Barry Graham's Blog, page 88
July 8, 2013
Who Cares About the Buddha's Opinions?
There is a fashionable debate among Western Buddhists about whether or not the Buddha believed in reincarnation.
Most of the people involved in the argument confuse reincarnation with rebirth, which are not the same, or even similar. But, instead of debating that, the focus of the disagreement is on what the historical Buddha thought.
This misses the point in at least three ways. For one, we don’t know for sure that the Buddha Shakyamuni ever actually existed. For a second, it doesn’t matter to...
July 5, 2013
Crime Fiction - The Perennial Punk Rock of Literature: New Essay by Me in The Big Click
In issue #9, we begin with “Bragging Rights” by Jason Ridler—little bragging, no rights, but plenty of sex. And heartbreaking poverty. Then satirist Ann Sterzinger looks into the dark future of just about everything with “You Are Watching.” And you are reading it! We also have a new column from Barry Graham, in which he takes issue with Adrian McKinty’s recent claim that noir fiction is the “new” punk roc...
July 1, 2013
Haiku
summer evening -
man in motorized wheelchair
walks his poodle
June 29, 2013
Truffaut Is Wrong About the Separation Between Life and Art
Francois Truffaut said:
I have always preferred the reflection of life to life itself. If I opted for books and films from the age of eleven or twelve, it was certainly because I preferred seeing life through books and films.
While I relate closely to this (books and films saved my life as a child), I think he’s deceived by a false dichotomy. What we experience in books and films is no more a reflection of life than what we experience in the street, at work, in the kitchen or the bathroom...
June 24, 2013
Interview: Writer Barry Graham - Nailed Magazine
New interview with novelist, journalist, poet, and Zen teacher Barry Graham, by Roy Coughlin from Nailed Magazine.
June 15, 2013
June 11, 2013
Kawabata's 114th Birthday
Seeing the moon, he becomes the moon, the moon seen by him becomes him. He sinks into nature, becomes one with nature. The light of the “clear heart” of the priest, seated in the meditation hall in the darkness before the dawn, becomes for the dawn moon its own light.
Yasunari Kawabata, my favorite fiction writer, was born 114 years ago today.
June 10, 2013
fallen leaf | zen, photography, & life in the city: killing pigeons in portland
for the past few months, pigeons have been nesting on ledges of my apartment building. i have watched nests being built, eggs laid and cared for, and squabs hatch, mature, and fly away.
six days ago, i watched a new pair of pigeons build a nest. since then, two eggs have been laid and…
Quatrain For Paul Reekie (January 23, 1962-June 10, 2010)
Though life can be a crock of shit
and nights be dark and tragic,
John Barleycorn provides a hit
and mushrooms may be magic.
(Edinburgh, 1992)
No Helping Homeless People Allowed On Portland TriMet Trains
Sunday evening on a blue-line train in Portland, end of a summer day. Two cops bust a homeless man for not having a ticket, and tell him to get off the train. He’s obviously drunk, but not causing any disturbance.A woman asks if she can give her ticket to the man, leave the train, and get herself another ticket. The cops don’t let her.
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