this is work in progress or homilies or miscellaneous items
that don't warrant a page by themselves
or seem to fit better here
pending poems index
chronological order is from the bottom to the top of the page
audio files are best listened to with the eyes closed !
the layout is done with the internet explorer text size setting at largest and with a zoom of 125%, and my text rendering is done for these settings though they should be somewhat tolerant
of a zoom setting or two up or down
smoking must have an immune stimulant effect perhaps making antibodies from connective tissue in the lungs which could
pre-dispose to osteo and rheumatoid arthritis
study
eileen comments
well from wot i've read it down regulates it re virus etc
my reply
likely increases some immune actions and decreases others
it's natural to be spooked at night, we are a day dwelling species, night is dangerous to us, or at least was and i guess still is, if you read about the number of assaults and murders in the streets that occur past midnight !
it's natural to be spooked at night, we are a day dwelling species, night is dangerous to us, or at least was and i guess still is, if you read about the number of assaults and murders in the streets that occur past midnight
it's natural to be spooked at night, we are a day dwelling species, night is dangerous to us !
it's natural to be spooked at night, we are a day dwelling species, night is dangerous to us
a big issue is young people coming out of school without skills, crime is the only way they can get good money
the education system is a disaster area
my
reply to an email
from
i really like that
picture you painted , you have a good artistic eye !
yeah
springwater is expensive, not so bad when i was staying there but i can't see that centers have any thing to offer you and actually imo these places are not entirely safe from a health point of view because of the extreme people that end up there sometimes with subtle or not so subtle health conditions they don't tell you about !
meditation is optional at springwater and personally i never did and neither did toni from my observation !
the springwater center is in a particularly beautiful area and i really enjoyed my time and the very long walks i took there, but i didn't work on staff and paid for staying there which is really the way to do it i am afraid !
my advice about kenshos is to completely forget about it, it can happen in different ways and in fact you need not be aware of it happening at all, i have had big kenshos i have not been aware of at all, or hardly aware of and i have worked out later that something must have happened cause i was thinking differently now !
you may never have an awe and thunder kensho and in fact most people don't and it doesn't matter at all :o)
what this is about is basically solitary and self-taught, the “community” that matters is the useful writings across the ages, adequate understanding is so rare that's the only way community can occur
the problem with carpentry and just about any form of hard manual labour and you already know it didn't work out for george bowman, is basically everybody gets joint problems from 40 on and the only way you can continue to earn a statisfactory income is to employ younger people
i sometimes think about doing computer repair work, it's not there yet, but one day everyone will have several computers like they do cars, that might be another option
actually keeping my own computer going seems to take all my time, windows 8, a samsung 840 pro ssd to install, upgrading to the intel haswell and 87 chipset, it's just an everlasting/never-ending nightmare :o)
let's not talk about
regex and html
5 :o) !
you write quoting a line from my last email
“ watch out for ticks :o), i have alot of country and remote living experience, just ask ;o) ”
the funny thing is that right before i read this, i (ed. dave) discovered a tick on my arm. it was a deer tick, but it wasn't on long enough to transmit lyme disease, according to the clinic i went to.
anyway, somebody told me that japanese knotweed is a cure for lyme disease. it easily grows here as it's an invasive species. do you know it?
my
reply
there's no cure for lyme disease except massive and sustained antibiotics if you can get it early enough !
it's a nasty spirochete the same shape of bacteria as syphilis and leptospirosis and what makes lymes so difficult is it uses manganese instead of iron to live, and the body, though able to restrict the supply of iron to these bugs, can't restrict manganese !
every area has it hazards and i think you have just identified the major one for you and hopefully by being aware you will be able to avoid it !
maybe 35% hydrogen
peroxide topically applied would be effective as a prophylactic for new tick bites?
you write “ but there are actually fewer quality venues to show photography (particularly documentary) ”
well this is where the net has changed things, being itself a superb venue to show photography, the old ways have gone......!
i do feel that photography has lost out to videos tho !
N.
O.
T.
R.
not
on
the
rebound
:
o
)
N.
O.
T.
