Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

All beings without number, I vow to liberate
Endless blind passions I vow to uproot
Dharma Gates beyond measure, I vow to penetrate
The great way of Buddha, I vow to attain!
sitting here twice a week
with the beginners on Wednesday evening,
with the strong practitioners on Sunday mornings,
the tides are turning
the tide is turning
there's nowhere to turn
in this subtropical place at the Veterans' Administration Medical Center,
Bay Pines, the grounds are so exquisite, unbelieveable
Sunday I did tai chi on the chopper pad, somedays I come here and it quiets me.
nothing ever lasts forever except hatred
kindness never retreats
except on sick days
may I be well and happy
may you be well and happy
affirmations

quiet bliss amidst vibrant growth
tied to chi
up-time trance

it takes practice
you know this
a practiced bliss

Your strength is in your compassion.

Jesus, I hope so!
My substance abuse counselor heard me give a comment to an in-patient several weeks ago and told me that "You are compassionate, " when I needed a compliment. It helps and when I can start interviewing for another nursing job, I will tell them that I can give this way. Right now I feel tired and need extra sleep.
By the way, I am not inferring that you are Jesus. That's just an expression. Just the same, Art Guy heals!

you can´t imagine
how great is to read you again, jimbo!

thankyou, arcadia
i told you once before that i love you
i mean it too
there's something special about you
greetings and thanks
you make me feel welcome as always
what i mean of course is that
i like how you describe things
which brings a tangible presence.
amiga mia, preciosa. sometimes i worry about you
because you are a sensitive.
blessings.

Jesus eh....I once had a friend who wanted to crucify me. I think I know the root of the displeasure with my recent work. I have been trying to simplify it all but my life is anything but simple even with all the ohms.
My sangha, http://nbtoronto.org/

i felt the same way once
paranoid that mainstream christians
would want to crucify me

i'll visit your sangha
yes i like the teacher
no doubt a great tradition and clear
mine is http://clearwaterzencenter.org/default.html
ken rosen, the founder, is my therapist
(altho i am changing now to go to the Vet Center with a woman
who is a ptsd specialist)
the teacher sensei lawson, comes down from north carolina
a student of roshi philip kaplan

tai chi is about healing the bodymind

buddhism will not add to your body health


lu tungpinis the wisdom mind corrolary to sophia
or the holy ghost/ he embodies the wisdom of the tao, buddhism and confucianism

the jade emporer is the high spirit of virtue

kwan yin is the bodhisattva savior daughter of compassion

i don't know what the resistance is that i keep finding with telling my buddhist friends, and others, about tai chi. it is completely interactive with buddhism. i don't participate in the taoist meditations. there is no pressure, except to eat chinese food.
i am being simple for now, but eventually will have to work again, part time,
and hope that eventually i can get a service connected disability claim for an addition onto my meager social security.

I need to consider doing some meditation at night when i can not simply lay quietly if unable to sleep. if i am tossing and turning, i need to get up and just sit.

dear jimbo:
yeah, love & worry
are at melting point
most of the time
(you sound here like my father...! )
and yeah, we are all as we are
maybe too much of this, too less of that
in this valoration valley
it´s ok
& unique
& all things have at least two sides.... & more!
& there´s also something
like an internal? tester
that makes you know
-for whatever causes or reasons-
what is somehow vital for you at some moment.
An year ago
to deeply be aware of & accept
that I can be also touchy & too much vulnerable & reactive
was a hard step for me
& now I´m more in re-connect
with what I call "my vague faith in everything"
but knowing already from experience
that when it´s necessary
it can be also easily focused...
& humor...
well, it´s always a great desdramatizante & expansive exercise!

may you have sweets dreams, dear friend
and if you have to sit in the middle of the night...
well..., just sit!
& sleep in the mornings, why not?
now you can do it!!

my multicolored sanghas??

the planet, my family, my job-schools, my friends, s-8, an small group where we chant-sing-and do tao-of-voice-exercises & sound healing once a week, another small group at my home doing meditation, various readings (and of course eating!) on wednesdays and maybe I´ll return to the zen dojo once a week (love the sounds, noises & silences spaces there) http://www.zen-deshimaru.com.ar/rosario/home.php but this time "a mi manera...! " (hey!, I´m not japanese..., looong sesshins are not good for my ankles, back, circulation & paciencia... )

you are very expressive
and like me
incorporate s-8 into my life

thanks for the info about your repertorio
i may be as old as your father
but i am your brother friend

i like taisen deshimaru a lot
his student, Richard Livingston, has a zendo in New Orleans
I used to go visit them when I lived in Shreveport(get a map )
I like their sitting technique, but it is very straight
sometimes I will use that technique
long slow outbreaths
but the teachings I use are simple breath counting, the outbreath, without trying to control it

and then I will do the long outbreaths when I want to

The long sesshins are beyond me also
The last time I left without telling anyone, middle of the night
May 14th, I will try an all day sit, with work periods and a talk
but I may leave after the morning.
We also have alternatives to sit with,
the ergonomic office chairs,
kneeling benches,
or just a straight chair.

I know that I am vulnerable, yes
Something about your view into the city made me feel like you feel like I have felt before.

It's good to be resilient. Blessings, amiga hermana.
Mucho.