much that is truly bad has happened to the White House.

Now, the Zen Lakers and Jackson threaten again with the perennial visit of the NBA champions of last year to the White House early in the next year (timed to promote the NBA as the football season winds down), which should happen some time in January.

Barack Obama's "Achilles' heel" is his worship of NBA teams and stars, as a wannabe basketball player who never had the time, or frankly, that elite ability to play the game at the top. He can, however (like many who have a minor gift and follow teams, yearning for that kind of recognition), play the sports analyst and make predictions about matchups and how the season and the playoffs will wind down and end up. Making public prognostications about the Lakers' triumph last year was the beginning of the end of Barack Obama's honeymoon as President. Not a wise way to spend your political capital, I mean, what do you get out of it?

It's not his fault, however, he is being set up by the forces of evil for a tragic ending on center stage. The fact that a couple with a Pakistani name waltzed into the White House last week to a state department dinner, sans invitation, gives an early indicator of how this will play out. It's like 9/11 (after the Laker's last visit to the White House in early 2001): everyone will be looking the other way when the devastation arrives, clearing the way for it.

Don't get me wrong, the Lakers were not the only slander of the Law going in 2001, the list is long and gruesome. But the Lakers are bigger and more historic and legendary now, and that makes the evil recognition of them more potent for Barack Obama, personally. The mitigating factor here will be the presence of the grandmother of the girls, the wonderful Marion Robinson, who loves them so much that she will, without a doubt, join the parade (I have similarly lost my beloved family through these same kinds of mistakes). Like a canary in the mineshaft, her passing will foreshadow what's coming, but will not stop it.

Barack, now deeply in a slide will be seeking, like Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa was when Kobe Bryant refused to get on the parade float with him saying, "I'm not going to let him pimp my popularity! - from HispanicBusiness.com", to get a piece of the Lakers' victory and limelight. And Zen will be generous to the President, have no doubt. Zen will really, really be happy to share that spotlight of doom with our last best hope to save the nation from the greedy Philistines who wish to devour it.

And that will just about do it, for the United States of America.

There is still time, however, to forestall what seems to be a hopelessly over-determined outcome and a powerful demon that cannot be denied.

The only hope is that those who care about this need to chant the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, the "Lion of sutras", Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo for the inevitable not to happen, every day until that moment, to park the Jackson/Lakers' Killer Asteroid in a "safe orbit":

1. To never cross paths with Barack Obama.
2. To never enter the White House again.
3. To never receive another public tribute from the President.

Frankly, it is inconceivable for these three to actually happen, and I don't know how this freight train to hell can possibly be halted.

And yet, that is what I chant for every day, to exert my small force against this great evil.

Once again, I defer to your enlightened wisdom, as to the course our collective path will take.

-Chas. (who stepped up from Zen)

____ Previously ... ________________________________________

Up From Zen II: Roshi Phil Jackson and the Zen Lakers Sneak Attack on
the Obama White House.

(08/10/09)

____ The News ______________________________________________

The flurry of celebrity deaths appears to have ceased after the architect of the Vietnam War former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, the murder-suicide of Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair by his girlfriend, and finally the most trusted man in America, Walter Cronkite. So, Phil Jackson's premiere status is no longer newsworthy, until the upcoming White House visit of Zen Roshi Jackson and his disciples early next year (if they stick to the schedule of recent years).

Cause and effect have, as of the beginning of June, come to visit Barack Obama. In the run-up to the NBA finals in June, the President picked Laker Zen to be triumphant, and this was a fateful choice (never, ever uphold Zen). Then the obligatory and congratulatory winning team phone call from the President.

After that evil cause, everything changed for Barack Obama. Before, he had a magical effect on every difficult issue, Obama was the trump card, the go-to guy for the White House. Now, every time he speaks on Health Care, his polls drop. He has a different aspect, it is in his face on the screen, and he can't shake it.

People curse him, they paint Hitler (a truly Tantric-Zen-corrupted person, an unfair comparison, but not accidental) mustaches on his pictures, and they call him a Nazi (it's clearly not rational to depict a person the Nazis would instantly send to the crematory, as a Nazi).

Why this sudden change from "the One" to "der Fuhrer"?

The toxicity of Zen is a cruel lesson for those in public life, and there are four outcomes to this:

(1.) Obama can double down and become a devout Zen believer himself (a disciple of Roshi Jackson, the vampire who infected him). Then the whole world will change, like California did under Jerry Brown and his Prop 13 appendage, but this will not be for the better. Let's call this the "Jackson Option". [or the disaster movie to end all disaster movies]

(2.) Obama can make a mortally wounded retreat into the White House with his Christianity, but he will become a hated and tragic figure, like George W. Bush. Bush was at the height of his popularity before the Lakers visit in early 2002, and then he made a drastic change in direction. The pursuit of Bin Ladin, Zawahiri and Mullah Omar of the Taliban, who murdered 3000 Americans (and 3 SGI members) was abandoned, and instead Iraq was attacked ... well you know how that turned out. Wearing the Lakers' Presidential "jersey of great Zen victory" has a powerful effect on Presidents.

What fatal blunder will become Barack's undoing in this case? Hard to say. So far, the economy looks like it will turn around, the storm of hatred by the right and the independents can be overcome with a 51-vote reconciliation majority in the Senate to pass the desperately needed Government Plan, continue the Recovery Plan and the Economic Plan and bring home the Climate Bill. Of course, all of this will change early next year, when it comes time to don the dreaded jersey. Let's call this the "Bush Option".

(3.) Obama can react protectively to this lesson and cancel the White House visit by the Lakers. Instead, the White House announces that the President will visit Los Angeles and meet the Lakers and Jackson in the Los Angeles Mayor's Office.

You know, like Kobe in the parade recently, [ ... apparently did not want to share the spotlight with Villaraigosa, who had considered running for governor. Villaraigosa wanted a photo op with Bryant, but Bryant refused to get on the float if Villaraigosa was there. According to a report at www.nbclosangeles.com, Kobe was witnessed saying, "I'm not going to let him pimp my popularity!" - from HispanicBusiness.com]

At the last minute the President is called away, and the meet is done with a staffer. Not to be re-scheduled. [You might think this would hurt his popularity, but it would be his "Sister Soulja" moment, and he would rebound from it.]

