MISHKA NYC X REBEL8 LAMOUR TEE

We got the Mishka NYC x Rebel8 Exclusive Lamour Tee in store. Yes, both the heavy weight brand came together again. The most famous Mishka Lamour Tee with the R8 Logo on the Mishka Eyeball. It's dope and rad! It's now available at both Loading... Store Hong Kong & Loading... Store Taipei. Very limited available, better swing by now and cop it before we sold out again.

REBEL8 WINTER 2011 IN STORE

Today we officially released the Rebel8 Winter 2011 in store. We are sure you guys been waiting for long time. Go check it out now and cop it before we sold out everything! Thank you very much.

REBEL8 SPRING 2011 IN STORE NOW

We know you guys have been waiting for a long time for the Rebel8 Spring 2011. Now we putting up in store now! It's moving really fast, ya'll better come and cop it before everything sold out again! Thanks again for the support!

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH: PART 3. PART 4. PART 5

We are sure you guys have read it before on rebel8.com. Anyway, just wanted to post it here as last time we posted the part 1 and part 2 of it. Check it out, it's cool to read and have fun.

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Part 3. Right Speech

Right Speech is the third aspect of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. It is also the first of three aspects that concern themselves with ethical conduct. Simply put, practicing Right Speech means that we only say things that we know to be factual and true, as well as beneficial and agreeable to others. We should never lie, nor exaggerate. We should not say one thing to one person and something different to another. And we should never use insulting or abusive words towards each other. I’m sure this all sounds simple enough, but in real life it’s not always so easy to practice Right Speech.

One of my teachers, Thich Nhat Hanh, relays this story when talking about Right Speech:

“Many people have to lie in order to succeed as politicians, or salespersons. A corporate director of communications told me that if he were allowed to tell the truth about his company’s products, people would not buy them. He says positive things about the products that he knows are not true, and he refrains from speaking about the negative effects of the products. He knows he is lying, and he feels terrible about it. So many people are caught in similar situations.”

For myself, the real test of Right Speech comes when I’m angry or frustrated. It’s in those moments that I need to understand my suffering and deal with it head-on. When I don’t deal with it, I explode and let it out on those around me, sometimes vocalizing in very unwise and hurtful ways. And that just creates more anger and frustration, something we certainly don’t need more of in this crazy world.

BY MIKE GIANT

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Part 4. Right Action

Right Action is the fourth aspect of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. It is the second of three aspects that concern themselves with ethical conduct. By practicing Right Action we are training ourselves to be morally upright, and we’re also being careful not to cause harm to others or ourselves through our actions. By practicing Right Action we begin to see how unwholesome actions lead to unwholesome states of mind, which perpetuate our day-to-day suffering.

Specifically, Right Action means that we abstain from harming or killing any living being (including ourselves), intentionally or otherwise. It also means that we don’t steal, commit fraud or be dishonest. Practicing Right Action is especially important in sexual matters. The Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta breaks it down further, stating that one should not get involved sexually with people “who are protected by their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, their sisters, their relatives, or their Dhamma; those with husbands, those who entail punishments, or even those crowned with flowers by another man.” Personally, I take that to mean that I don’t pursue women that are underage, women that still live with their families, or women that are in monogamous relationships.

BY MIKE GIANT

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Part 5. Right Livelihood

Right Livelihood is the fifth aspect of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. It is the third of three aspects that concern themselves with ethical conduct. By practicing Right Livelihood we are training ourselves to be careful not to cause harm to others or ourselves through our occupation. By practicing Right Livelihood we begin to see how unwholesome occupations can be creating much of our day-to-day suffering and the suffering of the people and animals around us.

The historical Buddha described four basic areas of harmful occupation. The first is the business of weapons. The second is business in human flesh, specifically the slave trade and prostitution. The third area includes any business in the flesh of animals, which includes raising animals for slaughter and butchery. The fourth area of unwholesome business deals with the manufacture and distribution of intoxicants, addictive drugs and poisons.

The practice of Right Livelihood is meant to be a guide to avoid things that bring suffering to ourselves and the living beings around us, but it’s up to us to articulate these teachings in our own lifestyle choices. For example, the citizens of the United States produce more weapons than any other nation on this planet. Weapons are big business in America. In 2009 the U.S. government spent $737 billion on “defense”. That’s nearly ¼ of the entire budget for the year and our tax dollars covered 85% of that budget. It is incredibly obvious to me that the weapons produced in this country are the source of immeasurable death and destruction in our own cities and the world over. For it to end, the individual citizens of this country must find the benefit in practicing Right Livelihood for themselves and stop working for weapons manufacturers (and stop paying federal income tax).