R.
not
on
the
rebound
:
o
)
N. O. T. R.
“not on the rebound
” : o)
10 feet of clearance at 250 km/hr, you can look forward to the
rash of deaths : o) (
my reply to an email asking about income and living in the country and the necessity of meditation centers and groups
also interesting is how you can't really make any money now in photography or writing because of the net making huge volumes of photographs and writing available and those marvelously sophisticated cheap japanese cameras making us all experts :o) !
zen has been wiped by neo-advaita and non-duality and i think a lot of the centers are struggling financially !
actually toni packer was pretty alienated at the springwater center, mostly they didn't seem to understand her at all, it was her ability as the administrator that kept the place together, tho i think wayne coger and his wife susan mcallum are successfully doing that now, with toni retired
in the end i think it was all about what you and i are doing which is living in the country in a way that is financially self supporting !
i have stayed at quite a few centers over the years and one of the messages i really got was be very wary of sinking your life and labour into something you can't take with you and in the end you may just get the boot from the head honcho who may think you are rising above your station of his slave ! : o)
i feel toni was very aware of this trap and made an effort to help springwater staff in this respect !
i personally think the day of centers is done and really the action is like this email and blogs etc, all on the net and everyone has to sort out their income problems themselves and i think that means NOT from art ( there will be a few who can earn a living from art or writing! ) or control of, or being a member of a meditation center or group !
there's always work available if you have skills and health, but actually long term with the joint and back problems of age that can close off unless you have a business that employs others..................
some people can earn an adequate income with shares, day trading or currency futures, i wouldn't rule this out of hand, you could be quite good at it, or investments generally
keeping mobility and a sharp brain are so important as you get older, a lot of the time in the last ten years i have invested in getting a sophisticated understanding of health and it's really paying benefits as i see those of my age around me having cardiovascular, mild cognitive curtailment and joint problems !
anyway what i am saying i think is steer clear of mediation centers and the like, that sort of communal living just doesn't fit todays technological world of the net and communications
one of the advantages of living in the country is you can shoot game and get offal and meat for the pot, i handload my own cartridges and use the barnes solid copper bullets so i don't have any lead in the carcass, that sort of subtlety is needed to survive !
you can only live independently while your health is good, it's not luck tho i think in general i have been lucky healthwise, but i have needed to do things really out of the box healthwise for joint and gut health etc and cross fingers or touch wood, i am ok ;o)
watch out for ticks :o), i have alot of country and remote living experience, just ask ;o)
i don't feel there is any income in photography at all these days and i am very dubious about the arts in general to provide income unless you are totally outstanding
anyway......................
everything is just a dialogue and trial and error :o)
rpg'ed ! (not sure it is the same action at all !)
since god exists why not chat with him directly : o) I do !!!!!!!!!!!!
the
only
problem
is
wrong
or
meaningless
:
o
)
my translation of one of wang wei's better known poems !
i set off up into the hills aiming to visit “ the repository of incense ” temple
marvellous old trees, disused paths, i am lost
in
the
clouds
is it the temple bell i hear way off?
gurgling streams carved out of rock
the light weakens through the firs
and
it
is
getting
cold
at dusk i come across a pool at a bend
thoroughly pissed off and worried i let it all wash away in the peace and quiet :o)
my translation of one of wang wei's better known poems !
i set off up into the hills aiming to visit “ the repository of incense ” temple
marvellous old trees, disused paths, i am lost
in
the
clouds
is it the temple bell i hear way off?
gurgling streams carved out of rock
the light weakens through the firs
at dusk i come across a pool at a bend
thoroughly pissed off and worried i let it all wash away in the peace and quiet :o)
sepehr g. asks
would you agree language can guide itself outside of itself, into the place where there is no longer any language – as any system of meaning can, language itself can self-destruct pointing beyond itself without encapsulating what it means to say. this explains the function of koans and creative writing in zen?
my reply
it's not that you have to go outside language if it was even possible and I am not sure it is, but good writing, a koan or poetry is aligned , of and the actuality of absolute reality
there is no necessity for language or any form of reality to self destruct, like there's some outside that buddha nature or infinity is in, rather it's special cases of reality or language that are buddha !
it's cultivating that sense of absolute reality or infinity that is the real work and following that sense into all the strange and contrary to our own idea spaces of where we should be and going in opposition to social norms that's so difficult : o)
my reply to a claim that the new testament was
“non violent”
jesus being squashed and crucified while everyone else gets off scot free because he has saved them? I think it's non violent the way beating up some-one else is non violent , they get hurt and you don't :o)
my reply to a claim that the new testament was
“non violent”
jesus being squashed and crucified while everyone else gets off scot free because he has saved them? I think it's non violent the way beating some-one else is non violent , they get hurt and you don't :o)
atheists and christians and any religion worship the same god
h
u
m
a
n
r
e
p
r
o
d
u
c
t
i
o
n !
