Sues News

The blog has moved!

2009-11-27T09:51:00.002-05:00

Yes, I migrated.

The year ahead will be in Wordpress. Numerous people have told me it is better, and worth learning. And, my buisiness web site is in Wordpress, so I need to learn the details. What better way to learn a new skill than by sharing the exploration with my faithful reader.

So. Put on your coat and boots. Come over to Wordpress with me.

McFloozy lives here, and has a LOT to tell you.

The New, Improved, Renovated Blog -- A Year of ...

2009-11-26T20:02:00.002-05:00

DAY 1

Hello readers,

After watching Julie & Julia, I realized I needed to renovate my life, get a grip on my health and mission, and (of course) prepare for my book and move tour. I suspect Sarah Palin will be through with her bus by the end of the year, so that's an option...

And now, of course, the question is... What exactly am I going to write about for the next 365 days? Julie had 524 recipes. Well, that's been done. So I'm thinking of what my year of pondering and progress will focus on.

Several ideas have come to me. None have fully solidified as the Feature Focus. Here are some of the possibilities:

A Year of Mindful Living
Walking to Gatsal. 365 days, 30 pounds, one lifetime
Your Daily Soup
Creating an Attitude of Gratitude, one postcard at a time

I even considered getting a hookup thingy ding so my sneakers can talk to you, my devoted reader, on a daily basis. Actually, those talking sneakers are real chatterboxes, so they twit out this and that all day long. Not much for plot though.

Of course, I could mix all of the above in A Year of Living Out Loud With Slippers On.

And now, for today's special message. It is Thanksgiving. We stop in our tracks and appreciate the people around us for a day. We appreciate our food, and where it comes from. We enjoy fine wine. And we reflect a little bit about what we appreciate. Here's my tip of the day. Appreciate everything tomorrow too. Look people in the eye and listen to them, even when they make no sense (like Beatles lyrics). Give your attention generously. And notice that you feel more alive. And one more thing. I try to remember every day that life is precious and fragile. Cancer, bridges, earthquakes, trucks take lives away every moment. I'm lucky to be here right now. And right now. And in a minute. Yeah. I'm focusing on that good fortune and wonderful adventure of breahing. Enjoy!

Well, pleasant reader, what would you like to hear about for the next 365 days? What do YOU want to accomplish? What do you want ME to accomplish? See that comment box down there? Use it.

And Happy Thanksgiving.

The Strawberry Parable

2009-11-22T12:06:00.001-05:00

Buddha told a parable in sutra:

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

- Paul Reps, from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (Tuttle Publishing)

Today's Walk

2009-11-22T11:58:00.001-05:00

On November 1, I made a deal with myself. I agreed to walk half an hour every day for the month of November. Thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could sustain the discipline of a small commitment for a short time.

So far, pretty good. There were a couple of days I didn't get out, a couple of days I walked extra, and a few days I went to the gym. Definitely progress. So much for the report card.

The gift here is a bit of discipline, and some moments of observation. When walking on the bike path, I can notice things, the changes. I am pretty isolated from the seasons in my windowless office and TV chair. On the path, I saw the golden leaves, almost luminescent with the sunlight shining through them. Then, another day, the tall ornamental grass (is it wheat? do we care?) backlit by the sun was pretty stunning.

Today, the milkweed pod. As usual, a metaphor for life.

Bursting, and releasing all those winged seeds. Some just fall down. some lost their little seed, and defy gravity (sing along here if you like!), some are tangled up and stuck in there. And some just drift off and settle down, get covered by leaves and debris and grow into a new milkweed next year.

So. Isn't that just like life? When you're dry and wrinkled and kind of falling apart, this new generation of life just explodes into the scene in a kind of amazing way.

Yeah. Look around. It's probably beautiful.

Slow Cooker Applesauce

2009-10-12T17:41:00.001-04:00

Crockpot Applesauce

6-7 small golden apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 strip lemon peel/skin
1/4-1/2 cup water
cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and cook over low heat 6-7 hours. Remove peel, and mash or blend to desired consistancy. Refrigerate, and enjoy.

From: http://erinsfoodfiles.blogspot.com/2009/08/crockpot-applesauce.html

Giving up Gossip

2009-09-21T20:32:00.001-04:00

Seven Tips for Giving Up Gossip September 21, 2009

Posted by Philip Ryan in : Buddhism, Buddhist Teachings, Tibetan Buddhism , trackback

by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron

1. Recognize that gossip doesn't undo the situation you're talking about. It only puts in motion another situation based on negative feelings.

2. Know that comparing yourself to others is useless. Everyone has his or her own talents. In this way, give up jealousy and the wish to put others down.

3. Be aware of and transform your own thoughts, words, and deeds rather than commenting on those of others.

4. Train your mind to see others' positive qualities and discuss them. This will make you much happier than gossiping ever could.

5. Forgive, knowing that people do harmful things because they are unhappy. If you don't make someone into an enemy, you won't want to gossip about him.

6. Have a sense of humor about what you think, say, and do, and be able to laugh at all of the silly things we sentient beings carry out in our attempt to be happy. If you see the humor in our human predicament, you'll be more patient.

7. Practice saying something kind to someone every day. Do this especially with people you don't like. It gets easier with practice and bears surprisingly good results.

(from Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron's "The Truth About Gossip," Tricycle, Summer 2006 )

The Katamari Principle

2009-06-07T10:25:00.005-04:00

Sandy explained to me about The Katamari Principle. And, on further reflection, I see how it applies to many, many areas of living.

As she prepared to go to Costa Rica, to teach English to children, she wondered (with some anxiety) how she would teach them everything they needed to know. English is so complicated, so irregular, and teaching... a challenge.

Then, with calm, she explained The Katamari Principle.

[NOTE to Readers -- If you have not played Katamari on PS2 (or whatever), well, you will not understand this at all. Maybe the picture will help.]

The Katamari is a sticky ball. As you roll it over things (in the video game), it picks things up. It starts as a small, sticky ball. It can only pick up small items. It will pick up a paper clip, but roll right over an eraser. As you pick up small items (paper clips, thumb tacks, etc.) the ball grows larger. As it grows larger it can pick up larger items (erasers, juice boxes). It grows larger still, and you can pick up even larger items (buckets, dog houses). And as you pick things up, the ball grows larger, and can pick up houses, and factories, and elephants (who are never injured).

Well, teaching English, she explained... would be like that. She might be just teaching them simple, small things (like the paper clips in Katamari). But they need those things in order to (later) absorb larger things (like verb conjugation, or ... dog houses in Katamari). Yes. So Sandy discovered a peace and comfort in knowing that teaching those simple things, while not the entirety of their need for English understanding, is foundational, and essential for them to proceed to learn the more complex things.

And in that, she found comfort, knowing that she would be able to give them what they are ready for, even though there would still be much to learn.

And as I go through my days, with challenging situations galore, and so much to learn and do. I realize that, in many ways, I utilize The Katamari Principle.

When making a change, I sometimes need to implement it in small steps... because the audience (or me) can only handle those small (paper-clip-like) steps initially.

And often, in my work and life, I get frustrated because I (in the all American way) want complete results quickly (as shown on TV!). I try to reflect on The Katamari Principle, and realize that my results now are small, but that is what I can accomplish now. While they are small, they are important predecessors to larger results, which may take time (and many, many paper clips of learning).

The big problems of the world -- health care, peace, an end to genocides and ethnic cleansings and civil wars (whatever name you apply to mass extinctions of cultural groups) -- I can do less than a paper-clip level of impact on these problems. But, in the Katamari ball of life on our planet, the accumulation of paper-clip actions prepares the world for a larger action (eraser, dog house, factory). And collectively, we are building a Katamari world that may (one day) actually fulfill the larger tasks of peaceful, safe, healthy living.

Yes. The Katamari Principle. It's a good metaphor for life, for learning, and for action. It is an infrastructure that encourages patience, and recognizes the value of tiny, tiny, steps. Those tiny steps are the ones we can actually take to change our world.

Trekking the Mind...

2009-05-30T14:26:00.001-04:00

When Effort Comes Naturally

Trekking any spiritual path is a balancing act. As you gain effort and mastery, you also gain ease. That means that while you may work harder, the effort will come more naturally. While you will certainly encounter new distractions—and who does not?—you also have the means to overcome them. Do not be discouraged. There is always a new moment in which to experience living kindness.

–Donald Altman, from Living Kindness (Inner Ocean Publishing)

Is there a photo?

2009-05-16T13:04:00.001-04:00

When sending a post to a blog, by email, with a photo attached... the QUESTION is...

Will the photo (attachment) be included in the blog post?

We shall know the answer in moments.

The Wondering Mind Must Know Now!

The Patio of the Mind

2009-04-30T11:55:00.001-04:00

If you sweep the patio in November after leaves have fallen, you wouldn't expect it to stay clean forever. The patio is like the mind. Mindfulness meditation practice can feel like sweeping the mind and clearing away the thoughts strewn about making a big mess.

---- Have you swept lately?

The Drum

2009-04-18T12:30:00.001-04:00

"Another gift of the drum, in learning to play it and appreciate it, is that it brings you peace. When you play the drum, you take your frustrations out on the drum itself, instead of on people. The energy you put into drumming is the kind of energy that will change your mood. When you are drumming, you really forget yourself, and probably certain aggravations too, things that might trouble the mind. You may even find solutions to problems while you are playing. You may become resigned to certain things that may otherwise be bothersome. Drumming helps you reestablish your faith in yourself and your abilities. Drumming just does so much for you, especially if you are enjoying what you are playing. You become tuned in to so many positive ideas that you forget the negative. Drumming can be the beginning of a healing process for what is troubling your soul. You can learn to say "Look, things will change if I can just learn to exercise some patience and forebearance."

-- Babatunde Olatunji
from The Beat of My Drum, an autobiography

Babatunde Olatunji

2009-04-18T12:24:00.001-04:00

"One of the most enduring gifts for anyone who plays the drums is the realization that drums are powerful instruments for unity, for bringing peopleof all levels, of all cultures, together through their equal contributions. No one person's contribution is greater than anyone else's. The drum is the great equalizer. When you play your part, and I play my part, it means the kind of collaborationt hat allows your light to shine as well as mine, because we both stay in rhythm and the whole effect is powerful."

"The important thing is not to play for anyone's satisfaction but your own. You are the one that has to feel good, to feel happy, to be in a good mood. Then you can inspire others. You have to feel good about yourself first."

--- Babatunde Olatunji
from The Beat of My Drum, his autobiography

Anger

2009-04-14T12:56:00.001-04:00

Mastering Our Anger

We need to master our own anger before we can help others do the same. When the flames of anger flare up, we tend to lash out at those who have watered our seeds of anger. It is like finding our house on fire, and instead of putting out the flames, chasing those we think started it. Arguing with others only waters the seeds of anger in us. When anger rises, return to yourself and use the energy of mindfulness to embrace, soothe, and illuminate it. Do not think you will feel better if you can make the other person suffer, too.

