Mind activities of a Stone boy

Tonight I helped paint toe nails of a friend and I couldn't help thinking of the times when I touch up my car with thick paint.

This is another wonderful song by Leonard Cohen. Anthem The birds they sang at the break of day Start again I heard them say Don't dwell on what has passed away or what is yet to be. Ah the wars they will be fought again The holy dove She will be caught again bought and sold and bought again the dove is never free. Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in. We asked for signs the signs were sent: the birth betrayed the marriage spent Yeah the widowhood of every government -- signs for all to see. I can't run no more with that lawless crowd while the killers in high places say their prayers out loud. But they've summoned, they've summoned up a thundercloud and they're going to hear from me. Ring the bells that still can ring ... You can add up the p...

This Sunday I attended a talk given by a senior member in my sangha. The talk emphasizes the point that one could get all the love he needs from himself. There are many ways to paraphrase this concept. It is self-love, the foundation of being able to love others. It is the concept that one could find all the happiness from within rather than from the external sources. It is the concept that one should be self sufficient without the need to count on others to provide happiness. It is an interesting concept that I have been exploring for many years. I still could not get it emotionally even though I understand it literally. I guess that it is the ultimate solution to the feeling of loneliness and being alone. When one is feeling lonely, usually it is the case when one needs some sort of love, companionship, feeling of connection with others, caring, and etc. If one could provide those kind of loves to oneself, one would not feel lonely any more. In a way, it makes so much sense that ther...

I will make an effort to study this ancient text every day until I finish it. Here is the entry in Wikipedia. I will attempt to study these versions. Translated by Derek Lin Translated by J. Legge Translated by D.T. Suzuki & Paul Carus This one has original Chinese Text. I recalled back in the days (in high school). We tried to study the original texts. We (at least I) could not understand it. I only got the fuzzy meaning of it. Till this day, it is still fuzzy to me. The text was written in such ancient Chinese which could be written as in Greek to us. Since I am in the West now, many people here consider this as a sacred text, I will give another attempt to read it. Perhaps, with the help of multiple translations, I will finally gain some meaning of this text. My comments: There are 81 chapters of this book. The first chapter is the most famous one that contains this opening line "The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the etern...

I came across this interesting concept that is summarized by this word. Here is the first paragraph from Wikipedia. To say that something is "ineffable" means that it cannot or should not, for overwhelming reasons, be expressed in spoken words (as with the concept of true love). It is generally used to describe a feeling, concept or aspect of existence that is too great to be adequately described in words, or that inherently (due to its nature) cannot be conveyed in dualistic symbolic human language, but can only be known internally by individuals. In Zen it is often said that (by analogy) the finger can point to the moon but is not the moon; likewise words and actions can point towards what is ineffable but cannot make another know it. Here is the entry .

I had a good fortunate to visit this reserve with my whole family a week ago. It has giant cypress trees dotted in a beautiful forest area. I saw one tree named as "The Bear's den" and it claims to be 2,800 years old. (Well, it is not as old as this one .) This is almost unthinkable to me. That tree has been around before Buddhism was created! It is beyond my comprehension. That tree has witnessed all the super fast advancement of human civilization. It must bear lots of wisdom in it. What an odd logic I drew. Still, I feel the calming effect very much while walking in the forest. It is a treasure place from Taiwan.

While I was on vacation visiting my brother's family, my brother and my nephew gladly told me about Thunderbirds TV Series that they purchased in DVD format. Even my sister was hymning the main theme of the background music and I was impressed. I vaguely remembered watching them when I was way too little. I remember that there are 5 aircrafts, number 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. That was about it. I don't remember any character's names, not to mention that it was a foreign language to me at that time even though it was translated into Mandarin. Now, my English is so much better than before. I could clearly understand the whole episode. I am impressed by how advanced the idea and imaginative spacecrafts were even by today's standard. So, without further adieu. Here is the wikipedia entry of this .

