Sunday, June 04, 2006
Wet Weekend...
....wet,wet,wet weekend up here at the Upstate House...gorgeous, green and wet. Constant rains. Delicious and good for the Earth. Also, good weather to snuggle inside and read about Buddhism...currently I am enthralled with CIRCLING THE SACRED MOUNTAIN by Robert Thurman and Tad Wise...about their pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet.
TUESDAY, JUNE 6TH, 2006
Got so busy and deeply involved in the reading of all the wonderful books i was reading over the weekend, time flew away from me before I had time to continue my weekend blog entry....wow. I really went on a journey with the CIRCLING THE SACRED MOUNTAIN...one of the most impressive books i have ever read. It is so deeply about essential Buddhism that I feel as if I completed a class at Columbia by reading it.Robert Thurman is an inspired teacher. As it happens, (and I did not know this when I started reading it), but the very Blade Wheel Mind Reform Meditation that Thurman spoke to the group in the book about is the subject of the Dalai Lama's visit here in September. And it's all about self and other, peace, cutting through our obsessively self-centered hold on our world, directing the healing toward other beings,etc. It's about so much. And he presented it so vibrantly. That, coupled with the arduous trek around the Sacred Mt.Kalaish, made the journey for the reader , at least for me, dramatic and, as I said above, impressive.
Anyway...here we are back in the city, and so much lies ahead to do...I am determined to take this week easily, since the New School onslaught begins this coming Monday, and that should take about all the energy I can manage to give it!
It will be a brief but intense time. So this week, I rest.
And continue to read and study.....think about what lies ahead for me in terms of teaching...and what I want to give...how I want to give it....in fact, why I want to give it....my aims and goals are changing...what really matters to me is changing.
A journal quote from May 27th, Saturday of the Menla Retreat Weekend:
"Buddhism is a service industry, definitely..."..."Generosity is not just the giving, it's the willingness to give..."
Buddhism's main service is education...what do beings really want and need? What gives beings power is the condition of their minds...Buddhism educates...rather than cover the world in leather, put sandals on your own feet to make the journey smoother....
History is most often told from the point of view of the CONQUERORS, so the history of beauty,education, service,and art is often not written in the history books....not to invade, but to meditate is geniune service....
What are WE part of? How do WE inter-connect? How do WE invest?
There is a general idea out in the world that Buddhists do not enjoy life...that they suffer...that they do not live real lives...they just sit in their monasteries and deprive themselves ..."monk"...from "monos" ---"alone"...
IN FACT: In the East, one belongs to a community (sangha),and by being part of it, one is released, free! People go to monasteries to hang out with the monks because they are so carefree and balanced...therefore: self-compassion is an awareness of the privileges of the joy of life..your life...joined with others.
Protestant ethic: "there is no free lunch"
Buddhist/Monastic thought: "Life IS free lunch!" (which is to say: enjoy the abundance we all have to share with each other....the joys of life...do not begrudge them or be stingy with them.)
From INNER REVOLUTION, page 103:
"Monasticism institutionalized the primacy of the individual's life-purpose of enlightenment over the collective purposes of survival and production".
Compassion: etymology: ceasing of pleasure...you notice the suffering of others and give up your pleasure...taking on others' suffering only creates more suffering...the Buddhist thing is to transform it to bliss: the real happiness , the type that IS the Universe and never depletes....NIRVANA SUTRA...Shariputra challenged Buddha: HELP US! Buddha told the mother of a sick child: too much milk would sicken it further, so she smeared her nipples with a bitter substance so the baby spits out her milk until it is healthier and ready and strong enough not to be sickened by it...wise compassion...fierce compassion.
We never say there is one Buddha...and we never say there are many...in the reality body, all Buddhas are one..but each being who feels separate enjoys the ability to become one , so why rob them of that pleasure? (This is so deeply metaphysical...and therefore appeals to me so much more deeply than simply saying WE ARE ALL BUDDHAS....the journey is all, as far as I can see)...
"There is no higher happiness than Peace...but Peace does not mean "Apathy".
Daisaku Ikeda , in his many writings, refers to "the Buddha"...in fact, in so much of what I read everywhere, Buddha is referred to as "the Buddha"...referring, no doubt , to Shakyamuni, the Buddha of our time...his particular sutra writings,etc. People do need points of particularization...reference points, as it were.
The nature of man, the way we play all the games we play in this lifetime, on this planet, during this epoch...far too complicated and absurd to simply say "this way" is the only way to explicate and explain....I am far more attracted to the intricate metaphysics of Tibetan Buddhism, its fantastical imagination and expression, than I ever imagined i could be. There is an aesthetic brilliance to its centuries of experience and evolution. So deeply moving.
ANYWAY: soon, I will be able to write of other things besides the influence of this new study of mine....but right now, that seems to be the most important thing going on for my life...and i feel it changing my life in ways subtle and powerful.
