I've been working on tax stuff... trying to get as much as I can back from Uncle Sam. Maybe it will prevent one bullet from being made... and one bullet from being spent. Or maybe the opposite. How can we know?
I went through a period of wanting "thanks"... and then I thought about the times we give food to the Buddha and he doesn't say anything. We should be thanking him because he gives us the opportunity to give. So then I decided just to say thanks... to people who give, and to people who take. Both are gifts. Thanks.
Last night, Pat spoke about anger. I remember a child psychologist who told my parents (when I was a kid and not doing well in school) that I had "extreme hostility toward my dad." It surprised me. I told my dad "did you know about this." He laughed. I thought about that as Pat gave her talk. She said that she didn't think of herself as an angry person... just as a person who sometimes (and justifiably) lets off steam.
I'm noticing lots of anger around me. Lots. Lots of intolerance too. On Facebook, someone was talking about a teacher in Kentucky who was blaming Obama for the recession. Someone wrote about how this was an "untruth." Are there really truths and untruths? Don't you think you could find a very brilliant thinker who would challenge anything we hold to be true. I know a not-so-brilliant thinker who would be glad to do so (me).
One of my classmates the other night said that she was dealing with her hate for Republicans. We were being asked to describe our "tree spirits"... demons that touch our buttons. Usually in the next sentence I hear "and they are so intolerant." Its the pot calling the kettle black. Rage. Rage. Lots of rage in the air.
I'd bring my fire extinguisher next week, but the little dial says, "time for refill."
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Reflections on Talks on Buddha's Lists
During a recent Appamada Intensive our students gave talks on Buddha's lists. Here are my reflections on their talks.
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Rhinoceros Fan (an infamous koan) One day Yanguan called to his attendant, "Bring me the rhinoceros fan." The attendant said, ...
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Are there really truths and untruths? --- Mr. Kim
Yes. I told an untruth this morning.
We were being asked to describe our "tree spirits"... demons that touch our buttons. --- Mr. Kim
Poor trees. Being associated with what is often viewed as negative human behavior.
We should be thanking him because he gives us the opportunity to give. --- Mr. Kim
Maybe that was the Buddha rationalizing the fact that he was too lazy to get a job. Freaking welfare case. ;)
You can wink, Kate, but I'm a little bothered that some monks won't touch money, yet are supported by others who do. My orthodox uncle worked in my father's store. He'd work on Saturday, but would make my father use the cash register. So he goes to heaven and my father goes to hell? What a nice guy!
Well. . . The wink is a safety mechanism. There is always the possibility that someone will become deeply offended by associating Buddha with a welfare case. But if I add the wink. . . then I’m joking and he/she doesn’t get mad as quickly. I find that more often tricky subjects are more easily listened to or openly discussed when one maintains a tongue-and-cheek sensibility about it. Therefore I try not to take myself too seriously.
I did ask about the associations of the tree spirits to the trees. Seems like the spirits lurk around the tree, but are not the tree itself.
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