Gary’s Comments (group member since Nov 07, 2007)

Gary’s comments from the gary's goodreads group group.

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2 of my books for free or in hardcopy (1 new)

Jun 06, 2009 07:58AM

this is to note and celebrate penguin's publication this week of the complete idiot's guide to buddhism third edition

----- and in so doing invite goodreads readers who wish to partake for free , thanks to interesting, unforseen turns of events

the penguin release is a completely updated, thoroughly revised third edition of my complete idiot's guide to buddhism. so i'm more than happy to announce too that anyone who wishes to read the second edition, can do so at books.google.com

PLUS if you search by my name, gary gach, and you'll find not only complete idiot's guide to understanding buddhism second edition, but also my anthology ...

... what book buddha poems from beat to hiphop (foreward by peter coyote) for a while out of print, but parallax has now brought back into print. (it won an american book award, i'm very proud to say)

so you have your option of free online reading, or inksmeared deadtree format ...

i've always wanted to bring out a dharma book or two, free of the cash nexus, and now google has enabled me to do so

[there are a few pages missing, but you can also search the books [google them:] and also enlarge the size on your monitor (to larger than the book itself even)

beyond that am more than glad to spotlight unique features of either or both books, and welcome comments, questions, criticism, etc — there are no authors without readers, and here at goodreads we're all both readers AND authors (yay!)

may all beings be well

haiku very much (8 new)

Apr 01, 2008 02:20PM

waking up
it was just a dream
april fool's

BOOKS IN MY LIFE (1 new)

Feb 07, 2008 08:42AM

B O O K S I N M Y L I F E

[ haibun ]

I recently vowed to resume reading for pleasure, for too long edged out by my work-related reading (like, writing).

So when i finished three books, picked up at random, I remarked to my friend Phil Kohlenberg at the Dolphin Club and remarked I just realized I'd just read three novels back-to-back each with some form of p.r. [-=(hype)=-] as a central motivating theme:

1. Don Quixote believes the p.r. about the chivalric life

2. Huckleberry Finn believes the p.r. Tom Sawyer pitches him

3. Madame Bovary has read too many novels

lunar new year's eve ...

all the cherry blossoms yet

waiting in the branch

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I recently vowed to resume reading for pleasure, for too long edged out by my work-related reading (like, writing).

So when i finished three books, picked up at random, I remarked to my friend Phil Kohlenberg at the Dolphin Club and remarked I just realized I'd just read three novels back-to-back each with some form of p.r. [-=(hype)=-] as a central motivating theme:

Don Quixote believes the p.r. about the chivalric life Huckleberry Finn believes the p.r. Tom Sawyer pitches him Madame Bovary has read too many novels

  lunar new year's eve ...

  all the cherry blossoms yet

  waiting in the branch

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BOOKS IN MY LIFE (1 new)

Feb 07, 2008 08:40AM

B O O K S I N M Y L I F E

[ haibun ]

I recently vowed to resume reading for pleasure, for too long edged out by my work-related reading (like, writing).

So when i finished three books, picked up at random, I remarked to my friend Phil Kohlenberg at the Dolphin Club and remarked I just realized I'd just read three novels back-to-back each with some form of p.r. [-=(hype)=-] as a central motivating theme:

1. Don Quixote believes the p.r. about the chivalric life
2. Huckleberry Finn believes the p.r. Tom Sawyer pitches him
3. Madame Bovary has read too many novels

lunar new year's eve ...

all the cherry blossoms yet

waiting in the branch

Tags:

*

Read more of Gary G Gach's Blogs »
Title: *
Blog Keyword Tags: *
Please enter keywords that best describe this blog entry. As you type, a pre-populated list will help you insert common keywords. Separate multiple tags with commas.
Blog Entry: *

I recently vowed to resume reading for pleasure, for too long edged out by my work-related reading (like, writing).

Don Quixote believes the p.r. about the chivalric life Huckleberry Finn believes the p.r. Tom Sawyer pitches him Madame Bovary has read too many novels

  lunar new year's eve ...

  all the cherry blossoms yet

  waiting in the branch

BOOKS IN MY LIFE (1 new)

Feb 07, 2008 08:38AM

B O O K S I N M Y L I F E

[ haibun ]

I recently vowed to resume reading for pleasure, for too long edged out by my work-related reading (like, writing).

So when i finished three books, picked up at random, I remarked to my friend Phil Kohlenberg at the Dolphin Club and remarked I just realized I'd just read three novels back-to-back each with some form of p.r. [-=(hype)=-] as a central motivating theme:

1. Don Quixote believes the p.r. about the chivalric life
2. Huckleberry Finn believes the p.r. Tom Sawyer pitches him
3. Madame Bovary has read too many novels

lunar new year's eve ...

all the cherry blossoms yet

waiting in the branch

Tags:

*

Read more of Gary G Gach's Blogs »
Title: *
Blog Keyword Tags: *
Please enter keywords that best describe this blog entry. As you type, a pre-populated list will help you insert common keywords. Separate multiple tags with commas.
Blog Entry: *

I recently vowed to resume reading for pleasure, for too long edged out by my work-related reading (like, writing).

