This blog has moved

Everything is impermanent.

You can now find TMcG at: http://www.fullcontactenlightenment.com

Still reading The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons

Well I did get a little sidetracked from reading The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons by David Loy and Linda Goodhew after burying my head in both some Mahayana coursework for Nalandabodi and some zombie comics

(The Walking Dead from Image Comics- created by writer Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore (replaced by Charlie Adlard) and artist









I do have all the best intentions to finish this lovely, geeky Buddhist book this weekend and will shun any zombie infiltrations to ensure that I stick to my guns. I'm loving what I've read so far and am looking so forward to reading about the author's take on Princess Mononoke

Check out The Tara Art Project

While researching for goodnessknowswhat for whoknowswhy, I came across this very interesting group known as The Tara Art Project which has gathered over 60 tattoo artists worldwide to create artwork related to various Tibetan iconography and deities.

Initially their focus was to be to gather artwork primarily around Tara, but with the list of artists growing exponentially, it was decided to expand this focus to be much wider.

They are looking to raise money for the Free Tibet Campaign through the sale of this generously donated artwork that is displayed at locations all over the globe. A book is also available and features over 40 full page, full color images by artists such as: Sabine Gaffron, Wido de Marval, Aaron Bell, Jondix, Rinzing, Daniel Albrigo, Jeff Gogue, Matthew Amey, Alex Binnie, Dawni and Gerry Carnelly

While we're on the topic of tats, do check out The Worst Horse's post on Buddhist-inspired tattoos on the "Body Vows" section of the website

Collecting Loss : Weaving Threads of Memory

I just came across an inspiring project which completely captivated me when I
read several of the entries made by those who chose to participate.

Esther Kalaba and Karen Haffey are two women who united through their loss of family members to explore the memories associated with the clothing of those who pass away digitally via this website as well as in person by way of both a private meeting of all those who participated in sharing their experiences and then through a public art exhibit and future book project.

From the website:
"What happens to clothing once occupied by someone who has passed away? Is it left sitting in a pile on the floor as it was when death came? Is it given away, thrown away, washed or unwashed, folded away in a drawer, or hung indefinitely in a quiet closet, in a quiet untouched room? Whatever choices are made, one thing remains the same: the clothing of a deceased loved one is no longer just dress. It holds a narrative of memory, body, identity, sweat and smell that is a souvenir of loss."

This is an extraordinary project. I really don't know much more to say beyond that.

Here we go again...

Sorry for the lack of updates but yet again the world of TMcG gets a bit rattled.

The job that I really liked experienced cutbacks recently and I was one of the folks to be let go. Rather than my usual updownspiral of 'freakoutedness', I've been quite calm and developed a 'come but may' attitude.

I feel quite bad for the owners of the company rather putting all of my energy into feeling sorry for myself and I spread out hope that the economy can only perk up a bit to help others who may be suffering the ill effects of some not-so wise decisions made by those we've entrusted our with economic well being.

These are tough times. All the more reason to be forgiving, gentle and kind with one another.

The Urban Monk is no alarm clock!

In a recent post by one of my fave blogs 'The Urban Monk' author, Dogo Barry Graham wrote so profoundly (in my opinion):

"My enlightenment is delusion for you. My awakening is darkness for you - because it is not yours. You have to get it from yourself, experience your own Buddha-nature. Secondhand awakening is no awakening at all, only a vivid dream. What another person gives you can also be taken away, and, even while you have it, it is just one more hindrance."

Well said... So very well said.

This path is mine and the uniqueness and the preciousness of this human form I inhabit will never cease to amaze me. Is it time to wake up? It could be

Redesigns, refocus and a new name

I've been absent from this blog again.

After years of saying that I'd update the design and structure and get my own domain name, I'm working on it.

Stay tuned.

Pixelated with a spin- Buddhist online conference

My former boss, Mitch Joel blogged about the cool idea of Pixelated - creating a ' new business virtual conference' in that one wouldn't need to leave the comfort of their home to feel like a participant of a day long session but could merely tune in to the selected videos which the 'host sponsor' selected that best illustrated the selected topic.

I read this and thought "Holy Buddha Batman!" This is what I've been doing all these years on this blog. Picking and choosing selected videos that resonate with me (although many of them are old punkrock or skate videos!)

So here for you dear readers is the day-long TMcG sponsored "Pixelated Buddhist Conference". Please join in and create your own as I'd love to see what other great Buddhist videos are out there circulating on the web. Drop me a line if you decided to post your own "Pixelated Buddhist Conference".



Venerable Robina Courtin - "Be Your own Therapist



The 4 Noble Truths - in Claymation



Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche - Spiritual Materialism (2)



Noah Levine- "Anger"



Ram Dass - "on Experience"



Pema Chodron - Why I became a Buddhist



Ethan Nichtern - "One City: A Declaration of Interdependence" reading at Google




His Holiness the 17th Karmapa- "How can we deal with everyday distractions?"



Brad Warner - "Skillful Means"

It's all about the motivation

If we live our lives continually motivated by anger and hatred, even our physical health deteriorates.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Thankful today....

Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn’t learn a lot today,
at least we learned a little,
and if we didn’t learn a little,
at least we didn’t get sick,
and if we got sick,
at least we didn’t die;
so, let us be thankful.

-The Buddha

A big shout out! Barry Briggs rocks (in a very zen blogger way!)

I've been quite negligent in mentioning some new blogs of note that I've been following around the Buddhablogosphere (man I really miss Blogmandu!)

Here are some blogs you really should check out... Thanks to Barry for mentioning these along to me, for all the comments recently and for the great work in blogging such engaging and diverse materials.

www.oxherding.com
Barry's efforts to 'herd the ox' (love the juxtaposition with the Worst Horse, another one of my favourite blogs!)

www.godrinktea.com
Interesting and obscure Zen koans 'for everyday use'. I'm going to start my day off with these.

www.zenwomen.com
Entertaining and engaging stories of female Zen practitioners(Tang Dynasty China)

So I have this friend...

What do you recommend when you have a friend who is stuck?

Stuck on what's comfortable.
Stuck on what's easily understood.
Stuck on what's familiar.
Stuck on what makes them feel solid.

How does a bodhisattva not become a nuisance?

Pema Chodron - Tonglen

My everfavourite Elephant Magazine recently posted several videos featuring Pema Chodron speaking on the practice of Tonglen.

Tonglen really helps me get into the crevices of my practice. I've found it useful in generating equanimity and in cultivating a greater sense of faith and vision in what I'm doing.

I've done the practice for me, for loved ones, for enemies, for everyone and at the end- it's really the aspiration for all to be free from suffering, regardless of whatever form that suffering takes in each one's life.

Tonglen- It's powerful stuff.

The importance of sangha

Sangha is a lot like the mosh pit. Sometimes someone sticks their elbow in your eye. Sometimes they pick you up after your fallen down.

Sometimes there are a bunch of crowd surfers who are just going along with what they've seen on MTV. Sometimes you'll find those who are bombed out of their minds on drink and drugs, while others are straight edge and sober.

We all "walk together / rock together" (lyrics by 7 seconds)

It's Not The Way We Look
It's Not Our Stance Our Style Our Hair
Forget Those Stupid Barriers
Take Down That Flag You Wear
Just People Living On
With Different Hearts And Different Minds
If We Live In The Same World
Why Can't We Stand In The Same Line

If We Can Walk Together
Why Can't We Rock Together

No I Don't Care
If Your Into Different Bands
No Cause For Such Hatred
I'm Just A Different Man
Pull Off The Cover I Will Too
And Learn TO Understand
With Music Deep Inside
We'll Make World Our Unity Plan

If We Can Walk Together
Why Can't We Rock Together

A Label Is A Label
Definition, Nothing More
And Because Of Labels We Have Placed
We Live In Constant War
Destroy All That Tradition
And Live Before You Die
Lets Rock Together From Now On
And Never Be Denied

Selflessness

I'm doing quite a bit more exploration on the theme of no-self and am relieved to have had the point clarified that the self exists but not in the conventional way we think it exists.

It seems like such an esoteric concept to dig into but I'm really finding that it is quite invigorating to peel away at the layers build up upon this seemingly solid TMcG. I was at first quite threatened by this concept but the more I shine the flashlight on it, I'm absolutely fascinated.

Now to not get too hung up on it...

Would you listen to yet another Buddhist podcast?

So I'm toying around with the idea of creating a podcast.

Truth is, I used to do student radio back in university and really miss it and I'm thinking that I'd like to add a semi-regular show to the mix of things I've committed myself to.

I'd like to do something very flux and easy, speaking about some of the subject matter in the Mahayana course I'm taking, life as a Buddhist, death as a Buddhist, attachment as a Buddhist, books, emptiness - INSERT BIG ETCETERA HERE- You know, the usual!

Again, something very simple. Very flux. Random.

Would you listen to something like this? Would you contribute?

Sir Ben Kingsley is just a minor threat

OK. So while this isn't necessarily all that Buddhist aside from the correlation of bald headedness, that some see Gandhi as a bodhisattva and that Ian MacKaye was straightedge, I really thought this video was interesting to say the least



Sir Ben Kingsley STOMPS into the shoes of Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye from Mean Magazine on Vimeo.

Story. Repeat. Story

Watching how my mind can get stuck in a loop.
Story. Repeat. Story.
End result may or may not be the same.
Delight in the improbability that is present.

Toss around the question.
Answer the question.
Question the answer.
Story. Repeat. Story.

Who writes this story?
Who repeats this story?
Who writes this story?

The Trap

As a Maritimer from the East Coast, I'm so interested to see this short film by the National Film Board of Canada.

In a Cape Breton village, Buddhist monks and nuns pray in their abbey, while French-speaking fishermen put out to sea to haul in their lobster traps. Seemingly divided by language, culture and religion, these people share more than meets the eye. The film delicately weaves a connection between the beliefs of the two groups, both regarding life as a cycle.

Once a year, the Buddhist monks and nuns buy the fishermen's last lobster catch and release it back into the sea, believing that these lobsters could be reincarnated in the cycle leading to enlightenment. The fishermen too regard existence as a natural cycle. They preserve life by delicately putting back in the water female lobsters carrying eggs, which will hatch into the lobsters the men's descendants will fish. The film considers mutual respect and tolerance.

What's been going on...

Well aside from the day to day distractions, I've started a new job that I love and one that is more in line with my quest for 'right livlihood'. It is making the world a bit better and celebrating the interconnection between us all so that is something I can at last feel a sense of relief over.

I'm also participating in 2 Nalandabodhi classes this year. A little ambitious for me perhaps, but I'm thinking that the weekly dedicated practice and study sessions could help to deepen my practice. It's great to have a sangha to share with and I think I've found my groove at long last.

Mental stability is here (for now!). I'm clearer and starting to reduce my participation in certain activities that were taking a bit too much 'bandwidth' out of me. Being surrounded by a tribe of positive people both professionally and spiritually is a giant motivator and truly a blessing. I wish this for each of you.

Unfettered Mind : : Ken McLeod's website

While pouring through iTunes last week in search of some new Buddhist podcasts to check out, I happened upon Ken McLeod's "Unfettered Mind" podcasts and was thrilled to see that he is posting his materials online.

As a fan of Ken's book "Wake up to Your Life", I find that his teaching style is very direct and precise. To have the opportunity to hear his talks is very precious.

Check out the link below to listen to the Podcasts and Audio Files available on the website. You'll find many resources available on the Unfettered Mind website such as recommended readings, newsletters, translations and practices.

Introduction to Buddhism - Montreal

For those of you interested in acquainting yourself with Buddhism (of the Tibetan flavour), Nalandabodhi Montreal will be offering a course titled "Introduction to Buddhism: Discovering the Path to Enlightenment" this Fall and I will be helping to co-coordinate it.

For information and registration, please email Jason@nbmontreal.org and let him know that TMcG sent you.

While you wait for this course, check out this little clip with The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Not sure if there will be turbulence in this course.. but we'll see.

BBtv WORLD (Tibet): Inside Lhasa - Boing Boing TV

Quick link time... Summer has gotten to me and I'm trying to keep my digital distractions to an absolute minimum while I gear up to hunker down with some serious study plans this Fall.

Here's a link to a video from Boing Boing's latest episode of their BBtv World video series which offers a glimpse of life around the world.

This clip is shot from Lhasa during the annual Saga Dawa festival.

Enjoy!

BBtv WORLD (Tibet): Inside Lhasa - Boing Boing TV

Meditation is a sacred activity

When a person sits and meditates, it is a special situation; it is a sacred act of some kind. It has been said by Petrul Rinpoche, a great teacher about 100 years ago, that even if you have impure thoughts in the meditation hall, those thoughts are regarded as sacred thoughts. The most impure, most crude or confused thoughts, even those are regarded as sacred thoughts. Along with that, a sense of appreciating the discipline is in itself important, whether you have accomplished the discipline over all or not. If you fall asleep on your cushion, or feel that you haven't actually sat and meditated at all -- as soon as you sit on your cushion, you begin to mentally venture out all over the world, and the only thing that reminds you is when the ending gong sounds and you realize you are meditating, supposedly, physically -- even then, even such daydreams and things like that are important. Meditation is a sacred activity.

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche:
From "The First Foundation: Mindfulness of Body," in the 1973 Hinayana-Mahayana Transcripts, page 39

Shambhala SunSpace

From reading the incomparable buddhablog known as The Worst Horse, I discovered that the incomparable magazine known as the Shambhala Sun has recently launched a new online initiative called "Shambhala Sun Space".