Of course avoiding the slander does not change the previous slander, that aspect now present in Obama's face will slowly diminish, but will never go away completely. Obama's great purity of spirit, which previously swayed the crowds is now spoiled and he can only sway those loyal supporters longingly clinging to the memory of it. Let's call this the "Carter Option". [Jimmy Carter, that is.]

(4.) This choice would be a variation of the "Carter Option" (#3), let's call this the "Obama Option". After avoiding the fresh slander of the Law created by a White House visit and the donning of the Lakers' jersey, Obama would then have to chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to actually undo the effects of evil causes already made that cannot be recalled. This can be done privately (without anyone ever knowing). I call this the "Obama Option" because he can come back to himself, and far, far better than that.

That would be my suggestion for the White House future event planning.

Furthermore, I encourage all those afflicted with poisoning from the Tantric Zen Precepts Heavenly Way (Tendo) ... to read the section called "Up From Zen", below. to avoid ending up tied in knots in a closet somewhere in Asia. If your true self cannot get your attention and change your ways in any other manner, you too can make an example of yourself, to point the way, by negation. That compassionate self-sacrifice can be avoided, however, anytime up until the bitter end.

Once again, I defer to your enlightened wisdom, as to the course our collective path will take.

-Chas. (who stepped up from Zen)

____ Previously ... ________________________________________

Up From Zen: Roshi Phil Jackson and the Zen Lakers Sneak Attack on the
Obama White House.

(07/03/09)

____ The News ______________________________________________

So, let's review the news from just before the Laker's Zen triumph, and since...

1. There was the saga of David Letterman vs. Sarah Palin's daughters, then the savage and distorting counter-attacks and finally Letterman's abject apology and defense against the street protesters, which all served to steal scads of viewers from the Tonight Show the week after the victory, when Bryant and Jackson were toxifying Conan O'Brien.

2. There was the Iranian Green Revolution: first the fraudulent election and then the and challenge to it becoming an insurgency, the crushing of the Greens and the death of Neda, and now things settling into a prolonged and desperate political battle behind the scenes between completely tarnished and arrogantly power-hungry Ayatollahs and theocratic councils, who are now exposed publicly as such, for the first time to the Iranian people.

3. There was the ceaseless saga of the love story of the initially absent Appalachian hiker during Father's Day, Governor Sanford of South Carolina and sometimes Argentina. He seems to be compulsively continuing the story, for ... some reason.

4. The deaths of Ed McMann, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. They all seemed to rush in to fill the news gap at the same time, beating out Billy Mays and Karl Malden (BTW, have you seen his 3rd movie with Marlon Brando, "One-Eyed Jacks" ? It is not to be missed, if you like downbeat westerns.)

5. And tonight, Sarah Palin resigned as Governor.

I think the rush in celebrity deaths and crises will continue, since averting the gaze of humanity from the prominent rise of the Zen men of the Lakers is a compassionate act, worthy of a Buddha. Obliterating any visibility of that evil takes the kind of compassionate unity of a determined group: many in body and yet one in mind of faith, known as itai doshin in the Buddhism of the Lotus Sutra. That explains the surge in the news cycle: they are all Buddhas not begrudging their lives in their protection of the Law.

On the July 1st USA Today front page, all the top stories were above the fold, on the left column, Governor Sanford's latest emotional out pour, on the center, Farrah Fawcett's funeral and Michael Jackson's family struggles, on the right column, the continued political power struggle in Iran. (No room for Zen.)

Crowded off the front page are the continuing struggles of Nevada's staff-cuckolding and blackmailed Senator John Ensign, and the Gordian Knot of New York State representative politics.

These headline-stealing and news-cycle-obliterating events are all temporary in their effects, although as Keith Olberman of MSNBC's Countdown says of the Michael Jackson story, "This carnival's going to be in town for a long, long time." I would make the case that it is a carnival of compassion, because of its obliteration of any chance of Phil Jackson and the Lakers getting the news cycle back until the NBA victory and his big accomplishment are simply too old to be newsworthy. (Daimoku works, and I am grateful to any of those chanting to save the country from this scourge.)

As host to the Lakers, the Mayor of Los Angeles demonstrated, in microcosm, the toxic effects of his official contact with Phil Jackson's star power: as the Lakers went to the playoffs and their impending victory loomed, the city's reaction to the toxin became prominent: here are three stories that show the political slide that the mayor of a city celebrating a Zen star's rise will suddenly encounter ... (for reference on the dates, the Laker's victory was on Sunday June 14th and the victory parade hosted by the City of Los Angeles was on Wednesday June 17th)

.. ________________________
..
.. The mayor of Los Angeles
..
.. Down and perhaps in
.. Jun 18th 2009 | LOS ANGELES
.. From The Economist print edition
..
.. Will Antonio Villaraigosa run for governor of
.. California?
..
.. TO JUDGE from magazine covers, things look bad for
.. Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, who is
.. still deciding whether to run for governor of California
.. next year. On Newsweek's cover in 2005, after he became
.. mayor in a landslide victory, the title was "A Latin
.. Power Surge". The cover of Los Angeles magazine this
.. month said simply "Failure".
.. ___________________________________
..
.. Villaraigosa won't run for governor
..
.. The decision may help possible Democratic candidate
.. Jerry Brown more than Gavin Newsom, experts say.
..
.. By Phil Willon, Maeve Reston and Cathleen Decker
.. June 23, 2009
..
.. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's decision Monday
.. to skip the 2010 race for California governor left a
.. two-person contest for the Democratic nomination in
.. which former Gov. Jerry Brown starts with a strong
.. advantage in scooping up much of the mayor's support,
.. political analysts said.
.. ____________________________________________
..
.. Is L.A. Big Enough for Kobe Bryant and Mayor
.. Villaraigosa?
..
.. June 30, 2009
.. HispanicBusiness.com Staff
..
..
.. Is Los Angeles not big enough for Los Angeles Lakers
.. star Kobe Bryant and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa?
..
.. The two stars of L.A. sports and politics are apparently
.. locked in very public feud that escalated last week
.. after Bryant snubbed the mayor.
..
.. Bryant, according to multiple news reports, was in a
.. huff because Villaraigosa wanted to hop on the victory
.. float alongside Bryant during last week's downtown
.. victory parade.
..
.. Bryant, whose ego clash with Shaquille O'Neal forced the
.. center out of Los Angeles, apparently did not want to
.. share the spotlight with Villaraigosa, who had
.. considered running for governor. Villaraigosa wanted a
.. photo op with Bryant, but Bryant refused to get on the
.. float if Villaraigosa was there.
..
.. According to a report at www.nbclosangeles.com, Kobe was
.. witnessed saying, "I'm not going to let him pimp my
.. popularity!"
..
.. The two eventually jumped on the float - but not
.. together.
..
.. Later, Kobe purportedly refused to shake Villaraigosa's
.. hand.
.. _______________________________________________________

