The Accidental Buddhist

I stumbled on Moore's book during a delicious quest through Barnes & Nobel one Friday evening last May. But The Accidental Buddhist by Dinty W. Moore sat on my night stand for most of the summer waiting patiently for it's time to come. Why did I pick this one up? There are a few reasons, one of them being that there seem to be quite a few Buddhist bloggers out there. But there are other reasons as well.

Over the last several years, I have found myself in the midst of more than one American Buddhist, the most notable one being the hockey mom whose husband, the cruise line piano tuner (and I tell you his profession only because I think it is a rather unusual and cool one), claimed she could meditate for hours. That notion fascinated me and also explained why we rarely saw her at the ice rink.

There is also my wonderful travel experience several years ago, when I had the pleasure of spending a few days in Narita, Japan where one can find the beautiful Naritasan Shinshoji Temple. This temple, which was founded in 914, is simply a magical complex where people bring prayers and incense to the gardens. It is a place that I would absolutely re-visit given the chance. (On a Google search, I was able to find one blog with lovely pictures that help illustrate what I mean.)

Finally, one of the regular field trips from my school is to a Buddhist temple in the city. One of these years I would like to con my way into going with that group, for I am really too shy to make my own visit there.

Though only still in the first third of Moore's narrative, I am drawn to his regular-guy voice, and I can tell that this book will give me a decent overview of what Buddhism is all about. Chapter 5, playfully titled "Why do Tibetans have such trouble with their vacuum cleaners? They have no attachments", explains that there are three main categories of American Buddhism: Zen, Theravada and Tibetan.

Here is a quote:

". . . Geshe-la is explaining that the source of our problems is our human weekness, and that weakness is our tendency to become attached. Attached to all manner of things.

Geshe-la explains it this way:

Though we often tend to blame them, it is not the external things like families, jobs or money that create problems for us in our lives. Rather, what actually makes us unhappy is our tendency to desire that these things bring us happiness. This expectation that family, job, money, a new car, whatever, will make us happy is what binds us and causes our discontent." (p. 42)

That sounds to me very much like the notion that attitude is everything when it comes to finding happiness. I guess Buddhism must be as much a state-of-mind as anything else.

Great Green Book of Garden Secrets

Once upon a time, I was an avid gardener with a lush and verdent eden in my backyard. This coupled with the fact that I came from a long line of farmers/gardeners inspired my grandmother to send me this book several years ago. The gardening wisdom of Master Gardener Jerry Baker comes across like those schmaltzy As Seen on TV products, but my grandmother and her husband swore by his tips and remedies, which was always good enough for me.

These days my family lives on a larger property with too much clay soil, not enough shade, and dogs. Additionally, our region is still trying to recover from drought, and I no longer have the long, lazy days of being an at-home mom that are perfect for quality gardening time. Keeping up has proven especially daunting the past few summers. So . . . the bottom line is that our yard looks like crap, and I try not to think about what the neighbors must say behind our backs.

Yesterday turned out to be a great day for yard work, perhaps the best one all summer. I pulled weeds. The man mowed. I amended the soil in the evening, and then used one of Jerry Baker's tonics to top it off. Mixing any one of Baker's tonics is kitchen chemistry that always seems to inspire curious comments from my kids and their friends. These concotions use ingredients like sweet cola, beer, ammonia, molasses, instant tea, dish soap, whisky, and tobacco juice. As odd as any of his mixtures seem, they usually produce positive results, though I haven't figured out whether the results are real or placebo effect.

Here is the tonic I used yesterday:

All-Season Clean-Up Tonic

1 cup of Palmolive dish soap,
1 cup of Listerine, and
1 cup of chewing tobacco tea*
Mix all of the ingredients in a bucket, and pour into your 20 gallon hose-end sprayer. Apply to everything in your yard to the point or run-off every 3 weeks, in the morning, throughout the growing season.

Mix all of the ingredients in your 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, filling the balance of the sprayer jar with warm water. Apply to your entire yard to the point of run-off every 2 weeks, in the evening, to discourage insects and prevent disease.

*Chewing Tobacco Tea

* To make tobacco tea, place half a handful of chewing tobacco in an old nylon stocking and soak it in a gallon of hot water until the mixture is dark brown.

(Yes, I puchased chewing tobacco for the first time in my life yesterday too!)

Guts

What does a dead man look like? How do planes crash? What are some things that really hurt? What's the best way to make a bow and arrow that you can really hunt with? How hungry do you have to be to suck on a fish head or snapping turtle eggs?

Gary Paulsen, the author of Hatchet, The River and other survival novels shares the true stories and learned wisdom that inspired him to write. While Paulsen's books are considered young adult literature, his works can be fascinating for grown-ups as well. I find Guts and excellent quick read that sparks the imagination.

Connections: Owning Your Own Shadow

It has been several days since my man has informed me about the impending divorce of a couple we have known for the last twenty years. She has worked with my man for that long. They are buddies. I guess the path to divorce started with a keypad program she installed on their computer so she could monitor their teenagers' chatroom activities. Little did she know that it would also reveal his activities, despite the fact that he was in the know about the spying. There is much more to the story, but what I have to say and how this affects me has everything to do with the concept of projection, which is discussed in Owning Your Own Shadow.

