In the fearsome jungles of Indonesia 1000 years ago, there lived the sage and adept Dharmaraksita. He was one, to whom disciples flocked from the far regions of Asia. Why? He taught a way of mind training that worked to dispel suffering and confusion. This way of mind training still flourishes today. His most illustrious student was Atisha from India. Atisha took on the lonely mission late in his life, to revitalize Tibetan spiritual culture, which at that time was seriously disintegrating and corrupted. His mission was supremely fruitful and a determinative cause for Tibet�s great resurgence until the destruction by China in 1959.

He wrote of Dharmarakshita: "By showing me these supreme nectar-like teachings, he has granted me sovereignty over the mind."

"These teachings" he is referring to is The Wheel of Sharp Weapons. This text is dramatic, poetic and powerful and quite unlike any other mind training text ever composed.

There is transparency through time and space, which offers no resistance or obstructions to universality & truth. If The Wheel of Sharp Weapons was genuinely valid for as great a being as Atisha � then it should be for us as well. The only obscurations in the way arise from our own aversions to clear pondering.

Let us first sip a few drops of this nectar. Below are three of the 120 stanzas:

(12)
When hunger or violent thirst overwhelms us,
This is the wheel of sharp weapons returning
Full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.
Until now, we have kept what we had without sharing;
We have plundered, stolen, and lured people on.
Hereafter let us relieve them from hunger and thirst.

(25)
When those who are close turn against us as enemies,
This is the wheel of sharp weapons returning
Full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.
Until now, we have held grudges inside us with anger,
With thoughts of sly methods to cause others pain;
Hereafter let us try to have less affectation,
Not pretend to be kind while we harbour base aims.

(39)
When attachment and anger disturb and upset us
No matter how much we may try to suppress them,
This is the wheel of sharp weapons returning
Full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.
Until now, we have held on to the improper outlook:
Stubbornly cherishing only ourselves,
Hereafter let us uproot self-interest completely.

In the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, there is cognition of the principle of action and reaction or cause and effect. Action cannot happen in a vacuum or in some willy-nilly reality debased of any common sense, cyclic rhythms or scientific basis. In the Eastern traditions, they know it as karma. Western cultures have appropriated the word/concept of karma in the last century. No need to elaborate. Anyone reading this page knows what karma means. The master of Galilee has succinctly asserted, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." He pronounced a simple precept with very extraordinary repercussions! The Golden Rule exhorted in virtually all the timeless ethical teachings that have sustained viable world cultures, derives its power from the same cognition. Dharmarakshita is on firm ground. The principle, some would say law, is a cornerstone of the mind training he offers.

Another principle reality, inextricably related to the above, is interdependent origination. Many Eastern esoteric philosophic treatises dating back more than 2500 years ago, investigate interdependent origination with deep and subtle analysis. We are not interested in that discourse here. However, interdependent origination exerts profoundly resonant meaning for the discussion at hand and the existential foundation that supports The Wheel of Sharp Weapons.

A simple examination of an ordinary event can illustrate it best. Let us observe the Jones family going to Disney World in Florida. They are entering the gate and papa Jones is paying the tab while their children smile with bated breath. Let us freeze-frame that for a moment to observe the law of interdependent origination in action. The parents decided to go to Disney World for the day, enthused by the hankerings of their children. Is this the primal cause and condition of the event � the originating factor? Some would say � it is. They wanted to go and they went. How did Disney World appear in the first place? That is another primal cause and condition. Walt Disney had many dreams � but it took the labors and talents of tens of thousands of individuals to get it through all the phases of planning and construction, not mention the thousands of employees that keep it running every day.

The land upon which Disney World exists is stable thanks to the infinite equilibrium of the sun, earth, atmosphere and oceans just to mention four of inconceivable zillions of geophysical realities. We must consider the Boeing 767 that took them from Boston as a major cause and condition for the event to happen. Did the 767 just appear at the gate from the void for their safe passage to Florida? Is it in the realm of human calculation to find all the causes and conditions that built the tangible materialization of just that one Boeing 767? Not the least of these would be Adolph Hitler. What?! The Second World War rammed the productions of military technology and specifically airplanes with a ferocity/frenzy that was utterly unthinkable otherwise � thus propelling us into the jet age. Had Bob Jones not gone to the High School Prom where he met his wife Sally � how could this event originate? At the prom, Sally�s unconscious olfactory enjoyment of Bob�s pheromones emanating from his excited nervous sweat, over rode her dislike of his red hair and the rest was history. A seemingly whimsical cause and condition without which their three children could never had incarnated to be present for this so ordinary event.

Ok �ok, we give up!

Indeed - everything and everyone is interdependent!

Upon examining even the most mundane event, we have to arrive at the realization of the incomprehensible interdependency of all phenomena and events in this world. The slightest event is impossible without a universe of galactic majesty in full support of its occurring! How we miss the magic of every moment is one of the tragic consequences of viewing things as being really self-existent and independent. There are other more tragic consequences � not in the purview of our focus here � though addressed in The Wheel of Sharp Weapons and a fitting subject for a separate disquisition.

Everywhere one looks there is sustenance � just in the viewable realms. Can we dismiss the invisible electro-magnetic spectrums as not party to observable relative reality?

Hardly not. Where the dependency is lacking there is the unknowable non-origination. If in the origins of events of ordinariness there must be infinite interdependent causes and conditions constantly at work, what are we to think about the historical swells that sweep millions of people and whole countries in their wakes? At such times, there must be crucial causes and conditions that effect so many - so widely into maelstroms that overwhelm millions of individual karmas into collective epochal events.

AMERICA APRIL 2004 SUNDRY VIEWS

228 years after the founding of America as a true Republic � crisis and disaster inexorably avalanches with chastening fury and finality over the country �

�this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.

The NEW OXFORD Dictionary of ENGLISH:

REPUBLIC

- a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.

No clear-minded and intelligent person can truly say that the United States of America today is a nation in which the supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives.

PLUTOCRACY

- government by the wealthy.

�a state or society governed in this way.

�ELITE or ruling class whose power derives from their wealth.

 OLIGARCHY

- a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution

�a state governed by such a group

�government by such a group.

In the year 2004 the United States of America is ruled and totally controlled by Plutocrats and Oligarchs. Today America is neither a Republic nor Democracy. America is a PLUTOCRACY. It is time to call a spade a spade!

 The Three Branches of the Federal Government

The Presidency of the United States is the Executive Head of the Republic - an Office that serves the people and embodies the deepest yearnings and aspirations of all past generations since 1776 and all the future generations. In the Oval Office of the White House, sits a man who besmirches the Presidency at every moment. Criminal Elites installed this man. Now - they can freely go about to destroy the frail remnants of the Republic, rape the Treasury and build Empire in satiating their lust for Power of World Conquest. To abuse in every way the Power of the Presidency of the Republic is treason of the most blatant and serious kind. Are the people offended and ready to throw out this scum to restore true dignity and purpose to their Office? No. Instead, we see flag waving and obsequious rallies embracing their depraver. How could it get this far?

�this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.

The Congress of the United States is supposed to make and preserve Laws for the betterment of their constituents and all Americans. In the year 2004, the majority of Congress is high-jacked by ultra-radicals, working like busy bees for the Oligarchs/Elites - the Military/Industrial Complex - and every kind of Corporate Interest that will throw them a few crumbs. Corruption is normal � integrity is abnormal. They are poltroons and prostitutes selling out the Constitution and the People at every turn. The minority party is subservient and spineless. When a genuine server of the people and Democratic Ideals appears in the Congress � they are shunted aside and despised. Sometimes they die in mysterious accidents like what happened to Paul Wellstone and his family. At the time of his convenient death, Wellstone�s one vote differentiated between sanity and insanity. Insanity won. How could it get this far?

�this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.

The Supreme Court of the United States has the vital role of safeguarding the Constitution and the Republic, especially if the other two branches backslide into the swamp that wallows at the base of collective Humanity. We have seen in every country and in every century of recorded history the same old, same old story of Elites� degenerate behavior and scalding abuse over the people. This is what happens when self-centered selfish concern controls the levers of power. It is an immutable and ever-repeating law of human nature & governance.

The Judges sitting on the Bench of The Supreme Court positioned onto the Presidency, against the will of the people and the Constitution, a junta of treacherous vipers. Jurisprudence is shredded. The Scales of Justice have toppled. How could it get this far?

�this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.

The American Social and Economic State

Around 100 years ago, the Elites made it their business to change education for America�s children. The educational system had to eradicate History and replace it with Social Studies. Why? - to inculcate children to be dutiful workers and thoughtless cogs in the Corporate State. The Gross National Product is the glory of the Nation. America is Red, White & Blue � the Might and Right of the world. The Republic is in safe hands with the Elites and their minions � do not worry about exercising your rights as citizens � things will happen on their own - was the message imprinted on their brains. It was dangerous for the children to think too much or too well or to think they can cause any change. Now weeds grow amuck strangling the trunk of the Republic. Sterile fruits rot from the bad seeds planted so deep. How could it get this far?

�this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.

The press � journalism - media are the Sovereign Estate of the Elites � no longer is it the Fourth Estate. Herd mentality quivers under the direction of the Plutocracy. Fawning unctuous drivel and bald propaganda floods and consumes the attention of the mesmerized disoriented public. Jingo and vulgarity rules TV. Shallow cesspools of Newspeak smother intelligent discourse and dissent to the point of madness. True art and culture, ennobling to the Soul & Society, is orphaned to the forsaken fringes. How could it get this far?

�this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.

Let us look at the American national Treasure and the Economy - the true Domain of the Elites. In the last century � Corporations won Personhood under a very suspicious ruling from the Supreme Court and became the Law of the Land. The Leviathan was born. Here we can see one action � one interdependent cause and condition giving power to the Elites for the origination of stupendous problems for the people. No longer did we have a fair playing field. The deck was stacked and the Leviathan is holding all the Aces. Self-aggrandizement and profit is the life of Corporatism. Today, 60% of corporations do not pay taxes at all. They are independent of the matrix of America it seems. Their profits they reap in a vacuum without interdependence they infer. The obverse Elite assumption would be that America�s wealth, sweat, talent, environment and resources is their oyster bed spilling pearls that only they deserve. The disparity and unbalance between rich and poor is obscene.

