Best Of

Beautiful Tibetan Buddhist short film ...Enjoy 🙏🙏🙏

SUPERMONK

In May of this year, I will celebrate my 21st.
No, not birthday (as if!), but my anniversary of being a miss Bossy-boots on this forum! 21 years ago, our esteemed Founder, @Brian, asked me to accept a role of Moderator.
To say that a lot of water has passed under THAT bridge, would be an understatement! Yet here I am, "bloodied but unbowed"...! Here's to what may lie in store! 😆😆

Well, I'm sitting in my new car (a 2016 Nissan Note X) on the car ferry back to the island. I looked at a few cars over the last couple of weeks Suzuki swift, Suzuki splash, Nissan March, Nissan Note... Decided on the Note .
Looks like the one in this photo.

Had a pre purchase inspection done ✅ by a really friendly/happy young man, originally from the Philippines.
Because I had to wait longer than expected, he also did a diagnostic test too, for no extra charge .
The reason I went with the Note was it only had 24,000 kms on the clock and is in really good condition. It's a Japanese import, one owner . Plus after the PPI report I got the dealer to replace four tires, put in a new battery. It comes with a years Warrant of fitness and six month registration. I also got him to reduce the price by a couple of thousand dollars...

I finished reading The Way of the Bodhisattva. It had some good descriptions, I especially liked the chapter on Patience. It's not too hard to comprehend with a rational mind, but I assume it's quite challenging to live. I don't think this book is ideal for complete beginners, it has several statements that could easily scare people off who need to unlearn a few concepts before engaging with new ones. It's very strict about some things, Hell for example is constantly brought up and it could be confusing to many who can only imagine it from a Christian point of view. I too struggle sometimes to decide how I should think of it in a Buddhist context, people who talk about failing to walk the path of the Dharma will result in you going to Hell still give me the creeps. It's hard to feel someone has your best interest in mind if they visualize extreme suffering for you and if they don't have my best interest in mind how are they to show me the way? Perhaps through failing to show me the way, they show me the way. But you get it, don't you? You can't expect random westerner laypeople's minds to just throw learned concepts away without understanding the differences between those and the "new ones". It's an intermediate book in my opinion (not a gateway book, but for those already actively seeking Buddhist wisdom) I don't think it's the right book for me either in this specific stage of my life, but I can imagine re-reading it and finding more and more to utilize from it some 10-20 years later.

Dalai Lama is up for a Grammy music award

If he wins hopefully he will sing his acceptance speech (by video link)

In following the group of venerable Bhikkus during their Walk for Peace, I am following the Lead Bhikku Paññākāra's encouragement to see less of my 'lover' (the mobile phone) and to be more physically present for, and to, others, in order to practise Peace, and improve my personal dedication to my Path. So if you only see me sporadically, fear not. I am still here. But not here too.
If you get my drift.
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu! 🙏🙏🙏