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#1300 - Thursday, December 26, 2002 - Editor:Jerry
Japanese Senkodokei or geisha
house timekeeper
Courtesy of the National Science
Museum, Tokyo.
DAVID OLLER
Alice's Restaurant
Dear List,
"In The Flower and Willow World" is an original article
by Silvio A.
Bedini on the use of incense in timekeeping in the Geisha Houses
of
Japan.
The article was written especially for Japanese-Incense.com and
is
now available at:
http://www.japanese-incense.com/geisha-bedini.htm
I am very grateful to Silvio A. Bedini for his contributions to
this
on-line project as well as the incredible effort and years of
research in the writing of "The Trail of Time" and
"The Scent of Time"
For those of you who are not familiar with the "Trail of
Time" it is
unquestionably the best English work on the subject of Incense in
the
Far East, surpassing such works as Lafcadio Hearn's "In
Ghostly
Japan."
A limited number of copies of the "Trail of Time" are
still available
through Cambridge Press at $30.00 less then the original price.
There
are no assurances at this time a second edition will be
published.
The articles on the Japanese Incense.com webpage were written
exclusively for this project, and used with permission of Silvio
A.
Bedini. All copyrights apply and will be enforced.
I hope you enjoy these articles.
David Oller
Abunaso - Looking like a dangerous situation; a geisha of the Meiji Era (1867-1912)
from Daily Dharma
"Again and again she (Toni Packer) emphasizes undefensive
listening...
We need to listen to each other, and to ourselves, without any
threat.
And this can happen only if there really is no threat - which is
no easy
matter at all. 'It takes tremendous attention, and energy
awareness, not
to be pulled into all these tendencies blindly.' It is so easy
not to
look at what is happening in ourselves when we are envious,
ambitious,
or disparaging of others. Where do these reactions come from?
What is
the source of disharmony, war, and the lack of relationship among
human
beings? We must look and ask and sit with these questions: What
is it?
... 'You have to sit and let the question sit, and just look and
listen
internally, without knowing.'"
~Lenore Friedman interviewing Toni Packer
From the book, "Meetings With Remarkable Women, Buddhist
Teachers in
America," published by Shambhala.
Lady Joyce
from HarshaSatsangh
Mine Is to Serve
Namaste:
Less than a year ago, I was sleeping soundly. Quite soundly.
Suddenly, in the spring of 2002, I was awakened. I did not know
it then. I am an attorney by profession and have practiced law
for 21 years. I had gone away to a trial lawyers' seminar, to
learn trial skills, working with a jury. The seminar was
presented by the Trial Lawyers' College, based in the State of
Wyoming, run by Gerry Spence, an American trial master, author,
and teacher.
The first morning of that seminar, which took place in
Pennsylvania, I received what I now know to be Shaktipat. I
received the touch from a man who was standing behind me in the
cafeteria. We had a brief conversation, I turned away, and all of
a sudden his hand was on the back of my head, where he held it as
I stood frozen with surprise more than anything. At the time, I
felt a physical sensation as if some kind of energy entered into
me from his hand. I avoided the man who had "patted" me
so strangely on the head for the rest of the seminar.
The seminar focused on seeking justice as the foundation of our
service as trial attorneys. By coincidence, some of the sessions
opened an unexpected pandora's box on the subject of racism. I
left, my heart burning with emotions which related to racism and
employment discrimination as it had affected my life. For several
days after returning home from the seminar, I took a short,
unfinished "letter to the editor" that I had written
and turned it into an article on racism, speaking as the white
wife of a black man in America. In it, I revealed some painful
personal experiences, which included my own father's inability to
accept my chosen path. I was torn between what I felt I had to do
and the shame I would reveal.
One day, shortly after the article had been accepted for
publication in the Trial Lawyers' College publication, I was
especially agitated over what I had done. I was questioning
whether I was doing the right thing. I had tried to show the
article to my husband, and he had recoiled from me and would not
read it. Permit me to take you there with me briefly, to an
excerpt from the book which eventually emerged from my chaos...
most of which was written before I began to discover the meaning
of Shakti...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
...It is only natural that he does not want me to dig
into pain that he would rather forget. I would rather not dig
into pain that he would rather forget. I would rather forget it
too. But there are times in your life when you must face your
self. You must face the challenge that is placed before you. You
must accept the challenge. You must stand up and say something.
So, battered but not broken, I cry out for sanctuary but do not
lose my resolve to forge ahead. I just feel so alone.
The next day is Sunday...thunder and lightning, thunder and
lightning, thunder and lightning... All day long, the phrase runs
through my head like a broken record!!! What is wrong with me?
Why do I keep chanting this mantra to myself? It is the symbol of
Trial Lawyers' College. A big huge cloud of thunder with a bolt
of lightning coming out of the upper right. I am still feeling
battered and needing to strengthen my resolve. I am thinking of
the symbol to find strength to continue to write even though it
is painful for me and the very anathema of life to my husband. I
am truly up against the wall. I am feeling helpless. I am feeling
deflated. Am I doing the right thing?
It is Sunday night. I am in my kitchen. It is around nine
o'clock. Suddenly, I hear a loud crash of thunder. As I look out
my kitchen window, I see a flash of lightning. As one who loves
thunder and lightning, I immediately run to the door to see
better. Jason runs with me. Then there is a second crash of
thunder, then another flash of lightning. I hear the crash of
thunder, then the flash of lightning, one more time, the third
time. Loud and powerful, each crash of thunder. Beautiful slices
of light into the night sky, three bolts of lightning. The
thunder crashes, the lightning slices through the night sky.
Three times. Then silence.
There is no forecast for rain or thunderstorms tonight. I am
incredulous. No, that cannot be. I look out into the sky to make
sure that no storm has moved in. The sky is clear. In fact, I can
see stars. It was so close to the house, in full view of my
kitchen windows, there was no way I could miss it. Three perfect
crashes of thunder, three perfect flashes of lightning, each one
unmistakable in the night sky and in my ears.
There is no turning back. I shake from the very force of all that
is happening to me, my hand just a quiver in the air when I try
to hold it still in front of me and it will not stay still. My
whole being is gripped in paroxysms of disbelief of what I know I
have just seen and heard. I shake like this for about a week
before I finally calm down a bit.....
An excerpt from Genocide of the Damned...A Child's Prayer for
Life, Chapter 4,
Journey to The Top of The Mountain
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was this moment that defined my future path. Where I come
from, you do not ignore thunder and lightning. Although I knew
instinctively that I had been graced by the healing hand, I had
not asked for it. At least that is what I thought. In the
beginning, I resisted more than I surrendered. I ranted against
the new presence I felt within whenever things became
overwhelming, which was often. "I did not ask for this. You
took me from behind You did not request my permission."
I now know that I was brought to the seminar. High in the
mountains overlooking the very valley where I was born but had
not lived for over 25 years. When I came down from the mountains,
I did not come down the same way I went up. There was a new
energy burning in my soul, in my heart, the fire of rebirth and
renewal. Suddenly, I had to write. I could not stop myself. For
over three months I lived and breathed my book, pushed forward
again and again by the new force within me. I could not stop if I
wanted to. I did not want to stop. I was driven.
There was no turning back. There was no escape from this . It had
to be done and I had to do it. In the beginning, I was driven by
my pain and by my anger. I wrote to seek revenge and to avenge
the hurts. Specifically, the hurt from the racism at my husband's
place of work which resulted in the loss of his job and the loss
of my silence. Part of my agenda was to out them for the racism
they had spewed upon my household. Hate was in my heart for them.
I wanted to out the racist employer who had injured my husband
and my family and me. I wanted to make them hurt because they had
hurt me. I wanted to bring them to their knees the way they
brought me and my family to our knees.
Yet, as I wrote, I was confronted again and again by the specter
of my dead father, a man of his times who was racist like so many
others. A loving decent man who could not bring himself to accept
or meet my husband. After I would write in earnest, when I was
done, I would feel both purged and empty at the same time.
Purged because I had released so many demons. Empty because I did
not yet know what to put in their place. All I could find in
myself was anger. Yet my father had hurt me, too. I had found
forgiveness for him. It haunted me everywhere I turned. No matter
where I turned when I attacked them, I was counterattacked by the
ghost of my father's racism and my forgiveness of him.
