Be Better Not Perfect – August 21, 2012 Meditation

Be Better Not Perfect Continuing on a short break, reposting an article from March 21, 2012 When looking at the trajectory of our life or our progress in practice it isn’t always easy to have a long view. Having a long view makes it possible to see that things over time actually do improve. Progress more often than not is the accumulation of a series of small incremental achievements sometimes accompanied by setbacks.

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Building – August 20, 2012 Meditation

Building This post originally appeared February 5, 2012 I am taking a short break from original postings for a couple of days. In the neighborhood where I live, right behind the temple they are tearing down numerous houses. The removal of these dwellings is for the purpose of reclaiming flood plain areas along a creek. It is amazing that I can walk by one day and a house is standing intact and then the next…

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Ignorance, Is It Bliss? – August 19, 2012 Meditation

Ignorance, Is It Bliss? Some of you may know that I have been having some health problems lately, nothing too serious though, and certainly nothing that won’t be manageable. But I’m going to be honest with you, I am behaving as the typical male of our species. There is definitely a part of me that irrationally says/believes that if I just push on through it will go away, or that if I ignore it long…

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Stick To It – August 18, 2012 Meditation

Stick To It “Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.” (Josh Billings pen name of Henry Wheeler Shaw 1818 – 1885) Sometimes I think the most useful thing I can do as a priest, as a teacher, is to merely encourage a person to continue the practice of the Lotus Sutra without giving up, though I am not always successful. My role, more…

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