Welcome to my Blog. I'm a practising member of SGI-UK a lay buddhist organisation practising the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin. It is often described as a practise of Active Humanism which I think reflects it perfectly. The basic practise is the chanting of 'Nam Myoho Renge Kyo' on a daily basis and putting the practise into use in our daily lives thereby making this a practical rather than esoteric form of Buddhism. For more information, please follow the Buddhist links on the right of this page


“Prayer is the courage to persevere. It is the struggle to overcome our own weakness and lack of confidence in ourselves. It is the act of impressing in the very depths of our being the conviction that we can change the situation without fail. Prayer is the way to destroy all fear. It is the way to banish sorrow, the way to light a torch of hope. It is the revolution that rewrites the scenario of our destiny... Believe in yourself! Don't sell yourself short! Devaluing yourself is contrary to Buddhism, because it denigrates the Buddha state of being within you.”.
Daisaku Ikeda.

Daimoku Countdown

As previously mentioned, I set myself a target to average 1 1/4 hours a day of daimoku (chanting nam myoho renge kyo) three months ago and I'm a bit behind schedule, with just Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday left to do it in.

Thought I'd keep updating here how the final countdown is going and to motivate myself to do it !!!

Target Time to Chant over last 4 Days - 17 hours

Time each day so far:

Friday - 2 hours
Saturday - 3 hours
Sunday - 6 hours
Monday - 6 hours so far


Remaining Time to chant - 0 hour

Yipppeeeee finally finished .. now to watch the last 7 episodes of season 7 of Buffy .. what a way to end the year eh ;)

Turkey and Tantrums !!

Well, thank f@#k that's all over for another year !!

I'd hoped and perhaps naively expected that this Xmas wouldn't be tooooo bad and up until Boxing Day night it was tolerable ... albeit dull and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too hot at my Sisters .. Then Boxing Day came and with it came my 14 1/2 year old neice's tantrums .. big time !!!! Jeeze .. I'm pleased I don't have kids I can tell you !!

Finally got home yesterday afternnon. I'd only been gone 2 and a bit days but it felt like a life sentence !!! I usually enjot the bit between Xmas and New Year but got to say that I'm feeling a bit negative at the moment on all fronts really. Money I'd expected to come in hasn't materialised and to top it all, Orange took my payment out twice which means I'm really going to struggle to pay my rent in a few days time. On top of that, I feel a bit under the weather .. I've had a bad back/hip for a couple of weeks and though it's eased, it's still there ... I slept like crap last night too and all that's on top of eating way too many sweet things that make me feel like crap ... so healthy food for a few days and lots of water to flush it out my system I think !!

In some ways, I think this is also down to setting some determinations about three months ago to happen by the end of the year .. two key ones being to be financially secure .. well, see above re that !! The other was to be in a relationship .... mmmm long way off that one !!! All that was combined with a determination to do 75mins chanting each day which I was doing fine at until I had a temporary dip in my practise .... This has left me with 17 hours to do in 4 days if I'm to do it .. and I've done about 45 mins so far so I'm a long way behind .... Guess I know what I'll be doing New Years eve !!!!

So, with the spirit of 'never giving up until the end', I'm going to try to hit my chanting target and hopefully something will change on other fronts .... I'll keep you posted !!!

Bah Humbug !!!

Well ... I thought I'd better say it .. I mean it's so close now to that dreaded time of year ... shuddderrr !!! As always, I'll be pleased when it's over and I can look forward to possibly 8 months before it's rammed down our throats again.

Actually started my Xmas shopping today and was pleasantly surprised how few people were in town .. maybe they really aren't spending this year !!

Well .. at least there's the consolation of one more Mayfair before Xmas .. this Friday .. big Yum ... it's usually a glutton fest this one with definite puddings of battered fruit and ice cream .. surprised the Glaswegians didn't get there first !!!

Oh well .. I'll leave the (somewhat crude) last words to Eric Idle


A Jazztastic night

Funny day really .. the first e-mail I opened in the morning was telling me that Toni Kofi was unable to play at the Jazz at the Bonington in the evening due to gastric flu (actually, the e-mail went into slightly more detail than that .. but .. eeeewwww !!). That was a big blow as I'd been looking forward to see him play.

Brian rang me later to say that Brian Edwards was standing in for him ... I thought WHO ????? I was pretty cautious as stand ins haven't always been great, but this guy was brilliant .. especially as he only had a few hours notice and virtually no practise. There were a couple of small cock ups but that was to be expected and were only loose endings and who cares about that. I was really pleased that the Bonington crowd gave him a great reception and I think he was impressed.

He has some music on his myspace site at http://www.myspace.com/noggmuzikif you fancy a listen .. and pic below:






So Popular !!

A classic track murdered yet again by the Midget Submarines .. Last song of the evening/band .. ever !! Except that we we're all pretty well oiled by then (as you can probably tell) .. we did come back an hour or more later but thankfully I don't think that was filmed !!

Right .. all sing along now .....


Negativity

Nah .. not really .. just idleness .. foul weather and lack of drive today ... Not really done much at all and it's 5.30pm and I've only done 15 mins chanting so about to do some more .. but for now .. I'll dedicate one of my fave Nirvana songs to my idleness :-)


Bahhh Grrrrrrr jazz moan

Oh deary deary me I think the expression is !! What a dissapointment the jazz was last night and I was really looking forward to kicking back with some live jazz and some whisky ... Now the whisky was ok but the Jazz !!!!! Get in your time machine and go back to the mid seventies just before punk happened and visit your local university concert place .. yep that's it the ones with guys with long hair and scarves ... then look up on the stage and see 4 self indulgent prog rock musicians who throw a bit of jazz in .. and you've about got the picture. They even did 'see emily play' and destroyed it ... some of it sounded like holiday camp jazz or advert music ... I'd like to find something positive to say but I really struggled last night. I didn't expect purist jazz but thought it could be interesting as he does get rave reviews, though for the life of me I can't see why .. but anyway ... it's over .. definitely the only below par one this season I'm pleased to say .. and looking forward to Tony Kofi next week for the last one of the season.