Don Quixote believes the p.r. about the chivalric life Huckleberry Finn believes the p.r. Tom Sawyer pitches him Madame Bovary has read too many novels

  lunar new year's eve ...

  all the cherry blossoms yet

  waiting in the branch

Submissions are Open! 75 authors sign contracts tonight! (2 new)

Feb 01, 2008 08:21AM

Well, sure, and I'm wondering will I get a percentage as a promoter, if anyone comes to you via my GoodReads group?

;-)

no title (1 new)

Jan 26, 2008 06:57PM

slicing apples

the sticky knife handle

at the center of the slice

a five-pointed star

screening as event :: a phenomenology of film (4 new)

Jan 22, 2008 06:12PM

wow talk about "making my day" :: what an amazing comment !

and selfless to the max ... like, no intention whatsoever ...

i am your disciple for life

thank you for reminding me of that specific incident in hammett's life ... and of the math / kanji ... i cant count past 2 so maybe that's why i'm drawn to zen, where the motto is : not one, not two

all kidding aside, i toy with the idea of writing something based around quantifications ... and have a notebook for same ... ... but still gravitate more towards goethe on science and ... 'pataphysics ...

well, thank you for checking the site out ... and posting your chewy responsa ...

i look forward to our next contact

take care

good reads to you

.:. phrase of the day .:. (2 new)

Jan 21, 2008 06:08PM

nichi nichi

kore ko

jitsu

[— Japanese ]

every day is a good day

a r t & l i f e (1 new)

Jan 14, 2008 05:19PM

During the eighth century Wu Tzo-tzu (d. 792) completed his last masterpiece for the royal court. It was a landscape painted on a wall of the court. We Tao-tzu worked patiently on it in solitude and kept the work draped until it was completed and the Emperor arrived for its unveiling. Wu Tao-tzu drew aside the coverings and the Emperor gazed at the vast and awesome scene and its magnificent detail: woods, mountains, limitless expanses of sky, speckled with clouds and birds, and even men in the hills. "Look," said the artist pointing, "here dwells a spirit in a mountain cave." He clapped his hands and the gate of the cave immediately flew open. The artist stepped in, turned, and said, "The inside is even more beautiful. It is beyond words. Let me lead the way!" But before the Emperor could follow or even bring himself to speak, the gate, the artist, the painting all faded away. Before him remained only the blank wall with no trace of any brush marks.

— Creativity and Taoism by Chang Chung-yuan

word for the day ::: ma (1 new)

Jan 01, 2008 12:51PM

ma

[Japanese] s p a c e

space i n b e t w e e n

in the kanji (picto-grams), we see a gate (space) with the sun (time) coming through*

thus not only space between spaces but also space between times

("we do not hear music, rather intervals")

r e l a t i o n a l space

Although it governs two things, is not created by compositional elements: it is what takes place in the mind of the person experiencing these elements

"... the simultaneous awareness of form and nonform that derives from an intensification of vision ... "

— from a catalog on Darren Waterston's art

———————————

*also noted by Michael Lazarin, Professor of English at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan:

The kanji character "ma" represents an ingrained principle in Japan's collective cultural history that time is an integral part of the experience of space. In fact, the character means both an interval of time and an interval of space.

In such Japanese arts as Kabuki, Noh, dance, storytelling, music, calligraphy, painting, [haiku], and architecture, "ma" can refer to rhythm and beat, a dramatic pause in spoken lines, [caesura, in English; kireji, Japanese] or the use of empty space to enhance the sense of time and place.
__________________________

... noting in-breath,
out-breath,
and the space between ...

— posted in the space inbetween 2007 and 2008

2007 —> 2008 (1 new)

Dec 28, 2007 09:10PM

my upcoming san francisco bay area events for 2008 are now on my profile page

winter solstice . . .
lone boy at twilight playground
bouncing basketball

greeting each of you,
i wish you all fair
life-weather
in the new year

_/|\_
palms
joined

screening as event :: a phenomenology of film (4 new)

Dec 09, 2007 08:22PM

have begun work-in-progress (above-entitled) as a blog.

preferred form of reading : from first entry to latest (via index, to right-hand side), altho' it's the nature of blogs to be arranged from most current to earliest (reverse chronological order)

please take a dip.

questions comments criticism etc welcome.

thank you

field notes [ solo renga ] :: 1st day of last month of old year (1 new)

Dec 02, 2007 07:50AM

autumn
dawn i swim
in a cloud

" verging on autumn
" at the guest house ;
" the scent of evening lingers

-- baisao

" thru fields & mountains the autumn moon
" follows me on my joyful way home
home [ :] to send me to bed

