My Zen Life

Hey folks, Dharma Path (also known as John’s Dharma Path) will no longer be updated after this post.  Don’t worry, I’m not going away!!  Just moving to my new blog:

myzenlife.com

If you would, please update your links to me to reflect this change and come on over for a visit to the new site.  My “Welcome” post over there explains a little bit about why the change.

This site will remain for as long as BlogSpot let’s me keep it so the content here should be accessible for the foreseeable future.

I’ll “see” you all over at myzenlife.com!!

Wednesday, September 14th 2005

10:56 Good morning all!  How’s life for everyone out there in my blog-o-sphere?  Things here are just absolutely NUTS!!  I’m expecting another super busy day at work today.  I was here last night till 18:30 which makes my arrival back home at around 19:30.  That’s over 12 hours spent away from my family.  I don’t like to do this too often but it’s just necessary right now.  Hopefully things will calm down soon.  I’m just grateful today to have such a well paying job doing what I love to do.  There are so many out there that are jobless or are stuck in low paying jobs that they hate.  Gratitude is my practice today.

Tuesday, September 13th 2005

16:01 Oh Man, I’m just getting slammed here at the office today.  Calgone, take me away!!!

10:03 The Power of Now with Jesus and Buddha

The undercurrent of constant unease started long before the rise of Western industrial civilization, of course, but in Western civilization, which now covers almost the entire globe, including most of the East, it manifests in an unprecedentedly acute form. It was already there at the time of Jesus, and it was there 6oo years before that at the time of Buddha, and long before that. Why are you always anxious? Jesus asked his disciples. "Can anxious thought add a single day to your life?" And the Buddha taught that the root of suffering is to be found in our constant wanting and craving.

~ Eckhart Tolle, from chapter four "What Are They Seeking?”, The Power of NOW.

09:00 Oy.  Why in gods name did I stay up to watch the WHOLE game??  And to top it all off, my team didn’t even win.  Bummer.

Monday, September 12th 2005

16:04 FEMA Director is outta’ here!

13:50 I like this quote, a lot:

Meditation is learning how to listen with you own wisdom, so that you can see...
~ Lama Thubten Yeshe

10:56 There’s a zen saying “Tasting the Moment”.  With how fast my everyday life is; moving from crisis to crisis at work, watching the clock to pick up my daughter on time, getting her dinner once home, cleaning up the kitchen afterwards in between monitoring her progress with the bedtime routine.  How am I supposed to ‘taste’ the moment? It just goes by WAY too fast.

09:00 Good morning Dharma Path blog readers.  I can’t believe Monday morning is here already.  Bummer (I think I like this word).  Oh well, back to the grind.

Hey, it looks like I missed posting yesterday.  That could mean only one thing: I spent most of the day away from the computer.  That’s a good thing once and a while.  Especially when the weather was as nice as it was this weekend.

My coffee cup beckons...

EDJ #8

12:10 Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor.  Are you freakin’ kidding me?  So much for compassionate conservatism.

11:11 Well, it turns out my wife is working this weekend.  Bummer.  Even though I like having time with Amy, I really miss the time as a whole family on the weekends.

Nothing much exciting going on today. The weather is gorgeous today.  I think Amy and I will just hang out outside and enjoy our time together.

EDJ #7

09:11 Good morning folks.  I slowed down a bit this morning and it felt good.  Usually on the days that my wife drops Amy off and I’m heading into the office, I like to get right out the door and pick up coffee on the way.  Today I decided to make coffee and breakfast at home before I left.  This provided many benefits.  The obvious one is it saves money (which is a good thing with gas prices as they are).  But the biggest benefit was being able to spend time with Amy helping her get breakfast and sitting down at the kitchen table with her.  Right before my eyes she is growing up.  She’s in first grade and loves it.  It’s such a joy to see how excited she is about learning all these new things.  I love talking with her about everything she’s doing in school as well as what’s going on in the world.  Her prayers last night just brought tears to my eyes when she prayed for the families and animals effected by the ‘big hurricane’.  She also prayed that our city be spared a visit of a hurricane like that in the future. Kids prayers are the best.

