I’m in Ohio now & trying to deal with my Saturday Zazen class in Santa Monica from a remote location is proving to be difficult. To those of you who may have looked at the schedule I put up yesterday — please look again, what I put up there was completely wrong! The correct schedule is below:
July 1, 2006 Lecture by KEVIN BORTOLIN
July 8, 2006 ALL-DAY ZAZEN
SUNDAY July 23, 2006 AFTERNOON! (from 1:30 PM)
July 29, 2006
Since I will still be in Ohio on July 1, Kevin Bortolin, a fellow student & Dharma Heir of Gudo Nishijima will do the talk at the end of the sittings. Kevin is a much better speaker than I am, so go see him.
The All Day Zazen this month is on July 8th which is the SECOND Saturday of the month & not the 3rd as we usually do it. So far only one (1) person has signed up. So please feel free to come along! Please.
And if you were not confused enough, the following week’s class is on Sunday afternoon rather than on Saturday morning. These two changes are due to the Hill Street Center’s big annual yard sale which (I believe) is on Saturday July 22. As a bonus to those (if any) who show up on Sunday, we will go out bowling afterwards.
Again, please don’t feel shy or hesitant about coming to these classes. I know everyone thinks I’m a celebrity and I’m full of myself or whatever. But, Honest to Jesus in Heaven, only about 3 people ever show up to these classes. Trust me, I will not bite. Not usually anyway…
For those who are lamenting the loss of the older articles, get a life! NO! NO! NO!! I’m glad you liked that stuff. A few weeks ago I looked at it & decided it was all crap and needed serious rewriting. So far I have not had a free nanosecond to even contemplate actually doing that rewriting. So maybe I’ll just put ’em back up again. But, really, honestly, they just were not all that great. Buy Shobogenzo & read some decent writing instead! Or re-read Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind. Go to the link to your right and read some of Kobun Chino’s lectures. Read Nishijima Sensei’s blog (but ignore the comments section, apart from Nishijima’s own comments, it’s pretty useless).
::first praising, self-referential, half-ironic comment about zen mastery and a lamentation of proximity to Santa Monica::
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If I lived anywhere close, I’d totally be there. I love bowling! 10 pin or 5?
And I must respectfully disagree. Some of the pieces were great. If not the best written sometimes, the made me think cool thoughts. Please repost them.
Brad, would probably have dismissed Dogen out of hand if not appraoching it through the lens of your writings. Granted, some of your opinions were disagreeable to me…but it’s not really about agreeing and disagreeing with opinions and perspectives now is it? Your writings assisted my ignition…the fire is wholly my own…please understand this.
btw- How often does an enlightened being such as yourself bowl a perfect game?
Its funny how you continuously bash the comments section of Gudo’s blog. Although some of them are circular and full of useless arguing, there are at least a few people on there discussing the issues (and Gudo apparently thinks they are worth answering).
You are a blowhard.
g
huffy puffy.
I did not see the link to the right you referred to. Just see your past entries.
I did not see the link to the right you referred to. Just see your past entries.
gniz calls Brad a blowhard. You wish, don’t you?
I agree, though. Did you hear the awful stuff that Brad said…about Brad? He removed all his articles from his website because, in his own words, “it was all crap.”
Geez, what a freakin’ blowhard.
But ya know what? Brad’s playing us. I bet he doesn’t really believe that. We all know that Brad likes to blow his own horn.
So not only is he a blowhard, he likes to play head games, too. When will it ever end? Somebody, please, stop this sucker!
And people wondered why the comments’ section was removed. I preferred it without, to be honest. Let Brad write what he wants and let everyone else read it and think what they like.
Sorted.
pa, as long as there are people out there who blindly worship at the Church of Brad and as long as Brad keeps making those outrageous, blowhard statements (he said his stuff was crap, people!), gniz, me, and other self-important and self-righteous people of our ilk will continue to monitor these blogs and strike down Brad’s and his worshippers’ falsehoods at every turn.
You see, I actually once liked reading Brad’s articles. I was reading his webpage way before most of you even first heard of him through his book. But the quality of his writing took a serious downturn when he started his blog. That’s when I began to question his writings.
Never mind that what I was actually questioning was my own interpretations of his writings. Never mind that my critiques really only reflect the state of my own mind. Never mind that I’m just projecting my own preconceptions onto him. People like gniz and me who think that we can see Brad’s true, misguided intentions are necessary in these blogs to provide balance to people like you who think that Brad is a sage and can do no wrong.
But gniz and me are right. I mean, really, really right. You guys are dead wrong. How do I know that? How? Ummm, hey, what’s that in the sky? Do you see it? That red and blue streak? Hey, it’s Superman! Let’s go and see Superman!
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“the world hurts your feet when you walk barefoot. you can either wish the whole world was covered in leather and even try to cover the whole world in leather or simply cover you own feet in leather.”
Yeah, I hear you, Dan. The whole idea of practice, I suppose, is to be OK with the fact that things aren’t the way you want them to be. And yeah, I hear you door knob, we need people to provide the balance.
Fair enough.
m(..)m
It’s hysterically funny to have all of these posters talk about how silly it is to be angry and say harmful things (Dan) and then watch how their posts are completely filled with anger. Dan, go re-read your post.
You are clearly annoyed with me, making little passive agressive jabs (go sit Zazen-maybe your “teacher guy” can show you how).
Is that the wonderful composure Zazen is giving you?
BTW, you have no idea who I am or what I do. You keep saying that none of us “know” the reality which is Brad, don’t assume you know the reality that is Gniz.
But you will, because you are hypocritical.
G
All the ideas we create about the words we run into here are just our own fantasies about what they mean.
Reality is our situation of being here now reading the words and attaching thoughts and ideas to them.
If the words (or our ideas that we attach to them) conflict with some of our beliefs we might get angry. And we might attempt to alter our reality here by writing at it.
Not being sure whether this is useful or not I continue to do it. I accept the possibility that communication might be useful in this way.
There’s this enlightenment idea that tends to float around my mind that suggests there is something different than this right here. And that’s the only reason I’d ever make myself sit down and stare at a wall right?
Bullshit.
I sit and stare at a wall to recognize fantasy, not create it. But I don’t do it often, so the fantasies still abound.
Wow, gniz. Your intelligence astounds us all.
Did you know that Brad has hair on his head? No? OMG!111
Hes obviously fake, since zen priests have shaved heads.
Drunken Monkey
I dont expect my “intelligence” to astound you or anyone else. Go look at my profile, it says “i know I am an idiot-do you?”
I think the last part of that question is for you, or posters like you.
The fact that you are on here reacting to my comments says as much about you as my stupid comments say about me.
You are getting in the mud with me buddy, so i say, enjoy your mud bath!
Dont pretend you are smelling like roses when you stink to high heaven.
The only people who know anything are nowhere near this place.
-Aaron
doorknob: People like gniz and me who think that we can see Brad’s true, misguided intentions are necessary in these blogs to provide balance
Geez, get over yourself.
gniz: Go look at my profile, it says “i know I am an idiot-do you?”
Not yet, but keep talking. Before long, I’m sure you’ll have me convinced.
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waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa oh my god please stop 🙁
ha ha. now it really is one more i promise.
gniz, rereading that last little bit:
“(gniz i may be wrong but i get the feeling that you don’t sit zazen. go sit zazen. maybe your teacher guy can teach you how or something) “
i see that actually i do sound like a bit of a self righteous dick. sorry about that. it was insensitively phrased. but i still think that the general jist (is that how you spell it?)of the advice was good. assuming of course that you don’t already sit zazen.
Hey Dan
No worries. Look, I like everyone here, even Brad. Everyone’s great–all of these folks trying to be more conscious and figure out what this is all about.
But believe me, Zazen is not the end all be all. Sitting lotus is not the end all be all.
Brad is full of crap in his own way, as is everyone else here.
That is my feeling. I know I am.
Zazen is great. I have sat Zazen but i dont currently sit.
I try to meditate and used to do more of it.
And when I do, you wont see me around here for awhile, methinks.
g
Brad, how did the screening go?
pa said, “And yeah, I hear you door knob, we need people to provide the balance.
Fair enough.”
I was being ironic in my prior two posts, pa. Some people realize it, some people don’t. Either way, it was a totally lame attempt. 🙂
“A lot of times Buddhist teachers end up being punching bags. I guess it’s part of the job. Often confused people take the usually very generalized statements you make as personal insults and start hurling their own insults at you as a way of getting back. That’s hard to take. Or they try baiting you to see if you’re really as “Zen” as they think you ought to be. God I hate dealing with that. And, let me clue you in, every Zen teacher hates dealing with that. We all want peaceful lives without dealing with dumbass “Dharma Combat” from everyone we meet. But you do what you do.”
– the unknown karmic
Ah, fair enough door-knob. It’s difficult to tell who’s being ironic with all the irony going around these days.
I bet even the Buddha was being ironic when he said, “All is suffering.”
Oh. Sorry, doorknob. I thought you were being serious.
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