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lobster
Crusty Veteran
I was very pleased to see that Gandalf has his own Blog
http://wonderwheels.blogspot.co.uk
It made me seek out my lost ramblings, which are slowly dissolving into cloud dust ...
Found this page ...
https://tinyurl.com/ll9zkcq
Do you have a blog?
1
Comments
I had a blog, in my pre-Buddhist days, but i couldn't write about work, all confidential, so I wrote about tech and finance and in the end looked at the numbers of visitors and just thought it's not worthwhile.
I have about three blogs floating around, somewhere.... Goodness knows where they are now, what the passwords are, who's read them.... They were all pretty short-lived, and decidedly un-interesting.....
http://spiritualseekingjunkie.com
Title's usually pretty apt
I have twitter and a FB page called "Tao and Zenpathy," where I post things that are too spiritual for my FB page.
But I prefer to do journalling into an actual paper notebook, rather than finding one more excuse to be tied down to the virtual world.
Living an actual life takes up most of my time and is more important than keeping track of it.
I technically have 2. I keep a wordpress account, so I actually have 2 different blogs on there (one was for a specific project which is done). Years ago I kept a livejournal, which I no longer use but it's fun to go back and read. I chronicled lots of daily life with my kids when they were young (this was like 10+ years ago so they were 10 and 4 at the time and the youngest wasn't born yet). Along with meeting and dating my husband. So those are fun things to read through. I also documented 9.11 when it happened and my thoughts on it, so that is interesting to read through, too. It's quite amazing how much we change, how what we think changes as we go through life. I enjoy having a record of that that is easy to look through. My mom has been keeping paper journals for most of her life, but she stores them in boxes so reading through them all is kind of a pain if you want to find a certain date etc after 50+ years of writing, lol.
I mostly treat them as diaries. I don't write to share (though I am working on something I might decide to share eventually, lol). I have a hand written journal, too, but I find typing easier because sometimes when I wanna write, stuff comes too fast to hand write it without getting cramps. I can type over 100 wpm so that works much better for me to get it done quickly. Plus I can easily protect it, some of my frustrations in life I don't want my kids etc reading at this point.
Enjoyed your list of mantras, @lobster
How long ago did you write it? How many years under the sea have you been practicing the dharma? I do accept responses in lobster years 
I've got no blogs. Those shown here look great. A great way to keep a journal either privately or to share.
A blog about a frog on a log in a bog in the fog delivering a monologue on smog.
Dont know where that stream of "conciousness" came from...:)
Head hung, I confess -- yes, and I write in it [http://genkaku-again.blogspot.com/] every day. Used to be a lot of Buddhist munching. Now it's more the fact that writing is what I do -- or seem to. A lot of Buddhist dust I'm too lazy to clean up.
Thanks everyone for sharing.
The mantras were written about 10 years go. Some of course are a lot older.
As others mention, blogs, diaries and journals are a way of unfolding and getting to know ourself. A form of therapy or reflection of our knowing.
@genkaku can write - convey ideas.
@dhammachick wrote about her pagan roots and sham shaman. Tee hee.
Everyone has a story. Has insight. Has knowledge.
@Jayasara our resident monk has recently moved into a more natural form of mindfulness
https://bhikkhujayasara.wordpress.com/author/bhikkhujayasara/
Greg 'Gandalf' Wonderwheel who inspired this thread, is an interesting and knowledgeable/experienced practitioner.
Find a lama or zennith, monk or teacher who blogs regularly and resonates and inspires and learn ... Skilfull possibility? I think so ...
YAY!!! Someone read my ramblings at last
I have more and more difficulty keeping up with virtual life.
I find that time spent on the virtual world is time misspent in the real world.
How do people who keep blogs, groups, and accounts on every seeming app in fashion juggle a real life?
On days when I manage to put in my yoga session, my Buddhist practice, read some books and do walking meditation, entries in virtual groups are rare.
@DhammaDragon here and insight timer are my only 2 real groups. Thats all I have time for. Rest is the real world. Having a non smart phone helps. When I need internet I need to conciously take out tablet to do that.
Morning is my contemplation time. I am up early for meditation and yoga, and then I write and read. My afternoon is chore time (or just outside time depending on the day, today we have an ice storm, so, chores it is) and my late afternoon to evening is family time. But I moderate 3 groups on FB so I check in there a couple times a day. I don't spend much time doing any one thing, but I type fast and I have a lot of free time since I don't work. My writing waxes and wanes. Right now I am working through some stuff, so doing a lot of writing. I can't think myself to insight, otherwise I go in circles. Getting it out in writing helps me make connections better.