!
!
athiests and christians worship the same god, human reproduction !
atheists and humans worship the same god, human reproduction !
evan shaw writes
the quantum view of interconnected energy, of how 'entanglement' can send info instantly across a galaxy, leads me to believe in beyond the physical
my replies
imagination is immediately beyond the physical, it's not that difficult to get there : o)
i think entanglement is a reflection of deeper structure at the loop quantum gravity level, it's not something magical :o)
i asked
well what is it that an atheist doesn't believe in?
Reply
A god
my reply
well an A theist might disbelieve in A god : o)
but the question was, what is it they disbelieve in : o)
a central problem for those claiming jesus was an historical person is there was a very active competent inquisitive jewish historian alive at the time called josephus and he makes no mention of jesus, this was such a glaring problem that there were faked passages put into josephus' book “antiquities of the jews”, possibly by eusebius, to make it look like josephus knew of jesus !
neither did he mention st. paul!
there was a forest dwelling straight tusked elephant
twice the size of today's elephants that only became extinct 100,000 years ago at the begining of the last ice age in southern england !
christianity is a perversion
why do i say this?
jesus christ was orginally a gnostic type
deity and interestingly st. paul was gnostic and what happened was the
reverse euhemerism of jesus christ into a supposedly historically existing person which is when the brutality, corruption and obscenity takes up residence !
christianity is a perversion !
:
o
christianity is a perversion
some-one might say there is god and some-one might say there isn't god and i might say what is god,
you know?
some-one might say there is god and some-one might say there isn't god and i would say
what is god, you know ?
there is no arrival and there no departure, there is infinite regression and distortion of arrival and departure
:
o
)
there is no arrival and no departure, there is infinite regression and distortion of arrival and departure !
there is no arrival and no departure, there is infinite regression and distortion of arrival and departure !
to
read in the penal colony and know that franz kafka's sisters were
gassed is sobering !
I think one of the issues with zen is it has abandoned the creative space for some dreary hackneyed and clichéd, supposedly subsumptive, but in fact severely crimped schema of reality
the creative space is completely open and is factually unknown since what has yet to be conceived, is so in fact and not the mentally retarded image that zen espouses !
so
true unknown is the fact of creative endeavor because new and completely new forms displace what was, it's not the empty
nillity of claims of the unknown that occur in religion where there is no displacement of the existing : o)
I think one of the issues with zen is it has abandoned the creative space for some dreary hackneyed and clichéd supposedly subsumptive but in fact severely crimped schema of reality
the creative space is completely open and is factually unknown since what has yet to be conceived, is so in fact and not the mentally retarded image that zen espouses !
so
true unknown is the fact of creative endeavor because new and completely new forms displace what was, it's not the empty nullity of claims of the unknown that occur in religion where there is no displacement of the existing : o)
attracted to women to my own detriment
usual male
condition
isn't
it
attracted to women to my own detriment
usual male
condition
isn't
it?
attracted to women to my own detriment
usual male
condition
isn't
it?
“ but to say it, is to confine it... ”
not necessarily, there's a whole different world out there in terms of the creative process and identity with infinity that
“so called
” zen alienates itself from leaving some schizophrenic residue of rigidity, blowzy thinking and disguised self contraction
“ but to say it, is to confine it... ”
not necessarily, there's a whole different world out there in terms of the creative process and identity with infinity that
“so called
” zen alienates itself from leaving some schizophrenic residue of rigidity, blowzy thinking and disguised self contraction
sepehr. g
quotes the blue cliff record, case 2
which he thought was similar
to
chao-chou, teaching the assembly, said
the ultimate path is without difficulty, just avoid picking and choosing. as soon as there are words spoken, “ this is picking and choosing ”, “ this is clarity ”. this old monk does not abide within clarity, do you still preserve anything or not ?