Is that a shockingly sudden fall from the heights for Antonio Villaraigosa, or what? The June cover of Los Angeles Magazine has his picture and is labeled "Failure", his campaign for Governor is kaput and he can't even get on the float with a bloated egotist who bounces a ball for a living: all in 2 weeks.

I wonder if the White House will allow Bryant, Jackson and their buddies to "pimp Obama's popularity" in the planned visit to the White House early next year? Considering their treatment of a solid Obama supporter, his honor the Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, I would hope the Lakers and Zen don't get to hitch a ride on the oval office "float".

Of course when they show up, they will show up with the same lame Laker's team jersey they gave George W. Bush after the 2001 victory. Maybe they will change the number, like #2 for Obama instead of W's #1.

____ Coming Attractions ____________________________________

So, what will happen to California? Fires, mudslides, earthquakes? Or simply going broke in a few days: the State is now writing IOUs instead of checks for payroll. (Do the Payday cash advance companies take IOUs from California? Who are these firms typically donating to, politically?)

Isn't Washington's response to this fiscal disaster enlightening? In the White House Press Briefing each day when asked what the government was going to do to prevent the massive job loss in California, which could destroy the recovery and make the stimulus a failure, Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, states "We are monitoring the situation." A telling comment. Let me explain it.

Zen is in and of itself, the very destruction of compassion.

After committing a major Zen slander such as this, and falling into the massive void as a direct result of that slander, all pleas for help will be ignored, precisely because the compassion of others for the offender has been extinguished by that slander. This is simply the simultaneity of cause and effect.

Above all else, any surprise at this turn of events ... is really an insult to the Buddhist Law and the Lotus Sutra that you just attacked. Particularly now that I've pointed out the connection between cause (Grave slander of the Law) and effect (Disaster).

The Administration in Washington knows that all of this is due to Proposition 13 and its effects on the State Government of California guaranteeing the massive amplification of already impossible fiscal problems. Prop 13, by the way, arrived at the same time as our first Zen Governor, Jerry Brown. He first fought and then embraced it. Now, he has received Phil Jackson's help in clearing Villaraigosa out of the field in the Governor's race, so that he can preside over the final triumph of Zen over the late, great, state of California where his father (Pat Brown) constructed many of the state's greatest institutions. Jerry's initial Zen practice as a young man undermined his father and ultimately that brought down his father's administration and propelled Ronald Reagan into prominence.

I wonder what wonders Jerry ("small is beautiful") Brown will bring forth this time? Think BIG and UGLY.

____ A Straw Mountain Perched On A Weary Camel ____________

Of course, Phil Jackson and the Lakers are not California's only Zen malady. They are simply the last straw (and a large one) that comes at a time when critical mass has nearly been achieved for a real disaster.

California has many prominent Tantric Zen singularities, whose combined influence is sinking the state into a massive black hole:

--------------------------------------------------
Soto Zen (seated meditation) practitioners include:
--------------------------------------------------
Phil Jackson and some of his Zen Lakers,
Jerry Brown the Attorney General whose opposition to Prop 8 guaranteed its passage and Supreme Court victory,
Nina Hartley (porn queen, AKA 'Anal Annie'),
Zenkei Blanche Hartman (Nina's mom, Abbess of the San Francisco Zen Center),
Sojun Mel Weitsman (Blanche's Zen master, Abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center),
Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi (Blanche's other Zen master, founder of San Francisco Zen Center, Green Gulch Farm in Marin and the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in Carmel Valley)
Larry Ellison of Oracle LIVES inside a Zendo,
Jim Carrey,
Steve Jobs of Apple,
Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys,
Sean Penn + Tim Robbins + Kevin Bacon + Laurence Fishburne (who meditated every night at the Boston Zen center during the filming of Mystic River),
Clint Eastwood (their director),
Werner Erhard [founder of EST and Landmark Forum: "Landmark Forum is basically EST, and EST is basically Zen" (2002) - Gary Randall, a Landmark Forum leader in the Bay Area]
Michael Murphy + Richard Price(d.) + George Leonard (Erhard's teachers at the Esalen Institute)
Frederic Speigelberg(d.) of Stanford University + Alan Watts(d.) + D.T. Suzuki(d.) (Murphy and Price's teachers at the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco)

