Who are you, anyway?
… from the book…
If you want a certain thing…
meditation
Zen and the Art of Moto Taxi Survival – eBook now available
I’m very excited to announce, the book is now available!
At last, the work is done – and I can begin discussing it
If you’ve got a Kindle (or Kindle Reader, as I do on my tablet), you can get it at Amazon.com’s Kindle Store
I took a different route than most, opting to write the best book I could for publication, rather than rushing something to market with the intention of fixing problems later.
I typically don’t discuss my books when I’m writing them, so I’ve had to keep quiet… but no more. 🙂
More to come… but now it’s time to go outside and air myself out.
with your mind as taut as an iron bow strung with wire
Baby, it’s cold outside… (Source: National Geographic)
Advice to warriors :
Do your job with your mind as taut as an iron bow strung with wire.
This is the same as Zen meditation.
~ Suzuki Shōsan
Because life is waiting…
I’d almost forgotten all about that, once upon a time.
A86 Colombes
Then I had the chance to remember.
All those plans, all that careful-ness…
A spring day
with rain threatening
and suddenly, everything’s different.
More Zen than I expected
A different kind of “sit” (Source: YouTube)
So, chapters 4 and 5 are pretty much set.
Chapter 4 was pretty straightforward. Tell the story. Relive the story. Wonder at the story.
Turns out Chapter 5 is a heck of a lot more “Zen” than I expected. Turns out, what was really going on in my mind during that ride was not unlike what you experience while doing zazen — only this time on two wheels, going fast. In traffic. In France.
Should be interesting, to see what others have to say about it.
I can’t say I’m un-happy. Gives me something more to think about, as I finish up the week… and start thinking about the weekend.
Two or three old women came and asked…
Two or three old women came and asked him [Suzuki Shosan] about the essence of Buddhism.
The Master said: “I do not know anything that I can teach you.”
After a while he said suddenly: “You will die, you will die. Never forget the fact of dying…”
From : Death Was His Koan: The Samurai-Zen of Suzuki Shosan By Winston L. King (P.285)
It looks so harmless on a web page
… and in all honesty, that’s pretty much how I felt, one fine spring afternoon, on the back of a motorcycle flying down a highway near Paris.
What happened that day crystallized a whole lot that I’d observed about myself, doing business with the French, and the practical uses of Zen.
And the book is nearing completion . . . ready in early 2015. So stay tuned.
Thus consider that you are always on duty…
… required to firmly apply your full attention. If you slack off, you’re useless.
Remember such a stable and firm attitude is itself meditation practice. There is no other method of concentration to seek. Buddhism itself is about applying full attention steadily, without being disturbed by external things. Developing a confident attitude that is never pained or vexed or worried or saddened or altered or frightened is called attaining Buddhahood.
And now, a quick word about Zen
After all, it is the first word in the name of this site.
I haven’t got much to say, actually. For me, it is about doing. Experiencing first-hand. Learning. And moving on.
Oh, and sitting.
“Sitting quietly, doing nothing,
Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”
Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 134, 222)
Zen and the Art of Moto Taxi Survival 