Barry Graham's Blog, page 83
October 5, 2013
I see this tag on my walks around Nob Hill in Portland.
I see this tag on my walks around Nob Hill in Portland.
laphamsquarterly:
“The daughter of a Court Street baker died....
“The daughter of a Court Street baker died. It was in winter, and the father, knowing that a married sister of his dead child, who lived in St. Louis, would like to see her face before being laid in the grave forever, had the body placed in the vault, waiting her arrival. The sister came, the vault was opened, the lid of the coffin taken off, when, to the unutterable horror of the friends assembled, they found the grave clothes torn in shreds, and the fingers of both hands ea...
October 2, 2013
uksa:
Banksy New Work
If I had to name one favorite artist, it...
September 30, 2013
Koan Commentary: Nansen Kills the Cat
Nansen found monks of the Eastern and Western halls arguing about a cat. He told them, “Say a word of Zen, or I will kill the cat.” No one could say anything to save the cat, and so Nansen cut it in two.
That evening, Joshu returned from an excursion and Nansen told him what had happened. Joshu took off a sandal, put it on his head, and walked out.
Nansen said, “If you had been there, the cat would have been saved.”
- The Gateless Gate, Case 14
One Zen student to whom I ga...
September 28, 2013
mjstarling:
The 'Mystery and imagination' (Gothic texts) blog...
The 'Mystery and imagination' (Gothic texts) blog has a free Carnacki, the ghost finder ebook available in Kindle, epub and pdf editions. It has all nine stories, unlike the one on Project Gutenberg - which was created from the 1913 collection, which was missing The Find, The Haunted Jarvee and The Hog (none of which were published until after Hodgson’s death in the First World War).
I wrote a Carnacki story of my own.
September 27, 2013
My translation of The Kannon Sutra (Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo)
Image: Hakuin
For some time, I’ve been rethinking and experimenting with the way I teach Zen. One change is that most of our liturgy is now chanted in English rather than Sino-Japanese. The best English translation of The Heart Sutra is by Red Pine, but I’ve been able to find no English translation of The Kannon Sutra that’s both accurate and easy to chant, so I’ve been working on such a translation.
I think it might be ready, and I hope people will find it useful. Here...
September 24, 2013
Poem: The Speed of Light
She is getting in bed when she realizes she is out
of the half-and-half she takes in her morning coffee.
He is still dressed. He tells her he’ll walk to the market
and get some for her.
The market is two blocks from their apartment.
As he walks, he looks up and sees stars
that have not existed since before he was born.
They did not know their light would travel so far.
He finds the half-and-half, selects two cartons,
stands in line at the checkout. Light of dead
stars, her asleep now in their hom...
September 23, 2013
Zen and Depression
(Note: A discussion yesterday with a Zen student who’s dealing with clinical depression prompted me to post this chapter of my book Kill Your Self: Life After Ego .)
Image: Banksy
Sometimes people ask me if Zen practice can cure depression. I tell them it can no more cure a mental illness than a physical illness, and I encourage them to look into counseling and medication. I also encourage them to read the book The Zen Path Through Depression by Philip Martin.
Zen probably won’t solve a sin...
September 20, 2013
Koan Commentary: The One Who Does Not Get Sick
Image: Vince Larue
Master Tozan was sick. A monk said, “Is there anyone who does not get sick?”
Tozan said, “There is.”
The monk said, “Does the one who does not get sick take care of you?”
Tozan said, “I take care of him.”
The monk said, “What happens when you take care of him?”
Tozan said, “Then no one is sick.”
- The Book of Equanimity, Case 94
Who is the one who does not get sick? And how do you, who get sick, take care of hi...
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