[Waves a little American flag in a slightly less sheepish way, and with a bit more pride and a tad of hope...]
I'm not really blogging here much. If'n you want to keep up with my musings, follow me at my blog, here...
Brad Warner just posted his most recent SuicideGirls.com piece: Buddhism is not Spirituality, with a bit of an add-on in his personal blog. As usual, he sums up things in pretty tidy fashion, as is his way. But I'd like to take a moment to expand on this idea a bit over in my personal blog. Go read if you're so inclined...
Go buy this...
...NOW.
Actually, go buy two; keep one for yourself, and give one to a friend as a gift, with the proviso that they in turn need to buy a copy of it for someone else and turn THEM on to 1GL.
Everybody have a happy [whatever you are celebrating] and all that, from the Godless heathen. I plant on cleaning my kitchen. May get a bug up my butt to make bread.
Peace on Earth.
Make it real...
Peace on Earth.
Make it real...
This is just an amazing documentary by and partly about Stephen Fry, one of my all-time favorite entertainers. This is in ten parts on YouTube. To say "I can relate" is an understatement...
Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive
Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive
Fail on the retreat front. We are getting hammered with phreak weather. Definately the worst snowstorm to hit PDX in my 9 years here. Craziness.
I hate it that it feels odd being stuck inside with my partner, knowing that we'll be divorced in a few weeks. Her GF is stuck in Sacramento, with no flights back until Tuesday at the earliest. Feels odd watching her long to be with someone, and have that someone not be me.
But the snow's still pretty...
I hate it that it feels odd being stuck inside with my partner, knowing that we'll be divorced in a few weeks. Her GF is stuck in Sacramento, with no flights back until Tuesday at the earliest. Feels odd watching her long to be with someone, and have that someone not be me.
But the snow's still pretty...
RETREAT!!!
Well, the good kind (although if you ask somebody armed with a spoon while being shot at if their retreat is a "good" kind, they'll most likely say "Why yes. Yes it is...")
Anyway, baring weather (which is rather funky here in the PNW at the moment) I'll be gone from tomorrow (Fri) afternoon until (effectively) Monday morning on a weekend seshin (Zen meditation retreat) at the monastery our sangha is attached to. Lots of staring at the wall. O! how we love to stare at the wall...
Seriously, though; my zen practice is becoming more and more important to me as time goes on. With the dissolution of my marriage, having to move out of my house, and all the rest, being able to wrap my head around the idea that even the most "important" things in our lives are made merely of smoke is actually quite comforting. You get less upset by the perturbances of life if you can understand and accept that, as William Blake said; "nothing lasts, but nothing is lost..."
See you all on Monday...
-zt
Well, the good kind (although if you ask somebody armed with a spoon while being shot at if their retreat is a "good" kind, they'll most likely say "Why yes. Yes it is...")
Anyway, baring weather (which is rather funky here in the PNW at the moment) I'll be gone from tomorrow (Fri) afternoon until (effectively) Monday morning on a weekend seshin (Zen meditation retreat) at the monastery our sangha is attached to. Lots of staring at the wall. O! how we love to stare at the wall...
Seriously, though; my zen practice is becoming more and more important to me as time goes on. With the dissolution of my marriage, having to move out of my house, and all the rest, being able to wrap my head around the idea that even the most "important" things in our lives are made merely of smoke is actually quite comforting. You get less upset by the perturbances of life if you can understand and accept that, as William Blake said; "nothing lasts, but nothing is lost..."
See you all on Monday...
-zt
