Andrew Furst's Blog, page 77
February 6, 2016
Choosing A Path? – Say What?
Say What? is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.
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Clouds Tell Us – Book Formatting Has Begun
Garrett at GBCreative, my cover artist and book formatter, has started work on getting “Clouds Tell Us” ready for print and ebook. So we’re getting close. Those of you who contributed to the Indiegogo Campaign, again thank you, the books should be to you in early spring.
I don’t have preordering set up yet, but there is one other way you can guarantee you’ll get a copy. If you become a Patreon supporter with a $5 monthly pledge you get all copies of my books as they are released (there are at least 2 more in the works).
Here’s everything the $5 pledge gets you:
Access to my Patron Only Stream
Advanced notice on upcoming books and other products
You’ll be invited to participate in pre-release feedback and review
I’ll hand make you a Mala (Buddhist prayer beads)
I’ll send you copies of my books and other products as they are released
Random Goodies
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by Andrew Furst
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February 5, 2016
Homeless People Need Underwear Too!
The fundraiser is 1/3 complete. Help me provide much needed clean underwear that fits for women and men who are living on the streets in Boston. 100% of your donation will be used to purchase new underwear and bras for people without houses who work and receive assistance from Common Cathedral.
As of this writing we’ve raised $340. Only $660 remaining to get this project to its final stage.
Meditations on Gratitude - A weekly series of people and situations I’m thankful for and a short meditation.
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True Teaching, True Faith? – Modern Koans
Statement: A respected Jodo Shinshu Priest posted this excerpt of his upcoming book. It stirred up some doubt in my understanding of the Pure Land teachings and my own faith. What do you think?
I have always wondered how can one say that the “Pure Land is here and now” or in “the mind” if [w]e cannot actually manifest, here and now, the qualities of the Pure Land? Indeed, how can one be in the Pure Land, but continue to be impure in one’s mind and still unenlightened? This is clear evidence that such views do not belong to the Dharma Gate of the Pure Land, or to the simple faith oriented teaching of Jodo Shinshu.
In the Larger Sutra it is said about those born in the Pure Land:
“They are of noble and majestic countenance, unequaled in all the worlds, and their appearance is superb, unmatched by any being, heavenly or human. They are all endowed with bodies of Naturalness, Emptiness, and Infinity.”
[…]
Do they have the color of pure gold, as promised to those born in the Pure Land in the 3rd Vow?
[…]
The enlightened qualities of those born in the Pure Land are described in length in the Larger Sutra, so I invite anyone having the illusion that he or she is “here and now” in the Pure Land to carefully read those passages and reflect on them.
– Excerpt: The True Teaching of Amida Buddha and His Pure Land by Josho Adrian Cirlea
Response: I have never seen a person the color of pure gold or with most of the 32 marks of a great man. What work it would be for me to have faith in encountering such a person between now and my passing. After this life? I cannot muster even a belief. I cannot imagine how to build such a faith. I am limited to much simpler articles of faith.
There is the simple faith I have in the sun rising that has beautifully reminded this fool to get out of bed. It is a simple faith that has guided this fool to seek warmth and shelter when the days grow shorter and my body shivers. Are these the whisperings of Amitabha, or no?
With great effort I could believe in a golden man, but I am likely too burdened by the ways of this world to have faith in it. I am likely too burdened to pierce whatever delusions prevent me from seeing a lion-shaped man or divine what is beyond the veil of death. That type of faith would be a great feat, beyond my reach.
Of all the words written on paper, those that seem truest and practical have been in the realm of Sakyamuni’s All; the realm of the eye with the objects of sight, the ear with the objects of hearing, the nose with the objects of smell, the tongue with the objects of taste, the body with the objects of touch and the mind with the objects of cognition. This is all I am likely capable of embracing with faith.
Should I work harder to develop this faith? Or is calling the name of Amitabha, the name that seems to call me, too difficult and unattainable? My faith seems insufficient.
Pure Land Buddhism – is it really a simple faith? Are the Sutras literally true? Is the modern sensibility a sign of the decay that the Pure Land Sutras call out? Is faith in an afterlife in a Western Pure Land the only salvation for mankind?
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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February 4, 2016
Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Quotes -The path to right view is an arduous walk through fields of manure.
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Sun Through The Trees – One Minute Meditation
Late season carriage
roads in Acadia
Offer rarely
found peace
Letting me set
my pace to the
sun
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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February 3, 2016
Ten Word Story – Memory – Verse Us (Poems by Me)
Memory
Verse Us - Poems I write: haiku, senryu, mesostics, free verse, random word constructions, I might even use rhyme or meter once and a while.
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The Post Card Art Project Artists
The cards are piling up in my mailbox. There is such an array of different approaches, from therapeutic coloring sessions to pop art to the abstract. One of my Patreon supporters and twitter friend photographed his post card contributions which I quite liked a lot.
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by Andrew Furst
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February 2, 2016
Stop Your Thoughts? – Say What?
Say What? is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.
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February by Margaret Atwood – Compass Songs
Winter. Time to eat fat
and watch hockey. In the pewter mornings, the cat,
a black fur sausage with yellow
Houdini eyes, jumps up on the bed and tries
to get onto my head. It’s his
way of telling whether or not I’m dead.
If I’m not, he wants to be scratched; if I am
He’ll think of something. He settles
on my chest, breathing his breath
of burped-up meat and musty sofas,
purring like a washboard. Some other tomcat,
not yet a capon, has been spraying our front door,
declaring war. It’s all about sex and territory,
which are what will finish us off
in the long run. Some cat owners around here
should snip a few testicles. If we wise
hominids were sensible, we’d do that too,
or eat our young, like sharks.
But it’s love that does us in. Over and over
again, He shoots, he scores! and famine
crouches in the bedsheets, ambushing the pulsing
eiderdown, and the windchill factor hits
thirty below, and pollution pours
out of our chimneys to keep us warm.
February, month of despair,
with a skewered heart in the centre.
I think dire thoughts, and lust for French fries
with a splash of vinegar.
Cat, enough of your greedy whining
and your small pink bumhole.
Off my face! You’re the life principle,
more or less, so get going
on a little optimism around here.
Get rid of death. Celebrate increase. Make it be spring.
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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