They are considering this an 'experiment in progress" and are looking to bring elements such as daily content, adding podcasts and teachings and exploring how to make the site interactive allowing for dharma practitioners to share with one another.

This looks interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing how this evolves.

When I first became interested in Buddhism, I didn't have a meditation center in my hometown. After some time in Halifax and getting to know the Shambhala Buddhist community better, I found that it was so helpful to have a group to sit and connect with.

Technology is really helping with the spread of Buddhism. I absolute love it.

Thin skinned

Reflecting on this increasing longing I have for people to be kind and gentle with one another has sparked the though I need to be kind and gentle with both others and myself.

It's amazing how hectic we as a society are getting. I'm seeing this without the support of a month long retreat and I'm only wondering what kind of transition I would need from such time away from the frantic to and fro of the world.

I'm wondering if these folks from 'I Heart Huckabees' are around for a consult? Maybe they would be able to help me see some of the 'interconnectivity' that I need to be drawing my mind towards !

Kids are the awesomest

I just devoured the most recent issue of Tricycle magazine tonight which has a great section speaking of the next generation of Buddhists and how we can help to encourage them. In the special section, "Bringing up Buddhists" examples are given to various programs out there to inspire and challenge kids on the Buddhist path.

I particularly appreciate the approach taken in that the groups featured in this series of articles all allow for children to engage in self-discovery and inquiry, rather than a "the Buddha taught this so therefore it's true"- method of indoctrination.

Also particularly interesting in this issue of Tricycle is the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's "2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey" which paints a portrait of an America in which "the 18-to-29 age group is one of the smallest among Buddhist respondents, second only to the 65+ group (7%)."

I've been toying around the notion of writing more material for this young group as I see the efforts of Noah Levine, Ethan Nichtern and Brad Warner and commend them on their work. Again, I appreciate their lack of talking down to this audience or over-selling the dharma in a manner which comes off too 'car salesman like'

We'll see... We'll see.

Oh the photo you ask? That's just me... being awesome in my cozy terrycloth one piece. They don't make 'em like they used to.

Summer homework - -Nalandabodhi style

Summer is the ideal time for me to be "the worst horse" and coast through with avoiding cushion time. I am however, committing myself to daily re-reading of my Nalandabodhi course notes to prepare for this upcoming Fall session of study. Go 'imputed self'! Yay!

My 'Western mind' is much more suited for study than on-cushion meditation. I think I need to start leaving my books, comics, ipod and computer on my cushions so I'll have no choice but to plop down for a session.

Completely off topic
I would so love to see if Ponlop Rinpoche would like to play 'Rock Band'. I hear from sources he is quite the fan of the Rolling Stones.

I'm such a goof sometimes! No wonder I need more 'time out sessions' on the cushion.

Through the kindness of Wisdom Publications

Not a day after my post reviewing David Loy's book "Money, Sex, War, Karma- Notes for a Buddhist Revolution", I was greeted with a note from Joe from Wisdom Publications (the awesome publisher of Loy's materials as well as such books as: "Hardcore Zen" by Brad Warner, "One City - A Declaration of Interdependence" by Ethan Nichtern, "Dear Lama Zopa - Radical Solutions for Transforming Problems into Happiness" by Lama Zopa as well as many books by the Dalai Lama.

Joe contacted me to thank me for my review of Loy's book and offered up a copy of one of David's previous books "The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons" after my mention in my blog post that I was looking forward to reading it.

How awesome is this?

I think it's pretty awesome. First off, for Wisdom Publications to be listening to the opinions of "Buddhabloggers" is pretty cool in my 'books' (pun intended). Secondly, they are publishing books from and for audiences usually left off the radar (youth, punks, eco-greens, women and interfaith individuals).

I'm looking forward to reading Loy's book (as well as the additional book that Joe sent along by Lama Zopa Rinpoche (which is due out in October 2008).

What a pleasant surprise for a Buddhablogger and book lover. Massive thanks go out to Wisdom Publications.

The Venerable Choje Lama Namse Rinpoche:: in Montreal August

Centre Rigpe Dorje in Montreal will be hosting the Venerable Choje Lama Namse Rinpoche August 15, 16 and 17th who will be giving teachings on the 9 stages of calm abiding meditation (aka Shamatha)

Rinpoche was born in Kham, Eastern Tibet in 1930 and become a monk at fifteen years of age. Since 1981, he has served as the Karmapa's representative in Canada as well as Director of Karma Sonam Dargye Ling, the main location in Canada for the Karmapa.

Money, Sex, War, Karma - Notes for a Buddhist Revolution :: a book review

I just finished reading David R. Loy's book "Money, Sex, War, Karma- Notes for a Buddhist Revolution" and with a title like that, it pretty much sums it all up.

Loy writes clearly on these key topics and answers many of the misunderstandings that can arise from misinterpretation of the dharma. (Sharon Stone would take heed to read the chapter on Karma). A strong thread of socially engaged Buddhism is present in his writings and he engages the question of wwbd (what would Buddha do?) in a variety of diverse life scenarios and influences such as vegetarianism, ecology, video games, advertising and genetically modified foods.

I wholeheartedly appreciate that this book features such a wide array of topics as part of its investigation. I also do thank the author for not choosing to barrage his readers with lists of 'things that can be done' as a part of this "Buddhist revolution".

"Money, Sex, War, Karma" is not a manifesto or call to arms but rather a book that puts the power in the readers hands to evaluate how best to be a socially engaged individual, awakening to the potential of what it means to be human in this age.

Please visit Wisdom Publications for more information on this and other super books by David R. Loy ***I'm particularly interested in reading Loy's book "The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons: Buddhist Themes in Modern Fantasy" - which pretty much sounds like an awesome book for a geek like me to read!

update...

Well aside from a big change in my work status where I've left the cocoon of my former trade (Project Manager) to take on a role with an exciting startup as a Community Manager, I've been pretty much in a state of loafyness.

The antidote many say is to rush myself off to a retreat and park butt to cushion. I haven't done a retreat in oh so long and part of that scares me. I really do admire those of us 'laypeople' who practice in the world. Sure the idea of sitting off in an Himalayan cave sounds absolutely frightening to me, but it takes such bravery to also face the world daily and work with our own unique obstacles and challenges.

This morning, I was on the Seinfeld subway ride in which everyone was either trying to push me, smother me, prod me or generally get under my skin. One fellow commuter stepped out of the subway car to let others out and when I tried to hop back in, was promptly shut out. He slammed his fist onto the door and stomped off in a huff. I had that shared connection on feeling that anger. Then I looked at the man who forcefully pushed me aside as he ambled on the subway and tried to evaluate what he was thinking when he barreled through a wee 5ft tall girl to score a seat. I saw a lot of pain in his aging face. No wedding ring and signs of loneliness. Ah all of these projections. I could only wonder what storyline he was creating about me.

almost instant dharma

(Almost) Instant Dharma

If you pay attention for just five minutes, you know some very fundamental dharma: things change, nothing stays comfortable, sensations come and go quite impersonally, according to conditions, but not because of anything that you do or think you do. Changes come and go quite by themselves. In the first five minutes of paying attention, you learn that pleasant sensations lead to the desire that these sensations will stay and that unpleasant sensations lead to the hope that they will go away. And both the attraction and the aversion amount to tension in the mind. Both are uncomfortable. So in the first minutes, you get a big lesson about suffering: wanting things to be other than what they are. Such a tremendous amount of truth to be learned just closing your eyes and paying attention to bodily sensations.

--Sylvia Boorstein, in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Fall 1992

boing boing - How to make a giant cardboard Gandhi

Just in case you are sitting around wondering how you can make a giant cardboard Gandhi... here's the scoop from boing boing.

I guess that's rein-carton-ation. (I know. It's a lame attempt at a joke)

The personality of death

This past weekend I attended my aunt's funeral. Talk hovered in the air around how was aware of how sick and weakened she truly was. The secrecy which she guarded the bitter truth of her illness was honorable and reminded me of how a lioness protects her cubs. She ultimately didn't want her children and family to suffer.

In Buddhism, we are presented with the bitter pill of gulping down that suffering is a part of life. Some of us face it as the truth while others turn away in fright or continue to numb ourselves from this reality.

It struck me how our death manifests in itself so much of our personality- as how we travel through our lives is similar to how we face the truth of death when it presents itself. My aunt preferred to communicate via a series of journals rather than to open up her pain to the world, whereas I twitter, blog and note on facebook every single headache, misfortune or celebration that comes my way.

Death and life are intertwined and interconnected.

We all display such humanity and courage in how we live- and how we die, whether we are conscious and aware of it or not.

To my aunt, you were brave in your silence and you will be missed greatly.

"Crazy Wisdom" - Trailer for documentary on Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

The trailer for 'Crazy Wisdom' , Johanna Demetrakas's film about the life and times of Chogyam Trungpa, is now being shown on GritTV. It looks like a remarkable film which I am highly anticipating. Check out this blog for more information.

Thanks to Carolyn Gimian who mentioned this trailer.

Matt Skiba - Meditator

A few nights ago I had read an interview in this month's Alternative Press with Alkaline Trio's singer Matt Skiba which mentioned him taking up Transcendental Meditation. He speaks highly of fellow TM-er David Lynch's brilliant book "Catching the Big Fish" and cites it as a big influence on his creative process.

Skiba, quoted from the AP interview:

"Meditation has lifted all the fear and anxiety in my life. That makes life quite a bit more enjoyable. When you don't have these things bogging your mind down, it's much easier to concentrate on what you're trying to create and realize your true potential."

I'm looking forward to receiving the Trio's latest album 'Agony & Irony' which is in the post and making its way to my front door as we speak.

Gratitude

A while back I was checking out the roundup of Buddhablogs as I'm want to do each day and I came across a timely post on the subject of Gratitude... This post couldn't come at a better time as I've been feeling a bit wonky and need to generate a bit more reverence for the goodness this world offers.

Check out the blog post and be sure to leave a comment on the The Urban Monk's post on Gratitude

too much of too much

Gah! I've really been neglecting writing and I guess things just got a little wonky with me. This warm weather is such a glorious distraction and coupled with the bounty of great books and movies cropping up this season, I've been keeping a low profile these days. I hope you are all well and I'll be back in a matter of a day or so.

Chris Farley.. A super guy

Last night I finished reading "The Chris Farley Show", a biography about the famed comedian and his descent into drugs and alcohol which ended up killing him.

"The Chris Farley Show is an evocative and harrowing portrait of a family trapped by addiction, a father forced to bury a son, and a gifted and kindhearted man ultimately torn apart by the demons inside him".

Throughout the book, there are so many examples of Chris' kindness towards fans, friends and strangers and his equanimity towards those who weren't part of his tribe of band of comedians

Check out the Chris Farley Foundation if you are interested in helping the charity which was established to help teach kids about the potential dangers drug use in a humourous way.

Dharmacore -the "experience of Buddhism as an Internet-addicted 20-something"

As a 'Buddhist Geek', I was happy to find a new blog on my radar speaking to 'Buddhism for the web generation".

Dharmacore is a straightforward Buddhist blog out of Austin, Texas speaking of the "experience of Buddhism as an Internet-addicted 20-something."

In this particular post from Dharmacore, The top 8 things Buddha had to say about productivity Buddha and productivity guru Merlin Mann both share many of the same recommendations on how to lead an uncomplicated and seamless life. The vinaya or monastic code has many suggestions for how to deal with others and bring harmony to our relations in a community. As a poli-sci grad, I'm especially fascinated by the level of intricacy that went into the development of the over 220 rules stipulated in the vinaya. Being sensitive to one another and finding ways to co-exist peacefully were of utmost importance back in the Buddha's time and it's great to see that not much has changed since then. We're now just blogging and podcasting about these rules now.

I'm very excited to see what wisdom and knowledge comes from Dharmacore's blog

The Devil Came on Horseback

Last night, Mr TMcG and I watched The Devil Came on Horseback, a documentary recounting the photography and account of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle who has dedicated his life to working to expose the tragedy in Darfur.

Seeing Steidle's commitment to helping to share the stories of the absolute terror and suffering experienced by the citizens of Darfur is as inspiring as it is heart wrenching. He has delivered in his promise to the displaced villagers to ensure that their voices are heard.

This "film allows us to witness Steidles transformation from soldier to observer to witness and, finally, to passionate activist and moral hero".

Please visit the Save Darfur website to find out how you can help.

Nick

I remember elementary school Nick.

In particular, one night we shared when we sat on the bleachers at the corner of the schoolyard where many a soccer game was played. The tough kids smoked pot, tobacco, pot + tobacco, scraps of the school yearbook, blades of grass, dogshit, their own hair, ANYTHING smokable and buzzable... all while looking all Spicoli-like.

I was an outsider wearing pink lace hightops and blue glitter in my hair and you lived for Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran even though your brother thought that Nick looked like someone more suited to be a someone's girlfriend rather than that he-man from the videos prowling around jungles, pouncing on nubile Brazilian models or that jaunty Brit-boy tip tapping on synth keys while Jose Eber hairspray-laden gazelles walked the platform around him to the bass heavy, showtune 'Girls on Film'.

You guys had the same name. I always loved that it made you smile having that connection. It made you goofy and human. Like me.