As another example, I think the Buddha would have considered the American prison system a “business in human flesh”. The United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in the world and the 13th Amendment to the American Constitution explicitly allows for free labor from incarcerated citizens, even in privately owned facilities. Just like the slaves of any era, modern convicts are locked up and forced to work for no pay. It’s clear to me that the present system does not rehabilitate, it simply breeds hate and creates revenue. But in the end, the men and women working in the prison system need to find the benefit in practicing Right Livelihood for themselves before a damn thing will change. And I think it’s important to keep in mind that all of us as individuals need to stay out of jail so we’re not supporting their bullshit agenda too. As Joshy says, “Fuck the police.”

I think the Buddha made it pretty clear that eating a vegetarian diet should be a part of our practice of Right Livelihood as well. There is no doubt in my mind that animals feel pain and loss when they watch their own kind murdered. I know that the tears that pour from the eyes of a mother who’s lost a child are the same as the tears that pour from the eyes of a cow who’s seen its calf murdered to satisfy someone’s taste for veal. Every year in the United States, 9 billion birds (mostly chickens, turkeys and ducks) and 150 million cows are murdered for the taste of their flesh. The U.S. produces more flesh for consumption than any other nation on the planet, almost twice the production of the entire European Union. And again, the meat consumers, ranchers, hunters and factory farmers of this nation need to feel the benefits of practicing Right Livelihood for themselves before the senseless murder of our fellow creatures will ever end.

Regarding the 4th area of unwholesome occupation, I think the Buddha would have warned us about the pitfalls of the modern American medical system. It’s clear to me that our current medical system is run by huge pharmaceutical corporations like Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck & Co. and Abbott Laboratories. Their bottom line is profit, not long-term health. Many of the supposed “medicines” they push are addictive and intoxicating. They’re drug dealers, plain and simple. They don’t treat problems; they cover them up. I think it unwise to participate in such an obviously corrupt system, so staying healthy and out of the hospital has become an integral part of my practice of Right Livelihood.

As with any of this stuff I’m writing, you need to find the truth in the Eightfold Path for yourself by living it and breathing it and acting on it. How I practice Right Livelihood may be different from how you may practice it and that’s ok. We’re all unique individuals. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. So remember, be a player, not a fan. Follow your own path.

BY MIKE GIANT

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH: PART 2. RIGHT INTENTION

This is the part 2 of the Eightfold Path: Right Intention. Enjoy
Part 2. Right Intention

Right Intention is sometimes translated as “right thought” or “right aspiration”. I think of Right Intention as a pro-active commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. In practice, Right View helps me to distinguish between the wholesome and unwholesome aspects of my moment-to-moment experience, and Right Intention helps me focus my energy on developing the wholesome aspects as they arise and letting go of the unwholesome. Seems simple enough, but quite often in our daily lives we are unwittingly developing unwholesome situations through our own ignorance and lack of perspective.

The Buddha taught that a person should be judged by their intentions, not the outcome of their actions. I think this is a key point in Buddhist philosophy. It simply means that if you go into a situation with the right intention, then regardless of the outcome you can’t be judged to have done anything wrong. However, if you act out of ignorance, your right intention isn’t worth shit.

The Buddha described three types of Right Intentions:

- First is the intention of renunciation. In practice, this means that I have the intention to give up the things that cause harm or suffering in my life. For myself, that means giving up stuff like television, cars, meat, cigarettes, cocaine, horror movies, MySpace, one-night stands, etc.

- Second is the intention of good will. In practice, this means that I always have the intention to act with kindness, especially when faced with anger or aversion. It is important to note that aggression in this sense doesn’t always mean that it’s coming from an outside source. Aggression most often begins in our own thinking minds. It is within the space of your thinking mind that your intention of good will is most helpful.

- Third is the intention of harmlessness, such that you don’t think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively. In practice, this means that I always have the intention to bring love, peace and compassion to any given situation. And again, it is important that we maintain this intention of harmlessness at the level of thinking. It is very important to remember that feeding cruel or violent thoughts only creates more to harm you and those around you. We must be pro-active about letting go of such unwholesome thoughts with compassion, patience and understanding.