–Thich Nhat Hanh, from Teachings on Love (Parallax Press)

Be Happy Now

2009-04-04T07:55:00.001-04:00

You Can Be Happy Right Now

Many of us think that happiness is not possible in the present moment. Most of us believe that there are a few more conditions that need to be met before we can be happy. This is why we are sucked into the future and are not capable of being present in the here and now. This is why we step over many of the wonders of life.

–Thich Nhat Hanh, from Be Where You Are (Parallax Press)

Should?

2009-03-25T22:28:00.001-04:00

One Reason We Get Angry

The trigger for much of our anger is frustrated expectation. We sometimes invest so much of ourselves in a project that when it doesn't turn out as it should we become irate. All 'shoulds' point to an expectation, a prediction for the future. We might have realized by now that the future is uncertain, unpredictable. Relying too much on an expectation for the future, a 'should', is asking for trouble.

–Ajahn Brahm, from Opening the Door of your Heart (Lothian Books)

Let Go and Keep Your Balance

2009-03-09T10:55:00.001-04:00

It is important to realize that to identify oneself as a meditator or a spiritual person or even a Buddhist can be another way to get caught or lose one's true balance. This is like carrying a raft on your head instead of using it for a vehicle to the other shore. The purpose of meditation is not to create a new spiritual identity, nor to become the most meditative person on the block, who tells other people how they should live. To practice is to let go.

--Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, from Seeking the Heart of Wisdom

Cyrano de Bergerac

2009-02-24T17:08:00.001-05:00

To sing, to laugh, to dream,
To walk in my own way and be alone,/Free, with an eye to see things as they are,

A voice that means manhood - to cock my hat/Where I choose - At a word, a Yes, a No,

To fight - or write. To travel any road/Under the sun, under the stars, nor doubt

If fame or fortune lie beyond the bourne -/Never to make a line I have not heard

In my own heart; yet, with all modesty/To say: "My soul, be satisfied with flowers,

With fruit, with weeds even; but gather them/In one garden you may call your own."

So when I win some triumph, by some chance,/Render no share to Caeser.

In a word, I am too proud to be a parasite./And if my nature wants the germ that grows

Towering to heaven like a mountain pine,/Or like the oak sheltering multitudes.

I stand not high it may be – but alone!

One's True Abode

2009-02-06T12:25:00.001-05:00

Dwelling in one's true abode, unconcerned with this and that, the river flows tranquilly and the flowers are red.

-Kakuan
Chinese, 12th century

Planetwalker

2009-02-02T22:41:00.001-05:00

17 years of silence, 22 years of walking.

From the book, Planetwalker, by John Francis:

"It seems that all change begins unseen or at least unnoticed in the journey that we call life."

"Kindness, I have discovered, can come from the most unlikely people in the most unlikely circumstances, making it all the more meaningful."

"On this tiny planet,and in this precious moment, we have the chance to live in peace together."

"Everybody should take a piece of the earth and walk in the spirit of peace, courageously encountering whatever they find."

Imagination!

2009-01-28T12:42:00.001-05:00

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

-- Albert Einstein

This makes it sound so easy!

2009-01-04T10:14:00.001-05:00

Becoming a buddha

There is a simple way to become a buddha: When you refrain from unwholesome action, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no designing thoughts or worries, you will be called a buddha. Do not seek anything else.
--Zen Master Dogen, Moon in a Dewdrop, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi

from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

DESTINY

2008-12-19T21:00:00.001-05:00

"It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection."

Quoted from the Bhagavad Gita in Eat Pray Love.

Chai Cookies

2008-12-13T18:01:00.001-05:00

Ingredients

Base recipe:

2 sticks butter
1 1/3 cups dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt into the creamed butter and blend well adding water last. Make into 24 even balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.

Alternate flavors:

Chai Cookies:

1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup crystalized ginger, chopped

Sift cardamom and pepper with flour and fold chopped crystalized ginger in at the end.

Coffee Cookies:

2 tablespoons instant espresso

Cream butter, sugar and espresso, then add sifted flour mixture.

Reduced-Guilt Apple Crisp

2008-11-30T16:04:00.003-05:00

Juicy Apple Crisp Apples never let you down: You can get them year-round, and you can use just about any variety in this quintessential always-works dessert. With this kind of dependability, who needs chocolate?

1/2 cup regular oats
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon thawed apple juice concentrate
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 cups sliced peeled Granny Smith apple (about 2 pounds) (Sue used macintosh)
1/4 cup thawed apple juice concentrate, undiluted
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup vanilla light ice cream

Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine first 6 ingredients; set aside.

Combine the granulated sugar, cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt.

Place the apple slices in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish, and sprinkle with the cornstarch mixture.

Pour 1/4 cup juice concentrate and water over the apple mixture.
Top with the oat mixture.

Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Let stand for 15 minutes. Serve with ice cream.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup apple crisp and 2 tablespoons ice cream)

CALORIES 258 (16% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 2.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.5g); IRON 1.2mg; CHOLESTEROL 10mg; CALCIUM 56mg; CARBOHYDRATE 55.2g; SODIUM 101mg; PROTEIN 2.2g; FIBER 3.4g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2001

Sue's notes: I put extra topping on. I didn't have concentrate juice, or cider, or anything, so I used the juice from a can of peaches (pear juice). That worked great. We didn't have ice cream either, but we'll get some.

original post:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=printerFriendly&recipe_id=222976

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-29T13:05:00.005-05:00

We enjoyed our annual gathering in New Hampshire. We had lots of Computer Fun.

Turkey
Blintzes--The Video
Community Cooking
Very Many Computers
Animoto and Photoshop ... (For everything else... there's mastercard!)

Sandy, we hope you enjoyed the day!

Near Enemies

2008-11-19T08:02:00.001-05:00

Near Enemies

The near enemies are qualities that arise in the mind and masquerade as genuine spiritual realization, when in fact they are only an imitation, serving to separate us from true feeling rather than connecting us to it. . . .

The near enemy of loving-kindness is attachment. . . . At first, attachment may feel like love, but as it grows it becomes more clearly the opposite, characterized by clinging, controlling and fear.

The near enemy of compassion is pity, and this also separates us. Pity feels sorry for "that poor person over here," as if he were somehow different from us. . . .

The near enemy of sympathetic joy (the joy in the happiness of others) is comparison, which looks to see if we have more of, the same as, or less than another. . . .

The near enemy of equanimity is indifference. True equanimity is balance in the midst of experience, whereas indifference is withdrawal and not caring, based on fear. . . .

If we do not recognize and understand the near enemies, they will deaden our spiritual practice. The compartments they make cannot shield us for long from the pain and unpredictability of life, but they will surely stifle the joy and open connectedness of true relationships.

- Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart

Dharamsala Recipe Blog

2008-11-18T12:42:00.003-05:00

Thanks to the Global-Lab Trekkers for this link to a blog of recipes from India.

Follow the links, and you might even find chai!

http://www.aambrosia.typepad.com/

Grandma Karash's Raisin Bread

2008-11-16T17:31:00.001-05:00

Great Grandmother Theresa Karash's Raisin Bread

Ingredients:

yeast

1 1/2 cup milk

sugar

1/8 lb butter

5 1/2 cups flour

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

salt

1 box of raisins

Kitchen stuff:

saucepan

big bowl

two loaf pans

Directions, as recorded by Sandra Karash...

Start yeast in a little water with 1 tsp sugar.

Warm 1 1/2 cup milk in pan on stove.

Add 1/8 lb butter (1/2 stick) to milk in pan.

Heat until butter melts.

Put 2 cups flour in big bowl.

Add yeast and water to flour.

Add milk and butter to flour.

Stir to moisten all the flour.

Let 3 eggs come to room temperature.

Beat the 3 eggs with egg beater, and add 1 tsp vanilla.

Add 1 tsp salt to dough in big bowl.

Add 1 cup sugar to dough.

Add egg mixture to dough.

Mix in by hand. (There must be a better way!)

Add 3 1/2 cups sifted flour.

Mix by hand (again!) until dough doesn't stick to hand as much.

Add 1 box of raisins, which have been plumped over steam.

Grease two loaf pans well!

Put dough into pans, filling 1/3 full.

Cover with warm lid. Let rise until 2/3 full.

Put dough into warm oven for 15 minutes until it fills pan.

Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes: Bake at 250 about 25 minutes, then raise heat to 275 for 20-25 minutes more until it is brown.

Take bread out and place on soft surface (pillow) after removing from pan.

Grandma Karash's Blintzes

2008-11-16T17:29:00.001-05:00

Grandma Karash's Blintzes

Pancakes:
4 eggs
3 cups flour
4 cups milk
1 t. salt (teaspoon?)

Filling:
32 oz. cottage cheese (I remember that we were supposed to get "dry cottage cheese") [Sue notes that 'I currently use low fat ricotta, and drain it briefly in a strainer.]
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 t. salt
butter for the pan

Steps:
- Take chill off milk, mix 2 c. milk with eggs
- slowly add flour to liquid (and salt!)
- gradually add rest of milk...
- cook pancakes crepe style !!

- mix filing ingredients after straining cottage cheese (just excess liquid)
- place in center of pancake by tablespoonfull
- fold up, then saute in butter
- bake 1/2 hour in 350° oven

Chai with Prerna

2008-11-16T17:28:00.000-05:00

Today's recipe

For 1 cup:

1/3 cup water and 2/3 cup 1% milk (If using skim milk, just use 1 cup skim milk)

boil on stove in pot with

1 tsp Taj Mahal Tea Powder per cup (or 2 tea bags per cup. they are weaker)

Add the following spices while boiling

1 clove (crushed up) per cup

2 pinches cardamom powder

1 small slice of fresh ginger (2 slices if you LOVE ginger)

OR... instead of all the spices, use 2 pinches of tea masala

Boil that til you get the right color. (whick is kind of a nice tan. Think Carribbean for about 3 days with proper sunscreen.)

Strain into your cup using a nifty tea strainer.

Add sugar to taste.

Watch for the book "Chai with Prerna"... coming soon.

:-)

Blog Transformation

2008-11-16T17:21:00.003-05:00

This blog is adding a new dimension: recipes. Whoa!

My life has been plagued by this problem for years... I cook something I like, then I want to make it again, and...

which web site was it on?
which cookbook was it in?
did i make changes?
omg. I am in New Hampshire, and I don't have that book!
isn't it on a card in the pantry in Boxboro?

I am solving ALL of those problems with one single word: BLOG!

