"The one who get angry first loses..."
From: Star Trek: Vanguard: Reap the Whirlwind by David Mack. (A truly great entry in a truly great ST series, btw).
Did that quote piss you off? You lose!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Buddha Dance
Leona showed me her Buddha-Dance today. You need a partner facing you, and it goes like this (moving slowly, of course, like a meditating Buddha!):
Hands stiff at sides
Bowing in familiar namaste fashion with palms in front of chest
Step right, then left.
Left foot on right knee, then reverse.
Namaste bow again.
Hands to side.
Repeat at will.
Not a difficult or long dance by any means!
Hands stiff at sides
Bowing in familiar namaste fashion with palms in front of chest
Step right, then left.
Left foot on right knee, then reverse.
Namaste bow again.
Hands to side.
Repeat at will.
Not a difficult or long dance by any means!
Goodbye Borders
Went to Borders bookstore .... "Closing, everything must go!" Everything was in disarray, books placed here and there haphazardly... bookshelves $100 each.
Borders was the first big bookstore I ever went to (Ann Arbor (the original location, I believe). For a bibliophile like myself, it was like walking into heaven without being dead... Visiting it today was attending a funeral (only with books!).
Got one of the latest Star Trek books, and "The New Space Opera 2". Lots of other people picking over the remains ... Me too...
Goodbye, Borders. I'll miss you.
The Buddha said everything is impermanent, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.
Borders was the first big bookstore I ever went to (Ann Arbor (the original location, I believe). For a bibliophile like myself, it was like walking into heaven without being dead... Visiting it today was attending a funeral (only with books!).
Got one of the latest Star Trek books, and "The New Space Opera 2". Lots of other people picking over the remains ... Me too...
Goodbye, Borders. I'll miss you.
The Buddha said everything is impermanent, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Misc. Tuesday-ness
My daughter told me today about Buddha Dancers. I asked her what they were like, and she told me they dance very slowly. In all seriousness, she told me that be when she grows up, maybe she will be a Buddha Dancer too.
I like the concept. Not sure what being a Buddha Dancer involves, other than moving slowly, but it sounds like a good thing to want to be.
Saw two white-tailed deer fairly close today, during my walk. Also, two rabbits (but I see rabbits all the time these days, they're not unsual).
Watched episode three of Torchwood with my father, which I am enjoying (of course!). Captain Jack is still pretty cool.
Light rain today. "With a certain mad smile / walking in the rain". Wrote that on my bookcase a long time ago.
Went to a booksale today. Got a whole parcel of Tony Hillerman books. I read some back in the day, and enjoyed them.
Up late tonight. Suddenly got the urge to update my blog, Twitter, and Facebook. None of which I do very often, so I might as well do it while I'm thinking about it.
I like the concept. Not sure what being a Buddha Dancer involves, other than moving slowly, but it sounds like a good thing to want to be.
Saw two white-tailed deer fairly close today, during my walk. Also, two rabbits (but I see rabbits all the time these days, they're not unsual).
Watched episode three of Torchwood with my father, which I am enjoying (of course!). Captain Jack is still pretty cool.
Light rain today. "With a certain mad smile / walking in the rain". Wrote that on my bookcase a long time ago.
Went to a booksale today. Got a whole parcel of Tony Hillerman books. I read some back in the day, and enjoyed them.
Up late tonight. Suddenly got the urge to update my blog, Twitter, and Facebook. None of which I do very often, so I might as well do it while I'm thinking about it.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Buddhist-inspired Doggeral
Follow the Way
Or the Way follows you --
No avoiding the day
When black turns from blue --
Burma Shave!
Or the Way follows you --
No avoiding the day
When black turns from blue --
Burma Shave!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Temple-ing in Michigan
I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Sangha = Community of believers.
Since leaving Korea, I've wanted to visit some of the American temples. In early July, I finally had the chance to do so: twice.
The first one I visited was the Americana [Chinese] Buddhist Temple, in Howell. Howell, a small rural community, is kind of a strange place for a temple if you ask, but there it is. After the July 4th dinner with my brother who lives in Howell, my father and I went to find the temple. I thought it would be close to Howell's downtown: wrong. It was way north, down a dirt road.
The temple itself was smallish, with a few large statues (a laughing Buddha, a standing Kwan-Yin), a locked pavilion, and a meditation hall. I talked with a few men who were working outside, one of whom was a monk. They were nice enough, and invited me to practice with them, but Howell is too far away from me.
http://www.abtemple.org/cgi-bin/abtemple.org/
Last week, I visited the morning meditation session at the Ann Arbor Zen Temple.
I first visited the temple when I was in Uni, some 20 years ago. It hasn't changed much, but there is a nice new big meditation hall (a former bike shop) now.
I got sooooo lost in A2, much to my annoyance. There was a time when I knew A2 like the back of my hand, but not anymore. It took me a half an hour to find the temple itself.
