Barry Graham's Blog, page 52

A moment of night

What a marvel it is to lie in a warm bed, wrapped in roof, floor and walls, to have a body that is comfortable, to be happily falling asleep, to be somewhere in the cosmos.

grupaok:Berkeley last nightVideo of the police response at...

grupaok:

Berkeley last night

Video of the police response at 10:20pm — Berkeley police firing on protesters — must be shared

Some things I wrote on how to protect yourself from cops

Considering what’s going on in U.S. cities right now, and how many of us are protesting, I thought I’d link to three short pieces I wrote on dealing with cops:

Zen in the Street

The Best Way to Avoid Falsely Confessing Is to Refuse to Talk to Cops

Effective Self-Defense Includes Never Talking to Cops

And here’s a handy cheat sheet.

micdotcom:Potent minimalist art sends a strong message about...

micdotcom:

Potent minimalist art sends a strong message about police and vigilante brutality in America

Journalist and artistShirin Barghihas created a gripping, thought-provoking series of graphics that not only examines racial prejudice in today’s America, but also captures the sense of humanity that often gets lost in news coverage. Titled “Last Words,” the graphics illustrate the last recorded words by Brown and other young black people — Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant and others — w...

Notes from tonight's protest in Portland against the Ferguson Grand Jury decision not to charge Darren Wilson for murdering Michael Brown

If you have any doubt that what happens in Ferguson, MO is also Portland, OR’s problem, consider this: even before the Grand Jury had announced that no charges would be brought against Darren Wilson, three Portland cops posted their support of Wilson on Facebook. They were then ordered to delete the posts, and, inexplicably, the news story I linked to doesn’t give their names, so I’ll tell you they are OfficersRich Storm, Rob Blanck and Kris Barber, who changed their profile...

Daishin and I saw these tiny mushrooms growing on a tree near...

Daishin and I saw these tiny mushrooms growing on a tree near our apartment in Portland. We couldn’t figure out what’s feeding them.

R.I.P. Sokai Geoffrey Barratt

Sokai and me at Haku-un-ji, circa 2007

Earlier this evening, talking with a friend, I heard that Sokai Geoffrey Barratt Osho, Abbot of Haku-un-ji Zen Center in Tempe, AZ, died back in June. I’m very sad to hear this, and shocked that there’s been nothing about it in Zen media.

Sokai was a beautiful man, a bodhisattva who dedicated his life to the propagation of the Buddha Dharma. He was supportive of other sanghas; he welcomed my students and me to the monthly day-long zazenkai he h...

""I hope I haven’t frightened you off with my ways," she said. "It seems as if that is what I..."

“

"I hope I haven’t frightened you off with my ways," she said. "It seems as if that is what I do."

He thought for a moment, looking at the room, the piano, the expensive adornments. Through the window he could see dimly the rectangle of the book he had dropped on the lawn. The rich, he thought, their money gives them time for her sort of self-obsession.

”

- The Moon of the Wolf by Leslie H. Whitten

Zen practioners—avoid thinking you know about not knowing

In Zen practice, we put an emphasis on the importance of not knowing. Bodhidharma, when asked who he was, answered, “No knowing.” A koan tells us, “Not knowing is the most intimate.” But when not knowing becomes a belief, it becomes knowing.

I had a Zen student who told me that, when meditating, he would breathe in, thinking the word "Know?" as a question, and then as he breathed out he would respond with an answer: "No."

He seemed surprised when I told him that he was p...

Of Darkness and Light: scaring people for 25 years

Of Darkness and Light: scaring people for 25 years:

This, my first novel, was published by Bloomsbury 25 years ago this week.