Over the $500 champagne lunch � we can lean over a bit and eavesdrop�

"Let the little peons pay the taxes! Damn! You know, it ain�t easy maintaining our estates and paying them lawyers to make sure our kids get everything we got. Our Bro�s at Wal-Mart � man are they sharp! To hell with labor unions and minimum wages. Family benefits? What is that? He-heh-he! Teach �em how to get food stamps � the stupid beggars.

"How does it affect OUR bottom line? � that is all that matters. They give us too much shit � operations go to China or India�after all, we have the White House and Congress in our pockets! He-heh-he! The Neo-cons and Pentagon, oh what darlings! What a racket we got! We make fortunes stuffing petty change into them groveling Congressman�s pockets�, they sign on to all our weapons and useless Stars Wars junk, dole out the contracts to every state so no one bitches - what a cash cow! $400 billion budgets per annum - the skies the limit! He-heh-he! We�re in heaven! Just wave the flag and scream TERRORISM! now that the Commies are out of the picture�he-heh-he! Then our weapons and break contact devices destroy the dirty poor brown-skinned throwback countries and we get more buckaroos for rebuilding and security for the Empire! You know pal � it�s a damn good life!"

"Sure is buddy � but you forgot to mention oil". How could it get this far?

�this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." - James 1:27

"Unspotted" should mean to raise the consciousness from the milieu of collective conventionalism to gain birth to a new and vibrant consciousness. Not to walk the beaten path. It does not mean intolerance, bigotry, and sanctimonious unconscious projections against the other. False preachers and Dominionist pedagogues rave patriarchal platitudinous crap adapted from white bearded firebrands that roamed the scorched deserts of the Middle East thousands of years ago. Scarecrows and effigies are the clubs and whips of their trades. Born again! The rapture! Armageddon! We will cleanse the world of evil! Pat Robertson has amassed an army of naive but dangerous missionaries to take over the government and society. The Elites have found their Paul the Apostle. He is not alone.

How could it get this far?

�this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.

American foreign and military policies exist for and serve the agenda of the Elites. There is little "National Security "at stake from foreign attacks. The wars of the 20th century were feasts for the warmongers and weapons manufacturers. The unimaginable suffering and blood letting of millions upon millions gives the Elites opportunity to create more wealth and consolidate power. The more blood, deprivation and depredation their great machines of death can havoc � the better. Viet Nam�s lessons cast aside! Iraq is now the newest playground with cannon-fodder suckers abounding. It does not matter to the Elites what the outcome is. It surely is not about the sanctimonious slogans for freedom and democracy. Chaos and anarchy will serve quite well � thank you Mam. The CIA is the Devil�s Den of America. Its secret lairs and "black ops" are now the tool shops for the Elites. Since Nazis were invited to serve as operatives in the CIA during the genesis period of the 1940s, the infection has spread. There is no hope as long as the CIA exists. How could it get this far?

�this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done.

CRISIS

- a time of intense difficulty or danger

�a time when a difficult or important decision must be made the turning point of a disease when an important change takes place, indicating either Recovery or Death.

Recovery or Death. This is the time in the history of the Nation THAT decision will be made. There are cyclic rhythms, as is day and night, far greater than we know. When the turning point arrives, avoidance is not an option! The sin of Omission is as deadly as the sin of Commission. THE WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS is thundering! The Wheel is Spinning Furiously now with Retribution and Justice. Every drop of blood � every cry of innocence destroyed brings ferocious might to the Wheel of Sharp Weapons returning full circle upon us from the wrongs we have done! How we can linger asleep in our apathy � the souls of billions scream out!

Dharmarakshita wrote in his text:

As it's true what I have said about self-centered interest,
I recognize the enemy clearly now.
I recognize clearly the bandit who plunders,
The liar who lures by pretending he is part of me.

The only enemy is within us

The subtitle of:

The Wheel of Sharp Weapons Effectively Striking the Heart of the Foe.

The Universe we live in is violent beyond comprehension. At every moment suns and galaxies are exploding and colliding in nuclear embraces of death. Dharmarakshita�s mind training realizes this reality. Wrath and Butchery become servants to Compassion and Enlightenment.

The true nectar of the teaching and our way out of this mess is contained in the invocation Dharmarakshita entreats for salvation and deliverance from individual and collective doom:

Trample him, trample him, dance on the head
Of this treacherous concept of selfish concern!
Tear out the heart of this self-centered butcher
Who slaughters our chance to gain final release!

� Copyright 2004 by AxisofLogic.com

Zdzislaw Zmijewski has been an entrepreneur since 1972 and has developed several successful businesses. He was most recently employed as Design Coordinator and Buyer for Dragon's Pearl of Hawaii, Haiku, Maui, Hawaii.  He now resides in Bangkok, Thailand. He is a regular Contributing Writer for Axis of Logic.  Mr. Zmijewski can be reached at: dragonpearl@runbox.com

Other articles by Zdzislaw Zmijewski