Andrew Furst's Blog, page 75

When Will I Find Peace? – Say What?

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

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Dreams by Nikki Giovanni – Compass Songs

in my younger years

before i learned

black people aren’t

suppose to dream

i wanted to be

a raelet

and say “dr o wn d in my youn tears”

or “tal kin bout tal kin bout”

or marjorie hendricks and grind

all up against the mic

and scream

“baaaaaby nightandday

baaaaaby nightandday”

then as i grew and matured

i became more sensible

and decided i would

settle down

and just become

a sweet inspiration

by Nikki Giovanni

 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.

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I Have the Audacity to Believe – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

Quotes -The path to right view is an arduous walk through fields of manure.

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Is Individuality the Cause of Our Suffering?

Estimated reading time: 2 minute(s)

Question: Because we’re unique we don’t fully agree with each other. If we were the same we’d all agree.  Wouldn’t this reduce suffering? Is individuality bad?

I don’t think so. Our individuality contributes so much to the world.  As a voice in conversations we bring perspective. As a person with particular talents, we compliment others. With differing ideals and preferences, we bring balance.

If we were all the same and all agreed, humans would have never survived.  Evolution tells us that diversity combined with natural selection is the recipe for success in adapting to our world.  Homogeneity is a recipe for extinction.

Our suffering lies in wanting and expecting homogeneity and permanence; the opposite of individuality.

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

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Falling Leaves – A Two Minute Meditation

In life,

what holds

beauty?

Joys,

relations,

perhaps some sorrows?

Beginnings

or ends?

Birth or death?

Peaks or troughs?

Or do we hold the

beauty?

Doling it out as a prize

A contest

with no winner

These Meditation Videos Are Best Viewed In Full Screen

 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.

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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.

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David Bowie – Valentine’s Day – Sunday Morning Coming Down

Continuing in tribute to David Bowie, this  track seems right for today..

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

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How Do I Become Enlightened? – Say What?

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

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Post Card Art – First Union

I’ve been playing with different combinations of the incoming cards and I’ve found some lovely matches.  I’ll be posting these regularly as part of the post card art project.

The artist (and let me know if there are mistakes) are shown below in the same position as their card:

Thanks to Maureen Crowley for correcting credit for the lower left image, which was actually created by Wendy Wakeman.

The Post Card Art Series

This is the one of several posts I will be offering titled the Post Card Art Series. Its a collaborative art project done on post cards. 

Using an image divided into four sections, I created four post cards.  I printed 200, pre-stamped them, and mailed them out to patreon supporters, friends, and blog readers who expressed an interest. They applied the art, mailed the cards back.  Now I'm assembling them.

The results are fun and unique.

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Meditations on Gratitude – My Favorite Bloggers

To express my gratitude for the bloggers who make reading on the web worthwhile for me, I’m sharing a short list of my favorites and encourage you to peruse their sites and follow them.

Richard K. Payne – Critical Reflections on Buddhist Thought: Contemporary and Classical
O at the Edges – Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.
That’s So Zen
Tinfoil Ushnisha
karen maezen miller – paradise in plain sight
A Day in the Brine – Unkempt Mind dribbling in the swash
Broken Light: A Photography Collective
leaf and twig – where observation and imagination meet nature in poetry
Johnny Lists – Lists posted almost daily to improve your life and your knowledge.

A list of nine of @a_furst's favorite bloggers
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Meditations on Gratitude - A weekly series of people and situations I’m thankful for and a short meditation.

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The Oxherd Series – The Search – Modern Koans

The Oxherd Series is a collection of 10 images and commentary on the quest for enlightenment.  Its source is the Zen tradition. What you're reading here is a satirical, but not all together purposeless, treatment of these so called stages. Using excerpts from one of my favorite cartoons, Bob's Burgers, I hope to bring this old story into the present.

The Oxherd Series – Number One – The Search

Here you are, on some Buddhist guy’s blog. For what its worth, there’s quite a bit of information packed into that little fact. It tells me you’re a Buddhist or at least curious.  If Buddhism wasn’t your birth faith, that tells me more and if you’re in the Americas or Europe, even more.

It tells me you’re searching.  Of course, that’s what we do on the web.  But it’s a little deeper than that. You’re looking for the kinds of answers that don’t show up on Dictionary.com or even Wikipedia. In fact, you may not even be able to articulate exactly what it is your looking for.

You’re one of a pretty large and growing group, especially in the west. Many of us have wandered away from our churches and synagogues, either turned off by traditions, or at a loss for what they offer.  At some point though, many of us feel the space left in our hearts they tried to fill. Some times we head back to church. Sometimes we look beyond.

This Is The Search

So let’s talk about the silly GIF I’ve placed at the top of this post.  It’s a scene from Bob’s Burgers episode called The Deepening. In this episode, a mechanical shark has gotten loose on the town and it’s devouring everything in sight. Here Bob and Teddy are in the restaurant trying to fend it off by throwing table top condiments and anything else handy at the shark to stop its progress. This particular GIF is Bob helplessly grasping at – yes – straws.

So what the heck is it we’re searching for?  Whenever there is a newcomer to my meditation group, I always ask them what brought them here.  Usually there’s a pause, a bit of soul searching, and then a tentative and sometimes unconvincing answer.  This is where the oxherd tale begins.

What’s To Learn Here?

The first oxherd drawing depict someone feeling a sense of dissatisfaction or space in their life.  In a very disorganized way, they try anything and everything to fill that gap. Unfortunately nothing quite fills the hole in any lasting sense, so they keep flailing about like Bob, literally grasping at straws.

The satire may seem mean spirited to anyone out there searching.  It seems to only add insult to injury.  But in fact it is a very important stage on this so-called path.  I don’t mean that its necessary to suffer a certain amount of time before we’re ready.  It’s not a Buddhist hazing ritual.  It’s a recognition that so far we’ve been unsuccessful, but that the seeking is worthwhile .  If this wasn’t acknowledged, how would we recognize it?  There is no manual handed out with adulthood that says, “OK, when you get that feeling, get yourself to a Zen monastery lickety-split.” The oxherd tale is the next best thing.

For 9 out of 10 people who walk into my meditation group, they enjoy the meditation, but don’t come back. Why is that? It’s partially my fault, but as they say. “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.” It’s because they don’t make the connection between the search, their dissatisfaction, and the Dharma.  But, such is the human condition.  If we all had the wherewithal to recognize our suffering, the causes of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the path when we first encounter it, we’d all be enlightened masters.  But that’s not how it is.

For me it took about 40 years. I makes sense to cut people a little slack.

Here’s How It Happens

Spend a few moment watching the GIF.  Once the giggling subsides, pause for a few moments and draw some parallels between Bob’s grasping and your life.  If it hits you, let it sink in.  Move on to other aspects of your life; your relationships, how you view and treat yourself, what you tend to worry about, and what you spend most of your time doing.  If you see yourself constantly trying to fill that gap without success, you’re actually on to something.

What is it that you think you’re looking for?  Is it enlightenment?  Do you have any idea what enlightenment is? Why does it interest you? 

Next: Traces of the Ox

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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

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