Zelazny – Gleanings in Buddha-Fields

A Life Well-Lived

Recently, I found this great quote from the famous 14th century Japanese-Buddhist text, the Essays in Idleness, which I’ve written about before. 7) If man were never to fade away like the dews of Adashino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose theirContinue reading “A Life Well-Lived”

What To Do With Your Twilight Years

Lately, after reading an article about the infamous Villages retirement community in Florida, I’ve been pondering this ancient Greek epitaph: “Drink. Play. Your life is mortal and time on earth is but short. Death itself is everlasting once a man has died.” πῖνε, παῖζε· θνητὸς ὁ βίος, ὀλίγος οὑπὶ γῇ χρόνος· ὁ θάνατος δ’ ἀθάνατόςContinue reading “What To Do With Your Twilight Years”

Of Elder Gods and Men

We made our way cross-country through the colors of autumn– browns, reds, yellows– and the ground was damp, though not spongy. I inhaled the odors of forest and earth. Smoke curled from a single chimney in the distance, and I thought the Elder Gods and wondered at how they might change things if the wayContinue reading “Of Elder Gods and Men”

Magic and Science: Same Difference?

Recently, the family attended a little setsubun ceremony at a local Buddhist temple of the Japanese Shingon sect. Shingon Buddhism is one of several “esoteric” (mikkyō 密教) sects in Buddhism including Japanese Tendai and Tibetan Buddhism, and rely more on practices through a complex array of rituals, chants and gestures called “mudra”. This particular ceremonyContinue reading “Magic and Science: Same Difference?”