Dads
Fatherhood is big in Blogmandu this week. Terrance of The Republic of T. is eloquent writing of his absolute love for young son Parker. In his post “Being Daddy,” Terrance ends with these words of awe: “[I] thank the stars, the universe, or whatever has given me the life that I have. I don't know how I got it, or what I did to deserve it, but I'm glad it's mine and shall never stop being grateful for it.”
In My Zen Life, John Soper is dazzled by his charming six-year-old, Amy during a morning when his daughter dances to a Gloria Esephan song and they share a pancake breakfast in the kitchen. Writes John: “heaven on earth!! at times like these i just love being a daddy!“
Robert has a picture at his blog, Beginner's Mind, of one-month-old Ethan.
Meantime, Woodmoor Village Zendo's Nacho writes about assuming the parenting duties of his wife for a few days, leaving him in total charge of young Phoenix and Terra.
The Heart Sutra
Both J.E. of Everything is Illuminated and chalip of Zen Under the Skin posted long, wonderful, scholarly pieces about the Heart Sutra early this week.
J.E. dives in with a very objective assessment, relating the sutra's history and how it's been studied. He found an online source for 42 [!] different English translations of the sutra, which gives him a task ahead of finding the best one. J.E. then tells us some of the content and significance of the sutra and touches on commentary relating to its deepest meaning.
chalip's approach is more personalized and comes from a different angle. A class she took on the sutra has led her to look to contemporary sources to delve into its riches. A chapter in Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen, and the book There Is No Suffering by Ch'an Master Sheng-Yen were starting places for her, to which she added online finds, including an article by Thanissaro Bikkhu and the insights of Thich Nhat Hanh.
A homerun of a post in Scott Wichmann Online tells us of Scott taking refuge with the Venerable Llama Norlha Rinpoche at Ekoji Buddhist Sangha. In grateful thanks, Scott gives Rinpoche a baseball. Here's a chunk of the text:
In Buddhism, there is a Diamond Sutra and four guideposts on the journey to enlightenment (The Four Noble Truths) -- In baseball, there are four bases on the path, which is shaped like a Diamond.
Buddhism also respouses an eightfold path of conduct which leads to the extinction of suffering...: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This year in the VBC, I play Right Field. Go figure.
I also wore the number 3 in a conscious decision to ‘take refuge’ in the triple jewel while I was on the field. Good thing my teammates didn't know, or they would think I was crazy.
I pointed out to Llama Norhla Rinpoche that there are 108 stitches on a baseball, there are 108 beads on a Catholic rosary, and there are 108 beads on a Tibetan mala-- An auspicious number!!
Rinpoche smiled, looked deeply at the ball, looked back up at me, smiled again, and said-- quietly, simply, and sincerely, 'Thank you.'
A post in Woodmoor Village Zendo has started a discussion on karma. WVZ blogger Nacho doesn't believe in afterlife or reincarnation, instead seeing it as “how our actions outlast us, how the consequences of those actions have repercussions that reverberate broadly.” He writes, “I see Karma as a very human interplay between actions and the consequences, results, effects of such actions in this world. I cannot escape also paying attention to the concept of Vipaka, or results (effects). Karma is cyclical in that even the results or effects of our actions can generate other effects, can influence other actions, which in turn generate more results...”
Jeb responds to Nacho's post in Wonderings on the Way, writing that, being a “cosmic view guy” “I have a strong intuition of justice, that consequences of people's actions return to them.” Adds Jeb, “One of the stumbling blocks for me in Buddhist karma and rebirth was the justice of it. If there is no self to be reborn, why would I ditch this mirage of self and attempt to live other than hedonistically without regard to consequences as long as I could defer them beyond this lifetime?”
Another issue Nacho took the lead on this week in Woodmoor Village Zendo is the necessity of social action motivated by one's Buddhist practice. Writes Nacho, “The issue is not new, and will not go away. This issue is a dialectical one, it doesn't have one answer, and the potential for wisdom lies in our wise engagement with it, rather than in striving to solve it as if it were a math problem.”
Jeb engages the topic in Wonderings on the Way by examining the complexity of it. “The role of engaged Buddhism has been a koan for me. As all koans, it forces me out of comfortable 'truths.' What is the right Buddhist position on wars? the Iraqi war, given the reality of Saddam Hussein's terror? the Iraqiwar, now that we've destroyed the infrastructure? Rwanda? the next Rwanda? I have only concluded that there is no pat automatic answer that is right for everyone. Buddhism doesn't give me an answer.“
Independent of the Nacho-Jeb exchange, Justin of American Perspective blogged about the Dalai Lama's reflection about taking action in the world to improve the human lot. In conclusion Justin writes, “It is a constant back-and-forth, or dialectic, between thought and study on the one hand, and action in the world, on the other. At some point the study is much less important and action is most necessary.”
Both Robert of Beginner's Mind and Terrance of Republic of T intend to write a novel via the NaNoWriMo [i.e, National Novel Writing Month] program, which prods those who register with the website/organization to complete a speedy 50,000-word novel [the approximate length of The Great Gatsby] in the thirty days of November. Says Robert, in nervous anticipation in a post titled “Uh oh,” “Well, I guess I've stepped in it big time.” Says Terrance, “I have a little over three weeks before I start my (*gulp*) novel. That's three weeks to figure out what in hell it's going to be about.”
Douglas Imbrogno's Hundred Mountain Journal blog is back, frisky as ever, after a nearly three-month idle period, with seven posts this week, including a chunk of text from Stephen Batchelor's Living with the Devil. Here's the first sentence, to whet your appetite: “At the heart of the Buddha's awakening lies a counterintuitive recognition of human experience as radically transient, unreliable, and contingent.”
On the eighth day of October, Via Negativa's Dave Bonta offers Eight Ways of Looking at an Octopus. Here's fit the first:
1. They are voracious predators, though they have no backbone - no hard parts at all, in fact. They often change color to match their prey, and when threatened, they attempt to hide in a cloud of ink. And sometimes, for no known reason, they go on a frenzy of self-consumption, ending in their own death. Republicans?
Wonderings on the Way
has a new feature, “Blog Harvest,” where Jeb gathers delicious mostly-Buddhist blogs he's plucked from the Internet aether. His finds this week include Everything is Illuminated and whimsical mystic. Check out all three of the Blog Harvest posts on one webpage with all eleven of Jeb's recommendations thus far, aready to visit you on your monitor right now. Jeb tells us there is “No warranty of enlightenment, express or implied. Side effects may include karma, ego pain, and detachment. Consult your monk if you experience any of these symptoms.”Working a similar field, meditate NYC has a weekly feature “Wednesday Blogma.” On the list for October 4 is this: Dale, who blogs mole, has started a spinoff temporary blog, 100 Days,devoted to a meditation committal with a blog entry for each day. October 9 is Day 32, so there is time for one and all to join in or post a comment.
Weekly Buddhist blog recommendations!? A good idea seems to be catching on.