So, I'm entering recipes into the blog now. Whoppee!

Family recipes
Indian recipes
Vegetarian recipes
Crock-pot (not crackpot), aka 'slow cooker' recipes
Anything I might want to make again somewhere else

Welcome to the newest department of the blog:

Sues Stews!

masala dosa

2008-11-14T17:08:00.001-05:00

Ingredients Needed:

Dosa batter for dosas

Potato Masala (serves for 4)

Potatoes - 250 gms
Onions - 3 big
Salt to taste
Water - 1 cup
Oil - 2 tsp

For seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urud Dal - 1/2 tsp
Bengal Gram - 1 tsp
Cashew Nuts - 5 whole broken to 4 pieces.
Green chillies - 4-5 depending on the variety
Ginger - 1"
Curry leaves few
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method to prepare:

Cook potatoes in pressure cooker till its soft. Peel skin and let it cool

Chop onions into juliennes. Heat a kadai with oil. Once its hot, add all the seasoning ingredients except coriander. Sauté well. Once its splutters, add onions. Add salt and simmer and let it fry for 2 mins. When you find the onions turning translucent, smash the potatoes with palm and crumble it to the oil. This way you will have few big chunks and few mashed potatoes.

Keep sautéing and cook on high flame for 2 mins.Ensure it doesn't get burnt. Then simmer and add water. Adjust salt and let it cook for 5 mins. Finally garnish with chopped coriander..

Note: Extra onions add more taste to this masala. And also should not add too much of water since this is going to on top of a Dosa!

[from: http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2008/01/masala-dosa-101-dosa-varieties.html]

Running Commentary

2008-10-31T18:38:00.001-04:00

A . . . great distraction at times are so-called "running commentary" thoughts such as, "Now I am not thinking of anything," "Things are going very well now," "This is dreadful; my mind just won't stay still" and the like . . . . All such thoughts should simply be noted as "Thinking," and, as Huang Po says, just "dropped like a piece of rotten wood." "Dropped," notice, not thrown down. A piece of rotten wood is not doing anything to irritate you, but is just of no use, so there is no point in hanging on to it. . . . Nor is there any need to try to retrace the links in a chain of associated thoughts, nor to try to ascertain what it was that first started the chain. Any such impulse should itself be noted simply as "Thinking," and the mind should revert to the breathing. However badly things have just been going, one should take up again at the only place one can--where one is--and go on from there.

--Bhikkhu Mangalo, The Practice of Recollection

Blah

2008-10-22T10:56:00.002-04:00

Glurg is tired. He wants a new island. Glurg has been waiting a long time for a bus that is not coming. Because there is no public transit on Glurg's Island.

Glurg's cousin, Blurg, is busy. Oh so busy with this and that, and nothing really. But lots of it, and so Blurg doesn't notice that she has no transit.

Glurg is going to figure out how to find a new island. Glurg is tired.

Self-Discipline = Patience?

2008-10-20T08:47:00.001-04:00

Self-Discipline

Discipline is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you're wrong. But self-discipline is different. It's the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It's all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won't do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up--restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain--just watch it come up and don't get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience.

--Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

I will try this today to ward off chocolate cravings, and cookie ambushes, and kheer obsessions.

Buddhavision - in 3D

2008-10-04T12:37:00.000-04:00

Buddhavision
See everybody as the Buddha. When you are stuck in a traffic jam on the Los Angeles freeway, can you look at all the other drivers, particularly the ones who are weaving in and out of lanes, and see them as the Buddha? In a work situation, if you have a particularly cantankerous boss who you think is a complete idiot, can you look at that person as the Buddha? As a manager, can you see the person who is working for you as the Buddha?

--Gerry Shishin Wick Sensei, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review Summer 1996
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

Finding the truth...

2008-08-31T08:40:00.000-04:00

What Happens to Most Pieces of Truth

One day Mara, the Buddhist god of ignorance and evil, was traveling through the villages of India with his attendants. He saw a man doing walking meditation whose face was lit up in wonder. The man had just discovered something on the ground in front of him. Mara's attendants asked what that was and Mara replied, "A piece of truth." "Doesn't this bother you when someone finds a piece of the truth, O evil one?" his attendants asked. "No," Mara replied. "Right after this they usually make a belief out of it."

-Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield, in Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

Quotecard Postcard #15

2008-08-22T19:29:00.001-04:00

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, in Irving Good, The Scientist Speculates (1962)
US (Hungarian-born) biochemist (1893 - 1986)

Practice... makes practice...

2008-07-30T09:01:00.001-04:00

Practice can be stated very simply. It is moving from a life of hurting myself and others to a life of not hurting myself and others. That seems so simple--except when we substitute for real practice some idea that we should be different or better than we are, or that our lives should be different from the way they are. When we substitute our ideas about what should be (such notions as "I should not be angry or confused or unwilling") for our life as it truly is, then we're off base and our practice is barren.

-- Charlotte Joko Beck

Words you don't want to hear... or do you?

2008-07-05T11:04:00.003-04:00

"It's probably not cancer."

When your doctor says this to you....

Well, it's not entirely comforting. You came in for a routine check up, the usual advice about fiber, exercise, and weight management. And you get "It's probably not cancer".

Now you weren't even thinking about mortality. Your To Do List is immense, and you don't really have time to consider the possibility that you might be derailed with a series of traumas and treatments, or even demise. No way. You've got places to go, parcels to mail, correspondence long overdue.

So "It's probably not cancer", and you're off to the lab. Some extra poking and prodding. Stay tuned for results. In a week. Or so.

What goes on in the mind in that week. "It's PROBABLY not cancer." No need to worry actually. But it COULD be. And who even knew it was a maybe?? Hmmm. What if it WAS cancer. What would I do? Would I be fretting about this deadline? or would I be off playing frisbee with my kids? or walking in the woods (with or without them?)? Or just sitting on the beach and watching the immensity of the ocean?

And if I wouldn't be doing this if it WAS cancer.... then why am I doing it if it ISN'T?

Hmmm. Pondering whether I am celebrating this day as the treasure it is. Pondering whether I'd rather be ..... (everyone can complete that sentence!)

So. Those comforting (?) words bring life to full stop again. It COULD be cancer. The end COULD be near. This day IS a treasure. My kids ARE glorious, and every minute with them (laughter and tears) is precious.

And I am thankful for those words that detour my mind. I am grateful for a moment of full stop. Look around. Celebrate. Pause. Breathe.

A week later.... "It's just a minor condition called (complicated and incomprehansible latin name with many syllables)." Aaahh. Fine. That's great. I have a lot on my To Do List, and really don't have time for any kind of traumas and treatments. I've got a deadline to meet.

Happiness

2008-06-17T08:34:00.001-04:00

The Right to Happiness

Whether people are beautiful and friendly or unattractive and disruptive, ultimately they are human beings, just like oneself. Like oneself, they want happiness and do not want suffering. Furthermore, their right to overcome suffering and be happy is equal to one's own.... When you recognize that all beings are equal in both their desire for happiness and their right to obtain it, you automatically feel empathy and closeness for them. Through accustoming your mind to this sense of universal altruism, you develop a feeling of responsibility for others: the wish to help them actively overcome their problems. Nor is this wish selective; it applies equally to all.

--The Dalai Lama, Compassion and the Individual

You decide...

2008-06-13T09:08:00.000-04:00

"What happens to us in life is for God to decide. Whether to be happy or not—that is our choice."

The above is a quote from the novel Enlightenment for Idiots. Here is a review from Tricycle magazine. If you read it, leave a comment!

An unplanned pregnancy, a rocky romance, an unsatisfying job, and a milestone birthday: Amanda, the intrepid twenty-nine-year-old heroine of ENLIGHTENMENT FOR IDIOTS (Random House, 2008, $24.00 cloth, 384 pp.), has got a lot on her plate even before a spiritual pilgrimage gets thrown into the mix. When Amanda receives an assignment to write a travel guide for aspiring awakened ones, she finds herself in India, looking for love—and gurus—in all the wrong places. Written by Tricycle contributing editor and yoga teacher Anne Cushman, Enlightenment for Idiots traces, with witty flair, Amanda's encounters with heartbreak, culture shock, yoga, and a kooky traveling companion named Devi Das. The novel's warmhearted spirit is captured in the advice Amanda receives from a friendly waiter: "What happens to us in life is for God to decide. Whether to be happy or not—that is our choice."

What's the difference between heaven and hell?

2008-06-13T09:05:00.001-04:00

A Visit to Heaven and Hell

I once heard a story about a visit to heaven and hell. In bothplaces the visitor saw many people seated at a table on whichmany delicious foods were laid out. In both places chopsticks over a meter long were tied to their right hands, while their left hands weretied to their chairs.

In hell, however much they stretched out theirarms, the chopsticks were too long for them to get food into theirmouths. They grew impatient and got their hands andchopsticks tangled with one another's. The delicacies werescattered here and there.

In heaven, on the other hand, people happily used the longchopsticks to pick out someone else's favorite food and feed it tohim, and in turn they were being fed by others. They all enjoyedtheir meal in harmony.

--Shundo Aoyama, Zen Seeds

Lights Out?

2008-05-11T19:28:00.001-04:00

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.

Albert Schweitzer

Appreciating our troublemakers...

2008-04-21T10:06:00.001-04:00

Be Grateful to Everyone

Work on taking and sending with these considerations in mind:

In general, all methods for attaining buddhahood rely on sentient beings. Therefore, to the individual who wishes to awaken, sentient beings are as worthy of gratitude as buddhas. Specifically, all sentient beings are worthy of gratitude since there is not one who has not been my parent. In particular, all those who hurt me are worthy of gratitude since they are my companions and helpers for gathering the accumulations of merit and pristine wisdom and for clearing away the obscurations of disturbing emotions and conceptual knowledge.
Do not be angry, not even at a dog or an insect. Strive to give whatever actual help you can. If you cannot help, then think and say:
May this sentient being (or troublemaker) quickly be rid of pain and enjoy happiness. May he come to attain buddhahood.

Arouse bodhicitta:

From now on, all the virtuous acts I do shall be for his welfare.

When a god or a demon troubles you, think:

This trouble now occurs because I, from time without beginning, have made trouble for him. Now I shall give him my flesh and blood in recompense.

Imagine the one who troubles you to be present in front of you and mentally give him your body as you say:

Here, revel in my flesh and blood and whatever else you want.
Meditate with complete conviction that this troublemaker enjoys your flesh and blood, and is filled with pure happiness, and arouse the two kinds of bodhicitta in your mind. Or:

Because I had let mindfulness and other remedies lapse, disturbing emotions arose without my noticing them. Since this troublemaker has now warned me of this, he is certainly an expression of my guru or a buddha. I'm very grateful to him because he has stimulated me to train in bodhicitta.