-- anonymous [translation from scroll:]

& i can't even read my own writing :
who's been writing in my notebook ?!

gayle says :
" the concept of language
is poetic

[ touring zen calligraphy show ;
los angeles county museum of art :]

imagine all the stuff
airport luggage checkers glimpse
looking for weapons

deboarding, the face of
a 4-year-old boy in the crowd
gawking at everyone

the shuttle driver
from eritrea
tells me his story

" more to it
" than this

locked out of my house

the day before my birthday

opposite of hyperventilation = art

water over rocks :
Grand Canyon
-- habits

one lifetime = 600,000,000 breaths

his fare talking on
her cell phone the cabbie
talks on his cell phone

reading a novel
on the bus, stops to pick up
a stranger's phone call

parallel lines meet in eternity

parallel lives meet for tea

cue the sun

" i don't expect him to understand it

" i just don't want him to shit on it

that guy see
picking up that penny there
a millionaire

of air

picture with no caption
leaves you at the gate

not thinking but
components elements of thought
-- hinges

groans of men
pumping iron
like the sound of
orgasm

the specialist who
more & more knows more & more
about less & less

-=[ YOUR
HAIKU
HERE :]=-

unexpected blaze
taking only what they could
carry on their backs

" there are no strangers
" only people we haven't met yet

" no third time
" he did not burn down the town

what's really happening
hasn't been written

title of a poem i may never write:
ON NOT READING THE LANKAVATARA SUTRA

my room :
goat trails thru
mazes of paper

" a l w a y s g o s t r a i g h t

writing but 3 things
still the monk entertains thought
that his are the best

1. blue sytrofoam buddha
2. miniature golf course buddha
3. opaque yellow plastic key chain buddha
4. buddha bar
[ grant avenue, across from "the li po" :]

let's go!

it's all right to fall asleep
in the middle of it all

please just
l e t g o

old dog
scratches ribs with foot & flips
a flea into outer space

on the bus
pointing out his former home
to his new girl friend

space of expression
grows tinier
dwindles to a fly spaff
instant of perception
a blind turtle nesting
in the eucalyptus

history uses us
can we use history
shit after it's eaten

take whatever is in your hands
your smile lights up the whole universe
unimpeded
awareness

subcutaneous

HAND
CRANK
[ a manual grouch :]

on my last legs starving
in the 24-hour supermarket
every item is a bronzed
replica of itself

TRUE
FACT:
when madonna tours her crew
consumes 1000 tons of carbon fuel / year

the surf erases
grains of the sandcastle
wave by wave

chemorad patient
eats lamb chop
with his hand

day after my birthday
i nap a little longer

haiku (2 new)

Nov 11, 2007 09:07AM

i just started a haiku group at a facebook-type site for zen friends, and the first post prompted me to mention it :

http://zencenter.ning.com/group/haiku...

meanwhile, veterans' day greetings

how's your practice (1 new)

Nov 10, 2007 06:59AM

we all have some sort of practice. lawyers practice law. buddhists practice dharma. writers practice writing, and readers practice reading.

me, whether it's writing or meditating, i'm not dancing to get anywhere on the dance floor, i'm practicing just to practice. the practice and i enjoy being together and seeing where we go.

how's your practice?

haiku (2 new)

Nov 07, 2007 01:38PM

most everyone here probably has heard of haiku: 5/7/5, right?

but how many know of it also as an experience, something that happens: a process as well as a product ...

well, here's a place for sharing haiku

cone of incense at my knee
core of a spiral galaxy

introductions (2 new)

Nov 07, 2007 01:34PM

sign in!

me, i'm author of the complete idiot's guide to understanding buddhism , now in a 2nd ed'n. ---and its webpage is dharma door.

my first book of poems is wayy out of print (preparing the ground: poems 1960 – 1970). ... (unsigned copies: very rare) .... .... since then:

edited what book ~ buddha poems from beat to hiphop which (after 1 american book award & about 4 printings) is more or less going out-of-print (well, you can still order a print-on-demand copy from amazon.com if you can't get one from goodreads) altho' maybe the publisher might see the light one year and bring it out again

co-translated flowers of a moment: 185 brief poems... and ... ten thousand lives (introduction by robert hass) by remarkable korean poet named ko un (that link on his name will take you to a page of many free poems online, at various online magazines and suchlike; the books might be in your local library

now, after signing my name "ko un" to things i send out, i'm finishing a new book of poems under my own name: strange experience

and i also love haiku

projects-in-progress : food for another topic

meanwhile still more yet more more more free reads at my personal public home page .i.n.t.e.r.b.e.i.n.g. .... .... .... besides haiku, you'll find translations of paule di puccio's channeled poetry; translations from chinese of songs and poetry; journalism; still more yet more more more, etc.

wishing you goodreads

yrs,
gary

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