A hot hell is better than a cold hell...

The talk tonight (3/21/07) was a continued exploration of the Precepts talk from last week. Chikyo quoted from two books, Thoughts without a thinker, by Mark Epstein, and The Heart of Being, by John Daido Loori. The kernel of the talk for me was that evil is not an outside force-evil exists for sure but it is a self-made creation. In a way goodness is self-made as well. So don't create evil and do good work. But what happen when you move beyond the personal self to an enlightened self is the makings of Compassion, the only way to end suffering. Pretty challenging stuff, gave us all a lot to "chew on". Marilyn asked about the Tibetan levels of hell hence we found out a few things about hot and cold.

Chikyo wanted to let everyone know that he will be a Murphy's this Monday night from 8:30 to 9:30 playing Jazz music with other UT professors and students. Murphy's is downtown and is a very comfortable place to hang out and hear some awesome local musicians!

Keep Sunday April 1st at 4:00 open for a trip to the Maumee indoor Theater (601 Conant St.). The movie is called "ONE a contemporary journey toward a timeless destiny". The tickets are $10 in advance and $13 at the door. The movie blurb states "ONE truly is about ordinary people, like you and I, following bliss and doing astonishing things. And ultimately, taking our magnificent world to a higher ground". Maybe we can all meet in the lobby and "sit" together (Ha Ha).
Peace Love and Understanding
juju

Zen Children

I thought it profound in terms of our influence as parents on our children. When I picked Anna up from school on Monday, her teacher approached me and said "Anna was very good today, she was meditating on the playground when we were outside. She said you would think it was a good idea." I of course responded with yes I do think it's a good idea and good for her...Children realize their world through all of their senses, experiences,and examples set before them. If you ever felt, wow how is this practice, this sitting I am doing really helping others? I guess in these little moments, these precious moments we find our answers. As Chikyo has posted the website he found, I hope others can share their own ideas of how we can help our children realize themselves and this practice for themselves. Might I recommend a book for children of all ages... "Peaceful Piggies Meditation. It introduces children to meditation and how hectic their lives can be (even when just playing) at a level they can easily understand. It also includes information on sitting as a family. I believe there is a companion book that goes into more depth of sitting as a family, as well. In other news, Michael and I will not be in attendance tonight as we will be attending orientation for Habitat for Humanity. have a good evening of sitting and look forward to seeing you all soon.

Very cool Zen website!!

while I was looking at the website just posted about the precepts, I stumbled upon this one...so clever!! Kids will love it! Be sure to turn off your pop-up blocker if you have one or you'll miss half of it. The site is interactive so you need to click on parts of it to make things happen.
http://www.do-not-zzz.com/

Fourteen Precepts

Zuihan spoke about and read the Fourteen Precepts of Engaged Buddhism from one of Thich Nhat Hahn's books on Wed nite. He is a Buddhist monk originally from Vietnam. This is a link to a website that lists those precepts:
http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/resources/14_precepts.html

Story and Website

here is a story from a website I go to fairly frequently:

• A random short story for you to ponder.Tetsugen, a devotee of Zen in Japan, decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to be printed with wood blocks in an edition of seven thousand copies, a tremendous undertaking.
  Tetsugen began by travelling and collecting donations for this purpose. A few sympathizers would give him a hundred pieces of gold, but most of the time he received only small coins. He thanked each donor with equal gratitude. After ten years Tetsugen had enough money to begin his task.
  It happened that at that time the Uji River overflowed. Famine followed. Tetsugen took the funds he had collected for the books and spent them to save others from starvation. Then he began again his work of collecting.
  Several years afterward an epidemic spread over the country. Tetsugen again gave away what he had collected.
  For a third time he started his work, and after twenty years his wish was fulfilled. The printing blocks which produced the first edition of sutras can be seen today in Obaku monastery in Kyoto.
  The Japanese tell their children that Tetsugen made three sets of sutras, and that the first two invisible sets surpass even the last.

here is the website (we are listed there as well, under 'organizations'):

http://www.zenguide.com/index.cfm