Oh .. and if the music wasn't bad enough .. look at what he was wearing !!!!!!!



Just a wee catch up

Nothing really to report post gig apart from much after gig embarrassment but at least it's all in the past now :). Have felt a bit down this last week, though not too sure why, though I'm sure my financial situation doesn't help ! Have finally decided to deal with that though and have filled in a job application today ... only an admin job (part time) but it's for Victim Support so could be quite interesting .. got to be better than shelf filling anyway !!

What else has happened ... Oh yes .. Guy Barker orchestra at the Jazz on Sunday which was pretty good, though unusually I didn't like the second half as much .. could be a coincidence that I wasn't drinking that night maybe ;-).

Anyway .. I made a determination to chant for three hours today and I'm on one and five mins at the moment so I doubt I'll get there but I'll do 2 anyway which is not too bad. I'm behind on my target for the last three months where i made a determination to average 1 1/4 hours a day .. I would have been ok if I hadn't had a 'mardy' for a week or so when I hardly chanted at all .. so now I've got 15 hours to make up before the new year .. on top of 1 1/4 hours a day .. yikes !!!

So ,,,, onwards and ....... blah blah blah

Midgets Videos - Part 1

Here's the first batch of Videos from the recent gig .. Birthday and 99 Red Balloons .. both murdered !!





Sing Paul Sing !!!

I've taken a couple of days to post this blog after the Midget Submarines' re-union gig, partly because I was suffering from severe over indulgence and partly because I was suffering from embarassment ! Was it that bad ? Well in some ways yes it was but in others no. It's got to be said that having a rehearsal was a pretty pointless exercise really .. especially when a key band member starts drinking scrumpy at 3pm on the afternoon of the gig (stand up mr Woods .. if you can :-) ... and it all went downhill from there !


In truth, and maybe it's the Whisky deluding me, but I didn't think it sounded awful mostly, but it always sounds different behind the drums anyway ... I can't really say that Paul played or sang badly becuase he basically stood and swayed for much of the gig ... but anyway .. I quite enjoyed it really .. or maybe this is the recent nostalgia kicking in ... always seems better after the event. For myself, I think I played ok on the whole .. I took a decision to keep it dead simple and not be a clever arse so just held the rythm (mostly!). We did come back on after the main set for a couple of unrequested encores (and this was about an hour after we had finished). I even sang on one of them but sadly that wasn't filmed so I'll never know just how bad I really was :-)

Anyway .. I believe videos are going up tonight so I'll post when available if I can bear to .. but in the meantime, here's a few pics from the gig ... we sound great in photos :-) .. also Maria's blog about the gig after them.
I think the gig was best summed up by Ken who said "Next time, let's not bother to rehearse and just stand on stage without instruments and let people laugh at us"


All photos by Penny Spanglyflora

















































'As is' was as is but Mayfair is not as was !!

Jazz night last night again at the Bonington with ByronWallen's 'As Is' .. on the whole I enjoyed it but there were moments of self indulgence and the addition of a second guitarist seemed a little .. well almost pointless. Without wanting to be cruel, he was obviously a decent musician but didn't seem to add much. Would personally rather have had a pianist insted but !!!!

















Also .. had a nasty shock the other day as I was on teh bus .. I thought the Mayfair restaurant had gone !!!!! However, on closer inspection it's had a bit of a facelift ... Not sure I approve .. there was something comforting about a place that hasn't chaged since the sixties .. though I guess it was probably due a change ... just hope the food is as good !!!


Food for thought

Ok .. a bit of a tenuous title there but just wanted to record something said at a Buddhist Meeting last night. Someone was telling Kazuo at Taplow about their problems, how busy they were, kids jobs, Buddhist practise etc etc and that they just had far too much on their plate. Kazuo thought for a moment then said to them "Chant for a bigger plate" .. Brilliant :-)

Taplow - The Big One

After much umming and ahhing ... I finally decided to get my Tokubetsu Gohonzon at Taplow on Saturday. First obstacle to overcome was to get up a bit after 5am .. wouldn't have been so bad but I was knackered from the night before and still feeling a bit rough ! Anyway .. in the end, we got there at 10am .. an hour before we needed to, though it was nice not to be rushing around for a change.

As usual, I tried to sit near the back out of the way but got ushered forward as those receiving it were near the front. Funnily enough, out of approx 200 people there in the morning, I ended up sitting next to Fiona, one of four people who I practised with in Boston all those years ago !. Also getting theirs from this area were Don, Hannah, Jenny and Bex who used to be here. As usual, it was a simple ceremony which suits me just fine .. can't be doing with fuss !!

As it turned out, I could have got a lift back about 1pm but decided that if I was going to go all that way, I'd try to get my moneys worth !! So I managed to get into the district leaders meeting in the afternoon, which I was pleased I did as it was a pretty good meeting (I'll try to post some key points up when I've de-cyphered my scribbles) .. And that was it .. got home about 7.30pm, cooked some quick pasta and then TV !!

Only negative of the day really was that I didn't get the butsudan to hold the gohonzon ... I really can't afford it but decided to get it anyway but the one I wanted wasn't there and won't be until the new year so not sure what to do at the moment ... something else to chant about huh !!!

Midget Submarines are Go !!!

Badly hungover today .. wine and real ale stout last night .. don't ask !!

Good news is that the Midget Submarine rehearsal vids are available and below ... best to go about 2 mins into teh first one as it's just faffing around before that .. well and during too :-)




Once more with Feelingzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Just a bit of a catch up post really as not a lot has happened since the last post .. partly as I've felt a little bit shattered (and grumpy), so not been very pro active at all. Did see a great Jazz Band on Thursday though ... Jamil Sherrif. I'm not normally a fan of octets etc but this band were really excellent from start to finish .. and played some great self composed numbers too.