--------------------------------------------------
Martial artist movie-makers (many producing psychotic physical Zen thrillers) include:
--------------------------------------------------
Bruce(d.) and Brandon(d.) Lee,
Steve McQueen(d.) + James Coburn(d.) + Kareem Abdul-Jabbar + Roman Polanski (Bruce Lee's students at his Los Angeles Jeet Kune Do school in 1967)
Steven Seagal,
Chuck Norris (quote: "- all the martial arts are based on Zen."),
Jackie Chan,
Jet Li (he's the worst, glowing darkly),
Chow Yun Fat + Mira Sorvino + Ang Lee (Crouching, Replacements),
Tom Cruise (Last Samurai),
Richard Gere + Louis Gossett Jr. (An Officer...),
Sharon Stone (Total Recall),
Jennifer Garner (Alias, Elektra),
Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie (the Smiths, Wanted, many others),
Charlize Theron (Aeon Flux),
David Carradine(d.) + Uma Thurman + Vivica Fox + Daryl Hannah + Lucy Liu + Julie Dreyfus + Sonny Chiba + Michael Madsen + Michael Parks + Helen Kim + Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bills),
Keanu Reeves + Laurence Fishburne + Carrie-Anne Moss + Hugo Weaving (Matrices),
Robert Downey, Jr. (took martial arts to cure addictions, pan -> fire),
Anne Hathaway + Dwayne Johnson (Get Smart, Doom),
Natasha Henstridge + Kristen Miller + Natasha Williams (She Spies),
Cate Blanchett (Indiana Skull),
George Lucas (Star Wars Muppet Zen),
Paramount Pictures (undermining Star Trek with Zen, starting with the series "Enterprise" in 2001),
John Cusack (black belt),
Scott Glenn (black belt),
Jack Black (Kung Fu Panda, others),
Pat Morita(d.) + Ralph Macchio + Hilary Swank (Karate Kids),
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy),
Disney (Mulan),
Pixar and Dreamworks (various movies always containing at least one humorous martial arts scene: humor or even intent does not alter a practice)

--------------------------------------------------
Landmark Forum ["Landmark Forum is basically EST, and EST is basically Zen" (2002) - Gary Randall, a Landmark Forum leader in the Bay Area] practitioners include:
--------------------------------------------------
Many trained business and finance leaders in all the large business centers across the United States and Britain (how's THAT going?),
Several international projects, such as a decade-long project to bridge the gap between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews (how's THAT going?),
John Denver(d.),
Harry Chapin(d.) [with EST's World Hunger Project of the 1970's in association with President Carter's White House],
Tom and Dick Smothers

--------------------------------------------------
Scientology (After former EST trainers joined the ranks and L. Ron Hubbard vanished, Scientology and EST/Landmark Forum had court battles over rights to training techniques that were essentially identical: therefore ... Scientology=LandmarkForum=EST=Zen) practitioners include:
--------------------------------------------------
Anne Archer,
Catherine Bell,
Chick Corea,
Edgar Winter,
Geoffrey Lewis,
Giovanni Ribisi,
Greta Van Susteren,
Isaac Hayes,
Jason Lee,
Jenna Elfman,
John Travolta,
Juliette Lewis,
Kelly Preston,
Kirstie Alley,
Leah Remini,
Lisa Marie Presley,
Priscilla Presley,
Rev. Alfreddie Johnson, Jr.,
Tom Cruise

____ Up From Zen __________________________________________

There is only one way to escape from the disastrous effects of the slanders produced by Zen practice in this Universe, and that is to practice the Law that Zen slanders. In fact the Physician's Parable in the 16th or Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra directly addresses this.

This is the true purpose of Zen: the poison of slander is converted into the medicine of faith in the Law.

From "The Lotus Sutra and Shakyamuni Buddha (8)", Living Buddhism 09/03 v.7 n.9 p.17:

.. Parable of the skilled physician and his sick children:
..
.. Shakyamuni relates it in the "Life Span" (sixteenth)
.. chapter to explain that the Buddha uses his own death as
.. a means to awaken in people a desire to seek his
.. teaching. The parable describes a skilled physician who
.. has a great many children. One day while he is away from
.. home, the children mistakenly drink poison. Returning to
.. find them writhing on the ground in agony, he quickly
.. prepares an antidote for them, a medicine that possesses
.. excellent color, fragrance, and flavor. Some of the
.. children take the medicine and are cured instantly, but
.. others, their reasoning distorted by the working of the
.. poison, refuse it despite their great agony. The father
.. therefore devises an expedient to induce them to take
.. the medicine. Telling them, "I will leave this good
.. medicine here," he sets off for another land. From there
.. he dispatches a messenger, who informs the children that
.. their father has died. Grief-stricken, they finally come
.. to their senses, take the medicine their father has left
.. them, and are immediately cured. Thereupon their father
.. returns. Shakyamuni explains that the Buddha is like
.. this physician: if he were always present in the world,
.. people would begin to take him for granted and would no
.. longer seek his teaching. Therefore, although the
.. Buddha's life is eternal, he uses his death as a means
.. to arouse in people an aspiration for enlightenment.

The question I have for Phil Jackson, and every other prominent Tantric Zen singularity that I have listed is this: do you really care enough for the multitudes that follow your every move to help them avoid this catastrophe, brought on by your toxic celebrity? Or is your concern limited to that of Kobe Bryant, to avoid allowing others to "pimp my popularity"?

If you really do care, then I have just the thing for you to do. It's easy and quick and will cost you nothing more than a little time.

There is a man in Los Angeles named Herbie Hancock, whom I have never met, and who doesn't know me from Adam. I do know from reading that he has regular SGI Buddhist meetings in his house, and I am sure he can be contacted through his agent (your agent can find his agent). I am also sure he would welcome any number of you to attend one of his meetings, or could hook you up with Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism of the Lotus Sutra somehow and in some manner of time and place. He improvises on the piano quite well, so this will be no real challenge.

Then you might go to one SGI meeting, somewhere. Hang with the votaries of the Lotus Sutra briefly. This will transform reality, even if you never do another thing for those poor, loyal fans of yours. I promise that we can restore the camel's back from that last straw.

Heaven knows, I have spent years trying to warn your loyal followers to avoid this calamity, and no one appears to heed my warnings. They appear to cling to you in spite of every clear admonition to the contrary.

Since they are Buddhas in every single way according to Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin, I have to defer to their collective and enlightened wisdom. They will go down with the ship rather than be parted from you.

My final plea is to YOUR enlightened wisdom, to go see Herbie. And now I defer, to your enlightened wisdom as well.

My deference is not fatalism.

As far as Toynbee is concerned, neither defeat nor victory is predictable; he is no fan of determinism (fatalism), and sees it as a symptom of those suffering from decline.

From "Is determinism convincing?",

.. One of the perennial infirmities of human beings is to
.. ascribe their own failures to the operation of forces
.. which are entirely beyond their control and immeasurably
.. wider in range than the compass of human action. This
.. mental maneuver, which promises to convert an
.. importunate sense of humiliation into a new assurance of
.. self-importance - by setting the great engine of the
.. Universe in motion in order to break one human career -
.. is among the most insidious of 'the Consolations of
.. Philosophy'. It is particularly attractive to sensitive
.. minds in periods of decline and fall; and in the decline
.. and fall of the Hellenic Civilization it was a
.. commonplace of different schools of philosophers to
.. explain the social decay which they deplored but could
.. not arrest as the incidental and inevitable effect of an
.. all-pervasive 'cosmic senescence'.
..
.. (Toynbee, A. J., & Caplan, J. (1972). 18. A Study of
.. History: A New Edition Revised and Abridged (pp. 154).
.. Great Britain: Oxford University Press.)

The fate of a civilization is never out of its own control; that fate rests in our own hands, up to the final moment.

From "The Problem of the Disintegrations of Civilizations",

.. In any case, however cautiously and conservatively we
.. may feel it wise to interpret the findings of the
.. empirical survey that we have just been attempting to
.. make, the evidence seems amply sufficient to demonstrate
.. that the disintegration of broken-down civilizations is
.. not an automatic and inevitable process that can simply
.. be taken for granted. Even when disintegration has set
.. in it does not necessarily run straight out into
.. dissolution; and, though this may still prove to be the
.. normal course of events, the cases of departure from the
.. norm, by way of petrifaction or fossilization, are
.. numerous enough and striking enough to raise the
.. question of the reasons why the declines and falls of
.. civilizations should sometimes have this alternative
.. denouement. Our classic example of disintegration
.. running straight out into dissolution has been the
.. latter end of the history of the Hellenic Civilization;
.. yet, as an eminent modern Western historian has pointed
.. out, this society which eventually made way for two
.. fresh representatives of the species was at one stage
.. all but overtaken by the petrifaction which has been the
.. Far Eastern Civilization's fate:
..
.. "The spirit of the two most famous nations of Antiquity
.. was remarkably exclusive .... The fact seems to be that
.. the Greeks admired only themselves, and that the Romans
.. admired only themselves and the Greeks .... The effect
.. was narrowness and sameness of thought. Their minds, if
.. we may so express ourselves, bred in and in, and were
.. accordingly cursed with barrenness and degeneracy ....
.. The vast despotism of the Caesars, gradually effacing
.. all national peculiarities and assimilating the remotest
.. provinces of the Empire to each other, augmented the
.. evil ...."
..
.. (Toynbee, A. J. (1934, 1939, 1948). A Study of History
.. (V. p. 8). London, New York: Oxford University Press.)

Formerly successful civilizations die by their own hand in committing suicide of a particular sort.

This, in fact, is what is playing itself out in this case.

What is needed is a reversal of fortune, which can only be performed by the 'creative leadership':

Toynbee explains what is creative leadership in the Study of History, by definition:

From "The Cause of the Breakdowns of Civilizations",

.. (c) THE NEMESIS OF CREATIVITY
..
.. I. The Problem of Peripeteia [Peripeteia, or Peripety:
.. 'reversal of fortune' - Oxford Dictionary]
..
.. We have now made some study of two aspects of that
.. failure of self-determination to which the breakdowns of
.. civilizations appear to be due. We have considered the
.. mechanicalness of mimesis and the intractability of
.. institutions. We may conclude this part of our inquiry
.. with a consideration of the apparent nemesis of
.. creativity.
..
.. It looks as though it were uncommon for the creative
.. responses to two or more successive challenges in the
.. history of a given society to be achieved by one and the
.. same minority or individual. So far from this being the
.. rule, the party that has distinguished itself in dealing
.. with one challenge is apt to fail conspicuously in
.. attempting to deal with the next. This ironical and
.. disconcerting yet apparently normal inconstancy of human
.. fortunes is one of the dominant motifs of the Attic
.. drama, and it is noticed and discussed by Aristotle, in
.. his critique of Hellenic poetry, under the name of
.. Peripeteia or 'the reversal of roles'.
..
.. (Ibid., Toynbee, VI. pp. 245-6)

This is why fresh leadership is necessary for the next challenge: the 'mechanicalness of mimesis' is the fact that what a civilization has learned from the previous challenge guarantees to defeat it in the next. The next challenge demands an unpreformed view to defeat it. Only fresh leadership has the 'creative mimesis' necessary to overcome the obstacles which spring from our own life and will guarantee to defeat those who are fighting the last war when they should be fighting this one.

Aristotle's passage (referred to by Toynbee) on reversal of fortune from his 'On Poetics' is here:

.. Chapter 11. [Peripeteia, Reversal of fortune]
..
.. A Peripeteia is the change from one state of things
.. within the play to its opposite of the kind described,
.. and that too in the way we are saying, in the probable
.. or necessary sequence of events; as it is for instance
.. in Oedipus: here the opposite state of things is
.. produced by the Messenger, who, coming to gladden
.. Oedipus and to remove his fears as to his mother,
.. reveals the secret of his birth. And in Lynceus: just as
.. he is being led off for execution, with Danaus at his
.. side to put him to death, the incidents preceding this
.. bring it about that he is saved and Danaus put to death.
.. A Discovery is, as the very word implies, a change from
.. ignorance to knowledge, and thus to either love or hate,
.. in the personages marked for good or evil fortune. The
.. finest form of Discovery is one attended by Peripeteia,
.. like that which goes with the Discovery in Oedipus.
.. There are no doubt other forms of it; what we have said
.. may happen in a way in reference to inanimate things,
.. even things of a very casual kind; and it is also
.. possible to discover whether some one has done or not
.. done something. But the form most directly connected
.. with the Plot and the action of the piece is the first -
.. mentioned. This, with a Peripeteia, will arouse either
.. pity or fear -- actions of that nature being what
.. Tragedy is assumed to represent; and it will also serve
.. to bring about the happy or unhappy ending.
..
.. (Aristotle. (1925). On The Poetics (I. Bywater, Tr.).
.. 11. Great Britain: Oxford at the Clarendon Press. from
.. http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/poeti10.txt )

Peripeteia is like the protagonist in a drama standing on the edge of the balcony, blithely unaware of the villain behind him preparing to push him over the edge to his death. As the villain lines up silently, and rushes forward to give him a huge shove. At the last moment, the numismatic protagonist sees a dime at his feet and leans over to pick it up, to see if it is a collectable coin. The villain sails over the edge to his death.

