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.