EDJ #6

19:04 Still working.  A big problem was found in the next version of the foundational software that our system runs on.  It’s looking like I’m going to have to do a bunch of recoding.  This is not good news as all testing was to be completed by next Wednesday.  I’m afraid this looks like I’ll be working some over the weekend.  My wife and daughter won’t like this one bit.  I don’t blame them.  It’s my wife’s weekend off (she works every other weekend), and we like spending the time together.  I’m sure I can strike up a balance somehow.  Maybe do most of my work at night.  Of course that nixes any possibility of any nocturnal activities.

15:04 A college radio station in Canada interviewed Soto Zen priest (and former punk rocker) Brad Warner.  It’s a good interview.  Stay with the audio even when that weird sounding guy comes on.  I almost turned it off when he came on but I’m glad I didn’t.  No fluffy Zen here, just real, pure life Zen.

Go to this webpage...
   http://thebeeroclock.com/bradwarner.asp

...and then click on PLAY INTERVIEW: (Real Audio)

07:37 Good morning all!  I hope this bright new day finds you all well.  Today is going to be a nice relaxing work at home day.  The thing I like best about a work at home day is that I don’t have to spend 2+ hours in the car.  I do however need to be a little bit more on top of myself as far as discipline to the tasks at hand are concerned. Sometimes it’s just too easy to get distracted when at home.  How do you folks do it?  Any advice out there?

EDJ #5

10:58 Cairn:

(o)
(o)(o)
(o)(o)(o)(o)
(o)(o)(o)(o)(o)

09:39 Today is looking like a busy day here at work.  Daily Journal posting will be light.

07:55 This mornings chanting practice:

The Four Vows

Beings are numberless; I vow to free them.

Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them.

Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them.

The buddha way is unsurpassable; I vow to realize it.

EJD #4

16:04 Those who are upright and honorable just do what needs to be done.  Thank you to everyone tending to LIFE on the gulf coast.  You are true heroes.

The labour of the righteous tendeth to life.
~ Proverbs 10:16

15:57 There are a lot of really good spiritual presentations here.  What I like most is how ecumenical the author is.  Some of my favorites are: mindfulness, shikantaza, prayer, and a touch of zen.

13:29 How appropriate that I just came across this quote from a mailing list I’m on.  It sums it up pretty well for me right now.

"Sit with your doubts and with your feeling of being un-Enlightened for a while, though, and you'll discover something amazing about what all that doubt and un-Enlightenment really is".
~ Unknown

13:27 I just realized the title of this post is a bit jumbled. It should be ‘EDJ’ (Experimental Daily Journal).  Oh well, no matter.

I’ve got some fear surrounding the fact that I’ll be doing a full weekend Sesshin beginning this Friday night.  My sitting practice has just about been non-existent.  My mind wants me to believe that I won’t be able to handle the many 40 minute sitting periods the weekend will offer.  This is not true of course.  I will be able to “handle” them, and more.  Meeting the present moment is never hard to do.  What makes it “hard” is the fear, uncertainty and doubt that my egoic mind just LOVES to manufacture.  Relax and witness.  That’s all I have to do this weekend. Relax and witness the present moment as it is.

09:22 My practice lately has consisted more of a “doing practice” than of a “sitting practice”.  I’m actually getting to be comfortable with this.  I still feel small pangs of guilt when, lying there in bed at the end of the day, I realize I didn’t sit.  But when I can look back on the activities of that day that I brought a deep mindfulness to, the guilt just seems to dissipate.  

In almost everything I do during the day I’m trying to bring as much mindfulness and attention that my mind and body can muster.  I’m far from perfect in this, but just the intention to notice my wandering attention and bring it back to the task at hand is enough for me today.  Acceptance is also an integral part of my training these days.

08:45 The drive in to work this morning was especially frustrating.  For some reason every jerk and idiot decided to either tailgate me from behind or cut me off from in front.  I used it as an opportunity to work with the anger that immediately welled up inside me whenever an incident occurred. I did a LOT of conscious breathing and bringing myself back to the present moment to get through it.          