Will California survive, or not? Only the leadership, whom their fans adore devotedly, can determine the outcome now, all other measures to avert catastrophe have failed.

Once again, I defer to your enlightened wisdom, as to the course our collective path will take.

-Chas. (who stepped up from Zen)

____ Previously ... __________________________________________

Rolling Calamity: Roshi Phil Jackson and the Zen Lakers Sneak Attack on the Obama White House.

(06/19/09)

This week, while an explosion of evil bloomed in Southern California, on the exact opposite side of the earth, 12 hours off in timezone, the youth of Iran roiled in a brilliant green sea of sheer goodness.

First, Kobe is on the Tonight Show with Conan, lighting a torch to O'Brien's karmic good fortune. Good timing, Jay.

Then there are the big street celebrations as the people of Southern California bow to the Zen master of Yeh and Lo (see the Gosho passage below for what comes of that).

Now on Friday, Conan puts the final flame to his future by bringing in the favorite son of Yeh and Lo, Phil Jackson to laud him with great praise on the Tonight Show of Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. Words fail me.

The first fortunate event of the week came with the end of the finals occurring simultaneously with the digital TV changeover, so that many people could not watch (I still can't tune in the ABC affiliate on the antenna for DTV, although I could before, they are out to lunch now, even though their competition all have a stronger signal).

The second fortunate event was the total obliteration of the news cycle by the events in Iran starting the day before the final. So the Zen Laker's triumph was shoved roughly off the screen, or was on only briefly this week. This was a great kindness from the children of Iran, at the risk of their lives and partially due to Obama's speech transforming events in the Middle East when he was in Cairo. Nice job, all.

This was true all week, with the exception of Conan and actually being there at the Zen jubilee in Los Angeles. [Yes, they came up with their offering to Zen, even in the downturn they scraped nickels and dimes together to give it up to this great Issendai (incorrigible disbeliever in the Lotus Sutra).] The suffering will be great and the odds of state bankruptcy are escalating.

The third fortunate event was that in the final game on Sunday evening, the Orlando Magic fell behind and couldn't catch up, thus losing in their final game at home, so that all this timing would work out. This could not have been better done. THe Magic and their city of Orlando deserves applause for this immense kindness to America, so that the glory of the moment on the road, in hostile territory, was muffled into relative silence and stretched off-screen.

The fourth fortunate event was that the rolling struggle between the Palins and Letterman was just cresting in the prior week, and now was continuing with little threat to David on the Late Show, as David did mocking battle with the protestors out front of Ed Sullivan's CBS studio in New York. This drew some audience away from evil, so David and Sarah/Willow/Bristol did a good job, too (thank you, Big Apple).

All of these fortunate events are the product of the daimoku of people all over the world, and it is not possible for me to be more grateful than I am to the bodhisattvas of the earth. Thank you all and keep it up.

As the cavalcade of Phil Jackson's Zen Show of Shows rolls towards the inevitable visit of the Zen Lakers to the White House in early 2010 (January or February as an advertisement for the next NBA Finals), there will be much time to focus on making this year different than the last time the Zen Lakers propelled their Roshi into greatness, this same season in 2001.

The President predicted the Laker victory and gave them a nice phone call, and then proceeded to have his worst week yet in the pools and with fears that the Health Plan centerpiece of his administration may be going up in smoke.

Fighting this uphill battle will make this a long year, but not begrudging our lives makes this a great joy: sitting down in front of the Gohonzon and wrestling this great toxic Zen demon is purely a pleasure.

-Chas.

____ Previously ... __________________________________________

Calamity: Roshi Phil Jackson and the Zen Lakers Sneak Attack on the
Obama White House.

(06/15/09)

Update: Game 5 went badly. It's going to be verry, verrrry bad.

Once again, Toynbee says that those who adopt the view that what is going wrong is just destiny they cannot change (It wasn't meant to be. It's not our turn, etc.) are in fact incorrect. Even at the last moment, an entire civilization headed towards certain doom can avert that course in a peripeteia (reversal of fortune). Even now, on the brink of disaster, the effects can be ameliorated.

EVERYONE WHO CAN NEEDS TO CHANT A LOT OF DAIMOKU.

The devilish function controls the pacing and size of this horror, but our great fortune is that the Magic lost in Orlando and there wasn't the instant karma of the unbridled Zen glee in Los Angeles. So there is a modicum of good fortune in that.

Events could intervene (human-created) to take the bloom off of this toxic rose. When time comes for official recognition at every level (especially the White House), our attention could be diverted and the impact taken out of the Phil Jackson Zen jubilation. If we are very lucky, this will happen.

In a sense, already, the misfortune of the downturn has a benefical aspect. It's hard to party hardy when you need to scramble for food.

But the White House needs to find something else to busy itself with. Everyone does.

From the "Opening of the Eyes", Writings of Nichiren Daishonin p. 276:
(http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=276)

.. The seventh volume of Great Concentration and Insight
.. states: "In the past, the Zen master of Yeh and Lo [Note
.. 200: Later commentators identify the "Zen master of Yeh
.. and Lo" with Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen in China.
.. T'ien-t'ai, however, does not mention him or any other
.. contemporary figure by name.] became renowned throughout
.. the length and breadth of China. When he arrived, people
.. gathered around him from all directions like clouds, and
.. when he left for another place, they formed a great
.. crowd along the roads. BUT WHAT PROFIT DID THEY DERIVE
.. FROM ALL THIS BUSTLE AND EXCITEMENT? ALL OF THEM
.. REGRETTED WHAT THEY HAD DONE WHEN THEY WERE ON THEIR
.. DEATHBED."
..
.. In the seventh volume of On "Great Concentration and
.. Insight" we read: "The text speaks of the 'Zen master of
.. Yeh and Lo.' Yeh is in Hsiang-chou and was the capital
.. of the Ch'i and Wei dynasties. The founder of Zen caused
.. Buddhism to flourish there and converted the people of
.. the region. The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai, out of
.. deference to the people of his time, refrains from
.. naming anyone specifically. Lo refers to the city of Lo-
.. yang."