Saturday was fairly lazy with just a Buddhist meeting in the afternoon. Sunday was perhaps the laziest ever though. I decide to take a 'day out' .. well from life really :-) .. After waking I made a cuppa and watched 3 episodes of Buffy Season 6 in bed. After that, I did finally get up after mid-day and did spome chanting before settling down to watch the Italian Football on TV with a fry up .. followed by more TV, some chanting and yet more Buffy .. In fact, I've only got one episode to watch in the whole series and I only bought it a week ago !! Poor old Theo Angelopoulos hasn't had a look in lol. Think when I've watched the last one, I'm going to start again from the first episode ever and work right through and hopefully get season 7 at Xmas.

On a positive note I have finally decided to get my Tokubetsu Gohonzon next Saturday and have sorted a lift for that .. and I reckon I'll do the Midgets gig too though I need to sort some things out for that yet !!!


Knackered and OUCH !!!!

So finally after 16 years, the Midget Submarines finally came together for a proper rehearsal .. we booked a room and even a new drum kit .. was pretty weird at first sitting behind it but soon got into it though I found my confidence had gone so ended up (mostly) keeping time and very little else ... which made it fairly uninteresting. Quite amusing though that we naturally seemed to play everything slower at first .. must be age ... even Paul 'Boo' Woods !!!

As time went on, I must admit that I enjoyed it less and less and by the time I got home, I really didn't want to do the gig and am still undecided, though I need to make my mind up pretty quick so they can find a stand in if I do drop out. Number or reasons really but one was that I was completely exhausted after drumming for 2 1/2 hours .. I like to think I'm reasonably fit and nothing really ached .. just feel completely drained of energy .. which is probably why I'm so grumpy about playing, so we'll have to wait and see I guess. If we do play, we definitely need to do the sets shorter and sharper !

With a bit of luck, there'll be two clips here later which might swing my mind one way or the other .. have to say it sounded pretty bad from where I was but the others thought it sounded OK and it can sound bad from behind the drums to be fair. Best quote of the night was Ken 'why's my beard grey' Popple who said .."... hey .. it sounds really good with earplugs" !!

Also .. I think I need to refine my technique ... as well as hitting the snare, I end up wacking my leg at the same time and my leg looks like a piece of tenderised steak today !!!!























Anyway .. here's couple of pics taken on my phone .. poor quality though:




















nearly there !!!!

Phew ,... think I'm there or there abouts now .. decided to refresh the colours but not sure about the scheme at the moment .. definitely need to sort a better header .. but not today.

Tonight we've booked a reheasal space for the Midget Submarines and apparently there's a brand new drum kit .. shame I'll be playing a cobbled together one on the night but it'll probably be a shambles anyway so who cares :-)

Oh SHIT !!!!!!!!!!!

Oh bugger !!!!!! I was trying to create a blog for someone and I accidentally overwrote all my hard worked coding now I've got a boring blog again !!!! Initially I lost all my old posts so at least they are all restored now ... I'll try to get my old one back somehow though could take a while .. I hate blogger for making changes that made me do it :(

Later >>> OK .. well I've managed to salvage something of teh design but want to tweak it more but need to do other things now so hopefully more tomorrow !!!

Photos from Birthday one

Ok .. finally got the photos from day one .. some pretty awful ones but here's a few anyway :-)








Without further ado

Pretty busy today and a bit tired from being out so much this week due to birthday and jazz so looking forward to a night in to give my liver a rest !

Good gig last night .. Helen McDonald and the London Bridge Ensemble ... must admit that I thought it might just be ok but actually worked really well so that was a plus .. and of course .. it's always worth going for local jazz hero Brian 'without further ado' Pearce :-)


It's my Birthday . Part Two

Well .... that's over for another year ... why do we celebrate getting older ? Though I guess it's more of an excuse to drink .. and who needs excuses eh !!

Pretty much took the day off really apart from essential work and just pottered around really most of the day. I had promised myself to chant for at least 2 hours but in the end, just fell short of one hour !! Need to really start catching up. Think from November I'm going to aim for a min of 2 hours a day until the end of the year !!

Anyway .. back to the birthday .. well it was the classic 'Mayfair' and what a veritable feast it was ... have to say that I thought the food was really excellent and I managed to take a bottle of wine that was excellent .. a Reisling that had that wonderful 'petrol' kind of taste that I love ... sounds bizarre but really works. Anyway .. a really enjoyable night though I did fall asleep on the sofa until 3am then went to bed and couldn't sleep for ages so ended up being a bit of a late start this morning so probably not going to be my most creative day ever !! But I am going to do a couple of hours of chanting today .... honest !!!!!








It's my Birthday . Part One

Well it's not really .. it's Tuesday but I went out with Emily, Laura, Patrick and Charmain last night as we've already got a biggish crowd at the Mayfair and it's easier to chat in small groups .. So .. off we headed to Yo Sushi ... Was a good night though I did think Yo Sushi wasn't as good as last time with less things on the belt .. I ordered a sampel sashimi with 3 different types of fish and they didn't have one of those .. OR the Eel Nigiri that I ordered .. so it didn't get off to a great start. Other than that though it was ok and the blackened miso cod was very nice .. easy to spend loads there if you're not careful though .. have to keep an eye on it .. anyway .. all in all a good night and I think the warm Sake helped :-) ... Charmain took some pretty hilarious pics so I'll post some of those here when I get them.

Part two tonight :-)

Oh we're still the ..........

MIDGET SUBMARINES !!!!


After an abscence of 16 years, the legendary Midgets .. well 3 of them, got back together for a rehearshal as we're doing a one off gig in November .. don't worry, we won't be reforming !!! I must confess I was reluctant to do it .. partly as I don't like nostalgia but it was good to meet up with Paul again .. especially as he's a LOT balder than me :-) ... and it was surprising how the old songs came back .. all sounds promising and we have two more rehearsals before we play which probably doubles the number of rehearsals that we ever did in our whole existence ... Age seems to have caught up a bit though as we did drop a couple of the faster numbers as we can't keep up any more ! I'm sure it will decend into the usual chaos though ... and I'm sure that some of that will surface here !!!

Anyway .. a couple of sneakily taken pics from the rehearsals ... especially like the 'fat Ken' one :)















































Oh .. and I couldn't resist taking this one .. County fans .. get on your knees :-)


OH .. and if you're wondering what the Midgets sound like .. here's three songs that others have covered that we wrote (yeah right )





Shine a Lightsey !!

Well .. that was an interesting Jazz Gig last night. It was the Kirk Lightsey Trio ... Now I've seen Kirk before and it's always a great gig but this one proved interesting as it should have been Piano, Bass and Drums .. a fairly standard Jazz trio line up. However, the bass player was unable to play as his wife was ill, so rather than get a replacement session type muso, they got in a friend of theirs who plays sax .. so it was now Piano, sax and Drums .. which is a pretty unusual line up. Didn't help with the Sax player turning up late and in all truth the first set was patchy with the sax player a little unconfident in his playing except for on a Wayne Shorter number .. in fact Kirk thanked the audience for watching a live rehearshal which is did seem like at times.
Anyway after the break and obviously they'd chatted, the second set was a lot better and at times really excellent .. unfortunately as they'd started late, we had to leave before the end to catch the bus back .. though I'd had quite a bit of Whisky then so probably no bad thing :-)


Anyway .. here's a pic and I've just found a quote that applies to me:


"We must overcome our own inner weakness. This is what our Buddhist Practise is all about"

and my inner weakness is laziness so I'd better get on :)

Trip number 2

Well .. as I promised myself, I ventured to Leicester again to take one last look at the Picasso Ceramics exhibition before it finishes on the 28th October. I nearly didn't bother as I wondered if I would find it less interesting but it was quite the opposite and I also spent more time in their regular gallerys which has some really interesting stuff ranging from some 15th century woodcuts to more modern contemporary stuff from people such as Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and a really nice simple, almost calligraphic (is that a word !) painting by someone whose name I can't remember. Apparently they have an ancient Greek exhibition coming soon so that might be interesting.


I'm planning to visit the gallery at Nottingham Castle soon though from memory, it's not a patch on theis place which is actually a disgrace for a major city .. still .. all seems to be about shopping these days here !!

Had a wander round Leicester again as last time it was raining really heavily .. got to say that I really like the place .. less pretentious than Nottingham .. but there again I still like Nottingham so I'm not about to move !

Anyway ... a few pics below .. couldn't really take any in the exhibition but it's a taster:





















Leaving Hicksville and Herbie says Chant !!

I've just returned from a couple of days in Yokelsville ie Lincolnshire .. had the misfortune to spend an hour in Boston .. does me good though as it reminds me why I left !! It's also easy to see why it won the 'fattest town' award last year though and you can smell the lard at the local chippies .. honest !!!

Good to see my mum again though .. she's 78 on Sunday and is generally in good health so that's all good. Picture of the best bit of Boston at the end of the post.

Just found these audio links of Herbie Hancock talking about Buddhism which I thought I'd share too:

On Practicing Buddhism

Why Jazz Is Like Buddhism

Chanting a Buddhist Meditation

Buddhism Is Inclusive

Also .. had a good Buddhist meeting last night ... my last one with the Seven Hills district though I'm sure I'll pop back for a few of them in the future. There were a number of good experiences and one of the key things that came up was the question of what is Faith. The main thing that came from that is that Faith isn't blind faith as we often believe in our Christioan society but is the strong belief in our own potential and the perseverance to manifest it.

Oh .. and here's the best bit of Boston .. I think I'll just call this photo "Leaving" :-)


Definitely a One Off !!!

Bit of a Rock night last night .. went to the Maze to see a few bands .. unfortunately they decided to stick an extra singer/keyboardists at the start who was something of a cross between keyboard psychedelia and Richard Stilgo !! Could have done without him as it meant we had to leave before the headline band though after Scott Biram (more later) doubt they could have topped that !!!


Next up were Old Basford a local band .... pretty good and professional .. Basically had two R&B styles .. one similar to Queens of the Stone Age and one more like Free .. a 70s rock band ... Found the Free numbers a bit lacking but the Queens of Stone Age style ones were excellent .. would have liked more of those .


Then came Scott Biram .. well .. what can I say .. this guy looked like he's just been changing the oil on an old pick up .. not sure if it was an act or not but he certainly pulled it off if it was. Using a 1950s Gibson and a radio mike and sometimes a Police loudspeaker !! He certainly could not be accused of being unoriginal .. and funny .. best line was "someone get me a whisky and don't ya'all spit in it or dip yer pecker in it"

Anyway .. crap pic below and a couple of youtube vids .. worth a listen.










Quick Quote

Just read the guidance for today .. I like, therefore I quote :-)

It doesn't matter in what area, just keep working on your personal revolution to transform and improve yourself in the way most natural for you. The important thing is that you change in some positive way. There is surely no more exhilarating a life than one in which we write our own unique history of human revolution each day. And the growth and transformation we achieve in this way can convince people of the greatness of the Daishonin's Buddhism more eloquently than anything else.

The Purpose of Faith and Raw Fish !

Raw fish ? Ok .. well just an excuse to post about Yo Sushi really. I went there on Friday and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food. Definitely not as good as the Higoi in Lenton which is excellent, but there again, Yo Sushi is basically a fast food place, though that would be my main quibble. You can take the plates of the conveyor belt but we decided that as we wanted a few hot ones we would order them and get them fresh. Have to say that the service was a bit on the slow side and it wasn't that busy !!

Funnily enough, the one thing we didn't have was sushi !!! We had the Miso soup which was excellent then a couple of hot dishes which were pretty good. I also tried the sea bass sashimi which was ok but I think sashimi should be finer and REALLY fresh. Don't get me wrong, it was reasonably fresh but was a bit chunky for me .. ok though. We them had some seafood and some tofu tempura ... cost just over a tenner each which wasn't bad, but you'd have to watch the cost oif you just grab the plates off the belt .. could soon add up !! All in all though, pretty good and will go again soon.


And the faith bit ? ... Well, we had Study on Friday which was pretty good, though the pints I had afterwards seemed to wipe my memory banks a bit so hoping to listen to a recording of it at some point, but I did read the hand out and was particularly struck by the last bit of it which I've copied below:


The purpose of faith is to freely realise our full potential and shine in our own unique way. That's why it's important to keep advancing and challenging ourselves, to have the spirit: "I will exert myself in my practise!" "I will deepen my faith!" "I will do my best as a member of the Soka Gakkai!" This is the certain path to attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime.




That's a big one !!!!

I received my letter yesterday from Taplow saying that they would like to offer me the opportunity to receive Okatagi Tokubetso Gohonzon .. that's the bigger one.
On one level, I'm happy to get that as they definitely look nicer (though some of that is probably the light in the bigger butsudans), but there's a little bit of me that's concerned that others might see it as an 'elitist' thing .. which I know it isn't .. but I guess that's something I need to chant about.

It also means spending a couple of hundred quid on a new butsudan as it won't fit my current one .. could do without the expense .. especially as it's one of my determinations this year to be more secure financially !! Still .. on the other hand it's a contribution to Kosen Rufu I guess ...


dilemma dilemma lol .. but I'm sure I'll go for it.

Eye Eye Picasso (what a load of bulls)

After overdosing on Buffy DVDs and various other junk TV, I decided that I needed a dose of culture and having noticed a good review in the Independent, I headed off to Leicester yesterday to have a look at the Picasso Ceramics exhibition at the New Walk Museum.

I have to confess that I spent a little too long wandering around Leicester. It's a strange place with some horrible new development going on, but there are some great old parts too. One of the main things I noticed was that how many more smaller individual shops there are than 'corporate' Nottingham .. even in the centre. One of the best bits though is the Market .. vibrant and lively .. makes Nottingham's look shabby (which to a degree, it is !!).

Anyway .. on to the exhibition .. which was free !! All the ceramics were donated by Richard Attenborough from his personal collection and were nicely exhibited in 2 all white rooms. As usual with picasso there were lots of naked women and a lot of bulls !! My favourite (front view below) was a vase .. the front of which was a head on bull, but if you walked behind it, you saw the bulls rear legs .. with a massive pair of testicles hanging ... typical Picasso humour !

The exhibition has been extended until the 28th October now which is great as there were a few other exhibitions on which I would have liked to spend more time over (and mooching round Leicester), so I'm definitely intending to have another look before it finishes.

Details at http://www.leicester.gov.uk/picasso/index.htm

And We're up !!!

After a long and fairly tedious weather hit season, Notts have finally got promotion. That said, there are warning signs ... such as being the ONLY team to lose to Glamorgan all year and the final match at Somerset, being beaten by an innings and 121 runs. In bothe innings, we started well for the first two wickets then collapsed badly ... just hope it's not a sign of things to come next year !!

Still .. we have got Stuard Broad next year ... let's hope he bowls better than in the video below !!




The jazz was pretty good at the Bonington last night with the Dylan Howe quintet .. unfortunately a couple of his band had dropped out and certainly in the first set they semed a little cautious and uneasy but warmed up nicely in teh second set .. or was that the whisky !!!

Stan's The Man !!!

Just a brief post to say what a great gig it was last night at the Bonington in Arnold. It was the 10th Anniversary there hence the Octet. All superb musicians but the star of the show was still Stan Tracey ... Now in his 80s he's lost none of the dexterity and performed wonderfully and still shows a sense of humour (announcer when they were late coming on stage .. "Stan Tracey has not left the building" .. Stan - "Only because I couldn't find my way out" ;-).

Anyway .. here's a rather poor pic taken on my mobile:


Mens' Regional Course

Had our regional Mens course on saturday at the DeafBlind centre in Peterborough .. nice venue, though shame about the location which was in the middle of a building site ! I have to confess that I went with a certain amount of trepidation as the topic was the Mentor and Disciple relationship which is a concept I've struggled with over the years. Interestingly, as it turns out, so had pretty much everyone else and many still were. The course really did help to clarify it though and it wasn't rammed down our throats as I feared it might be. I suppose, in a nutshell, it is to practise with the same mind and determination as Nichiren Daishonin and in a more modern context, Daisaku Ikeda ... and certainly not to be like him or to hero worship him.

Anyway ... I took a few notes which I've summarised below:
  1. Each encounter in our life is important. An initial encounter could just be that, or it could be the start of a friendship/relationship or something very long term and important. Therefore it's important to consider this when meeting someone for the first time
  2. Struggles are just that, struggles, unless we have a mission and use our struggles to grow.
  3. The Mentor/Disciple relationship is probably better described as the 'Oneness of Mentor and Disciple' . ie we are no better or worse than our mentor.
  4. Do NOT harbour doubts. Doubts are natural in life but it's important not to let them dominate and take over us. We need to develop the type of faith to be able to deal with doubts when they arrive. We must confront and challenge our doubts not let them fester.
  5. Chant with an 'attitude of gratitude'
  6. Chant with the same attitude as Nichiren ie 'fighting' daimoku chant with the strong determination to fight and defeat our doubts, weaknesses and inner negativity.
  7. Buddhism isn't simply chanting and attending meetings etc but is determined by the INTENT which we have when we do these things. We can be chanting with teh same attitude as Niuchiren or not .. need to continuously check ourselves whether we are doing this or not .. check what the quality is.
  8. There are three keys to the above:
    1) Stand alone spirit - ie to take action irrespective of whether others do
    2) Never give up - chanllenge and win over our doubts/negativity
    3) Have 'fighting' spirit - determine and re-determine until it becomes our predominant attitude

Think that's the main gist of it anyway .. came back quite inspired if knackered !!


A few pics from the day







































G'day Sarah

Well .. that's what they say in Oz but probably not New Zealand.

My friend Sarah is back from New Zealand, though only on a fleeting visit so won't get to see her much before she goes back, which is a shame as she swears she won't be back for at least 3 years .. think she's enjoying the hippy/surfing lifestyle a bit too much out there. Anyway .. had a few drinks with her last night and going to the Mayfair next week so at least we can catch up before she goes back.

Me 'n' Sarah





















What a pretty face :)

























Bring me a frothy beer wench :)

Oooh look .. photos !!

Not really a post but last night I finally figured out how to get images from my phone to my PC so watch out for some proper pics !!