EDJ #3

17:44 I’m feeling better after getting out of the house and doing some yard work.  It’s been a nice day off with my daughter Amy.  We played a few games together and even took a nap together (heavenly!!).  My wife is working a double today (16 hours) and won’t be home till midnight.  I don’t know what in the world possessed her to work those extra hours!!  Wait, yea I do, she’s really freaking out about money with the way energy costs are soaring.  I can totally understand that.  I’m a bit scared about the economy too.  Now’s the time to cut back a little me thinks.

12:08 I didn’t know about this until today, but I am SO EXCITED about seeing this movie in December: The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.  The movie site.  A site commissioned by the CS Lewis Trust.

08:51 I’m feeling a bit on edge this morning. At first I didn’t know why.  Now I’m thinking that it’s the news that I was watching earlier this morning. Yes, I want to know how things are going with the relief and rescue efforts, but hearing about the shootings of levy contract workers and police officers committing suicide is effecting me in a less than wholesome way.  I think I need to monitor my news consumption today, ingesting more wholesome material for now.

Experimental Daily Journal Entry #2

10:01 Heading off to morning services with the family in a few minutes.  Coming together as a community in times like these really helps support my journey on the path.  Community is such a powerful thing, I hope you have a community to participate in and belong to.

09:56 Nola.com, the site run by the Times-Picayune, has messages about hundreds of people still trapped and dying in New Orleans.  Let’s get these people out of there for God’s sake!!!

09:06 Good morning!  It a bright, crisp, gorgeous day here in lower Bucks county Pennsylvania.  Just beautiful!!  I’m enjoying a nice hot cup of java outside on the porch.  I seem to enjoy my cups of coffee much more in the cool, crisp morning air.  I feel so grateful to be alive and well today.

Experimental Daily Journal Entry #1

20:07 Got a good, hard 45 minutes in on the bike this afternoon.  Man it felt great to exert myself like that.  I’m finding that getting fitter really boots your self esteem quite a bit, and that feels great!  Goodnight all, hope you had a good day.

13:16 The end of oil.  I like the piece that Fred put up about the peaking of world oil production in the near future.  We really need to elect members of congress and eventually a new president that will address this issue head on.  If we don’t, things are going to get a lot worse than they are right now.

11:35 What this woman did with her already existing website really has to be commended.  Thanks Katrina Blankenship!

11:19 The economic impact of Katrina.  This is what I was (and still am) afraid of.

11:12 Back from weigh-in this morning and much to my utter surprise I lost 3 pounds this week.  I don’t know how (I didn’t ride the bike at all this week), but I’ll take it for sure!

09:06 Today is looking to be chore day.  Laundry, yard work, grocery shopping.  I’m kinda looking forward to it.  A break from sitting in front of the computer all week flexing my head muscle is welcomed.  It feels good in the body to physically exert yourself.

08:48 This morning’s chanting practice:

The Three Refuges
(Sankiraimon)

I take refuge in Buddha
May all beings
Embody the Great Way
Resolving to Awaken

I take refuge in Dharma
May all beings
Deeply enter the Sutras
Wisdom like an Ocean

I take refuge in Sangha
May all beings
Support Harmony in the Community
Free from Hindrance

08:42 Trying something new.  I’m going to have just one entry per day but keep adding to it bottom to top when ever the urge hits throughout the day.  

I got the idea from my other blog that I have here. This is my OPML blog and this format is produced by default when using the OPML Editor to update the blog (which is the ONLY way to update the blog as far as I know).  The format has grown on me and I wanted to try it out here.  I don’t know if it will really work here at Dharma Path but I want to give it a try anyway.  Let me know what you think.

Helping Katrina victims

I wish I could go down to the Gulf Coast to help out but I can’t.  I did the next best thing and donated as much as I could to the American Red Cross National Disaster Relief fund.  It makes me feel even better to know that my company will 100% match my donation of a hundred dollars.  Even with the match it seems like such a small drop in the bucket but I can only do what I can.

Please consider giving what you can to help our fellow Americans in this dire time of need.  May their suffering be relieved very soon!