Or, when illness or suffering comes, think with complete sincerity:

If this hadn't happened, I would have been distracted by materialistic involvements and would not have maintained mindfulness of dharma. Since this has brought dharma to my attention again, it is the guru's or the jewels' activity, and I am very grateful.

To sum up, whoever thinks and acts out of a concern to achieve his or her own well-being is a worldly person; whoever thinks and acts out of a concern to achieve the well-being of others is a dharma person. Langri-tangpa has said:

I open to you as deep a teaching as there is. Pay attention! All faults are our own. All good qualities Are the lords', sentient beings. The point here is: give gain and victory to others, take loss and defeat for ourselves. Other than this, there is nothing to understand.

From The Great Path of Awakening : An Easily Accessible Introduction for Ordinary People by Jamgon Kongtrul, translated by Ken McLeod. Copyright 1993 by Ken McLeod.
Published by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston.

Eightfold Path

2008-02-19T11:52:00.001-05:00

The Eightfold Path of Right Views, Right Thoughts, Right Speech, Right Conduct [Action], Right Livelihood, Right Effort or Lifestyle, Right Recollection [Mindfulness], and Right Meditation [Concentration] was preached by the Buddha to his first five disciples at Benares, and it remains for us the basic guide for our lives as Buddhists. It begins with Right Views and ends with Right Meditation, but each element of the path depends on all others, so really there is no first step and no last step. The key word is right, from words in Sanskrit and Chinese that mean upright, straight, right, correct. Finding what is upright in attitude, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and meditation, and then doing it - this is our life work.

-Robert Aitken, Encouraging Words
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

What's the Rush?

2008-02-13T11:31:00.002-05:00

Most of the time we go through the day, through our activities, our work, our relationships, our conversations, and very rarely do we ground ourselves in an awareness of our bodies. We are lost in our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, our stories, our plans.

A very simple guide or check on this state of being lost is to pay attention to those times when you feel like you are rushing. Rushing does not have to do with speed. You can rush moving slowly, and you can rush moving quickly. We are rushing when we feel as if we are toppling forward. Our minds run ahead of ourselves; they are out there where we want to get to, instead of being settled back in our bodies. The feeling of rushing is good feedback. Whenever we are not present, right then, in that situation, we should stop and take a few deep breaths. Settle into the body again. Feel yourself sitting. Feel the step of a walk. Be in your body.

The Buddha made a very powerful statement about this: Mindfulness of the body leads to nirvana. Such awareness is not a superficial practice. Mindfulness of the body keeps us present.

-Joseph Goldstein, Transforming the Mind, Healing the World
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

How to be angry....

2008-02-10T15:31:00.000-05:00

[This post is quoted from the blog at Wildmind.org, where they have wonderful online meditation courses, and inspiring resources. I found it a real paradigm shift to consider HOW to be angry, rather than find ways to annihilate anger. I hope you find it useful as well. -- your blogger pal]

Once when I was listening to the Dalai Lama talk in Edinburgh, he was asked a question that went something like this: “You keep talking about changing the world through meditation and compassion, but isn’t anger faster?” His Holiness answered to the effect that it’s precisely because anger acts so swiftly that we have to be wary of it.

His Holiness’s reply reveals Buddhism’s ambivalent attitude to the emotion of anger. Anger’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact it can accomplish a lot of good in the world. Anger can simply be a passionate response to something that we know in our hearts is wrong. His Holiness has himself admitted that he frequently feels angry when he thinks about injustice, and particularly the way that the Communist Chinese have treated his homeland and his people. It’s natural — and even right — for us to feel anger in such circumstances. We’d scarcely be human if we didn’t.

At the same time, anger can be such a powerful force that we lose our mindfulness and find that
the heart has become filled with ill will or hatred, which is a desire to hurt others. We move from being angry to wanting to punish or wanting revenge. Just as the Dalai Lama says he experiences anger towards the Chinese, he also says he holds no hatred for them in his heart.

Hatred, with its inherent desire to hurt and damage others is never seen in Buddhist practice as being an appropriate response. Anger may be passionate and fiery, but it simply wants to remove an obstacle or to change things for the better, not to hurt.

Yet although anger and hatred are different emotions — one potentially skillful, the other very definitely unskillful — many people fail to see the distinction. The experience of being angry — the sense of physical arousal, the quickened pulse, the tingling in the hands as we prepare for action — is in many ways very similar to the experience of hatred. And anger, once aroused, can easily lead to the less healthy emotion of hatred, just as a campfire can lead to a forest conflagration.

So how can we teach children — and ourselves — to experience anger in a healthy way? Here are seven steps to a healthier relationship with anger.

First, we can learn to accept that anger is a normal, healthy, and potentially creative form of energy. Too often we’ve been taught, as Abbott suggests, that anger is something to be avoided and believe that we’ve failed when anger has stirred. When we try to confine our anger it’s inclined to burst out uncontrollably, or to gnaw us away from the inside, as resentment. When we accept our anger we can relate to it in a more healthy way.
Second, breathe! Create a sense of space between you and your emotions by breathing deeply into the belly. Connecting with the body helps stop our emotions spiraling out of control, keeps them in perspective, and helps us to calm down so that we don’t do or say anything rash. If you’re angry when you receive an email, don’t reply at once but wait until you’ve had time to quiet your mind and reflect more calmly.
Third, we can appreciate that our anger is our anger. Other people don’t make us angry. Our anger is not their fault. Our anger, rather, is our response to our interpretation of our experience. We need to own our anger and to see that it’s something we’ve given rise to, ourselves.
Fourth, we can learn to recognize the difference between anger and hatred. To do this requires a great deal of introspective practice, especially since it’s harder to be mindful when our energy is aroused in anger. We have to examine our motivations, our thoughts, and our words: Do we have a desire to hurt? Do we use belittling, condescending, or insulting language? Are we fixated on winning at any cost? Do we distort the truth? Do we still feel a basic sense of sympathy, friendliness, and compassion towards our opponent?
Fifth, we can acknowledge our hurt. Often anger arises in response to a sense of hurt. Even when someone else has suffered an injustice, this can lead to a sense of hurt arising in our own experience. And that in turn can lead to anger. When we mindfully acknowledge the sense of hurt that we ourselves are experiencing we find that we’re less inclined to lash out.
Sixth, we have to be prepared to let go of our anger. Healthy anger arises quickly and departs quickly. It doesn’t hang around and fester.
Seventh, and lastly, we can cultivate lovingkindness in our meditation practice and in daily life. As we go about our daily activities we can repeat phrases such as “May you be well; may you be happy; may you live in peace.” The basic sense of sympathy that this practice helps cultivate makes it easier to avoid anger in the first place and makes it possible for us to experience anger “cleanly,” without it slipping into hatred.

These seven steps can help us to experience anger less frequently, less intensely, and more cleanly. Rather than experiencing anger as a destructive force we can use it creatively. Rather than our anger hurting people it can become a powerful tool for putting our compassion into action.

What is karma, anyway?

2008-01-28T14:53:00.001-05:00

In simple terms, what does karma mean? It means that whatever we do, with our body, speech, or mind, will have a corresponding result. Each action, even the smallest, is pregnant with its consequences. It is said by the masters that even a little poison can cause death, and even a little seed can become a huge tree. And as Buddha said: "Do not overlook negative actions merely because they are small; however small a spark may be, it can burn down a haystack as big as a mountain." Similarly he said: "Do not overlook tiny good actions, thinking they are of no benefit; even tiny drops of water in the end will fill a huge vessel." Karma does not decay like external things, or ever become inoperative. It cannot be destroyed "by time, fire, or water." Its power will never disappear, until it is ripened.

- Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying from Everyday Mind,

Even Though You are Distracted, if You can do it, it is Still Mind Training

2008-01-21T07:57:00.001-05:00

What does he mean by 'if you can do it?' This is of great importance. If you can be attentive to your inattention, if you can be aware that you have fallen into the trap of the negative, it is still meditation, it is still mind training, you are still growing.

Yes, many times you will fall, it is natural. And many times you will forget, it is natural. And many times you will be trapped and it will take time for you to remember. But the moment you remember, remember TOTALLY. Wake up totally and say "I have fallen".

And see the difference: If you ask the ordinary religious person he will say "Repent- punish yourself." But Atisha is saying: if you are attentive, that's enough. Be attentive to your inattention, be aware that you have not been aware, that's all. No repentance is needed... To fall many times is not something to feel guilty about. To commit errors, to go astray, is part of our human frailty and limitations. So there is no need to repent.

Repentance is ugly. It is like playing with your wound, fingering your wound. It is unnecessary, and not only unnecessary but harmful - the wound may become septic, and fingering the wound is not going to help it heal either.

If you have fallen, just know that you have fallen, with no guilt, with no repentance. There is no need to go anywhere to confess it, just knowing it is enough. And knowing it, you are helping your awareness to grow. Less and less will you fall, because knowing will become more and more strong in you.

From The Book of Wisdom : Discourses on Atisha`s Seven Points of Mind Training, by Osho
Used by kind permission of Osho Foundation International

Hidden wealth?

2008-01-07T12:25:00.000-05:00

Imagine a very poor man living in a decrepit little shanty, the only thing he owns in the world. What he does not know is that just beneath his shanty, but hidden in the dirt, is an inexhaustible vein of gold. As long as he remains ignorant of his hidden wealth, this pauper remains in poverty; but when he attends more closely to his own dwelling, he is bound to discover his own fathomless wealth. Similarly, all we need to do is unveil our own nature, and we will find an inexhaustible source of wisdom, compassion, and power. It is nothing we need to acquire, from anywhere or anything. It has always been there. Seen in this light, the Buddha-nature requires no additions. One does not have to memorize sutras, recite prayers or accumulate virtues to create it. All one needs to do is unveil it.

--B. Alan Wallace, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up

Guerilla Bagging!

2008-01-05T14:41:00.001-05:00

Let's do something positive to reduce the hideous number of plastic bags being used - 1 million are consumed per minute globally - of which hundreds of thousands end up in the oceans.

The idea is to get together with people in your local community, enjoy beverage and conversation, and make reusable cloth bags (from old duvet covers, curtains from charity shops etc) and hand them out to the unsuspecting public for free on specified dates outside different supermarkets. (That's the guerilla part. No. Not gorillas.)

Meet new people, do something marvellous for the planet and beat other pods (groups) of baggers with your morsbag tally.

Go to www.morsbags.com to be a part of a wonderful thing!

p.s. non-commercial/ non-profitable - just full of beneficial things for everyone, especially whales!

I'm thinking of starting a pod of morsbaggers... to save a pod of whales.

Doctor WHO?

