« December 2011 | Main | February 2012 »
This lecture is highly recommended for people interested in selfless giving, inspiration and living a life based on courageous faith in principle. What is Giftivism? Come find out. There will be meditation, an hour talk, and dinner with Q&A. Location: Oak Room, Tresidder Union; January 31, 2012, 5:30pm-8:30pm.
Interesting report about solar flare activity last week that will hit "a glancing blow" on Earth this week.The sun emitted the most powerful solar flares since 2005. Astronomers are warning of possible disruptions of air travel over the poles, sattelite communication, as well as increased Northern Lights displays visible further south than usual. Back up your hard drive and unplug it after you back it up! More info here.
UPDATE: Maggie Koerth-Baker over at Boing Boing posted a terrific piece about Coronal Mass Ejections (Solar Flares) and links to an article that describes the very real effects on Internet technology that could happen if and when such ejections hit Earth full-on. Apparently, this time we dodged the bullet. Read the Boingboing.net article here.
This is the third day of a non-stop downpour. I stuck my recorder out the door to capture the sounds of a monsoon on my metal roof. Folks are evacuating near the rivers and low-lying areas. Our monastery sits on higher ground but the rivercourses that channel the water around the buildings are at peak right now. My roof is leaking!
Here is a normal sunny day.
Give a listen to the sound of a downpour on a metal roof:
So here in Queensland, in Mudgeeraba, (means, "a place where someone told lies") the sun shines daily but oh my, when it rains....
It's that time again, when stores across Asia shut for ten days and big city streets fall silent. Families travel back home, eat familiar, once-a-year delicacies, grandchildren score $$ in red envelopes from doting grandparents; and everyone renews. Debts are settled, windows have been washed, new threads a-sportin', mother's home a-visitin', hey it's Chinese New Years! Tomorrow people visit temples to light incense and seek good luck, As if the Buddha were a small-town magistrate who with some incense and a dollar tossed in the box could be bribed to fix your luck for a year. No matter, it's good luck for the incense seller -- bad luck for those who have to breathe the smokey air in the temple.
For practicing Buddhists the first day of the lunar new year is the celebration of Maitreya Bodhisattva's anniversary. Maitreya is famous for having subdued his temper through learning "patience under insult." You simply can't upset him. Insults, curses, even blows will not get his goat or shake his equanimity. He has a big belly, not from greed for food but from holding all the chi (qi) that people have thrown at him. Swear at him, cut him off in traffic, insult his mother, he endures it all because he has subdued himself - - his false pride and vanity are long gone. He sees through the surface of relationships and understands that you wouldn't be giving him grief if you had peace of mind. Why increase your afflictions by getting caught up in your unresolved drama? It has nothing to do with him, and he won't waste a second of precious lifetime struggling with hurt feelings or animosity.
Maitreya Bodhisattva has a poem that it's worth repeating at Lunar New Years: The Old Fool.
The Old Fool: Maitreya Bodhisattva
The Old Fool wears tattered clothes,
And fills his belly with tasteless food;
He patches his robe to keep out the cold,
And as things come, so they go,
His belly’s big cause he can hold,
Praise so hot and blame so cold,
He splits his face in a smile so full
At the situations he finds laughable,
The jewel of patience, it’s a pearl so rare.
If someone scolds the Old Fool,
He simply agrees,
If someone hits the Old Fool,
He smiles and falls down on his knees
Spit in his face, he lets it dry - -
He’s not upset, and you save your energy,
If you look elsewhere for the Dao,
Who’s the Old Fool anyhow?
The jewel of patience, it’s a pearl so rare.
His belly’s big cause he can hold,
Praise so hot and blame so cold,
He splits his face in a smile so full
At the situations he finds laughable,
Now you’ve heard of his patience gongfu,
Maitreya wants to share it with you,
If you set this aside and go seeking the Dao - -
Who’s the old fool, anyhow?
