tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33768212011-04-21T15:07:15.649-04:00~The More Pathful Gaga~Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1065151902418760912003-10-02T23:31:00.000-04:002005-12-31T13:10:27.176-05:00

Gagaite:I enjoyed Dorothy's poem.but this part...when we live lifeaskingwe will be answeredin heaven...there it is again!the immortality thing that i keep bringing up.. it's everwhere...this higher purpose thing puts people at ease and offers solice, giving believers some meaning to their lives. i wish that i were among them!Gaga sez:Nice job on spotting that little problem in Dorothy's poem. We

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1064322569566136172003-09-23T09:09:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:32:27.970-04:00

Gagaite:Hey gaga brain!Good thoughts about humans questioning the big "why?" But I'm still perplexed as to 'why' we have this in our make-up; this yearning to figure things out, to make some special meaning out of our lives.If you come to the logical conclusion that there is no God, that's it's merely a construct to give our lives some greater purpose, what is it in our being that makes us want

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1062721859400802672003-09-04T20:30:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:33:01.793-04:00

Originally written Sunday January 9, 2000.ITime passes unhindered.When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well. Therefore, if when our final day comes we are able to look back and see that we have lived full, productive and meaningful lives, that will at least be of some comfort. If we cannot, we may be very sad. But which of these we

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1060036771591797572003-08-04T18:39:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:33:41.040-04:00

It all rolls into oneAnd nothing comes for free, There's nothing you can hold, for very long.And when you hear that song Come crying like the wind, It seems like all this life was just a dream.-Robert Hunter/ Jerry Garcia- Stella BlueI use this lyric in connection to what Larry wrote to say about this "impermanence" I keep mentioning. He suggested that there were tunes in his head that have been

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1059136121853602742003-07-25T08:28:00.000-04:002005-12-06T10:18:13.540-05:00

I can't get no...Satisfaction-Mick Jagger/Keith RichardsAnother dialog that explores some angst-riddled issues of life.Useful?Gagaite:...in more philosophical in nature. what does this all MEAN? as jeffrey lee pierce, the lead singer of the Gun Club said before he immigrated from los angeles to southeast Asia, "it's a money culture here.. everything's based on how much money you have." i'm

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1058826947819189712003-07-21T18:35:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:35:12.283-04:00

Men are divided into a number of classes and have different ranks in this life. Through combat and effort, some of them reach a station whereby no matter what they may desire inwardly and in thought, they do not act on that desire. This is within a man's power. But that there should not be within man the itch of desire and thought -- that is not within his power. Nothing save God's attraction can

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1058823772956625622003-07-21T17:42:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:35:41.890-04:00

Gagaite:I am trying to think positive using a Catholic prayer guide and Biblical readings at the start of the day and it helps. I use it as a way to make myself think about the texts that seem negative to me as well as the clearly inspirational ones. There is real social commentary and inspiration to be found in e.g. Isaiah. try chapters 59, 60. Arise and shine! are real words of comfort. Let's

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1058479222612213482003-07-17T18:00:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:36:09.226-04:00

There is this sort of morbid fascination I have when looking upon acquaintances who, as I think you have correctly stated, have not found their own selves; but where is the humanity in such contrast and comparison to one's own life?I ask this to myself really. A pang of guilt envelopes me at the same time I relish the thought of these folks' suffering. Is this sick? Where's my compassion?At times

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1058460609063620032003-07-17T12:50:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:37:16.186-04:00

1 One thing I note about being in Bangkok is how affluent Thailand is compared to many of the other southeast Asian neighbors. With affluence comes corruption, of course, and recently Taksin Shinawatra, the Prime Minister (who himself had some very shady dealings to rise to wealth and power in the telecommunications industry) is on a few draconian campaigns to wipe out 1) drug trafficking, and 2)

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1058457643453637532003-07-17T12:00:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:38:53.933-04:00