2007-12-08T09:14:00.001-05:00

Doctor Buddha, of course...

Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. If anything at all, it is realistic, for it takes a realistic view of life and of the world. It looks at things objectively. It does not falsely lull you into living in a fool's paradise, nor does it frighten and agonize you with all kinds of imaginary fears and sins. It tells you exactly and objectively what you are and what the world around you is, and shows you the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness. One physician may gravely exaggerate an illness and give up hope altogether. Another may ignorantly declare that there is no illness and that no treatment is necessary, thus deceiving the patient with false consolation. You may call the first one pessimistic and the second optimistic. Both are equally dangerous. But a third physician diagnoses the symptoms correctly, understands the cause and the nature of the illness, sees clearly that it can be cured and courageously administers a course of treatment, thus saving his patient. The Buddha is like the last physician. He is the wise and scientific doctor for the ills of the world.

- Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught from Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith

What seeds are resting in the desert of your mind?

2007-11-30T09:01:00.001-05:00

How is it that harmful results follow from harmful actions? It is by the force of an imprint placed on our mind that the potential to experience future suffering comes about. For example, a person who commits murder plants a very strong negative impression on his or her own mind and that impression, or seed, carries with it the potential to place that mind in a state of extreme misery. Unless the impression of that non-virtuous action is purified this latent seed will remain implanted in the mind, its power dormant but unimpaired. When the appropriate circumstances are eventually met, the potential power of this impression will be activated and the seed will ripen as an experience of intense suffering. . . . The situation is analogous to that of an arid piece of ground into which seeds were placed a long time ago. As long as these seeds are not destroyed somehow, they will retain their potential to grow. Should the ground be watered sufficiently these long-forgotten seeds will suddenly sprout forth. In a similar fashion our karmic actions plant their seeds in the field of our consciousness and when we encounter the proper conditions these seeds will sprout and bear their karmic fruit.

- Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Meaningful to Behold from Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith

I am what I think. (and you can too!)

2007-11-22T12:59:00.001-05:00

In a well-known phrase, the Buddha said, Hatred can never cease by
hatred. Hatred can only cease by love. This is an eternal law. We can
begin to transcend the cycle of aversion when we can stop seeing
ourselves personally as agents of revenge. Ultimately, all beings are
the owners of their own karma. If someone has caused harm, they will
suffer. If we have caused harm, we will suffer. As the Buddha said in
the Dhammapada:

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
and trouble will follow you
as the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart...
Speak or act with a pure mind
and happiness will follow you
as your shadow, unshakable.

Happiness and unhappiness depend on our actions.

--Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindness
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

Does this work for you?

2007-11-20T10:25:00.001-05:00

Begin the Development of Taking With Yourself

You cannot do anything with others that you have not done in the first
place with yourself. you can hurt others if you have hurt yourself,
you will be a pain in the neck to others if you are a pain in the neck
to yourself, you can be a blessing to others only if you are a
blessing to yourself.
..
Rather than starting by taking the whole misery of the world and
absorbing it into your heart, start with your own misery. Don't go
into the deep sea so fast; learn swimming in shallow water... You can
say to yourself "Yes, I am taking the misery of the whole world" - but
what do you know of the misery of the whole world? You have not
experienced even your own misery.

We go on avoiding our own misery. If you feel miserable, you put on
the radio or the TV and you become engaged. You start reading the
newspaper so that you can forget your misery, or you go to the movies,
or you go to your woman or your man...just somehow to keep yourself
away from yourself, so that you need not look at how much it hurts
within.

First, you have to begin with yourself. If you are feeling miserable,
let it become a meditation. Sit silently, close the doors. First feel
the misery with as much intensity as possible. Feel the hurt. Somebody
has insulted you: now, the best way to avoid the hurt is to go and
insult him, so that you become occupied with him. This is not
meditation.
..
If somebody has insulted you, feel thankful to him that he has given
you the opportunity to feel a deep wound...Just close the room, sit
silently, with no anger for the person but with total awareness of the
feeling that is arising in you - the hurt feeling that you have been
rejected, that you have been insulted. And then you will be surprised
that not only is this man there: all the people who have ever insulted
you will start moving in your memory... Stop all occupation, because
that too is a subtle drug. Just be silent, utterly alone. Don't even
pray, because that again is a drug, you are becoming occupied, you
start talking to God, you start praying, you escape from yourself.

Atisha is saying: just be yourself. Whatsoever the pain of it and
whatsoever the suffering of it, just let it be so. First experience it
in its total intensity. It will be difficult, it will be
heart-rending: you may start crying like a child, you may start
rolling on the ground in deep pain, your body may go through
contortions. You may suddenly become aware that the pain is not only
in the heart, it is all over the body - that it is aching all over,
that it is painful all over, that the body is nothing but pain.

If you can experience it - this is of tremendous importance - then
start absorbing it...Absorb it, drink it, accept it, welcome it, feel
grateful to it. It may take a few days for you to be able to digest
it, but the day it happens, you have stumbled upon a door which will
take you really far away. A new journey has started in your life, you
are moving into a new kind of being - because immediately, the moment
you accept the pain with no rejection anywhere, its energy and its
quality changes. It is no longer pain.

In fact one is simply surprised, one cannot believe it, it is so
incredible. One cannot believe that suffering can be transformed into
ecstasy, that pain can become joy.
..
Whenever anything is total it transforms into its opposite. This is a
great secret to be remembered...You will not believe it when it
happens the first time, that your own suffering absorbed willingly,
welcomingly, becomes a great blessing. The same energy that becomes
hate becomes love, the same energy that becomes pain becomes pleasure,
the same energy that becomes suffering becomes bliss.
..
Ride on the incoming breath and your small heart is bigger than the
whole universe, if you know what miracles it can do... Then let
blessings go riding on the outgoing breath to all the nooks and
corners of existence.

Atisha says: This is compassion. Compassion is to become a
transforming force in existence - transforming the ugly into the
beautiful, kissing the frog and transforming it into a prince,
transforming darkness into light. To become such a medium of
transformation is compassion.

From The Book of Wisdom : Discourses on Atisha`s
Seven Points of Mind Training, by Osho
Used by kind permission of Osho Foundation International

Pay ATTENTION!!!

2007-11-20T07:34:00.001-05:00

Nonviolence belongs to a continuum from the personal to the global,
and from the global to the personal. One of the most significant
Buddhist interpretations of nonviolence concerns the application of
this ideal to daily life. Nonviolence is not some exalted regimen that
can be practiced only by a monk or a master; it also pertains to the
way one interacts with a child, vacuums a carpet, or waits in line.
Besides the more obvious forms of violence, whenever we separate
ourselves from a given situation (for example, through
inattentiveness, negative judgments, or impatience), we kill something
valuable. However subtle it may be, such violence actually leaves
victims in its wake: people, things, one's own composure, the moment
itself. According to the Buddhist reckoning, these small-scale
incidences of violence accumulate relentlessly, are multiplied on a
social level, and become a source of the large-scale violence that can
sweep down upon us so suddenly. One need not wait until war is
declared and bullets are flying to work for peace, Buddhism teaches. A
more constant and equally urgent battle must be waged each day against
the forces of one's own anger, carelessness and self-absorption.

--Kenneth Kraft, Inner Peace, World Peace
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

Near Enemies

2007-11-19T08:10:00.001-05:00

The near enemies are qualities that arise in the mind and masquerade
as genuine spiritual realization, when in fact they are only an
imitation, serving to separate us from true feeling rather than
connecting us to it . . .

The near enemy of loving-kindness is attachment. At first, attachment
may feel like love, but as it grows it becomes more clearly the
opposite, characterized by clinging, controlling and fear.

The near enemy of compassion is pity, and this also separates us. Pity
feels sorry for that poor person over here, as if he were somehow
different from us . . .

The near enemy of sympathetic joy (the joy in the happiness of others)
is comparison, which looks to see if we have more of, the same as, or
less than another . . .

The near enemy of equanimity is indifference. True equanimity is
balance in the midst of experience, whereas indifference is withdrawal
and not caring, based on fear.

If we do not recognize and understand the near enemies, they will
deaden our spiritual practice. The compartments they make cannot
shield us for long from the pain and unpredictability of life, but
they will surely stifle the joy and open connectedness of true
relationships.

--Jack Kornfield, in A Path with Heart
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

The Emperor Has NO Clothes!!!

2007-11-09T10:52:00.001-05:00

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point
out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a
half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.

- Neil Gaiman

Analysis Paralysis?

2007-10-31T19:42:00.001-04:00

A . . . great distraction at times are so-called "running commentary" thoughts such as, "Now I am not thinking of anything," "Things are going very well now," "This is dreadful; my mind just won't stay still" and the like . . . . All such thoughts should simply be noted as "Thinking," and, as Huang Po says, just "dropped like a piece of rotten wood." "Dropped," notice, not thrown down. A piece of rotten wood is not doing anything to irritate you, but is just of no use, so there is no point in hanging on to it. . . . Nor is there any need to try to retrace the links in a chain of associated thoughts, nor to try to ascertain what it was that first started the chain. Any such impulse should itself be noted simply as "Thinking," and the mind should revert to the breathing. However badly things have just been going, one should take up again at the only place one can--where one is--and go on from there.

- - Bhikkhu Mangalo, The Practice of Recollection

Toddler Mind,,,

2007-10-20T12:18:00.001-04:00

"Discipline" is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you're wrong. But self-discipline is different. It's the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It's all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won't do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up-restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain-just watch it come up and don't get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience.

- Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

Don't share your grumbly mind space. OK????

2007-10-17T12:14:00.001-04:00

Talking disparagingly about a third person is inviting the listener to share your grumbly mind space.

--Sylvia Boorstein

Where's Glurg when you need him?

2007-10-11T17:20:00.001-04:00

Where is Glurg? Does anybody know?

We last saw Glurg sitting quietly by a river in the Mango forest. Peaceful, forlorn, whistfully mourning lost love, gleefully soaking up the mango juice, softly whimpering, thriving on the warmth of new love, and quietly meditating. Yes, Glurg was having a party of attitudes in his brain. Not exactly a roller coaster... More of a mini-putt.

The ideas and feelings start off moving in some direction, bounce off a wall, get distracted by some quirky hump in the landscape, tumble through a pipe in the darkness, and end up 270 degrees in the other direction and a level down.

And nothing changes. Glurg is there. Thoughts bouncing and bumbling on the artificial turf of the mind.

On a good day, Glurg watches the bouncing just as if it were perky colored balls on the mini-putt course. On a bad day... Glurg gets stuck in the tunnel of darkness not knowhing why he is rolling downhill and curving unexpectedly.

Stuck. That's the epitome of the darkness. Locked onto the careening balls and bouncing around wildly, forgetting to manage the trajectories of the mind. Mindlessly rolling and surprised by every bounce and bump in the turf.