In the meantime here's a few to be going on with:

Taplow Building where Gohonzon is Enshrined

















View of the Stand at Trent Bridge currently being demolished .. sob :(
















And finally a view of the game on a hot day from the above stand
(with attractive Council Office Building !)


Chant Courtney Chant

Finally feel like I'm catching up with things and in a better mood .. feeling more positive generally. Decided quite a while ago that I had two key determinations to acheive by the end of the. One was to be in a relationship and the other to be financially secure. I also determined to see some progress by the end of August. Probably not surprising then that I had a shite month and felt miserable for most of it. Key thing though is that I didn't stop chanting (though I did chant less). This kind of ended up tying in with the Buddhist study that Robert Harrap gave in Lincoln on Friday where he said that one of teh qualities of teh Buddha is that a Buddha 'endures' ... but NOT in a passive way but an active way, so instead of just suffering, you would still suffer and struggle but continually determine to break through it and never give up and finally come out the other side stronger.

So, at the end of the month .. where am I on the determinations ?

Relationship.
No massive progress with this though probably no surprise there though I have re-subscribed to an online dating site for a month to e-mail someone who didn't bother to reply, however, another person did who seems nice ... mind you she's Japanese and hasn't replied since I mentioned the Buddhism that I practise lol .. so maybe that's a no go anyway .. still .. it's all a start :)

Finances.
I've been pretty busy web work wise but also, for some time I've been considering doing the web stuff part time and doing a part time job and I spoted an ad in the paper for part time 3 months Maternity Cover which I thought would be a good way to suss whether I really wanted to do that. Anyway .. to cut a long story short I've got an Interview on Weds ... main prob is that it's one hour a day too many really and it's minimum wage .. Having said that though, it would cover my rent and a bit more so it would at least take some pressure off .. Not sure yet though .. still chanting about it .. Oh .. and it's in an old folks home lol

Anyway .. Suppose I'd better get on, but a couple of things below ... A courtney Love Video which I thought had vanished off the net so posting here for my info ... If you go about 1min 40 secs in you see her chanting.

Also .. I've put the notes that I scribbled down at the Buddhist lecture the other day.

Here's Courtney >>



And here's the notes >>>

Brief notes from Chapter Study – September 07 – Lincoln
by Robert Harrap




Buddha is our inner potential/life force



Casting off the Transient and Revealing the True.

Easy to think that Buddhism can’t help in certain situations .. we all come up against that ‘immovable’ problem at various points in our life, but through chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, we can activate our life force and break through these ‘problems’ This doesn’t mean however that it will be easy .. we need to persevere.

Buddhahood is our true and original nature and we should start from this point. Everything else has built up in our lives over the years and restricts us. A bit like a crust gradually covering us over time. We can break through this ‘crust’ by making a big determination and being confident in our often hidden inner potential.

A Buddha enjoys life, even through problems and ‘endures’, NOT in a passive way but by actively challenging our negative tendencies. It is ourselves that stop our own joy/happiness .. we make the choices.

Nichiren inscribed the Gohonzon as a reminder of our Buddhahood and can also be seen as a certificate of validation from Nichiren

We chose, moment by moment, whether we are ‘ordinary human beings’ or Buddhas.


Mentor & Disciple Relationship

This Buddhist Practise is transmitted from one person to another and grows in this way (eg Nichiren to Nikko Shonin and Makaguchi to Toda to Ikeda) to achieve Kosen Rufu which can be understood as a world where people reveal their full potential.

Nichiren was the initial mentor and Ikeda can be seen as the modern Mentor.

Another posting shock horror

Well .. only because I found this amateur you tube vid of one of my fave rembetika songs


Catching Up

It's been quite a while since I last posted, partly because nothing much has happened but also partly a bit of a reflection of my mood these last few weeks. I don't know why, whether it's the general grey and wetness of this Summer, but motivation has definitely taken a nose dive and that includes motivation to chant and go to Buddhist meetings. I guess you could say that Apathy rules .. well .. it would if I could be bothered !

Anyway .. a new month is only a few days away so I'm trying to get a bit of that spark back .. I'm sure it's there .. probably just hidden away.

Cricket season has now finished as far as Notts home gam,es are concerned as they finished home games early this year to enable them to knock down the old stand and build a new one .. shame in a way .. quite liked the old one .. though it was built in the 1930s so I guess was duet o be re-built. At least the last home County game was interesting and Notts won .. just !! Keeps them in with a very good chance of promotion now anyway.

Oh well .. that's got me back in the habit of posting anyway I guess .. however dull it was !!

More Soon >>>

Beating that Negativity Shite

Have been feeling kind of grumpy and negative the last few days for some reason. I'm increasingly thinking that complete self employment isn't my thing though I like some of the options of freedom that it gives. It does also, however, give me opportunities for idleness which I probably accept more often than I should.

I slipped in my chanting too yesterday doing only half hour so I'm getting behind on my schedule now so decided that today would be daimoku day.

Despite waking about 6.30am with something like hayfever .. all sneezy etc I slobbed around before deciding to chant around 9am and boy did I not want to .. really forced myself.

What was interesting was the change in attitude through chanting and I made a note of the process which went like this:

Why bother ?
What's the point ?
Nothing changes anyway
Starts daimoku
what's the point ?
see .. nothing happens
I suppose things could change
I suppose I could make the effort to make changes
I can change things
I WILL change things

It was quite subtle but also quite noticeable and the day was reasonably productive considering how tired I feel, though I should have chanted after lunch to keep the momentum going but it did dip somewhat after lunch.

Just about to start evening gongyo which will add probably 30 mins to my daily total ... plus maybe 3 x advert break daimoku of 5 mins each .. so another 45 mins to do today which will take the daily total to 2 hours .. that'll make up for yesterday a bit anyway .. slob night then .. knackered !!

Black Bush

Thought this was pretty funny. Seen a few Dave Chappelle bits and think he's pretty funny. Watch out for Black Tony Blair :-)

D Day

On Thursday I did something that I'm generally not very good at .. I made a decision.

