Aaron Schwartz and His Legacy

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a law activists claimed would restrict freedom of speech online, was shelved and activists claimed Jan. 18 as "Internet Freedom Day." This year, plenty of the same issues that drove those protests — Internet censorship, privacy and open access to information — will be brought up again.

Aaron Schwartz, the 26-year-old activist against  Internet censorship, privacy and open access to information, took his life a little more than a year ago, after being charged with hacking into the library at MIT and downloading millions of academic articles.  Schwartz was instrumental in developing RSS at the age of 14. In 2006, before he could legally celebrate with a glass of champagne, Reddit, which he cofounded, was sold to Conde Nast.  He gradually became a prominent figure in Internet activist circles, both by launching non-profits like Demand Progress and, after his death, bringing attention to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) — an amendment made to an existing law in 1986 that allows federal prosecutors to charge people for “exceeding authorized access” to private computers, which includes things as seemingly minor as violating a website's terms of service contract.  The law made it possible for federal prosecutors to push for jail time for Schwartz, even as JSTOR dropped its civil suit against him.

While Schwartz may be gone, he has become a rallying point over the intervening years, filled with revelations about government data collection, massive corporate hacks, and increasingly invasive social networks.

"If Aaron were alive, he'd be on the front lines, fighting against a world in which governments observe, collect, and analyze our every digital action," reads the website for "The Day We Fight Back," a campaign to protest against the scope of the NSA's electronic surveillance program.

"As a personal tragedy, his death was a wake-up call.”
Parker Higgins, an activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who first met Schwartz in 2008

Schwartz' death prompted Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) to introduce Aaron's Law, a series of reforms to the CFAA. His suicide also brought attention to open access issues and a host of other Internet activist causes.

“In some ways, his message is still relevant because of what hasn't changed."
"One of the struggles when you’re talking about online rights and Internet freedom is making sure the right metaphor gets adopted — that email is like mail, and that mail should be private.  If the wrong metaphor gets adopted and email is described like a postcard, or worse, like shouting in a crowded room, then you lose that privacy."
Brian Knappenberger, director of "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Schwartz," which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 20. 
The director said that Schwartz almost certainly would have been interested in the revelations of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and the battle over net neutrality, which was renewed this week after a U.S. district court invalidated regulations that forced telecom companies to treat all Internet traffic equally.
Schwartz was concerned about government surveillance issues long before it became a hot topic in the media, multiple people who knew him said, which made his premature death a big blow to the privacy activists — partly because of his skill at making complicated technical issues accessible to regular people, according to Higgins, the EFF activist.

"Part of Aaron's life was moving from the very technical to the very political.  Aaron was the one who motivated me to shift my work from Internet freedom to focus on this issue of corruption."
Lawrence Lessig, director of Harvard's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics,where Schwartz was a fellow.  On the anniversary of Swartz' death, Lessig began a walk across the entire state of New Hampshire in order to bring attention to political corruption ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Source:

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/one-year-after-his-death-aaron-swartz-remains-symbol-internet-2D11943945

Some of Ajahn Chah's Teachings

Karma

Through right practice, you allow your old karma to wear itself out.  Knowing how things arise and pass away, you can just be aware and let them run their course.  It is like having two trees: If you fertilize and water one, and do not take care of the other, there is no question which one will grow, and which one will die.

Meditation Practice

Don’t think that only sitting with the eyes closed is practice.  If you think this way, then quickly change your thinking.  Steady practice is being mindful in every posture, whether sitting, walking, standing, or lying down.  When coming out of sitting, don’t think that you are coming out of meditation, but that you are only changing postures.   If you reflect in this way, you will have peace.  Wherever you are, you will have peace.  Wherever you are, you will have this attitude of practice with you constantly.  You will have a steady awareness within yourself. 

I travel all over, looking for a place to meditate.  I didn’t realize it was there in my heart/mind.  All meditation is inside you.  Birth, old age, sickness, and death are right there within you.  I traveled all over until I dropped dead from exhaustion.  Only then, when I stopped, did I find what I was looking for: inside me.

We practice meditation to learn letting go, not to increase our holding on to things.  Enlightenment appears when you stop wanting anything.

Virtue/precepts, concentration/meditation, and wisdom make up the heart of Buddhist practice.  …It’s like a log of wood cut into three sections, but it’s only one log. 

Birth and death

In the language of the mind (Dhamma), there are no such things as birth and death.

Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go…Be just as you are-no holding on, no attachment.  Free.