People We'd Rather Avoid...

2007-09-29T10:02:00.001-04:00

Metta (lovingkindness) is to be extended towards all beings and all manifestations, yet most of our difficulties lie with people. It is much easier to love birds, dogs, cats, and trees than it is to love people. Trees and animals don't answer back, but people do, so this is where our training commences. . . .

Sometimes people find they don't feel anything while practicing metta meditation. That is nothing to worry about; thoughts aimed often enough in the right direction eventually produce the feelings. All our sense contacts produce feelings. Thoughts are the sixth sense, and even if we are only thinking metta, eventually the feeling will arise. It is one means of helping us to gain this heart quality, but certainly not the only one.

In our daily activities all of us are confronted with other people and often with those whom we would rather avoid. These are our challenges, lessons and tests. If we consider them in that manner we won't be so irritated by these experiences. . . . When we realize that such a confrontation is exactly what we need at that moment in order to overcome resistance and negativity and substitute metta for those emotions, then we will be grateful for the opportunity.

- Ayya Khema, When the Iron Eagle Flies From Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

What I learned today

2007-09-19T21:00:00.000-04:00

Juggling clubs do not dent the ceiling.
or the floor.
When you juggle clubs, you should do it outside.
and not under a low awning.
Just because you can jugglie ONE club, does not mean you can juggle TWO. or more.
Toxic situations give a wonderful opportunity to develop patience, and compassion.
until you can implement Plan B. or Plan C.
Sometimes Plan B is very slow, and that gives you a chance to develop patience.
Happy endings are not all they're made out to be.
Happy middles are the best of all.
You can't really be a superhero without a cape.
and lycra.
A bicycle is 'mans best friend'. Dogs die. Bikes are forever.
If you're kind to someone, you'll feel happier inside. all day.
even if they didn't deserve it.
You can't have too many flutes.
or juggling balls.
or patience.
especially with yourself.

Garbage in, Roses out...

2007-09-09T10:09:00.001-04:00

Looking Deeply
Garbage can smell terrible, especially rotting organic matter. But it can also become rich compost for fertilizing the garden. The fragrant rose and the stinking garbage are two sides of the same existence. Without one, the other cannot be. Everything is in transformation. The rose that wilts after six days will become a part of the garbage. After six months the garbage is transformed into a rose. When we speak of impermanence, we understand that everything is in transformation. This becomes that, and that becomes this. Looking deeply, we can contemplate one thing and see everything else in it. We are not disturbed by change when we see the interconnectedness and continuity of all things. It is not that the life of any individual is permanent, but that life itself continues.

-Thich Nhat Hanh, in Present Moment, Wonderful Moment

The First Step...

2007-09-02T09:13:00.001-04:00

The first step... is to cut off the chain of associated concepts and words that flood the mind, holding it with recollection on the present, on what is. Thus, in a famous verse, the Buddha used to say,

Don't chase after the past,
Don't seek the future,
The past is gone
The future hasn't come
But see clearly on the spot
That object which is now
While finding and living in
A still, unmoving state of mind

- Bhikkhu Mangalo, The Practice of Recollection From Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith

Validation from the Glueless

2007-08-22T08:58:00.001-04:00

This just in, from a creative colleague of mine...

I've had my fingers in something creative ever since I was tall enough
to peek up over the top of a table---and for just about that long, I've
been bombarded by messages about how worthless those pursuits are to
the people around me. My family still thinks everything I do is a waste
of time.

As many of you know, I'm quite successful as a creative type.
Successful, despite being told by my nearest and dearest what a shame
it is I didn't do something more substantial with my life. My secret? I
don't listen to all that noise. I listen to my heart. If I like it, and
it makes me happy, it's a good thing. If I don't like it, I figure out
how to fix it, and it's still a good thing.

I never, ever listen to anyone else's opinion of my artwork. I don't
make it for them. I make it for me. If they don't get it, that's their
shortcoming, not mine. A simple "I'm sorry you don't understand it" is
usually all the reply that's necessary---and generally all they'll get
from me. I don't feel the need to justify my joy.

Don't look for validation from The Glueless. You are your own
validation. Make things, and be happy.

Lisa
Go Make Something - http://www.GoMakeSomething.com
Ten Two Studios - http://www.TenTwoStudios.com

What are you carrying?

2007-08-20T21:38:00.001-04:00

Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling. Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection. "Come on, girl," said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud. Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he told Tanzan, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?" "I left the girl there," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?"

-- Paul Reps, in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

When the flood comes....

2007-08-09T10:01:00.001-04:00

Even if your house is flooded or burnt to the ground, whatever the danger that threatens it, let it concern only the house. If there's a flood, don't let it flood your mind. If there's a fire, don't let it burn your heart, let it be merely the house, that which is external to you, that is flooded and burned. Allow the mind to let go of its attachments. The time is ripe.
--Ajahn Chah

Special Combo: Faith AND Wisdom!

2007-07-25T15:13:00.001-04:00

The Buddha compared faith to a blind giant who meets up with a very sharp-eyed cripple, called wisdom. The blind giant, called faith, says to the sharp-eyed cripple, "I am very strong, but I can't see; you are very weak, but you have sharp eyes. Come and ride on my shoulders. Together we will go far." The Buddha never supported blind faith, but a balance between heart and mind, between wisdom and faith. The two together will go far. The saying that blind faith can move mountains unfortunately omits the fact that, being blind, faith doesn't know which mountain needs moving. That's where wisdom is essential, which means that a thorough understanding of the teaching is crucial.
--Ayya Khema

Glurg, Glurg. GLURG!

2007-07-04T10:12:00.001-04:00

Glurg, Glurg, Glurg

In the long days of wandering without direction, Glurg found himself.

Yes. Glurg was there in the sticky, dripping mango juice. He was there in the loneliness of the afternoon heat. He was there in the crowded forest. He was there in the silence of the full moon and in the babbling of the brook. It was all Glurg. He was home.

"All who wander are not lost."

Positive Thoughts

2007-06-20T11:07:00.001-04:00

Positive actions are difficult and infrequent. It is hard to have positive thoughts when our minds are influenced by emotions and confused by adverse circumstances. Negative thoughts arise by themselves, and it is rare that we do a positive action whose motivation, execution, and conclusion are perfectly pure. If our stock of hard-won positive actions is rendered powerless in an instant of anger, the loss is immeasurably more serious than that of some more abundant resource.

--The Dalai Lama

Compassion...

2007-06-16T17:24:00.001-04:00

Whether people are beautiful and friendly or unattractive and disruptive, ultimately they are human beings, just like oneself. Like oneself, they want happiness and do not want suffering. Furthermore, their right to overcome suffering and be happy is equal to one's own. ...When you recognize that all beings are equal in both their desire for happiness and their right to obtain it, you automatically feel empathy and closeness for them.

Through accustoming your mind to this sense of universal altruism, you develop a feeling of responsibility for others: the wish to help them actively overcome their problems. Nor is this wish selective; it applies equally to all.

- The Dalai Lama, Compassion for the Individual

It is EASY!

2007-06-11T06:45:00.001-04:00

--Zen Master Dogen, Moon in a Dewdrop, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi

The Transfer Station

2007-05-05T19:19:00.001-04:00

The Transfer Station

Today I went to the Transfer Station. Lovingly known as the 'dump' or 'swap stop'. I was there to transfer...... Leaving stuff that I am not using with the hope that someone would gleefully grab it up and put it to use. Continuing the cycle of energy that has been stuck (oh so long) in my basement.

Yes, moving is giving me a great time to transfer that stuck energy. Most of my furniture went to Acton Household Goods Recycling Ministry. (www.hgrm.org) Families rebuilding after domestic violence or other crisis may have a dining room table, or living room chair, or a bookcase that came from me. It will be one nice thing in their hard world. The interesting thing is how it changes me. Giving all this stuff away to people who want and need it creates an inner well of good energy. I feel happy thinking about that table in someone's home. Maybe one small semblance of normalcy in a ragged life. I smile.

This is in sharp contrast to my emotional response to the many treasures I have in my storage locker. Heavy feelings emerge with the thought of all that stuff. Useful, wonderful, dormant. That's no way to live, is it?

At the Transfer Station, I've left boxes of crafts, sporting goods, exercise things, furniture. And it disappears. I sometimes go back with a second load and much of the first load has been picked up already. It has a home. With someone who wants it. I feel good about that.

One day, I took a big box of candle making supplies: wax, wicks, molds, book, the whole nine yards. A woman walked by and I said "It's candle making supplies." She said "OH! I was going to make candles with my daughter!". I replied "Well, there you go. It's just about everything you need to get started." She took the box and walked away delighted. And I walked away delighted too. I recalled making candles with my daughter, and knew that this pleasure would transfer along into another life. It was like Christmas! That wonderful experience of just giving... no expectation, no keeping track, no response needed... just giving and relishing the fact that joy has been shared.

And, while I think of it, isn't Life just a huge Transfer Station? All the time, we're transferrinig. Exchanging cells, germs, energy, and attitudes with everyone we intersect. Usually unaware and mindless transfers: a moan or groan, a smile. Sometimes we're only too aware of the exchange: shouting, swearing, gesturing, and traffic accidents. But, I'd guess most of our transfers are mindless and lost in the static of life. But they still get picked up. Each transfer has an effect. Somebody picks up the burden of your moaning. Maybe your smile lightened someone's day. And the residue stays with us... Sharing the smile creates more 'smiliness' inside. Sharing the moan... well, it's 'moaney' and tiring, and kind of heavy. Isn't it?

With each transfer we make a difference. We can choose what goods we share and exchange: tables, chairs, smiles, respect, tolerance, patience. And in the process of giving that stuff away, we find that we feel better, lighter, happier. It's a very peculiar math.... Giving things away you are left with so much more.

A Shoe On The Side Of The Road

2007-05-03T17:09:00.001-04:00

A Shoe On The Side Of The Road

When I drive, I always notice stray shoes. Shoes on the side of the road. Shoes hanging from overhead wires. Shoes hanging from trees. Stray shoes that usually rest alone in some solitary, forgotten spot.

And I wonder when I see a shoe on the side of the road... Whose shoe was that? Do they know it's there? Did they feel sad when they discovered it missing? Or did they throw it out the window in a fit or anger? Maybe the person they were with had a rage and threw it out the window. Maybe it was on top of the car, and fell off when the car went over a bump. Where is its partner? Still in the car? Maybe the partner was lost long ago and that's why this shoe was discarded... All these questions pop up. Story lines evolve. One stray shoe stimulates all this mental activity.

Sometimes I think about the shoe's life.