I attended a Buddhist Discussion meeting in the evening and someone gave an experience about how they'd completely changed their job from one that they were good at but didn't feel was creating any value to turning it round to create a job at a social enterprise kind of job despite initially having the wrong qualifications.

This inspired me as, for some time now, I've been wondering whether being self employed suits me and with another month with money coming in late leaving me struggling to pay bills etc made me take the decision to get back out in the real working world. Basically I am going to look for some part time work .. most likely in the morning and continue the web work in the afternoons/early evenings. I don't quite know how this will pan out yet but should be perfectly viable.

Even though the part time employment is likely to be low waged, it should be sufficient to make sure that I can save a bit as well as paying my bills and that would fulfill one of my two determinations by the end of the year to be financially secure.

The day after I made this decision I mentioned it to someone who told me that there were jobs at their place .. one of which seems at first glance to be almost ideal. I don't have any real details yet so it's extremely early days but it's encouraging .. All I have to do now is to re-create my own CV .. something I haven't had for 10 years !!!

I'll keep it posted here with my progress and for now .. here's a quote I find really inspiring.


"Fearing hardships and bemoaning and resenting our environment is to live with the belief that the Law is outside our own life. So is losing confidence in our ability to overcome our circumstances and turning to others in the hope that they will save us, or blaming others for our problems, or giving in to hoplessness and resignation.
When difficulties beset us, no matter how trying they may be, we must clearly see them for the obstacles or devilish functions they are and battle against them without retreating. This is the way of life of those who chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and dedicate their lives to the Mystic Law. The Daishonin says: "Nichiren's disciples cannot accomplish anything if they are cowardly" ( WND 1 - pg 481). In accord with these words, let us cast aside cowardice and make courage our foremost attribute".


Chanting Determination Update

Time Chanted to Date (day 20 of 184) >>>

Target to be chanted by end of day - 25.25 hours
Actual amount chanted so far - 23.75 hours

Excellent Study

At last .. something to post !!

Last night's Buddhist Study was really excellent and captured the main points of why we practise Buddhism really well. Really good turnout too ... I didn't count but a couple of us estimate 55-60 people. The lecture was given by Sanda McWilliam who came up from Taplow Court and gave the study on 'On Attaining Buddhahood'.

Anyway .. key points below .. copied up from my notes:

  1. We attain Buddhahood as and where we are; NOT as a different person or in a different place. The key is inner change (Human Revolution)
  2. It is important to make the DECISION to change and to continue in the effort once we have made the decision.
  3. We should become the master of our own minds and not let our (negative) minds 'master' us.
  4. A Mentor teaches others to believe in the potential that exists in their OWN lives.
  5. To be a Bodhisattva means to give hope and fight negativity, which can often be very subtle. To fight negativity means to fight disbelieff in our own and others Buddha nature. It is essential to chant plenty of daimoku (nam Myoho Renge Kyo) to keep our energy levels high enough for this fight.
  6. Buddhahood exists only in our conduct as human beings (walk the walk, don't just talk the talk).
  7. It is important to INITIALISE our determinations and be active, not passive.
  8. Each morning, we have no idea what lies ahead for us during the day. It is therefore important to prepare for the day ahead with a strong gongyo and daimoku.

All good straightforward but key stuff !!!!



Chanting Determination Update

Time Chanted to Date (day 13 of 184) >>>

Target to be chanted by end of day - 16.25 hours
Actual amount chanted so far - 16.5 hours

Beg steal or borrow !

Ok .. for the lack of anything interesting to post right now, I've 'borrowed' a section of Peter (Newbuddha's) blog which is an article from the World Tribune talking about Kierkergaard a Danish religious philosopher ... it was the final section that caught my eye so I thought I'd re-produce it here. You can read the whole article on his blog here if you want to.

and for info ... my chanting to date (as last night)

Chanting Determination Update
Time Chanted to Date (day 12 of 184) >>>
Target to be chanted by end of day - 15 hours
Actual amount chanted so far - 15.25 hours

...............................................................................


Believing is seeing
Finally, if you want to look at yourself in the mirror…you must not promptly forget how you looked (p. 44).
Kierkegaard’ s final advice is his warning against our forgetfulness. When we study the Daishonin’s writings, we may intellectually understand that we are Buddhas full of courage and compassion. While chanting, we may feel confident that our lives are essentially no different from that of the Daishonin .
But minutes after we leave our homes for work or school, we often start acting in a manner unbefitting Buddhas. In the course of a day, we may also face one situation after another in which others disregard us as if we had not even an iota of Buddhahood. This is why our consistent Buddhist practice and study become important as powerful reminders of our innate Buddhahood, especially when our environment seems to suggest its non-existence. Our diligent, conscious efforts steadily transform our intellectual idea of Buddhahood into our action as Buddhas and our fleeting awareness of Buddhahood into our unmovable conviction in the face of great hardship. In this sense, seeing ourselves in the Gohonzon is often a process of gradual transformation, rather than an epiphany to attain once and for all.Kierkegaard’ s vision of an ideal Christian was a “doer of the Word” (p. 25). To this end, he set down those three requirements for Christians to see themselves in the “mirror of God’s Word.” By the same token, genuine Nichiren Buddhists must not be simply admirers of the Gohonzon who see it with awe yet fail to see themselves in it. Indeed what those admirers think of as their pious respect for the Gohonzon is a kind of fundamental disrespect that perverts its purpose. Nichiren Daishonin wished us to become “practitioners” of the Gohonzon who uphold this mirror of ultimate self-knowledge and appreciate their own reflections.
To this end, the Daishonin stressed the importance of faith, urging us (WND, p. 3) “to summon up deep faith that Myoho-renge- kyo is your life itself” . So the true value of this wonderful mirror lies in the heart of the beholder—the heart that knows believing is seeing .

Just in front

Hanging on in there with my chanting determination ... just 1/4 hour in front at the moment which will be challenged over the weekend when there's 4 days of cricket so I can see me falling behind then .. could be interesting !!!

......................................................................

