House of the Singing Waters

Oh yeah. Ego, in it's pure form is what keeps us alive. It's uncontrolled ego that gets us in trouble.

Read your post, and found it interesting. There are two basic types of Buddhism (I could be wrong... Tim is better at this than me). One is Zen, which follows the stream of life, taking what life brings us. Zen teaches to 'go with the flow', to recognize the wonder and miracle of all of it and accept it for what it is. Tao teaches that, while life is indeed a miracle and we should accept it, Right Action is sometimes required to move the flow of life in the direction needed.

It sounds as if you have stepped on the path of Right Action. Might I suggest, if you can find it, the 'Tao of Pooh' written by Benjamin Hoff? I believe you can even read a number of it's passages online.

Yay you, and may your path always be of Right Action!

From:

ladybarnard.livejournal.com

I actually received a copy of that book for Christmas! It's on my bedside table waiting to be read. I've been Zen for way too long. I need a little Tao in my life. :-)

From:

*huh* Fascinating stuff here! (Sorry to intrude, but of course, philosophical and religious discussions always call to me... May i come in?)

I've always been the "Right Action" kind. But also the "Sieze the Day" kind, and i'm not sure where that fits in. Any idea? I'm an instigator-type person, not content to just go with what comes along, i go out and start the ball rolling myself. Is that just very not-Zen of me? A Zen-loser, as it were?

*waits with bated breath to learn her philosophical fate*

From:

Right Action and Carpe Diem are pretty much elements of the same thing. Zen also plays a part in your life, Capi. You just might not recognize it as such. When you recognize that you MUST wait, and that the waiting is just as it should be, and still you recognize further that the waiting is all good, then you are playing Zen.

Buddhism isn't really a religion as much as it is a philosophy of life. And having known you, you integrate both Tao and Zen in your life.

A man sitting at a bus stop waiting. The bus pulls up and the man gets on. An old monk turns to to a young monk. 'The man was sitting on the bench, and the man is getting on the bus." The young monk nods. "That was Zen... This is Tao."

From:

*LOL* Raymond would LOVE that..... Me, i should smack you. Just because. *LOL* Zen, i've heard a lot about in recent years, but not Tao. What about Tao?

*listening*

And.... fwiw.... waiting is a thing i only learned to do in any sort of half-decent way AFTER i became ill. I was horrible at it before. *LOL* I guess i got my Zen on perforce, so to speak. That gown i was wearing in the pic i posted of Jerry and me? I designed it *specifically* to slow me down, knowing i needed to, knowing it's not my natural speed, not IN my nature to move slowly. I had to completely re-train myself. What you saw was.... the results of more than ten years of practice and illness.

An interesting way to get your Zen on, eh? *LOL*

Now about that Tao......?

From:

What I know I learned about because I got into a discussion with my best chum. He explained to me that Tao tends to be a Path of Action and InterAction, where Zen tends to be a path of InAction.

For years I thought I was traveling a Zen path. One of acceptance and joy in all things in the Universe. Instead, I was an active participant, as most folks are. However, the difference is all philosophical.

To be a participant of Tao, one is aware of the Universal Interactions and takes joy in how everything moves and spins as it does. We also take joy in the recognition of our own part in the interactions and knowing that everything we do causes a ripple in the Universe. That we are all in this together and it is all a matter of give and take. What hurts the least of us, hurts us. Jesus would be a practitioner of Tao.

To be a participant of Zen, one sits on the mountain or under a tree, watching the world as an observer, rather than a participant. Of course, being an observer, we also understand that we are participating, but at a very minimal level. We see the interplay of light and shadow, of emotion and logic, and take joy in the interactions of these things, recognizing that they amount to very little in the scope of the Universe, but still taking joy in them. Jesus was also a practitioner of Zen.

In essence, the world is a world, the Universe is a Universe of Balance. Forget Karma... that's been all blown out of proportion, and most folks don't understand what it really means anyway. Ying and Yang? Again, most folks have no concept of the Masculine/Feminine balance of the universe. Instead they assign Male/Female concepts - It's entirely different.

But I digress. In short, Dear Sis... the more aware we are in mind, the more aware of our spiritual connectivity, and the more aware we are of our part in the Universe the more we, as spiritual beings, are in balance.

You, my darling Capi, are pretty darn close, and I envy you for it.

From:

Ah, my darling Chetster... that was VERY helpful! Thank you so much!!

So the bus comment was VERY astute in a delightfully simplistic manner! *clapping her hands* YAY!!