By practicing Right View and Right Intention, we can develop the foundational wisdom needed to continue on the Eightfold Path.

Courtesy BY MIKE GIANT

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH: PART 1. RIGHT VIEW

This is the Part 1 of the Eightfold Path: Right View. Enjoy
The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path:

1. Right View
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration

Although this sequence isn’t particularly chronological, in my experience Right View helped the development of Right Intention, which in turn helped the development of Right Speech, and so on down the list.

Part 1. Right View

Gaining a proper understanding of Right View is the first step in realizing liberation through The Eightfold Path. Right View is sometimes translated as “right perspective”, “right vision” or “right understanding”. It revealed to me a way of seeing life as it truly is in the present moment, rather than experiencing life as conceptualized within the confines of my thinking mind. The practice of Right View helps me understand that I create my own suffering, and happiness for that matter. I learned that I must be personally responsible for maintaining peace and tranquility of mind because nobody else can do it for me. Once I had really established Right View for myself, I was able to free myself from my fear of inevitable sickness, aging and my eventual death. Once I stopped conceptualizing these states of being I was able to make my peace with them and move on. In day-to-day life, the practice of Right View helps me eradicate the moment-to-moment distractions of my thinking mind. In the big picture, the practice of Right View reveals the base nature of human existence and Ultimate Reality.

Right View has also revealed to me the Law of Karma, such that every action in body, speech and mind will have a likewise reaction depending on your intention. To put it simply, if you wish to have a life free of suffering you must act with that intention in everything you do. If your intentions cause harm to those around you, it should be no surprise that someone else intends to harm you. Violence feeds violence. Only non-violence brings peace. I have certainly found this to be the case in my own experience.

Right View also revealed to me the nature of impermanence, such that all things are subject to change. Nothing is absolute, or static. There is no birth, no death, only change. Fear of death exists in all of us, and it holds us back. We weren’t designed to last forever. We all have to make our peace with death before we can really live. Take advantage of your time right here right now before it’s too late.

As an example of how to understand Right View, consider a leaf on a tree. You may look at a leaf on a tree and allow your mind to create all kinds of distinctions about the leaf. You could compare its color to other leaves. You could compare its size and shape to other leaves. You could think about how old the leaf is or consider how long until it falls from its branch. You could give the leaf a personality and create its life story. You could consider all kinds of “What Ifs”. Like, what if a gust of wind comes along and breaks the leaf free of the branch? What if the tree catches fire? What if the leaf has magic powers?

Or, you could just sit down, quiet your mind and meditate on the leaf. This is how you get to know the leaf as expressed through Right View. With Right View, you can see that the leaf has no beginning and no end. You can see that the leaf is connected to the tree that is connected to the Earth that is connected to the sky. You can see that the rain that falls from the sky is in the leaf. You can see that the leaf produces the oxygen we all need to breathe. You can see that the veins in a leaf grow in the same way that the veins in your body grow. You can see that when the leaf is dry and old, it falls to the ground, disintegrates, becomes fertilizer for the tree, and is again reborn as the tree itself and everything around it. With Right View, you will see that you and the leaf are in fact One.

And once you have established Right View for yourself, you will also see that as a human being you were meant to be happy, content, and loved. Simple as that.

From the Dhammapada:

“All experience is preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind.
Speak or act with a corrupted mind,
And suffering follows
As the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox.

All experience is preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind.
Speak or act with a peaceful mind,
And happiness follows
Like a never-departing shadow.”

courtesy BY MIKE GIANT

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH: INTRODUCTION

Hey all the Rebel8 fans, we got the Eightfold Path again by Mike Giant. You guys been reading the past Eightfold last years. Now, Giant continues to write more about it on his Buddhist practice. Enjoy it and learn more.

I was 22 when I moved to San Francisco in October of 1993. I had just landed my first full-time art job at Think Skateboards and I had a room to rent at 1933 McAllister. I was making $7 an hour and thought I had it made. My job rocked, I was hanging out with pro skateboarders, the City was full of the best graffiti I’d ever seen and I was making lots of great new friends. Everything was gold. But deep down I missed my girlfriend who had moved to England for school. I was pretty lonely. So I distracted myself with lots of cheap beer, LSD, MDMA, raves, skateboarding and graffiti writing. But I still felt a deep dissatisfaction with day-to-day life and felt like I actually had to do something about it.

