tao1776

Who are we really? What is really the meaning of Life? How can we attain lasting happiness in the face of our seemingly endless troubles? These questions are basic to our lives, and it is from these questions that the practice of Zen has its birth. Zen can be the compassionate scalpel that removes the layers of accrued opinions, beliefs, and frozen expectations that stand between us and true experience. Zen shows us that what we mistakenly call ourselves, our personal identity, is really no more than a mask over our true selves and natures. Beliefs, opinions, prejudices, educational and cultural training, our family backgrounds: All these are merely accidental factors, if you will. They are necessary tools for survival and integration into the larger society, but they are not really who you are. Without falling back on convenient definitions of job, religion, sex and so on, who and what are we? If you lose your job, will you lose yourself? If you convert to another rel...

On any given night you can find a cruise night or car show within a one hour drive of my home. You will find there many fully restored classics . When a "59 Ford" or a "61 Vette" or perhaps a "66 GTO" rumbles into view it is impressive. Then there are the Falcons, Barracudas, Mustangs and a host of hot rods and other various stock classics. But I have a fondness for all things air cooled VW. A few years ago I was interviewed on the local radio station during the "Big Block Production Show." Seeing me drive in for show after show in my "Little Hottie" I must have appeared quite the anomaly to this muscle car maniac. He was dying to find out what the attraction was. Like the guy who shows up at the prom with a girl who could eat an apple through a picket fence, I get all sorts of skewed looks. I spoke with him and to his listeners about my history with owning v-dubs. They are fun. In the winter we could drive the snowmobile trails. I ...

Its funny, these little quirks that we develop. Whenever I seek to undertake the pursuit of some new goal or make some little change in routine or lifestyle, I like to begin with some notable starting date. Sometimes it just happens for some inexplicable reason. For example, when my mother passed, I did not trim my beard for several years. In some weird way it was akin to wearing a black arm band; a symbol of mourning. It just felt right. I've begun weight loss regimens on birthdays or with the start of Beltane . I've begun intensive meditation starting with the beginning of Samhain . I am usually tuned into solstices and moon phases. So, it comes as no surprise to me that the Summer Solstice 2009 will mark some changes for me. For starters, I now have an empty room that has been designated as the quiet room. Set aside for meditation, reading and exercise. I am going to begin to assemble the now empty room into my mind's eye rendition of a place of rejuvenation. I am goi...

Ching Ch'ing, a Chinese Ch'an master, asked a monk: -What is the sound outside? The monk answered: -That is the sound of rain. The master said: -Sentient beings are upside down, they lose themselves in pursuit of things. The monk asked: -What should I do? Ching Ch'ing replied: -I am the sound of the rain.

Watchful Buddha outside my back door

My granddaughter with last years crop. I had a garden for several years. I was overexposed to isocyanate in the mid 80's so I decided to let the grass retake possession of that patch of earth in favor of a flower garden and fountain to help me in my convalescence. Some twenty years later I started hanging tomatoes with bush beans at the base. (see pix no. 1) This years I thought that I'd expand but due to financial constraints it didn't look promising. I did manage to get the wood, a yard of 4 year old compost and several other items for free. I recently received a pick up of flagstone that someone wanted to have removed and they were removed to my yard. We decided to donate this patch to jack o lantern pumpkins and a new type of winter squash. We have two types of tomatoes, beets, mixed lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, pole beans, peas, peppers, (one jalapeno) three types of squash and the pumpkins.

Your intentions create the reality that you experience. Until you become aware of this, it happens unconsciously. Therefore, be mindful of what you project. This is the first step towards authentic power. ....when you choose to create with the intention of love, forgiveness, humbleness and clarity, you gain power. When you choose to learn through wisdom, you gain power. --Gary Zukav I've often thought of myself as someone who strove to put his best foot forward. --Tim

"The thought of suicide is a powerful solace: by means of it one gets through many a bad night" -- Friedrich Nietzsche There it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts; the depth of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in the eyes of the Divine. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other this way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed...I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other. --Thomas Merton