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.