This week in Blogmandu Roundup we find lucid dreams, a lot of anger and a bit of a surprise, a Zen blogger who is just now giving up smoking, again. There is art, too, in way of an amazing photograph, a treasure found in Australia, a recent documentary and the middle section of a very, very long poem. Also, laurels crown two Buddhist websites and one Naropa blogger gets a new blogging gig.
In a particularly lucid entry in zen and the art of dreaming, Matt talks about his recent lucid dreams and their nexus with morality and transformation. "It seems that the only sensible approach is to treat dream characters with respect and compassion. This approach will lead to a more integrated, healthy self. If I was to battle with dream characters, then I'm really only battling with aspects of myself." Near the end of his entry he says "I've decided that the only way I can keep blogging ... is to pretend that no one reads this [post]." Yeah, dream on, Matt. [Note: As of 4/29/05, zen and the art of dreaming is no longer online.]
Anger and frustration get the attention of Ow, My Blog's Corax. "When things don't work the way they're supposed to, when simple problems can't be solved, when people or animals don't cooperate, when solutions don't work or cease working, it drives me crazy." The topic turns up elsewhere this week: In a long, thoughtful post by Andi in Ditch the Raft and in a post by Mazzie of The Buddhism Community, who writes of an incident that spurred thoughts about anger that begins when she sees a broken-into jeep. "When we have angry explosions, who picks up the pieces? Who sweeps them into a paper bag, where they can do no more harm? When no one does, certainly the shards are carried and blown into unintended places, only to disrupt, harm, maim, annoy, disconcert." And Amadeus of Dharma Vision finds himself nettled with impatience: "Today seems to be one of those days. The kind that you don't get your calls returned, you sit in traffic, your shipment hasn't come in and that email you are waiting for hasn't made it to your inbox..."
Meantime, Jeff of ZenDiary.org gives up smoking.
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This amazing photograph was taken by Shula in Belgium and posted in The Buddhist Community on Live Journal. Permission to re-post the picture here was granted by the photographer. Wrote Shula, "This caught my eye when I was walking home today. I thought I would take a picture and share it with you. :) " |
Zen Under the Skin points us toward an artful resource, an Aussie magazine called 'Gentle Voice,' that has two articles on symbolism in the Wheel of Life that blogger Chalip highly recommends.
The Buddhist Blog blogger, James, praises "The Corporation" to the skies in his associated blog Genius of Insanity, agreeing with another that the documentary "is brilliant - the type of film I would sacrifice 100,000 typical films if only we could encounter its type more often." Says James, "The movie goes through a checklist of mental illness symptoms that most corporations embody and in the end we find out that the diagnosis is that of a psychopath."
Dave is serializing his book-length poem "Cibola" this year in his blog, Via Negativa, in 157 posts! Entries 73, 74, 75, 76 and 77 went up this week [and much else; Dave is a tireless blogger] To read what's posted of the poem from the beginning, go here. And now, a snippet, kiped from entry 75:
She's gone. He collects
his scattered clothes—through
what magic had she
recovered hers? And
his thigh still tingles from
a sudden brush of fur.
He kicks sand
to put the fire out—to hell
with any more tracking—& feels
his way back in the half-
dark of gibbous moonlight,
avoiding the shadows.
Paper Frog and WoodMoor Village Zendo have been chosen as inaugural Buddhism-section selections in a new Beliefnet feature, Blog Heaven, "where faith blogs go if they're good." A total of 26 religion-tinged blogs have been chosen by the Beliefnet editors as worthy of being listed in the directory. WVZ's Nacho hops onto the Heavenly cloud with glee, but with reservations, too, hoping in the near future the directory will "include more Buddhist sites" and come to foster "conversation, discussion, exchange, and development of insight" as well as "inter-faith dialogue."
Speaking of inter-faith dialogue, Naropa grad student Danny Fisher joins Amadeus of Dharma Vision, and others, as a contributor to Interlog, an Amida Trust community blog for discussion of Buddhism-Christian fellowship. On his eponymous personal blog, Danny Fisher expresses excitement about joining the multi-blog, and at Interlog, in his first post, Danny shares words from recent speeches by Trappist monk Thomas Keating and Acharya Reggie Ray. Here's one quote from Ray: "The only true love is the love that is not intentional."
Have a question, comment or tip for Blogmandu Roundup? E-mail tarmstrong \at/ zenunbound /dott\ com