We sat aimlessly looking at the sky, thinking of what we'd end up doing with our lives. Where we'd end up. Who we'd be with. Nick Rhodes?

I kept it to myself that I hoped things would get better for me. That I'd be taken care of and I could finally find escape from being a scarred, scared kid.

You were always smiling and laughing and it made me laugh to make you laugh even when I felt like I had no home and no reason to laugh. The sky seemed so big and so did the world it covered. Not a scary big, but a big that would protect and support me as I discovered it ,
myself
and myself + it.

I knew you'd turn out well Nick and even though the school councilors weren't so sure about me, I had the feeling that I would too.

Strike Anywhere- "Instinct"

Instinct:

So I'll write these words now
for you my friend
here after all this time
we may never sing this one
it's just here as a light to help you
When the power goes out
like the moments you might
shake yourself awake
from those horrible dreams
the only ones we never talk about

The glare of madness
in grown-ups' eyes
the rage that takes
the whole room
by surprise
this vicious trap
the male cultural disguise
is the one we fight against

We Go, We Go, We Go
the one we fight against
We Go, We Go, We Go

So I'll write these words now
for you my friend
here after all this time
we may never sing this one
it's just here
as a light to help you

The sickness
the silence
as you hide in your room
wishing so hard they'd forget
you're alive
but
you're alive
so the sight of broken things
won't mean a pound of flesh
and the time you speak up
won't be repaid by fists
praying not to be missed
the night you ran away

We Go, We Go, We Go
the night you ran away
We Go, We Go, We Go
So I'll write these words now
for you my friend
here after all this time
we may never sing this one
it's just here
as a light to help you

This violence passes for
an apology
the trickle down
in our society

This is for the peace
you never had
This is for the peace
we never had
This is for the peace
we never had

How do we guard the door
against your Dad?

We go, We go, We go
the night you ran away
We go, We go, We go
So I'll write these words now
for you my friend
here after all this time
we may never sing this one
it's just here
as a light to help you

Strike Anywhere are on tour and I'm so very excited to see them here in Canada this week. Check them out if you can as they are awesome.

06.10.2008	Call The Office	London, ON CAN
06.11.2008	The Casbah	Hamilton, ON CAN
06.12.2008	Kathedral	Toronto, ON CAN
06.13.2008	Fouf'ounes	Montreal, QC CAN
06.14.2008	Musicplex	Fredericton, NB
06.15.2008	Coldbrook Lions Hall	Coldbrook, NS CAN
06.17.2008	St. Anne's Hall	Sydney, NS CAN
06.18.2008	Hell's Kitchen	Halifax, NS CAN
06.19.2008	The Manhattan Room	Moncton, NB CAN
06.20.2008	L' Anti	Quebec City, QC CAN
06.21.2008	Babylon	Ottawa, ON CAN
06.22.2008	Victory Tavern	Timmins, ON CAN
06.24.2008	The Royal Albert	Winnipeg, MB CAN
06.25.2008	The Exchange	Regina, SK CAN
06.26.2008	Walkers	Saskatoon, SK CAN
06.27.2008	Avenue Skatepark	Edmonton, AB CAN
06.28.2008	The Stetson	Calgary, AB CAN
06.29.2008	Wild Bill's	Baniff, Alberta CAN

Cassette from my ex

Oooh Oooh. How I love memories and especially when they relate to music and I just came across this amazing little site called Cassette from my Ex which features a story around a relationship plus a "mixtape" from 'back in the day'.

This one by Katy Finch called "Scarface and 40’s" really rocked my word.. Hope it is the perfect punk rock soundscape for you.

Kind of making me want to create a new Muxtape right now...

"Troublemakers"

Thanks to the delightful Integral Options Cafe for posting this video on his exceptional blog.

I (heart) Pema and think she is just delightful.

Integral Options Cafe: Pema Chodron "Troublemakers"

Montreal man seeking ethnic bone marrow donors finds a match

Emru Townsend has found a bone marrow donor!

This is wonderful news for Emru and his family and I wish them all of the best of luck.

What I'm particularly struck by is how insistent Emru and his sister, Tamu are that people continue to help others who are seeking donors. Their joy is overshadowed by a greater need to help others facing the same situation.

As Tamu has mentioned in a recent Facebook posting, "There are still massive shortages in the donor pool, and this will not change unless we continue to care about it. What we do will only be known at the end of March next year. What do we want to see when we get those numbers? That 100 more people have registered or 1000? 10000?"



Their kindness, generosity and selflessness in helping others is unyielding.

Montreal man seeking ethnic bone marrow donors finds a match

i am neurotic

Just saw this website and realized that I display many of the same quirky behaviours as others on this site

Examples:
#1 - I like to sniff glasses before I drink out of them
#2- I'm not fussy when it comes to eating utensils and once ate ice cream off of a square shaped pewter collectors spoon.
#3- I love the smell of my dogs ears and the top of his head
#4- The thought of blood, veins or wrist cutting makes me freak out. Like jump around style freakout
#5- I own about 14 black dresses, some of which have no distinguishing features that set them apart
#6- I travel with food due to my allergies and carry massive amounts of sweet potatoes cross Canada

i am neurotic.

but that's cool

Eco Dharma- Venerable Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche will be teaching at nine Shambhala Centres throughout North America in July

From The Shambhala News Service::::

At the Sakyong’s request, Venerable Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche will be teaching at nine Shambhala Centres throughout North America in July. Some of the topics he will be teaching on will be: Gesar of Ling, Eco-dharma and Socially Engaged Buddhism (see You Tube links below.) Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche is dharma heir to His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche and brother of Khandro Tseyang. Jigme Rinpoche is known for his fluency in English and his lively, direct, fluid, humorous and down to earth teaching style. His clear and fresh outlook very quickly cuts through cultural and personal misperceptions about the Buddhadharma.

Please contact those centres directly for registration information as it becomes available. Those listed with live links have current information on these programs.
July 4-6 Halifax Shambhala Centre
July 8-9 Washington DC Shambhala Center
July 10 Baltimore Shambhala Center (details pending)
July 11-13 Atlanta Shambhala Center (details pending)
July 15-16 Chicago Shambhala Center (details pending)
July 17 Milwaukee Shambhala Center (details pending)
July 18-20 Berkeley Shambhala Center (details pending)
July 22-23 Vancouver Shambhala Centre
July 25-27 Boulder Shambhala Center

Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche was born in India in October, 1968. He is the son of the renowned Terton, His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rabjam Rinpoche, holder of the Ripa lineage. Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche is the holder of two spiritual lineages, including both the Nyingma Ripa Lineage, a dungjud or hereditary line, into which he was born, and which he will hold in future as heir, as well as head of the Pema Lingpa lineage of Gyeling Orgyan Mindrolling monastery in the hidden land of Pemako, which he carries forward from his previous life, as tulku.

In addition to fulfilling his role as a spiritual teacher, Jigme Rinpoche began, in September 1993 in Orissa, to fulfill his humanitarian role as a socially engaged Buddhist, a term he is happy to known by, and which has become a central part of his life's work. Born in India, Jigme Rinpoche, has firsthand experience of the plight of Tibetan refugees and local villagers alike in finding and retrieving potable water. This inspired him to found the Pure Water Project, for which he received great admiration and a citation from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile.

ALLUMENTARY

I really really really can't wait for this documentary to come out.

lotus photos

I had taken these photos last summer at the Botanical Gardens when my mind was very much a muddy pool.

Such amazing beauty is able to grow from the muddy spackle and paste..

Purification junkies

There's a heck of a lot of detox going on. Everybody's doing it and it intensifies right around the Spring season where the melting snow sets off alarm bells in the colons of many North Americans.

I laugh when I catch this one radio ad speaking of eliminating 'the years of spackle and paste' that builds up in one's intestinal walls. Really? 'spackle and paste?'

I'm currently reading a book on Tibetan Medicine and there are so many references to purification so I'm wondering if I'm late to the purification party or I"m just confused with the approach that we're OK as we are in this present moment - all 'spackley and pastey' or if we need to work to eliminate years and years of toxic buildup.

Any thoughts?

Interview with Ethan Nichtern by Mark Molaro

Just watched this video clip done by Mark Molaro with Ethan Nichtern and think it's a great introduction to the "One City" book and Interdependence Project.

I really admire Ethan for helping to spread the dharma and doing so in such a lighthearted, clear, humourous and real-world manner.

If you haven't read the book "One City" yet, please do check it out as it's one that always makes my "most read" booklist.

Facebook | Canada-Tibet Committee

For all of you pro-Tibet Facebookers and you know who you are... the Canada Tibet Committee has created a group to share news and updates.

Facebook | Canada-Tibet Committee

Sigh. I just love the internet for things like this.

Right Livlihood - oh that topic again...

I found the following quote via the Lotus in the Mud blog as I sit here at my desk job listening to The Ramones "Rock and Roll Radio" and think dreamily of a job which would help me to do good in the world.

I'm always get myself involved and over committed to things I think I want to be a part of only to realize that what I ended up with was just more anger, stress and anxiety. I guess I feel some comfort in that I realize that I'm feeling like I need a change rather than just sitting in the boiling pot.

Damm if the 'more balanced, simple, clear and focused life' doesn't sound ideal to me right now... Or am I just grasping? I'm having my mid-life career crisis early!


Those of us who start on the path to right livelihood find that our lives are more balanced, simple, clear, and focused. We are no longer strung out in a meaningless cycle of material consumption. The contemporary economy focuses on this cycle of consumption. It doesn't really support our efforts to find meaningful work. Today, work is a means to consume or to pay debt for consumption already indulged in. How many people do you know who really love the work they are doing? How many feel bored and alienated? How many are simply earning the money to spend it on material pleasures? Right livelihood demands that you take responsibility for making your work more meaningful. Good work is dignified. It develops your faculties and serves your community. It is a central human activity.
~ Roger Pritchard, in Claude Whitmyer's Mindfulness and Meaningful Work

Lama Phuntsok Montreal visit

Centre Rigpe Dorje in Montreal will be hosting Lama Phuntsok for a series of talks on Triyana : The 3 vehicles of Buddhism on June 13, 14 and 15th. He is the director of Thopaga Foundation - a centre in Kitchener, Ontario and regularly gives talks to community groups and educational insitutions.

For more information on the weekend, visit the Centre Rigpe Dorje website for details.

‘Peace panties’ from Canada

OK ladies.. get your knickers in an envelope and send them over to the Burmese Embassy in Ottawa to protest the actions of the country's military regime.

The Panties for Peace! campaign is basically aimed to play on the military junta's superstitious fear that contact with a woman's undergarment will rob them of their power,” organiser Mika Levesque of the Rights & Democracy Student Network told IANS.

She said, “We appeal to every Canadian woman to clean up her drawer, choose one piece of panties, glue a picture of the military rulers on it or scribble some slogan or message for the junta and then register it with us before sending it to the Myanmar embassy in Ottawa. Registering with us will help us to keep track of how many panties have been sent to the embassy.”

Levesque added, “Like all other cultures, there was a superstitious fear of female undergarments in Myanmar. Its military junta fears that any contact with panties will spell disaster for them. So ours is a non-violent method to force change in Myanmar.”

To get involved...

1) Find a pair you wish to send and write a message on them (for example: «Free Burma»
and/ or print and stick the photos of the military dictators on them from this website

2) You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!

The one closest to Montreal is:
Ambassade du Myanmar
85 Range Rd, 903
Ottawa (Ontario) K1N 8J6

3) Register your panties on the site www.ptitesculottespourlapaix.ca so they'll know how many pairs have been sent

The results of this campaign will be revealed August 8th 2008, the 20th anniversary of the uprising of 8-8-88


For more information on the Panties for Peace campaign, check out this article, the official website (in French) and this website (in English)

We got two Jealous Agains- Most romantic love song ever...

When I met Mr. TMcG, I knew he was the one.

It didn't take long but I knew that he was someone who I'd want to grow old with, could laugh each and every day with and would remain dedicated to irregardless of whatever obstacles faced us on our path together.

I'd always hear love songs and scoff at the overly flowery emotions which sounded too constructed and contrived.

Then NOFX come along and write this,,, the most beautiful love song I've ever heard..




I thought you were the one when I heard holidays in the sun come
From your bedroom but my mind started to stray when I saw youth of today
Mixed with your singles whats with this underdog
And this gnr ep? I dont think hanoi rocks
And I dont want your paul stanley next to my subhumans gatefold
Im not trying to be a jerk but I dont think this record mergers gonna work

But when I saw christ on parade, and this is boston, not la
I knew you were the one
I knew you were for me when I saw the first vandals ep
I found snfu and cool I owned that record too
Seems we both had social unrest and sung shes a pervert nurse
We both had the first pressing of how could hell be any worse

So now we got two earth ads and we got two killing jokes
We got two adolescents two penis and two the crews
We got two someone got their head kicked ins
We got two declines, two damaged
And two jealous agains, I knew you were the one

When I saw machine gun etiquette
I knew you were the one when I saw the peace war comp
We got two articles of faith, 31 minutes of group sex
We got a couple of avengers, and a pair of out of steps
We got 2 what we do is secret, we got 2 tsols
We got 2 freedom of choices we got two three hits from
Hells
I knew you were the one

You weren't there!!!

This is such a cute story and adorable animation showing how we create and construct our memories of events so vividly but sometimes without even being there.

dhamma musings - Buddhist blog I"m currently following

One of my favourite things about having this blog in my life is that I get to come across blogs from other Buddhists which serve to bring much more to my own practice and analysis.

