Been thinking that it might be helpful to have a plan for writing here.  A subject to return to on a regular basis. Something I can explore.  I thought about commenting on current events from a spiritual perspective, but honestly, I get bored these days listening to people share their vaguely informed opinion about world events. Nothing makes me close a web page or change the channel faster than a talking head or pontificating blogger. The problem, I find, is that with most people, you already know what they think and what they will say on 99% of all issues before they have opened their mouths or you have read one word. And I don’t want to become that sort of person more than I already am. While I would like to explore questions like “What is a spiritual response to the situation in Afghanistan?”  It isn’t something that will keep me interested in writing on a regular basis.

But I think I have found one that will.  The Lamrim.  The 21 stage of the path to enlightenment.  These are the 21 stages as outlined in Tibetan Buddhism by Atisha in 1042 CE. He organized the essential Buddhist teaching in the order in which they might best be realized.  They are as follows:

   1.  Our precious human life

   2. Death and impermanence

   3. The danger of lower rebirth

   4. Refuge practice

   5. Actions and their effects

   6. Developing renunciation for samsara

   7. Developing equanimity

   8. Recognizing that all living beings are our mothers

   9. Remembering the kindness of living beings

  10. Equalizing self and others

  11. The disadvantages of self-cherishing

  12. The advantages of cherishing others

  13. Exchanging self with others

  14. Great compassion

  15. Taking

  16. Wishing love

  17. Giving

  18. Bodhichitta

  19. Tranquil abiding

  20. Superior seeing

  21. Relying upon a Spiritual Guide

 

So, my plan is to begin exploring these 21 stages in order. I am a Buddhist and Lamrim is central to my practice, but I thought it might be helpful to explore them from an interspiritual perspective, particularly to examine how each of these teachings are relevant to people of others faiths like Christianity as well as people of no particular faith. It seems a good way to blend the Buddhist and Interspiritual Minister sides of who I am.

A Buddhist prayer I wrote a while ago. 

I seek to complete the perfection of giving;

   fulfilling the desires of all living beings.

I seek to complete the perfection of moral discipline;

   maintaining my vows and gathering virtuous Dharma.

I seek to complete the perfection of patience;

   abandoning anger and cultivating equanimity.

I seek to complete the perfection of effort;

   striving for enlightenment with unwavering

   compassion.

I seek to complete the perfection of concentration;

   attaining tranquil abiding and the mind of clear light.

I seek to complete the perfection of wisdom;

   realizing directly the union of bliss and emptiness.

OM AH HUM – Astu – Amen

One of my fellow seminarians just returned from a pilgrimage to Assisi Italy and was conveying how hard it was to reenter “normal” life. This got me to thinking about how I deal with that myself. I sometimes find it a struggle to remain in the heart-mind space that I achieve while attending a Buddhist class once I leave. Sometimes it lasts all night, sometimes it vanishes at the slightest hint of turmoil.

One of the most extensive and profound spiritual experiences I’ve had was at the retreat leading up to my ordination. After three days of retreat, periods of silence, meditation, sharing with fellow students, a vow taking ceremony, and finally the ordination ceremony, my heart felt as though it had been cracked wide open.  I’d felt that deep heart-love-bliss before in deep meditation and in the presence of my wife, but not with such a large group of people. It became an exercise of sorts, keeping my heart open and staying present in the moment. It was a great temptation to close down, even just a little. A truly open and love filled heart can be a terrifying thing.

After the retreat came the hubbaloo of the commencement and my friends and mother being in town and I struggled to keep that wide open heart sense. It lasted for about a week and finally faded. Mostly because I would forgot that it is a state of mind that needs to be cultivated not a state of being that is without effort. That state of being is the goal, but in the meantime, it takes effort to be in the heart-mind space.

So that’s what I’m trying to do today. Remember that state of mind and breathe deep into my heart and slowly open it to the Divine presence of all beings here and now and forever.

We’ll see how long that lasts.

I've been meaning to post this for a while. Below is the long trailer for the film I directed a few years ago called Dark September Rain. If you're interested you can find out more about it at the website. It's also available at Amazon for $6. You can also see more clips at YouTube.com

Lost the blog groove I was on. I don't know how people find time to blog regularly. I had a crazy week on site on a job, then was off for a week of being sick and then on to a new crazy job. The joys of being freelance. I find if I have a few minutes during the day squeezing in a blog is easy, but once I get home I don't have much interest in being in front of the computer. I'd rather be curled up on the couch with my wife. And if I am at the computer I always feel like I should be working on the new kids novel. I had been hoping to be off for three weeks and have enough time to finish a rough draft, but the new gig started earlier than I thought. Can't complain because I'm freelance and employed in the middle of a recession, but it means the novel will have to get finished on weekend. Which is what I should be doing now. 

For those who might be interested, below is the first page of my YA scifi novel dealing with the relationship between science and religion. It all takes place on a starship traveling between galaxies.  You can find it on my website if you are so inclinded.

Celestial Blade - Chapter One: The Castle

The clouds above the thin forest obscured the moon and stars beyond
them, leaving just enough light to make out the castle on the hill. The moon was
not real, nor were the stars. They were merely projections provided to comfort
those creatures used to living under stars and moons. But the clouds were real.
And far beneath the clouds, standing in the crook of the valley bottom, a light
drizzle falling on their moonlit faces, stood Jeddu and Kylla. Thin and tall for
their thirteen years, Jed stood half a hand higher than Kylla, his dark brown skin
contrasting sharply with her deep olive complexion in the bluish white
moonlight. He wore stout wool trousers and a dark blue cotton shirt while she
wore a simple green dress long enough to cover the tops of her plain leather
boots.

“There it is,” Kylla said, pushing her sandy hair from her chestnut eyes
and wiping raindrops from her forehead. “Just like I told you.”

Jed looked up at the crumbling castle on the hill above, wondering if the
walls might not fall down and crush them in an avalanche of stone. He had
never really believed the stories about the old castle. He had assumed they were
just tall tales told to lull small children to sleep. And although he was not by
most estimates old enough to be called a man, he was no longer a child. He had
suspected that Kylla, his best friend since he was a small child, had been playing
some sort of trick on him, pretending she had found an old map in the town
library.

“You never go to the library,” Jed had said at the time.
“I was working on that paper on the history of the Origin World we had
to write for Mrs. Lemmick,” Kylla had replied.
“You’re little brother writes your papers,” Jed had snapped back, referring
to Kylla’s disturbingly intelligent eleven-year-old brother.
“Yes, but he makes me carry the books,” Kylla had answered. “And
while Mrs. Stone was helping Fallon find the books he wanted, I snuck into the
Banished History room.”
“That room is off limits to everyone except the elders.”
“Jealous?”
“You could have waited until I was around,” Jed had nearly whined.
“I’ve been trying to get in that room since I was eight years old. It’s always
locked.”
“Mrs. Stone must have forgotten.”
“What did you see? “ Jed had asked, curiosity bettering his jealously.
“I didn’t have time to see much.” Kylla had said. “But on the wall was a
large map of the entire Kennou region. Not the map we study in school. This
one showed not just all of our Kellish towns, but all of the Merrick towns and
villages as well. And further aft, it showed a region I’d never heard of, with little
settlements called the Shannou.”

“You should have drawn it out,” Jed had exclaimed.
“I didn’t have any paper,” Kylla had said, a hint of defensiveness and
annoyance in her voice. “Besides, there was too much to draw,”
“What about the castle?”
“It’s not far from a Merrick town called Flerin, near Lake KennoCha.”
“I know where that its. That’s close to where the school trip was three
years ago.” Jed had started scheming immediately.

Below is a prayer from my young adult science fiction novel The Celestial Blade. I imagine part of the reason I couldn't find an agent or publisher for it is because it is a YA scifi novel with prayers. 

The prayer is the spiritual heart of the main character's local community. It outlines the seven spiritual prinicples of the community's founders. The three kids at the center of the story grow up in a secluded section massive star ship where people have abandoned most techology.

Faith hides like the oak within the acorn
Waiting to blossom into maturity,
When it will see the sacred in all things,
The Divine as the Ground of all being and becoming.

All beings being blessed and holy,
Each deserves the love that is without fail,
The love that is without end,
The eternal and undying Universal Love.

All beings being Divine,
A manifestation of the Divine that is the Ground of Being,
All beings need the compassion that seeks to end all suffering.
The Universal Compassion that is without equal.

The actions of each affect the whole,
And for the whole being to be whole,
All actions must be guided by a holier hand,
A hand guided by ethical action.

As each one gives all receive,
When all give of themselves all blessing are received,
The highest blessing being given through service,
A hand to help those whose hands are weary.

Within the mind lies the heart,
Within the heart lies the soul,
A peaceful heart begets a peaceful life,
And equanimity of mind begets a life divine.

The Divine Life is a Path of Being,
The Path of Being being wisdom,
Contemplation cultivates wisdom,
While prayer and meditation nourish the tree of being.

If you're intersted you can find the novel at my website.

I thought I'd share a prayer I wrote. A long term project of mine is to write a book of 108 interspiritual prayers. You can find a few more I have written as well as a selection of my favorites on my website.

Prayer of Renunciation

Divine Spirit

Ground of all Being

Source of suchness

We renounce now

in effort to attain your grace

all ties that bind us to the mundane

We relinquish our minds of anger

We abandon our minds of jealousy

We seek not to be seen as special

We discard our desires of earthly pleasures

We release our aspirations for reward

We jettison our selfishness

We request now your Divine Wisdom,

The source of solace and succor to our souls,

As we embrace and abide

In the radiance of your eternal love.

Astu-Amen

Honestly, I’m not very interested in writing about anything today and haven’t been for a few days. I’ve thought about writing about the difference between productive investment and speculative investment, but I’m not very enthusiastic about it.  Mostly because no one seems to get it but me. It’s simple though. Speculative investment puts money in the stock market.  Productive investment puts money in new companies or for expanding existing companies. Speculative investment has little or no impact in the economy directly (unless the stock is being newly issued to raise cash or the speculative money goes into municipal bonds). Productive investment creates jobs directly by hiring workers for new companies and indirectly by purchasing what the company needs to run and create its product. If you want to create jobs change the capital gains taxes so that the wealthy will be inclined toward productive investment and away from speculative investment.  

But what the heck does that have to do with spirituality and interfaith issues I ask myself?  Not much. 

I really just want to work on the new young adult fantasy novel I’m writing. Maybe I’ll post some portions from the first YA novel I wrote. It’s a science fiction story that explores the conflict between science and religion through a classic adventure-quest-rescue plot.  And it all take place on an enormous star ship the size of a small planet traveling toward the Andromeda galaxy.

Now that’s something I can get excited about.

I was thinking today about the idea of teaching a class on performing spiritual texts. Maybe not a class so much as an afternoon of mutual exploration of the world’s great spiritual texts through performance. Having taken a good number of acting classes, done a bit of acting, taught acting to children, and directed some theatre and a few independent films, I’m convinced that you only really get to know a text when you perform it.  Just memorization doesn’t get it into the deep recesses of your heart the way that repeatedly performing it does. And part of that process is rehearsal. Doing the piece again and again, hopefully, with some experienced and inspirational guidance.  Trying different techniques to unlock the potential of the person performing as much as the meaning of the text. And exploring the overt and subtle meanings of the text.

Honestly, it sounds like a huge amount of fun. Maybe I should see if my seminary classmates would be interested in an afternoon of that sort of exploration.  Of course, I’d need to find a place to do it at and figure out a way to pay for it. Maybe the One Spirit Center would rent us some space. 

Have to look into it.