You see, whenever this sort of break-up happens to other couples, my man feels a strong affiliation with the jaded spouse and makes assumptions that I might be moving along the path of the wrong-doer. I really hate being forced into that role. This kind of projection has happened several times before, and of course, it happened again earlier this week. Trust me when I say that it is a tough job figuring out how to defend yourself against such projections, because for some reason, it makes matters worse. It is difficult when you love someone and they make negative assumptions about you regularly.

But what is especially difficult this time around is that I have really been fighting a depression all summer long, a depression that he is impervious to. He is so happy-go-lucky. His life is so perfect for him, that he doesn't seem to care about my thoughts or whatever turmoil roils within me. Either that or he is blind to the inner me.

As I read this book, there is much talk about shadows. A shadow is the part of us that we hide from others, from others, from the community. Why do we keep secret thoughts and secret lives? According to Johnson, it is simply for survival. To reveal the side of ourselves that is incongruent with the way the community (or the family in my case) thinks or believes can cause too much instability that it threatens us. There is nothing wrong with the shadow. We all have one. However, when the shadow grows too large, it steeps into our more outward lives.

The bottom line is that at some point, we cannot contain our shadows.

Johnson also talks about how there is gold in the shadow, and that we can use it to improve ourselves. I am still working on how to apply that to my own life.

Last night, I had a disturbing dream. I am not sure how much of it I am willing to divulge here. Johnson contends that we need to pay attention to such dreams. At this moment, I am not so sure how.

Bumper stickers

My mother, a good Texas Democrat, recently sent this to me via email. Presently, there are no bumper stickers on my car. As time marches onward, however, I am beginning to really wish I had some of these, especially given how tired I am of the prevailing right-wing sentiment in my community. You could say that I am experiencing my own revolution.

"These bumper stickers were compiled by Jerry Paull, a former Methodist minister in Lakeside, Ohio, who writes: 'The following actual bumper stickers are now on cars. I didn't write any of them. I'm only the messenger. If they make you laugh, good. If they make you cry, good.'"

AT LEAST IN VIETNAM, BUSH HAD AN EXIT STRATEGY

BLIND FAITH IN BAD LEADERSHIP IS NOT PATRIOTISM

IF YOU'RE NOT OUTRAGED, YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION

IF YOU SUPPORTED BUSH, A YELLOW RIBBON WON'T MAKE UP FOR IT

POVERTY, HEALTHCARE & HOMELESSNESS ARE MORAL ISSUES

BUSH LIED, AND YOU KNOW IT

RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM: A THREAT ABROAD, A THREAT AT HOME

GOD BLESS EVERYONE (No exceptions)

BUSH SPENT YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY ON HIS WAR

PRO AMERICA, ANTI BUSH

WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB?

FEEL SAFER NOW?

I'D RATHER HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO SCREWED HIS INTERN THAN ONE WHO SCREWED HIS COUNTRY

JESUS WAS A SOCIAL ACTIVIST - THAT IS A LIBERAL

MY VALUES? FREE SPEECH. EQUALITY. LIBERTY. EDUCATION. TOLERANCE

IS IT 2008 YET?

DISSENT IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF PATRIOTISM
--- Thomas Jefferson

DON'T BLAME ME. I VOTED AGAINST BUSH -- TWICE!

ANNOY A CONSERVATIVE; THINK FOR YOURSELF

VISUALIZE IMPEACHMENT

STOP MAD COWBOY DISEASE

GEORGE W. BUSH: MAKING TERRORISTS FASTER THAN HE CAN KILL THEM

DEMOCRATS ARE SEXY. WHOEVER HEARD OF A GOOD PIECE OF ELEPHANT?

ASPIRING CANADIAN

DON'T CONFUSE DYING FOR OIL WITH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM

HATE, GREED, IGNORANCE: WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

HONOR OUR TROOPS; DEMAND THE TRUTH

REBUILD IRAQ? WHY NOT SPEND 87 BILLION ON AMERICA?

FACT: BUSH OIL
1999 - $19 BARREL
2006 - $70 BARREL

THE LAST TIME RELIGION CONTROLLED POLITICS, PEOPLE GOT BURNED AT THE STAKE

CTI Student Manual

It dawned on me late last week during my Taekwondo classs that it was time to purchase the Student Manual. I'd been working on my latest poomse, taegeuk il chang, and my instructor, Mr. A mentioned something about the three lines pattern of movement. It thus was obvious that I was neglecting my studies.

Last night, I purchased the manual before class, and before going to bed, I spent some time reading it. I mostly read about the history of martial arts -- that they originated in China, Korea and Japan -- and that Taekwondo can be traced through three dynasties to as early as 37 BC. Though practiced for thousands of years, the name Taekwondo was not defined for this version of martial arts until 1955. Here are some other new things that give TKD a little more meaning to me:

Taekwondo is "the Korean art of smashing with the bare feet and hands."