I lost the need to avenge as I found the need to love. Not to
love the acts of the people who hurt me. But to understand the
need to love the collective of us. As I moved into the light, I
also found love. I became humbled by the knowledge that there was
so much more than my insular little world. While I felt as if I
walked in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, racism was
flourishing around me in the light of day for all to see and
ignore.
I began to understand that my call to write and the gift of my
words was not so I could have revenge but so I could find love.
That was my calling. To share the love that was sent my way as I
battled my own hatred. So, although this book is about evil, in
the end, it is about love.
Eventually, I was graced into surrender. I try to listen. I
really do. Now I have been led here. I come to you seeking
assistance with my mission. For I know that I cannot do it alone
without assistance from the many helping hands. I am asked to
speak to the issues of prejudice and hatred, as it relates to the
death of the Spirit, the death penalty in America, and Peace
throughout the World.
From what I have read so far of the posts on this list, it is
clear to me that I belong here for Sustenance and Wisdom as I
seek to understand. I embrace That from whence I come, That to
which I am now instinctively drawn. I seek knowledge of the
publication process, so that my words reach the light. I seek
guidance as I write the third draft of the book. If anyone can
help me offlist with information, I humbly request your help. It
has waited patiently for several months for me to reach a point
where I am ready to go back to it. It is time. Mine is to serve.
The Upanishads
Invocations
Lead me from the unreal to the real.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.
1
May the Lord of Love protect us.
May the Lord of Love nourish us.
May the Lord of Love strengthen us.
May we realize the Lord of Love.
May we live with love for all;
May we live in peace with all.
OM Shanti Shanti Shanti
2
May the Lord of day grant us peace.
May the Lord of night grant us peace.
May the Lord of sight grant us peace.
May the Lord of might grant us peace.
May the Lord of speech grant us peace.
May the Lord of space grant us peace.
I bow down to Brahman, source of all power.
I will speak the truth and follow the law.
Guard me and my teacher against all harm.
Guard me and my teacher against all harm.
OM Shanti Shanti Shanti
3
Filled with Brahman are the things we see,
Filled with Brahman are the things we see not,
From out of Brahman floweth all that is:
From Brahman all -- yet is he still the same.
OM Shanti Shanti Shanti
4
May quietness descend upon my limbs,
My speech, my breath, my eyes, my ears;
May all my senses wax clear and strong.
May Brahman show himself unto me.
Never may I deny Brahman, nor Brahman me.
I with him and he with me --
may we abide always together.
May there be revealed to me,
Who am devoted to Brahman,
The holy truth of the Upanishads.
OM Shanti Shanti Shanti
5
OMWith our ears may we hear what is good.
With our eyes may we behold thy righteousness.
Tranquil in body, may we who worship thee
find rest.
OM Shanti Shanti Shanti
OM. . . Hail to the supreme Self!
6
May my speech be one with my mind,
and may my mind be one with my speech.
O thou self-luminous Brahman,
remove the veil of ignorance from before me,
that I may behold thy light.
Do thou reveal to me
the spirit of the scriptures.
May the truth of the scriptures
be ever present to me.
May I seek day and night to realize
what I learn from the sages.
May I speak the truth of Brahman.
May I speak the truth.
May it protect me.
May it protect my teacher.
OM Shanti Shanti Shanti
In Humble Service,
Joyce
found on http://www.nilgiri.org/Html/Books_Audios_Videos/GMRF/gmrf1_2.html
James Traverse
HarshaSatsangh
Hello Joyce,
This is Beautiful - thank you for
your courage.
I feel that your guide is clearly
in the 'Lightening and
Thunder' - in other words I feel that you are called to report
both
the dark and the light - the marriage which includes and is
beyond
these is what your book will be - the Whole - Love.
I feel that you book must provide
'the solution' and the
solution is to "See the Situation" - I feel that this
means that you
Lovingly report the facts of your family's experience and your
forgiveness and growth so that it is a model for excellence.
As you have already reported -
your own experience is one of
transformation - it is Love that transforms things - this
transformation allows one to reach the highest potential onself
for
the benefit of all.