You have walked everywhere at my side, O Truth, teaching me what to seek and what to avoid, whenever I laid before you the things that I was able to see in this world and asked you to counsel me. As far as my senses enabled me to do so, I surveyed the world about me and explored both the life which my body has from me and the senses themselves. Next I probed the depths of my memory, so vast in

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-1058456505493807822003-07-17T11:41:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:39:14.913-04:00

Suzuki: Life is impossible.Student: If it's imposible, how can we do it?Suzuki: You do it everyday.~~Student: Is enlightenment a complete remedy? Suzuki: No.~~Suzuki: Zen is hard. It's at least as hard as quitting smoking.~~And for my dear Japanese friends:Student: What is Hell? Suzuki: Hell is having to read out loud in English.

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-852335912002-11-28T20:49:00.000-05:002005-08-16T17:39:47.466-04:00

You know, I forgot to say something to you about what you said on Saturday night about your mom. I really am sincere in this: it must have been quite painful and tragic to see the suffering your mom (and father) went through when they passed away. My talking on Sat night might have seemed callous or flip when I was adamantly defending life to lead to its ultimate end, but I didn't mean to offend

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-817955252002-09-18T19:49:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:40:19.853-04:00

Perhaps my last entry on the Alan Watts theme. Again, from "The Essential Alan Watts" (1977). ...imagine what it would be like to regress, as it's called in psychotherapeutic language, to babyhood. And, here you are. You really don't know anything about anything. All you know is what you feel. You've no sense of time. You don't know the difference between who you are and what you see. You don't

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-813174332002-09-08T12:34:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:40:56.000-04:00

Tim Ward, a fellow Ottawan, who was on the gringo trail to enlightenment on a trek to Northeast Thailand in the mid-80s, wrote a very interesting book entitled, "What the Buddha never taught."For those of you who have entertained thoughts of cashing in the chips and heading to a monastery to seek enlightenment, it's a great book to give you some insight on what one person's experience was like.

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-812053072002-09-05T17:25:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:42:24.920-04:00

When they say the inner journey into oneself is full of difficulties, such as the feelings of doubt, fear, anxiety, ambition, restlessness, laziness, and so on, they mean it!It is only when we have these experiences do we find the truth of how difficult it really is to be calm, clear, and cool. It is the doer that faces these things...and no amount of writing or fancy words will take over and get

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-798452322002-08-05T10:19:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:42:51.350-04:00

Not to be preachy in the least, I've been reading through Alan Watts once again and I find his insights into the meaning of Zen quite useful, and so I thought I'd pass some along to you.As you know, I do practice the Thai forest tradition of Buddhism. It is a rather rigid discipline, which more or less emphasizes "sila" (morality) and then moves to samadhi (concentration) and panna (wisdom). My

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-798445752002-08-05T09:58:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:43:30.800-04:00

Wonderful greetings to you, this first week of August, from Stittsville, the small farm community outside Ottawa, where we are in the sultry waves of glimmering summer! May the warmth of the sun remind you of how truly connected we all are. As you feel the warmth, know full well this warmth embraces everyone equally-- with no fear, prejudice or good and bad. Let us strive to act like the sun and

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-785622542002-07-04T17:13:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:44:02.096-04:00

Fantasy #1*The Myth*We are the sum total of our past actions. That is, the way we are today is governed by what happened in the past.*The Reality*If you think you are governed by things that took place before in some "time" that is past, you are saying the tail wags the dog, or that there is nothing you can possibly do that is not predetermined.Perhaps the best way to demonstrate how untenable

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-783342182002-06-28T20:49:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:46:39.486-04:00

-excerpt from chapter iv from the book "The Wisdom of Insecurity" by Alan W. Watts (1951). Rider Press, London.…It was suggested at the end of the last chapter that this ultimate something which cannot be defined or fixed can be represented by the word God. If this be true, we know God all the time—but when we begin to think about it we don’t. For when we begin to think about experience we try to

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-769900262002-05-26T11:17:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:48:00.386-04:00

