Following a subtle inner prompting, which went something like “you could put more effort into your writing Mugo”, I took the plunge and bought a book at Chapters with my gift card. It is called Oxford Guide to Plain English, a compelling read and chock full of easy to digest instructions. Here is a definintion of plain English writing, quoted from the book:
The writing and setting out of essential information in a way that gives a co-operative, motivated person a good chance of understanding it as first reading, and in the same sense that the writer meant it to be understood.
Who hasn’t read an official document of some kind and ended up non the wiser? The plea for plain English has been around for a long time. Quoting from the book again:
In the fourteenth century Chaucer had one of his characters demand:
Speketh so pleyne at this time, I yow preye
That we may undersonde what ye seye.
My Master, Rev. Jiyu-Kennett, was very keen on the accurate use of words and encouraged us to choose them with great care when speaking and writing. And Rev. Master Daizui, the former Head of the Order (OBC), a real wordsmith if ever there was one wrote ‘Buddhism From Within’ which he would refer to as Buddhism in plain English. So I’m developing a deeper appreciation for the need to choose words wisely and to string them together more mindfully.
This months issue of The National Geographic Magazine has a feature called Buddha Rising. – ‘Out of the monastery, into the living room’. There are some excellent photos including one of the Shasta Abbey monks on Alms Round in Mount Shasta, California. It’s a good picture. You might want to take a look when you browse the magazine racks.
One of the wonders of the internet is that The National Geographic, and other large magazines, publish content on their web sites not included in the paper version. If you go to the National Geographic and then go to the Slide Show: Buddha Rising you will see, towards the end of the show, an interesting picture. It’s of monks in Thailand, I think, who are knotting kesas (robe given at ordination) around the trees! Apparently the monks are performing tree ordinations. There are a number of monks in Thailand who are embracing the lives of trees, as well as the lives of their human supporters. Do a search on ‘tree ordinations’ if you want to find out more. Here I go on trees again…!
Anyway, if you have a fast internet connection, and even if you don’t, there is a lot of interesting background material to be found. My favorite is the author, Perry Garfinkel in the section ‘On Assignment’, writing about his meeting with the Dalai Lama.
“Somehow his calm made me feel calm, like a hand-to-hand tranquility transfusion. The man had me at ‘hello’.”
Early this morning Andrew Taylor-Browne talked on Radio Cornwall, England. Here is what he said:
“In our living room on our farm at the moment we have a Christmas tree, covered in the usual lights, tinsel, and other decorations. Now for people who don’t know us there is nothing at all strange about this. However, our friends and family do sometimes wonder what Zen Buddhists are doing with a Christmas tree in their house.
Well, actually although it looks just like a Christmas tree it is for us a Buddhist Jewel Tree, and we are celebrating the Buddha’s Enlightenment. The Festival of the Buddha’s Enlightenment is traditionally observed on December 8th, but we take advantage of the season’s celebrations to decorate our house throughout the rest of December.
The decorations represent in visual form what the world looked like when Buddha realised enlightenment and so they represent what it can look like to us if we see with the eyes of Buddha, and this in fact is something that is open to any of us to do at any time.
Now it is probably quite sensible to understand this imagery in a metaphorical way. We often notice that our ideas and emotions stop us realising what is really going on in a particular situation. Indeed, we can be so caught up with ourselves that we hardly notice what is going on at all. If we can manage to stop looking at the world through our own fears and insecurities, clouded by the grasping after things, the anger and confusion that so frequently fill our minds, then the world truly presents itself in a very different way. In fact what we can then see is a tremendous love, compassion and wisdom in all people, all circumstances and indeed all things. So, in one sense the jewels on the tree symbolise this love, which shines through all things.
And in another sense we can often see these jewels more directly. When we look with love, sympathy and understanding at people their eyes sparkle as jewels. And some people find that the world can take them by surprise and break through their personal worries and concerns. Clear night skies, light on the waves of the sea, morning mist hanging in a valley, houses, hedgerows, trees and fields covered with snow, even rain droplets hanging like jewels on the winter branches of a tree. All these have the capacity to speak directly to our hearts. And what they say is that we are not separate from the world or from anything in it.
So, I can only wish for you all that during the coming fortnight you each get a chance to see your own real life jewel trees, and glimpse the true nature of the universe, and its all embracing love, compassion and wisdom.”
Andrew that was great, thanks for giving permission to publish your words.
You might be interested to follow this link to a chapter from Crossing the Unknown Sea by David Whyte. In this chapter he remembers a conversation with a Christian monk about the poem The Swan. It turned out to be a life changing meeting.
This is how to sign up for a Blogger Account so that you can post comments. I am no expert and if there is an easier way or refinements can be made to the instructions below, let me know please. I can be emailed via Jademountains web site.
Before you do anything make four choices about your future account:
user name – your name will do fine, what ever you will remember; password – it has to be at least 6 characters long; display name – the public will see this name,(an example could be Sarah in Jasper, or Ziggy so nobody knows who you are, except you); email address – it will remain private, don’t worry.
TIP. Write down your choices exactly, especially your use of upper and lower case letters. Sorry to ‘hand-hold’ however it is SO easy to loose track of such information. For some of us this is a high stress project. So pause, take a few deep breaths to steady yourself.
Now Get Started
1. Scroll to the bottom of this posting and click on ‘Comments’. A window opens.
2. Click on the ‘Sign up here’, another window opens asking for your details – which you have on a piece of paper beside you.
3. Fill out the form, then click in the empty box to accept terms. (To read them, click on the blue lettering. Then click on the X at the top right corner of the page to return to the form.)
4. Click on the large orange arrow to CONTINUE.
5. Choose another use name if your first choice is rejected. Write it down first, then type it into the appropriate box.
6. Click continue. You are asked for information to set up your own blogger. If you want to write a Blog – continue, if not – close the window. You now have a User Name and can post comments.
I just set up a new user name and password for myself, you can see my comment under the November 15th posting. No wonder people are not leaving comments, it’s a lot of work! Have a go why not.
