Yesterday I had a sty in my eye -- not comfy. I just got back from my introductory course on meditation at the Zen Buddhist Temple. It began last night at 7pm, and ended today at 4:30pm... Last night we got the introductory stuff (how to sit, how to count, how to concentrate, how to chant) from 7-10pm, and this morning we did stretches, then jogged a bit, then sat for a long time. Then breakfast -- porridge, fruit, bagel, orange juice. Then we sat, and then we did 'walking meditation', and then sat some more. Then we sat some more. Then we had our Dharma meal (lunch) which was rice & vegetables, and some crazy korean soup with potatoes and veggies in it. You fill your bowl with tea when you are done eating, and use the tea to clean the crumbs out of the bowl, and then you clean your dishes. In the middle of Dharma meal a small gong rang and we sat and meditated for a minute at the table. Then we kept eating. Then we went back into the temple room and sat some more. Then we did variable speed 'walking meditation'. Then we sat some more. Then we stretched. Then we sat some more. Then we chanted a song in sanskrit (had to read a phonetic translation off paper). Then we sat. Then it was the end and we found out each other's names. Oh, did I mention the whole time we weren't allowed to speak, or look up? We were supposed to keep our eyes on the ground in front of us the whole time, with our eyes only 'half-open'. Lesson learned? Sitting is difficult hard work. Especially when you do about 13 hours of it in a day. Your legs will hurt, and there's nothing you can do about it but sit it out. Your mind will wander, and all you can do is try to concentrate. When you are counting your breath, you will lose count. Just start over. If you think you made a mistake, that's okay. If you sit for 13 hours, sometimes chanting, the sty in your eye magically goes away.

Received in Email .Fwd
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This will make you feel good......
THINK BACK...
I'm taking you back, way back into time......

Close your eyes....And go back....

Before the Internet or the MAC

Before semi-automatics and crack

Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...

Way back.......

I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk.

Red light, Green light

Playing kickball & dodgeball until your porch light came on.

Mother May I?

Red Rover

Hula Hoops

Running through the sprinkler

Happy Meals

Wait......

Watchin' Saturday Morning cartoons Fat Albert, Road Runner, Smurfs, Picture Pages, G-Force & He-Man, Wonder Woman & Super Man Underoos

Playing Dukes of Hazard

Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar

Christmas morning.......

Your first day of school

Bedtime Prayers and Goodnight Kisses

Climbing trees

Getting an Ice Cream off the Ice Cream Truck

A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers

Jumpin down the steps

Jumpin on the bed.

Pillow fights

Runnin till you were out of breath

Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt

Being tired from playin'....

Your first crush......

Rainy days at school meant playing "Heads up 7Up" in the
classroom.

Remember that?

Kool-aid was the drink of summer

Totting your friends on your handle bars

Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school

Class Field Trips

When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.

When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance, and another quarter a miracle.

When any parent could discipline any kid, or fed him or use him to carry groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When your parents took you to McDonalds and you were so cool.

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.

Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are still afraid of em!!!

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"

"Race issue"; meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly"

Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.

Being old, referred to anyone over 20.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was
cooties.

Nobody was prettier than Mom.

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.

It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.

Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.

Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare"

Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

Water balloons were the ultimate ultimate weapon.

Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!!

Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life...

I DOUBLE DOG DARE YA!!!!!!!!!!!!

I always knew looking back on the tears would make me laugh, But I never knew looking back on the laughs would make me cry. Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

Love Is When You Don't Want To Go To Sleep Because Reality Is Better Than A Dream.

"Within each moment, an entity is influenced by others, creates its own identity and propels itself into further experiences." is an excerpt from THIS, one of the most interesting things I've read in a while, from a chaos/complexity/holistic thinking systems/religious perspective. Very neat-oh.

I'm right with him up to the part where it gets to be about God's body and stuff... but I would continue to agree if he used different words instead of "God" and "Divine". I think External/eternal energy might be more appropriate.

This seems to be one of the earliest "systems thinking" papers I've read. Pretty cool for 1947-ish era, and today, though the ideas have been built on quite a bit since then.

A handy guide from "Geist" magazine -- Canadian Ideas, Canadian Culture.

1) Most blues begin with "Woke up this mornin'..."

2) "I got a woman" is a bad way to begin the blues 'less you stick something nasty in the next line: "I got a good woman/with the meanest fact in town."

3) After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes -- sort of. "I got a good woman/with the meanest face in town/Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher/and she weigh 500 pounds."

4) The blues are not about choice. "You stuck in a ditch, ain't no way out."

5) Blues cars: Chevys, Cadillacs, broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs or SUVs. Most blues travel on a Greyhound bus or a southbound trian. Walkin' plays a major part in teh blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6) Teenagers can't sing the blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the blues. In the blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7) Blues can take place in New York City, but not in Hawaii, or anywhere in Canada. Hard times in St. Paul or Tuscon is just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the blues. You can't have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8) A man with male-pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male-pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cuz you skiing is not the blues. Breaking you leg 'cuz an alligator be chompin' on it is.

