What is a Quafaie?


Quafaie (pronounced: kwa FAY) are fantasy creatures that exist in the fantasy writing of Hugh Kemeny, and are created by him. They are primarily in Hugh Kemeny’s Black Phoenix short stories...

To learn more, read this post: What is a Quafaie?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 28

Saturday 25 October 2008
When one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself from it.
- Dōgen

Sunday 26 October 2008
A monk asked Hung-t'ung: "What would you say when both the mind and its objects are forgotten?"
"A three-legged toad carries an elephant on its back."
- Zen mondo

Monday 27 October 2008
A buddha is just someone with no concerns.
- Te-shan

Tuesday 28 October 2008
Where was the sound of Tommy Ramone hitting the first rim shot on Teenage Lobotomy before you heard it?
- Contemporary koan

Friday, October 24, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 24

Friday 24 October 2008
Smiling serenely,
    the Buddha points to
       a little stinkworm.
- Issa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday 29 September 2008
My boat and I . . . enter the lake,
turn as night falls toward the west
where I watch the south star over the mountain,
and the rising mist, hovering over the water,
and the low moon slanting through the trees:
And there I choose to forget every worldly matter
and be only an old man out fishing.
- Chi-wu Ch'ien

Tuesday 30 September 2008
Yantou and Xuefeng were snowed in on Tortoise Mountain. Day after day, while Xuefeng stayed up and meditated, Tantou slept. By the third day Yantou sat up and said: "Get some sleep. What are you, a roadside shrine?"
Xuefeng said: "My heart isn't at peace. I can't fool myself."
Yantou gave a great yell and said: "Don't you know that the family treasure doesn't come in through the gate? Let the teaching flow out from your heart to cover the earth and sky!"
Xuefeng achieved sudden enlightenment and cried: "Tortoise Mountain has finally awakened!"
- Zen mondo

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 23

Thursday 23 October 2008
Miso with the smell of miso is not good miso. Enlightenment with the smell of enlightenment is not the real enlightenmnet.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday 27 September 2008
A skeptic walks up to a Zen master and asks:
"Is there life after death?"
"How should I know?" the master replied.
"But you're a Zen master!"
"Yes," the Zen master says, "but not a dead one."
- Zen mondo

Sunday 28 September 2008
From birth to death
it's just like this.
- Zen saying

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 22

Wednesday 22 October 2008
If you can draw the stone rightly, everything within reach of art is also within yours.
- John Ruskin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday 25 September 2008
Art is frozen Zen.
- R. H. Blyth

Friday 26 September 2008
The fact is, the universe has chosen you as the vehicle through which to experience the uncanny thrill of cutting up cabbage for dinner, the wonder that is inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, the fabulous spectacle of watching your clothes dry at a coin-op laundromat where the radio is stuck on an E-Z listening station and an old lady keeps staring at you for no discernible reason. The universe has demanded that you be you. Ain't no avoidin' it.
- Brad Warner

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 21

Tuesday 21 October 2008
Hofuku, seeing a monk, struck a pillar outside the temple. Then he struck the monk, who cried out with pain. "Why doesn't the piller cry out?" Hofuku said.
The monk had no answer.
- Zen mondo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday 23 September 2008
When it is wniter, speak cold; when it is summer. speak hot.
- Chao-chou

Wednesday 24 September 2008
To ask the hard question is simple.
- W. H. Auden

Monday, October 20, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 20

Monday 20 October 2008
Frost across the river . . .
all I'd hoped for lost
in the gathering autumn night.
Among the reeds and flowers,
a thousand miles alone.
But moonlight fills the boat.
- Ching An

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday 21 September 2008
Whenever I start working on a song, I immediately try to forget everything, to empty my hands and head of anything that may be hanging over from another sond or album. I try to approach it like, "This is the first time I've ever played a guitar. What am I going to do?"
- U2's The Edge

Monday 22 September 2008
Once a visitor asked Master Yan-uan: "What is the real body of the great Sun Buddha?"
Yang-uan's assistant groaned at the impossible question, but not the master. He said matter-of-factly: "Please pass me the water pitcher."
The visitor went to fetch the pitcher.
"Now would you put it back," Yan-uan said, after the visitor brought the pitcher.
Anxious to get back to his important question, the visitor hurriedly returned the pitcher and then asked again: "What is the real body of the great Sun Buddha?"
"That old Buddha died a long time ago," Yang-uan said.
- Zen mondo

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 19

Sunday 19 October 2008
Change in all things is sweet.
- Aristotle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday 19 September 2008
The mind, the Buddha, living creatures - these are not three different things.
- Avatamasaka Sutra

Saturday 20 September 2008
One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books.
- John Muir

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 18

Saturday 18 October 2008
Since everything is but an apparition
perfect in being what it is,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection,
one may as well burst out in laughter.
- Long Chen Pa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday 17 September 2008
Roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of existence.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday 18 September 2008
Don't Draw another's bow, don't ride another's horse, don't mind another's business.
- Ta-hui

Friday, October 17, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 17

Friday 17 October 2008
Truth is always truth, untruth is always untruth. This is what matter, this is right desire.
- The Buddha

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday 15 September 2008

A leaf falls,
    Totsu! Another leaf falls
       carried by the wind.
- Ransetsu's Death Poem

Tuesday 16 September 2008
If you seek, how different is that from pursuing sound and form? If you don't seek, are you different from earth, wood, or stone? You must seek without seeking.
- Fo-yan

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 16

Thursday 16 October 2008
True humility is contentment. There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.
- Henri-Frédéric Amiel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday 13 September 2008
It is a task to come to see the world as it is.
- Iris Murdoch

Sunday 14 September 2008
Once a government official and student named Rikko Taifu visited Nansen and said: "Your disciple understands Buddhism a little."
"How is it during the entire twenty-four hours?" Nansen asked.
Rikko replied: "He goes withoug even a shred of clothing."
Nansen said: "That fellow is still standing outside in the hall. He has not realized any of the Tao. A virtuous ruler does not use clever rejoinders."
- Zen mondo

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 15

Wednesday October 15 2008
All people have their own living road to heaven. Until they walk on this road, they are like drunkards who cannot tell which way is which.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday 11 September 2008
Strike the midnight bell at noon.
- Zen saying

Friday 12 September 2008
Master Nansen was washing clothes. A monk asked: "Is the master still doing such things?"
Master Nansen, holding up his clothes, asked: "What is to be done with them?"
- Zen mondo

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 14

Tuesday 14 October 2008
The ink painting of wind
    blowing through pines -
       who hears it?
- Ikkyu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday 9 September 2008
If the teaching doesn't fell like it's forcing something upon you, it's not good teaching.
- Shunryu Suzuki

Wednesday 10 September 2008
It's harder to see than it is to express.
- Robert Henri

Monday, October 13, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 13

Monday 13 October 2008
The water a cow laps turns into milk. The water a snake licks changes into poison.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday 7 September 2008
However innumerable sentient beings, I vow to save them.
However inexhaustible the passions, I vow to extinguish them.
However immeasurable the dharmas, I vow to master them.
However incomparable the Buddha's truth, I vow to attain it.
- The Four Vows

Monday 8 September 2008
For all thses years, my certain Zen:
Neither I nor the world exist.
The sutras neat within a box,
My cane hooked upon the wall,
I lie at peace in the moonlight
Or, hearing water splashing on the rock,
Sit up: none can purchase pleasure such as this:
Spangled across the step-moss, a million coins.
- Shutaku

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 12

Sunday 12 October 2008
Zen places all objects of belief with one single thing: reality itself. We believe onlt in this universe. We don't believe in the afterlife. We don't believe in the sovereignty of nations. We don't believe in money or power or fame. We don't believe in our idols. We don't believe in our positions or our possessions. We don't believe we can be insulted, or that our honor or the honor of our family, our nation or our faith can be offended. We be don't believe in Buddha.
We just believe in reality. Just this.
- Brad Warner

