Archive - Aug 28, 2008

Date

An Oblation to the Absolute

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There is another kind of spiritual courage as well, quieter and less celebrated, but just as remarkable: that of making each day, in its most conventional aspects -- cooking, eating, breathing -- an oblation to the absolute.
-- Philip Zaleski, From a New York Times book review. July 24, 1994.

Sorry, I can't track down the actual review.

Years ago in the mid 1980's I wrote a Journal article titled, To Proffer Abundant Oblations. I loved that word oblations, wonderfully expansive and all embracing.
Here is the definition of this phrase at the start of the article:

To offer for acceptance that which is intangible, in ample sufficiency, in thanksgiving to the Eternal Buddha.