Andrew Furst's Blog, page 112

More Extremes? – Say What?

Say What?  is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.

This shirt is dry clean only. Which means... it's dirty. - Mitch Hedberg 

More Extremes?

A Few Words On Dualism and Materialism – Extremes?

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One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

The post More Extremes? – Say What? appeared on Andrew Furst.

Compass Songs – The Philosopher in Florida

 Compass Songs is an ongoing series of works by poets that I enjoy. Poetry, as the Zen Masters have said, is like a finger pointing to the moon. It speaks the unspeakable.

The Philosopher in Florida

by C. Dale Young

Midsummer lies on this town

like a plague: locusts now replaced

by humidity, the bloodied Nile

now an algae-covered rivulet

struggling to find its terminus.

Our choice is a simple one:

to leave or to remain, to render

the Spanish moss a memory

or to pull it from trees, repeatedly.

And this must be what the young

philosopher felt, the pull of a dialectic so basic

the mind refuses, normally,

to take much notice of it.

Outside, beyond a palm-tree fence,

a flock of ibis mounts the air,

our concerns ignored

by their quick white wings.

Feathered flashes reflected in water,

the bending necks of the cattails:

the landscape feels nothing—

it repeats itself with or without us.

Get Each Week's Compass Song in your email box

First Name:

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

 

The post Compass Songs – The Philosopher in Florida appeared on Andrew Furst.

Religion and Politics – Should Religion Interfere With Politics?

Dialectic Two-Step  is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.

Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio

Religion and Politics – Should Religion Interfere With Politics?

Response:  Religion per se is not an actor and cannot interfere.

Religious people (a.k.a. citizens) are key participants in politics and should be involved.

Religion and Politics

Get Each Week's Dialectic Two Step in your email box

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

The post Religion and Politics – Should Religion Interfere With Politics? appeared on Andrew Furst.

My New Book Fundraiser Has Begun

And We Still Answer
Poetry by Andrew Furst

The Fundraiser has begun!

ANCESTRAL HOME

Eons from life’s birth

the sea still calls us by name.

And we still answer

This and many other poems have been gathered over the course of an incredibly productive year of writing. I’m looking for your help to get this book of poetry published.

Click the image to go to the fundraiser 

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The Campaign

My campaign’s goal is to raise money to design, edit, and publish my book And We Still Answer.

Here’s the breakout on the costs:

Click the image to go to the fundraiser 

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The post My New Book Fundraiser Has Begun appeared on Andrew Furst.

Quan Yin Bodhisattva – A Three Minute Meditation

 One  Minute Meditations is an ongoing series of short videos, poems, and commentary intended as a meditation.  Offered as an opportunity to step back from your cyber routine and settle into a more natural rhythm, if only for a minute.

Quan Yin Bodhisattva

Today’s minute meditation is of Goldmine Brook Falls in Chester, MA in August 2015. I combined the slow motion image of the water falling over the beautiful falls with the mantra of Quan Yin Bodhisattva (Guanyin) and a singing bell.

Meditation: The chant you will hear behind the sound of the singing bell is the mantra of Quan Yin. Quan Yin, is the Chinese, and fittingly female, representation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. As you listen to the bell and see the waterfall flowing slowly down, direct some of that compassion of yours back onto yourself

Best viewed in full screen

These videos are produced for those of us who spend an inordinately large amount of time in the cyber-world.  They are not a substitute for unplugging from your devices and taking a stroll near trees, water, or a patch of unkempt grass.  Getting out into the world - touching, smelling, hearing, and seeing nature is the best way to reconnect with our prime purpose.  

What is our prime purpose? We are feeling and sensing machines.  We are the universe looking back on itself. We are witness to the wonders and dangers of living in this corner of the cosmos.  We are the seekers looking for connection a little further beyond yesterday's borders and boundaries.

But sitting and staring at the screen robs us of the sustenance that we rely upon for wonder and sanity.  These videos are an opportunity to bring the sensations of nature to you, while you're in the cyber-world. Its an opportunity to relax your gaze, resettle your posture,  and regain some depth in your breath.  Listen and watch the video and allow your self to open up and recharge.

Most of these are best viewed in full screen

Get Each Week's One Minute Meditation in your email box

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

The post Quan Yin Bodhisattva – A Three Minute Meditation appeared on Andrew Furst.

