The Medicine Buddha Mantra
"Tayatha om bekandze bekandze maha bekandze randze samu gathe soha
Tayatha om bekandze bekandze maha bekandze randze samu gathe soha
Tayatha om bekandze bekandze maha bekandze randze samu gathe soha"
terça-feira, 4 de agosto de 2009
segunda-feira, 20 de julho de 2009
Cats
These are William Burrough's writings. I thought of that as being very clever and interesting as well.
So, I took the initiative of including them in my blog.
Here it goes:
"I am not a dog hater.
I do hate what man has made of his best friend. ...
A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with a pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.
But a dog's snarl is ugly, a redneck lynch-mob Paki-basher snarl ...
snarl of someone (who's) got a "Kill a Queer for Christ" sticker on his heap,
a self-righteous occupied snarl.
When you see that snarl you are looking at something that has no face of its own.
A dog's rage is not his.
It is dictated by his trainer.
And lynch-mob rage is dictated by conditioning."
William Burroughs.
So, I took the initiative of including them in my blog.
Here it goes:
"I am not a dog hater.
I do hate what man has made of his best friend. ...
A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with a pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.
But a dog's snarl is ugly, a redneck lynch-mob Paki-basher snarl ...
snarl of someone (who's) got a "Kill a Queer for Christ" sticker on his heap,
a self-righteous occupied snarl.
When you see that snarl you are looking at something that has no face of its own.
A dog's rage is not his.
It is dictated by his trainer.
And lynch-mob rage is dictated by conditioning."
William Burroughs.
domingo, 19 de julho de 2009
Genjokoan
This was extracted from the Genjokoan:The Genjokoan was written in the autumn of 1233 by Eihei Dogen, founder of the Soto Zen tradition.
I thought of it as being interesting so I decided to copy and paste on my blog.
So, let us read and enjoy.
"Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.
Enlightenment does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky.
The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky."
I thought of it as being interesting so I decided to copy and paste on my blog.
So, let us read and enjoy.
"Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.
Enlightenment does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky.
The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky."
sábado, 18 de julho de 2009
Michael Jackson: A certain point of view;Errata
Sorry, an error occurred: When I said 'Mother Nature' I meant 'Human Nature'...
Michael Jackson: A certain point of view;
Much has been said in regards to Michael Jackson, his life and recent passing away. These latest days almost everyone was able to notice headlines on the newspapers and magazines, facts on his most recent life and latest eccentricities and, apparently, they sound to have eclipsed all the merits he might have achieved whilst alive either as an artist or as a musician. Or at least, this seems to be the commonest point of view of many music critics and some listeners as far as I have been noticing.
As I said, I think anyone of us can easily recall at least one of those main headlines written in almost every famous newspaper or gossips magazines these days, aiming all of them, only achieve better sales. The current mandatory subject appears to be only one: Michael Jackson’s life and services and how weird his lifestyle supposedly was.
A couple of weeks ago I read on a newspaper, a comment made by a relatively well known local musical critic arguing about everything Michael Jackson had ever done up until his passing away was rubbish. He did not see much interest in acknowledging or idolizing him either as a musician or entertainer. Moreover, he continued, to his point of view, there were numerous ‘Michael Jacksons’ and the only one he saw any merit of acknowledgement, it would have been the one related to the eighties. In other words, the best that we could ever do, would be forgetting all rest of his work. Fortunately, there was a column whereby the reader could express his point of view and this is where my blogger starts today.
Personally, I never was impressed by the sort of music Michael used to play or perform whilst he was still alive or, let me put it this way, I never saw myself as being a huge fan of his art, although it is undeniable that he was a very talented man and musician. Many well known and acknowledged musicians such as Miles Davis, Cassandra Wilson, Freddie Mercury, Paul McCartney or Caetano Veloso either did some records on his work or took advantage on Michael’s creativity and managed to rearrange some of Jackson’s pieces of music, adorning it with new arrangements or playing along with him, occasionally. Furthermore, who wouldn’t remember some early hits of his, back on the early 70’s whilst still in the Jackson 5 or even later, during the eighties with ‘Don’t stop till you get enough’ or innovating with his dance on ‘Thriller’? This not to mention ‘Beat it’, ‘Mother nature’ or ‘Black and white’. However, this does not hinder me from recognizing his art and I am not here to discuss his unquestionable talent or musical skills. This task goes beyond my grasp and fortunately either some critics want it or not, Michael got recognition for his musical talent whilst he was still alive, so talented he was.
Nevertheless, what caught my attention and has motivated me writing this blog was the fact that during these latest years Michael, the man underneath the persona, seemingly suffered from a visible degree of unhappiness. His worldwide famous eccentricities and several facial plastic surgeries constituted points of discussion and visibly surpassed the scale of good taste. Well, some people won’t agree with me but this is another subject.
Why would a famous and rich man like Michael do such a thing? Why was he constantly concerned about looking ‘whiter’? I mean, we don’t even know clearly whether he was or not concerned about looking whiter but that’s the way he seemed and, once again, according to the tabloids, that’s the way he sounded to be. Does anyone really believe that he suffered from Vitiligo? Well, I am a physician myself and as far as I can remember this would be rather unusual to say the least. This not to mention all the true or false charges pressed against him.
