Today I was feeling well enough to have lunch at Kitty’s Place with my wife and J. C. We had a lovely lunch, and I felt good to be out. I then got a hair cut for my daughter’s graduation on Friday. Now I’m ready for another rest! This has been a really difficult time for me, but …
We are not called upon as Buddhists to deny the world, and certainly not to escape from it. We are called to live with it, and to make our peace with all that is. The world of worries we wish to escape from in the beginning of Buddhist practice is found to be enlightenment itself in the end.
The last few days have been really rough on me. The chemotherapy and radiation are really taking their toll on me in a big way. I haven’t even been able to compute these last few days! I’ve had bladder spasms, diarrhea, and gas pains on three successive days, accompanied with tr …
There is a place at a certain point for overcoming concepts and conditioning, but there is also a lot of reconceiving and reconditioning. The idea is to transform the mind, not just to extract it from all cultural influences. Buddhism itself is a culture–one that attempts to train and condition minds in specific ways conducive to awakening.
Ahimsa – non-violence, is a common thread in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Christianity and Judaism, we find the commandment, “Thou shall not kill!” We all know about all the religious wars that were fought in the name of God and the violent acts of killing that took place. …
Over the past many years, I have used the following sets if practice phrases for the four Divine Abodes also known as the brahma viharas, sublime abodes, immeasurable minds and so on. I discovered these many years ago and have been studying them ever since. I believe that they h …
The five levels of compassion1 came from Dr. Gabor Maté. I believe these developed out of his work for 20+ years as a pediatrician and 12+ years of working with addicts in the east side of downtown Vancouver, BC. As a child, Gabor was handed off to strangers in Hungary where he …
Fortunately, getting a sense of humor doesn’t come with a price tag. It simply requires understanding that everything we experience is universal; all the humiliations and hijinks are a part of life; each and every one of us gets to slip on the banana peel. So pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and laugh about it, for crying out loud.
After the ordeal I had this week, I finally feel that the disease in under control, even though I don’t have all of my energy back. The situation reminded me of the Ten Bulls of Zen, by Kakuan, transcribed by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, illustrated by Tomikichiro Tokur …
Today, I complete the Shipley bladder sparing protocol. Once again, I choose to spend the day resting in the examination room. It was uneventful, except for the lovely visit of A. M. Now it’s time to get in bed again until my final radiation treatment at 5:00 P.M. Then it’s time …
The second round of chemotherapy went without incident. I chose to spend the day in an examination room with a hospital bed to try to get some sleep. I also broke may lap top and have to send it to Nasuah, NH to be repaired. The tapes I brought to listen to were quite suitable fo …
I started chemotherapy and radiation again today and it was “no piece of cake” (tomorrow is my brother’s birthday!). I had to be stuck four times before the i. v. took. In addition, the oncology group seemed to ignore the request of the radiation group that I be downstairs for my …
Unconditional trust: we are capable of being good, kind, gentle, and loving, either to ourselves or others.Why so? Because we have a gap somewhere in our state of mind. You might be the most cruel person in history–a terrible person–but you are capable of falling in love. We are capable of being kind, loving, and gentle.
– Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala
Today is Monday and Anna is not having class tonight. But I have to prepare for chemotherapy tomorrow morning. This involves having blood work done early this morning and a visit to Dr. Gullion at 10:00. So I arrived at Meris Labs at 9:15 A. M., and thankfully, I had my lap top w …
