Best Of
Re: Funny Stuff
A priest and a politician go to Heaven. After the preliminaries are all dealt with, St. Peter takes them both to see where they will be staying. He first takes them to a plain high-rise apartment block, and after a long ride in an elevator, shows the Priest his apartment; a modest, sparsely-furnished, practical functional place, with a small kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom with a single bed, side table, chair and wardrobe. Muted colours, minimal decor.
Having left the Priest to his own devices, St. Peter then takes the politicians to an amazing home, with an all-round porch/verandah, luxury living,opulent decor, and an all-singing all dancing brass band and cheerleader troupe.
The Politician is somewhat stunned at the stark difference between the Priest's accommodation and his, but St Peter explains, "Oh, well, you know, Priests and Holy men are two a dime here, but you're the first politician we've ever had..."
federica
Re: How very disappointing...
Every path has its own potential failings along with its successes.
Sexual transgressions happen to be a potential failing of the faith/devotional path.
The most common cases of sexual predation occurring within the Buddhist clergy seem to be found in those same teachers who have fostered deliberate levels of autonomy from their own spiritual peers, elders & masters. A relative freedom from scrutiny.
The power differences that allow spiritual pedophilia to occur in the master/disciple relationships do not occur in a vacuum. They are the careful orchestrations of a perpetrator over their subjects. Senior disciples must also enable such failings in their teacher to allow them to continue to be hidden.
Teachers who allow a student's ardor and faith/ devotion to be applied to the teacher, rather than to a practice, are simply grooming that follower for the potential arriving preceptual breakages that will swallow both of their practices.
Perhaps all of us have some potential for being abusive over those less able to defend themselves. Perhaps the seeing of where we might also have such potentials within ourselves might allow us to not walk so blindly down those same paths.
how
Re: No Buddhist Quotes
Cranky Old Man
What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?
A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.
I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.
There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
Not a cranky old man .
Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. .... . ME!!
Jeroen
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Hello NB friends
Yeah, this probably doesn't really belong in this thread or even follow acceptable NB guidelines but perhaps the moderators here will give it some timeful grace.
Recently, some neighbors of mine (through the Rainbow Coalition), heard about someone who escaped Afghan Taliban imprisonment and made it over the border into a neighboring country. That neighboring country is now implementing a program of forcibly deporting any refugees found within their borders back to their country of origin. For this refugee it would be a death sentence.
8 of us have decided to band together to raise the funds for a Federal Canadian sponsorship program to give this person Canadian refugee status into Canada.
Any contribution towards this endeavor would be appreciated.
For more details see
https://my.charitableimpact.com/groups/rainbow-afghanistan-to-victoria-refugee-sponsorship-group
Cheers all.
Howard Mitchell
how
Re: Dogen's Shobogenzo - Komyo (光明)
Over the years I've listened or read a few things from Brad and connected fairly well with him. I was in other traditions at the time and have had some sort of reluctance to engage with Zen, not sure why. Anyway, I recently have watched a few videos of his and I find myself resonating with him, he's a bit older than me but he has that rebellious gen X energy that I relate to. I think if I grew my hair out and stopped shaving regularly we'd look pretty similar. I'm thinking of diving more seriously into the Zen side of things.
person
Dogen's Shobogenzo - Komyo (光明)
Dear all,
If I could summarise my last months, maybe years, I could say I've enjoyed quite a sensual and samsaric existence. For the past days I have managed to return to my meditation practice (twice a day, 30 minutes), sitting zazen. I still study / listen to Thai Forest Tradition monks and mingle it with Science and Western philosophy.
I have also started re-reading Dogen and last night after listening to Ajahn Punnadhammo's video on the Formless Realms I found the following video about the chapter Komyo from Dogen's magnus opus.
I followed Brad Warner's simplified reading while also reading Gudo Nishijima's (who by the way was Brad's teacher) and found myself quite lost. The only grasp I got from this text was that we are all Buddha's, we are all one, if you allow me this expression. This light within, isn't just a potential, it is our true nature. Many times I've spoken of violence being in our nature, but this is just a potential. This light, or so I understood, is something that goes beyond. However, I tend to attach to it values like kindness and goodness, which I sometimes think it is a very dualistic interpretation.
Anyway, I will link the video here.
Peace!
Kotishka
Re: Talking outside the echo chamber
It is difficult to have productive, civil conversations outside of one's affinity group. My working theory is that its gotten more difficult since the rise of the internet. Society used to have more of a shared social space. On the one hand it is nice to more easily find like minded people, especially when you're in the minority or isolated. On the other hand it means we can spend our whole lives around like minded people and our cross affinity social skills atrophy. I'll post this again as a sort of ideal for having those sorts of conversations.
A podcast on the old Soviet dissidents like Alexander Solzhenitsyn and in particular Vaclav Havel came up in my feed today. They are extreme examples, but it can be scary and takes some courage to stay true to yourself when in the company of "bridge pushers" or people who sound like bridge pushers and could potentially cause you pain, social or more serious.
I probably have a bit of an outlier personality, since I was young I would often say the true thing rather than the social thing. If you do get pushed, know that others have been pushed too and you won't be alone in your new reality. Know also that its quite possible to find yourself in the echo chamber of those who have been pushed off the bridge.
person