In this spirit I feel that you
will do well to report 'the
behaviour' that represents 'the dark' and the behaviour that
represents 'the light' - the metaphor of Lightening and Thunder -
and
to show that both are Love (Love is self-correcting - the
enourmous
pain and suffering of violence such as racism is really a
'lesson'
that Love is providing to *end this*, and, the joy when Love is
flowing is the 'lesson' to *support this*).
And, by focusing on 'behaviour'
that is inappropriate you will
not be condeming people (more violence) - you will be sheding
Light on
violence. And, when there is clarity in SEEING - the way to
proceed is
obvious (some folks will feel that you are attacking them and
will
defend themselves by attacking you - yet if you remain focused on
the
fact that 'it is the violence that is not acceptable' - they will
SEE
that you are not condeming them but rather 'ending all violence'
is
what you are proposing AND that Peace, Love, is the default state
when
violence isn't [we do not make peace - peace is natural]).
Seeing is Doing.
Blessings on this Christmas Day
and All-Ways,
Love and Gratitude,
James
SVCS
I Am list
As long as you feel yourself the doer of action so long you
are bound
to enjoy its fruits. But if you find out whose karma it is,
you will
see that you are not the doer. Then you will be free. This
requires
the Grace of God, for which you should pray to Him and meditate
on
Him.
Hari Aum !!!
"V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk@yahoo.com>
The Advaitin list
How to think like History's Ten Most Revolutionary
Minds
Namaste.
Today I came across a book 'Discover your Genius - How to think
like History's Ten Most Revolutionary minds' by Michael J. Gelb.
Harper Collins (2002).
The Ten Minds discussed are: Plato, Brunelleschi, Copernicus,
Darwin, Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Copernicus, Jefferson, Gandhi,
and Einstein.
The Book is interesting because it provides several
thought-provoking questions as exercises and the way the author
has connected the ten minds above, to motivate a moderner to
think in innovative ways is interesting. The book is also
discussed at the website:
http://www.curledup.com/genius.htm
praNAms to all advaitins
profvk
THE MATRIX
Saw The Matrix Revisited on dvd. It's about the making of the film and unzipped another layer of reality, with many avenues of interest emerging. It is intriguing, fun, and revealing to see behind the scenes. A good way to kickoff the coming Matrix 2 and 3 season, which apparently both go beyond the first Matrix technically and storywise.
----------------
The Matrix Makers
One year, two sequels--and a revolution in moviemaking. An
exclusive look behind the scenes of 2003s hottest flicks
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_email.asp?/news/850165.asp
The above Newsweek article may contain spoilers for Matrix 3
and 4.
LOBSTER
from his blog: http://cructacean.blogspot.com/
One of the most powerful practices
of Tibetan Vajra yana is Toglen
Here is a version that is rarely found
for those in extremes
It is used by Boddhisattva Warriors
and is considered an unrevealed
Wrathful Maitreya teaching
---
MAY
TRE YA OM TRE YA OM
YA OM MAY YA HUM
OM YA HA HUM
DIAMOND DORJE MUDRA
1. Breathing in
focus all suffering - Yours, others
into tightening fists
(the fists are above ones head
and back as in wrathful yidam images)
2. Holding the breath
bring the fists to the solar plexus
and build up the tension,
intent and concentration.
Drawing all negativity
into the emptiness inside the fists
3. From the solar plexus
Metta radiates out
into the emptiness inside the fists
They become Pure Dharma Fists of Light
4. The Dharma Fists are released into
forward open 'palm hands'
as the breath and all difficulties
are expelled with the mantra
OM HA HUM
MAY TRE YA OM TRE YA OM
YA OM MAY YA HUM
OM YA HA HUM
---
This technique was taught to me in
three postures
Horse stance
Full Lotus and Sanchin Dachi
Of these the easiest to understand
and most effective is the horse stance
Stand as if riding a horse
keep the back straight
and lower the buttocks
With practice the top of the thighs
become parallel to the floor
If you have no legs
just use the arms
If you have no arms
visualise them
One of the Mahasiddhas of
Indian Tantra (an amputee)
after 20 years of visualisation practice
created legs out of Nothing and walked . . .
Anything *is* possible - we are proof of that :-)
