The cover of the current Buddhadharma Magazine displays this teaching from the Dalai Lama:
The suffering and happiness each of us experiences is a reflection of the distortion or clarity with which we view ourselves and the world.
These words warrant a lifetime of study.
What we call "Buddhism" might be seen simply as a remarkable collection of stories about practice.
The tradition's great teachings (the Four Noble Truths, the Three Poisons, the Ox Herding Pictures, etc.) play an important role as guides and motivators. But - for many of us - these stories only develop deep significance through practice realization.
Our challenge as practitioners remains the same as it was in Buddha's time: to embody these stories in the reality of daily life.
Over the past few years, a number of bloggers have re-told these foundational stories and, in so doing, have conveyed a deeply felt sense of their meaning. As unique individuals, their expression of these stories naturally differs from that of the Buddha and/or other great teachers.
And I find great beauty and wonder in that difference.
I was reminded of this last week when Karen Maezen Miller published her version of the Four Noble Truths:
1. Life is full of problems.
2. It always seems like my problem starts with you but it really starts with me.
3. It always seems like you should fix my problem but in the end it's up to me.
4. I'm going to the store, want anything?
Miller's version of Buddhism's most central teaching clearly reflects (at least, it seems that way to me) her intention to take responsibility for the problems in her life. This is work required of everyone, whether we call it Buddhism or not.
Some bloggers have re-told the poems that accompany the Ten Oxherding Pictures (see column on right for more on these). For example, Genju (108zenbooks) began a series of posts on these pictures with her own version of the poem used to illustrate the first image in the series (she also created new drawings for each of the ten stages):
There are traces everywhere,
dark stains of twisted karma ~
dusty, heavy, dragging back.
The momentum of desire
pitches me forward,
falsely protected
by intellect but
steadied by the breath.
Compare Genju's version with the original version by Kuòān Shīyuǎn that traditionally accompanies the first image:
One aimlessly pushes the grasses aside in search.
The rivers are wide, the mountains far away,
And the path become longer.
Exhausted and dispirited.
One hears only the late autumn cicadas
Shrilling in the maple woods.
In a similar vein, Jim Crump of Maria Kannon Zen Center has drawn a "cowgirl" Ox Herding series that charms and inspires. Check it out.
If you have an interest in Buddhist teaching, you might try re-telling a story that has meaning for you. My experience suggests that you'll learn more about the teachings. And also about yourself.
Here are a few of my own re-tellings Buddhism's stories:
First Noble Truth
Second Noble Truth
Third Noble Truth
Fourth Noble Truth
First Ox Herding Picture (the rest of the series follows on sequential days)
As I look back at these, I can see how I might now write some of them differently. But perhaps that's what we'd expect from living words.
Earlier this week, two associates and I released our new product - Hotwall - into the wilds. It's free for you to use for all your social media posting. I'll say a few more words about it below.
Favor
First, I'd like to ask a favor: If you use Facebook, would you become a "friend" of Hotwall? Just click here and friend our product.
We won't bug you in any way, but it will help us build credibility for our effort. Thank you!
About Hotwall
If you use social media (Twitter, Facebook) to refer your followers and friends to your blog or other websites, then Hotwall can help you do it better.
Hotwall displays real-time data on your social media posts on your personal "hotwall." If you include a short URL in your post, Hotwall will track every click on that link and display it instantly. (To make it easy and quick to create posts, Hotwall gives you a handy "bookmarklet" that streamlines the process.)
More importantly, Hotwall charts give you at-a-glance views of click activity over time, as well as telling you the source(s) of your clicks, the browsers used, and where in the world the click originated.
You can use this valuable data to test different posting strategies and to refine your posts. Best of all, Hotwall is totally free - and very easy to use.
Charts
Here's a chart that shows clicks on links (URLs) during the month of February. (You'll notice that it looks just like Google Analytics, if you're familiar with that product.) You can drill down to the week, day, or hour for a detailed look at click activity.
And here are two charts that show the websites from which clicks originate (from Twitter or other sites) and also the countries from which the click originated. I had no idea that I had so many followers in Germany!
Thanks for putting up with this small "commercial" interruption. The regular Ox Herding will return next Monday. I hope you enjoy a great weekend!
Barry
Here's another favorite post, one that uses a line in President Obama's inaugural address to make a much larger point. And, now that it's actually peach-eating season (at least, on the West Coast), I especially appreciate the conclusion.
In his inaugural address, President Obama said, "We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
The President's metaphor got me thinking about the various clenched fists in my life.
There's the clenched fist of protection, which limits my experience (and injures those around me). There's the clenched fist of position, which freezes my relationship to those who care about me.
There's the clenched fist of view - my inflexible ways of perceiving changing circumstance. There's the clenched fist of story - the fabrications that I cling to when things don't go my way.
Occasionally I'm able to relax one of these fists.
In
these moments, I immediately experience how the world extends its hand
toward me. Sometimes I return the gesture and join hands with the
world. Other times, the fingers tighten back into the clench.
It's an interesting study. One thing I know for certain: It's hard to eat a peach with a clenched fist.
Later note: As it turns out, Puerhan addressed exactly this topic on January 21 with one of his fine poems:
Fist by Robbie Veldwijk
Peach by Kook Skatkat
While you're waiting for enlightenment to appear, you might try iFlush. This nifty iPhone application will give you fast, if temporary, relief from the irritation of dukkha.
Just pop any photo from your iPhone library into iFlush and send it down the drain. You can even shoot a new photo right from iFlush and drop it into the toilet. With a choice of three toilets and great sound effects, it's a surprisingly realistic way to have fun!
If you have an iPhone, you can download iFlush from the iTunes AppStore here. It's a bargain at $0.99!
You can learn more about iFlush and the company behind it (Elimination Systems) here.
Over the last few weeks, three friends and I have had a blast developing this product. It just became available yesterday and we're excited to see our work available for all to enjoy. I hope you'll give it a try. And thanks for reading this shameless commercial plug!
(Perhaps some of you are shocked - shocked - that I would get involved in such an effort. Gosh, it was my idea! Doesn't our training cultivate curiosity and creativity?)
In his inaugural address, President Obama said, "We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
The President's metaphor got me thinking about the various clenched fists in my life.
There's the clenched fist of protection, which limits my experience (and injures those around me). There's the clenched fist of position, which freezes my relationship to those who care about me.
There's the clenched fist of view - my inflexible ways of perceiving changing circumstance. There's the clenched fist of story - the fabrications that I cling to when things don't go my way.
Occasionally I'm able to relax one of these fists.
In these moments, I immediately experience how the world extends its hand toward me. Sometimes I return the gesture and join hands with the world. Other times, the fingers tighten back into the clench.
It's an interesting study. One thing I know for certain: It's hard to eat a peach with a clenched fist.
Later note: As it turns out, Puerhan addressed exactly this topic on January 21 with one of his fine poems:
Fist by Robbie Veldwijk
Peach by Kook Skatkat
Over the past ten days, we've enjoyed quite a bit of snow (for us) in Seattle. And, with the snow, lots of snowpeople arrived in the neighborhood.
And here are some of the neighborhood snowpeople, building a snowfort to defend against snowballs:
"San konno san itta" is a traditional Korean phrase that means:
