Incarcerated Lotus – #2 – If Only

(This is long, I’m not going to divide this up like I usually would into small sections. I’m going to give you what I’ve written as I write it. It will be here a while so you can take your time and come back to it in sections if you wish.) How about you and I agreeing to an important ground rule as we develop our plan for practicing in your prison. I’d like to…

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The Physician’s Good Medicine #19 – The Physician’s Cure

(This section is out of order and should have been posted after #15) The physician’s cure, as I mentioned in the beginning of this chapter is composed of seemingly impossible to attain ingredients. The illusion is that they are impossible, when in fact they are merely extremely difficult. The Lotus Sutra offers the analogy of a one-eyed tortoise finding a piece of wood with a hole in it the perfect size and shape of the…

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Physician’s Good Medicine – #14

It is just a story, a possibility, perhaps a connection for some of the missing points in the parable found in the Lotus Sutra. We have a single father who is a doctor, many children, a possible reason why there is no mother mentioned, a son who has taken some poison clouding his mind and judgement, a son who returns home, taking the medicine, upon hearing of his ill father and spiritual death. This could…

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Physician’s Good Medicine – #13

Now you might imagine that perhaps Erin was getting into drugs with his friends. This would be a common thought however it was not the case. Erin and his friends simply hung out and talked. They talked about philosophy, religion, politics, they talked about everything. It was a time of intellectual engagement and expansion. Here was a group of friends who encouraged his free thinking and his exploration of ideas. He was both challenged and…

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