Here is one such blog which has come my way - dhamma musings
Enjoy

Global Oneness project

The Global Oneness project is a site I just stumbled upon via a video they feature on their site of an interview with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa. It is a website with videos exploring the theme of oneness and our interconnectedness.

We hope that by showing the diverse ways oneness is expressed—in the fields of sustainability, conflict resolution, spirituality, art, economics, indigenous culture, and social justice—others will be inspired to create solutions to personal and community challenges from their own lived understanding of oneness.

Global Oneness project

Here is a video from Tibetan Buddhist monk and scholar Geshe Kalsang Damdul on how "Selfishness is the Root Cause"

Lagwagon - Montreal in September

One of my all time favourite bands will be coming to my town in the Fall and no doubt it will be all that I talk about for the next millennium. I will try not to be insufferable and turn this blog into a Lagwagon fan site. I will try...

New Weezer video - Soooo fun

OK so it's fun for a power-pop, internet fiend like myself.

Buddhist Forums

I just found a link to a great little community which is starting out on the Buddhist Forums website so you can find me lurking around there these days, asking questions and participating in their virtual sangha.

Thanks to Precious Metal for bringing this one to my attention and thanks to Loden Jinpa for starting this community.

Tibetan Medicine? Any thoughts?

I'm a fragile little one. I'm allergic to everything. A simple peanut can kill me. Has anyone been treated using Tibetan medicine for allergies and general wonky body imbalances?

The Masculine Heart- a new blog on the block

I've always enjoyed the Integral Options Cafe blog so I'm THRILLED to see that William has created a new blog called The Masculine Heart with the purpose to explore "the strong, tender heart inherent in men."

Well done William and thank you for your contribution to making the world a better place - for men and women alike.

Lhadon Tethong on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

Students For A Free Tibet's leader - Lhadon Tethong was recently featured on CBC's The Hour with Strombo and she did a great job in expressing the current situation in Tibet and was so well-spoken.

Check out the video via the link below to this clip from the CBC -
Lhadon Tethong on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

Adrian Sudbury - wish to help others

I received this article from a friend whose brother is also on the search for a bone marrow transplant and who is also looking to gain more awareness to bone marrow donation and registration.

It is a very inspiring story of someone who is using their last moments of life to help others. Truly inspiring and I wish to honor Adrian for his courage, bravery and his absolute selflessness.

BBC NEWS | Health | Fighting to the death for donors

Please spread the word to help to realize Adrian's last wish. Please Digg the article, email it to someone, join his Facebook group, send him words of support via his blog or lend some space to your blog for bringing attention to this cause.

Alltop - Religious News - How I keep up

I love technology - sometimes a little too much and the information overload that results gets a bit overwhelming.

I wanted to pass along a site I appreciate which gives me breaking Buddhist news at a glance and in a way which is shall we say 'zen-like minimialism'!

Sure beats the 10,000+ RSS items I have festering away in NetNewsWire. Gaah...

Alltop :Religious News

Kind Blog Badge (via the Vu D'ici blog)

What a great sentiment this is and I am going to add this badge to my blog.

OK... So maybe I've been a little mean to some pop culture celebrities but I'm happy to say that overall, my blog is pretty positive and kind to others.

Thanks to MC for spotting this site and bringing it to my attention via her beautiful, creative and inspiring blog Vu D'ici

Kind Blog

The practice is each and every day

I often fall into the trap of thinking I'm not practicing enough.

Geez I'm rough on myself!

Today I had the flash that there isn't a ruler measuring how dharmic I am and even if there was, it would be encouraged that I question the existence of that ruler!

I love that quote about 'the path is the goal' and it's so true. All of this living. All of this mundane dishwashing, internet surfing, Battlestar Gallactica watching, allergy-suffering, working 9-5 and feeling like a confused 20something trapped in an adult's body is my path.

It's my workable, fucked up, brilliant, funny, sad, joyous path... and it is to be embraced and looked at fearlessness and with a sense of wonder and curiosity. Who knows where it will all end up. That's the exciting part.*

*What's also exciting is that it used to be so scary... This Type A gal usually likes to know where she's going, how to get there and who will be sitting beside her.

Zen Unbound- Where did it bound off to?

I miss the Zen Unbound blog and wonder where it ended up. Does anyone have any information on if it will be resurrected?

Off topic, if you - dear reader are following my blog and I'm not following yours, please drop me a line. I'm always looking for new blogs to add to this blogroll...

Bloggers Unite for Human Rights - May 15th

Today is the Bloggers Unite for Human Rights day in which bloggers around the world lend their voices to those global causes which they wish to see coverage given to.

I can't just choose one issue. There are so many urgent actions that need our attention so I'm dedicating this blog post dedicating a wish to all sentient beings everywhere to be free from suffering.

This post contains an aspiration for animals to feel no pain, for children to grow up happy and safe regardless of their geo-physical location, for our elderly to not be alone and feel like they are no longer of value, for people to feel the freedom to recognize their potential and for those how are inflicting pain and suffering onto others to realize that their actions come from confusion.


We are all interdependent. We easily feel the pain of those in China, in Burma, in our own backyards and in our minds.

I dedicate that I will try my best not bring any additional confusion or suffering into this world, but work to help be of benefit.

Law, Buddhism and right livelihood

Japanese criminal law texts.
Originally uploaded by umjanedoan

Did you hear the one about the lawyer and the buddha? No? Neither did I. That's why I'm asking if there are any lawyers in the house?

I'm giving more and more thought to right livelihood these days and I'm going to be applying to law school in the winter to give it a go.

It's a childhood dream of mine (as a child of divorce- you get to know lawyers pretty early in your life!) and feel like it would be a good way for me to exercise wisdom, compassion and service. Am I deluded?

May 15th -Bloggers Unite - Blogging for Hope

Bloggers Unite is an initiative designed to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support 3rd world countries.

Bloggers Unite - Blogging for Hope

May 15th - What will you be blogging about? Stay tuned for tomorrow to see what topic I will cover.

Finding Common Ground - St.Lukes United and Shambhala

I found this cool article online in The Chronicle Herald (one of Halifax, Nova Scotia's local newspapers) featuring details on how members of St Lukes United Church and the local Shambhala Buddhist centre are hanging out and getting to know one another's traditions .

Finding Common Ground: TheChronicleHerald.ca

Does your practice centre do this kind of thing? What's your take? Is this kind of interfaith exploration important?

Where are all the Montreal Tibetan Buddhist practitioners?

Way back, I had the intention to work on a local Dharma Punx group however, I'm not of the Vipassana persuasion so that didn't really go all that far for me.

I'm just wondering where the Montreal Tibetan Buddhist practitioners are at?

If you are of this 'demographic', please email me some details (to be kept confidential if you wish):

What do you consider your main practice centre in Montreal or do you go to many centres around the city?
Do you have a teacher or Buddhist mediation instructor here in Montreal?
Do you practice yoga as well?
How long have you been practicing Tibetan Buddhist meditation?

Dalai Lama prays for China earthquake victims

The earthquake victims in China this past week require our assistance. This has been a massive tragedy and a disaster which has caused so much suffering.

In Canada, our Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and Bev Oda, the international co-operation minister have expressed Canada's ability to provide humanitarian assistance when needed. I'm waiting for details on how people can contribute and providing aid. I can only hope that the effort will be more coordinated that what is happening in Burma.

Check out the Dalai Lama's aspiration via this link:
The Associated Press: Dalai Lama prays for China earthquake victims

Remembering Nana on Mother’s Day

This is a beautiful piece which was run on Sunday in The New York Times.

Remembering Nana on Mother’s Day - The New York Times
(Illustration by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki)

Tibetan Freedom Torch...

The Montreal leg of the Freedom Torch relay will start at 11:00 AM on Friday, May 16^th at Parc Kelso in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. The Torch will travel by bike along the Lachine Canada to the Old Port where it will be passed to a series of runners travelling along St. Paul to Beaver Hall and along Rene Levesque to Westmount Park. The Torch will then be biked via the de Maisonneuve bike path to Berri and finally to Parc Lafontaine where it will be passed to a series of walkers who will carry the Torch to the Olympic Stadium for a welcoming ceremony beginning at 5:00 PM.

For more information on other events occurring throughout Canada, please check the
Canada Tibet Committee website.

In or Out?

Ideas are not solid, if they are not founded on aggression or dogma. We can have open ideas. There is no problem with that. Ideas are not really founded on solid ground at all. They are just...ideas, which is a very important point. If you completely buy into someone else's idea or version of spirituality, it's like being caught in the jaws of a crocodile. This is one of the problems with many approaches to spirituality: either you are in it or you are not in it. In or out. You can't actually experience the space between the two. That is a problem, and that seems to be a spiritual materialistic trick to use on people: trying to save them from their experience. That approach is based on a hesitation or inability to provide everything legitimately, step by step. If the leaders of a spiritual group feel somewhat inadequate, they may tell potential students, "Buy it or don't buy it." That seems to be too cheap. Spiritual discipline is not based on becoming somebody else. But you become you in your enlightened version. That is the whole point.

From OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa.

Free marrow-donor kit and registration

The National Marrow Donor Program is running a campaign from May 5 to 19 with
free registration for the first 10 000 people who register with them online during this period. This allows those who want to get on the registry who haven't been able to afford it to reigister online with a cheek swab kit, WITHOUT EVEN LEAVING HOME. Ethnicity plays a huge part in matching and this will be of help to Emru...

From the heal Emru website:
"You may know Emru Townsend as an animation or technology writer and blogger. You might have run into him at an animation event or conference. A husband and father, you may know him as an old or new friend. Or you might not know him at all.

In mid-December, Emru was diagnosed with leukemia, and a condition called monosomy 7. Due to the monosomy 7, he has an increased risk of the leukemia coming back, no matter how successful chemotherapy is. This is where you can help save his life. "

For more information, check out the link on Boing Boing

The US Campaign for Burma. Burma: It Can't Wait

Please click here to help raise a million voices of support for Burma in 30 days and join the US Campaign for Burma.

While you're at it, watch a video with a serious Will Farrell describing the campaign and the reasons why this is important.

Strike Anywhere- Touring Canada

Oh I'm is sooo happy that Strike Anywhere will be touring Canada this summer and will be playing Montreal June 13th along with the awesome Canuck band The Flatliners.

If you'd like to hear more from these punk rock standouts, check out some of their MP3's on their most awesome record label, Fat Wreck Chords.

Being media shy and egoless

So I'm shy by nature. As a young kid, I never really sought attention from anyone aside from my parents. Attention seekers always made me feel uncomfortable and to some extent, they still do.

I had to recite the poem 'In Flanders Fields' for a school Remembrance Day pageant and was certain that only a swig of hooch and handful of kiddie Prozac would be enough to calm my shaking knees and wobbily stomach.

Then came punk rock music in my teen years and the challenge of not being on the receiving end of attention by having a mohawk in a little city in small town, bluecollar Canada. Taunts of 'Cut your hair freak", "You're ugly" and several run-ins with school officials helped me to see that perhaps attention seeking for a cause and with the purpose of social change is a good thing.

I never spit back at them. I just felt bad for those kids that would never be open minded and curious enough to give rise to further examination to the world they were living in.

Jump forward to my adult life and being someone who embraces social media both personally and professionally. Last week, I was interviewed for a local technology publication and walked around the whole day blushing, nervous and fearful of what would become of this foray into publicness.

I hate promoting myself and am really trying to walk the delicate line between being one of those assholes you hate sitting next to at a party who drones on and on about what they do for a living and being someone who is a business professional looking to advance themselves career-wise.

So this photo pretty much captures how I feel about being the centre of attention. It's a delicate balance of enjoying the attention while wanting to shield myself from anything negative or hurtful.

Life is full of sharpness, aggression, suffering and pain as well as joy, tenderness, comfort and pleasure.

We sometimes wear masks to cover and shield ourselves... but there is some brightness and fearlessness that peeks through giving a glimmer of wisdom.

More books.. I see

Librarything is a pretty cool site which allows people to list what's on their bookshelf. They feature a group listing relating to what was on the bookshelves of those famous people who have since passed on. I think it's pretty cool to see what these historical figures were reading.

I See Dead People['s Books] | LibraryThing

Currently (while I'm alive.. ) I have several books on the go:

Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody" - A book about organizing without organizations

Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story- Laugh-out funny, weird and wonderful. I want to take a roadtrip with Chuck but would be scared of what he'd write about me and my musical taste.

Blue Pills- A Positive Love Story by Frederik Peeters- What can I say? I like my comics deep and this one is beaaautiful with such depth and exploration of what it means to be truly in love.

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol.1 Eiji Otsuka, Housui Yamazaki
More comics.. Described best as per the Dark Horse website...
Your body is their business! Five young students at a Buddhist university, three guys and two girls, find little call for their job skills in today's Tokyo . . . among the living, that is! But all that stuff in college they were told would never pay off-you know, channeling, dowsing, ESP-gives them a direct line to the dead . . . the dead who are still trapped in their corpses and can't move on to the next reincarnation.

Oh and some good music to accompany these reads is the podcast from Wade and George from Alexisonfire and the High Minded Low Lives podcast (*warning* To listen to this, you must like punkrock and dragqueens)

A writing project for India

I received an email from a member of the Shambhala newsgroup mentioning this interesting writing project which is currently underway and seeking submissions.

