Dogen Zenji (Kigen Eihei), Japanese Master of Zen | Soto Zen

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Rio

Dogen

By chance I came across this book of quotes (Teachers of Wisdom) on google, and I found a particular quote, which is attributed to Dogen: “A Zen’s master life is one continuous mistake.” And I couldn’t help but thinking, ‘Hey, at least we have something in common’. 🙂

I am including a couple of more quotes that I thought interesting and the link to the book.

“Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the Unity of all things”

“Just do good for others without thinking of making yourself known so that you may gain reward. This is the primary requisite for breaking free of attachments to the self.” books

Filed under: Books and Movies | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

Presence! What does it mean?

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Rio

I recently came across an article in a Buddhist magazine in which the author stated that we can’t help but being present because we are always here in bodily form; we can’t be anywhere else. Then he proceeded on a tangent of thought that I can’t remember at the moment; it was irrelevant anyway.

He was misunderstanding what “presence” is. If our body is here but our mind is in some distant past, unforeseeable future or imaginary situation, we are not present. Our mind is running away with us. Our presence of mind is gone. We are not awake.

Right thought is the thought placed in what we are doing or experiencing in the present moment. The mind is stilled then; that is, present.

Filed under: Inner growth | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

18 Easy Steps to Becoming a Writer | Chuck Sambuchino | Funny!

Posted on September 19, 2010 by Rio

I found this in an email from Writer’s Digest. Hilarious!

Step One: Decide you’re going to write a story.

Step Two: Decide it’s going to be brilliant. Imagine the response of your [teacher, classmates, reading group, agent] and how it will completely change the way they look at you.

Step Three: Open up Microsoft Word.

Step Four: Stare at the blank white screen stretching on into infinity until your eyes begin to burn and your brain hurts from the sheer emptiness of it all.

Step Five: Check your e-mail. If writing a novel, research agents for a couple of hours.

Step Six: Stare at the blank Word document again.

Step Seven: Realize you need music. Spend the next hour finding the perfect “mood” music for what you want to write.

Step Eight: Inspired by [insert perfect music here], click back over to Word document.

Step Nine: Change Facebook status to: [Your name here] is WRITING!!! Realize you aren’t on Twitter, and that anyone who is anyone is networking/wasting time on Twitter. Sign up for an account and spend the next two hours figuring out how it works and what the crap # means.

Step Ten: Stare at blank Word document. Decide you need a title. Brainstorm for the next hour.

Step Eleven: Come up with a GENIUS title. Proudly type “The Scent of Green Papayas” at the top of the document, followed by your name. Happily consider how easily a story will come now that you have such an amazing, literary title.

Step Twelve: Take a four-hour break for snacks and naptime.

Step Thirteen: Refreshed, sit down and toy around with pen names for a while.

Step Fourteen: Realize to your horror that your genius title is actually the name of a Vietnamese foreign film you saw seven years ago.

Step Fifteen: Erase the title, pressing Backspace much harder than necessary.

Step Sixteen: Stare at the blank Word document until your eyes bleed.

Step Seventeen: Check Facebook. See that fourteen people have commented on your status, asking what you are writing. Feel both guilty and annoyed.

Step Eighteen: Slam your laptop shut and go to the movies. Tomorrow’s a better day for writing, anyhow.

See? You never knew writing was so easy!

To find Chuck’s blog Where and how to find the right agents to represent your work.

To become a writer read a lot, write a lot, rewrite a lot. Seriously!

Filed under: Perspective | Tagged: , , | 4 Comments »

Daily Coyote | Shreve Stockton

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Rio

The Daily Coyote

Shreve Stockton adopted a newborn coyote a while back, and now they are the best of friends. She says: “Charlie came into my life when he was ten days old, orphaned after his parents were shot for killing sheep, He lives with a tomcat, a hound and me in Wyoming.” Her book The Daily Coyote is “a meditation on the nature of wildness versus domestication, and of forgiveness, loyalty, and love in all its forms”.

Charlie now...

To see more pictures and enter the Caption Contest!

Charlie then . . .

And . . .

The Eyes . . .

Filed under: Books and Movies | Tagged: , , , | 5 Comments »

Dream Change − Serving the Earth | Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Rio

Interesting! John Perkins, who used to be an economic hit man, tells us in his book how big business and powerful governments work to control the economy of third world countries and keep them in bondage. “Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars,”

At the moment Perkins, Llyn Roberts and Jane Goodall are working on how to change that dream which is controlled by greed and lust for power. They are now working together with Shamans in different parts of the world.

This is their link: www.dreamchange.org


Filed under: Current Affairs | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »