The point on “faith” as a condition for true enlightenment has vexed me as I read my way through Getting the Buddha Mind.  As I said before, it doesn’t strike me as faith in the same way that it is used in other religions.  There was a passage in the book that summed up the difference well. We call this “practicing outer paths” because your faith is not in yourself but only in outer things.  The usual interpretation of the Chinee term wai tao is “ outside of Buddhist belief,” that is, heretical.  But the real meaning of outer paths is seeking salvation outside of oneself, such as another person,…

One of the things that struck me on my rereading of Getting the Buddha Mind is the assertion of the importance of religious faith. I don’t remember that before. It is not a front and center tenet, but it is there. Faith here is not presented in the same way as some other religions. It is more like a diluted faith. The benefits of meditation and Buddhist teaching are available to anyone, so it is being claimed. Practicing on this level does not even present any conflict with other religious practices on its own. Sitting and practicing controlling your thoughts is a rather inoffensive activity. But to achieve the Buddha…

I opened one of Joe’s boxes this week. To add to the randomness, I entertained the idea of selecting the first book I saw. It was Dangling in the Tournefortia by Bukowski. I haven’t read it before and really want to, but I gave it a pass here. I was counting on Joe to give me something new and unexpected and you pretty much know what you are going to get from Bukowski. I did not have to rummage much deeper though. Several of the next few books I picked up were collections of poetry by Richard Brautigan. I know I have never read anything by him. Honestly, I can’t…

I picked up Heavy Metal #300 from my comic book box yesterday. I flipped through the pages as soon as I got it home and it does look beautiful. I have a couple thoughts to share ahead of digging into it: 1.) The landmark issue was commemorated with a “All-Star” artist lineup. That is great and I’m sure I will enjoy it, but it seems a little uninspired. The 250th issue was a giant single story graphic epic about a galactic experiment wherein specimens from a thousand different worlds were sent to try to coexist on a single planet. It was a riskier and more ambitious project in my mind.…

I’ve started two different books on Buddhism but failed to finish either. It is pretty infrequent that leave a book unfinished but it happens. The first was a loaner I took from a dusty forgotten bookshelf at the DoE Albany Research Center. It was Getting the Buddha Mind. I was in my final year of studying Mechanical Engineering and got really busy and had to put it down. The other book was The Diamond Cutter which was a Christmas gift from my mother a few years ago. That one I put down intentionally after reading about three quarters. It did a good job of arguing the practicality of Buddhist teachings,…

There were a couple of other comments I wanted to make about The Time Machine. First was about a single line from the book that tickled me. When the Time Traveler first sees the Morlocks, it is during the predawn grey while he is still groggy with sleep. He is outside a magnificent ruin left from an advanced civilization. The contours of the landscape are coming through the darkness he thinks he sees occasional stirrings in the distance. White creatures that he can not lock his eyes on. They make him think of ghosts and he muses that if each generation leaves a share of its members to haunt the…

I have this mental condition that makes me think that whatever I am reading at the moment is one of the greatest things ever written. It doesn’t happen every time, but pretty often. That may come apparent to anyone who follows this post for a time. It didn’t happen here. I did enjoy it though. When science fiction is sufficiently aged, it takes on a special charm. It happens whenever the science becomes dated, when there is a sufficient technological gap between the era that produced it and the era in which it is being read. Bradbury is such a great example of this. H.G. Welles is too. Unfortunately, I…

I had gotten the impression that Joe was unreachable by email from some mutual friends. Admittedly, I had not emailed him since he left in 2018. As I am not so brazen as to go poking through a man’s belongings on just a rumor that he has disappeared, I made a personal attempt to contact Joe last week. To my surprise, he responded almost right away. He is safe and sound, back in the states but nowhere near me. He has given conditional approval to the “Joe’s Boxes” project. The conditions are that I take care of anything I borrow and stay away from anything that looks like it is…

Is going to be on the shelf soon.

I just picked up the H.G. Wells classic. Barely have started it but am looking forward to it terribly.