Chanting Determination Update

Time Chanted to Date (day 11 of 184) >>>

Target to be chanted by end of day - 13.75hours
Actual amount chanted so far - 14 hours

be patient I will post soon

Chanting Determination Update

Time Chanted to Date (day 10 of 184) >>>

Target to be chanted by end of day - 12.5hours
Actual amount chanted so far - 12.75 hours

Daimoku Update

Chanting Determination Update

Time Chanted to Date (day 9 of 184) >>>

Target to be chanted by end of day - 11.25 hours
Actual amount chanted so far - 11.5 hours

A mixed weekend

Just about recovering from a mixed weekend and a bit of a grumpy mood generally .... Maybe it started with missing a Mayfair night out though I think it started before that .. Maybe it's my determination to chant 230 hours (1.25 hours a day) before the end of the year that brought out the negativity .. I honestly don't know but it's been a grumpy few days and I just feel that I'm starting to pull out of it now .. maybe it's because I decided to do absolutely sod all yesterday and watched daytimne TV under the duvet until mid afternoon before going for a leisurely stroll/coffee in town as the sun was out for the first time in nearly 2 weeks !!

I think my grumpiness peaked mainly on Saturday .. probably not helped by having to be up at 4.30am to get a lift to Taplow ... all in all not a bad day but not one of my more inspiring trips, but then again, negativity breeds negativity I guess ... I always looked for teh bad bits when I'm feeling grumpy .. I suppose it's a bit like trying to pull people out of their happiness so they are down to ours when we're feeling 'off'

Anyway .. one good thing came out of the trip at least in that I bought a Study Lecture on the 'Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime' gosho by Daisaku Ikeda and have just started reading it and it's a really good read .. takes the Gosho apart bit by bit in detail .. hopefully he'll do teh same with most of the major writings of Nichiren Daishonin.





















Anyway .. bit of a slow start to the week as still feeling a bit tired but I've determined (as well as the 1 1/4 hours a day) to focus on my work more during the day so I'd better get on with it !!!!

Chanting Determination Update

Time Chanted to Date (day 8 of 184) >>>

Target to be chanted by end of day - 10 hours
Actual amount chanted so far - 10.25 hours

I want to learn this

I bought one of these years ago from an old rembetist in Greece and though I've messed around with it, I've never been able to learn (not many baglama teachers in the UK !)

Wish I could play like this



or this




Sadly ... I;m more like this !!!!!!




Sponsored Chant Update

Time Chanted to Date (day 3 of 184) >>>

Target to be chanted by end of day - 3.75 hours
Actual amount chanted so far - 5.25 hours

##### SPONSOR ME ####

Ok .... so here it is ... I've decided to encourage myself to chant more and to raise some money for Childline at the same time. Any sponsorship always appreciated and you can sponsor me online at:

http://www.justgiving.com/chantathon

I'll be posting my progress on here throughout the process .. initial post coming soon.


Tozo Weekend - Day 2 (see yesterday for Info)

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Daimoku Chanted So Far at 20:00 Saturday >> 3 Hours
Daimoku Chanted so Far at 19:15 Sunday >> 3 Hours

Total Daimoku Chanted over weekend >> 6 Hours
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Good start to the weekend daimoku campaign today as it was Kosen Rufu Gongyo in the morning. Only 3 of us there for various practical reasons, but still a good gongyo. Hung back afterwards and did another half hour afterwards to get me going. Planning to do another half hour shortly and then if the weather holds out, pop into town for a coffee and read etc .. just to get out of the flat really.

Ended up a bit of a struggle as I spent a bit of time in the afternoon doing other bits before going into town late on .. Realised when I got back that I'd have to do an hour with only a 10 min break in the middle if I wanted to finish before the cricket started .. managed it though !!

Watch this space for sponsored event details tomorrow.


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Daimoku Chanted So Far at 20:00 Saturday >> 3 Hours
Daimoku Chanted so Far at 19:15 Sunday >> 3 Hours

Total Daimoku Chanted over weekend >> 6 Hours
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Tozo Weekend

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Daimoku Chanted So Far at 20:00 Saturday >> 3 Hours
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I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while and the weather forecast for the weekend has encouraged me to do it.

I've basically decided to chant more or less half hour on and half hour off today or probably the weekend ... You can see the total so far at the bottom of the post.

Why ? Well ... I did once do a four hour chant and really felt it moved my life forward and I wanted to do that again. Last night I watched a thing on alternative rock and it talked a lot about Kurt Cobain and how he had so much potential but his inner demons ended up with him committing suicide. All this took me back to when I started .. long story but bottom line is after having been given a magazine ages ago i read about Cobain being a Buddhist (after he killed himself) and dug the magazine out and decided to give the practise a go and here I still am chanting away. Anyway .. watching it made me realise that though I have been chanting, I've not REALLY used the practise to move my life on that much .. a bit yes but not really as much as I should have. Also reading the Gosho study today about 'mastering our minds rather than our minds mastering us', I realise that is exactly my problem .. even on work days, I start off with the best of intentions and then get lazy and distracted and lose my focus.

So .. that's the reason and I'd better do other things now as I've got 15 mins before the next half hour starts. Oh .. and I'm thinking about doing a sponsored chant for a charity but more of that when I've decided more details.

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Daimoku Chanted So Far at 20:00 Saturday >> 3 Hours
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Buddha Next Door

Thought I'd just plug this new book on the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin.

It's not an introductory book as such but contains a hundred or so experiences from people who practise which is a great idea as there are a wide variety of ways in which people have used the practise in their lives.

If you click on the book, it will take you straight through to the relevant page on Amazon.co.uk


Buddha Next Door

WOT no Neighbours !!!!!

Bloody Wimbledon .. grrrr no Neighbours for two weeks !!!

So for the meantime here's a clip of Alan Fletcher (aka Karl Kennedy from Neighbours) singing Sweet Home Alabama ... don't give up the day job Karl :)


Bloody Dick Dastardly

Got me today ... Woke up with intentions of doing lots of work but despite sitting at my PC most of the day (avoiding the half decent weather too !), I've got sod all done .. though I did do gongyo in the morning at least ... !!! .. Going to cook some food now quickly then head to a meeting .. despite feeling too lazy to go !!


But I did kind of make the badge !