The temple is supposedly Korean Zen, although the only Korean-ness I experienced was the chanting of the 예불. (Which I did not recognize, due to a different beat.) There was a mok-tok (wooden fish-drum), but it wasn't used.
The (all female) monks let a 25 minute meditation session, followed by stretching, followed by another meditation session, followed lastly by a friendly and intimate Dharma talk. There were about 30 people in the hall, mostly men.
Ann Arbor is slightly closer to me than Howell, but still about 45 minutes away. Still, it was a wonderful experience, and it was wonderful to practice with my Dharma brothers and sisters again. I missed the meditation today, but I'll try again in a week or two.
http://zenbuddhisttemple.org/
Since leaving Korea, I've wanted to visit some of the American temples. In early July, I finally had the chance to do so: twice.
The first one I visited was the Americana [Chinese] Buddhist Temple, in Howell. Howell, a small rural community, is kind of a strange place for a temple if you ask, but there it is. After the July 4th dinner with my brother who lives in Howell, my father and I went to find the temple. I thought it would be close to Howell's downtown: wrong. It was way north, down a dirt road.
The temple itself was smallish, with a few large statues (a laughing Buddha, a standing Kwan-Yin), a locked pavilion, and a meditation hall. I talked with a few men who were working outside, one of whom was a monk. They were nice enough, and invited me to practice with them, but Howell is too far away from me.
http://www.abtemple.org/cgi-bin/abtemple.org/
Last week, I visited the morning meditation session at the Ann Arbor Zen Temple.
I first visited the temple when I was in Uni, some 20 years ago. It hasn't changed much, but there is a nice new big meditation hall (a former bike shop) now.
I got sooooo lost in A2, much to my annoyance. There was a time when I knew A2 like the back of my hand, but not anymore. It took me a half an hour to find the temple itself.
The temple is supposedly Korean Zen, although the only Korean-ness I experienced was the chanting of the 예불. (Which I did not recognize, due to a different beat.) There was a mok-tok (wooden fish-drum), but it wasn't used.
The (all female) monks let a 25 minute meditation session, followed by stretching, followed by another meditation session, followed lastly by a friendly and intimate Dharma talk. There were about 30 people in the hall, mostly men.
Ann Arbor is slightly closer to me than Howell, but still about 45 minutes away. Still, it was a wonderful experience, and it was wonderful to practice with my Dharma brothers and sisters again. I missed the meditation today, but I'll try again in a week or two.
http://zenbuddhisttemple.org/
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Sitting, Breathing
Doing something new with meditation....
I first tried meditation for a science class at Oakland Community college. We had to do something self-impropy and chart the results, and I tried meditation for 40 days. I'm not sure if this was before or after my meeting Buddhism for the first time in a separate OCC class (World Religions 101: one of the most influential classes I've ever taken: after that, nothing was the same). I don't remember what the results of my meditation-experiment were, if they were good or bad.
Meditation is one of the big-ticket items in the world of Buddhism. If you don't meditate, you aren't Buddhist, and you aren't Buddhist if you don't meditate. (Although some sects, for instance SGI, do chanting instead). While meditation is not restricted to Buddhism, it is inseparable from the image of Buddhism.
I've never been good at sitting meditation. Although: is sitting meditation something you get good at? I'm not sure that it is, to be honest: the harder you try, the worse you would get, I suspect. At any rate, it's hard for me to sit still for 30-40 minutes. So instead, these days, I'm trying for 20 minutes at a time, three times a day. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening.
You read a lot about breath meditation in the Buddhist magazines and website: it's recommended that one try to do ten "mindful" breaths in a row. Instead, I try to take one mindful breath, and then I do it again and again.
I first tried meditation for a science class at Oakland Community college. We had to do something self-impropy and chart the results, and I tried meditation for 40 days. I'm not sure if this was before or after my meeting Buddhism for the first time in a separate OCC class (World Religions 101: one of the most influential classes I've ever taken: after that, nothing was the same). I don't remember what the results of my meditation-experiment were, if they were good or bad.
Meditation is one of the big-ticket items in the world of Buddhism. If you don't meditate, you aren't Buddhist, and you aren't Buddhist if you don't meditate. (Although some sects, for instance SGI, do chanting instead). While meditation is not restricted to Buddhism, it is inseparable from the image of Buddhism.
I've never been good at sitting meditation. Although: is sitting meditation something you get good at? I'm not sure that it is, to be honest: the harder you try, the worse you would get, I suspect. At any rate, it's hard for me to sit still for 30-40 minutes. So instead, these days, I'm trying for 20 minutes at a time, three times a day. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening.
You read a lot about breath meditation in the Buddhist magazines and website: it's recommended that one try to do ten "mindful" breaths in a row. Instead, I try to take one mindful breath, and then I do it again and again.
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