You may find this article of interest.

The Buddhism holds that truth – especially religious truth – is something that everyone has access to and of which no one has monopoly. It could be understood by everyone for himself. The Buddha did not believe in distributing ready-made transcendental wisdom for everyone. He wanted people to get at the Dhamma by themselves (paccattam veditabbo). When someone presented a theory the Buddha would naturally ask him “Do you know and see this yourself?”.

Article in Daily News – Buddhist Attitude To Other Religions by Professor Chandima Wijebandara

Thank you to the Reverend who sent me the link to this article.

This for those who can’t have enough cat or kitten input.
On video. From Russia.

This video brings to mind the admonishment by Zen Master Dogen in Rules for Meditation, which goes thusly: Do not spend so much time in rubbing only part of the elephant. What we see (in our everyday way) IS only part of the elephant, no wonder we can get all worked up over stuff. But what’s a little kitten to do when faced with A BALL! Well skitter about until…it gets bored and then find something else to skitter with. What do we do? Perhaps remind ourselves that there is always a bigger picture. And keep that in mind.

You can fetch the whole of Rules for Meditation as a .pdf file from the Shasta Abbey website.

Thanks to my Throssel walking companion for the link. Keep sending those links my way please.

The flowers and fruit of Buddhist practice.

At the Monterey Market, Berkeley
Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got (in your mind) till it explodes out of your mouth! For example on the spiritual insight level of things. Not so very long ago by way of spiritual encouragement I said, You have everything. You ARE everything. The response? Oh, that’s very Zen! This came as a bit of a shock. Especially since I don’t really go for pithy Zen like sayings, let alone come out with them. Just what did I think I was doing? Obviously I wasn’t thinking at all. It just came out. And had I paused for a nano second I’d have spoken a paragraphs worth, not half a lines worth. Statements of certainty are all very well however they probably don’t help much.

And generally what comes out of ones mouth needs to be watched doesn’t it. It’s just amazing what escapes the lips when you’re not watching. Little asides, sharp words, blunt words, words like arrows which penetrate into the recesses of ones emotional being. Uh! we all have sent and received those arrows, lobbed blunt paragraphs when something softer would have worked better.

Looked at from a Buddhist practice perspective those words, phrases and lengthier escapees are so helpful. Sometimes one simply does not know what’s there hidden below the surface of ones everyday consciousness. That’s until some aside slips out and takes one by surprise. Happened with me the other day. Rather than drowning in guilt and shame one can choose (and it is a real and difficult internal choice) to keep swimming along mentally/emotionally allowing the layers of understanding and appreciation to surface.

It never ceases to amaze me how the unfolding or deepening appreciation of thoughts, words and deeds which catch ones attention simple undo. Once again it’s the basic intention to keep on track with the Precepts that’s the saving of us. That and several dollops of acceptance/compassion. For oneself and for others.

Last thought. Meditation, being reflective during ones day, helps with the ability to make that all important pause before opening ones mouth.

Here I am thinking of old friends, again. Remembering old friends in the sangha. This prompted by a long phone call yesterday. Through much thick, and some thin, the sangha endures. But what is it that endures? Conditions endure. The push/pull of cause/effect endure. Is it inertia or familiarity that keeps us coming back for more of others company. Well yes, all of that and something deeper. How I’d put it is thusly; What endures is that which is not bound by time or place and is not afraid of all that is contained in time and place.
Now it’s time for that song, that is so tender:

Old friends, old friends sat on their park bench like bookends
A newspaper blowin’ through the grass
Falls on the round toes of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settles like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park bench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years, silently sharing the same fears

Simon and Garfunkel

It is late. My ‘day job’ is taking up a whole lot of my time and energy. And still I love to write here, when I can. And to speak on the phone as I have this evening and yesterday and the day before that. To walk with my walking companion(s) here on the road below Throssel. And to launch myself off across the Atlantic to visit old friends. I’ll post my schedule when I know what it is. Berkeley Buddhist Priory first, then Shasta Abbey.

What endures is a love
which asks for nothing.