#65

New Skete monastery in New York state just over the border from southwestern Vermont is spectacular…

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#66

The question has to be asked, what are you personally seeking?

“ON HIS recent visit to Britain, the Dalai Lama was widely quoted as saying that he did not wish to encourage people to convert to Buddhism. Instead, he emphasised the importance of staying with the religion in which one was raised.”

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#67

He’s been saying that for a ‘long’ time. I heard him say it in the late '70s in Charlottesville, Virginia. He began his talk by telling us he was an atheist, punctuated with a hearty laugh.

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#68

Yes, religion is embedded in culture. If you take the religion without the culture, there is a lack of context, which we know changes the meaning.

#69

The article ends with discussion of some advice from Buddha about how to decide about what one will do and what one will consider.

I understand where the Dalai Lama is coming from. His mission is to preserve a tradition and a culture that China is trying to obliterate. This preservationist instinct is clearly going to interact negatively with any perceived cultural appropriation.

But on a more personal level, I find the Buddha’s advice to decide what is true based on experience and observation to be more broadly applicable.

Even more personally, I don’t consider myself to be a Buddhist. I am a fallen Catholic who has found some wisdom in Buddha’s teachings.

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#70

I may have been at that talk! Was it in a large hall at UVA? 79 or 80 maybe?

#71

Yes, near the med school.

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#72

People mistake the Tao for Zen sometimes and I often struggle to see where the intersection of the two actually is (and where they deviate from one another). As a result I’m not sure how much Zen influences me/my outlook/my process but the Tao certainly does.

Whenever I’m off kilter, it’s because I’ve strayed from the Tao - I’m either dwelling or fortune telling (living in the past or the future) neither of which are healthy or even possible.

In terms of music, that manifests itself as having a preconceived notion of what a piece will be rather than remaining in the moment of its creation and allowing it to become whatever it is.

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