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday 5 September 2008
I really love my barrel-making job; connecting each board into one round barrel.
- Zen saying

Saturday 6 September 2008
There are years that ask questions and years that answer.
- Zora Neale Hurston

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 11

Saturday 11 October 2008
There is a man who eats sparingly, but is never hungry.
There is a man who is always eating, but is never full.
- Zen riddle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday 3 September 2008
Who needs the Buddhism of ossified masters?
Me, I've spent three decades all alone in the mountains
and there solved all my koans.
Living Zen among the tall pines and high winds.
- Ikkyu

Thursday 4 September 2008
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
- Taoist saying

Friday, October 10, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 10

Friday 10 October 2008
You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vividly in repose.
- Indira Ganghi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday 1 September 2008
Sit, rest, work. Alone with yourself, never weary. On the edge of the forest, live joyfully, without desire.
- The Buddha

Tuesday 2 September 2008
People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of their minds.
- W. B. Yeats

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 9

Thursday 9 October 2008
Your inside is out and your outside is in.
- John Lennon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday 30 August 2008
Don't seek reality. Just put an end to opinions.
- Seng-ts'an

Sunday 31 August 2008
The mind of the Buddha is like water that is calm, deep, and crystal clear, and upon which "the moon of truth" reflects fully and perfectly. The mind of the ordinary man, on the other hand, is like murky water, constantly being churned by the gales of delusive thought. The moon nonetheless shines steadily upon the waves, but as the waters are roiled, we are unable to see its reflection. Thus we lead lives that are frustrating and meaningless.
- Yasutani Hakuun Roshi

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 8

Wednesday 8 October 2008
Don't want anything. Don't make anything. Don't hold anything. Don't attach anything.
- Seung Sahn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday 28 August 2008
A monk asked Pao-chi: "What is the Tao?"
"Come in," said the master.
"I don't understand," said the monk.
"Get out!" replied the master.
- Zen mondo

Friday 29 August 2009

I have no time for lies or fantasy and neither should you. Enjoy or die
- John Lyndon

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 7

Tuesday 7 October 2008
Chao-chou asked Nan-quan: "What is the Way?"
"Ordinary mind is the Way," Nan-quan answered.
"Should I turn toward it or not?"
"If you turn toward it, you turn away from it."
:But how can I know the Way if I don't turn toward it?" Chao-chou asked.
"The Way is not about knowing or not knowing. When you know something you are deluded, and when you don't know, you are just mindless. When you reach the way beyond doubt, it is infinite as space. It's neither right nor wrong."
With these words, Chao-chou had a sudden enlightenment.
-Zen mondo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday 26 August 2008
Yu-ti asked Tao-t'ing: "Who is the Buddha?"
Tao-t'ing called out: "Oh, Yu-ti!"
"Yes, master?" Yu-ti responded.
Whereupon the master said: "Don't seek him elsewhere."
- Zen mondo

Wednesday 27 August 2008
The lost child,
    crying, crying,
       but still catching fireflies.
- Ryusui

Monday, October 6, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 6

Monday 6 October 2008
A painting of a rice cake does not satisfy hunger.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday 24 August 2008
The artist has to look at everything as though he saw it for the first time; he has to look at life as he did when he was a child. . . . The first step towards creation is to see everything as it really is, and that demands a constant effort.
- Henri Matisse

Monday 25 August 2008
You are already complete. You just don't know it.
- Zen saying

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 5

Sunday 5 October 2008
Talk does not cook rice.
- Ancient proverb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday 22 August 2008
Naked
    on a horse
       in pouring rain!
- Issa

Saturday August 23 2008
The human mind treats a new idea the sam way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
- Peter B. Medwar

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 4

Saturday 4 October 2008
I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through me whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, but individual, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, it brevity illusory - this new sensation has had on me the effect which love has on filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me, it was myself. I had ceased now to fell mediocre, accidental, mortal.
- Marcel Proust

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday 20 August 2008
Monk: "What is the greatest obstacle to enlightenment?"
The Buddha: "Laziness!"

Thursday 21 August 2008
A newly arrived monk was anxious to learn the truth of Zen, and said to the Master: "I have been initiated into the brotherhood. Will you be so kind as to show me the way to Zen?"
The Master said: "Do you hear the murmuring sounds of the mountain stream?"
The monk said: "Yes, I do."
"There is the entrance," said the Master.
- Zen mondo

Friday, October 3, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 3

Friday 3 October 2008
Sitting back against the bamboos
I am playing my lute and singing,
all too softly for anyone to hear-
except my companion, the white moon.
- Wang Wei

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday 18 August 2008
The poor long for riches, the rich long for heaven, but the wise long for a state of tranquility.
- Swami Rama

Tuesday 19 August 2008

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.
- Arthur Conan Doyle

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 2

Thursday 2 October 2008
The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing think about those once in a while and watch your answers change.
- Richard Bach

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday 16 August 2008
Yang-uan's assistant was constantly thrown off balance by his master's words. Finally he commented that he never knew whether hw was in an ordinary conversation or not.
"All our conversations are ordinary," Yang-uan siad.
"Then why is it so hard for me to stay on my feet?" the assistant asked.
"No need to stay on your feet," Yang-uan replied.
- Zen mondo

Sunday 17 August 2008
Your treasure house is within; it contains all you'll ever need.
- Hui-hai

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Zen-a-day - Oct 1

Welcome back to my Zen-a-day. Since it has been a while, I will be posting teo old and one new one each day until I catch up.

Wednesday 1 October 2008
The wind drops, but the flowers
    still fall;
A bird sings, and the mountain is
    more full of mystery.
- Zen saying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday 14 August 2008
Paths cannot be taught,
they can only be taken
- Zen saying

Friday 15 August 2008
The farmer channels water to his lanf.
The fletcher whittles his arrows.
And the carpenter turns his wood.
And the wise man dets his mind.
- The Buddha

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Zen-a-day - Aug 13

Tuesday 5 August 2008
The butterfly sleeps well
     perched on the temple bell . . .
         until it rings.
- Buson

Wednesday 6 August 2008
To cover one's ears and steal the bell.
- Zen saying

Thursday 7 August 2008
When you get free from certain fixed concepts of the way the world is, you find it is far more subtle, and far more miraculous, than you thought it was.
- Alan Watts

Friday 8 August 2008
A monk asked the master Kasan: "What is the condition of a truly enlightened man?"
Kasan said: "Beating the drum."
Then the monk asked: "What is the true teaching of the Buddha?"
"Beating the drum," Kasan answered.
"What is 'No mind, no Buddha'?"
Kasan said: "Beating the drum."
The monk went on: "When a transcentental one comes, how do you treat him?"
"Beating the drum."
- Zen mondo

Saturday 9 August 2008
Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit. . . . People wish to be settled; but only so far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday 10 August 2008
There is no treasure in the deep mountains;
he who has no desire for it finds it.
- Zen saying

Monday 11 August 2008
Until you're here, there's no way to get here.
Once you're here, there's no way to go.
- Yuan Mei

Tuesday 12 August 2008
Ma-tsu asked Hui-lang, who had just come from Nan-yueh, "What do you seek here?"
"I am after the insight attained by the Buddha," answered Hui-lang.
"The Buddha has no such insight," said Ma-tsu. "That belongs to the evil ones. Have you seen Shih-tou yet? You'd better go back."
Doing what he was told, Hui-lang returned and asked Shih-tou: "What is the buddha?"
"You have no Buddha-nature," said Shih-tou.
"How about everyone else moving about?"
"They have it," said Shih-tou.
"Why not me?"
"Because you fail to see it in yourself," said Shih-tou.
- Zen mondo

Wednesday 13 August 2008
Let other people go into trances and think about spirituality. I'd rather concentrate on having something to eat. The here and now.
- Gene Simmons

