every month i delve into the buddhasphere to come up with interesting tidbits in buddhist writing. this time around i was interested in the concept of right action. the poem we start out with today is the famous shin jin mei poem the perfect way knows no difficulties except that it refuses to make preferences; [...]
Entries Tagged as 'spirituality'
august 2010 buddhist carnival: right action
August 15th, 2010 · 4 Comments
Tags: blogs of note · creativity: poetry, art, etc. · emotional health · interesting books · peace, environment, social justice et al · philosophy and education · spirituality
alcoholism and everyday addictions
August 6th, 2010 · 4 Comments
the 12 steps of alcoholics anonymous are sometimes summarized in these seven words: i can’t god can i better let god these pithy words come from the first three steps: 1. we admitted we were powerless over alcohol, and that our lives had become unmanageable 2. we came to believe that a power greater than [...]
Tags: 12 step discussion · addictions · emotional health · spirituality
black icon on a wordless wednesday
July 21st, 2010 · No Comments
image by jwinfred
Tags: creativity: poetry, art, etc. · spirituality · wordless wednesday
july buddhist carnival: the humble edition
July 15th, 2010 · 2 Comments
in the last few weeks, i have had many an occasion to think about humility. here, then, is a buddhist carnival dedicated entirely to humility. this time, i will start with a poem of my own: ha’aha’a: humility. beyond this and that, above servitude, below arrogance, not higher not lower – just that: here i [...]
Tags: spirituality
monthly buddhist carnival – the weird and cranky edition
June 15th, 2010 · 4 Comments
do not act from ego. it is a sticky little mouse trap that begins with a wheel running us in circles. get off. (from full on arrival) today is a weird day for me, completely, it seems, driven by ego. today is june 15, time for a buddhist carnival, like every 15th of the month. [...]
Tags: creativity: poetry, art, etc. · spirituality
may 2010 buddhist carnival
May 16th, 2010 · 3 Comments
it’s a day late but here it is: my monthly buddhist carnival, serving up interesting little tidbits from the buddhist blogosphere. we always start with a poem. how bitter, how blue is the anger! at the bottom of the light in april’s atmospheric strata, spitting, gnashing, pacing back and forth, i am asura incarnate this [...]
Tags: blogs of note · creativity: poetry, art, etc. · depression and mental illness · spirituality
prayer to be simple
April 23rd, 2010 · No Comments
when i was in germany, i picked up a slim little book of poetry, die gebete der demut (prayers of humility) by french poet francis jammes. he lived from 1868 to 1938. the poetry foundation says about him that he was … best known for his poetry of the natural world, in which he praised [...]
Tags: creativity: poetry, art, etc. · spirituality
buddhist carnival – april 2010
April 15th, 2010 · 2 Comments
it’s been two years now, i think, that i’ve been starting the buddhist carnival with a poem. this one i found when i was rooting around the buddhasphere in connection with the post on mice, death and neuroticism. when i first found the poem, i didn’t really want to post it. it starts like this [...]
Tags: blogs of note · creativity: poetry, art, etc. · spirituality
godthink
April 11th, 2010 · 14 Comments
god is not one, for someone with my buddhist and ecumenical leanings, was a bit of a provocative book title so i started reading it with some resistance. was this going to be some rabid right-wing pseudo intellectual trying to persuade me that all gods are bad except his? really, the title of the book [...]
Tags: interesting books · philosophy and education · spirituality
good friday: mystery and music
April 2nd, 2010 · 2 Comments
today on good friday i was going to treat you to a few of my thoughts on christianity and what remains a mystery to me, the person/idea/godhead of jesus. but, inspired by my good friend nancy, today i will leave the mystery to those who express it much better than i. watch these videos with [...]
Tags: spirituality
why people don’t talk about “mental illness”
January 31st, 2010 · 4 Comments
this is a guest post by one of my twitter friends, the barking unicorn. “the only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well,” said alfred adler, a colleague of sigmund freud. “most people live in a myth and grow violently angry if anyone dares to tell them the truth about themselves,” said [...]
Tags: blogs of note · depression and mental illness · spirituality
understanding meaning
January 17th, 2010 · 13 Comments
recently, i have had numerous little conversation bits on twitter about meaning and meaning making. rather than expound on my ideas here, i’d like to invite you to reflect on the questions below and/or the words of others who have thought about the topic. maybe you’ll come up with your own questions. maybe we can [...]
Tags: philosophy and education · spirituality · the "understanding" series
buddhist carnival, the first in 2010
January 15th, 2010 · 2 Comments
it’s january 15, and time to serve up this month’s buddhist carnival, a selection of posts from the buddhasphere. here is this month’s poem: a first kensho when things abruptly shift like part of the body misaligned by a sharp move when the house goes, or the he or she, any room at once gets [...]
Tags: blogs of note · spirituality
talking about spiritual experiences
January 9th, 2010 · 14 Comments
a while ago evan asked the question how do we talk about our spiritual experience? we had a little discussion about that here. what still remains to be done, however, is for me to actually tell you about my spiritual experiences. let me offer up two stories, and then perhaps you will contribute one of [...]
Tags: Uncategorized · spirituality
christmas, love, agape
December 25th, 2009 · 1 Comment
these days i really seem to enjoy to quote from books. here’s one i have talked about before: the priority of love: christian charity and social justice, by timothy p. jackson. let me give you some quotes. jackson puts the christian virtue of charity in close context of agape. according to the stanford dictionary of [...]
Tags: communication · interesting books · spirituality