It's a sad story when I think someone angrily threw the shoe out the car window, and their friend had to get home with only one shoe. They probably had been drinking, or drugged, and just out of control.

It's a funny story when I imagine the shoe came to life and ran away because it was tired of being walked on all the time. There on the side of the road, a life of leisure, no more smelly feet, no more stepping in ... A metaphor for life, on days when I feel walked on, and just want to escape to a roadside oblivion.

Then there is the drama. There was a big fight. Maybe Bob slugged Harry. And Harry took Bob's shoe. And filled the shoe with stinky slime. And Bob made a nasty face. And he didn't want the shoe anymore. So Bob got in the car, and LEFT the shoe. Right there at the side of the road. He left Harry there WITH the shoe and drove away. Harry was pissed. He, luckily had his cell phone and called his friend Zim-Bob, who dame to pick him up. They drove off to Payless Shoe Store and got Harry some cheap shoes. Then they had a pizza.

And of course, there is the Shoe of Enlightened Communication. After an extensive dialog about a wide range of emotionally sensitive topics, the shoe fell off Glurg's foot, and Glurg, being as enlightened as s/he was, didn't even notice, but continued on in a spiritual quest for Enlightenment, which resulted in the loss of the second shoe (no longer needed in the elevated realm), which is most likely now resting on the side of an Interstellar Highway.

So. You think "It's just a shoe". Think again. It's a universe in that shoe! The whole of life. All the drama, comedy, pain and suffering, and ultimately... Enlightenment... All held in that one shoe sitting on the side of the road. That shoe that most people drive past every day without even noticing.

The First Principle

2007-04-30T08:10:00.001-04:00

"You talked about the first principle again, but I still don't know what it is," I said to Suzuki. "I dont know," he said, "is the first principle."

--Shunru Suzuki

Glurg. Continued...

2007-04-12T16:09:00.000-04:00

Remember Glurg? The calm one by the river? OM?

Yeah. Glurg got a little bored and decided to get up and move around a bit. He gathered a rucksack full of mangos and began his mindful journey into the Forest of Confusion.

Yes, Glurg was confused. And he didn't even know it. That is how confused Glurg was. In the Forest of Confusion, it is hard to tell exactly where you are. The paths twist and climb and cross each other in three (or more) dimensions. Time and space are minimal constraints, as the paths diverge into various Realms of Consciousness, sometimes erupting in a totally OTHER consiousness. And hence, the Confusion.

With a capital C.

Glurg had vowed "No more initial caps in my life. No more Confusion. No more Guilt. No more Love. No more Relationships!!!" Glurg was full of exclamation marks!!!!

Yet here was the Forest of Confusion, loaded with initial caps and fuzzy logic. And Glurg was in it. With no clear way out.

Glurg wandered deliberately and mindfully, with NO clue where the path led. And reminisced on the wonderful freedom of it all. As he ate his mango, the juice ran down his chin and dripped on his toe, and he Laughed. With initial caps. Profound Zen Laughter.

And Glurg slurped his mango as he walked along the path through Consciousness and pondered the Meaning of Life wondering what would happen next.

Anger

2007-03-20T13:54:00.001-04:00

Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

A Metaphor for MIND...

2007-02-10T19:25:00.000-05:00

Recently, I was watching the buzz of activity in my mind. Thoughts racing around, chasing each other. Crashing. Oooofff. Slam.

Yeah. They're crashing around like a bunch of hockey players. Then, one of the players goes out of the rink. Into the penalty box? (or the hospital?) Vanished. Just like the thoughts in my mind... vanished... what was I thinking about?

So my mind is like a bunch of hockey players crashing around.

No. Wait a minute. My mind isn't the hockey players... My mind is the rink. Yeah. Sure. It's the rink. It contains the wild, crashing hockey players, but it is NOT them.

The rink. But the rink is in the building. My mind must be the building. It's bigger than the rink. It contains the rink, and the crashing hockey player thoughts, but it's much bigger! Yeah. It's the building.

Hold it. Hold it just one minute! The building is in the town... (my mind is the town) on the planet... in the solar system... in the universe... Yes. My mind is the town... the planet... the universe... And just like the universe, which is incomprehensibly large (with or without boundaries), the mind (consciousness) is incomprehensibly large (with or without boundaries?). And now, those crashing thoughts seem like tiny hockey players in a small rink in a huge universe of consciousness.

Like any good hockey mom, the mind watches the action, moderately pleased, sometimes a bit ruffled, knowing that, in good time, the Zamboni machine will slide through and smooth everything over.

Glurg Does Nothing

2007-02-10T19:24:00.000-05:00

Glurg continued walking through the forest. He had no idea where he was going, and had no plans, no agenda, no action items, and no Blackberry beeping at him. He just wandered. When hungry, he ate some mangoes. Occasionally, a coconut fell out of the sky and clonked him on the head. He didn't obsess about the coconuts. He barely gave them any thought. Once he even caught the coconut, cracked it open, and enjoyed a refreshing drink.

Without a Strategic Plan, Glurg was reduced to simply making the best of every moment. He observed the little forest creatures. He studied the rocks at the base of the tree. He noticed some tiny flowers growing in the shade of the mango trees. Yes, he sat on a large stone, and he waited. Like his literary friend, Siddhartha, Glurg had learned to wait. He had few other skills, so waiting, walking, and eating occupied most of his day. And observing.

He sat long, and waited patiently, observing. And nothing more happened. He did nothing. No elaborate plot developments. He just waited in the midst of the universe, and let it wash over him. He began to hear the sound of OM coming from the stones.

Thought for Today

2007-01-30T09:17:00.001-05:00

Overcome the angry by non-anger;
overcome the wicked by goodness;
overcome the miser by generosity;
overcome the liar by truth.

-Dhammapada

Einstein says...

2007-01-25T23:17:00.001-05:00

"There are moments when one feels free from one's own identification with human limitations and inadequacies. At such moments one imagines that one stands on some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable; life and death flow into one, and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only Being."

- Albert Einstein

Gratitude

2007-01-16T09:41:00.001-05:00

"When we learn to give thanks, we are learning to
concentrate not on the bad things, but on the good things."
-Amy Vanderbilt

-- I can overcome anything no matter what it is
-- I have the power to put things in the right perspective
-- I live with tremendous peace of mind
-- I accept all that happens to me with grace and calm
-- I am a clear thinker
-- People look to me for guidance and inspiration

What's so good about a bad meditation session?

2007-01-15T15:14:00.000-05:00

What's so good about a bad meditation session?

I am now getting a concept. As a novice, practicing meditation, my mind wanders hither and yon... Sometimes I don't even notice until it's way down some path. Then I pull it back gently. Nanoseconds later, it's off again recalling a conversation. Gently I return to my breath. Before I can even finish one inhalation, zoom, it's off on some argument, or anticipating a problem. Gently, I bring attention back to the breath.

I used to think this wasn't a very successful meditation. My ability to keep focus is so tiny. Disappointing. Now, I'm beginning to see it differently. Every time I GENTLY bring myself back to my breathing... each of those experiences IS the practice. Learning to be gentle with myself when I go off course. Learning to bring myself back without criticism, judgment, condemnation. Just coming back. You're ok. It's just fine. Breathe. And doing this again and again, patiently and gently. Like you would guide a toddler who keeps wandering around in the Boston Common... Gently and with kindness.

If I can practice gently redirecting myself 100 times in one sitting, I am learning to guide myself gently. Learning to notice what I'm doing, and adjust, without judgment. And if I can do that 100 times in a sitting, maybe I can learn to do that once or twice in a day.... when I make a mistake, forget something, don't quite meet my objectives, respond harshly. Just notice. And gently redirect, without criticism. Breathe.

So, I'm discovering that the imperfect meditation really is the best training. Because what I'm practicing, and learning, is to be gentle, kind, and observant. To be that way with myself, and hopefully I can be that way with the world.

Thought for today...

2007-01-11T11:12:00.001-05:00

But if you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone, like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant in the deep forest.

- Buddha

... a bushel of brains

2007-01-08T11:54:00.001-05:00

"A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of
brains."
-Dutch Proverb

What's in your Wallet? ... What's in your MIND??!!

2007-01-06T14:05:00.000-05:00

We are daily advised to think about "what's in your wallet?" Do you have the right card? With the best benefits? lowest interest? many details to think about, because in our modern society, "what's in your wallet" is really important.

So, recently, my train of thought jumped the track and began to ask "What's in your MIND?" Do we pay any attention to what we cram in there? After listening to the Wicked soundtrack on the way to work, I would be "Dancing Through Life" all day. The music infused my mind, and infused my day. Somedays, I "Couldn't be happier". The melodies saturated me, affected my mood, and my response to the various challenges that came to me.

I began to consciously choose what song would play before I arrived at school. I realized that last song would color my whole day. I made a point of hearing "Defying Gravity", "Dancing Through Life", "Thank Goodness", or "Changed for the Better". I chose the one that seemed to offer the energy I needed. And, "Who can say if I've been changed for the better... but I have been changed for good."

Now, I have (as you loyal readers know) switched over to Bliss. I deliberately "Come Into The Light" before arriving at school. It is grounding, and as the melody plays through my mind during the day, it also washes over the conflicts and tensions that come my way.

But, what's in YOUR mind? I watch our world, and see that so much of what we're immersing ourselves in (as a culture) is lust without respect, violence without compassion, anger expressed through physical and verbal aggression. There are a LOT of contemporary lyrics that are essentially a verbal assault. And, if that's the last thing a kid hears before going into school, it's no wonder the response to tension begins with F...k and proceeds with obscenities and violence.

Yes, I am convinced that we can retrain our minds in phenomenal ways. As I experiment with Buddhist practices, I find that I have learned to respond with compassion to situations that once aroused rage. Not always, but I'm just a beginner. I am also convinced that our music, and media, are constantly training our minds.

My question is "Are you training your mind for the qualities you want?" Are you creating peace and confidence and compassion through your immersion in music and media with that tone? Or, are you creating violence, anger, and aggression by saturating yourself with lyrics and images that lead you that way?

What's in YOUR mind? If it's not giving you the best results, doesn't have the best success, doesn't help you navigate through life's challenges, consider switching to a new channel, a new card with some better benefits for you.

We should all give our minds AT LEAST as much attention as we give to our wallets.

Bliss Edges out Wicked

2007-01-05T18:49:00.000-05:00

OK, folks. Here is the big story. Bliss Edges out Wicked! Yes, for several months, the soundtrack from Wicked has provided my daily theme song. "Just for this moment..." and some days "What is this feeling?", several weeks of "Defying Gravity" and "Dancing Through Life". Then, just as "I Couldn't Be Happier", I was saturated with "Loathing. un-a-dul-ter-ated loathing" only to realize that "This weird quirk I've tried To suppress or hide Is a talent that could Help me meet the Wizard"!