Sunday Morning Coming Down – No Storms Come

Sunday Morning Coming Down is an ongoing music  video series.  The songs fit my definition of music for a lazy couch bound Sunday morning.

No Storms Come – The Innocence Mission

Another flower lost in the shuffle.  Innocence Mission offered (and apparently still offer) some lovely raw heartfelt songs.

 Get Each Week's Sunday Morning Coming Down in your email box

First Name:

Last Name:

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

 
No Storms Come – The Innocence Mission

by Daniel R. Messe

I have desired to go

oh, I have asked to go

where a few lilies blow

I have desired to go

oh, I have asked to go

where a few lilies blow

to fields where flies no sharp and sided hail

and springs not fail

and springs not failand I have asked to be

oh, I have asked to be

out of the swing of the sea

where the green swell is in the heavens dumb

and no storms come

and no storms come

The post Sunday Morning Coming Down – No Storms Come appeared on Andrew Furst.

What Is Buddha Nature? – Say What?

Say What?  is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.

This shirt is dry clean only. Which means... it's dirty. - Mitch Hedberg 

What Is Buddha Nature?

 

A Few Words On Buddha Nature

Get Each Week's Say What? in your email box

First Name:

Last Name:

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

The post What Is Buddha Nature? – Say What? appeared on Andrew Furst.

Signs of Life – Tiny Drops (Photography)

Tiny Drops is an ongoing iPhoneographic series. The images represent moments of noticing on my part.  For you, they are an offer to pause, observe, and take that noticing into your life.  All photos are mine unless noted otherwise.

These works by Andrew Furst are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Signs of Life
frondspincer bugshroom

Signs of Life

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

 
FIVE LIMITLESS THOUGHTS

May all living beings have happiness and its causes

May all be free from unhappiness and its causes

May all dwell in equanimity, free of attraction and aversion

May all quickly find the great happiness that lies beyond all misery

May all enjoy inner and outer peace now and forever

NAMO AMITOFO

The post Signs of Life – Tiny Drops (Photography) appeared on Andrew Furst.

Quote – Can You Buddha Size That?

Can You Buddha Size That?

 

Can You Buddha Size That?

 

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Modern Koans – Why Right Effort?

Modern Koans is an ongoing series that recognizes that good questions are often more important then their answers.

The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. ― G.K. Chesterton

The Eightfold Path Series

This is the one of several posts I will be offering titled the Eightfold Path Series. As I've reflected on my experience, I've come to see the Path as both the practice and the fruition. As we inch closer to realization of our true nature, we discover that the wisdom, ethics, and concentration prescribed in the Buddha are the most natural expression of our being.

John Daido Loori Roshi's book Invoking Reality was transformational for me. In it Roshi turns the path on it's head in a way that uncovers it's challenge to us. The path and the precepts are not rules and regulations that lead to punishment by the karmic cosmos, but a way for us to see our true selves by looking through the prism of these personal dimensions. I see the path  and the precepts as questions, not rules.  Let's explore them.

Why Right Effort?

So much of what is confounding about Buddhism is that with all of the teachings and all of the practices we are always really just uncovering what is already there.  Buddha Nature is described to us as our inherent luminosity, our innate capacity for liberation and so on.   I’ve often wondered, why exert any effort at all?

Openness is letting go of the delusion of control.  Attraction and aversion are the little mechanisms of the mind that interfere with our capacity for Buddhahood.   It seems like our efforts are the only thing between us and Nirvana.

So should right effort mean no effort? Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi offers the following description of Right Effort

To prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states – prevent the manifestation of the five hindrances (sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and worry, and doubt).
To abandon unwholesome states that have already arisen– to let go of the existing hindrances
To arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen – to develop the factors of enlightenment (mindfulness, investigation of phenomena, energy, rapture, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity).
To maintain and perfect wholesome states already arisen – to maintain the factors of enlightenment.

Unfortunately, it seems like we’re not off the hook.  There’s work to do.  But it’s important to note that it’s not the kind of work we normally think of.  We aren’t getting paid, we’re not building a house, or writing a paper.  It’s not the kind of work where we expect some external reward.

What’s different about this kind effort?  What can we expect from it? Should we expect something?  Where do the hindrances come from? Are we born with them?  What have been your pitfalls in engaging right effort?

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

 
Get Each Week's Modern Koan in your email box

First Name:

Last Name:

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

 

The post Modern Koans – Why Right Effort? appeared on Andrew Furst.