Good stuff!

No envy here... i is what i is, and you and i... i think we are drawn to our similarities as well as differences, don't you?

I've come to think that some people are ... ummmmm... naturally inclined towards a more spiritual life... or... maybe... a more spiritually *active* life... than others ... for no reason that is apparent to anyone (which makes the whole reincarnation theory somewhat tantalizing, because it could certainly explain things!)... and others simply are not. Nothing right or wrong here, just IS and ISN'T. No better or worse here, just called or not called. Who can help it if they are not called? No fault of theirs! It's a strangeness that i chew on.... Cuz i have been like this since before i even knew what GOD *was*, before i even knew the word "God"...

If i felt it so young... and had not even yet been exposed to the formal concepts of God and religion.... that is no... um... what's the opposite of fault? *LOL* It was something inside of me that was already in me.

And i wonder how others do not have it. Cuz of course, i thought EVERYONE had it; that's how we think when we are young. We expect everyone is having the same experience til we learn different. So then.... DOES everyone have it, but squelch it, or does everyone have it, but express it differently? Or do some have it and others NOT have it? Since "it" is so nebulous... it's difficult to say!

Any road... Zen and Tao are not FAR more clear to me than they were before! And yes, i see that Jesus was doing both. When you said he was doing Zen, my brain *immediately* supplied that he was ALSO doing Tao! *LOL* I need to be on your couch! My couch is just too far away from you!

From:

See, I don't have a formal definition of this GOD thing. I have everyone else's. And what they define as God is not what I define as God, because in my head there cannot BE a formal definition of God as God is personal and individual to each person.

Now, here's my question, and I'm sure there's more. Had you not walked in and chose to accept someone else's definition of GOD, would you not have continued on your spiritual path regardless? Since the spark was existent in you before then, surely it would have continued had you been 'called' or not.

I'm not arguing your choice with you, darlin Sis. I'm arguing the labeling, and the elitism that goes with the labeling.

From:

It's tough to argue "what if's" after the fact, of course, cuz what DID happen is what did happen. We humans obviously have some need for labels, many of us, maybe MOST of us, so there are plenty of those out there, handy and available.

I happened to hit on a number of those... and the one i found when *snick*! This one FITS! This one FITS, i tell you! There was a supreme rightness there for me, Chet, and i can't explain it any better than that.

There are things within the religious views of the Native Americans that feel right to me. There are elements of Zen, and yes, Tao, that i nod at. There are bits and pieces everywhere that seem very apt and correct to me, as i've encountered them in various religions and philosophies. But.... THIS one *fits*. The things man has done to it don't always fit, mind you. Man screws things up. But on its' own, it connected with me better than a glove made for only my own hand.

That answers your question only partially, i know. Would i have gone on with my path INFORMALLY had i not encountered the formal brand? Well... i suppose. Without the existence of formal (or awareness of it), i guess i'd have to. *LOL* It was in me, and it wasn't going to leave me, that much i am certain of.

Is that what you were asking?

From:

pretty much what I was asking, dear. I am quite a bit like you, in as much as seeing how different gears all fit into one philosophy. Of course, you and I have differences. We are, after all different people. My path will never, ever be your path and vice versa.

So, as the Rev said on Serenity, "It doesn't matter what you believe... as long as you believe."

From:

Well, you may be reading something I don't have access to, but I haven't read anything in a long time that I thought was pointed at you! I think it's just your guilty conscience getting the best of you.{{HUGS}} Course I wasn't there last night.. "What did you DO??" LOL

From:

You know you've been missed. You sure you're just not avoiding places where it's too easy to smoke? Can't say I blame you. I smoked my first in 9 days last night. I blame... um. Me. But it is the last (he says).

I know that things are pointed at me. Maybe that's part of the problem.

From:

I only missed the one pub night, and it was due to a migraine. It IS difficult at the Pub, but so far I'm not going to avoid it.

From:

It feels like Forever! since I've seen you!!!

From:

Nah,not forever, just last Wednesday, not a pub night watching Kevin Kline at my house! But I missed you and everybody else last night anyway. NOW, I'm going back to bed and try to get back to sleep. {HUG} Love you!

From:

I meant to say I know that things AREN'T pointed at me. *sigh*. probably a fraudulent slip, huh? Maybe I wish a few things were.

From: (Anonymous)

{{HUGS}} Oh, I'm sure you can get things pointed at you.. Granted it may be wagging fingers but..;-D

From:

eep..that was me.

From: