Category Archives: Films/Books

Daily Life, Films/Books, Out and About

Beautiful Thinking

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Eunoia is the shortest word in English containing all five vowels – and it means “beautiful thinking”. It is also the title of Canadian poet Christian Bok‘s book of fiction in which each chapter uses only one vowel. (Taken from the BBC Radio 4 ‘Today programme’ web page)

Hiking in British districts, I picnic in virgin firths, grinning in mirth with misfit whims, smiling if I find birch twigs, smirking if I find mint sprigs.

Each vowel has it’s own ‘personality’ it would seem. I like ‘i’. Jaunty fun loving ‘i’.

It’s good to be back in the monastery again, where I’ll stay for ‘awhile’. Thanks for travelling along with me, for meeting and greeting me in North America and now in England. And for housing and feeding and driving and going shopping and walking and laughing and teaching and directing and inspiring. Yep, lots of beautiful thinking. Thank you all so much.

I should not forget my ‘walking companion’ who sent me the link to the BBC Web site. Thank you too. I look forward to many walkings and talkings during the coming weeks.

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Films/Books, Information, Out and About, Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Innovation – Recognition – Ambition

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The O.B.C. web site now has a link to Jade Mountains. This means Jade has joined the ranks of the officially recognized order temples and meditation groups listed within the International section of our website. It is the first weblog maintained by a monk of our Order to be recognized. Maybe it will be the first of many…

For an individual to have a personal website, not to mention a weblog, is a departure from the norm within my organization. So I’m especially grateful for the patience and the huge measures of tolerance extended towards my on-line efforts during the past five years.

Innovating within an organization is a testing business. A few months back I stumbled upon a great book called, The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki. You might think this book is all about how to start a for-profit company, not so. Innovating within for-profit and non profit organizations are equally addressed.

Guy Kawasaki has a blog, How to Change the World and Alltops a news feed site. Jade is listed in the Religion section.

And Zen Master Dogen has a lot to say about getting caught up in fame and gain, he also has a lot to say about giving expression and that need not be driven by ambition.

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Films/Books, Information, Teachings

Inhaling and Exhaling

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If you want to write you have to read;
It’s as essential as breathing.
Breathing in – reading. Breathing out – writing.

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A hut in Idaho, a welcomed rural retreat

How may I improve my writing? I asked. She said, Read!
What can you recommend? I asked. She said, You will find what is good to read? It will fall off a shelf, make itself known. And she was right!

On San Juan Island I picked a book off the shelf hoping to induce sleep. Dakota.
At the rummage sale in Portland last Saturday the same book gazed up at me from the sidewalk. Dakota. Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, by Kathleen Norris.

Thanks to Eido-san and to Margaret for your help, encouragement and know-how.

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Illuminated log in the early morning after rain

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Films/Books, Teachings

The Perfect Slime Trail

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On the ‘plane I watched The Bucket List in which Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play the lead roles.

A billionaire and a mechanic who meet in a hospital ward for terminally ill patients decide to make an escape and set out on one last trip to fulfill all of their dying wishes.

While the two men wait for news of their flight to Everest, climbing Everest was on their Bucket List, they are shown visiting a Buddhist monastery. It was all gloom, flickering lights and incense smoke. The Jack Nicholson character, ever the skeptic, ponders on the concept of karma and rebirth. I just don’t get it, he says. I mean, what does a slug have to do to get a good rebirth, leave a perfect slime trail? This is fairly typical of the popular view of karma and rebirth. (And of Buddhist monasteries too!) Which runs fairly much along the lines of, be good and you will be reborn into better circumstances. Lead a bad life and you’ll end up a short lived, squashed, fly. Truth is bigger, and more compassionate, than this.

I liked this film. It brought the subject of action (and that’s what karma translates as) into the realm of action, and out of the world of speculation and popular interpretations. There was reflection on past actions and the seeing into the unwisdom’s of those actions. There were scenes depicting the struggle to see those actions for what they were and then scenes which looked at what that means, right now. In short the two men were brought to look at the consequences of their actions and come to an understanding and acceptance of their lives. Find joy in your life, were the dying mans words to the Jack Nicholson character. He could have said, Live life, forget the ideal of perfection, of leaving a perfect trail of slime behind you!

Written for Kevin. This, in part, is my answer to your question. I hope you get the gist of what I’m pointing out. Other teachers in our Order might well see this film and interpret it differently. So be it, there’s no argument.

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Films/Books

Amongst White Clouds

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American director Edward A. Burger takes us on his unforgettable journey into the hidden lives of China’s forgotten Zen Buddhist hermit tradition. “Amongst White Clouds is a look at the lives of zealot students, gaunt ascetics and wise masters living in isolated hermitages dotting the peaks and valleys of China’s Zhongnan Mountain range.” The Zhongnan Mountains have been home to recluses since the time of the Yellow Emperor, some five thousand years ago. Many of China’s most realized Buddhist masters attained enlightenment in this very range! And now? It is widely thought that this tradition was all but wiped out by the twists and turns of history. “Amongst White Clouds” shows us this is not the case. One of only a few foreigners to have lived and studied with these hidden sages, Burger reveals to us their tradition, their wisdom, and the hardship and joy of their everyday lives. With both humor and compassion, these inspiring and warm-hearted characters challenge us to join them in an exploration of our own suffering and enlightenment in this modern world.

If I understand correctly this film, a documentary, was inspired by the book Road to Heaven, Encounters with Chinese Hermits by Bill Porter, AKA Red Pine. I remember drinking in this book some years ago but never had a copy on my book shelf. Then, just the other day, I found a copy in our Monastic Alms Box and have it beside me now. I love the photo of the ancient nun Yuan-chao on the front cover. While visiting this nun Bill Porter asked her to to write down the essence of Buddhism on a sheet of calligraphy paper. She ignored his request however two months later the paper arrived in the mail in Taiwan. It bore the words; goodwill, compassion, joy, detachment.Bill Porter:

“Certainly there are hermits who stay in seclusion all their lives, never rejoining society. Some of them are very powerful people. The old nun on the cover of my book is such a person. She was 88 when she died; they cremated her but her heart remained intact. That was a pretty powerful hermit”.

Dharmaflix has Amongst White Clouds listed but there are no reviews, as yet.

 

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