Monday, August 4, 2008

Zen-a-day - Aug 4

Sunday 3 August 2008
Fire can't burn fire.
- Zen Saying

Monday 4 August 2008
In the clear morning by the old temple
where the rising sun paints the treetops,
there is my path, through a hollow
of boughs and flowers to a Buddhist retreat.
The birds are alive with mountain-light
and the mind finds peace in a pool.
All the ten thousand sounds are stilled
by the breathing of a temple bell.
- Ch'ang Chien

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Zen-a-day - Aug 2

Tuesday 29 July 2008
A monk asked Ma-tsu: "What was the mind of Bodhidharma when he came from the west?"
Ma-tsu replied: "What is your mind at this moment?"
- Zen mondo

Wednesday 30 July 2008
Do you want to see the gold-faced Buddha? Through countless ages, he is always on the way.
- Zen saying

Thursday 31 July 2008
When worn out
    and seeking an inn -
       wisteria flowers!
- Bashō

Friday 1 August 2008
What is the mind like if it's not occupied with plans and schemes, and fears that the plans and schemes will fail? What if your unexamined beliefs were to fall away and you were to live without them, and also to live without the thought that you had given anything up?
- John Tarrant

Saturday 2 August 2008
With no-mind, blossoms invite the butterfly. With no-mind, the butterfly visits the blossoms. When the flower blooms, the butterfly comes.
- Ryōkan

Monday, July 28, 2008

Zen-a-day - July 28

Friday 25 July 2008
A monk asked Krgon: "What happens when an enlightened being returns to the state of illusion?"
Kegon said: "A broken mirror does not reflect, fallen flowers do not bud."
- Zen mondo

Saturday 26 July 2008
"He insulted me, he harmed me, he robbed me, he beat me." If you think like this, you will suffer. "He insulted me, he harmed me, he robbed me, he beat me." If you do not think like this, you will not suffer.
- The Buddha

Sunday 27 July 2008
The most important thing is, only do it. When you only do something 100 percent, then there is no subject, no object. There is no inside or outside. Inside and outside already become one. That means you and the universe are never separate. There is no thinking.
- Seung Sahn

Monday 28 July 2008
When Abbot Pambo was asked to say a few words to the very important Bishop of Alexandria, who was visiting some of the Desert Fathers, the elder replied: "If he is not edified by my silence, there is no hope that he will be edified by my words."
- Thomas Merton

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Zen-a-day - July 24

Tuesday 22 July 2008
I have used the word "attention," which I borrow from Simone Weil, to express the idea of a just and loving gaze directed upon individual reality. I believe this to be the characteristic and proper mark of the active moral agent.
- Iris Murdoch

Wednesday 23 July 2008
Student: "You say that Zen is everywhere - why do we have to come to the Zen center?"
Shunryu Suzuki: "Zen is everywhere, but for you, Zen is right here."

Thursday 24 July 2008
The perfect employs his mind as a mirror.
- Chuang-tzu

Monday, July 21, 2008

Zen-a-day - July 21

Monday 21 July 2008
The mind, when once it has withdrawn itself and realized its own power, has neither part nor lot with the soft and pleasant, or harsh and painful motions of thy breath.
- Marcus Aurelius

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Zen-a-day - July 20

Saturday 19 July 2008
Out of nowhere, the mind comes forth.
- The Diamond Sutra

Sunday 20 July 2008
An artist of understanding and experience can show more of his great power and art in small things roughly and rudely done, than many another in a great work. A man may often draw something with his pen on a half sheet of paper in one day . . . and it shall be fuller of art and better than another's great work whereon he hath spent a whole year's careful labor.
- Albrecht Dürer

Friday, July 18, 2008

Zen-a-day - July 18

Thursday 17 July 2008
Doing zazen, you become king of theworld.
- Gudo Nishijima

Friday 18 July 2008
I fear nothing, I hope for nothing, I am free.
- Nikos Kazantzakis

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Zen-a-day - July 16

Wednesday 16 July 2008
Year after year
     on the monky's face
         a monkey face.
- Bashō

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Zen-a-day - July 15

Saturday 12 July 2008
Those Buddhists who discipline themselves in the doctrine of absolute Buddhahood should make their mings like a piece of rock, be darkly ignorant, remain unaware, have no discrimination, behave unconcernedly, like an idiot. And why? Because the dharma has no awareness, no intelligence; it gives no fearlessness - it is the final rest.
- Bonhidharma

Sunday 13 July 2008
What else is there to say? We end in joy.
- Theodore Roethke

Monday 14 July 2008
The way of the wise is without knowledge . . . in the place of ten thousand sutras, one song.
- Ikkyu

Tuesday 15 July 2008
When he was a teenager, Joshyu studied under Nansen. Nansen asked him: "Where did you come from?"
"I am from Zuizo," he said.
Did you pray to the Great Buddha in Zuizo?" asked Nansen.
"No sir, the Great Buddha is in front of me, lying down on the floor."
"What are you talking about?" asked Nansen.
"My great teacher," Joshu said, "I am so pleased to see that you are in good spirits and good health."
- Zen mondo

Friday, July 11, 2008

Zen-a-day - July 11

Friday 4 July 2008
These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands,
    they are not original with me.
If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing
    or next to nothing.
If they do not enclose everything they are next to
    nothing,
If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle
    they are nothing,
If they are just as close as they are different
    they are nothing.
- Walt Whitman

Saturday 5 July 2008
One day Te-shan gave a sermon, in which he said, "When you question, you commit a fault. Whe you do not, you give offense."
A monk came forward and began to bow, whereupon the master struck him.
"I have just begun my bowing!" said the monk. "Why did you strike me?"
"If I wait for you to open your mouth, all will be over."
- Zen mondo

Sunday 6 July 2008
The believing mind is the Buddha-nature.
- The Nirvana Sutra

Monday 7 July 2008
We must have a beginner's mind, free from possessing anything, a mind that knows wverything is in flowing change. Nothing exists but momentarily in its present form and color. One thing flows into another and cannot be grasped. Before the rain stops we hear a bird. Even under the heavy snow we see snowdrops.
- Shunryu Suzuki

Tuesday 8 July 2008
Realizing one's own real essence is the ultimate expression of enlightenment.
- Hui-neng

Wednesday 9 July 2008
And I would answer you . . . that to prepare the future is only to found the present . . . for the sole true invention is to decipher the present under its incoherent aspects and its contradictory language. . . . You do not have to foresee the future, but to allow it. . . .
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Thursday 10 July 2008
Cn the floating clouds and snow-white storks inhabit this world of ours?
Or you still abideon Wu-chou Mountain now that strangers are coming here?
- Liu Chiang-ch'ing, Farewell to a Buddhist Monk

Friday 11 July 2008
When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
- La Rochefoucauld

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Zen-a-day - July 3

Tuesday 1 July 2008
Insects on a bough
  floating downriver
    still singing
- Issa

Wednesday 2 July 2008
Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
- The Red Queen

Thursday 3 July 2008
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.
- The Buddha

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Canada Day

It's Canada Day today, and I'm spending it in the office, only because I have a pile of projects to get done within the next few weeks.

But here is a post of Canada Day photos for you all...
This is part 1 of 2, part 2 will come on Thursday (if you read my blog, you know what that means...).


About this photo: Taken around the end of August 1999, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Not much to say about this photo, other than 'Welcome to Canada.' This is our 'new' centre block of Parliament. Originally built in 1876, a fire on 3 February 1916 tore through almost the entire Parliament Hill, only the Library was saved. For more information, and photos from 1916, go here: Canadian Parliament Buildings Fire of 1916
The new centre block was rebuilt after that and completed in 1927. The centre tower, clock tower, is called the Peace Tower in memory of those that lost their lives in the Great War (WWI). (Source of some info from: Wikipedia - Parliament Hill)
About this photo: Taken Wednesday 30 June 2004, Taunton, Somerset, England.