So the first thing I did was save up some money and bought my girl a flight to SF for Christmas break. I really wanted to show her how much I loved her and missed her when she arrived and thought the best way to do that was to improve my lovemaking skills. She was my first lover. All I knew about making love up to that point was what she had taught me, which to her credit was still a lot more than most of my buddies knew. So I strolled to Upper Haight and dug around for some books that might help me. I bought two: “When Things Fall Apart” by Pema Chodron and “The Art of Sexual Ecstasy” by Margot Anand. Both books helped open my heart and mind to vast new possibilities. And for almost a whole month I got to explore these new ideas with my lover. I think she certainly appreciated the effort.

But she had to go back to England and of course my depression and sense of dissatisfaction came back. But now I was on The Path. It had begun. Through Pema’s words I was beginning to see that my thinking mind was creating the discord in my day-to-day experience. And Margot’s teachings about the chakras and deep meditative breathing techniques helped me out right away. So I read lots more books. I filled my head with all kinds of Eastern philosophy and sacred sexuality. The ideas in Hinduism and Buddhism showed their worth right away in my daily life, so I gave my trust to them and continued to read more.

The ideas in those first books became tools for contemplation on my weekly solo LSD voyages and their message was really taken to heart in some very powerful ways. Throughout the mid to late 90s, at raves all over the Bay Area, I felt ecstatic release high on E, dancing all night long with thousands of like-minded humans, “feeling the love.” I was also spending a lot of time walking the streets alone in the middle of the night writing my name on the walls of my beloved City, something I’ve always found to be a deeply meditative and concentrated practice on impermanence.

Through these activities I was able to act on some of the ideas I was learning about in books. And I think that was a really important aspect of the dharma that I needed to recognize. I think the historical Buddha was very clear in stating that you can’t read your way to enlightenment. You have to do it. Nobody can do it for you. A dharma teacher once told me, “Happiness or unhappiness arises from our actions, not outside sources.” In other words, our progress on The Eightfold Path is gauged by our actions, nothing more.

In this way, I think the Buddha wanted us to be players, not fans. Please keep that in mind as you walk with me down his Path.

Courtesy BY MIKE GIANT

Mike Giant - The Neighbors series - video

Know more about Mike Giant, the main designer for Rebel8. It's a cool video, ya'll should check it out. As usual, the Winter 2010 is available at Loading... Enjoy.

Neighbors: Mike Giant (Trailer) from Agency Charlie on Vimeo.

REBEL8 WINTER / HOLIDAY 2010

Merry Christmas Everyone... Yes, Rebel8 Winter / Holiday 2010 now available @ Loading... Swing by and cop it before too late again! Check it out some pics below:

REBEL8 FALL 2010 ARRIVED!

Yes.. Ya'll been asking and coming to Loading... to check it out on Rebel8 Fall. Now you guys can cop it before too late. Check out the pics below:

TRAVIE MCCOY ROCKING WITH REBEL8

Check this sneak preview of LA Ink TLC channel on Wednesday Episode Sept 8th. Travie McCoy is rocking with Rebel8 x Actual Pain. It's dope!!! Ya'll should cop Rebel8 @ Loading...

HEART OF THE DEVIL: REBEL8 X JAY HOWELL

Hey guys, actually this REBEL8 X JAY HOWELL T-SHIRT is been out for awhile. But today I saw some cool video about it and wanted to share with you guys. Check it out and you can cop you tees and the hat at Loading... Store.

REBEL8 - Heart of the Devil from Eighty Four Films on Vimeo.

REBEL8 x DICKIES T-SHIRT AVAILABLE NOW.

Yes, we got some REBEL8 x DICKIES. And now available @ Loading... Cop one and it's mad hard to find!

BEHIND REBEL8 - JOSHY D.

Check it out behind the scene of REBEL8 the brand at Hypebeast.com. The video takes you inside about the brand and etc.

Behind REBEL8: Joshy D from hypebeast.tv on Vimeo.

R8 X DICKIES COMING SOON @ Loading...

We've been getting many calls and inquiries about R8 x Dickies. Yes, it will come soon @ Loading... Sorry that the shipment is sort of late, but it will available very soon. Follow us at blogspot, twitter or Facebook to keep update. Check out the pics below for more info: