October 08, 2008

Buddha Is As Buddha Does

Buddha is as buddha does Probably the best book I've read in a long time, on transforming one's attitudes and overcoming the everyday obstacles to one's cultivation of true buddha nature.

I've been reading it a little at a time, on the bus, at lunch time, even at my desk when the battle that is my job dies down for a while.

And ya know, this is a testament to my own ignorance. Because Lama Surya Das is hardly a new writer. He's been around for a while, and has spent more than thirty years studying zen, yoga, Tibetan Buddhism and other forms of cultivation - all of which means that he was at this when I was a small child.

But I've only "discovered" him and his teaching in the past week or so.

Nevermind all that. My point here is to recommend this book. I will, I'm sure, find my way to delve into his earlier books as well, once I've thoroughly digested - and incorporated into my practice, to some degree - this one.

August 04, 2008

Peaceful

Peaceful_

Looks like the Andaman coast in Thailand, except that I think the water's too blue. I remember the water there being greener. So I guess this would probably be somewhere in the Carribbean.

Doesn't matter, though. The point is to post a peaceful image. While I'm here, though, it occurs to me that this might notbe as peaceful a scene for everyone as it is for me.

So what's your idea of a peaceful image? Do you have a picture in your mind, perhaps some samsaric illusion, that you return to for peace, for decompression at the end of the day? What's your peaceful?

July 21, 2008

Today's Buddha

BUDDHA gold  

just because...

Sangha Search - How Much I Haven't Found

Buddha

Since losing interest in Fo Guang Shan a few months ago, I've been looking around for a good sangha to get into. Naturally, a real sitting group would be ideal, and it wouldn't really matter which tradition such a group belongs to.

Of course, this is not necessarily an easy thing to find. There are no guarantees in life, are there? Except for the Four Noble Truths, I guess. So here's me, suffering (mildly) through my little search, because there simply aren't any groups near my home. At least, none that speak English. One of the last times I visited the FGS temple way down in Stafford, a couple of young ladies invited me to visit their temple, which turned out to be close to the house, relatively speaking. But that temple offers Dharma services strictly in Vietnamese. And it's been like that everywhere. I guess there aren't too many folks expecting to run into the English problem.

There's someone at my dojo who has experience and training in a soto temple, and he once ran a sitting group out of the dojo - but that was a while back. I'm trying to talk him into starting it up again, but I must admit that it's hardly worth his time and effort just for one person.

So, it's out onto the World Wide Web I go, looking for a sangha of the eletronic variety. Not as personal, and the way people talk to you online is entirely different from the way they talk to you in person. But, you get used to that, I guess. Point is, this way I at least get to talk to other Buddhists.

Hopefully. Sometimes.

Mostly, all I've met online so far are con artists trying to get me to send my personal information to Nigeria or some other place, and angry Christians looking for someone to push around with their forced religion.

I have found some really cool websites for various manner of zen retreat lodge, dharma center, and Western-type Buddhist order. I say "Western type" because of the degree of AHF (Annoying Hippie Factor) involved. For example, I will steer clear of any Buddhist group (or any other group, for that matter) which espouses a platform of anti-military activities. People who say "Death and the military are one and the same" etc, do not represent my interests in any way, and those organizations are just flat wrong, in my opinion.

Lots of that out there. If you see that a group is based in Berkeley, California, be especially careful. Read their literature very carefully before speaking with them.

So meanwhile, here's me, digging through website after website and wondering just how much more there is out there.

How much I haven't yet found.

How Little I Know

Wow. I picked up the current Tricycle Magazine last night while on one of our regular forays through the coffee shop and bookstore that is our Mecca, and then I spent most of the night reading it.

The first thing that struck me was how many commenrcial advertisements are in it. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm just as much of a capitalist as the next guy. And, while I'm there, I should point out that I love seeing all the cool Buddhist-related stuff that's available to buy. Statues, mandalas, malas and cusions of all descriptions. But, I wondered as I was flipping through the magazine, just how necessary is all of this stuff?

I've been guilty of being a Barnes & Noble Buddhist before (probably still am one now, if I'm honest). I love buying books on the subject of Buddhism. I read them quickly, and then only refer back to them at some distant point in the future. But that doesn't always help my practice, does it? I mean, am I sitting more, or better, or longer, than I would if I hadn't bought that latest Pema book?

Also, while thumbing through the pages, I begin to get that feeling that I had before, when I realized just how lost I am in this samsaric world - just how little I know about what's going on. I've always been a good student of history, philosophy, languages, stuff like that. And I think I understand Buddhism pretty well for a layman. But ya know what? I don't know jack. Seriously, I have no idea.

And I think that's how it's supposed to be.

250px-BodhidharmaYoshitoshi1887

July 08, 2008

Today's Buddha (and more)

Buddha06

OK so today's Buddha is shamelessly ganked from Buddhanet. I hope they don't mind. I thought it looks cool though.

Apologies for not posting anything in so long. I do have a few essays etc in the works, so it shouldn't be too long before I can get something posted here that will be worth your time to read.

June 12, 2008

Today's Buddha

Asukadera

June 06, 2008

Today's Buddha

450px-Kamakura_Budda_Daibutsu_front_1885 The Daibutsu in Kamakura, Japan

June 04, 2008

Today's Buddha

New Thing: Pictures of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. A new one every day, or maybe I'll stretch it out to once a week. These are just pics I've grabbed from the Internet or from some other source, not to be used commercially or whatever. Sometimes I'll include a caption explaining the pic, but usually not. Simple stuff, right?

So here's today's Buddha - a pic I found of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva:

Avalokiteshvara_blackandwhite

June 03, 2008

Demanding Compassion

800px-Wood_Bodhisattva

Man. People in this country don't know how good they have it.

I was on a bus this morning, sitting there ready for the commute. The buses where I live have priority seating for the elderly and the handicapped, consisting of the forwardmost six seats, but most folks just sit there whether they're handicapped or not. This includes me.

Now, I've always figured that if someone fitting that category needs a seat, I'll be happy to move. I think most people would rather surrender their seat than inconvenience someone who's already dealing with some infirmity. But it's not practical for anyone to simply leave those six seats open indefinitely.

Well, it happened this morning, but not the way I'd expected. I was sitting there, and all six of the priority seats were filled with people who don't fit the priority (meaning, none of us was handicapped or particularly elderly). A young woman - I say young, I really don't know how old she is - with a bandaged foot approached the door of the bus.

"Is there room in the front for me?" she asked.

"No ma'am," said the driver. "But you can sit further back if you want." He must have either not seen her bandaged foot, or maybe he didn't think it was that bad.

"Well, someone's gonna have to move!" the woman shouted in a huff.

Now, here's where I have an issue with this whole arrangement. For one thing, the woman was ambulatory, meaning that she could walk to the bus, and then up the steps. So why couldn't she have walked the five steps to another seat? I'm not a doctor and it's not up to me to say who deserves a handicapped seat and who doesn't - but as part of this society, I have to wonder where we went wrong with the concept of handicapped seating and other societal entitlements.

As soon as we saw her, a number of us happily volunteered our seats in the front, and this frowning, unhappy young lady got to ride to work in the front seat - the one formerly occupied by me - while holding her bandaged little foot up in the air for all to see. I found an equally confortable seat a few rows back.

Folks, I've been to a few places around the world. In many countries, there's no such thing as coddling everyone with an owie. This dour woman would have been entirely on her own, to deal with her injury however she could. In a number of the countries I've visited, she wouldn't have been allowed to leave the house without her husband.

I'm not saying that's a good thing. But it does give one pause, doesn't it?

My point is this. If you live in the United States, you have everything you need. You have enough to eat (too much, in many cases). You have, regardless of the bantering of the media and certain politicians, access to medical care. If you're climbing onto a bus for the early commute, I'm guessing that you have a job, and probably some place to live. You have some means of transportation that brought you here to the bus stop. Some kind of support structure, whether it's your loved ones or the Church or whatever.

Now quit complaining. You have more in your life than most people around the world. Instead of us sitting here, bitching because we were inconvenienced for a few seconds (literally, it was a few seconds) on a bus, maybe we should be thinking about people who don't have a bus. Maybe there are people somewhere in the world who walk more than ten miles to get to work, or to school. Maybe there are people who haven't eaten in two or three days, and if they're injured they have no medical care available to them, so they wrap their bloody foot in a towel or something until they can see a doctor - which is another ten-mile walk, or more.

Compassion, in my experience, goes two ways. I think it's time we started offering it instead of demanding it. What do you think?