{"id":418,"date":"2009-02-05T16:42:38","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T16:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html"},"modified":"2009-02-05T16:42:38","modified_gmt":"2009-02-05T16:42:38","slug":"haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html","title":{"rendered":"Haddhcoe Dhamma: The Lost Sutta"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lost sutta, composed in a singularly rare dialogue form, recently found, preserved in amber, in a heretofore undiscovered catacomb of Nalanda University.<\/em>\u00a0
\nBuddha: Verily I ask you, excellent Julia May Jonas, if you knew old age and death were coming in, like mountains advancing from the east and the west, the north and the south, so that your human life would be rendered most precious, what would you do?
\nJulia May Jonas: Oh Venerable Buddha, I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 Sorry \u2013 C\u2019nai have a sip of that?
\nBuddha: Um, yes.
\nJulia May Jonas: Thanks.\u00a0 Wellsers, my first impulse is that I would probably study the dharma, get super motivated to uncover the nooks and crannies of my mind, learn how to do a headstand away from the wall in yoga class, try and figure out how to do what I was best at for the greatest amount of time possible in my day, you know, travel? (I don\u2019t know I\u2019m just kind of talking here), be super nice to all my loved ones for sure, tend my proverbial garden plot, if you will, you know, get out of my own way, get single pointed about what I think is the best way to spend my time, not \u201csquander\u201d \u2013 as you like to say – you know …\u00a0 That\u2019s my first impulse.
\nBuddha:\u00a0 Verily I tell you \u2026.
\nJulia May Jonas: But \u2013 sorry to interrupt you Venerable Buddha \u2013 but then I think about it and I think, yeah, but also, if I knew death was coming anyway, wouldn\u2019t I just say, you know f*&^k it? (Excuse my language Shakya \u2013 can I call you that?).\u00a0 I mean, if I\u2019m gonna die anyway what does it matter if I get drunk every night, or go after my best friend\u2019s boyfriend.\u00a0 Listen I\u2019m not saying I\u2019m gonna do all that, but, you know, just because folks are gonna die doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019ll all of a sudden \u2026 you know what I\u2019m saying.
\nBuddha:\u00a0 Do you want to get reborn as a dung beetle?
\nJulia May Jonas:\u00a0 Seems fine.\u00a0 I\u2019d have 2 brain cells.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t know I was a beetle.
\nBuddha:\u00a0 Yes you would.
\nJulia May Jonas:\u00a0 That’s where you and I don’t see eye to eye.
\nBuddha: But, excellent Julia May Jonas,
\nJulia May Jonas: I like when you call me excellent.
\nBuddha: I know.\u00a0 Excellent Julia May Jonas, don\u2019t you see how every action that you take affects all beings around you, and that all beings equally affect you?
\nJulia May Jonas:\u00a0 Could you gimme an example?\u00a0 Like a \u2013 a whatchamacallit \u2013 a simile.
\nBuddha:\u00a0 Certainly.
\n(THIS PART OF THE SUTTA IS SMUDGED, APPARENTLY BY SPILLED COFFEE, BEYOND TRANSCRIPTION)
\nJulia May Jonas: Okay, I see what you\u2019re saying.\u00a0 Because I am responsible for everyone else\u2019s happiness, everyone else is responsible for mine.\u00a0 So if I want myself to be cool I have to think about everyone else.\u00a0 Otherwise I\u2019m not cool.\u00a0
\nBuddha: Aw, you\u2019re cool no matter what, Julia May Jonas.
\nJulia May Jonas:\u00a0 You\u2019re the sweetest.\u00a0 But I have to care, don\u2019t I?\u00a0 Don\u2019t I have to make the moral choice to believe in Buddha Nature, or goodness or something like that in order to care that my life is interdependent?\u00a0 I mean how many times have I been like, \u201cOh, this bottle was probably made with slave labor and I feel bad but I\u2019m buying it anyway?\u201d\u00a0 And I do care!\u00a0 I\u00a0agree with you!\u00a0What about people who don\u2019t? Don\u2019t I have to essentially have a nature that cares about good in the first place, because of whatever causes and conditions?\u00a0 I mean philosophy does not dictate morality, Right?
\nBuddha: (REDACTED) Noble Human Birth (REDACTED) trust me you\u2019ll feel better.
\nJulia May Jonas: Oh Venerable Buddha, I see now.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I could explain it, but I see. I wonder what the other worldlings think about it.\u00a0 If only we had some sort of magical forum in which we could send messages through air towards the purpose of having a lively discussion about whether impermanence is justification enough to live a dharmic life\u2026 I\u2019d like to hear their thoughts.
\nBuddha:\u00a0 Julia May Jonas, you\u2019re one crazy dreamer.
\nJulia May Jonas: No you\u2019re one crazy dreamer.
\n– The last 400 lines of the sutta have been omitted, as they consisted primarily of Julia May Jonas and Buddha calling each other \u201cone crazy dreamer\u201d\u00a0 over and over and over again.\u00a0–
\n\u00a0
\n(Published courtesy of Sleet Ostrich press, a subsidiary of Random House.\u00a0 Copyright 2009)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lost sutta, composed in a singularly rare dialogue form, recently found, preserved in amber, in a heretofore undiscovered catacomb of Nalanda University.\u00a0 Buddha: Verily I ask you, excellent Julia May Jonas, if you knew old age and death were coming in, like mountains advancing from the east and the west, the north and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-media"],"yoast_head":"\nHaddhcoe Dhamma: The Lost Sutta - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Haddhcoe Dhamma: The Lost Sutta - One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A lost sutta, composed in a singularly rare dialogue form, recently found, preserved in amber, in a heretofore undiscovered catacomb of Nalanda University.\u00a0 Buddha: Verily I ask you, excellent Julia May Jonas, if you knew old age and death were coming in, like mountains advancing from the east and the west, the north and the…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-05T16:42:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julia May Jonas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Haddhcoe Dhamma: The Lost Sutta - One City","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Haddhcoe Dhamma: The Lost Sutta - One City","og_description":"A lost sutta, composed in a singularly rare dialogue form, recently found, preserved in amber, in a heretofore undiscovered catacomb of Nalanda University.\u00a0 Buddha: Verily I ask you, excellent Julia May Jonas, if you knew old age and death were coming in, like mountains advancing from the east and the west, the north and the…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html","og_site_name":"One City","article_published_time":"2009-02-05T16:42:38+00:00","author":"Julia May Jonas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html","name":"Haddhcoe Dhamma: The Lost Sutta - One City","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-02-05T16:42:38+00:00","dateModified":"2009-02-05T16:42:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#\/schema\/person\/7f24a73cd2ce9fe635a7cf8c04033177"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/02\/haddhcoe-dhamma-the-lost-sutta.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Haddhcoe Dhamma: The Lost Sutta"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/","name":"One City","description":"The Interdependence Project","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#\/schema\/person\/7f24a73cd2ce9fe635a7cf8c04033177","name":"Julia May Jonas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/375\/375c23324f312a347b8095c58e578883x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/375\/375c23324f312a347b8095c58e578883x96.jpg","caption":"Julia May Jonas"},"description":"Julia May Jonas writes, directs and performs throughout New York City and the world wide web under the auspices of her company, Nellie Tinder. Nellie Tinder is Art. Appropriate & Instructive.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/author\/jjonas"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}