The Roman politician and philosopher Cicero (1-6-43) tells the famous story about the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius II and his courtier Damocles, which he had read in the History of Timaeus of Tauromenium. The anecdote is often told as a reminder that for a powerful man, there's always danger, although the real point of the story is that happiness is fragile. This translation of Cicero's Tusculan disputations 5.61 was made by Gavin Betts. Indeed this tyrant [Dionysius II of Syracuse] himself gave his judgment as to how fortunate he was. For when one of his flatterers, Damocles, mentioned in conversation the wealth of Dionysius, the majesty of his rule, the abundance of his possessions, the magnificence of the royal palace and denied that there had ever been anyone more fortunate, he said, 'So, Damocles, since this life delights you, do you wish to taste it yourself and make trial of my fortune?' When Damocles said that he desired this, Dionysius gave orders that the man be...

For some inexplicable reason, the following chant from a private in the movie keeps repeating in my head. I clearly remember how haunting that was to watch the whole movie back at one late summer night. I had a hard time going to bed after that. War is really a terrifying experience. It should be prevented at all cost. "This is my rifle. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy, who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. Before God I swear this creed: my rifle and myself are defenders of my country, we are the masters of my enemy, we are the saviors of my life. So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace. Amen." Shouldn't people experience the dark side to really appreciate the bright side? Not really yet not sure. For now, le...

Ego's tricks "One of the great dangers of transformational work is that the ego attempts to sidestep deep psychological work by leaping into the transcendent too soon. This is because the ego always fancies itself much more ‘advanced’ than it actually is." -- Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson The Tibetan teacher, Chogyam Trungpa, warned of the trap of spiritual materialism. He says we must be ever diligent to spot the ego’s use of the spiritual journey to further its own ends. We may think it’s spiritual to yearn for divine connection. And yet, if the longing is to fill an emptiness inside, just how does this differ from the one who yearns for money or possessions to fill the inner void? Do we look to our spiritual practices as proof of our evolved consciousness or as protection against fears? Any time we use spiritual disciplines to maintain our identity and security, we are not yet on the path of genuine spiritual development. "Enlightenment is ego’s ultimate disapp...

“A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero only one.” ~~Shakespeare

Do the Meditation Rock Allen Ginsberg To listen If you want to learn how to meditate I’ll tell you now ’cause it’s never too late I’ll tell you how ’cause I can’t wait it’s just that great that it’s never too late If you are an old fraud like me or a lama who lives in Eternity The first thing you do when you meditate is keep your spine your backbone straight Sit yourself down on a pillow on the ground or sit in a chair if the ground isn’t there if the ground isn't there if the ground isn't there Sit where you are if the ground isn't there Do the meditation Do the meditation Do the meditation Do the meditation Learn a little Patience and Generosity Follow your breath out open your eyes sit there steady & sit there wise Follow your breath right outta your nose follow it out where ever it goes Follow your breath but don’t hang on to the thought of your death in old Saigon Follow your breath when thought forms rise whatever you think it’s a big surprise It's a big surpr...

Even if there is no one around to project negativity in our direction, we can perceive the moment such that we generate suffering. For example, you think of someone you don't like and you get upset (i.e. suffer). This could be someone who has never even met you and does not know of your existence. This particular example is far more significant than the example of people who are negative with us as it has everything to do with US (i.e. the way that we think). Hence the Buddhist emphasis on right view. --Kourosh 90 percent of daily thoughts are redundent -- re-cooked and reheated from the year, day or moment before. We can find freedom by releaseing but instead we like to cling and consequenctly suffer. It's so simple yet the lot of us don't get it. -- Fabrice (Brent met while traveling in India)

I just came back from Garrison Institute's retreat with Gehlek Rimpoche. Thank you both for encouraging me to go there. It was really a wonderful surprise for me. I am deeply touched by his teachings and the love and support from other participants. The Rimpoche showed me tremendous compassion and wisdom. The participants impressed me very much, too. Most people that I met seem quite advanced in Tibetan Buddhism practice already. Also, most people I met (and I met quite a few of them) there were married and in relationship, which sort of contradicted my belief that many would be single. It is a sign of a healthy sangha, I think! I had a good fortunate to meet with Rimpoche in a small gathering (about 15 people) for about half an hour. I sat directly across from him maybe 15 feet apart. And I could sense an uplift energy in me directly coming from him. It was so unusual and energizing. Later on, I asked a couple of people who were in that small gathering and they all told me the sam...

(Quoted from here ) We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time. - T.S. Eliot Let go of the past! Let go of the future! Let go of the present and cross over to the farther shore of existence. With your mind wholly liberated, you shall come no more to birth and death. - Buddha "All conditioned things are impermanent" - When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification. - Buddha To gain that worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else. - Bernadette Devlin Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play. - Heraclitus We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. - Buddha I teach that the multitudinousness of objects have no reality in themselves but are only seen of the mind and, therefore, are of the nature of may...

Tonight I came back from a friend's office. He asked me to install a contact management software on a 5 year old Celeron powered laptop with 384 Mbyte RAM. The laptop is painfully slow. Every mouse click takes a painful few seconds to respond. The contact management software requires at least 512 Mbyte RAM to run. I suggested that it is time to get a new computer. But he won't listen to my advice and still would like to try to install that software on it. This decision eventually takes a toll on my patience. I could hardly hide my reluctance to work on this machine. I just wanted to leave and go home, but another friend of his, who is also none techie, was also there and kept asking me questions on why it didn't work. I answered his questions half heartedly. It was very stressful. Stressful to the point that I couldn't help but show my stress. What a bad experience is this! How would I maintain my equanimity in a situation like this? Is it possible?

Yesterday afternoon I went with a close friend to my garden to pick up some plants to be transferred to her garden. The spearmint plant that I planted the day before was dry and withered by the sunlight. I planted that spearmint on the spot due to accidental uprooting it while I was picking some of its leaves. The day before we also brought back some spearmint and peppermint leaves and branches in the house. They were drooping on top of piano now but still in a relative good shape. We all know that plants can't live without sunlight. Yet, a strong sun ray will easily burn off a delicate plant. This teaches me that things would flourish only in the right condition. But, what is the right condition? Even though sun, water, and air are crucial to plants, plants can only flourish with right combination of each element. Perhaps, balance is the key. This is really how things are in general. I could extrapolate this to human relationships. People only meet with the right conditions and th...

(extract from http://www.wwdrums.com/how-to-play-djembe-a-12.html) There are two positions for playing the Djembe, standing and sitting. We find the best way to begin to play the Djembe is in the sitting position. This is the most common method with Drum Circles as well. You can also play the Djembe in a standing position with the use of a strap. For this article, we will discuss the sitting position. To play the djembe, sit up straight on the edge of a chair. Cross your ankles and tuck them slightly under you. Hold the djembe between your knees or thighs so that the bottom of the drum rests behind your heels. There are three basic tones for the Djembe. You can experiment and find variations on these tones. However, it's important to begin with first mastering the basics of these tones. A good practice method is to first work on your tones for 10 - 15 minutes each practice session then work on various rhythms using the tones. Here are the tones: Bass: Noted as B, Gun or Dun. Use a ...

"Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold." --Girl Scout song

A Thirsty Fish I don't get tired of you. Don't grow weary of being compassionate toward me! All this thirst equipment must surely be tired of me, the waterjar, the water carrier. I have a thirsty fish in me that can never find enough of what it's thirsty for! Show me the way to the ocean! Break these half-measures, these small containers. All this fantasy and grief. Let my house be drowned in the wave that rose last night in the courtyard hidden in the center of my chest. Joseph fell like the moon into my well. The harvest I expected was washed away. But no matter. A fire has risen above my tombstone hat. I don't want learning, or dignity, or respectability. I want this music and this dawn and the warmth of your cheek against mine. The grief-armies assemble, but I'm not going with them. This is how it always is when I finish a poem. A great silence comes over me, and I wonder why I ever thought to use language. "Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi translated by Coleman Bar...