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 8 May 2005 @ 11:01
Many a time I have wanted to stop talking and find out what I really believed.
---Walter Lippmann
Regardless of how long you sit, the Buddha Dharma never appears because it is already here! Reveal it! Do not cover it up!
---Maezumi Roshi
If on earth there be
a Paradise of Bliss,
It is this,
It is this,
It is this.
---Firdausi
In 1975 Gary Snyder won the Pulitzer Prize For Poetry with a book entitled Turtle Island. My favorite poem in the whole world is in there, and last evening at dusk and by lanternlight I had the opportunity to read it aloud to friends and family down by our creek. This morning I found it online and have reproduced it here---with a link so you can buy the book. I hope Gary wouldn't mind.
He's 75 today. Two years ago I wrote about him, included a few poems, and sent it to him. I was thrilled when he replied. [link] Maybe I'll see if I can find him again today. More >
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 4 May 2005 @ 08:15
When we understand,
we are at the center of the circle,
and there we sit
while Yes and No chase each other around the circumference.
---Chuang-Tzu
We say that someone has the wondrous ability to play the zither or the lute, but if we ask where that art resides, not even the wisest man can answer....This art, produced by something we cannot fully know, is like the innate nature of the mind that operates in all our daily activities.
---Hakuin
Merchants---
who will buy this hat,
glazed with snow?
---Basho
Giotto's Ascension, 1310
Tomorrow is a day of considerable spiritual significance. It is Yom Hashoah, a solemn day of remembrance of the Holocaust. It is Cinco De Mayo, another celebration of the dead that can jar the outsider with its often festive atmosphere. In Mexico it also marks the defeat of French forces there in 1862. And it is Ascension Day throughout most of Christendom. For many Christians the picture of an actual and tangible living body of Christ rising up into the air to be with the Father in Heaven overhead is a bit of a reach...but perhaps it always has been so. More >
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 1 May 2005 @ 10:44
Stand in awe, and sin not;
commune with your own heart,
and in your chamber, and be still.
---Psalm 4:4
To sit without emotion, hope, or aim,
In the loved presence of my cottage-fire,
And listen to the flapping of the flame,
Or kettle whispering its faint undersong.
---William Wordsworth
The fact that astronomies change while the stars abide is a true analogy of every realm of human life and thought, religion not least of all. No existent theology can be a final formulation of a spiritual truth.
---Harry Emerson Fosdick
The old photos are of my country grandmother in her garden, and of little Dickie learning about the flowers from Mom.
Whenever I attempt an essay about my early days in Western New York, I usually can expect an email of corrections from my sister, Ann. She seems to remember the facts of what, where, and when better than I do, burdened as I was of course with being such a visionary. And also she's a few years younger than I am. (Correction #1 may come regarding the word "few".) But last evening she wrote me a note requesting some things out of my memory. Here it is~~~ More >
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 24 Apr 2005 @ 10:29
A humble knowledge of thyself is a surer way to God than a deep search after learning.
---Thomas A Kempis
Chuang-Tzu: The true sage pays no heed to mundane affairs....He adheres, without questioning, to the Tao. Without speaking, he can speak; and he can speak and yet say nothing. And so he roams beyond the limits of this dusty world.
Confucius: These are wild words.
The first key to wisdom is assiduous and frequent questioning. For by doubting we come to inquiry and by inquiry we arrive at the truth.
---Peter Abelard
My online friend Tom Bombadil blogged this item the other day...and I just had to leave a comment (reflecting my ancient radio and comic book days of superhero involvement)~~~
[link]
The thing about Bibleman, of course---and here's the real site in case you have trouble getting into that one~~
[link] ---
and shelling out $7 a month to have "Video devotions from Bibleman...delivered straight to your child's e-mail in-box Monday-Friday" is that while it all looks like good clean fun, there are very serious motives going on.
So it is in the shadow of sword, mask, armor and cape of Bibleman that I prepare myself for Justice Sunday today. My former college roommate Paul Quintanilla brought me back from oblivion to alert me it's happening. In case you've been dreaming too, allow me to wake you up with friendly greetings from our old friends at Focus On The Family~~~
[link] More >
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 15 Apr 2005 @ 11:49
It is no more surprising to be born twice than it is to be born once.
---Voltaire
The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
---Niels Bohr
A general in ancient China came to see a Zen master. He drew his sword and pointed it at the teacher, and announced: "Don't you know that I am a man who can run you through without blinking an eye?"
To which the Zen master responded instantly: "Don't you know that I am a man who can be run through without blinking an eye?"
Deeply impressed, the general sheathed his sword and remained for the teaching.
---Zen story
My wife sends me a few emails every day. More often than I like they are about how I can become a better husband for her than I am already. But sometimes she finds a political item or entry as she browses the Net that nails the direction our nation is taking right to the wall. When that happens I find little alternative but to put aside everything I am doing...and really take an inventory. I'm sure she'd like it if I did that with the health and diet articles she sends too, but that is a different essay. More >
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