Thu Jun 2 23:__:__ CDT 2005
The first Scribbling Wall in many, many moons! May it be blessed.
Music: Edenbridge, Sirenia, Within Temptation
The image centers on the symbol for anarchognosticism, a philosophy with which I resonate, but I mostly use it here because it looks super-cool, and since Jeremy put it under anti-copyright, I had a good excuse to play with it in gimp. So no, none of the trappings added by me "represent" anything beyond the meaning conveyed by the symbol itself. Unless you want them to, in which case, have at it!
Tonight, Yanthor and I went to the Jewel Heart meeting. (Jewel Heart is the Buddhist group he has been attending for the past few months.) Tonight's gathering was unlike most of their "normal" meetings. It was held at a different location (somebody's house), and consisted of a prayer ceremony followed by a potluck, with a real honest-to-goodness Tibetan monk present to lead the ritual.
The pre-meal ceremony consisted of everybody (roughly a dozen people) reading in unison from their book of Buddhist prayers. Most of what we said were the English translations, although a few passages consisted of sanskrit syllables.
Between some of the prayers, a plate of small pieces of crunchy bread was passed around. Following to the monk's instruction, everyone took a piece, broke it into two pieces, and ate one half. The other was placed on another plate that was passed around to collect the discarded pieces. That plate was then put outside with a piece of incense.
Also, everyone was given a tiny piece of fish to eat, representing (I think) the soul of the animals that are sacrificed for us. Lastly, a tiny dab of whiskey was poured into each person's hand, which we drank and rubbed the remainder on our foreheads.
This variant of Buddhism is apparently bigger on the funky rituals and chanting than the version I had been introduced to at the Shambhala center, but overall, I thought the ceremony was pretty cool. I liked some of the prayer poems that we said, which focused on awakening compassion and letting go of the ego.
Historically, I haven't been a fan of rote recitation, but tonight's experience has me rethinking some of that. Though I may learn about compassion and ways to live and think, with the passage of time, it all tends to fade. Reciting the words brings them to the forefront of the brain. Maybe for something that is really important, it's a good idea to bring it back through regular repetition.
I guess in a way, music can also have that effect, although for me, the things that "sound cool" tend to get played the most often, rather than what would necessarily be "good" for my mind to remember. Anyway, it's something to ponder. And after a day or two, it will most likely have totally slipped my mind.
Anyway, after the ceremony, we all ate plates of food, stood around and talked, and had a little wine before leaving. Overall, an enjoyable and inspiring evening.
Anarchognostic neopagan buddhist. Could that be a religion? If so, I'll take one to go.
Changing Minds, One At A Time. A rather inspiring article by Howard Zinn on how to deal with things, given the current state of America.
(I know I'm completely diverting from protocol by putting this here instead adding to the "links" table. But if there's one thing scribbling wall is good for, it's for breaking the goddamn uniformity of this site when I feel like doing something different.)
Fri Jun 3 02:26:14 CDT 2005