Lo-Yang is the city, wherein lies the Shaolin Monastery where Bodhidharma founded Zen and all these other Zen practices arose.

See below for the reasoning behind why we should face this spring-loaded trap effectively ... Only daimoku can contain this evil.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Phil Jackson can win the NBA championships he becomes the winning-est coach in NBA history, passing beyond his current tie with Red Auerbach for championship rings.

If that were to happen, and the blowout of the Orlando Magic team in game one makes it likely, the Zen Master and his minions will be celebrating his victory in the White House, with an unwitting and vulnerable Barack Obama.

Obama has made himself the target of Zen, for having the impertinence to really try to change things in the world and put the country and the world onto a different course that is not headed off the Bush-Cheney cliff, straight into a Zen holocaust.

This new Camelot is not that much different from the previous one in the 1960s, in the seemingly flawless nature of the young head of state and his beautiful family. And his blindness to the hidden danger placed directly in his path. (They are so perfect.)

So what, you say? Well, THIS is what.

First, an attachment to an evil master and his distortions of Buddhism develops. Simultaneously, a void forms undermining the ground beneath the follower's feet. At a crucial point, the Zen master is upheld over all the world. Then the ground gives way, plummeting the followers, and their friends and acquaintances into hell. The Zen master always moves on before the disaster.

--------------------------------------

D.T. Suzuki came to the West just before the 20th century to educate the seekers about what he called 'Buddhism', which was a grave distortion. Having sowed the seeds of evil, he went back to Japan to participate in the build-up to empire as a major cheerleader (in his Japanese writings) to Imperial State Zen, encouraging the mindless warriors to be heartless as well: "The hand that holds the sword is the Buddha's hand." After the disastrous end of the Pacific War, he changed his tune (in his English writings) explaining how the people were fooled by their impetuous leaders. He ended his days lecturing in Western coffee houses, misleading a new generation.

Eugen Herrigel, the author of the book that was to kick off the widespread popularization of the distortions of Zen, "Zen in the Art of Archery", was appointed the Rector of Erlangen University (a stone's throw from Nuremberg) in 1935, just as the Nuremberg Laws were enacted, codifying the descent of the European Jews into holocaust. His acceptance speech was an anti-Semitic diatribe, which has never been translated in English for distribution, thereby protecting his hoax of a fake Zen. (There is, of course, no 'real' Zen, because Zen IS distortion.) The support of Nazism by educators was key to the development of a dialectic regarding Lebensraum (living room) in the public discourse, which led to German expansionism and the concentration camp for the unfortunate occupants of newly-acquired territories. After the war, while other war criminals hung for their evils, Herrigel's book became a bestseller.

The Mufti of Jerusalem (dubbed Hitler's Mufti by the NY Times) would regularly review and bless the Islamic SS troops. He later became the political leader of Gaza. After the war he fled the pursuit of the British to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt, planting future terror organizations, like the Muslim Brotherhood. He was a devoted and public follower of Der Fuhrer, who had General and Professor Haushofer (Geographer and father of Lebensraum), the former military attache to Japan and avid Zen practitioner as his mentor during his time in prison writing Mein Kampf. After the failed attacks by the Arab League that caused the founding of Israel, the Mufti was on the move again, sowing the seeds of defeated and undying hatred across the Middle East.

David Ben Gurion, a Zen practitioner who was often seen reading D.T. Suzuki's Zen tripe, was the first prime minister of Israel, which has to this day, only been recognized by a few of its neighbors as a legitimate state. He embraced the true cause for the destruction of the European Jews. Kibbutzes (communes) across Israel are hotbeds of Zen.

Moments before the dot-com bust of the late nineties, Zen master Larry Ellison of Oracle, who lives inside a luxorious Zendo, briefly became the richest man in the world, suspended aloft over a sleeping humanity poised for financial implosion.

Zawahiri, Bin Ladin and Mullah Omar of the Taliban are among the inheritors of Hitler's Mufti, and their 19 followers that led the 9/11 attacks were schooled in the martial arts to subjugate their unarmed victims on the planes. The 4 followers of Al Qaeda that perpetrated the attacks on the British Transit system were a martial arts instructor and his 3 students. "All of the martial arts are based on Zen." - Chuck Norris

In the NBA Finals of 2001, just this time of year, Phil Jackson and his Zen Lakers win and that tied Phil Jackson with Red Auerbach as the winning-est NBA Basketball coach of all time. As the year of Roshi Jackson's glory built towards the February 2nd of 2002 Zen Lakers visit to the White House and the awarding of Dubya with the Zen Lakers team jersey, something else was building right alongside that chain of events.

Werner Erhard, schooled at Esalen by D.T. Suzuki, Alan Watts and others, founded EST, which became Landmark Forum - the darling corporate trainers for the Wall Street elite in the late nineties and the turn of the 21st century. Landmark Forum moved their headquarters into the tenth floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center in the late spring of 2001. They wanted to be close to their hottest new clients at the top of the world, Cantor Fitzgerald. After the plane landed amongst their willing supporters, the Landmark masters exited the building without any difficulty.

The darling of Wall Street, Zen master Steve Jobs, of the twin jewels of Apple and Pixar, was paraded up and down the halls of finance as the best and brightest corporate leader (ignoring his decimation of Mac market share after shutting down the open hardware initiative of his predecessor), all the while the twin jewels of the American economy, real estate and the stock market, were being undermined to the tune of 8 trillion dollars each.

-------------------------------------------

There are a bewildering plethora of Zen stories just like these, endless variations on the theme, yet all the same.