Thought: Smashing things was not my motivation for signing up for TKD. What attracted me to the artform was the beautiful movements of the poomse. Still, I am beginning to think that breaking a board is not impossible for me. What I continue to enjoy about TKD is the rigorous workout coupled with the disciplinary expectation and mental concentration.

Moo Sul Kwan means "martial arts school"

Thought: My son and his friends have mentioned a desire to learn Moo Sul Kwan style Taekwondo. The next time they bring it up, I will share this piece of translation.

Taegeuk il chang has 16 counts and should last 16 seconds. It stands for "the force that is in living things. Originating, correct, advantageous, and firm."

Thought: What I like about practicing poomse is the feeling of focus and centeredness. I like that there is symbolism to the form. I had not been practicing it with a clearly defined idea. I will have to keep these words in mind from now on.

I Have Lived A Thousand Years

My previous post on Forgotten Fire reminds me of this memoir-esque novel, written by Livia Bitton-Jackson, who was a survivor of Auschwitz.

Thirteen year-old Elli Friedman recounts her life as a victim of the Nazi persecution of Jews during the 1940s and how she and her mother survive despite unthinkable horrors. The reader watches as Elli's life changes from having typical teenage worries about school and boys to learning how to adapt to life as a prisoner denied her human rights. In a nutshell, this book is, as the author states in the forward, about never giving up.

One message that Bitton-Jackson seems to hone in on throughout this work centers around the concept of identity. She suggests that individuality and diversity are fundamental human rights. Her observation is that those prisoners who allowed their identities to be completely stripped away were the ones who were least likely to survive the concentration camps.

Sometimes when I hear the English-only or anti-gay marriage political rhetoric, I cannot help but wonder if this lack of tolerence for linguistic and social diversity somehow falls into this same mindset trap that motivated the greater German attitude during that era. I don't know if this notion is appropriate or not given the gravity of the historical events that transpired. You tell me.

Forgotten Fire

"Who does now remember the Armenians?" -- Adolph Hitler

These are the ominous, evil words which proceed Adam Bagdasarian's adolescent historical novel based on the experiences of his great-uncle who was a survivor of the Armenian holocaust of Turkey in 1915-1916. It was with these words that Hitler sought to justify his plan to elminate the Jews.

And so I ask, "Do you remember?"

When I was a child, my mother would encourage my sister and me to finish our supper. She would say to us, "Eat up! There are children starving in Armenia!" I never gave those words much thought until I read this moving story about a boy named Vahan and how his indomitable spirit keeps him alive even after witnessing the horrible deaths of the beloved members of his family and during his exodous from Turkey. This work is definitely an eye-opener, especially when the reader digs for more historical information and learns that even today that the Turkish government does not acknowledge the murder of over 1.5 million Christian Armenians during this dark period and that even the British government refused to recognize it early in the twenty-first century.

Curious for more information? Go here, here, here, and here.

Initial impression: Owning Your Own Shadow

I recently picked up this one, so I am by no means finished with it. One thing that stands out to me is that Johnson's perspective on psychology comes across as deeply rooted in Christianity, which really challenges my personal bias for the moment. Several years ago, this would not have bothered me so much, but I am mentally weary from the right-wing political Christian perspective constantly being shoved down my throat.

Still, I am open enough to give this book the good old college try. This work is divided into three parts: 1. The Shadow, 2. Romantic Love as Shadow, and 3. The Mandorla.

So, what is the shadow? Johnson introduces his brief work by stating that it is . . .

". . . what we would like to be and how we wish to be seen by the world. It is our psychological clothing and it mediates between our true selves and our environment just as our physical clothing presents an image to those we meet." (p. 3)

As with other books of this genre (psychology), the first thing I did was flip through to the parts that might be most relevant to me today. Here is an excerpt that stands out:

"To fall in love is the project the most noble and infinitely valuable part of one's being onto another human being, though sometimes under rare circumstances it may be projected onto something other than a human. . . . . . Romantic love, or falling in love, is different from loving, which is always a quieter and more humanly proportioned experience. There is always something overblown and bigger-than-life about falling in love." (p. 61-62)

I like the way Johnson differentiates between the two experiences as being distinct from one another. Still, I cannot help but think that being in love usually begins with falling in love, so I am wondering how he addresses the melding of the two.

Also, I have yet to learn what the heck a Mandorla is, so I am somewhat curious.

Touching Spirit Bear

Touching Spirit Bear explores the concept of wilderness survival as a form of punishment that leads toward the path of healing.

Sixteen-year-old Cole is banished to a remote Alaskan island where he will spend a year alone as a consequence for the brutal beating of a classmate. Enraged that he has no recourse but to serve this Circle Justice, Cole defiantly burns his supplies before trying to escape. Of course he is stuck there, and eventually he meets up with a spirit bear that mauls him. On the edge of death, Cole realizes that his ability to survive in the civilized world is somehow connected to his ability to survive alone on this island.

This is one of my favorite teen lit books. The accessible elements in this work that might connect to a child's schema include divorce, a parent with alcoholism, bad-boy outcast, last-chance with the law, and dealing with social services. Bringing in Native American culture as a way to work around these problems is an intriguing concept that has hooked more than one ambivalent child and transformed him into a reader.