"Here there is no talk of the world's affairs - those matters that make wild the hearts of men." Chia Tao (779-843); trans. Mike O'Connor

Saturday, November 6, 2010

My Zen View and Haiku - My Zen Evolution - November 6, 2010

When I was young, the Buddha was a happy fat guy and Buddhists sat around contemplating their belly buttons. At that time, my Western faith tradition rejected anything that wasn’t of that particular faith and so I learned little of other paths. Years later, the death of my infant daughter caused a classic existential rejection of organized and dictatorial religion. I began searching for a faith of compassion and true peace.

In 1994, my family and I were in San Francisco and by sheer chance we found ourselves in a room alone with the Dalai Lama (and his security guards). His peace and spiritual presence was so overwhelmingly powerful and real that I began a sixteen-year Buddhist path that has led to today and my embracing the Soto Zen school of Buddhism.

The path goes forward
From a perfect past to a
Compassionate now.

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