Tuesday
March 6th 2019
1 a.m
Heats Off
I'm
not yet well and just couldn't face rousing our battered Super again so, dosed with 'Theraflu', added another layer of clothes + hat and slept
on the timed heating pad under a comforter till 4:30 a.m. when I woke
shivering, got up, plugged my expensive-to-run electric radiator in set on high, still averse to being the one to call. Why? Don't quite know.
Suddenly, this 5 times repeat malfunctioning seems suspicious since the
owners occupy three space here too.
Why don't they wake the super?
Do they have their own good heaters
keeping them perfectly warm? Their basement apartments are closer to the
source so may stay warmer longer.
Are they even actually here? I haven't
laid eyes on them for several weeks and know they have other options.
Meanwhile,
my thoughts are turning toward true friends suffering
elsewhere.
Let the wicked reap their just rewards. Let younger warriors
prevail. I'm too busy growing old, keeping a fragile peace and
making do.
Post script
6 a.m.
HEAT RETURNS
~*~
Wednesday
3.6.2019
8 a.m
Outside
Exhausted,
I Slept again till 1 p.m.
Afternoon
Watched
"Maybe I'll Be Home in the Spring"
TV Film on Video
(gift from Nancy Erisman)
1971
"After finding out that the hippie lifestyle isn't as glamorous as
the media makes it look, Dennie comes home to find disapproval and
judgement at every turn. Starring Sally Field."
A strange and interesting throwback.
3 p.m.
Depression Hovers
"Soften. Let thoughts and memories wash through unimpeded and let them go." Then, I took a hot bath and prepared to go out.
7 P.M.
At Tibet House
Krishna das opened with the familiar invocation call and response, Then he and Robert Thurman told potent and amusing stories, including one about the Dalai Lama farting and another about mowing Einsteins lawn.
Last, we all joined in chanting to Tara.
The main Tārā mantra is the same for Buddhists and Hindus alike: oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā. It is pronounced by Tibetans and Buddhists who follow the Tibetan traditions as oṃ tāre tu tāre ture soha. The literal translation would be:
“Om O Tārā, I pray O Tārā, O Swift One, So Be It”
Lovely Incense
(available at Tibet House)
Miracle?
It
was a huge effort for me to drag myself out into the cold to
attend last night, but felt strongly I needed to be there. After, I walked
home in the 20 degree night, my fingers and toes freezing, mumbling the
mantra under my breath and thinking all the time how fortunate I am to
have a home to go to. I drank a warm bowl of Ginger-Miso soup,
mixed up another glass of Theraflu, slid into bed and had the first good
8 hour sleep of the past many being-ill months.
~*~
Thursday
3.7.2019
I woke feeling fit,
energized and clear, was active all day and got many things done with
pleasant ease.
Late in the afternoon, I walked through 'little India" on my way to Trader Joe and stopped in to talk to a friend at a local shop about Tara. She is a long time KD fan who relates to that mantra and more.
~*~
TGIF
3.8.2019
View outside my front window three flights up, looking East at 11
O'clock.This sun means business, but cloud cover
dominates it's intention. Shall I say that my eight hours of sleep last
night was interrupted three times, so not nearly as satisfying or
energizing as the previous nights blissfully undisturbed straight eight?
Yes.
Inside
A 'wandering Jew' wishes for roots.
Patience is the genius of plants.
Accomplishment
After many months of utter neglect, I've sorted out some of the piles, changed my (sick) sheets and comforter and delivered all to the Laundry Service at Street level. These are simply items i can not use my bathtub and buckets method on.
Once every couple of months is par for this old gals course. Dust, a far more serious condition not yet attended to, but as someone remarked somewhere:
'I tried dusting, but it didn't work'
(Ha!)
5 p,m.
Although I would rather sleep again, or distract myself with trivia, media and music, tonight I will go to our Monthly "Wisdom" session at the Zendo with 10--20 'over sixty year olds' where we look at all the aspects of aging; the dark and light of it, life and death issues. Personal sharing occupies some time and is accompanied by a Buddhist perspective and a meditation.
The Heart Sutra
(Thich Nhat Hanh)
Avalokiteshvara, while practicing deeply with the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore, suddenly discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, and with this realisation
he overcame all Ill-being.
Listen Sariputra,
this Body itself is Emptiness
and Emptiness itself is this Body.
This Body is not other than Emptiness
and Emptiness is not other than this Body.
The same is true of Feelings,
Perceptions, Mental Formations,
and Consciousness.
Listen Sariputra,
all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness;
their true nature is the nature of
no Birth no Death,
no Being no Non-being,
no Defilement no Purity,
no Increasing no Decreasing.
That is why in Emptiness,
Body, Feelings, Perceptions,
Mental Formations and Consciousness
are not separate self entities.
The Eighteen Realms of Phenomena
which are the six Sense Organs,
the six Sense Objects,
and the six Consciousnesses
are also not separate self entities.
The Twelve Links of Interdependent Arising
and their Extinction
are also not separate self entities.
Ill-being, the Causes of Ill-being,
the End of Ill-being, the Path,
insight and attainment,
are also not separate self entities.
Whoever can see this
no longer needs anything to attain.
Bodhisattvas who practice
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
see no more obstacles in their mind,
and because there
are no more obstacles in their mind,
they can overcome all fear,
destroy all wrong perceptions
and realize Perfect Nirvana.
All Buddhas in the past, present and future
by practicing
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
are all capable of attaining
Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment
Therefore Sariputra,
it should be known that
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
is a Great Mantra,
the most illuminating mantra,
the highest mantra,
a mantra beyond compare,
the True Wisdom that has the power
to put an end to all kinds of suffering.
Therefore let us proclaim
a mantra to praise
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore.
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
The End
.