9) You can't have no blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10) Good places for the blues: highway, jailhouse, empty bed, bottom of a whiskey glass. Bad places for the blues: ashrams, gallery openings, ivy league institutions, golf courses.

11) No one will believe it's the blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old black man, and you slept in it.

12) Do you have the right to sing the blues? Yes, if: you're older than dirt, you're bling, you shot a man in Memphis, or if you can't be satisfied. No, if: you have all your teeth, you once were blind but now you see, the man in Memphis lived, you have a retirement plan or trust fund.

13) Blues is not a matter of colour. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Gary Coleman can. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.

14) If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the blues. Other blues beverages are: wine, whiskey, bourbon, muddy water, black coffee. The following are NOT blues beverages: mixed drinks, kosher wine, Snapple, sparkling water.

15) If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, its a blues death. Stabbed in teh back by a jealous lover is another blues way to die. So is the electric hcair, substance abuse, and dying lonely in a broken-down cot. You don't have a blues death if you die during a tennis match or a liposuction treatment.

16) Blues names for men: Joe, Willie, Little Willie, Big Willie.

17) Blues names for women: Sadie, Big Mamma, Bessie, Fat River Dumpling.

18) Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia and Rainbow can't sing the blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

19) Make yer own blues name (starter kit):
a) Name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b) First name (from above) PLUS name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi etc.)
c) Last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)
Examples: Blind Lime Jefferson, Cripple Kiwi Fillmore.

20) I don't care how tragic your lifeis. If you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it. Fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or a shotgun will work. Maybe your big woman just done sit on it. I don't care. Now go on.

From Jen's Update:
Buddhism
Based on and developed from one man's search for meaning and purpose in life. That man was Siddhartha Guatama, an Indian prince, who gave up his life of ease to look for true happiness and meaning. He acquired this by following a 'middle way' rather than extreme asceticism. Having achieved enlightenment, the Buddha, as he became known, established the first Buddhist community (sangha). Buddhism doesn't present itself as a revealed religion, and doesn't believe in a personal deity.
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Derek:
It's my understanding that sangha means "spiritual community" which in this case I think is a community of people with similar values.

As for Buddha giving up his life of ease to look for true happiness and meaning and finding it in the 'middle way'... basically what that means is not seeing things in black and white opposites. You don't need to classify things and put them in different "boxes". Just accept them as they are, and roll with the punches. Sure, stubbing your toe hurts, but that doesn't make the rock that you stubbed it on evil... it just means that your toe will hurt for a while. Don't get mad at the rock. Move on... or better yet, move the stone to a safer place where it will be safe and other people won't stub their toes :)

>>Buddhism doesn't believe in a personal deity.

That's a bit of a misnomer too... Buddhism believes that everything has a "buddha-nature", which is a 'middle way' where it is not categorized. It is that thing's/being's true nature, unalterable by perspective or judgement, and it must be accepted and respected for that "Buddha Nature", so in a sense, to the Buddhist, everything and everyone is a deity. In addition, because no judgements are attached to things, no one is "better" or "worse" than anyone else -- everything is perfect because it is as it should be -- its true nature. Buddhists revel in the perfection of everyone and not a privileged few. They see perfection everywhere, not only in Saints. The Dalai Lama isn't revered because he's a Saint or anything, but because he's a cool guy who just happens to *really* "get it".

Last weekend I attended a conference (with 800) other people, called "The Disclosure Project". It was amazing. They had a Commander from the US Navy, and a Major from the US Air Force both testify that they have personally seen UFOs not from this planet. They even went so far as to say that they should be called "unacknowledged flying objects" because everyone knows they're there, they just aren't allowed to talk about it or keep any record of them. Who tracks them?

"There exists a shadowy Government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself." - Senator Daniel K. Inouye - Iran Contra Hearings

The Disclosure Project is a nonprofit research project working to fully disclose the facts about UFOs, extraterrestrial intelligence, and classified advanced energy and propulsion systems. The disclosure of the truth will have far-reaching implications for our society -- new technologies to end pollution and global warming, long-term solution to the energy crisis, and the beginning of an era of peaceful relations with other civilizations in space.

What do you think about this whole phenomenon? I have seen things I can't explain any other way. Have you?

went to the zen temple for evening service tonight. First time i've ever gone. It was pretty sweet :) The master just told some stories, and we did chanting for about an hour, and sat quietly (with random strikes of the bell/gong) for a little bit, then he asked us some questions and then we all had tea :) I'm gonna do the "Intro To Meditation" course in a couple weeks :)