About this photo: Taken Wednesday 30 June 2004, Taunton, Somerset, England.
This was a cake I made for Canada Day when I lived in the UK. I can't remember what flavour the cake was, but it was fun decorating it with the Canada Flag - no guide to help me decorate, other than memory.
For those of you that are not Canadian, Canada Day is not like Independence Day (July 4th) in the United States which declared Independence from the British Empire.
Instead Canada Day celebrates Confederation, the union of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in 1867, creating a dominion of the British Empire, to be governed by its own parliament, yet over seen by the Governor General - representative of the Queen.
1870 Canada was given governance of the Northwest Territories, which stretched from Ontario to British Columbia and Alaska, and from the 49th parallel (USA boarder) to the northern islands. Manitoba was created at this time.
1871 British Columbia joined Confederation, and the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) started to build a rail line across Canada.
1873 Prince Edward Island joined Confederation.
1898 after the Klondike Gold Rush, the Yukon Territory was created from the Northwest Territories.
1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan were created out of the Northwest Territories. Creating a Canada almost what it is today.
1949, the last province, Newfoundland & Labrador, joined in the post WWII era.
This was the Canada I grew up knowing, yet Canada is still evolving.
As in 1999 Nunavut was created out of the Northwest Territories.
(Source: Wikipedia - Canada Day & Canada)
And for the record, the Canadian flag, as seen today, was created in 1967.



About this photo: Taken Saturday 19 February 2005, Taunton, Somerset, England.
One of my first photos from my (old) webcam. I took it as a profile photo on some websites. The Canadian flag in the background, which is the same flag I have around my waist in my profile photo, is special. I made that flag in grade 9 Home Economics (I won an award that year for both Home Ec and Industrial Arts) back in about 1993.



About this photo: Taken Thursday 10 March 2005, Taunton, Somerset, England.
Taken with my current digital camera, at arm's length. This photo was also taken as a profile photo, though I don't think I ever used it. The necklace I'm wearing is one I made. It is chainmail, and the lower loop was designed with a clasp so it could have a pendant or other decoration hanging from it if desired. I gave the necklace to my friend Ann when I left the UK, and have yet to attempt to recreate it (thanks to finding this photo, I at least have a visual guide to remind me how I did it).

Monday, June 30, 2008

Zen-a-day - June 30

Sunday 29 June 2008
The mind that does not understand is the Buddha. There is no other.
- Ma-tsu

Monday 30 June 2008
All things that are born must die. Work hard for your own freedom from sorrow.
- The Buddha

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Zen-a-day - June 28

Wednesday 25 June 2008
If one wants to have an understanding of the matter, look at the North Star by turning towards the south.
- Ch'uan-lao

Thursday 26 June 2008
If you keep a don't-know mind, your mind has already disappeared. Don't-know minds cuts off all thinking. Cuts off all thinking means no thinking. No thinking means empty mind. Empty mind means your nature before thinking arises. Before thinking, there is no mind. When thinking appears, mind appears. When mind appears, dharma appears. When dharma appears, form appears. And when any kind of form appears, suffering appears: life and death, happiness and unhappiness, good and bad, like and dislike . . . .
- Seung Sahn

Friday 27 June 2008
The question is the same, the answer is the same. Sand in the rice, thorns in the mud.
- Zen Commentary

Saturday 28 June 2008
A monk asked Wei-kuan: "What is Tao?"
Wei-kuan replied: "What a fine mountain!"
"I am asking you about the Tao - why do you talk of the mountain?"
"As long as you only know about the mountain," said Wei-kuan, "you can never attain the Tao."
- Zen mondo

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Zen-a-day - June 24

Friday 20 June 2008
Besides the noble art of gettingthings done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.
- Lin Yutang

Saturday 21 June 2008
As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday 22 June 2008
- From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the form of things. By the time I was fifty, I had published an infinity of designs, but all that I have produced before the age of seventy is not worth taking into account. At seventy-three I have learned a little about the real structure of nature, of animals, plants, birds, fishes, and insects. In consequence, when I am eightly, I shall have made more progress, at ninetly I shall pnenetrate the mystery of things, at a hundred I shall have reached a marvelous stage, and when I am a hundred and ten, everything I do, be it a dot or a line, will be alive.
- Hokusai

Monday 23 June 2008
An American seeker: "If you follow any way, you will never get there; and if you do not follow any way, you will never get there. So one faces a dilemma."
Hisamatsu: "Let the dilemma be your way!"
- Zen mondo

Tuesday 24 June 2008
One day Zen master Kyong Ho went for a walk in the country with a young student, Yng Song Sunim, who was known for his kindness. They came to a stand by the road where a group of boys had dozens and sozens of frogs on a string, and were selling them.
Yong Song implored his teacher to take a rest, and then went back to the boys and bought all the frogs and set them free. After the last of the frogs hopped away, Yong Song smiled to himself and went to his master and said, "How fortunate that we came this way. I just saved all those frogs!"
"That is wonderful," said Kyong Ho, "but you're going straight to hell."
"What?" Yong Song was startled to hear this. "I freed the frogs. Why should I go to hell?"
"You already understand."
"No, I don't. Please teach me," begged Yong Song.
"You say 'I' saved those frogs. But this 'I' doesn't exist. Making thi 'I' is a big mistake. keep that 'I-me' mind, and you're going to hell like an arrow."
- Zen mondo

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Zen a day - catch-up 4 - June 13-19

Friday 13 June 2008
People imagine enlightenment will make them incredibly powerful. And it does. It makes you the most powerful being in all the universe - but usually no one else notices.
- Brad Warner

Saturday 14 June 2008
Holding to the One is not Truth.
- Zen saying

Sunday 15 June 2008
The moon's the same old moon,
The flowers exactly as they were,
Yet I've become the thingness
Of all the things I see!
- Bunan

Monday 16 June 2008
The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing - to let the mind be a thoroughtare for all thoughts.
- John Keats

Tuesday 17 June 2008
I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.
- Joseph Campbell

Wednesday 18 June 2008
The wise boldly pick up a truth as soon as they hear it. Don't wait for a moment, or you'll lose your head.
- Hsueh-dou

Thursday 19 June 2008
Red morning sky -
snail,
are you glad of it?
- Issa

Zen a day - catch-up 3 - June 6-12

Friday 6 June 2008
I have met the builder and broken the ridgepole. I shall not build that house again.
- The Buddha, upon his awakening

Saturday 7 June 2008
The first question I ask when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful? And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.
- John Cage

Sunday 8 June 2008
The venerable Nan-ch'uan asked Chao-chou:
"When not a single thing is brought, then what?"
Chao-chou said: "Put it down."
"If I don't bring a single thing, what should I put down?" continued Nan-ch'uan.
"Then carry it out," said Chao-chou.
- Zen koan

Monday 9 June 2008
Under a pine tree I questioned your monk. "My master went in search of herbs," he answered, "but toward which corner of the mountain no one can tell, in these misty clouds."
- Chia Tao

Tuesday 10 June 2008
Time itself is being.
All being is time.
- Dōgen

Wednesday 11 June 2008
Where people of today dwell, I do not dwell. What people of today do, I do not do.
If you clearly understand what this really means, you must be able to enter a pit of fire with your whole body.
- Huang-long

Thursday 12 June 2008
A heavy cart rumbles by
    and the peonies
       quiver.
- Buson

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Zen a day - catch-up 2 - May 30-June 5

Friday 30 May 2008
There was never mystery,
    But 'tis figured in the flowers;
Was never discreet history,
    But birds tell it in the bowers.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saturday 31 May 2008
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
- Hans Hofmann