It's not too late to get involved and sounds like such an interesting project.

_____________________________________________________
I wanted to ask you to participate in an art project I am working on, which will take place beginning on April 26th and be active for 3 weeks in Mcleod Ganj, India.
The project will consist of a communication between people both living in and traveling through McLeod Ganj. Mcleod Ganj is an incredibly international tourist site in the foothills of the Himalayas. More importantly, it's also the home of the Dalai Lama, and the political center for Tibetans in exile. The population here includes tourists who stay for any length of time, Tibetans who have just left Tibet and come here often planning to go back, Tibetans who are born here and see this as an inauthentic home, nomadic Indian shepards, Kashmiri migrant workers, and the list goes on.

From my perspective, the town's transitory and international nature often creates a feeling of liminality, where people who are moving through the space are more free to be intimate with each other while remaining anonymous to each other in a variety of ways. The structure of this project, and that way it functions will seek to mirror this type of interaction.

The project involves 2 golden boxes which are shaped like New England barns. They will be situated in different parts of the town, and monitored by different people in the community during the 3 week duration of the project. Inside one of the boxes will be incense which has been blessed by the Dalai Lama. We will be offering people a stick of the incense. This offering is particularly relevant to this area, where many tourists come to see the Dalai Lama, and many Tibetans move here from Tibet to be close to him.

In the other box (this is the part where you will hopefully come in!) will be single page writings (poems, prose, letters, journals, any kind of writing!) that we will also be offering to people on the street. We will be encouraging people on the street to write something themselves to leave in the box.

I hope that you can contribute by sending me pieces of writing that you have done in the past or are working on now. Again, the writing can be any style, any type; a journal entry, a poem, a short story, prose, whatever. The only limitation is that each piece has to be contained in one page. The box will contain writing in many different languages, so you can also send your writing in any language that you choose. The more writing you send the better! So feel free to email me as much as you like.

I really hope to include as many people's words in this project as possible, so forward this to whoever you think may be into it!

If you are interested in submitting any material, please email e.g.tobin@gmail.com and include the writing project in your subject line.

Buddhist bloggers -How many are there really?

Just wondering if there are any stats out there on which religious groups are the ones most actively using technology?

I often receive Twitter invites from Christians who would like for me to "follow their tweets" but I only know of about 7 twitterers who are of a Buddhist-persuasion. Are you using Twitter and should I be following you?

TV Party: Punk Rock on TV « Chips and Salsa

Oh this is awesome... A round up of some of the best clips of punkrock on TV

I so remember that Quincy episode. I'm feeling old now.


TV Party: Punk Rock on TV « Salsa and Chips

Lama Rabten- Teachings on the 6 Paramitas & the 7 Branch Prayer

CENTRE RIGPE DORJE and Nalandabodhi Montreal
are hosting Lama Rabten this coming weekend
(May 3 & 4th) who will be speaking on The 6 Paramitas and 7 Branch Prayer.

I will be certain to be in attendance and am looking forward to a deeper understanding of the paramitas, which are (in no particular order)....

1. Generosity
2. Discipline
3. Patience
4. Exertion
5. Meditation
6. Wisdom

(I will need to pay special attention during the talks on exertion since I'm so darn lazy)

For those of you who are curious about the 6 Perfections, you can see a detailed list of notes plus a link to teachings by the Venerable Thubten Chodron, via this link

It's all part of the experience

A few days ago I was speaking with one of my friends and noted that I've noticed that I've lost my usual sense of fear in situations where I'd usually panic. This coincides with the removal of my 4 wisdom teeth a few years ago, so I'm left wondering if the eyes are the gateways to the soul, then are wisdom teeth truly related to wisdom?

Anyone know of any 'old wives tales' on this?

In other news, my allergies are knocking me out, life is busy and I often wonder how one cultivates 'right livlihood'.

I need a Buddhist angel investor

We Make It Good - Link to Harold Hunter book

Just found this link from a new blog I've come across which is ultimately one of the coolest blogs I've seen in a while.

They've got a great link to a book all about niceguyskater Harold Hunter.

We Make It Good - Book- Remembering Harold Hunter

and check some of his skating set to a bit of the Wu...Smooth

Bad Religion - Were Only Going to Die

Beautiful spring day deserves some Bad Religion.

Love...

In order to develop love ~ universal love, cosmic love, whatever you would like to call it ~ one must accept the whole situation of life as it is, both the light and the dark, the good and the bad. One must open oneself to life, communicate with it.
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

I've usually fallen into the cocoon of feeling discomfort with love. Cultivating a little, gloomy snailshell over my heart and feeling jealous of those who could drift through relationships with ease. I remember wondering why love had to feel so heavy, so stifling, so goal-oriented. Like I was in some kind of race with my lover on who could love more or love less. Never a balance. Distinct over analysis.

Well the same has been true on the meditation cushion...

Well the same has been true in life...

Letting go of the grasping and the clinging is taking me some time, but I'm beginning to see some positive come out of working with the tension that life and love offer to me.

The freedom feels exhilarating, then it slips out of my hand...

and that's OK

What are you looking for?

Any Questions?
Originally uploaded by jamuraa

I'm rethinking this blog but would love your help in this.

What brings you here? Is it the Buddhism, the punk rock, the stream of consciousness bla bla, the charming links I post ad nauseum? Is it one thing in particular or the sum of it all?

Do I post enough, not enough, too much?

Is there anything that you miss? That you dislike? That you'd like to see me explore?

Would you listen to a podcast? Watch a videocast?

I truly appreciate any and all suggestions. Please post them in the comments section and if you wish to keep them private, just indicate that to me.

Scott Campbell Tattoo - amazing tattoos

I'm all about speedlinking to videos these days. Call it lack of time. Call it the fact that spring is in the air and I'm winding down on one of my Buddhist courses and feeling all pollen-y, rethinking a blog redesign, rethinking right livelihood, awe-struck that Death Cab for Cutie are touring and a new Weezer album is coming out.

All that considered, here's a link to a guy who I'm wanting to do some work on my pelt if I get to make it to the NY area (hopefully this summer).





Scott Campbell Tattoo

Meditate and Destroy on 'From Here to Awesome'

Check out this trailer from the blog "From Here to Awesome" for the movie on Dharma Punk Noah Levine.

I'm really hoping this film will make it to Canada! Someone please drop me a line if you hear of any showings.

Meditate and Destroy

Humanitarian Dream

Well this was a welcome sight in my inbox given all of the images that came out of running the torch outta town.

Steve Varon, who I blogged about earlier has just launched a website called Humanitarian Dream in which he shares his dream with the world.

"Imagine the Dalai Lama carrying the Olympic torch past the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet – or anywhere else along the torch relay route. That is my dream, my vision. A vision that represents the Olympic spirit of peace and will instill hope for all people around the world."

When I first saw this video, I was taken with Steve's wish and was struck by his desire to bring everyone together and unite rather than run down the path of hatred and animosity.

Rather than see this situation degrade further, I believe that more people should support Steve in his cause and lend their voices. Please spread the word on this and help Steve to see his dream realized, and in turn, help bring peace and rest to this issue which has troubled the Tibetans for so long.

Yes I know my dual mind is showing in that I have a 'No Torch for Tibet' banner right beside this one. I support any outcome in which the Tibetans are guaranteed human rights they rightfully deserve.

the elliott issue: interview with joey cape - by thomas j. doan

Oh Oh Oh...

This is the most exciting news... Acoustic Joey Cape album is coming soon. This really made my day.

the elliott issue: interview with joey cape - by thomas j. doan

Coca Cola monks?

I'd like to teach the world to sing. In perfect harmony.

Chinese bloggers claim Coca-Cola backs Tibetans | World news | The Guardian

Chogyam Trungpa Tribute Page- The Chronicle Project

I could have only wished to have been fortunate enough to have met you personally, but that is just the formality of being in this body at that time.

Maybe I wasn't ready for you to be my teacher. To sit in the meditation hall while you taught your students about life, fearlessness, being humble and warriorship.

I feel like I know you from your words, your writing, the grainy images I see of you from taped talks. You are a teacher which transcends. Transcends all. Beyond conception.

To read others who have posted their thoughts on this great teacher this time of Parinirvana, please visit the Chogyam Trungpa Tribute Page

Kenji Miyazawa - Spring and Ashura

I was reading a back issue of New Scientist magazine and was struck by an article written on the 20th century Japanese poet Kenji Miyazawa. A Nichiren Buddhist and science teacher, he was enamored with science, nature and the observation of phenomena. From the article, it stated that "... his world view is that one's faith and one's essential goodness are enriched by the methods and discoveries of science."

This particular poem caught my attention:

The phenomenon called I
Is a single blue illumination
Of a presupposed organic alternating current lamp
(a composite body of each and every transparent spectre)
The single illumination
Of karma's alternating current lamp
Remains alight without fail
Flickering unceasingly restlessly
Together with the sights of the land and all else
(the light is preserved... the lamp itself is lost)

Before and after death - A photo exhibit

Yet again, the fabulous Boing Boing have posted something which has simultaneously blown and rocked my mind.

German photographers Walter Schels and Beate Lakotta have a show of their extraordinary before-and-after-death photos opening on April 9 at the Wellcome Trust in London.

Wrenching and beautiful before-and-after-death photos - Boing Boing

It's fascinating to see the images of those who have accepted death and the peace which has graced their faces in contrast with those that have experienced more suffering in the face of their time of death.

As someone who is still exploring my attitudes and feelings towards dying, I find this photo exhibit so valuable and useful. Not sure if I'd invite the photographers in to snap shots of my visage- I'm still attached and vain like that!

Achy breaky tailbones?

I've had a sore tailbone for the past month now. Can anyone recommend any yoga poses to help me improve the spot where my monkey tail fell off? Could it be my horrid posture?

Chinese-Canadians rally in support of homeland

Students For a Free Tibet Canada posted on their blog about the recent pro-China rally held in Toronto.

Read more by visiting this link

I've always found it important to tell both sides of the story in order to fight against the duality that causes us to solidify a concept of self. Further to this, I read a quote recently by the The Dalai Lama which resounded with me.

“Every night in my Buddhist practice I give and take. I take in Chinese suspicion. I give back trust and compassion. I take their negative feeling and give them positive feeling. I do that every day.”

It is important not to paint all of the Chinese with the same brushstroke perception of evil but to have hope that they will work to reach a peaceful agreement which allows for Tibetan autonomy and the freedom to be Tibetans in their homeland.

Lagwagon - Violins Live

It's been a while since I've posted a video and as a quiet sunny Sunday passes by with the pugdog sips some water and Mr TMcG reads 'Persepolis', I wanted to share the soundtrack song of the day. This video helped me to clean the sound of MC Hammer's 'Can't Touch This' out from my synapses. Hope you like it.

Free Tibet protesters being beaten in NEW YORK CITY. « theworsthorse.net

You all know by now that I love The Worst Horse website... And like Biggie says "if you don't know, now you know."

There's a video currently on the worst horse website which shows a peaceful march for Tibet which turns ugly. No, this footage isn't from China or India, it's from New York City. Why police officers would threaten to kill Buddhist protesters walking peacefully down the street, carrying flags is beyond me but hey, maybe things have changed a bit in the US of A and pro-Tibet supporters are a bigger threat than previously imagined.

Watch this NOW! Free Tibet protesters being beaten in NEW YORK CITY. « theworsthorse.net

Monday, March 31st is the Global Day of Action for Tibet. Click here for details on events happening here in Canada

Do you match Emru?

Emru Townsend, a well-known animation writer and blogger is in need of a bone marrow transplant. You can help.


In mid-December, Emru was diagnosed with leukemia, and a condition called monosomy 7. Due to the monosomy 7, he has an increased risk of the leukemia coming back, no matter how successful chemotherapy is. This is where you can help save his life.

Emru needs a bone marrow transplant. This kind of therapy is administered through a transplant of bone marrow stem cells from a matching donor. The highest chances for a match are from siblings, but his only sister is not a match. As a result, he must to turn to national and international bone marrow registries to find a compatible donor. There are 11 million donors worldwide, but there is still no guarantee that he will find a match: The chances of matching another person can be as high 1 in 450 or lower than 1 in 750,000. Time is of the essence as the optimal window of opportunity is in the first few months after remission. While anyone, anywhere can be a potential match, his best chance for a match comes from a donor who shares his ethnic background. As the son of two African Carribean parents, his chances are further diminished as blacks are underrepresented in bone marrow registries worldwide.

Please, please, please lend a hand and do what you can, wherever you are.

For more information, please visit this link.

Not enough pug photos on this blog

I'm really not posting enough photos of Bob McG. Here we are looking very literary and librarical.

Allen Finsberg- Reads 'Howl'

Has Ginsberg reincarnated as a floppy dolphin handpuppet?

Thanks to BoingBoing for this link.

Issue Oriented - the podcast

I'm currently looooving Issue Oriented podcast

which is described as "an internet radio show for thoughtful people with good taste in music. From across punk, hardcore, indie, metal and beyond, Ronen Kauffman invites some of the culture industry's most compelling personalities to have meaningful discussions on real topics. Unlike most podcasts, ISSUE ORIENTED is neither boring nor a waste of your time."

Vigil for Tibet - Montreal, March 23rd

We attended the vigil for Tibet held outside of Place des Arts yesterday and it was a remarkable event. Although it was a small group participating in this peaceful prayer session, it was a devoted group of both those in the local Tibetan community as well as their supporters.

