My Sun-Mercury-Saturn in Gemini and Moon in Capricorn frequently struggle to understand insanity. I don’t mean clinical insanity (though maybe it’s not exempt!), but the calculated insanity imposed upon moderate people — crazy-makers, rather than crazy people per se. Just look at all the loonies shouting and crying out against Obama’s ‘death panels’ and ’socialism’. [...]
Archive for the ‘Buddhism’ Category
The mad woman leaves the attic
Posted in Astrology, Buddhism, Perception, Responsibility, Thinking, tagged madness, reason, Saturn-Uranus opposition on 1 October 2009 | 6 Comments »
I/Thou/We/They
Posted in Astrology, Awareness, Buddhism, Cinema, Ego, Suffering on 13 August 2009 | 2 Comments »
The world is made for people who aren’t cursed with self-awareness
— Annie Savoy (played by Susan Sarandon), Bull Durham (Ron Shelton, 1988)
On the verge of … verging
Posted in Astrology, Awareness, Buddhism, Practice, Suffering, Zen, tagged lunar eclipse, nessus, pain, Pluto, Right Effort, Venus in Cancer on 2 August 2009 | 2 Comments »
The title of this post came from a comment by my astro-blogging friend, Neeti Ray. I was trying to describe the weird sense of limbo I’m feeling that I can’t shake, like being on the verge of something that hasn’t yet manifested, and she wrote: ‘On, the verge of, verging’. Perfect! My original title was [...]
‘Active laziness’
Posted in Awareness, Buddhism, Death, Practice, Responsibility, Suffering on 14 June 2009 | 2 Comments »
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (1992) is an interpretation for the modern world by Sogyal Rinpoche a collection of texts commonly known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Sogyal Rinpoche interprets some of the ideas from the ancient texts for the modern world, and argues that the lack of respect for death [...]
Buddha-field
Posted in Buddhism, Sangha, tagged book, buddha-field, Vimalakirti on 8 June 2009 | 2 Comments »
I thought I’ll take a break from my Hades Moon for a bit.
My Buddhist group is currently studying The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture (alternatively known as the
Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra). We covered Chapter One* last week called ‘The Purification of the Buddha-field’, which led to a discussion of what that ‘buddha-field’ might [...]
Projection: Who I’m not
Posted in Astrology, Awareness, Buddhism, Perception, tagged conversation, projection, speech, Venus on 10 May 2009 | 4 Comments »
In a moment of synchronicity, I read Julie Demboski’s take on ‘Receiving Venus’ very shortly after having one of my impossible conversations with the Mercury in Virgo person (hereafter known as ‘MV’) in my life, though I didn’t allow it to escalate this time.
His Venus falls in my 7th house (as does mine, so [...]
Right speech
Posted in Anger, Buddhism, tagged speech, words on 30 March 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This post is about a year and a half late, but better late than never.
I struggle with Right Speech, and while I can never hope to speak always calmly and kindly, I was looking for a way to trigger a reminder to myself and catch the cycle out earlier whenever the urge to speak in [...]
Bearing someone else’s karma
Posted in Aversion, Buddhism, Compassion, Karma, Suffering, tagged compassion fatigue, Dalai Lama on 15 September 2008 | 2 Comments »
I read this excerpt from a selection of talks, called The Transformed Mind: Reflections on Truth, Love and Happiness, given by HH the 14th Dalai Lama.
Is it possible to bear somebody else’s karma for them?
Generally speaking, according to Buddhist teaching, you will not encounter the results of an action that you have not committed, and [...]
Parts and pieces
Posted in Awareness, Buddhism, Compassion, Ego, Practice, tagged psychotherapy, self-forgiveness on 28 August 2008 | 1 Comment »
I rather enjoyed doing the little mini-review the last time, that I thought I’d do another, and later on, one on occasion. Even the simple act of summarising and describing the content in the book helps me to internalise some of its ideas and integrate them a bit better in my mind. So here’s [...]
Trial by fire
Posted in Blogging, Buddhism, Poetry, Practice, Zen, tagged fire, Fire Sermon, Osho Zen tarot, Tassajara on 16 July 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I am reading, with much admiration, the blog recounting the efforts of the members of the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, a Soto Zen monastery in California, to cope with the wildfires currently ravaging the countryside. The blog is aptly called ‘Sitting with Fire’, and I am much struck by how calm and circumspect the reporting [...]