Sunday 1 June 2008
You, before me standing,
Oh, my eternal self!
Since my first glimpse
You have been my secret love.
- A Zen Monk's Song of Samadhi

Monday 2 June 2008
A permanent state of transition is a man's most noble condition.
- Juan Ramón Jiménez

Tuesday 3 June 2008
Morning, sickle in hand.
Noon, roaming the forest, gathering wood.
Now the evening moon, quietly shedding light on the path I walk.
- Commentary on the Nansen “Sickle” koan

Wednesday 4 June 2008
One must ask children and birds how strawberries and cherries taste.
- Goethe

Thursday 5 June 2008
One day, Yang-uan called to his assistant: "Bring me the rhinoceros fan."
"It is broken," said the assistant.
"In that case," Said Yang-uan, "bring me the rhinoceros."
- Zen koan

Monday, June 16, 2008

Zen a day - catch-up 1 - May 23-29

As I realized I have about 25 Zen-a-days I am behind, I thought I should post them in sets of reasonable numbers. So, for the next few days I will be posting 7 a day. Here is the first set:

Friday 23 May 2008
God hated reality but realized it was still the only place to get a good steak.
- Woody Allen

Saturday 24 May 2008
Lower your standards.
- William Stafford's advice to poets

Sunday 25 May 2008
A monk traveled a long way to visit the master, Nansen. The monk found him by the side of the road, cutting grass.
"What is the way to Nansen?" asked the monk.
Nansen answered: "I bought this sickle for thirty cents."
The monk said: "I did not ask about the sickle. I asked the way to Nansen."
Nansen answered: "I use it in full enjoyment."
- Zen koan

Monday 26 May 2008
I would like to beg you, deer sir, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, some day in the far future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Tuesday 27 May 2008
From the temple deep in a bamboo grove
come the sound of the evening bell,
while the pilgrim's straw hat carries sunset
farther and farther down the green mountain.
- Liu Chiang-ch'ing

Wednesday 28 May 2008
Do your work, then step back - the only path to serenity
- Tao Te Ching

Thursday 29 May 2008
We accept the graceful falling
of mountain cherry blossoms,
but it is much harder for us
to fall away from our own
attachment to the world.
- Rengetsu

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Nude Canadian Boy goes to Hanlan's Point

Chapter 1: Coffee Shop
I was in Toronto only a couple days; overcast and cool days. Doing the tourist thing was not what I was wanting to do, not this trip at least. It was a Thursday morning, last Thursday to be precise, I was sitting in a Starbucks, as they had power outlets for my computer, drinking tea, and contemplating what all to do between meeting up with friends.
As a naturalist, I thought I should check out what nude scene Toronto had to offer. Beyond the gay saunas and bathhouses. A quick search on Google for nude Toronto, I found their clothing optional beach; Hanlan's Point, on Toronto Island Park.
I immediately checked the weather forecast for the next few days I was going to be in town. Friday was going to be a beautiful sunny day, a nice break from the overcast.
With that in mind I read the directions to the beach, and set my mind to go should the forecast on Friday hold.

Chapter 2: Twists and Turns
Friday morning I was pleased to see the forecast hadn't changed for the worse, though a friend told me it was awful out; she meant the sun and humidity.
With my towel in my bag I set off towards the ferry, with a couple of errands to do on the way.
I'd foolishly left my mobile phone at the "Churchmouse and Firkin" Thursday night, and luckily it was on the way; though not open until 11am. So, I stopped off at "Out on the Street" and bought a new tank-top, before going to retrieve my mobile.
As I walked past the pub, around 10:30, I noticed they were loading more kegs, so I asked about my phone, and got it back.
Happily I moved on, and took the subway to Union Station, where I found out the street car to the docks was not running. This meant I could have either taken the bus, or walked. I opted for walking; more practice for my 5km walk on June 14.
The ferry arrived soon after I got through the line, paying $6.50 for the ferry. I thought this was good timing, that was until the ferry docked on the island.
There are three docks on the island; one is close to Hanlan's point, the second it in the middle of the island, and the third is on the opposite end of the island.
I ended up on the ferry to the middle of the island, not as bad as it could have been, but it did mean a walk. That took me about half an hour in the warm humid air.
As my friend had told me it was an awful day, I was wearing trousers, when I should have worn shorts, and I had my jacket with me (in a second bag to my backpack). Not the ideal attire to cross the island in.

Chapter 3: The beach
I made it to the beach, and was glad to see there was more people on it then when I was on Crystal Cove Beach on September 4, 2007. I found a place to set my towel, and my stuff, and was naked in moment.
After that walk I was hungry, and had bought a sandwich before the ferry, so I sat and ate, enjoying the view of the beach and lake Ontario.
I spent some time walking up and down the beach, seeing what it was like. As I reached the east end, I saw some guys heading beyond what looked like the fenced area, and so I followed. There were a few others out there that were naked, but not many, and soon the beach essentially ended, with the path going into the bushes and dunes.
I still proceeded, and soon nearly caught up with another guy. I enquired how far one could go, and he confirmed my guess; that this was already beyond the legal area, and more a place where guys could go for sex.
By me asking, and me staying, I opened myself to having a little tryst there in the bushes; which was ok, but not what I'd intended.

Chapter 4: Sun and water
I was on the beach, in the buff, for near on 5 hours. I'd taken a couple breaks to get a drink at the nearby food kiosk - in the clothing required part of the park. I'd seen a few good looking guys, both walk past me, and me pass when I went for a walk. Though I did manage to keep any obvious erections at bay - though I had one while lying on my stomach, after I lay down like that, not to hide it.
On a couple of my walks I took some pictures across the water, and asked a couple people to take photos of me, with the CN tower in the background. Which are in my next HNT (next post - HNT 19 - Toronto).
The thing I found the most erotic though was seeing a hot guy in the water. Very few people were in the water, and up to that point I had not seen anyone go in more than their ankles or knees, mostly because the water wasn't that warm.
Seeing this guy walk into the water, up to just below his balls, was hot. I watched him from my towel, a bit of a distance away, as he waded back and forth a little then dove and swam a little too. I was tempted to go and meet him in the water, but I was uncertain of the etiquette in all that; this being only my second time to a nude beach.
Part of me wanted to go in the water to cool off anyway, as I could feel I was out in the sun a little too long - I was starting to turn pink. Feeling that way, I got up and approached the water, after this hottie was back at his towel. I tested the water, and splashed my arms, to cool myself off.
Then I took a plunge.... not into the water, but went up and talked to him. There were a few other people around also in small idle conversation.
In the conversation, about the water, going into the water and the feel of it, he essentially dared me to run into the lake.
And so I did.
I ran into the lake and dove under, all in almost one motion. It was refreshing, and I came out and we talked more. Others around were also a little surprised I did that, but hey, no harm was done; well, at first when I came out of the water I thought I'd lost my contact lenses, but I could see clearly again (thank goodness) by the time I'd reached them.

Chapter 5: Drinks and more
I saw that Karl, as I later found out his name to be, was drinking wine, and I presumptually asked if I could possible have some. Which he kindly offered what little he had left.
We talked for a while, me kneeling in the sand, him on his towel. Then he asked if I'd like a beer. Which at that point I was all for, especially since I knew I should get moving off the beach - away from the sun.
We got dressed and went to the food kiosk near by, and had a couple beers, which he bought even though I did offer to pay. With the beer was great conversation.
Soon however, the kiosk started to close. So we headed towards the ferry to get another beer in town. I also needed to get back to meet up with other friends for dinner.
As we walked towards the ferry, our conversation continued, as did our interest in each other to the point that in the middle of the path we started kissing.
Knowing we had time before the ferry would arrive, I hinted perhaps we should move off the path, so as to not block other people, especially since Karl had his bicycle, which ended up on its side in the middle of the path.