But I admit I do not focus my day on "Buddhist practices." I do them to set up my day, but my daily life IS my practice. Once my morning hours have passed, I often do not think about Buddhism actively at all.
I'll have what she's having (from 'When Harry met Sally')
Most of us, mentioning no names except my own, need to practice overtly. We need to be inspired, immersed, on retreat etc. (yep I am still on a personal retreat where being on line is allowed). We need to read useful blogs, books and daily words of encouragement.
Otherwise we become a sort of ineffectual wet blanket Buddhist. Practicing on the occasions when dukkha is getting to us. When dukkha is not so bad - pah, why bother?
It is also true but requires a bit of Buddha (awakening) that the dharma is in all things ...
What if I take the challenge?
http://nothingtoattain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-challenge-of-right-speech.html
Could be here for ever ... How am I ever gonna be that good ...
By "practice," I referred to actual practice, such as taking refuge in the three jewels, dedicating merit, going over the five remembrances and the precepts in Thay's version, doing some mala rounds, meditation...
If I add an hour yoga session, a couple of hours walking meditation in the countryside, engaging with people and friends, leading a family life, doing chores, reading, writing...
No way.
I don't work either, but I personally find living an actual and a virtual written life are not easy to fit into 17-hour waking day.
The figures simply don't add up.
Something gets neglected in the way.
Checking messages and virtual groups is very time-consuming.
A path is made by walking, and I prefer to live my Buddhism out there in the open.
@DhammaDragon I wasn't intending to compare to you or suggest what your day should be like. Just sharing my experience. It's wonderful you have such dedication to your practices and I have no doubt they are extremely valuable! For me, most of my connection with people comes from being online. If I didn't spend some time online, I wouldn't get hardly any aside from my immediate family. Most of the people in my town are difficult to work with. We remain mostly pleasant towards each other on the surface but there is a long of anger and angst under that. I cannot relate to them, so my relating to people who are more like me all comes online. Even my teacher and in-person Sangha has a lot of online components, as my teacher and his senior students are 250 miles away.
Anyhow, just saying I don't think that necessarily formal practices are better than life-as-practice. I know some will disagree, so that's just my experience at this point on my path in this life. Entirely dedicating my life to official practices is just not something that is going to happen at this point. Nor is it something I can say I want to do. But I do not struggle to maintain an actual life without so many hours of dedicated practice. I just balance my available time in different ways.
I get 7 hours, 5 days a week for part of the year to myself. Which hadn't been available to me until a couple of years ago. Prior to that I had no time to myself for most of my adult life. Some days, I spend hours writing. That happened today. Other days I do much more meditation, or yoga, or practices I am working through with my teacher/Sangha. Every day is different but I do best without routine and when I listen to what I need. In any case, it wasn't a criticism of what your practices happen to be. I was only differentiating from official practices and regular life.
I wasn't comparing nor criticising either, @karasti.
I was just explaining my situation: I feel overwhelmed by the virtual world, and I personally can't manage to juggle both the real and the virtual world.
I find that indulging in activities that involve too much of the latter encroaches in my enjoyment of activities such as walking in the countryside, doing my yoga, reading at a café, praying.
I reduce virtual groups, FB and twitter to the minimum.
I have always enjoyed writing, but resisted the temptation of opening a blog account because I refuse to work extra shift on my tablet.
I have never been able to successfully dip in both worlds on the same day.
@DhammaDragon Ok
I was thinking you took offense to my putting Buddhist practices in quotes. Reading back I can see if it sounded disrespectful, which wasn't my intent.
^^No, @karasti.
I referred to your sentence "my daily life IS my practice."
I agree our life is our practice, but I was referring to the ritualistic practices, to call them somehow.
The rituals or practices or activities that do take up some a certain time to carry out, such as praying rounds of malas, or let's say, in my case, doing a Green Tara puja.
On the Interblog, taking offense is too easy. It seems if there is a way to misunderstand and be outraged or fumified ... we somehow lose all our training and best intentions. Well I do unless very careful/mindful ...
We often have to read between the lines, read the behavour, forgive the person and heed the intent. Iz plan.
Blogging and journaling can be done in many ways, for example a wiki is a form of collaborative knowledge base
https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Buddhist_Philosophy/Introduction
A forum like this produces 'Best of' (top left) for some of us - does not work on my iPad.
I managed to find some of my long lost operative alchemy
... and now back to the blogs ... I seem to have wandered off again
*deleted