at that time a certain monk asked, “ since you do not abide within clarity, what do you preserve? ”
chao-chou replied, “ i don't know either ”
the monk said, “ since you don't know, teacher, why do you nevertheless say that you do not abide within clarity? ”
chao-chou said, “ it is enough to ask about the matter; bow and withdraw ”
my
reply
“ chao-chou replied, i don't know either ”
what I have found is anything said from the I or
you viewpoint is complete nonsense
it's really simple and works really really well and shows all the religious stuff to be complete barf :o)
if you read the koan carefully you will see how chao-chou keeps to the third person !
I see this koan so often quoted in zen and the
not picking and choosing being part of the faith mind sutra, everybody with some involvement in zen knows it, yet people in zen do nothing but pick and choose, they ban me or this is right and this is wrong, this person good and this person bad, it's all just a validation of the supremacy of their own judgment simply because it's their judgment......................
now why would anyone bomb a marathon?
the
OLA (obese liberation army) ?
Y
e
S
F
a
T
is
fighting
adding lead to the already high mercury
burden of the shark ! less than healthy eating
doctor who: an unearthly
child , episode one, part 3
i don't think russia is the
safest place to drive :o)
warning , this video is graphic, not recommended for anyone used to media sanitizing : o( )
so, what does it feel like to have your face
blown off?
i guess you are dead !
it's just unbelievable how inexperienced these fighters are, no concept of rocket propelled grenades or heavy artillery making their corner protection of that building look like tissue paper !
apollonius's possible
travels to india may also the be the root of the legend of jesus being in india : o )
sage on death bed
“ you will all cease when i die, but no doubt will continue to imagine you
exist : o) (
”
“ i am a buddhist ! ”
what is this i/eye that is abuddhist ?
evan, (ed. shaw) i thought you might find this interesting, a real life john shade from nabokov's
“pale fire
” one a. d.
harvey
in a novel dostoevsky and dickens would have met, in this more random world they didn't :o)
i always let understanding break down and let itself reform, it's the only way to see how things are !
j. krishnamurti got severe migraine (is there any other sort :o), interesting :o) :o(
and had malaria, which would account for his “process” !
teresa of avila had malaria too ! : o(
schwarzenegger the
success, actually his biggest mistake was not pardoning “tookie
” williams, it finished him politically, obviously he lacked the larger sense of vision needed !
ravens have more brains than humans, they will eat the thyroids out of the necks of road kill !
kim jong-un a fat man in the country of the thin ! : o) : o(
kim jong-un, a fat man in the country of the thin ! : o)
kim jong-un, a fat man in the country of the thin !
kim jong-un, a fat man in the country of the thin
i really have zero trust in food imports from asian countries, they don't seem to have a concept of heavy metal
poisoning !
all the rape problems in india, nothing to do with developmental problems from lead with it's known foot prints of violent criminality and lack of impulse control of course !
sepehr g. writes
i have come to understand you have great wisdom to show. you and i talked a long time ago on a brad warner blog entry. after reading the blue cliff record and some other stuff you recommended, i am starting to see what you're pointing at.
you say kusan sunim and kodo sawaki were the last real zen teachers. i am wondering what practice do you support then? do you support koan practice and just walking in the wilderness? BTW, since you live in australia, do you by any chance know of bill mollison? i feel as if i made most progress when i left my “zen center” and lived on a sustainable, organic permaculture farm. i remember you mentioned something like this too.
i want to talk more possibly on email. what is your email?
btw, should i start writing more poetry? i have a couple of poems i wrote, and i am interested in what you think about.
my
reply
i haven't met bill but he's up at
sisters creek
the problem with “ practice” is precisely that, it's “practice” and not doing for real and since you have been on the hard core zen blog, you will be familiar with the way they all create some image they deal with that is anything but their real lives !
in fact your reply is in effect a koan, that thinking and dealing with what it's about !
people fail to understand how far translations can be removed from what the original writer has intended so zen has become a degenerate blowsing of voynich, just a repeating of meaningless nonsense that they pretend is significant :o)
yeah writing is very important, I would be interested to see your poems !
