A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Monday, August 10, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: Create Space for Your Natural Joy
Meditation practice allows our natural flow of being to come forth and provides a space for our natural joy to come out.
—Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara, “Turn Into the Skid”
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Via Daily Dharma: Learning to Be Happy Here and Now
The
Buddha spoke of learning how to be deeply happy right here and now, no
matter what circumstances we are facing. Even the existential challenges
of our own impending illness, aging, and death can be encompassed with
the wisdom to acknowledge that all things change, to accept that there
is no essence underlying it all, and nevertheless to be able to meet
each moment without clinging to anything in the world.
—Andrew Olendzki, “A Modest Awakening”
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Via White Crane Institute // WITTER BYNNER
August 10
WITTER BYNNER, poet, writer and scholar. Best remembered for his classic translation of The Way of Life, according to Lao Tzu (1944). Initially he pursued a career in journalism at McClure's Magazine, Bynner then turned to writing. He was a charter member of the Poetry Society of America and was influential in getting the work of A.E. Housman and Ezra Pound published. In 1916 Bynner was one of the perpetrators of an elaborate literary hoax. It involved a purported 'Spectrist' school of poets. They published a book called "Spectra" that received accolades from Edgar Lee Masters and William Carlos Williams who were completely taken in by the ruse. Bynner meant it as a critique of the fashion of "ism" schools in poetry that were ruining poetry in his opinion. The incident, while successful, damaged his reputation in certain circles.
Bynner traveled to Japan and China and subsequently produced many translations from Chinese. His verse showed both Japanese and Chinese influences, but the latter were major. After a short time in academia (University of California, Berkeley), Bynner settled down in Santa Fe, in a relationship with Robert Hunt that would last for thirty-four years. Mabel Dodge Luhan, the doyenne of the intellectual community in Santa Fe & Taos at one point accused Bynner of "single-handedly introducing homosexuality into New Mexico." Bynner and Hunt became fixtures in Santa Fe. On January 18, 1965, Bynner had a severe stroke. He never recovered, and required constant care until he died on June 1, 1968. His papers are archived in the New Mexico State University Library. His last words were reported to have been, "Other people die, why can't I?"
Saturday, August 8, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: What Boredom Can Teach Us
When
we feel bored or ill at ease, instead of trying to avoid these feelings
by staying busy or buying another fancy gadget, we [can] learn to look
more clearly at our impulses, attitudes, and defenses.
—Ajahn Sucitto, “From Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha’s First Teaching”
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