Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Years

I feel a little bad that I'm not spending New Years at the zendo, but I couldn't pass up a chance spending it with my best friend who travelled halfway across the world from France.
I've been spending part of my school break at my parent's house, and I manage to take some beautiful pictures. They live in one of the most beautiful areas in the world. I'll upload them soon.

New Years Resolutions:
- To appriciate both the happy and sad moments
- To do more to help people
- More zazen. I always feel much better afterwards.
- Do better in school. I had a horrible semester and made a lot of mistakes that are worth learning from. I need to focus better.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas

And peace to all beings ^_^

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Doctrine of Compassion

"We can reject everything else: religion, ideology, all received
wisdom. But we cannot escape the necessity of love and compassion....
This, then, is my true religion, my simple faith. In this sense, there is no need
for temple or church, for mosque or synagogue, no need for complicated
philosophy, doctrine or dogma. Our own heart, our own mind, is the temple.
The doctrine is compassion. Love for others and respect for their rights and
dignity, no matter who or what they are: ultimately these are all we need.
So long as we practice these in our daily lives, then no matter if we are
learned or unlearned, whether we believe in Buddha or God, or follow some
other religion or none at all, as long as we have compassion for others and
conduct ourselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility, there is
no doubt we will be happy."

- The Dalai Lama

Rules to Live By

Smile!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A Favorite



This is, and always will be, one of my favorite Buddhist quotes. It doesn't even matter is Buddha actually said it or not. It's a pretty cool notion, one that many other religions lack.

Problem (help!)

I have a holiday problem on my hands.

My step mother has declared that I am not allowed to spend christmas with my father and family because I am Buddhist, and that automatically means that I am a god-less heathen who shouldn't be celebrating christmas.

How do I go about dealing with this? My father has agreed with her, so I won't be with him for Christmas. There is already a lot of suffering on all sides, and I don't wish to add to it any more then I may already have.

Any advice will be welcomed.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Kafka on Silence

Learn To Be Quiet
by Franz Kafka

You need not do anything.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
You need not even listen, just wait.
You need not even wait,
just learn to be quiet, still and solitary.
And the world will freely offer itself to you unmasked.
It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Oddball Thoughts.

I wonder if the Suicide Hotline has been getting more calls lately.

It's a morbid thought, I know.
But with the economy the way it is, violence and suicides tend to rise. Which made me realize how much importance we put in wealth and all it's securities, and how dangerous this is. The amount of power we have let the concept of money generate is outstanding and appalling, and the corruption that follows it is disheartening.
I guess it was my mini-epiphany of the day, as I was helping a friend through a hard time, and thinking of all the people out there who need help, and all the people out there who provide help.

Thank you.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

What the Next President Will Inherit



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I posted this not for political reasons, but because it is an example of the current world we live in. While there are things we, (the citizens), don't have the power to fix, such as the huge deficit, there are things we can do to make this world a little bit a better place:

Support relief areas.
Vote.
Raise awareness.
Recycle.
Spread compassion.
Smile.

There is so much we are capable of doing, even if the small things seem like they make no impact, think of how much worse off we would be if people just didn't bother.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Happiness

Happiness doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It just means you've managed to look beyond the imperfections.

- Unknown



too true... ^_^

Monday, December 8, 2008

Symptoms of inner peace

This made me smile ^_^

Some signs and symptoms of inner peace:

* A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.

* An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.

* A loss of interest in judging other people.

* A loss of interest in judging self.

* A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.

* A loss of interest in conflict.

* A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)

* Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

* Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.

* Frequent attacks of smiling.

* An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.

* An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

found at http://symptomsofinnerpeace.com/

The (Not So True) Karma Story

I try to make it a habit not to use the death's of others to prove a point, but this story was too bizzare to pass up. Consider it a perfect, real-life example of karma

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At the 1994 annual awards dinner given by the American Association for Forensic Sciences, AAFS President Don Harper Mills astounded his audience in San Diego with the legal complications of a bizarre death. Here is the story...

On March 23 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a gunshot wound of the head caused by a shotgun. Investigation to that point had revealed that the decedent had jumped from the top of a ten story building with the intent to commit suicide. (He left a note indicating his despondency.) As he passed the 9th floor on the way down, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, killing him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the 8th floor level to protect some window washers, and that the decedent would not have been able to complete his intent to commit suicide because of this...

Ordinarily a person who starts into motion the events with a suicide intent ultimately commits suicide even though the mechanism might be not what he intended. That he was shot on the way to certain death nine stories below probably would not change his mode of death from suicide to homicide, but the fact that his suicide intent would not have been achieved under any circumstance caused the medical examiner to feel that he had homicide on his hands...

Further investigation led to the discovery that the room on the 9th floor from whence the shotgun blast emanated was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. He was threatening her with the shotgun because of an interspousal spat and became so upset that he could not hold the shotgun straight. Therefore, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went through the window, striking the decedent.

When one intends to kill subject A, but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B. The old man was confronted with this conclusion, but both he and his wife were adamant in stating that neither knew that the shotgun was loaded. It was the longtime habit of the old man to threaten his wife with an unloaded shotgun. He had no intent to murder her; therefore, the killing of the decedent appeared then to be accident. That is, the gun had been accidentally loaded...

But further investigation turned up a witness that their son was seen loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the fatal accident. That investigation showed that the mother (the old lady) had cut off her son's financial support, and her son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that the father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus...

Further investigation revealed that the son became increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to get his mother murdered. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23, only to be killed by a shotgun blast through a 9th story window.

The medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Neil Patrick Harris saves the economy! (And Jack Black is jesus)

I saw this and laughed. I hope it brightens your day.

"Prop 8: The Musical"
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones

A poetic perspective of death

I am always interested in different perspectives of death, be it dealing with loss, grim reapers, afterlife, or zombies. (Yes, zombies). This poem struck my heart with its simplicity and honestly.
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Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep by Mary Frye

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!

found at http://www.poetseers.org/contemporary_poets/mary

There may be hope for humanity

Before you go blaming all Christians for the whole Propostition 8 fiasco, read this:
http://www.sddialedin.com/2008/11/best-billboard-ever-apology-for-passage.html

There is hope yet for humanity.