The Art of Zen Living

Simplifying the Dishwasher

Daniel — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:24:57 +0000

The optimist says the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty. I say the glass is dirty, and needs to be washed. We all end up needing to do dishes. While it’s greener and gets your dishes cleaner to do them by hand, most of us opt to use the dishwasher. I know [...]

Simple Homemade Yogurt!

Daniel — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:41:16 +0000

Did you know you can make yogurt at home? I was a bit surprised, as I come from an urban background, and things as complicated as yogurt and bread must require special factories, right? As it turns out, not so much. Homemade yogurt is cheap, easy and there is as big a difference between homemade [...]

Friends, Frugality and the smart phone.

Daniel — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:31:21 +0000

The question I’ve been wrestling with for the past few months, that has come to a boil this week, is whether or not a smart phone affords enough value to be worth the extra monthly expense. I was surprised to realize what the driving factor behind my decision has been. For years now, I’ve worked in [...]

New Word: Committocracy

Daniel — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:45:59 +0000

I promise not to make this a regular thing. I am, however, fairly proud of this word I’ve just made up: Committocracy: Pronunciation: \kə-ˈmi- tok- krə-sē\ Function: noun Date: 2008 Etymology: from the English committee and the Greek -kratia -cracy 1. A government run by committee, where truthiness is more important than fact.

Upekkha - Equanimity

Daniel — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:00:24 +0000

Equanimity: Evenness of mind; that calm temper or firmness of mind which is not easily elated or depressed; patience; calmness; composure; as, to bear misfortunes with equanimity That’s the dictionary’s definition of equanimity. It’s a good definition. I imagine that for an outside observer, this is what the 4th immesurable looks like. But how [...]

Mudita - Sympathetic Joy

Daniel — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:44:21 +0000

Sympathetic Joy is the ability to be happy when other people are happy. I know it’s a challenge for me. Our culture is very competitive. When we see someone succeed, or someone that is doing better than we are, it’s hard to think “Well, good for them!”. Reverand Kusala tells a story about sympathetic [...]

Karuna - Compassion

Daniel — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:45:33 +0000

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. Dalai Lama While Loving Kindness is a mental state, Compassion is not. Compassion is an action. It is the activity of Loving Kindness. Or, if you prefer a more groovy sort of feel, let’s say that Compassion is Loving Kindness arisen. Except when it’s not. [...]

Metta - Loving Kindness

Daniel — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:07:29 +0000

It’s hard to pick out a “favorite” from the 4 immeasurables. They’re all pretty groovy. Loving Kindness is probably the easiest of the 4 to start practicing immediately. Loving kindness is, to me, a head thing. It’s an intention or an attitude. It goes on inside you. The word the Buddha used was metta. I’ve [...]

The 4 immeasurables

Daniel — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:42:43 +0000

When I first came to Buddhism, I wondered what an enlightened person would be like. Maybe that guy from “Kung-Fu”, with all that way-out “wisdom” that sounded good, but made no sense? “Together, we will be as strong as a mule with TWO (he holds up 4 fingers) sacks of grain!” As it turns out, [...]

The Zen of Sick, Busy and Tired.

Daniel — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:33:11 +0000

As near as I can tell, there isn’t really a Zen of sick, busy and tired. I do want to ask you all to just bare with me a few days longer - shortly after starting training for the new job, I came down with some sort of sore throat, cough, stuffy head and congested chest [...]