Andrew Furst's Blog, page 137

Thay & the Lotus

Thay & the Lotus

A video from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Facebook account, showing him doing a fun little trick.

The post Thay & the Lotus appeared on Andrew Furst.

Modern Koans – When Our Heroes Fail

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

 

When  Our Heroes Fail

It’s human nature to create and revere heroes. Our brains are wired for it. So what happen’s when our heroes fail?  It happens everyday.  Lance Armstrong, Bill Cosby, Brian Williams, and so on.

First thing is that hero’s are made in our heads. Any betrayal that we suffer because the person behind our hero image doesn’t live up to our expectations is something we bring upon ourselves . Any trust we put in these people is ours to give or take away. We can be in control of what happens when our heroes stumble. When we give up that control, we are giving up our responsibilities and we deserve the suffering that comes with it.

But when our heroes fail, we do feel betrayed. We look for answers, solutions, and prescriptions for how we can change the world. Better education, more stringent laws, and tougher enforcement are options that come up after celebrity disgrace happens.  But we already have methods to deal with these failings.  Lance Armstrong was eventually stripped of his titles. Bill Cosby is suffering in the court of public opinion. These cries for change are prayers to sooth our own hearts.  The moral outrage is born out of the personal suffering that comes when our idols don’t live up to our expectations.

The facts are that we have the potential to be greedy, small, self interested people.  Everyday we can either resist or succumb to the temptation.  Most days we succumb.  So do our heroes. Every day we plant the seeds for our future freedom or suffering.  Moving beyond this basal state of being is something that comes out of deep self reflection. We grow by discovering, through repeated hard knocks, that if we continue to behave this way, we’re going to continue to suffer.

So the questions:

Are celebrities responsible to us for the betrayal of our trust?

Can we and should we change the culture to idolize nobler behavior?

What power do we have to change anything? 

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Quotes – Dietary Advice

Dietary Advice

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One Minute Meditation – We Are What We Eat

 

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. 

We Are What We Eat

They say we are what we eat.  We are what we taste, smell, feel, see, and hear. Everything we take in is absorbed by our sponge like brains. It’s the fodder that forms our base of experience.  Experience forms the seeds of who we are.

If we are constantly tuned into our computers, TVs, video games, devices and movies we become the frenetically paced children of mindlessness.

Set aside a minute to take in and reconnect to the natural rhythms of nature. Feed yourself the experience that will blossom into a person who is peaceful and contented.

Ripples In The Rain

Freedom with Duty
Each of us touching circles
What we do, they feel

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Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
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Poe on Fools

Poe on Fools

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Tiny Drops – Fools Rush In

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.

Fools Rush In

Click on images to view the full size slide show.

Bat Stopclementine filterfoozmanfruit loopslegopinnochiphantGet Each Week's Tiny Drops in your email box

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Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
Say What?
Quotes
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 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

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Say What? – How Do I Become Enlightened?

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  

How Do I Become Enlightened?

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Compass Songs – The Red Cadillac

 
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.

I had the great  pleasure to meet Regie O’Hare Gibson at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading I attend. He performed some of his works at the Martin Luther King Jr. Service.  If you have the opportunity to see him perform, get there.

The Red Cadillac

by Reginald O’Hare Gibson

Willie “Slick” Williams reads William Carlos Williams, then writes a letter to the producers of the TV makeover show Pimp My Ride, explaining why his car should be featured on the program.

so much depends
upon

a red cadillac
slick

with turtle
wax

beside the white
chicks

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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:
One Minute Meditations
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Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
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Verse Us (Poems I Write)

 

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Dialectic Two-Step – Are There Any Genuine Flaws in Buddhism?

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 Paz  

Question: Are There Any Genuine Flaws in Buddhism?

Response: I think that Karma and Reincarnation are poorly constructed and flawed ideas.  My sense is that they are Asian cultural baggage and not critical to Buddhist cultivation.

The Sabbasava Sutta describes several questions which are unwise to dwell on, including What shall I be in future? The concepts are outside of experience in the conventional sense.  I’d also note that these two topics fall outside of the Three Dharma Seals of Impermanence, Not-Self (Anatma), and Nirvana.  The Seals are a litmus test for authentic teachings.

That said, spending the time debunking these concepts can sometimes provide epiphany, so all may not be lost delving into these topics.

Baked into the puzzle of reincarnation is impermanence and not-self.  How can someone be reincarnated if the there is no static (permanent) thing to be replicated in another life?

Baked into the puzzle of Karma is not-self and Nirvana. If there is no permanent me to answer for my karmic misdeeds, then what does karma really mean? Doesn’t it make sense that any good deeds I perform form the causes and conditions of reduced suffering in the future?

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One Minute Meditations
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Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
Say What?
Quotes
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Sunday Morning Coming Down – Pass In Time

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

Pass In Time – Beth Orton

This is a classic Sunday Morning tune featuring Beth Orton and one of her idols Terry Collier

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.mc4wp-form input[name="_mc4wp_required_but_not_really"]{display:none !important} Pass In Time

by Beth Orton

So much stays unknown till the time has come.
Did you imagine you could ever be so strong,
Then watch your fear just turn into relief?
Your sea of doubt become your own belief?
Though tears don’t come to cry some grief away,
The tears will help to keep your need at bay.

So come on now, come on now, child.
You’re here just a while.
Come on now, come on now, child.
You’re here just a while.

A mother told me just before she died
My mother told me just before she died,
“Oh darling, darling, don’t you be like me.
You will fall in love with the very first man you meet.”
But mother, mother, some will never know;
The love that you have is still holding my soul.

So come on now, come on now, child.
You’re here just a little while.
Come on now, come on now, child.
You’re here just a while.
You’re here just a while…
Here just a while….

So much stays unknown till the time you are strong.
Did you imagine you could ever feel so strong,
And all your pain just turns into relief?
All your doubt becomes your own belief?
Though tears don’t come to cry some grief away,
The years will help to keep your need at bay.

So come on now, come on now, child.
You’re here just a while.
Come on now, come on now, child.
You’re here just a while.

So come on now, come on now, child.
You’re here just a while.
Come on now, come on now, child.
You’re here just a while.

You’re here just a while….
Here just a while….

You’re here just a while
You might as well smile,
You might as well smile,
‘Cause tomorrow, you just don’t know.
It will pass. It’s gonna pass.

It will pass in time.
It will pass in time.
It will pass.

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