Source:

http://www.ajahnchah.org/pdf/no_ajahn_chah.pdf

Bhikkhuni Từ Quán

Bhikkhuni Từ Quán was born into a noble family which had served in the royal court for many generations.  No record was found about her exact date of birth and death.   We only learned that she was living in the middle of the 14th century.  As a nun, she lived in a small hut on Mt. Thanh Lương.  She was an ascetic who practiced the precepts diligently, and had developed wisdom through meditation.  It was said that she looked like an Arahat, and was admired by both Buddhist monks, nuns and laypeople at her time.  Her name was as well-known as other contemporary famous Buddhist venerables.  King Trần Nghệ Tông (1370-1372) awarded her the title "Tuệ Thông (Profound Wisdom) the Great Master."  In her old age she wished to sacrifice her own body to the wild beasts, so she walked into wild mountain, sat in a lotus posture, hoping that tigers or wolves would come and eat her up.  Her compassion and her courage was so boundless that in 21 days tigers, wolves and other wild beasts came only to sit around her, but none dared to get near her.  Her disciples came and begged her to return to the hut.  She finally did, but sat in deep meditation during that summer.  Early in fall she called all her disciples to her side, gave a Dharma talk, and instructed them: "After my death, just leave some of my bones here, so people may use them as medicines."  She did not contract any disease, but just passed away while sitting in meditation when she was over 80 years old.  After her cremation, her disciples found many relics in her ashes.  They carefully picked up all the relics to preserve in a sealed box.  The following day they found one wrist bone on the table, outside the box!  They felt awe at their master's sacredness, and her spiritual power.  Later they scraped the bone and mixed it with water to make medication for those who were ill, and came for help cure their diseases.  It was said that all those ill people who came were cured with the medication made from her bone.  A local ruler ordered to build a shrine to worship her right on the mountain.  Her decision reflected the ideal of Buddhist compassion.    


Source:

http://thuvienhoasen.org/D_1-2_2-137_4-19599_5-50_6-1_17-71_14-1_15-1/net-dac-trung-cua-ni-gioi-viet-nam-qua-hinh-anh-ni-su-dieu-nhan-va-tu-quan.html

 

Bhikkhuni Diệu Nhân

Bhikkhuni Diệu Nhân (1042-1113) was from the 17th generation of the Tỳ Ni Đa Lưu Chi Thiền (Zen) School in Vietnam.  She was born under the secular name of Lý Ngọc Kiều at Hương Hải Village, Phù Đổng, Tiên Du.  She was the eldest daughter of Phụng Càn Vương Lý Nhật Trung, a knighted nobleman.  Since childhood she was allowed by King Lý Thánh Tông to live in the royal palace, and was given the title as a princess in her adulthood.  Because she was highly respected for her well manners and good character, the King considered her his own daughter, and married her to one of his subjects.  It was said that her husband had been ruling at Châu Mục, Chân Đăng, and that his last name was Lê.  When he passed away, she declined getting married again to any other suitors, and remained a widow.  One day she said, "To me all phenomena in life are dreams, why should we depend on such vain fame and wealth?"  Then she decided to become a nun.  She was a disciple of Zen Master Chân Không at Phù Đổng.  On June 1st, 1113, under the rule of King Lý Nhân Tông, she did not feel well, and told her disciples to come and listen to her gatha as her final farewell.  She passed away at the age of 72 in a sitting posture.
Bhikkhuni Diệu Nhân has been a role model for her contemporary nuns and all the bhikkhunis in Vietnam.
Following is her final gatha:

Sinh, lão, bệnh, tử

Tự cổ thường nhiên

Dục cầu xuất ly

Giải phọc thiêm triền

Mê chi cầu Phật

Hoặc chi cầu thiền

Thiền, Phật bất câu

Uổng khẩu vô ngôn.

(in Chinese Vietnamese)

Sinh, lão, bệnh, tử

Lẽ thường tự nhiên

Muốn cầu thoát ly

Càng thêm trói buộc

Mê, mới cầu Phật

Hoặc, mới cầu Thiền

Chẳng cầu Thiền, Phật

Mím miệng ngồi yên.

Translated by Ngô Đức Thọ and Nguyễn Thúy Nga (Thiền Uyển Tập Anh, p. 235).

The version translated by Zen Master Thích Thanh Từ in Thiền Sư Việt Nam, p. 163 is below:

Sanh già bệnh chết

Xưa nay lẽ thường

Muốn cầu thoát ra

Mở trói thêm ràng

Mê đó tìm Phật

Lầm đó cầu thiền

Phật, thiền chẳng cầu

Uổng miệng không lời.

Birth, old age, sickness, and death
Such is the natural course of life
To those who want to escape from that cycle
Trying hard to untie the fetters -- vain
Trying hard to find the Buddha -- illusion
Trying hard to sit in meditation -- mistake
The Buddha and meditation are not to be desired for
Words are redundant; speechless.

(To be continued)

Sources:

http://thuvienhoasen.org/D_1-2_2-137_4-19597_5-50_6-1_17-69_14-1_15-1/thien-su-ni-dieu-nhan-voi-bai-ke-thi-tich.html

http://thuvienhoasen.org/D_1-2_2-137_4-19598_5-50_6-1_17-71_14-1_15-1/dieu-nhan-ni-su-1041-1113.html

http://thuvienhoasen.org/D_1-2_2-137_4-19599_5-50_6-1_17-71_14-1_15-1/net-dac-trung-cua-ni-gioi-viet-nam-qua-hinh-anh-ni-su-dieu-nhan-va-tu-quan.html

