How To Be A Bad Buddhist

It's good to be bad

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

THE TABLE

Come join us for THE TABLE with two scripts in rep by Joseph Merlo III, Go With Your Guts and Tom's Nightmare.  Wine & Cheese reception to follow. In the Creation & Completion Project's new venture, THE TABLE: LIFE'S A PITCH!, participants become the game pieces, the play/screenplay the context of the game board, and the goal to get from the table to opening night. Each week, an entire company consisting of actors, a director, producers, and designers will come together to read a script and play the game, each a different game piece, each enduring the uncertainty of "Shake-Ups", in-depth conversation, and quick pitches to producers. Using scripts from emerging artists and those from the canons of both theatre and film, we will, as a team, move through the game of the industry and make our way to opening night. Join us on Thursday, February 13th  for THE TABLE. The evening will begin with a reading of our scripts by Joseph Merlo III. Afterwards, the game begins. But don't worry, we'll keep things lite with a few drinks!  Join us to find out how you'll fare...

Doors open at 7:15pm, reading begins at 7:30pm sharp. Location TBA.

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For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

Thich Nhat Hanh

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.

A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

Though heterosexual sex was punished with expulsion from the monastery, one kind of homosexual sex was very much a part of [Tibetan] monastic life. Senior monks often took a young monk under their wing as a 'drombo', a passive sexual partner; since the kind of sex practiced in this context did not involve penetration, it was not considered a breach of the rules [of celibacy].

Sam Van Schaik, Tibet: A History

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating on this sheet of paper.

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of Understanding

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

Compassion is not a sign of weakness.

HH 14th Dalai Lama

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[howtobeabadbuddhist]

You cannot reach lofty heights in art if you do not first discover the unsurpassable beauty in your own heart.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

There's no such thing as dead languages, only dormant minds.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

How Can I Be A Buddhist When Everyone Else Is So Stupid?

New York City seems like perhaps the worst place to begin a journey towards discovering compassion, wisdom, peace of mind and mindfulness...

How can I cultivate compassion when all I want to do is punch this tourist in the back of the head?

How can I discover wisdom sitting in a stalled subway car hundreds of feet underground with no wifi or cell service?

Is there really a way to attain peace of mind with this homeless guy yelling profanities in my ear?

For me it raises the question:

How can I try to be a Buddhist when everyone else is so stupid?

I'm being a bit facetious, of course.

The answer, I'm told, is that New York City can be a gift.  A gift in the form of an opportunity to practice compassion, love, acceptance, and mindfulness on a regular basis.  Every time you step out onto the sidewalk, or underground into the subway station.

This is what, for me, is my main obstacle.  Accepting the gift.  Working with the gift.  And changing my view of the other.  They aren't hindering your path as much as they are helping.  

And I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, too!  Feel free to reply or send me a message!

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

My two hands are so small compared to the immensity of suffering.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

The first day in my first class in college about Buddhism, my teacher asked the class to call out a few words they associated with Buddhism. The response went something like this:

Suffering

Emptiness

Death

Pretty grim stuff. So, your life is empty, you suffer, and you die. It not only sounded terribly nihilistic and like an existential crisis right out of The Stranger (or The Peanuts apparently), but it made both life and death seem incredibly unappealing.

What I learned since then is this:

Suffering, for most of us, is not necessarily large-scale, like being tortured with sleep deprivation or starvation. It’s sometimes just discontentment. Waking up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning. The barista put whole milk instead of skim. It’s loneliness. It’s over-stimulation.

Emptiness is anything but. It’s fullness. It’s the empty space in front of you that has the potential for anything and everything to happen. You are emptiness because you are full of the potential for the entire world. You are the entire world.

Death is something that once you can overcome your fear of it, your fear of a thousand other things will disappear too. I’m not there yet. Very few people are. We can have glimpses of accepting death and suddenly the world seems so much more enjoyable. Anxiety seems to disappear.

Death and life are a contradiction with the potential for anything.

[howtobeabadbuddhist]

God this is how I feel at the gym with my trainer.

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