I discovered this poem years ago, but for some reason have thought about it a lot recently.... 'Invictus' by William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903 Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced or cried aloud Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbow'd. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the horror of the shade And yet...

In light of all the debates/arguments that have been going on about homosexuality, 'civil unions', war, gods (or lack thereof), I just have this to say.... 'Men never do evil so completely or so cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction' B. Pascal. There, I said it.

I was reading some of Pascal's 'Pensees' ( Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662) and thought that just for fun I'd post the Wager to see what kind of response it got... It goes something like this: "If you believe, and God exists, you gain everything. If you disbelieve, and God exists, you lose everything." In other words... "It makes more sense to believe in God than to not believe. If you believe, and God exists, you will be rewarded in the afterlife. If you do not believe, and He exists, ...

I'm trying to cultivate my spiritual garden. I've been slacking off recently and have fallen out of the habit of reading and meditating (bad Dharma..bad, bad, Dharma!). I'm going to try and post a daily thought from the many Buddhist sutras and teachings I have..mostly because I think it'll encourage me to absorb and think about what I'm reading, but also because I think it's goig to be interesting and useful to get some different perspectives. I learned some interesting things about peopl...

I couldn't decide which one to post today, so I'm posting both. 'There is only one teacher. What is that teacher? Life itself. And of course each one of us is a manifestation of life; we couldn't be anything else. Now life happens to be both a severe and an endlessly kind teacher. It's the only authority that you need to trust. And this teacher, this authority, is everywhere. You don't have to go to some special place to find this incomporable teacher, you don't have to have some ...

'Garbage can smell terrible, especially rotting organic matter. But it can also become rich compost for fertilizing the garden. The fragrant rose and the stinking garbage are two sides of the same existence. Without one, the other cannot be. Everything is in transformation. The rose that wilts after siz days will become a part of the garbage. After six months the garbage is transformed into a rose. When we speak of impermanence, we understand that everything is in transformation. ...

I was reading about attachment and desire today. Buddhist philosophy is that attachment and desire lead to suffering (Dukkha), but that's not what I'm blogging about. I found an excerpt from my book that I think describes attachment very well: 'What happens when we do not let go? Asians have a very clever trap for catching monkeys. People hollow out a coconut, put something sweet in it, and make a hole at the bottom of the coconut just big enough for the monkey to slide its open ha...

I'm having a little get together at my house today. I'm teaching people how to meditate and about the basic precepts of Buddhism. 'Teaching' is really the wrong word to use....it's more of a guidance process.  I'm not telling them anything they don't already know; I'm just opening the door and pointing them in the direction of the dharma path. It's going to be good for me to have other people to talk to about this; I've been practicing mainly solo thus far and a sangha (community) ...

I'm taking refuge in the Buddha.  I'm immersing myself in the dharma.  Over the next few days I'm going to make myself sit with me, my thoughts and feelings and pain.  I'm not going to run and hide.  I'm not going to try and escape...because the escape has to come to an end at some point and those feelings will still be there.  I'm going to sit and examine my feelings, turning each one over in my head....looking at it from all sides, from every angle, analyzing and t...

I was reading the Tibetan Book Of The Dead and came across this: '0 nobly-born, that which is called death hath now come. Thou art departing from this world, but thou art not the only one; [death] cometh to all. Do not cling, in fondness and weakness, to this life. Even though thou clingest out of weakness, thou hast not the power to remain here. Thou wilt gain nothing more than wandering in this Samsara. 9 Be not attached [to this world]; be not weak. Remember the Precious Trinity. 10...

'How on earth did I get so jaded Life's mysteries seem to faded' So says Soul Asylum...and so say I. A big part of Buddhism is the 'beginner's mind'.  We are advised that in order to reach enlightenment, we should try to look at things with the eyes of child, of one who is experiencing whatever we are experiencing for the very first time. It's hard.  It's one of the hardest things for me to do (along with finding compassion for child molestors). Somehow along the way I got...

I'd like to share this passage from 'A Path With Heart' by Jack Kornfield with you.  I found it earlier.  I wasn't really looking for it, in fact it was just in the next page of the book I'm currently reading.  I'm a firm believer in the universe giving or telling us what we need (or need to know) when we need it: ' A sign in a Las Vegas casino aptly says 'You must be present to win'.......To come into the present means to experience whatever is here and now.  Most of us h...

When I started out on this Dharma (path, way) I was under the impression that, much like Siddartha himself, I would be meditating one day and all of a sudden, with a flash of light and trumpets sounding, enlightenment would come upon me and I would be a Buddha. The further along this Dharma I get, the more I see that's not the way it happens. Enlightenment, or wisdom, comes in small doses.  Little drops of it fall steadily into your life.  (Whether you absorb them and unders...

I'm conducting an exercise in self-discipline for the next couple of days. I'm not going to talk about anyone else unless they are in my presence. That means no gossip, no unnecessary chatter. I'm doing it as part of an exercise in 'right speech'.  I'm immersing myself in my buddhist practice again, and 'right speech' is a key element of that. My husband thinks it's great....says it will probably be the most peaceful day off he's ever had! He doesn't think that I'll be able t...

Tom Daschle has lost SD to John Thune. I've had the dubious pleasure of meeting Tom a couple of times....and I don't care for him.  He's manipulated the people and he's lied. He's paid people for their vote, and he's deliberately targeted the Native American population, going so far as to pay people for their vote (he was also accused of registering dead Natives to vote and of bussing intoxicated people to the polls last time around) He's used scare-mongering tactics,...