Honesty - Part IV

As long as one is engaged in the mundane world, busy interacting with others and striving hard for one's sustenance and comforts, one may have to rely on one's will to overcome traps or to tactfully disguise oneself to avoid being looked down by others or fooled by frauds.  However, if one realizes what true happiness is, and what is the ultimate and noble goal to attain in life, one would dedicate most time dwelling in one's true mind, and refuse to chase after fleeting dreams, or to do harms to the precious seeds in one's mind.  The reality, one is well aware, is that what is built upon vanity and dishonesty does not last long, and will become huge obstacles against interconnectedness.
The supreme art of living is therefore not that of molding or disguising one's mind according to some models or guidelines.  Instead, it is the art of true mind training.  What we need to do is to observe the mind all the time in a calm and gentle way, then the result will emerge naturally.  That way happiness is within our reach, and we won't have any laments, discontents or complaints about our failure to conquer our bad habits.  Living with the true mind is the way of life followed by the wise and those who don't find any values in life's colorful but vain and insignificant drama.......

Source:

http://thuvienhoasen.org/D_1-2_2-125_4-19638_5-50_6-9_17-540_14-1_15-1/thanh-that.html

           

         

Honesty - Part III

Mind training requires honesty, that is, we need to observe the mind as it is, and not to force or shape it into the way we want.  In meditation (Zen) such a natural and pure observation is called intuition,  noticing without any discriminative thoughts, nor any distinction between the observer and the observed.  It is the first insight.  When we examine our mind without love (attachment) nor hatred (detachment), we are able to see its true nature, and to notice the arising and the disappearing of mind processes.  Just remain calm and quiet while watching the film about our physical and psychological processes.  Gradually we will be able to become detached from them, from the grossest to the finest.  This demands a lot of practice.  However, with honesty, we accept what we truly are, and gradually get detached from all fetters without any fight or denial.  Such is an important progress in our self transformation.
Many have struggled very hard to improve themselves, but, even with a strong determination, they failed to make any progress, and they even had occasional setbacks.  One of the possible reasons was that they relied on their own will, and denied who and what they actually are.  They hate themselves, and have inferior complex when they recognize their bad trends or habits.  What they lack is an honest awareness that they need to accept who they actually are, and to transform their bad habits by practicing better ones.
Some people who have been in the convent for a long time may fall into the trap of seeing themselves as holy beings while deep down they are still human.  Their strong desires to become holy may have hidden their real inner life.  They may have perceived themselves as the reflections of their religious masters and predecessors.  Their self love fools them into thinking that they are virtuous and saintly.  They appear to be forgiving and tolerant, but suffer inner conflicts.  One who seeks the truth must rely on their own experience, not on fantasy or imagination, for the truth is elusive if one is dishonest and incapable of attaining it.

Source:

http://thuvienhoasen.org/D_1-2_2-125_4-19638_5-50_6-9_17-540_14-1_15-1/thanh-that.html

           

         

Honesty - Part II

We need to be honest to ourselves
There is no exact measurement tool for honesty.  As there are different views of life and criteria for happiness, there are different ways to judge to what extent we should live with honesty. If we think happiness is measured by accumulated wealth and fame, then honesty is definitely not a powerful weapon to use in the fierce war of competition.  Those who find true happiness in a peaceful mind, and who have let go most of their unnecessary desires and struggles with their own transient emotions are able to protect their mind in all circumstances.  Such people never have their minds spoiled by pursuing other worldly gains and achievements.  A contaminated mind is ten thousand times more difficult to correct than a failure in the mundane life.  Even when one is successful in life, one is still unhappy if one's mind is marred.
In other words, very often those who look inwards would rather be more mindful in taking care of their minds than chase after the fleeting worldly scenes around them.  But even those people sometimes have to make a choice between living with honesty and participating in life's cheating game. The reason is that their inner strength may not be strong enough to protect themselves from external attractions and temptations in life, which always stir up human dormant seeds of greed and desire.  As a result, such people have to struggle hard against their inner contradictions, between the good and the bad from within.  Those who are able to sublimate their minds towards higher and better life values are truly self-conquerors.  In reality, however, the struggle is not that simple.  Not always are human beings able to conquer themselves merely by a strong determination to live up to high values with a strong will.  Our capacity to live up to those high values may be at a lower level than we thought.  Because we have been shaped by our past lives of desires, showoff, and and dishonesty for so long, even our strong will may be knocked down by such past trends or habits.
Therefore, it is better for us first to understand our true self, and not to try hard to suppress our desires with a strong will, a will to improve the self to become an expected product which could fool its own producer.  In fooling ourselves, when we are angry, we deny that we are in anger.  When we are envious, we claim that we are trying hard to compete with others.  When we are cowardly, we say we are practicing tolerance.  We cannot see our own true self because of the spontaneous interference of our will.   Instead of transforming them, our interfering will simply obstructs the increase of our sufferings.  We become subjective in our judgement, and are easily caught off guard by our bad habits and behaviors without our understanding why they emerge. 
  
(To be continued)

Source:

http://thuvienhoasen.org/D_1-2_2-125_4-19638_5-50_6-9_17-540_14-1_15-1/thanh-that.html