Chapter 6: 'Mommy what are those two men doing?'
Off the side of the path we really got into snogging. Some joking talk in between, only made it more fun. Soon he was undoing my trousers, and going for my cock. That only lasted until he realized how exposed we were.
Moving ever so slightly more behind a tree and a couple of bushes, we continued to get more sexual. Cocks were out, as was asses. I sucked him, he sucked me. All the while aware that others could be, and some possibly were, noticing us.
It was hot. It was fun. It was daring. He was hot. He was fun. It was great. Despite the growing discomfort of my sunburn.
Eventually a little common sense sunk in, and we realized we should really not be all that exposed.
As we stopped, I jokingly said: 'Mommy, what are those two men doing?'
To which his reply was: 'Where?. . . oh!'
We continued to the ferry, kissing a few more times, even on the ride back, and the walk to where we'd part ways.
On the ferry we exchanged numbers and emails, and planned to meet sometime over the next couple days, before I left Toronto.

Chapter 7: Pain, Possibilities and Problems
Over dinner I realized that I had had too much sun, both in my mental capacity and in the growing pain from the sunburn.
When I got to where I was staying, I took a bath in black tea - I heard it helps*. And lathered myself in vitamin E lotion.
The next day, Saturday, I could feel how bad my exposure to the sun was. My mental capacity was not all there, and my shoulders were in pain. So, when I heard from Karl that he could not meet up that day I was slightly relived, though also disappointed. Relieved to not have to cope with that much pain, while pursuing the pleasure and fun ;)
However, Sunday I was hoping to meet up with Karl before my flight back west, yet, we failed to get in contact with each other until I was at the airport.
I guess this means I have to return to Toronto. . .

*Based on further research, I did it all wrong, but I still think it helped. I just threw some tea bags into the bath water, the proper thing to do is to:
- Brew a proper pot of tea, the stronger the better.
- Let the tea cool. It should not be cold, nor (obviously) hot.
- Soak a towel in the tea and wrap the burned area with the towel, or bath in it (which could require lots of tea bags).

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Oh My!

This trip has gone by quick, and the daring things mentioned in my last post (HNT 18 - Mt Royal), almost don't compare to what happened the next day (after the post - Friday 6 June).

Unfortunately my plane's about to board, so I don't have time to post the entire story of "Nude Canadian Boy goes to Hanlan's Point (nude beach in Toronto)" But stay tuned, I'll be posting it within the week (perhaps as my next HNT).

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

Those of you who look at my blog will have noticed I have not posted for a while, that is because I have been travelling central Canada (Ottawa, Montreal and now on to Toronto). I missed the last 2 HNTs as I was preparing to travel about two weeks ago, and was in Montreal last Thursday.

I flew to Ottawa on Sat 24 May, train to Montreal on Tue 27 May, and train to Toronto Tue 3 June (today).... the automobile has been somewhat lacking this trip - other than to and from the airport, and with family in Ottawa. But that's fine by me, save the environment :)

I've not been online much as my internet access has been spotty, and when I have connected it was more to check email than to blog.

I survived 3 days in Ottawa (May 24-27) with my Gran. I didn't do much there other than unwind.
My week in Montreal was what I was looking forward to (May 27 to June 3), even though I did not make it to many museums, and it rained nearly half the time I was there, I enjoyed it. A lot of walking, some shopping (including buying the game PervArtisty - a Charades / Pictionary game with sexual innuendo), and enjoying Rue St. Catherine in the Village.

I spent 4 hours wandering the unpaved, beaten paths on Mount Royal - see my next HNT for some of what I did ;-)

Montreal was also a chance to meet up with some friends, to relax, and just enjoy life as it comes. So I do not regret missing out on some things.

Toronto will begin getting back into the swing of things, I hope, as I am doing some correspondence / distance learning courses and have now fallen behind. My plans in Toronto have mainly been to meet up with friends. I'm not all that keen on doing much of the tourist thing, though I think I will be hanging out in the gay village most of the days.

I return to Calgary on Sunday, but don't expect the update of Zen-a-day to appear that night, I've unfortunately have an early morning, all day meeting, with work the next day.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Zen a day - May 22

Monday 19 May 2008
If you have attained something, this is the surest proof that you have gone astray. Therefore, not to have is to have, silence is thunder, ignorance is enlightenment.
- D. T. Suzuki

Tuesday 20 May 2008
The very act of observing disturbs the system.
- Werner Heisenberg

Wednesday 21 May 2008
Realization doesn't destroy the individual ane more than the relection of the moon breaks a drop of water. A drop of water can reflect the whole sky.
- Dōgen

Thursday 22 May 2008
There is nothing I dislike.
- Lin-chi

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Zen a day - May 18

Friday 16 May 2008
America has Zen students in the past, has them in the present, and will have many of them in the future. They mingle easily with so-called worldlings. They play with children' respect kings and beggers; and handle gold silver as pebbles and stones.
- Nyogen Senzaki

Saturday 17 May 2008
My heart
that was rapt away
by the wild cherry blossoms -
will it return to my body
when they scatter?
- Kotomichi

Sunday 18 May 2008
I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough.
- Diogenes

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Zen a day - May 15

Wednesday 14 May 2008
One day Lin-chi was out begging and came to the door of a rich family. He said, "Another bowl more than usual, please!"
An old woman came to the door and said, "What a vulgar, greedy creature!"
Lin-chi said, "I don't see the slightest sign of food - where id the vulgarity and greediness?"
The old woman shut the door in his face.
- Zen mondo

Thursday 15 May 2008
Between our two lives
      there is also the life of the
            cherry blossom
- Bashō

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Zen a day - May 13

Tuesday 13 May 2008
Kindness is more important whan wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.
- Theodore Rubin

Monday, May 12, 2008

Zen a day - May 12

Friday 9 May 2008
The best things in life are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties in your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Saturday 10 May 2008
Count no day lost in which you waited your turn, took only your share, and sought advantage over no one.
- Robert Brault

Sunday 11 May 2008
The Buddha asked Subhuti: "When I got supreme unexcelled enlightenment, what did I get? Did I get supreme unexcelled enlightenment?"
"No, Teacher," Subhuti answered. "You did not get anything when you got supreme unexcelled enlightenment."
"That is right, because if I had gotten anything," the Buddha said, "then it would not be supreme unexcelled enlightenment."
- Zen mondo

Monday 12 May 2008
At last I do not know how to draw!
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Zen a day - May 8

Thursday 8 May 2008
Monk: "What is the road of Ummon?"
Ummon: "Personal experience!"
Monk: "What is the Way?"
Ummon: "Go!"
Monk: "What is the road , where is the Way?"
Ummon: Begin walking it!"
- Zen mondo

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Zen a day - May 7

Tuesday 6 May 2008
White butterfly
   darting among pinks-
     whose spirit?
- Shiki

Wednesday 7 May 2008
Water doesn't wash water.
Gold isn't changed for gold.
- T'en-t'ung

Monday, May 5, 2008

Zen a day - May 5

Friday 2 May 2008
Thinking neither of good nor of evil, at this very moment, what is your Original Nature?
- Zen koan

Saturday 3 May 2008
Here in midde age my heart has found the Way,
and now I dwell at the foot of the mountain.
When moved by the spirit, I wander,
all alone, drinking the beauty around me.
I walk until I come to a river or lake,
then sit and watch the gathering clouds.
And some day I will meet an old woodcutter,
to talk, and laugh, and never return.
- Wang Wei

Sunday 4 May 2008
A great man is he who does not lose his childlike heart.
- Mencius

Monday 5 May 2008
Therefore, Zen is neither inward nor outward, not being or non-being, not real or false. As it is said, "Inner and outer views are both wrong."
- Huang-long

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Zen a day - May 1

Thursday 1 May 2008
I watched the trees gradually withdraw, waving their despairing arms, seeming to say to me, "What you fail to learn from us today, you will never know. If you allow us to drop back into the hollow of this road from which we sought to raise ourselves up to you, a whole part of yourself which we are bringing to you will fall forever into the abyss."
- Marcel Proust