Yes, I could go on and on, and at great volume with harmony about the inspiration, and energizing lyrics of Wicked. Sandy and I sing 'Defying Gravity' as a high-volume duet on route 2 west most evenings after I pick her up from school. It is scary how well we sing! Actually, we can do a memorable job with several of the songs!

And, by the way, Wicked does have a point: Elphaba got a bum rap. She was labeled! Can't wait to see the show, as the music, and the book, really twist your mind around the question of what is good? what is wicked? when does one become the other? Many stories have two sides, and Oz is among them...

So, in comes Bliss. Quietly, melodically, taking over share of mind with "Come into the Light", and "Om Shanti", and who can resist "A Hundred Thousand Angels"?

So, Bliss has taken over the auto airwaves, saturating my soul with light, warmth, and the awareness of the hundred thousand angels that do surround me constantly. Penetrating calm (but not sleepiness).

Sorry, but Bliss is not available to everyone. Seems the English have cornered the market for Bliss. Amazon.co.uk can help you out if you want to fill your car with A Hundred Thousand Angels.

Surround yourself with Bliss... Then, you won't feel Wicked... (Still, I do enjoy Defying Gravity when I'm Dancing Through Life, just for this moment).

Our emotions...

2007-01-01T17:34:00.001-05:00

It is important to recognize the power of our emotions--and to take responsibility for them by creating a light and positive atmosphere around ourselves. This attitude of joy that we create helps alleviate states of hopelessness, loneliness, and despair. Our relationships with others thus naturally improve, and little by little the whole of society becomes more positive and balanced.

- Tarthang Tulku

Glurg in the Coconut Storm

2006-12-25T14:25:00.000-05:00

Glurg walked innocently through the forest, noticing the feathery light filtering through the treetops. Ah, glorious light! He continued pondering, as he always does, while noticing mindfully the nuances of forest smells and sounds.

Glurg thought back to the distant past on the Coconut Island with Princess Coconut. Suddenly, a coconut fell from the sky and clonked him on the head! "How odd!", thought Glurg, noticing that he was walking through a mango forest, and there were no coconut trees to be found. Perhaps a crazy monkey threw one down. Glurg walked on.

Again, he thought wistfully of Princess Coconut. Instantly, he was pelted by TWO coconuts. Fearing a concussion, Glurg looked for shelter. Perhaps this was a magical revenge of Princess Coconut, angry with Glurg for leaving the island. Glurg continued walking, looking for a cave or other shelter. He wondered about the Princess, and her world, and again... coconuts fell from the sky in abundance, all smacking Glurg on the head. He ran and cried out "No more coconuts! Please! No more coconuts!"

He saw a rocky overhang, and crawled under there for shelter. He sat quietly, silencing the monkey in his mind, bringing his awareness to the numerous lumps on his head. With a peaceful equanimity, Glurg resolved not to think of Princess Coconut again, for each thought created pain and discomfort for him.

The river, now in the distance, continued to sing out "OM". Glurg smiled a friendly smile.

Moments

2006-12-23T08:34:00.001-05:00

There are moments when one feels free from one's own identification with human limitations and inadequacies. At such moments one imagines that one stands on some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable; life and death flow into one, and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only Being.

- Albert Einstein

What to believe...

2006-12-22T19:07:00.001-05:00

Believe not because some old manuscripts are produced, believe not because it is your national belief, believe not because you have been made to believe from your childhood, but reason truth out, and after you have analyzed it, then if you find it will do good to one and all, believe it, live up to it and help others live up to it.

"Buddha"

Your Inner Buddha

2006-12-22T16:28:00.001-05:00

Back in 1957 in Bangkok, a group of monks had to relocate a huge clay Buddha from their temple to a new location. When the crane attempted to lift the giant idol, the weight of it was so tremenduous that it began to crack. The monks fearing the idol would fall and break, lowered it back to the ground.

One of the monks noticed a golden gleam coming from one of the cracks in the clay. After fetching a chisel and hammer and knocking away part of the clay, the monk discovered the clay Buddha was really solid gold!

It is believed that several hundred years earlier, the Burmese army was about to invade Thailand and the monks, (fearing their precious golden Buddha would be looted), covered it with clay in order to hide it. Unfortunately, all of the monks were killed, along with their secret of the golden Buddha until that day in 1957, where it is now found in a Buddhist temple in Bangkok.

The solid golden Buddha is ten and a half feet tall, weighs two and a half tons, and is worth over 196 million dollars!

When we think about it, we are all like the clay Buddha, covering ourselves with a shell of hardness to protect the Golden Self from looting and pillaging. Yet underneath everyone's clay shell, is a golden Buddha.

No matter what we have already been through in our lives, or may continue to go through, our practice is a process of wearing away the clay, to discover, and share, our Golden Self!

Positive Thinking

2006-12-19T15:00:00.001-05:00

A bit of brain food for today.... to help maintain your strength!

-- I take complete responsibility for my responses to situations
-- I respond positively to all situations, no matter what
-- Whatever happens to me, I live and renew my purpose in harmony
-- I am bigger than anything that can happen to me
-- I am willing to keep learning about life and what it takes to make it work

Reflections of Glurg

2006-12-15T16:10:00.000-05:00

Glurg sat peacefully, listening to the all-encompassing OM of the river. Glurg reminisced. Glurg thought back to a very happy time, a time of delight, and pleasure, and intimacy, and sunshine. Glurg felt warm. Glurg wondered... "Why am I reminiscing on this memory?" ... Glurg became aware that he was reflecting on his reminiscing, and what an amazing entity the 'mind' is. .. He then observed that he was analyzing the reflection about his reminiscing, and thought he would lose his mind if he went any further down this strand of consciousness.

So, he returned to his pleasant memory. "Why is it important? Am I grasping a past that is over? What is the point of this past memory in the present NOW?" Glurg paused. He went back to that time, to see what it had to teach him.

Glurg realized that, in that happy time, he had met someone special... someone who could see the light and power inside him. Poor Glurg had been rather fatigued, in a deep cloud, and had lost sight of the light. In fact, Glurg had thought the light was burned out (it happens with age). But in that magical time, Glurg met a Goddess of Light who saw the light inside him, and reflected it back to him, and somehow, enabled Glurg to see that light in himself again. By this reflection, and new self-awareness, Glurg was transformed.

Reflecting back, Glurg was not clinging onto this moment. Glurg was re-learning, and honoring both himself, and his inspiration. Glurg hoped inside that, someday, he would be able to reflect the inner light to another being who had fallen into a cloud. Glurg was aware of how tenuous our sense of 'reality' is... how it can be muddled by cloudy thinking, unsupportive environment, any number of put-downs that make us believe we are incapable of various forms of greatness, or connection, or relationship.

Glurg held warm memories of the Goddess of Light. That Goddess brought new life into so many beings, every day. Glurg thanked his lucky stars that the Goddess had noticed him, had reflected his inner power, had allowed him to wake up, had given the gift of transformation.

Glurg listened to the murmur of OM from the river, and got up from his resting spot. Glurg walked down the forest path, knowing that he too was a Light Being, and could bring light to others he would meet along his path.

Mind The Gap

2006-12-03T19:32:00.000-05:00

"Mind the Gap" -- I have a T-shirt from London with that on it. A mug too. It gives me pause to think. About a lot of things. About the mind. About gaps. About gaps in the mind. And, of course, about minding the gap.

In London, and in Athens too, the subways have these big gaps between the platform and the train car. A good sized toddler could drop right through there, disappearing in a sad tragedy. Hence... "Mind the Gap". Apparently, it is deemed to be the parents' responsibility to keep their toddlers on the platform or on the train. And an adult is expected to keep his/her foot on one of those surfaces. Humans are expected to own the responsibility of keeping themselves out of the gap. Mind the Gap. Be aware. Notice where you are. Take responsibility for your place on the planet.

Thinking about the mind, and the constant stream of thoughts, ideas, emotions, memories that flood through. Really, they go in sequence. Mind can't deal with more than one thing at once. It may jump quickly enough that we THINK we are multi-tasking, but actually, we're sequential-tasking really really fast. And sometimes, there is just the tiniest of gaps between the processes. ThoughtIdeaEmotionThoughtThought...Idea. The GAP. In the rare instance when you can catch the gap, the empty space between Thoughts, emotions, ideas... that empty space is a precious gem. It is so hard to mind the gaps in the mind. There are so few, and we aren't trained to notice them. From an early age, we're trained to recite, relate, compare, recall, think, describe. We don't really have a course called "Stillness", though it would create more wisdom than many courses we do subject our children to.

One can mind the gap. One can train the mind to create a bigger gap, and to notice the stillness there. It is like a teleporter, and the soul can slip quickly through that mysteriously small gap into an unknown universe. Indescribable. Returning with a tale that cannot be told. You will know those who have transported through the gap. They wear a steady, radiant smile. There is a way about them that is compassionate, connected, caring, yet not attached or craving.

I think Buddha called it enlightenment. Going through the gap, beyond this world, to experience the greater connection with all life, wherein there really is no gap.

So, Mind the Gap, Mind the Stillness, Still the Mind. And, in the Gap, find the ultimate universal connection.

How to Change Your World

2006-11-30T12:47:00.001-05:00

"The principles you live by create the world you live in;
if you change the principles you live by, you will change
your world."
-Blaine Lee

Glurg in the Forest

2006-11-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

Glurg was confused. This was a new kind of forest. There were no coconut trees. No coconuts. No coconut Princess. He wandered aimlessly. Then, having recently read Siddhartha, he sat down near a river. He spent a lot of time sitting there and thinking, with no plot development whatsoever. He felt a little blue, kind of hungry, and a little lonely, and thinking maybe those coconuts were pretty good after all.

Then, plunk, something fell down and hit him on the noggin! "What strange gift is this from the Forest God?" The river said "OM", and was the same everywhere, yet never the same. Glurg spent some time pondering that while tossing this gift back and forth from hand to hand.

He had never seen such a thing, and thought perhaps it was useful for some type of athletic competition. But he did not have any team-mates, nor a rival team, so he just chomped into it, and was instantly covered with lucious, juicy, pulpy mess.

The taste. It was exquisite. It was sweet, juicy, lucious, and delicious. Better than anything he had ever eaten before. He devoured it, and stepped into the river to rinse the stickiness off his hands and face. The river continued to mumble "Om".

Glurg looked up. OMG, these treats were dangling everywhere! He was in the Incredible Mango Forest! Glurg did not want to be a glutton, but he loved those mangoes and ate two more. Then, he stepped into the river, and noticed that it wasn't the same river he had stepped in earlier.

Glurg sat on a stone and thought about that for quite a while.