Saturday 24 July 2010

Saturday

10:50 p.m.
I don't remember having a week with so many afflictive emotions! It's been a bummer, but it will get better from about Tuesday. The appointments for yesterday evaporated (hurrah!), but I still have appointments today, tomorrow and maybe Monday. It looks like the only way to go on holiday is to be totally unavailable. If you are around, folk want you to do stuff. Things are showing signs of improvement though.

I had some very nice dreams this morning. In one of them, the investigator was looking into the buddhist holiday his servant was having and realised he'd gone through all the skandas (body, senses, perceptions, mental formations and consciousnesses) and failed to find a self. I wakened up with that. It cheered me up.

7 comments:

rob said...

Coincidentally I have had a week of afflictive emotions, excessive hubris and social frictions. Thank goodness for a weekend so far free of deifheids.

rob said...

PS if only you were on the bliss pills. Don't let the idea of a brain the size of a prostate put you off.

Marie Rex said...

Been a week of mixed emotions. Must be the phase of the moon.

I've found wandering off for a holiday the best way of being unavailable. But it doesn't happen too often.

I am reading a really good book and I think you might like it.

'Living, Dreaming, Dying' by Rob Nairn

I got it at Samye Ling a while ago and just picked it up. I usually find things just when they will do me the most good.

I've been considering going on a week of retreat there in Oct. But I hesitate because of my food issues. They did say I could bring my own food, but I don't want to offend folks.

My upside down tomato plant is showing signs of getting ripe. A much better idea for an outdoor patio than my indoor porch. Except for the wind.

Hotboy said...

Marie! Rob Nairn does courses at the Samye. If I were you, I wouldn't bother about the meat eating down at the Samye Ling. Why should that offend anyone? Some folk have to eat meat. The Dalai Lama eats meat. Hotboy

Marie Rex said...

I guess I am just getting in my own way about it.

Looking for an excuse not to do a retreat which has limited appeal to me.

I'm interested in the information, but find sitting for long periods of time painful and boring.

I'm too restless and like to keep moving.

Hotboy said...

Marie! Parts of being on retreat are always hard. Every time I've done a week at the Samye, I've felt great benefits afterwards. As far as the sitting is concerned, I think you have to train yourself to get used to it and enjoying it. Once you start hitting the bliss I think it's bound to get a lot easier to do it, but that doesn't happen overnight. If you were doing a week do there, you could take lots of books and toys and only sit when you could or felt comfortable doing it. I'm sure just being there would be good for you. You can waste hours and hours on the computers in the cafe. Sometimes it might feel like you're in an open prison, but you could always take the bus into Lockerbie and do some shopping. It only has to be as hard as you want it to be. Hotboy

Marie Rex said...

I'll pass on shopping, my least favorite activity.

I'm more likely just to wander around among the gardens. Make ruts in all the paths with my footsteps.

I'm still thinking about it. I'm making a big trip to the states in November. Not sure how much I want to travel this year.