The afternoon began with a briefing about the situation in Tibet and led into a minute of silence to honor and remember those who had been killed in the violence. We then participated in a prayer vigil and chanted the mantra 'Om Mani Padme Hum' and closed with a singing of the Tibetan National Anthem.

As we sat in the freezing cold, many people surrounded us taking photos (although I'm not seeing any of the photos on flickr, facebook, websites, blogs or myspace- so I"m not sure where they ended up!) People in cars drove by and honked to show their support and it was a positive sign that public sympathy is with those who are participating in the uprising.

I was struck by a family in the crowd- a man with his wife and young children who sat holding a sign with the brutal image of one of the Tibetans murdered from Kirti Monastery. I saw the children look at me and Mr TMcG as we held a sign showing one of their own who was brutalized and I felt the agonizing pain of a people who had tried employing peaceful means but the time had come where push came to shove.

March 22nd - Support the Tibetan Cultural Association of Quebec

On Saturday, March 22^nd at 1 P.M., join in a mass prayer in support of Tibetan Freedom and Human Rights on the terrace of Montreal’s Place des Arts.

I invite you to join me there...

For more information, visit this link to the website for the Canada Tibet Committee

Critical actions you can do to help Tibet...

I received an email today from the Canada Tibet Committee listing several things you can do to help support Tibet during this upheaval.

1. Events planned in your local community

Please join the numerous vigils and rallies being planned across Canada. These events are posted at www.tibet.ca as soon as we learn of them from organizers.

2. Call your MP and the Prime Minister

Please ask your MP and the government to support the following two actions:

a. The Canada Tibet Committee is asking that the Canadian government to support the Dalai Lama’s call for a United Nation’s team of investigators to visit Tibet as soon as possible.

b. All political leaders and other prominent persons who have accepted an invitation to attend the Olympic Games should withdraw their acceptance.

You can write, fax or email the Prime Minister at:

Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
pm@pm.gc.ca

For the coordinates of your local MP, consult this list:

3. Call, fax or email the Chinese embassy in Ottawa

Please express your concerns directly to the Chinese embassy and please raise the following two issues:

a. With a media black-out in Lhasa, verifiable information will become even harder to come by. Two Canadian journalists have been detained in Xiahe, and others turned away from areas outside the ‘Tibet Autonomous Region’, despite China having issued new regulations that were intended to allow free movement by foreign journalists in this Olympics year.

Demand that China must allow foreign journalists back into all Tibetan areas (TAR and Tibetan areas of Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan).

b. Express your support of the Dalai Lama’s request for an independent U.N. team to investigate the situation in Tibet.

Chinese embassy coordinates

Tel: +1-613-7893434, 7910511
Fax: +1-613-7891911, 7891414
Office Hours: 09:00-12:00, 14:00-17:30, Monday-Friday (except Chinese holidays)
Email: chinaemb_ca@mfa.gov.cn

4. Fax Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee

The International Tibet Support Network is speaking with a united voice, calling on the IOC to block China’s plans to carry the Olympic Torch through Tibet prior to the Games. Please add your voice to the thousands who already have by faxing or phoning Mr. Rogge at:

International Olympic Committee
Château de Vidy
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland
Tel: (41.21) 621 61 11
Fax: (41.21) 621 62 16

5. Visit the CTC website regularly for updates and please consider joining, donating or volunteering to help Tibet

Finally, we cannot respond and support the Tibetan people without your help. Please take a moment to visit www.tibet.ca and either join or donate to the CTC. And if you have time, please consider volunteering as well by sending an email to ctcoffice@tibet.ca

The Dignity of the Tibetan People

The sword of hatred is ornamented with the handle of invasion,
A red star has imprisoned the sun and moon,
The high snow-peaked mountains are cloaked in the darkness of a poisonous wind;
The peaceful valleys have been shattered by the sound of artillery.
But the dignity of the Tibetan people competes with the glory of the sky.

Composed November 10, 1972.

From FIRST THOUGHT BEST THOUGHT by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Tibet... Let's speak out

All hell is breaking loose in Tibet and globally something has to be done. This is no different than any other location where people are being mistreated and oppressed so please don't engage in debate with me on why this issue is more important to me than that of any other regions in the world. I have no time for that.

Rod, from The Worst Horse has put the call out for bloggers, artists, "text messagers", digerati, event planners - people who are now the media though the power of technology as well as those who want to just photocopy a printout of the map of Tibet and take a photo and email this to their friends to show their support for the cause.

Now is the time to show Tibetans we support them during this time of uncertainty.

Come up with your own way to share your support. I'd love to hear about it.

Check out the Go Tibet! The World is With you. / campaign / theworsthorse.net

Me, I've just Twitter-ed and added Rod's 'Call to Arms' to my Facebook profile, posted this blog post and attached a pre-made visual to this entry while I work on one that I have kicking around in my noggin.

What are you going to do?

Most of us are naturally predisposed to being good

I like to think this way.

After having my wallet stolen last week and running around like a stress monkey to shuffle together a new identity by way of a bunch of plastic cards, and then losing my job, I was starting to have my faith in this central tenet eroded.

I tried to put myself in the shoes of the 'wallet thief' and imagine their confusion, pain and suffering as the rifled through my empty skater wallet to scrounge together some bills to pay for their needs (it happened in a Starbucks, so I can only imagine my money going to buy an Alanis Morissette CD or some Puma sneakers!!!)

Inspired by the "A Treasure Found at Home' blog, here's my own 'Gratitude List' as a way to remain somewhat uplifted.

- Bob, my snorty, smelly little pug.
When I think of his suffering in a puppy mill and how he simply just wants nothing more than copious amounts of food (including that of the cat), belly rubs and to be with his family, it helps me to put it all in perspective that life doesn't have to be so complex and dramatic.
- Chocolate
- Comedy
- Great podcasts like those from Urban Dharma
- Mr TMcG
- opportunities and fearlessness

Suffering - Another brick in the wall

Oh this cartoon sums it all up.

Cat and girl... Your cartoon ROCKS!

The Urban Monk - Being dead is the best way to live

I really thoroughly had my mind blown open wide, reassembled and then blown open again by this blog post from The Urban Monk suggesting to one of his friends that she pretend she kill 'her self' rather than kill herself.

"The question answers itself. There is no one there. And, having gotten rid of you, having killed the self, you can live a real life, a life of freedom. Grasping at nothing, you have everything."

Wow. I had the powerful experience of 'mock death' via my participation in a 'One Year to Live' program. My 'mock death' was a year-long experience which took me by metro car to die alongside several other ladies. I bared my soul. Told them stories of pain, joy and of the life I lead. I spent the year reading about dying. Dying to live and then questioning life.

I squirmed with the idea of dying. Loss of self. Loss of loved ones. Who would take care of my dog? What will happen with all of my unfinished business?

With time, there was a reduction of panic and a reduction in my identification with a substantial, all-important self.

Why resist? Why fight the panic which comes with dying when you know it is natural?

Why resist? Why fight the panic which comes with being a human with day to day suffering when you know it is natural?

Some days this is easier said than done.

High-end skateboard furniture - Boing Boing

Not sure how comfortable this would be but it is pretty cool for any skate shop or home looking to get Ikea-ified in a non Ikea-kind of way...

High-end skateboard furniture

Bjork vs. China

Seems like Bjork has made Chinese officials a bit upset after singing her song "Declare Independence" and shouting "Tibet Tibet"

Boing Boing have posted links to an article on the Guardian as well as to the video as it appears on YouTube.

From the Guardian
"Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the London-based Free Tibet Movement, said it was delighted by her remarks, contrasting them with Gordon Brown and David Miliband's "shameful" decision not to raise the issue publicly on their recent visits to Beijing."


Check out the link from Boing Boing

It's not you, it's meat

My friends were featured waaaay back in an issue of the venerable Globe and Mail on how they are able to co-exist in a carnivore / veggie household combo.

Currently this is going on now in the TMcG household (I'm an egg-dependant veggie, cat, dog and Mr. TMcG are all meat-eaters).

Any others out there who are cohabitating in mixed-foodie circumstances?


globeandmail.com: It's not you,its meat

Quest to get Dalai Lama to carry Olympic torch - Boing Boing

I'm a big geek and looove Boing Boing. Mr. TMcG has the Boing Boing limited edition hoodie as his engagement present from me (he's not a ring wearer)...

I was going through their RSS feed recently and noticed they linked to this video about one man's quest to have the Dalai Lama carry the Olympic torch.

Now I would love for Steve Varon, the man who has this aspiration to make things a bit more social in creating some social media hype around this (ie: a facebook group/ blog / website). If anything like this exists for him and his cause and I'm just not having any luck finding it, please drop me a line.

Steve, if you read this. Great idea and I hope you can make it happen! I'm willing to help you anyway I can. In fact "BuddhaBloggers"- let's show this cause some love. Blog all about it!

TED Prize | 2008 Winner - Dave Eggers

Click here to read more about Dave Eggers, notable author, creative soul and philanthropist winning one of the three 2008's TED Prizes.

We love Dave Eggers in the TMcG household

BYO documenatary "Let Them Know- The Story of Youth Brigaade and BYO"

The trailer for the new BYO Records documentary, "Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO", has been posted online and I"m super interested in seeing it.

The movie will be released this summer as part of a box set that will include the full length dvd, a multi disc compilation, and hardcover book.

Notable bands featured in this project include: Bouncing Souls, Dropkick Murphy's, Youth Brigade, Leatherface, plus many more.

To view the trailer, click here

oh my it works

It works.. It really really works. Well now I have no excuse for blogging more!

this is a test from the future

I'm using a new blogging tool which may save me sooo much time. Cross your fingers it works!

Tell me what to listen to...

I need some new music.

Tell me what I should be listening to. I need some suggestions.

Waving.. Not drowning...

There has been so much going on these days with me. So much that I'd like to write down, get out and spill out all over the screen but the truth is, I'm just really tired. I'm in a weird state of smiley, blissfulness, not unlike Tom Cruise but I'm not jumping on couches or anything crazed. I just feel like whatever happens, it's OK.

I don't think I've ever felt so confident, so strong in my life. Well maybe childhood. I'm feeling like climbing, jumping and dangling from tree limb to tree limb. Falling doesn't scare me.

But I feel tired. Not drained. Just tired. Winter has gotten to me and I think that given a bit more sun and a lot more warmth- some seismic shifts would take place.

Look out March. I'm rushing in like a lion.

Shred or Die

wOOt.. Skate videos!!!

Shred or Die - skateboarding, snow, surfing videos

We are not so seperate after all..

Just read a blog post by the Urban Monk on how he disagrees with the 'trend' of post-boomer Buddhists making Buddhism more palatable for the 'raised on' MTV/McDonald's/New Coke vs Old Coke brand of Buddhists.

I'm predicting a porno Buddhist vs Urban Monk showdown any minute now? Maybe I'm projecting...

Me? My thoughts? Well I'm more of a middle-way kind of gal. In the Maritimes, when I first got interested in Buddhism, I was always surrounded by white, middle class boomers who seems so much more so intimidating and advanced along the path to a young pup such as myself. Fast forward to Montreal and the same experience holds true except perhaps a few more 'kids' sprinkled around on the zafus.

In terms of experiences, at first there seemed to be many differences. I didn't have a mortgage, a car or any kids in my life. They didn't hang out at punk shows, didn't find Jackass very funny and couldn't see the appeal in body modification or dyed tomato red hair.

Fast forward again to this past year and the time I spend in the 'One Year to Live' course I recently completed. Age range was from 30something (me) all the way up to +80.

The diversity and separateness amongst the others in the group was cut from the instant we sat together in shared silence and then as we opened our hearts to one another's stories or joy, pain, loss, sadness, fears, love, anger...

There was no separation - only that which existed in our minds. Our hearts were no different. We all experienced love and kindness for one another that transcended age and experiences.

To read more on the Urban Monks thoughts about keeping the dharma real, check out The Urban Monk - No cafeteria Buddhism

Talkin' 'bout my generation

Salon.com has just featured a story on the 'new phenomenon' of gasp, horrors, egads... YOUNG BUDDHISTS.

Buddhists gone wild, we are off thumbing our non-existent noses, sitting slumped in wilted lotus positions and treading ever so close to nihilism.

All jesting aside, I'm happy to see the coverage of the 'underground Buddhist brethren' in this magazine but do wish that more consideration would have been taken to the amount of commitment, renunciation, study and work that our generation of young Buddhists puts into our practice. It's not about all of us, in our trucker hats and ironic-logo t-shirts going off to loft spaces or yoga studios and listening to cool people talk about 'gettin' jiggy with Nagarjuna' and then going off to drink our livers blotto and feel accomplished that we are 'Buddhist'.

There is waaay more to it than this and I would have liked to see the article focus a wee bit more on the dedication of todays young Buddhists who are inheriting this tradition.

Sincere thanks to Noah, Ethan & his crew, Brad, Sumi, The Buddhist Geeks and all of the post-Boomer Buddhists who are making a difference in helping to define the path going forward.

A new generation of American Buddhists | Salon Life

Shambhala Online- Video teachings for those stay at home practicioners....

A great new initiative has come of out Shambhala International in that video teachings will now be made available via the web.

Great for those who don't live close to locations which offer Buddhist teachings, who are looking for some excellent online dharma teachings or who simply wish to further connect to the Shambhala lineage.

I'm particularly looking forward to the talk with Dorje Loppön Lodro Dorje on the Four Immeasurables & Selflessness.

For more information, visit: Shambhala Online

2008 Blogisattva Awards Nominees Announced

OK. So it's like the Oscars for Buddhabloggers.

Blogisattva: 2008 Blogisattva Awards Nominees Announced

Darryl Graham AMAZING Illustrator

Being frantically busy after moving yesterday and with so much homework to be caught up on... I haven't had much time for blogging.

Here's a link to a Canadian illustrator who's work is currently blowing my mind. The work he did on those custom sneakers and longboard featured in his blog are so amazing.


Darryl Graham Illustration

The Passing of His Holiness the XIth Mindrolling Trichen

Kyabje Mindrolling Trichen Jurme Kunzang Wangyal, the supreme head of the Nyingma Lineage, entered samadhi on 12 February.

He was the father of Khandro Rinpoche one of the most important female Buddhist teachers of our time and a great inspiration to me.

At 7:00 in the evening of the 3rd day of the 1st month of Miracles, without even the slightest discomfort, with a face even more radiant than before, and with a smiling countenance, Kyabje Rinpoche gazed lovingly at all those surrounding him. Then, with the aspect of resting, Kyabje Mindrolling Trichen Jurme Kunzang Wangyal displayed the final activity of transferring his enlightened intention to another realm, in order to turn the minds of those to be tamed towards the dharma.

To read more: visit the Mindrolling website

Ravenna Michalsen- new album - 'Dharmasong'

Ravenna Michalsen has just released a new album titled 'Dharmasong' which is a formidable follow up to her debut album "Bloom".

She reflects that 'Dharma music can sound like anything' and does an exceptional job at wrapping her gorgeous and ethereal vocals around devotional lyrics which can be enjoyed by all- regardless of being Buddhist or not.

Both Bloom and Dharmasong are essentially devotional albums: sadness, joy and anger are combined with utter openness and acceptance. The songs range from supplications to praise; from requests to questions; from statements to apologies. Many feature prominent figures from Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, including Yeshe Tsogyal, Machig Labdrön, Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava), Marpa Lotsawa, Milarepa, Arya Tara and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

I personally ADORE the song 'Ki Ki So So' - which comes from the Tibetan / Shambhala chant to raise Windhorse (confidence) and encourages an open mind. The syncopation of this song is brilliant and shines with qualities of inspiration and luminosity.

To hear her beautiful music and to find out more about Ravenna, do check out her website and her Myspace page.

Domanassa- Buddhism on Depression

Found this link thanks to The Worst Horse (I'm behind in my RSS 'horsefeed'!)

Domanssa is a blog dedicated to the exploration of Buddhism on depression and it is a valuable collection of links, texts and blog posts relating to this topic.

The honest language spoken on this blog leaves me breathless. Here's an excerpt...

"And here’s where Buddhism enters the fray, here comes along a religion, a philosophy, a way of life (or whatever) and tells me in no uncertain terms that life is suffering, I was just glad someone finally came clean. It’s funny I never understood the first noble truth in a defeatist or nihilistic fashion, just being so, something to be understood and in the same breath let go of."

Sometimes I just gotta put a deck on my head and try to achieve enlightenment

Leave it to my favourite mega-Buddha-pop-culture blog The Worst Horse to uncover a letter posted in a recent issue of Transworld Skateboarding speaking of some weirdness involving someone invoking the deities of skate by siting full lotus in a park with a deck on his obviously sunburned head, candles surrounding him and seeking sk8en-lightnemnt.

Oh this kind of stuff scares me so here's a ... - - - Public Service Announcement - - -

Kids... Meditation may or may not make you a better skater. Whether you bail or not is dependent on causes and conditions and may or may not be karmically influenced!!!

Meditation is like putting on your knee pads and helmet. It helps to lessen the hurt from the falls you take in life.

Too sick for Sick of it All

A sore throat has pretty much leveled and zombified me.

I'm trying to get stuff done (packing, cleaning, doing homework for the Nalandabodhi course I'm taking) and now I've just talked myself out of going to see Sick of it All tonight. I guess the thought of being taunted by bands which feature crazed hardcore yelling may be too much for someone who has a gravelly squeak of a voice left to them. Might as well go see the Throat Singers of Tuvu

I'm working hard to convalesce in order to make it to the Cancer Bats show this week. I will wrap my neck with an old sweatsock dipped in Vicks Vapourub if only to make it out to see them.

Kudos to The Buddhist Blog

I must give props to The Buddhist Blog for a recent post which I take heart in. The title of the post is Time is not a Factor and it speaks directly to my belief that I will 'buddhify' in my own due time and that there really is no rush. Not an excuse for me to be lazy, but something to take heart in.

I remember an interview I read with Pema Chodron talking about how wild her mind is and this was one of the the most heartening things I'd ever heard. Sometimes we build up our gurus to be heroes when they are just like us. Some of us are Buddhas and we just don't know it yet.

Renegade Buddha you are now on my list!!!

A little ways back - I was tagged by Precious Metal in a blog post relating to sharing 7 random or weird things about yours truly.

I made a goof up in my linkages in inviting others to participate and thank Renegade Buddha for pointing out that I made a gaffe.

For this.. Shazaam- Your tagged.

To refresh - here are the rules...

• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random or weird things about yourself.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Latest book on the go- "Buddhism is not What you Think'- Steve Hagen

OK. So we've all seen the bumper sticker "Buddhism is not What you Think" (Admittedly, I never did like the 'My dogma ran over my karma' one)

Last week, I picked up a book by Steve Hagen with the same title and I must say, I like what I'm reading so far. The book focuses upon an examination of reality and how we perceive and misperceive our world.


The book starts with the following warning (which sets it apart from all of the feel-good, self improvement books that I tend to read!!) :


"This is not a feel-good, self improvement book about how to become more spiritual. It's an intensely practical book about how to live our daily lives openly and honestly, with wisdom and compassion. It's a book about being awake to Reality- about being human."

The author, a Zen teacher who was a student of Dainin Katagiri Roshi is currently head teacher at Dharma Field Zen Centre

Sorry for the lack of posts, I just died

My final 'One Year to Live' class was last weekend and I must admit, blogging has been one of the last things on my mind since dying (symbolically dying, dear reader)

There always seems to be so much to do. So many books to read, movies to see, weddings to plan, work to do, activities to go to, so on and so on. If this had been my last year, I'm not so sure if I did such a great job at slowing down and enjoying my final days. I did however, live with passion and decrease the amount of aggression and pain in my life. Step by step, I'm becoming more patient with myself in being a lazy mediator and a grade B dharma student and there is a refreshing calm that comes from not putting so much pressure on myself and just being in the moment.

Engaging in the One Year program was the best decision I made last January. As dragged down and lost I was, I'm glad I participated and faced death straight on. I learned so much about myself and bonded with the small group of women who participated in this journey with me.

I still have so many questions about death and dying as well as plans to be made (putting off writing the will and still can't decide on whether I want a DNR order or not) I'm still attached to this body and cling desperately to this life but I feel much more comfort and trust in the process of dying more than I ever did. Dying is as natural as living. What could be more exhilarating?

Please The Jam- tour all of Canada

This is a message to Paul Weller and The Jam..

Please tour the rest of Canada and not just Vancouver...

Thank you for listening.

Britney's obituary

On the night before my final "One Year to Live" class, I just heard the news report that the media outlets have prepared Britney Spears obituary in the event that she dies in the next little while. The unstable former pop-princess has given many reason to worry and her erratic behaviour causes many to declare the 'Brit-DeathWatch'.

I spent this past week working on my obituary. Nothing fancy. No stories of big showstopping performances in lacy knickers or furry bras. No tales of 50 minute marriages. No tales of Hummerseated pantyflashes on my behalf.

Just me.

I want a Beatles song played at my funeral ("Blackbird"). I have a bunch of photos of me looking goofy in grade school which I won't mind sharing with those who attend my service (while I'm alive, I'd prefer to save myself the horror of their release although they may already appear on Facebook- gasp!)

I want a party. No crying allowed. I'm Irish so a true Irish/Buddhist wake/sukhavati serves me fine. Invite Father Peter McKee (he rocks and has been present at many a wake I'd attended as a child). Make sure my Shambhala and Nalandabodhi peeps are representin'.

Please make sure my mom doesn't dress me in taffeta or teddybear printed pajamas. No one let them play 'Stairway to Heaven'.

It's weird knowing that tomorrow you are (symbolically) going to die. I had a flash of how powerful it is to be alive today while walking with Mr. TMcG and it was the most exhilarating feeling I've ever known.

I can only hope that Britney can feel the power of feeling alive. I don't think we should leave Britney alone.. I think we should do tonglen for her.

Now you know me...

I often feel weird when people say that they read my blog. Then I feel even weirder for feeling weird.

Canada Tibet Committee- New Website

If you haven't been on the Canada Tibet Committee's website recently, I'd encourage you to stop over and have a gander at their gorgeous new design.

I was struck by the choice of photos used on the site and how vivid the visual experience truly is. Quotes from H,H. the Dalai Lama are featured throughout the site and help to further express the importance of this organizations work in preserving Tibetan culture in Canada.

If you are not already a member or sponsor, please consider a donation to this worthy cause.

A weeks worth of randomness...

Quick recap on what I've been up to in the past week...

I watched muchos programmos including..

• An awesome concert by The Sainte Catherines on bandeapart
• Bob Mould's live concert DVD Circle of Friends which has confirmed that me and Mr TMcG will be headed of to Toronto in March to check out the live show (like we had any doubts!!!)
• Caught up on some Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche's talks on 'Dying Well'
  
• Generation Lost- Rise Against's first DVD with concert footage and a super documentary which confirmed my belief that they are such a nice group of boys!
  

I almost hopped a flight to see Lagwagon at a free show in Toronto but some shady shenanigans from their pasts kept them from being able to cross the border.

Went to see Jim Gaffigan- who made me giggle

I worked a bit on my homework for my final "One Year to Live" class in developing a powerpoint presentation to sum up my life so far and give closure to it all. No easy feat there! Many people in the class are working on bristolboard posters and scrapbooks but being the big geek I am- I chose to do it digitally. Between this project and working on finalizing my will, these are two of the most difficult things I've done. EVER!!!

My friend AS made me laugh hysterically with her cat-poop-drapery story. I wish she blogged this kind of stuff.

I almost finished one of the most brilliant books..."The Healing Power of the Mind" by Tulku Thondup

"This book is an invitation to awaken the healing power of mind through inspiring images and sounds, mindful movements, positive perceptions, soothing feelings, trusting confidence, and the realization of openness. The healing principle on which these exercises are based is the universal nature and omnipresent power envisioned in Mahayana Buddhism. Yet for healing, we don't have to be believers in any particular faith. We can heal body and mind simply by being what we truly are, and by allowing our own natural healing qualities to manifest: a peaceful and open mind, a loving and positive attitude, and warm, joyful energy in a state of balance and harmony."

I didn't sit as much as I'd have liked to...

Popdeck - Cool skateboard deck art

Cool skateboard deck art always cheers me up.

I love this concept. It's like Threadless for skate decks.

Popdeck

Change...

Change kinda sucks.
Attachment isn't too cool either.

Birth, old age, sickness, death.

Tagged by Precious Metal!

One of my fave Buddhablogs, Precious Metal has tagged yours truly. Seeing as it is the giving season and I've already enjoyed some taggy goodness with the Top 5 Dharma Books meme that I've floated around out there, now's the best time for me to respond and 'pay it forward'

The rules of Buddhablog fight club are as follows ….
• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random or weird things about yourself.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are the 7 random or weird things about TMcG..

1. I was obsessed with horror comics as a youngster. I can vividly remember buying them as a daily ritual at the Green Gables convenience store near my elementary school at lunch along with a greasy bag of seasoned potato wedges to sustain me. Both the horror comics and the potato wedge confession I have just shared with you would shock my mother should she have found out about either. She wouldn't be too happy about my Cream Soda+Orange Crush+ Mountain Dew = slushie swampwater addiction either.

2. I hate dolls. Plastic dolls agitate me.

3. I sometimes buy clothing that is so out of character - usually in some kind of Space Oddity/Bowie meets Jimi Hendrix kind of mashup which is so beyond what I usually am seen in. As intrigued as I have always been with clothing, I think my cool rocker auntie had influenced me at a young age to be fascinated by leather pants, suede fringed jackets, press on nails, blue eyeshadow and flowing peasant shirts. I'm thankful for good friends who redirect me.

4. I love the way my dog's ears smell. It's gross. They are no doubt sweaty, mite-ridden, full of parasites but they are like little velvet pieces of puggy puppy heaven to me.

5. I'm not sure of what I'm doing. I may look like I am sure but really... I'm not sure at all.
***This is the most random, but honest factoid on this list. The rest are just pretty darn weird.

6. I often dream of water. Being submerged. Struggling.Drowning. Dying
***This is second in randomness, but might give you some Freudian insights into me so it could get weird.

7. I have Angelina Jolie-itis in that I want to adopt all of the little children of the world. This is where our similarities end - aside from that one time I had a groady lip infection and my lower lip was swollen beyond recognition.

Here are the 7 lucky blogs I've chosen to participate in this experiment of weirdness/ randomness:

No Dokusan for you
Auspicious Coincidence
The Universe is all in Your Head
Mindful Presence
Beyond Good and Evil
Clarity's Blog
Dharma Vision

The story behind the books...