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 29

Tuesday 29 April 2008
A student asked Wensui, "It is said that 'All Buddha's teachings comes from this scripture.' What is this scripture?"
Wensui answered, "It is always being recited."
- Zen mondo

Monday, April 28, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 28

Saturday 26 April 2008
True Freedom is freedom from your own desires.
- Diamond Sutra

Sunday 27 April 2008
Someone asked Daojian, "What is your way?"
The master replied, "To be free wherever I am."
- Zen mondo

Monday 28 April 2008
If you take up a koan and investigate it unceasingly, your mind will die and your will will be destroyed. It is as though a vast, empty abyss lay before you, with no place to set your hands and feet. You face death and your bosom feels as though it were fire. Then suddenly you are one with the koan, and body and mind are cast off. . . . This is known as seeing into one's nature.
- Hakuin

Friday, April 25, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 25

Friday 25 April 2008
Spring has come. A thousand flowers are in bloom - for what? for whom?
- Zen saying

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 24

Thursday 24 April 2008
A monk is walking around outside and suddenly stubs his toe. A violent pain shoots up his leg. Hopping around in agony he thinks, "I've read that pain is a void. What the hell is this?" Then suddenly he gets it.
When his teacher asks him to explain, the monk said, "I cannot be deceived by others."
- Zen story

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 23

Wednesday 23 April 2008
Yes, spring has come-
   this morning a nameless hill
     is shrouded in mist
-Bashō

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 22

Quite often I travel out of town on a weekend, which is why there is occasionally no Zen-a-day weekend post, such as this past weekend.

Friday 18 April 2008
How shall I grasp it? Do not grasp it. That which remains when there is no more grasping is the Self.
- Panchadasi

Saturday 19 April 2008
How many things do you say just to make an impression on others? What are you really achieving when you try to make an impression? If you didn't do things for merit or advancement, or if you didn't act with motives at all, what would life be like? At work? In bed? Alone in a room. Even alone in a room you can be consumed with wanting other people to see you in a good light.
- John Tarrant

Sunday 20 April 2008
You are the music while the music lasts.
- T. S. Eliot

Monday 21 April 2008
Shih-tou once said, "Whatever talk you have about it, however you conduct yourself, such things have no concern with it."
To which Weiyen answered, "Even when you do not talk about it, even when you do not conduct yourself in any way, such things have no concern with it."
"Here I have no room even for a needle's point," said Shih-tou.
To which Wei-yen replied, "Here it is like planting flowers on a rock."
- Zen mondo


Tuesday 22 April 2008
The mountains, rivers, grasses, trees, and forests are always emanating a subtle, precious light, day and night, always emanating a subtle, precious sound, demonstrating and expounding to all people the unsurpassed ultimate truth.
- Yuan-sou

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 17

Thursday 17 April 2008
Better to see the face than to hear the name.
- Zen saying

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 16

Wednesday 16 April 2008
Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
- Henry David Thoreau

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 15

Tuesday 15 April 2008
A jet black iron ball speeding through the dark night.
- "Definition" of satori

Monday, April 14, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 14

Monday 14 April 2008
Seppo visited Enkan three times, then visited Tosu three times, then visited Tozan nine times, all without result. At last he went to Tokusan and asked, "Is it possible for me, too, to share the Supreme Teachings of the Patriarchs?"
Tokusan struck him with his staff, saying, "What on earth are you talking about?"
The next day, Seppo asked Tokusan for an explanation. Tokusan said, "My religion has no words and sentences; it has nothing to give anybody."
At this, Seppo became enlightened.
- Zen mondo

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 13

Sunday 13 April 2008
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark.
- Wendell Berry

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Snowballing Goose

This should be a Canadian national sport; ....

Today I was out enjoying the nice Calgary weather with a friend, and out of pure fun threw a snowball at him.
We chatted about snowballs, the fun of them, and trowing them..... Then I heard the unmistakable sound of a Canada Goose, and decided to attempt to hit it with a snowball.

Both of us played 'Snowball the Goose'; throwing snowballs at the goose, which just stayed there. I did manage to hit the ground right next to the bird, spraying it with snowball remnants.


Now before anyone calls the wildlife protection or the Canadian government, keep in mind that the Canada Goose is not the national animal (that is the Beaver - on the 5¢ coin / Nickle), nor is it the national bird (that is the Common Loon - on the $1 coin / Loonie). And if anyone has experience with them in a neighbourhood, they tend to be a little messy, and annoying.... Also the Canada Goose we were playing with was not harmed.

Zen a day - Apr 12

Thursday 10 April 2008
Mysticism occurs whenever a human being sees the separation between the natural and the supernatural, the temporal and the eternal, as overcome.
- Albert Schweitzer

Friday 11 April 2008
One morning Hogen was giving the monks teaching before breakfast. He pointed to the bamboo blinds. Two monks came forward and rolled them up.
"One wins, the other loses," said Hogen.
- Zen koan

Saturday 12 April 2008
Coming or going, always at hom.
- Zen saying

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 9

Wednesday 9 April 2008
Taoist chanting, Confucian chanting, Christian chanting, Buddhist chanting don't matter. Chanting "Coca Cola, Coca Cola, Coca Cola..." can be just as good if you keep a clear mind. But if you don't keep a clear mind, and are only following your thinking as you mouth the words, even Buddha cannot hear you.
- Seung Sahn

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Mental or Physical Typo

I was typing away at a report, and suddenly the red line of miss spelled words appeared under a word I had typed a few times already in the report, so I wonder, where is my mind if I miss spell 'intersection' as 'intersextion' - or is it merely a slip of my finger?

Zen a day - Apr 8

Tuesday 8 April 2008
Are you afraid of this happiness?
- The Buddha

Monday, April 7, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 7

Friday 4 April 2008
If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against.
-Seng-ts'an

Saturday 5 April 2008
A monk: "What is the fundamental teaching?"
Tun-men: "No question, no answer."

Sunday 6 April 2008
The subject matter of poetry is not that "collection of solid, static objects extended in space" but the life that is lived in the scene that it composes; and so reality is not that external scene but the life that is lived in it. Reality is things as they are.
- Wallace Stevens

Monday 7 April 2008
Go, go, beyond together, beyond the beyond to the shore of satori, to the wisdom of the Buddha.
- Heart Sutra

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 3

Thursday 3 April 2008
Very early, I knew that the only object in life was to grow.
- Margaret Fuller

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Zen a day - Apr 2

Wednesday 2 April 2008
In the scenery of spring, nothing is better, nothing worse;
The flowering branches are of themselves, some short, some long.
- Zen saying

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

What a foolish day it is to let the fools out to play

Hmmm, did I just make up the title? or did I drag that from a dark corner of my mind.

I am a queer fool, that's all I can say...
As queer as the Welsh are strange....

Just look at their language: with their double LLs and Y as a whole word, not to mention the double FFs, and one of the longest name places in the world: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch

(picture reposted from: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rbeard/gales.jpg )

For those that don't know their Welsh, the name of the town in North Wales translates as "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave." (Source: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rbeard/name.html )

Just so you know, I'm picking on the Welsh only because I proudly say I am part Welsh
(and part Scottish if you saw my Robbie Burns day post: Up ye kilt....)

Also because I came across one of the best quotes for this, the first day of April, a Welsh Proverb:
If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings.
(source: http://www.quotegarden.com/april-fool-day.html )
I think only the Welsh are foolish enough to think that.