I really prefer to keep discussion public because that way what is written is useful to a larger audience and actually it's good “practice” lol to do that as it teaches you to develop the skill of intelligent self revelation to others in a way that is constructive and not dangerous to oneself :o)
actually that self revelation in a semi-useful way is one thing that brad warner does quite well, his weakness has been a lack of focus on what zen is about and he's been sidetracked into music and women in a way that has not been helpful to him
:o)
the memory problems of aging, one day goes into the next, and the next goes into the next, and it all becomes indistinguishable : o) : o(
the memory problems of aging, one day goes into the next, and the next goes into the next, and it all becomes indistinguishable
the memory problems of aging, one day goes into the next, and the next into the next, and it all becomes indistinguishable !
the memory problems of aging, one day goes into the next, and the next into the next, and it all becomes indistinguishable !
you are too hostile when i am basically being helpful
you obviously need to go back to whatever illusion about life you are pursuing
you better keep putting all your focus into keeping your children's and not your own life on deck
you were neither a bat nor a
vampire but have that natural empathy for the night that comes with being on autistic spectrum !
one of the secrets to handling the hours is to realize that the circadian rhythm is set by non visual photoreceptors in the eye that trigger off blue light, which is of course in white light
also the infra-red and white sunlight getting into the brain through the skull sutures is significant ! : o)
so when you get up in the morning, you want to get some sun on the temple areas of the head and look using real sunlight : o)
don't mess with the circadian rhythm more than you have too, shift work is correlated with higher cancer rates, including breast cancer !
I have a little red led head lamp and when I am up beyond my normal hours I use that as the only lighting because there's hardly any blue light in it, so the brain thinks it's dark and you will find the next night you still feel sleepy at the normal time !
my write up on
sleep and the circadian rhythm
r u sure
you are something to do with zen? you don't seem like the usual zombie in denial ?
what is the attraction of ceremonies I don't know, more “ waiting at the end of time ”, passing life in bullshit?
my honest opinion of this ceremony is its real value is giving some immune stimulation to the sinuses and nasal cavities by the resonant chanting : )
very important in monasteries with extended periods of silence !
but the words, honestly, what a load of bullshit ! : o)
real zen, the abatement of self will leave this comment up, which if you do will mark you out as not the norm :o)
ed. ian
kilroy aka
myozan kodo failed the real zen test and removed my comment and actually disabled comments so he can live in his toxic illusion of utility
: o) : o(
the tinkling of the brook
what
is
it
the tinkling of a brook
what
is
it
saying?
in the same way the ancient egyptian
afterlife is an image, so also what we call life and ourselves are images of infinity : o ) (
in the same way the ancient egyptian
afterlife is an image, so is what we call life an image of infinity : o ) (
again and again, i ask about the
night
$470,000 to
study colour changes in bearded dragons !
yup, it might make solar energy cheaper..........some
h
o
w
;
o
the dome of the florence cathedral, designed and built by filippo brunelleschi , over 4 million bricks :o)
it's interesting that construction and design techniques from the days of the roman empire had been lost, and brunelleschi was able in part to recover some of these by looking at buildings from that period, particularly the pantheon dome : o)
imo the roman empire was destroyed, not by the barbarians, but an influx of new diseases which reduced and impaired the population to a point that a lot of the cultural, military, governance and architectural sophistication was lost !
As the needle goes
through the field of mokuren
birds songs
traffic sounds
even the distant train
even
your sweet face clouded with suffering
all of them
all are sewn
into mokuren
my
reply
as the needle goes
through piercing red
it
brings
forth
bird sounds
and
number 6 in the amazon best sellers rank :o)
the who_knows message
board gets about once every three months some useless idiot too retarded to read the conditions on the front page !
doomsdayphoneywolf : looking at your survivalist
video , this is just fantasy, you are in the wrong space, if you can afford it, go on a guided hunting trip somewhere, you need to be with other men using guns in a responsible way and learn what hunting and killing game is about !
i liked your homemade hollow point
video , but really your survivalist views are pure pyschosis, you want to travel out of the usa , see how the world works, all petty fraud and larceny in main
:o)
ed. this self proclaimed troll and tough
survivalist piked out and deleted his comments
: o ) (
“ the teaching gig was a lesson in never again. you were giving out all this energy and nothing was coming back ”