The way "they" would like us to think (by they I guess I mean popular media and the definitions they pawn off as being important) is that we must constantly be busy, on the hampster wheel to make those dollars so that we can buy that Lexus, that house, and all those material things associated with the "good" life.As long as happiness has a price tag just beyond our means, it keeps us from really

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-769895872002-05-26T10:59:00.000-04:002005-08-16T17:49:00.283-04:00

In the forest monastery, we could only eat one meal a day, just before lunch (and we were up a 4 to do yoga and start the day of meditation practice). Lunch was a lovely Thai curry with rice, and one could eat as much as one wanted.Instinctually we gorged on the first few meals in fear that we'd get hungry, but all that did is make it impossible to sit comfortably to meditate! After a few days

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-111255002002-03-25T23:22:00.000-05:002005-08-16T17:50:01.856-04:00

Ko SamuiSaturday, April 17, 1999It's been about a week since I left Suan Mokh and the Thai Buddhist retreat, and I have had some time to let my thoughts settle down a bit. Actually, I have been having quite a hard time concentrating on my mind because of this little knot in my small intestine. I have located the exact place where it causes the blockage, and I have been fasting and massaging the

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-109961202002-03-21T23:32:00.000-05:002005-08-16T17:50:26.880-04:00

Ko SamuiMonday, April 12, 1999I got back yesterday from my second ten day silent retreat at Suan Mokh, the Thai Monastery here in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani.It was the same in the sense that I was familiar with the place, the daily routine, the food, the frogs croaking loudly in the early morning and dusk, and the pesky mosquitoes. It was different in that the group was not nearly

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-107657172002-03-15T11:03:00.000-05:002005-08-16T17:53:20.633-04:00

Ko SamuiThursday, March 18, 1999This will probably be my last entry about the ten day retreat. What I will present here is the mini-speech I gave on behalf of my group of 16 members on the final night of the retreat, and a summary of some of the more salient comments that came up during our three hour discussion after ten days of silence. The reason I gave the presentation is because I asked to

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-106654342002-03-12T14:36:00.000-05:002005-08-16T17:55:10.686-04:00

(Originally written in from July, 2001)It's hot, hot, hot in my neck of the woods [Stittsville, Canada]. And I just love it.Here's one of those thoughtful ditties. Useful? Up to you.Your Gaga~~~~~~~From Buddhist Economics by P. A. Payutto.... Buddhism recognizes 2 different kinds of wanting: 1) thanha-- the desire for pleasure objects and 2) chandha-- the desire for well-being. Thanha is based on

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-105603952002-03-09T12:03:00.000-05:002005-08-16T17:56:15.866-04:00

(Originally written on Wednesday, November 17, 1999)1.I was reading over Jack Kornfield's e-book on the eight fold path again--which you can get for free at Buddhanet. I was looking once again at right speech, and moved to right action, which includes the notion Gandhi preached and practiced- Ahisma, or non harm. It is more to do with the actual killing or hurting of another life-form. There

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-105160082002-03-07T22:33:00.000-05:002005-08-16T17:56:54.946-04:00

(Originally written on Sunday December, 12, 1999)Bearing witness is the theme for today's satori.First, a definition of the term "bearing witness". It means having some sort of experience of an event. It has many and very subtle shadings which I wish to describe.First, there is the idea of witnessing something first hand. One example is the legal definition and the courtroom scenario where

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376821.post-104575312002-03-06T13:41:00.000-05:002005-08-16T17:58:32.890-04:00

1. The Gaga DietWakeup: 2-10 oz. glasses of warm water with 1/8 wedge of lemonBreakfast-apple, banana, peach, blueberry and slippery elm smoothie (i.e. fruit mushedup in a blender), 750 mg of mineral ascorbates (the good kind of vitamin C), dash of organic vanilla and occasionally a tablespoon of kefir.-1/2 hr later: 2 or 3 1 inch thick slices of organic sprouted wheat bread with organic tahini (

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com