I will end this post with an online translation for today into Welsh (Unfortunately my Welsh is primarily based on online sources):
Ebrill Choegddynion Ddiwrnod

Zen a day - Apr 1

Tueaday 1 April 2008
The mouse eats cat food.
The cat bowl is broken.
What does this mean?
- Zen koan

Monday, March 31, 2008

Zen a day - Mar 31

Saturday 29 March 2008
A monk asked Ummon, "If a man kills his father, kills his mother, he may repent before Buddha. If he kills the Buddha, kills a patriarch, where can he repent?"
Ummon answered: "Quite!"
- Ummon's One Word Zen


Sunday 30 March 2008
We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love.
- Salmon Rushdie

Monday 31 March 2008
Poetry arrived to look for me. I don't know, I don't know where it came from, from winter or river, I don't know how or when. No, there weren't voices, there weren't words, or silence.
- Pablo Neruda

Friday, March 28, 2008

Zen a day - Mar 28

Friday 28 March 2008
Behind all this, some great happiness is hiding.
- Yehuda Amichai

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Zen a day - Mar 27

Thursday 27 March 2008
The flowers fall, for all our yearning; weeds grow, regardless of our dislike.
-Zen saying

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Zen a day - Mar 26

Wednesday 26 March 2008
In a dark time, the eye begins to see.
- Theodore Roethke

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Inspiring?

Part of the reason I have not been posting much is that I am doing some course work, as I have applied to return to University and become a teacher.

Yesterday a small occurrence happened that inspired me a little, and from it I hope I inspired others.

I was at the mall, and having a bite to eat in the fast food court, I sat down next to a table of about 6 young teens. I didn't look too closely, so my guess on their age / grade in school, is based mostly on the conversation - I would say they'd be in about grade 8 (so somewhere around 14 years old).

The conversation I overheard was about choosing what they wanted to be - what career path.

After I finished eating, I politely said:
"If you don't mind, I'd like to give you some of my advice. I am in the middle of changing careers. So you don't have to make up your minds right away, for you can always follow a different career later on. But I will say is that you should follow your passions and see where that goes. I followed what I thought was a passion, and others suggested I pursue, and though I don't mind my career, I am changing to something I hope to enjoy more. So follow your heart."

Everyone of them said thank you a couple of times.

So I hope I did leave them inspired, and that I can hold on to that moment as a building block to the continued inspiration I pass on to others through teaching.

Zen a day - Mar 24

Wednesday 19 March 2008
Misty rain on Mount Lu,
and waves surging in Che-chiang.
When you have not yet been there,
many a regret surely you have;
but once there and heading homeward,
how matter-of-fact everything looks!
Misty rain on Mount Lu,
and waves surging in Che-chiang.
- Su tung-p'o

Thursday 20 March 2008
Lung-ya asked the master, Te-shan, "If I threaten to cut your head off with the sharpest sword I could find, what would you do?"
The master pulled his head in.
Lung-ya said, Your head is off!"
Later, Lung-ya came to Tung-shan and told of this episode. Tung-shan asked, "What did Te-shan say?"
Lung-ya: "He said nothing!"
Tung-shan said, "He said nothing? Then show me the head you cut off!"
Lung-ya acknowledged his fault and apologized. Later, someone reported the story back to Te-shan, who remarked, "Old Tung-shan has no judgment. That Lung-ya had been dead for some time - What is the use of trying to save him?"
- Zen story

Friday 21 March 2008
One day Chuang-tzu and a friend were walking along a riverbank.
"How delightfully the fishes are enjoying themselves in the water!" Chuang-tzu exclaimed.
"You are not a fish," his friend said. "How so you know whether or not the fishes are enjoying themselves?"
"You are not me," Chuang-tzu said. "How do you know that I do not know that the fishes are enjoying themselves?"
- Taoist mondo

Saturday 22 March 2008
You come into the world alone and you go out of the world alone, yet is seems to me you are more alone while living than even coming and going.
- Emily Carr

Sunday 23 March 2008
The old lady East of me got rich and now laughs that I don't have money. I laugh that she's gotten ahead. Both of us laughing, East and West.
- Han-shan

Monday 24 March 2008
The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.
- Albert Einstein

Tuesday 25 March 2008
"You are such a saintly person," Chao-chou was told. "Where will you go after death?"
"I wil go to hell ahead of you all," Chao-chou replied.
The questioner, taken aback, said, "How could that be?"
"Without my first going to hell, who would be waiting there to save people like you?"
- Zen mondo

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Zen a day - Mar 18

Friday 7 March 2008
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant . . .
   The Truth must dazzle gradually
      or every man be blind.
- Emily Dickinson

Saturday 8 March 2008
Just keep clear mind, go straight ahead, and try, try, try for ten thousand years.
- Zen saying

Sunday 9 March 2008
Chasing after fantasies is always a bad idea. Stick with reality. Reality's all you've got. But here's the real secret, the real miracle: It's enough.
-Brad Warner

Monday 10 March 2008
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
- Philip K. Dick

Tuesday 11 March 2008
One day Master Kuei-shan called for the manager of the temple. When he came, the Master said: "I called for the manager of the temple. Why should you come here?"
The manager made no answer. Then the Master sent an attendant to summon the head monk. When the head monk appeared, the Master said: "I called for the head monk. Why should you come here?"
The head monk made no answer.
- Zen story

Wednesday 12 March 2008
When you walk, watch the walking; when you sit, watch the sitting. When you recline, watch the reclining; when you see and hear, watch the seeing and hearing; when you notice and think, watch the noticing and thinking. When joyful, watch the joy. When angry, watch the anger.
- Muso Kokushi

Thursday 13 March 2008
Lose your mind and come to your senses.
- Fritz Perls

Friday 14 March 2008
Seeing into one's own nature.
- Hui-neng's definition of zen

Saturday 15 March 2008
When Hui-hai was asked, "What is the way?" he answered, "It is right in front of your nose!"
"Then how come I can't see it?"
"Your 'Me' is in the way."
- Zen mondo

Sunday 16 March 2008
I lose myself at some point during almost every musical performance. There's a point of the struggle and super self-consciousness, but I always get lost at some point. While I'm playing, there's a pattern of struggling through something and then cracking through it by a weird combination of willpower and letting go. That's the most enjoyable thing for me: "Uh-oh, he's gone!"
- David Torn

Monday 17 March 2008
Don't know is very important. "What am I?" Don't know . . . "Where is my mind?" Don't know . . . "When I was born, where did I com from?" Don't know . . . "When I die, where do I go?" Don't know . . . And actually, you really don't know, in the deepest, truest sense. And it is very important to look into that.
- Seung Sahn

Tuesday 18 March 2008
Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.
- Blaise Pascal

Monday, March 17, 2008

Luck of the Irish

"He knows when you are bad or good"
I don't mean Santa, I mean the Leprechauns

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was having some problems with I guy I met back in December. I found out a heck of a lot more about him about a month ago, such as he was not Irish as he claimed to be, and he was scamming people across Canada.

I started to get caught up in his web, and was luckily informed of the type of guy he is just about in time. I was however already caught in something I realized I should not have been (gotta remember to listen to my gut instincts!), and to protect myself I went to the police - separate from a large case I heard was being built up against him.

So, here is where my title and first lines come in:
I was woken up early in the AM of St. Patrick's Day* by a call from the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), that he was arrested.
So, I'd have to say that if you claim to be Irish and ain't, then you ain't got their luck (quite the opposite).


*St. Patrick's Day I refer to is the one most people know: 17 March (2008).
However, it was brought to my attention that this year St. Patrick's Day was moved to 15 March 2008 by the Pope, as Palm Sunday was 16 March 2008, which starts the Holy week before Easter. I understand that during this week one is not suppose to celebrate much (I am not Catholic, nor Christian of any denomination, so my understandings are quite likely not totally accurate), which is why St. Patrick's Day was moved before Palm Sunday.
Regardless I quasi-celebrated St. Patrick's Day today by wearing green - though no drinking. I did drink on Saturday, 15 March 2008, but I did not know it was St. Paddy's day on that day.