But back to the point, his visible unhappiness made me wonder about the real meaning of being wealthy and whether or not it brought him true happiness. I mean, could he truly enjoy it to an extent of getting a true love, a lover, a wife or a partner during his latest years? No, I guess not. And if he did, it did not reflect openly upon his face and manners. He definitely looked unhappy, unfortunately.
Of course, having money enough to live comfortably is good; no one doubts that. But having money is not all. Oh, ok, someone might argue, so what now? What I mean is having money is good but this does not mean that we are going to be happy necessarily, whatsoever. Moreover, what I am trying to say is that having a job is important; being rich and famous in Michael’s case probably was his target but this did not make him happy.
Personally I feel compassionate for his suffering and I am reflecting here that the world would be a much better place now if we could still have him; and feeling happy. He, feeling comfortable, with the colour of his skin and his sexuality. Just imagine how great it might have been!
On the other hand, I believe it is not for me or anyone to judge him or his actions. Who amongst us is entirely ‘normal’, anyway? Besides, an artist and his work are supposed to be remembered by his thorough trajectory. Either apparently erratic or straight, it is not up to us to judge it. Take away the suffering off the artist and perhaps, we, no longer, would have him and his art, altogether. He, the artist, is the reflection and result of his life: As marvelous and\or miserable as it might have been.
I feel sorry about his passing away. The world lost a great artist and we would be happier if he still could be here with us. Happy, preferentially.
As I said, I think anyone of us can easily recall at least one of those main headlines written in almost every famous newspaper or gossips magazines these days, aiming all of them, only achieve better sales. The current mandatory subject appears to be only one: Michael Jackson’s life and services and how weird his lifestyle supposedly was.
A couple of weeks ago I read on a newspaper, a comment made by a relatively well known local musical critic arguing about everything Michael Jackson had ever done up until his passing away was rubbish. He did not see much interest in acknowledging or idolizing him either as a musician or entertainer. Moreover, he continued, to his point of view, there were numerous ‘Michael Jacksons’ and the only one he saw any merit of acknowledgement, it would have been the one related to the eighties. In other words, the best that we could ever do, would be forgetting all rest of his work. Fortunately, there was a column whereby the reader could express his point of view and this is where my blogger starts today.
Personally, I never was impressed by the sort of music Michael used to play or perform whilst he was still alive or, let me put it this way, I never saw myself as being a huge fan of his art, although it is undeniable that he was a very talented man and musician. Many well known and acknowledged musicians such as Miles Davis, Cassandra Wilson, Freddie Mercury, Paul McCartney or Caetano Veloso either did some records on his work or took advantage on Michael’s creativity and managed to rearrange some of Jackson’s pieces of music, adorning it with new arrangements or playing along with him, occasionally. Furthermore, who wouldn’t remember some early hits of his, back on the early 70’s whilst still in the Jackson 5 or even later, during the eighties with ‘Don’t stop till you get enough’ or innovating with his dance on ‘Thriller’? This not to mention ‘Beat it’, ‘Mother nature’ or ‘Black and white’. However, this does not hinder me from recognizing his art and I am not here to discuss his unquestionable talent or musical skills. This task goes beyond my grasp and fortunately either some critics want it or not, Michael got recognition for his musical talent whilst he was still alive, so talented he was.
Nevertheless, what caught my attention and has motivated me writing this blog was the fact that during these latest years Michael, the man underneath the persona, seemingly suffered from a visible degree of unhappiness. His worldwide famous eccentricities and several facial plastic surgeries constituted points of discussion and visibly surpassed the scale of good taste. Well, some people won’t agree with me but this is another subject.
Why would a famous and rich man like Michael do such a thing? Why was he constantly concerned about looking ‘whiter’? I mean, we don’t even know clearly whether he was or not concerned about looking whiter but that’s the way he seemed and, once again, according to the tabloids, that’s the way he sounded to be. Does anyone really believe that he suffered from Vitiligo? Well, I am a physician myself and as far as I can remember this would be rather unusual to say the least. This not to mention all the true or false charges pressed against him.
But back to the point, his visible unhappiness made me wonder about the real meaning of being wealthy and whether or not it brought him true happiness. I mean, could he truly enjoy it to an extent of getting a true love, a lover, a wife or a partner during his latest years? No, I guess not. And if he did, it did not reflect openly upon his face and manners. He definitely looked unhappy, unfortunately.
Of course, having money enough to live comfortably is good; no one doubts that. But having money is not all. Oh, ok, someone might argue, so what now? What I mean is having money is good but this does not mean that we are going to be happy necessarily, whatsoever. Moreover, what I am trying to say is that having a job is important; being rich and famous in Michael’s case probably was his target but this did not make him happy.
Personally I feel compassionate for his suffering and I am reflecting here that the world would be a much better place now if we could still have him; and feeling happy. He, feeling comfortable, with the colour of his skin and his sexuality. Just imagine how great it might have been!
On the other hand, I believe it is not for me or anyone to judge him or his actions. Who amongst us is entirely ‘normal’, anyway? Besides, an artist and his work are supposed to be remembered by his thorough trajectory. Either apparently erratic or straight, it is not up to us to judge it. Take away the suffering off the artist and perhaps, we, no longer, would have him and his art, altogether. He, the artist, is the reflection and result of his life: As marvelous and\or miserable as it might have been.
I feel sorry about his passing away. The world lost a great artist and we would be happier if he still could be here with us. Happy, preferentially.
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