Show business and my career....Peter's career....hmmm....lucky for me, right now, it is slow and quiet right now...perfect for growth of this nature.
TUESDAY, JUNE 6TH, 2006
Got so busy and deeply involved in the reading of all the wonderful books i was reading over the weekend, time flew away from me before I had time to continue my weekend blog entry....wow. I really went on a journey with the CIRCLING THE SACRED MOUNTAIN...one of the most impressive books i have ever read. It is so deeply about essential Buddhism that I feel as if I completed a class at Columbia by reading it.Robert Thurman is an inspired teacher. As it happens, (and I did not know this when I started reading it), but the very Blade Wheel Mind Reform Meditation that Thurman spoke to the group in the book about is the subject of the Dalai Lama's visit here in September. And it's all about self and other, peace, cutting through our obsessively self-centered hold on our world, directing the healing toward other beings,etc. It's about so much. And he presented it so vibrantly. That, coupled with the arduous trek around the Sacred Mt.Kalaish, made the journey for the reader , at least for me, dramatic and, as I said above, impressive.
Anyway...here we are back in the city, and so much lies ahead to do...I am determined to take this week easily, since the New School onslaught begins this coming Monday, and that should take about all the energy I can manage to give it!
It will be a brief but intense time. So this week, I rest.
And continue to read and study.....think about what lies ahead for me in terms of teaching...and what I want to give...how I want to give it....in fact, why I want to give it....my aims and goals are changing...what really matters to me is changing.
A journal quote from May 27th, Saturday of the Menla Retreat Weekend:
"Buddhism is a service industry, definitely..."..."Generosity is not just the giving, it's the willingness to give..."
Buddhism's main service is education...what do beings really want and need? What gives beings power is the condition of their minds...Buddhism educates...rather than cover the world in leather, put sandals on your own feet to make the journey smoother....
History is most often told from the point of view of the CONQUERORS, so the history of beauty,education, service,and art is often not written in the history books....not to invade, but to meditate is geniune service....
What are WE part of? How do WE inter-connect? How do WE invest?
There is a general idea out in the world that Buddhists do not enjoy life...that they suffer...that they do not live real lives...they just sit in their monasteries and deprive themselves ..."monk"...from "monos" ---"alone"...
IN FACT: In the East, one belongs to a community (sangha),and by being part of it, one is released, free! People go to monasteries to hang out with the monks because they are so carefree and balanced...therefore: self-compassion is an awareness of the privileges of the joy of life..your life...joined with others.
Protestant ethic: "there is no free lunch"
Buddhist/Monastic thought: "Life IS free lunch!" (which is to say: enjoy the abundance we all have to share with each other....the joys of life...do not begrudge them or be stingy with them.)
From INNER REVOLUTION, page 103:
"Monasticism institutionalized the primacy of the individual's life-purpose of enlightenment over the collective purposes of survival and production".
Compassion: etymology: ceasing of pleasure...you notice the suffering of others and give up your pleasure...taking on others' suffering only creates more suffering...the Buddhist thing is to transform it to bliss: the real happiness , the type that IS the Universe and never depletes....NIRVANA SUTRA...Shariputra challenged Buddha: HELP US! Buddha told the mother of a sick child: too much milk would sicken it further, so she smeared her nipples with a bitter substance so the baby spits out her milk until it is healthier and ready and strong enough not to be sickened by it...wise compassion...fierce compassion.
We never say there is one Buddha...and we never say there are many...in the reality body, all Buddhas are one..but each being who feels separate enjoys the ability to become one , so why rob them of that pleasure? (This is so deeply metaphysical...and therefore appeals to me so much more deeply than simply saying WE ARE ALL BUDDHAS....the journey is all, as far as I can see)...
"There is no higher happiness than Peace...but Peace does not mean "Apathy".
Daisaku Ikeda , in his many writings, refers to "the Buddha"...in fact, in so much of what I read everywhere, Buddha is referred to as "the Buddha"...referring, no doubt , to Shakyamuni, the Buddha of our time...his particular sutra writings,etc. People do need points of particularization...reference points, as it were.
The nature of man, the way we play all the games we play in this lifetime, on this planet, during this epoch...far too complicated and absurd to simply say "this way" is the only way to explicate and explain....I am far more attracted to the intricate metaphysics of Tibetan Buddhism, its fantastical imagination and expression, than I ever imagined i could be. There is an aesthetic brilliance to its centuries of experience and evolution. So deeply moving.
ANYWAY: soon, I will be able to write of other things besides the influence of this new study of mine....but right now, that seems to be the most important thing going on for my life...and i feel it changing my life in ways subtle and powerful.
Show business and my career....Peter's career....hmmm....lucky for me, right now, it is slow and quiet right now...perfect for growth of this nature.
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