What will inevitably become a disaster, both personal and political, for the Obama administration and the nation and the world at large (but not for Rush, Newt and Cheney) is what is called 'fixed karma' or unchangeable destiny in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. Nothing can stop the downward travel of this large stone towards the unprotected White House and all of our carefully constructed hopes and dreams ... save for one thing. Only those who care to chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to limit the destruction of this event can alter this destiny. Even now, we can change this.

What danger, you ask? Zen is powerful, particularly when it is so close to its ultimate goal, to breathe in the rarefied air of victory within the Oval Office, a great demon passing unnoticed through the phalanxes of Secret Service agents. Gloating in rapture over the unfortunate and trapped occupants of humanity's most powerful and now defenseless office. What a joke, these deluded mortals.

Only the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra (chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo) can limit the effectiveness of this strike, left unabated, the devilish function will pause for the Lakers to get to the White House, for maximum effectiveness of his 'lesson' for us to pay attention to Nichiren Daishonin. This is the wrong way to learn of course, we would rather listen and take heed.

Southern California will fare the worst, and take the brunt of this. The size of the retribution should be directly related to the size of the celebration, both on the public scale and the private scale.

I will repeat myself in saying that Rahm Emanuel needs to find something else for the White House to be focused upon at the crucial moment. Every hero has his Achille's heel. Obama's heel is the NBA, he cannot possibly perceive the danger of this rightly. Were he to do so, he would respond that he was rooting for the Magic and is heart-broken and despondent over it. Too depressed to celebrate the Laker's win.

-Chas.

____________________________________________________________

(December 2011)

Much has happened since President Obama took office.

In the wake of allowing the Zen Roshi of basketball into the oval office, we got the Tea Party lynching party in the summer of 2009.

When the Zen Roshi won again in 2010, we got a somewhat different outcome. Instead of a White House visit, they met in a much delayed and diffracted fashion at a charity event. Somehow, things got better. But the hangover from the early adulation of the Zen manGod Phil Jackson is hellacious.

NOw, Obama is in a political fight for survival, not only of his own,, but of the economic well-being of the republic and the world at large. The Tea Party faction of the Republican Party have found the recipe for taking power again is by simply keeping nothing good from happening, while doing their best to keep their fingerprints off the crime of murdering the US Economy for political reasons.

And it's working. And that is simply the karma incurred from adulation of the Zen manGod Phil Jackson in the White House Oval Office and the Zen manGod Steve Jobs on Wall Street.

Nichiren Daishonin quotes from T'ien-T'ai of China in his description of the effect of the very first famous Zen manGod and what happened to the admiring crowds.

From "The Opening of the Eyes", Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 276 ...

http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=276

... The seventh volume of Great Concentration and Insight
... states: "In the past, the Zen master of Yeh and Lo [Note
... 200] became renowned throughout the length and breadth
... of China. When he arrived, people gathered around him
... from all directions like clouds, and when he left for
... another place, they formed a great crowd along the
... roads. But what profit did they derive from all this
... bustle and excitement? All of them regretted what they
... had done when they were on their deathbed."
...
... [Note 200: Later commentators identify the "Zen master
... of Yeh and Lo" with Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen in
... China. T'ien-t'ai, however, does not mention him or any
... other contemporary figure by name.]

But there is hope.

The Zen manGod Jobs has passed on, and the massive effects on the economy from Wall Street parading him around on their shoulders since 2007 immediately began to wane, in spite of the posthumous adulation: the US Jobs Report that week went down to 8.6, earlier reports were revised in the direction of posterity, and Black Friday after Thanksgiving and the other Internet sales were booming.

With the Tea Party insurgency of Newt Gingrich as the final anyone-but-Romney holding on in the polls against the onslaught of the entire Republican establishment, it looks like his opponents might be forming a circular firing squad.

The rapid decline of the Al Qaeda, along with Democracy movements in the Arab Spring are bringing democracy to the middle east for the first time, Khadafy fell in Libya, and Assad is looking like he will fall, too, in Syria.

Obama got the new Start Treaty passed through Congress by some kind of miracle in the twilight session of the 2010 Congress after losing the midterms. This treaty and his initiatives to remove stock-piles of nuclear materials from dangerous places around the world are progressing rapidly. All of this has set the hands back on the nuclear clock from approaching the midnight of the human race.

There are a lot of people chanting for the success of President Obama and his family, the blue states are where the bulk of SGI members are, and they are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. He met in Chicago with Herbie Hancock, and that is the kind of meeting that reflects well.

And the Zen Lakers seem to have been stymied in their trading ambitions toward dominating the league for another few years by the NBA league leadership. Such wisdom is to be applauded.

Hope is still alive at the turn of 2012.
______________________________________________________

Addendum May 2014:

Zen Roshi Phil Jackson has recently taken up the cause of Detroit, after which they went into bankruptcy and now all their treasures are up for sale. When will they learn? How much devastation is necessary to finally stop extending the welcome to this disaster?

Then Gracie Gold touted his book as her guiding light: Phil Jackson as mentor in her search for Olympic Gold in the Women's Figure Skating Event. No Gold, no Silver, no Bronze, just a missed opportunity.

Now the New York Knicks, highest value franchise in the NBA have fallen into Phil Jackson Hell.

From Wikipedia: On March 18, the Knicks and Phil Jackson announced that he had been named President of the organization with Steve Mills remaining General Manager. Both Jackson and Mills will report directly to MSG chairman James Dolan. On April 21, 2014, over one week after the conclusion of the Knicks' season, Mike Woodson and his entire staff were fired. The Knicks finished the season with a disappointing 37-45 record and finished 9th in the Eastern Conference standings.

It's not over.

-Chas.
____________________________________

LS Chap. 16 .....

All harbor thoughts of yearning
and in their minds thirst to gaze at me.
When living beings have become truly faithful,
honest and upright, gentle in intent,
single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha
not hesitating even if it costs them their lives,
then I and the assembly of monks
appear together on Holy Eagle Peak.
At that time I tell the living beings
that I am always here, never entering extinction,
but that because of the power of an expedient means
at times I appear to be extinct, at other times not,
and that if there are living beings in other lands
who are reverent and sincere in their wish to believe,
then among them too
I will preach the unsurpassed Law.