New disc for disc golf
This has been a busy week, going in a lot of different directions. I have set a personal goal of trying to post something here every week, but already this week I have fallen behind. That isn’t to say I haven’t gotten a lot of things done though.
I purchased a new disc for my disc golf game and actually got out and used it. One of the guys who attends the temple came over late last week and we went over to Kilborne and played a round in the early AM. I think the disc helped some, but I am still a lousy throw. I now own three discs but still generally only use one.
I had a couple of nights of entertaining guests this past week as well, that was nice. On one night I had a couple of folks over who have been with practicing with me in Nichiren Shu here since before I went off to become a priest. The three of us try to get together a couple of times a year and have a simple dinner together, usually spaghetti. Then on another evening I had a family that is a great friend of the temple come over along with their three children. It was so nice to have children here, something that doesn’t happen too often.
The biggest thing that has occupied my time is getting podcasts launched through iTunes. That was a real challenge, and frustrating at times. If it hadn’t been for some great help by Sean then I would probably not have been able to do it. He provided the XML template that I was able to change by just plugging in my variables. Thankfully I didn’t have to create it from scratch. Then there was the recordings that took time, and also a learning curve for the software. And of course there were errors made which caused me to have to redo things a couple of times. Finally though, as of yesterday you can now find Podcasts from Myosho-ji in iTunes and if people want to they can subscribe to them through there.
I think my hope concerning the Podcasts is that it might inspire other Nichiren Shu ministers to do the same thing. I think there are a lot of good ministers out there whose, podcasts would be much better than mine and I hope that perhaps now they will also do something similar, That would be really neat.
I noticed as I was recording some of my old Dharma talks that I really need to do some editing and generally I also need to improve my skills at creating a good talk. To that end I have begun trying to work through a seemingly good book recommended by Myokei Shonin on improving ‘sermon’ skills. The book is geared towards Christian sermons but the basics certainly apply for giving Dharma talks.
Towards that end, the preparation of this weeks Dharma talk has taken a bit more time, as it probably always should. Hopefully when I give it this Sunday it will be a better one for the effort. I’ll post the written text here on my blog and then an audio recording on iTunes.
Now I need to get going because we will have an overnight guest at the temple today and tomorrow. A gentleman from Raleigh who is interested in Nichiren Shu is coming to visit for a couple of days so that he can check out the temple and practice here and learn more about Nichiren Shu before he returns home. I am looking forward to this opportunity to share the Dharma with yet another person. How fortunate I am.
With Gassho,
Ryusho