The Worst Horse has posed the best question.. "Why are these 5 your top 5 dharma books?"

Damm I was hoping to take the easy way out by just listin' them! But hey. I think that credit to these fine authors / teachers is due so here's further details on why these 5 books made the cut for me.

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
This was one of the first Tibetan Buddhist books I was exposed to and it resonated with me from the start. It was like reading something ancient and mystical but yet grounded and simple in its approach. It posed a way of relating with the world that was real and sane - something I was looking for at the time.

Upon reading the word 'warrior' in the title, I was confounded. 'Warrior? What like that gang movie? Or like putting on battle armor and preparing for war? What am I fighting against?"

It was starting to make sense.

Dharma Punx - Noah Levine
You know that feeling you get when you are at a party and you are sharing stories with someone who is so cool. They have lived through similar experiences as you. They have awesome taste in music and are a great storyteller to boot.

You keep saying, "Yeah man. I was there. I saw that show. I was in that pit. I saw suffering. I tried to escape from suffering by using some very non-effective methods. Let's compare tats (full disclosure- I have no ink!)"

When I was younger, I was part of a local 'organization' called "Punx for Peace" and we put out some 'zines. The title of the book 'Dharma Punx' resonated with me for that reason. Rather than the hippy-trippy association that many (myself included) had upon my first encounter with Buddhism, this book showed me that amongst the plethora of boomerbuddhist books on the market, there are some voices that sound much closer to my 'Rebel Yell" than to what my parents grooved out to.

The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness- Pema Chodron
I have been a control freak all my life. Familiar feelings of panic set in when heady circumstances whip out of my grasp and overtake me. I can worry with the best of them.

On the bright side, I don't sweat the small stuff all that much anymore. Once getting over the initial panic of hearing that there is 'no exit' / 'no escape' this book helped me to acknowledge that I have no control. Never did. Never will. This makes life and it's situations much more workable.

The Way of the Bodhisattva- Shantideva
For me... this is the quintessential guide on how to be a good person and is how I try to live out my days.

Maybe not rightfully so,I always reduced Buddhism to the simple tenet of 'not being an asshole." Perhaps a little too general or simplistic, but it works for me. Shantideva's text is both poetic and gentle while also being so direct, to the point and sometimes graphic.

This book is the kick in the pants for my practice. I really do need to re-read it on a weekly basis.

This Precious Life- Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on the Path to Enlightenment- Khandro Rinpoche
Just as Shantideva's 'The Way of the Bodhisattva' has been a strong influence in my practice- both on and off the cushion, Khandro Rinpoche's 'This Precious Life' is a perennial favourite of mine for its clear and insigtful presentation of the 4 Reminders.

Khandro Rinpoche explains the teachings with clarity and focus and provides practices in this book which have helped me explore my various attachments, clingings and hangups.

Both of these books help me to see the urgency of using my time to be of service and for the betterment of this world and an awareness that there is no time to waste.

Lagwagon/ Chixdiggit Live In Fredericton 1994

I was at this show and remember NOTHING from it!

If you were there - drop me a line to help me reconstruct it from what's left of my time-ravaged memory.

5 Favourite Dharma Books

Thanks to The Worst Horse for reminding me that I have yet to answer my own question on what are the top 5 dharma books on my reading list. Here goes (in no particular order)..

1. Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche-

2. Dharma Punx - Noah Levine-

3. The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness- Pema Chodron
4. The Way of the Bodhisattva- Shantideva

5. This Precious Life- Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on the Path to Enlightenment- Khandro Rinpoche

Big thanks to those of you who shared with me your favorites.

I'm going to be bold and tag some folks whose blogs I enjoy and hold dear.

Tag goes out to-
Monkey See, Monkey Do
Zen Unbound/Blogmandu,
Integral Options Cafe
Tyson Williams
Lotus in the Mud

You're it

Favourite dharma books?

Name your 5 favourite dharma books...

Tell me yours then I'll tell you mine

84,000 sufferings and JayZ only has 99 of 'em

Wowsa my mind has been racing these days. When I feel this way, I often would joke that I'm ready to run off to Karme Choling, Dorje Denma Ling, or any other monestary in North America that would take me in.

Future plans, daily work todos, personal todos, things I want, need, crave, hate, love, punches and hugs I want to distribute - it runs the gamut.

Whether siting in a droopy, underwatered lotus position in a Buddhist centre or dashing through the slushy streets- my mind is the same. It's best to be with what arises - both external and internal to TMcG.

Zaadz?

Anyone else using Zaadz?

I just deactivated my account. Maybe not so many people in Canada are using this service? Maybe it got boring? Maybe it got too new-agey?

Bah!

The politics of dancing

I was a shy kid.

Deathly shy....

To this day, I'm still shy. I just cover it up with smart-assyness and strategic silence.

In grade school I HATED school dances. This was the biggest opportunity for me to feel the most awkward possible in a social environment (well maybe next to reading 'In Flander's Fields' in front of the entire school one Remembrance Day- which resulted in me barfing on the sleeve of my red sweater a few times before going on stage with my quivery recitation).

Boys never asked me to waltz until oh maybe grade 8. I remember my first dance at that point was a Halloween dance and I attributed being asked was the sole result of being clad in a fuzzy clown afro, large bulbous red nose and huge scarlet shoes - rendering me unrecognizable as the meek, mousy, brainy kid wearing her cooler Cher-loving aunt's tweed and leather mix blazer.

Second waltz was in grade 8 with one of the school's 'bad boys' , one RA- who rode a unicycle, a sleeveless denim jacket and smoked a pack a day (for an 8th grader- that's pretty impressive). The waltz resulted in a 'misconduct' on the dance floor from the eagle-eyed teacher patrol unit- albeit mild behaviour compared to what is being done in most school gymnasiums while the Lohan/Hilton/Spears jams rock at full blast.

The school dancing career really ended for me in grade 9 my interest turned towards punk rock mosh pits and lurking in my friends basements or on quarter pipes.

Flash forward to the 90's / early 00's- where I discovered 'raving'.. Yikes. I would go to parties and dance all night and well into the early morning. I think I made up for the lean dancing years of my youth. I'd still go to punk shows but something about being up all night, dancing with strangers who weren't apt to shoot spitballs at me was relieving.

I can't really remember the last time I danced. Probably when I lost really badly in a game of Dance Dance Revolution... I still rue the day Simmons...

I do know that I look forward to the 'big dance'. The one where I am taken by the hand by the illustrious and irreplaceable Mr. TMcG and led onto the floor where we will bust out the funky chicken to The Pixies and have one of those classic photographic wedding moments that will cause us to well up every time we open the wedding album.

Bloody Vans

I'm a klutz. It's not out of a complete lack of paying attention but I do often bop my head on cupboards, do scooby like-falling sessions on patches of ice (resulting in fun finger sprains), bite my tongue 3 x in a row and otherwise engage in behaviours that result in mass unit brusin'.

Click on this link to what has yet to happen to me after a day of boardin'... I'm still young yet.

\\ SLW -SIX LETTER WORD \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Help! I neglect my cushion....

Laziness is the bane of my meditation practice existence. I can usually think of a zillion and one things I'd rather be doing rather than meditating.

Funny part is that when I'm on the cushion, I'm usually caught up in thinking about those zillion and one things I'd rather be doing.

It is said that the antidote to laziness is both perseverance and diligence. In order to "wake up", one needs to be dedicated and take action. Who knew the action of 'just sitting there' could be suffused with so much action and activity.

My favourite kinds of laziness come from attachment to pleasure- the rosy glow of being in absolutely in love and completely captivated with the geekboy of my dreams...Heap onto that my love of sleep, rest and generally being loafy.

(read in the voice of Yoda)- Practice while you can young TMcG. Death, sickness and old age come suddenly and damm it if sitting for hours on a tiny square cube of a cushion with skate-addled knees and an unfocused mind isn't trouble enough for you at such a young age..

I dedicate this post to you- dear reader. I need to devote my practice to you. No matter if you are a friend, enemy or stranger. This is a pre-Boddhisattvic Vow digital commitment.


This gives me perspective and helps to fight the laziness.

Freaking coooool

I love this image.

∞ yesway ∞

Be Grateful to everyone

Without others, we would have no chance at all to develop beyond ego. So the idea here is to feel grateful that others are presenting us with tremendous obstacles -- even threats or challenges. The point is to appreciate that. Without them, we could not follow the path at all. Walking on the path of the dharma is connected with dealing with our neurosis. But if there were no neuros-ees, we couldn't develop any neuros-is. Therefore, we should feel very grateful to such persons. They are actually the ones who are pushing us onto the path of dharma.

From "Transformation of Bad Circumstances," in TRAINING THE MIND AND CULTIVATING LOVING KINDNESS, page 92.

For more quotes by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, you can subscribe to Shambhala Magazine's- Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

The Journey of the Soul

The Journey of the Soul

The meditative experience is, to my mind, the practice of dying, the practice of letting go. The more you practice letting go, the more you begin to understand the journey of your soul or your spirit as it detaches from the material nature of existence. There is a river, and as soon as you unmoor the boat and you start to enter that river, you end up on a journey. Not all of us have gone to the mouth of that river, but I think we are all aware, in the meditative process, that the journey exists. As you go deeply inside your psyche you're aware of the similarity of this journey to the journey of the soul after death.

--Bruce Rubin, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Fall 1991
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

One year to live is coming to an end

Well the One Year to Live program I've embarked on for 2007 is coming to an end. It seems like such a long time since I debated off and on whether I'd go through with it. Subject myself to the painful dismantling that takes place when you try as you might to dismantle the ego.

This month is about letting go of attachment to possessions and I'm hoping to do a big clean up of my surroundings. Bankers boxes and recycling bags are staring me down.

Reducing clinging and attachment. Let's see how this one goes.

Broken Heart & interconnection

Check out this adorable little video.
Motion City Soundtrack "Broken Heart"

The Playing Favorites

This is almost the best news I've had in a llooooonnng time (future Mr TMcG- you need not be threatened)

Joey Cape of Lagwagon, Bad Astronaut, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is involved in a new band called Playing Favorites and you can listen to a stream of their new album via this link -

Punknews.org | The Playing Favorites

I sure hope they tour soon... Gack... I'm loving the album so far.

Tomorow night I'll be at the Wintersleep show. You know you should go...

The cutest thing ever!

The future Mr TMcG sent me this link to the adorable "Dalia who was dressed as the Dalia Lama”

Oh my gooodness.. Soooo cute

Ironic Sans: Halloween on the Upper West Side

Weezer: The countdown is on

I may have told you this before but I'm soooo excited for the new Weezer album (due this Spring) as well as the Rivers Cuomo solo album (December 18th)

Hoping it lives up to the hype that I am currently building up for it.

Follow Weezer - via this site with all the details.

The Special Goodness

It's my birthday.

2007 and I'm planning my wedding, my funeral and listening to The Special Goodness

Sometimes life's like that

The Worst Horse talks to Dharmagrrl founder Erica Gagne

oooh.. Wants some of these....


The Worst Horse talks to Dharmagrrl founder Erica Gagne

“A day in Tibet" – Annual Tibetan Bazaar to be held in Montreal

The Canada Tibet Committee – Montreal Branch is hosting its annual Tibetan Bazaar on November 9 and 10, 2007.

Click here for more details

Day 1 of 100 - One Hundred Days of Practice

This is the first night of 100 where I have committed to meditate for a period of time each day for 100 days.

Distractions included nagging sound of pug eating a lamb bone and nagging sound of Mr. TMcG coaxing said pug to minimize the lamb bone eating sounds.

I love these simple sounds.

wish jar : what we need

The ever-so talented Keri Smith has placed a link on her blog with mention to a quote from Gary Snyder from the Shambhala Sun.


wish jar : what we need (copy this and spread it around)

Faces in Places blog

This is such a fun site! It's amazing to see all of the everyday things that surround us that have such 'face value' (OK.. bad pun!)

Faces in Places

Links and things

It's been an while since I've posted a whole bunch of links and things that have caught my attention.. so here goes-

Joy Meredith has put out a journal called 'My Last Wishes' which has been a great little helper for me with the One Year to Live program that I'm currently participating in (of note- my last group meeting is in January- a year has ticked by and I'm a little bit closer to figuring out my last wishes.

Etsy has been a joyful little distraction for me but I justify by holding the belief that purchasing jewelry from artisans rather than mass produced, Made in China baubles help to make the world a bit better of a place... (yeah- keep justifying TMcG!!)

100 days of practice -
Joining the aspiration of members of the Shambhala sangha to practice for 100 consecutive days leading up to Shambhala Day (lunar new year). - I'll keep you posted on how I make out...

I love Father John Walsh. He is an amazing man.. Nuff said.

The Book Inscriptions project is a site that I just stumbled upon while procrastinating on writing this blog post.

More punk baseball cards - Boing Boing

These look soooo fun!


More punk baseball cards - Boing Boing

Meeting It Everywhere

One of my very favourite Buddhablogs - Precious Metal has a link to a great new blog that I am very much following.

Meeting It Everywhere

Meditation in the classroom

This is so encouraging to see.

In the Classroom, a New Focus on Quieting the Mind - New York Times

enjoy life foods - Food Network Unwrapped Video

Shout out to my favourite cookie company in the ENTIRE world.
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