Living on sleep and alcohol

Ok .. catch up time again .. especially for Fraser who's so bored at work that he even reads my blogs :-) and there's 10 mins before lunch so seems the perfect thing to do.

Last weekend was a bit of a blur really as we had a Buddhist Mens night out on Saturday ... Fortunatley I avoided the tackier elements of this (food at Hooters and Ice Hockey !!!!) but I had a couple of drinks earlier with Alan and Fraser then the others joined us afterwards for some fine real ale .. ohhh .. and a few whiskies too !

This continued for a short while at my flat with more whisky, finally hitting the sack around 4.30am ... and next morning was ....... Mens buddhist meeting ... Have to confess there's no way I would have made it if it wasn't for one particularly enthusiastic member .. actually turned out to be a really good meeting even if the sound did resemble a chorus of bullfrogs initially !!

Seem, also to have some kind of mini virus as I can't seem to get going and feel constantly tired and also have this weird jaw thing happening where I grind my jawbone .. painful !!

Got an early start too on Sunday as 7 of us are heading off to Taplow as Fraser and Swampy are receiving gohonzon .. looking forward to that (apart from early start) as I could do with s reason to do lots of daimoku as I'm struggling with that at the moment partly as I'm not waking until 10am ish.

Also ... have finally completed collating my poetry collection and having it printed at Lulu. I haven't put it on sale yet as I've ordered a copy to proof before doing that, though even with no profit for me at all, the cost including P&P is £6 for a 44 page booklet so I don't think I'll get many sold.

The main intention is to test the quality and if it's ok, to write a Buddhist book .. not 100% sure of it's direction yet so any suggestions would be great .... Cover of the poetry booklet below .. and don't worry, I'll let you know when you can buy it ;-)

Sandie Says ....

Just googling a bit and came across Sandie Shaws web site ... forgotten that she was a Buddhist too. Found a bit she had posted in her Buddha Room that I liked and have posted it below.

Oh .. and for a limited time, there's a free download of a new version of Puppet on a String (Simon :-) to celebrate her 60th birthday.

One last thing he said was that when we are chanting for our dreams and desires – and we get negative feedback from our environment, or it seems that something just isn’t happening, or we are told "this will never happen", or "cant happen" – he said that this is our cue, our opportunity to transform the karma. We have two choices, one is to give up, the other is to chant with complete conviction that we will transform the doubt and lack of self worth we have about ourselves. The environment reflects both our positive and negative tendencies and most of the time the negative ones are how we feel about ourselves. He said that although Nichiren’s Buddhism was the Buddhism of Cause we still keep trying to change/manipulate the Effect in the environment. He said we must focus on the Cause, on our own lives and eradicate our lack of self worth. Then the environment will respond to our treasuring and valuing our lives accordingly.

Rockin wit da beat !

Bought my first CDs in probably a year or more today .. well, three of them actually, though they were with vouchers that were given to me for my birthday last October !! I'd been thinking what to buy for ages when I watched a film last night called Dave Chappelle's Block Party (click here for web site ). Now, I'm not usually overly keen on rap/hip hop/r'n'b .. not because it's bad .. I usually find it either too sickly sweet or too overly violent and I guess as a 47 year old white guy, it's not designed to speak to me, but this film was basically about getting a small party (block) with some of the big names and it was good to hear them in a loose friendly atmosphere .. so that was that .. out I went to buy especially Erykah Badu's CD and how damn sexy is she !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also bought one by a band called the Roots .. sounds ok on a first play but not in the same league of Badu and just in case I was dissapointed I also bought some classic Jazz 'straight no chaser' by Thelonious Monk.

Had to go into town today and despite it being a bit grey, itreally feels like spring's round the corner .. soon be time to re-visit Jas cafe to sit outside and watch the world go by.

Anyway .. back to the CD's now .. certainly like the Badu one kind of lilting ... bit Fugee stylee without the rapping guys .. bit of a jazzy feel too ...

Daimoku Daimoku Daimoku

The sun is out, the skies are blue .. spring can't be here at last can it ? Maybe it's old age but even mild winters seem to drag these days. Probably more about the sunlight really and I've already managed to sit outside with a coffee at the weekend though it was a wee bit cold if I'm truthful.

Our district gave the Buddhist Study last Friday which was pretty good I thought and reasonable turnout though sadly, only one other person from our district. Similar at Kosen Rufu really .. only three there but it was a really nice Kosen Rufu meeting and seems to have turned something in my practise. It might not last but I'm currently averaging at least 1 1/2 hours chanting each day .. kind of like a car I guess ... if you just want to sit in it, then you don't really need to put any fuel in, but if you want to go the journey you need to have enough fuel (daimoku).

Well, that's my analogy for the day :)

Finished reading The Buddha in your rearview mirror today .. kind of a cross between Buddha in Your Mirror and the Dick Causton Book .. on the whole quite good though probably need to read through again.

Bit more work then time for Neighbours .. also need to pop into town this afternoon so maybe cofee outside .. mmmm we'll see :)

Worra Week !!

Well .. very little still on the 'throw out' progress .. all seems to have ground to a halt but it's still on my 'to do' list.

Been a hell of a week .. mainly for a friend of mine but that also has impact on me, if only because one thing I do inherit from my mother is that I tend to worry more than I need !

Anyway .. can't go into detail here but it was pretty bad. However, the interesting thing is that there has been a real sea change in their attitude since and they now really seem to be putting Buddhism into practise in their lives. I don't think I've ever heard them so positive and focussed as I have the last couple of days. Guess my role is to continue to support them in that direction.

Work has been busy too but now levelling out so I can re-start my throw out ... honest :-)

Jazz night tonight .. The Nicholas Meier Group ... have some reservation as he's a bit of a flash guitarist which I'm not overly keen off but the musicioans with him are excellent so overall, should be a good gig.

Jazz Steps Nicholas Meier Info