An Acre of Fools by Aden James ~ #FridayReads @Acre_of_Fools #Contemporary #DrugAddiction @Audiobook

Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT OIL & WATER by @pjlazos environmental #Thriller #fridayreads

Awakening, Returning, and Looking Forward: An Interview with Ian Johnson

Awakening, Returning, and Looking Forward: An Interview with Ian Johnson – BLARB

Source: Awakening, Returning, and Looking Forward: An Interview with Ian Johnson

What does a “close friend” mean for you?

One of the reasons why machine translation will (can) NEVER be perfect.(Without defining a perfect translation!)

The term “friendship” has had different approaches over time based on cultural variations this is why “close friend” can present different meanings too.

Source: What does a “close friend” mean for you?

Part 6 Zazenshin: Acupuncture Needle of Zazen, by Shohaku Okumura

Part 6 of the lecture.

Buddhism now

[From a series of talks by Reverend Okumura in which he
focused on the famous koan story `Nangaku polishing a tile’.]

I will talk about Dogen’s comments on this story in the Shobogenzo: Zazenshin (Acupuncture Needle of Zazen):

‘Kozei Daijaku Zenji practised and studied with Nangaku Daie Zenji. Since he had intimately received mind-seal, he continuously practised zazen. Once Nangaku visited Daijaku and asked, “Virtuous one, what do you intend (zu) in doing zazen?”’

Dogen is making the point that Baso was practising zazen after receiving the mind-seal from Nangaku. In the Zuimonki, on the other hand, Dogen said that Nangaku was admonishing Baso’s expectation to become buddha. Nangaku didn’t restrict Baso from practising zazen because zazen is a buddha’s practice. Nangaku and Baso together are expressing the true meaning of zazen as Dogen conveyed in his verses in the Eihei-koroku. This story is not about a…

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Read an excerpt of Purr M for Murder, a new #cozymystery from @RoccoBlogger #giveaway

For inexplicable reasons I can’t resist cats

Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT THE SILENT KOOKABURRA by @LizaPerrat #TuesdayBookBlog #Thriller

I just happen to like Terry’s reviews. Wish I could write as good as she does. Bah, learning by doing

Ausone’s notebook, 78.th instalment #amwriting #mondayblogs #cats #IARTG

Good morning, Humans. Another Monday. But still the same problem. How to produce something that makes people read what goes on in my cat brain.

Should I tell you that I have the strong feeling, at the moment, that I’m getting old? Although the weather is getting better and better, I still spend a lot of time in house. Like this morning. Made the signs to my human that it’s time to get up and feet me. As he was finally moving. Under five minutes, but he was already faster. I decided, bed’s still cosy I stay a bit longer. Took me another three hours to finally get out of the house. Made just a little trip to the food. Had a look outside and hop back to bed. Seems that I got the German sickness called ‘Frühjahrsmüdigkeit” or I’m just getting old. Hey, I’m getting fourteen this autumn. I would have all the rights in the world to be tired. Let’s hope I’ve just that German sickness. It really doesn’t make sense. How could I (or you) be tired because of spring? Days are getting longer, weather is getting better, more light. So why, by Odin’s beard am I tired? Just a small example. Yesterday, my human went out for his Sunday long run. I stayed in bed. This is not normal. Why am I tired?

As I don’t think I’ll find a solution this morning. I will complain a bit about politics and media. I might get angry and this could wake me up.

So, here we go.

There are presidential elections in France this summer. The parties have decided their candidates. And the media (French TV, this time) organise debates. There was the first one last week. And there was something that is at least a bit not very democratic. There are a bit more than 10 candidates for the presidential elections. Guess how many were present or better invited to this debate? Five! Who decided that there are only five candidates worth to figure during the debate?? Is this democracy?

Wait, it’s getting worse. During the debate there was an opinion poll. Who’s the most convincing candidate during the debate? And they had a clear winner. Jean-Luc Melénchon from the Left Party. With something around 50% of the votes. The next day, in the news papers, may be necessary to call them now “news” papers. The winner of the debate was ANOTHER one, Emmanuel Macron. An investment banker (Rothschild et Cie). With all the background that you need to be of the establishment. ENA, former minister of economics, during the second government of Valls. He pushed through business friendly reforms..

I’m slowly getting sick of this. Bankers who become politicians and after their term back to the bank.

There is something horribly wrong. Humans are constantly voting for no change in politics. Always voting for the same faces. Big money and presentable on TV. None of these guys (or ladies) has ever done something for the so-called ‘silent majority’. They are doing something for the big banks. For the big money. Don’t get me wrong the president elect of the US is exactly the same. He’s big money(apparently) and representing big money and that’s all there is. And if you want a change, a real one why not try a different approach? Vote for someone who has different ideas and something like an education. Not someone who’s blaming those who don’t have any power whatsoever to change something to the positive. Misogynist and xenophobe is not an option.

Now I’m angry and awake.

Milady was on the coast this weekend so no new photos of me. And just because I was talking about me being tired. I’ll try to find a photo of me sleeping. No Kitteny, I’m not smiling when I sleep.

See you next week

Yours

Ausone

Meet Guest Author Andrea Torrey Balsara…

Interesting

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

I feel like an imposter. Even after 47 years, the feeling that I have a secret to hide has never left.

At 5 I was targeted by a man posing as a good church member in my grandparent’s church and was molested. As anyone who’s gone through this knows, it doesn’t matter how many years pass, the hurt and self-blame is imprinted on your soul. When that happened, part of the internal clock inside me stopped at 5. As I grew, I experienced trauma for different reasons, at different ages, my internal clock stopping each time. I went through all of the teen angst you could dream up, complete with stammer, a blush that a beet would envy, and breaking out in a full-body sweat if anyone looked at me. I found my “safe place” where I hid, out in the open, on the stage. I was certain I would…

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Part 5 Zazenshin: Acupuncture Needle of Zazen, by Shohaku Okumura

5.th part of the lecture on Zazen and Dogen-Zenji

Buddhism now

Reading what Dogen said with a fresh mind:

I have talked aboutthe original story ‘Nangaku polishing a tile’. I have also referred to the Diamond Sutra as a way of helping to understand what Nangaku was trying to teach Baso. Now we will look at Dogen’s commentary on the same story.

First, however, I would like to introduce Dogen’s interpretation of this story in writings other than in the Zazenshin. I will quote four examples.

The ‘Polishing-tile’ story in Shinji Shobogenzo:

This first quote is from the so-called Shinji-Shobogenzo or Three Hundred Koan. Dogen collected these koan at Koshoji when he was thirty-five or thirty-six years old. He gathered them without adding any comments, though he made minor changes to some stories. From this we can see that his interpretations have a slightly different flavour from the originals.

Writing in Chinese, Dogen added twelve characters into…

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