tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40087216695005738232012-01-27T22:02:32.052-08:00Bits of zen flotsam & jetsam from the daily practice of a zen fool with shards of modern Buddhist art from my studio. Sometimes cranky, sometimes inspiring, mostly entertaining.ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.comBlogger3671100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-32135069406590403342012-01-25T11:23:00.000-08:002012-01-25T11:23:10.838-08:00

The word encounter makes me think of extraterrestrials or those infamous groups of the soul baring sort from the '60's.  But I had an encounter the other evening that didn't involve aliens or confessions. It was a simple event at my own kitchen table where I hung out with some paper and a few drawing tools.  In the final chapter of "No More Second Hand Art", Peter London offers up 12 creative

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-14711448559504541432012-01-21T13:03:00.000-08:002012-01-21T13:30:25.197-08:00

I started this little abstract at a painter's group I went to last Friday.  I was invited to join a little group at the community hall near where I live.  It's not a class, no instructor.  But painting as a group activity?  I couldn't quite imagine it.  To me it seems a solitary process. I usually scratch and scrape and wipe paint on and off.  I sit and look. Scrape some more. It's a messy,

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-41726388063246907892012-01-08T14:30:00.000-08:002012-01-08T23:10:37.087-08:00

So we've tucked the first week of the new year under our belt and if we ate too many Christmas goodies that belt may be bulging a bit (but who wants to talk about that?).  I want to talk schedules. What do you think about schedules? Yeah me too. I've never been a scheduley sort of person.  But I thought, new year, try something new, right?  I have some projects I want to actually happen, time

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-16297842726807736932011-12-31T21:39:00.000-08:002011-12-31T21:39:10.699-08:00

A new ritual added itself to my New Year's Eve this year.  The fine, crisp afternoon was perfect for the bonfire I'd been conjuring in my mind.  I cut up some  scraps of paper and took a couple of pens down to the pond where I've been piling branches.  After we'd built up a lovely little chimney of flame and sipped on something mulled we turned our minds to what we'd like to let go of on this

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-85791952811142681962011-12-26T18:39:00.000-08:002011-12-26T18:43:56.134-08:00

There is  something indulgent about the holiday season, all the tastes and smells and sights that give pleasure.  I am good with this season of celebration as long as it sidesteps the madness of the consumer driven holiday.  I don't want to know about angry shoppers or maxed out credit cards or .....  Call me the Christmas ostrich but I am sticking my head in the sand to holiday madness, to

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-26223788026552411622011-12-23T11:03:00.000-08:002011-12-25T00:30:05.869-08:00

You always knew this about me but I am going to say it out loud now.  I am a little slow.  In many ways, but especially technologically speaking.  I just discovered tumblr.  Roll your eyes now and get it over with.  Yawn a little perhaps.  There, now you've recovered.  I know it is so last decade.  But there you have it, I belong to the cybersnail family, a slowly evolving form of life in this

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-15008845193168165302011-12-10T08:32:00.000-08:002011-12-10T08:39:31.442-08:00

I am book obsessed lately, not with all books, but with one in particular.  "No More Secondhand Art" is becoming a dear friend to me lately.  Perhaps more than a friend...  It comes to bed with me most nights, follows me around the house, keeping me company if I sit down for a little rest during the day, languishing lazily with me in front of the fire in the evening.  I like to think we are

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-6365843817288265272011-12-01T18:03:00.000-08:002011-12-03T09:33:34.742-08:00

Zen & Now 24"x30" Mixed Media on Canvas My daughter asked me how the "hundred layer painting" was doing a while back.  When she was home in the early fall she had observed me creating painting after painting on the same canvas.  Nothing seemed to hit the mark for me.  I kept thinking something "nicer" might be just around the corner, something that pleased me more, and so I worked on, painting

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-79652774623970398802011-11-17T18:40:00.000-08:002011-11-17T18:48:19.876-08:00

Can of Pain Can Be Bought At The Pharmasave Price Don't you love it?  A can of pain!  A large can of pain at that...  Tea and sugar and coffee come in small cans, but pain, it's always the giant sized one.  Why is that?  This photo opp was too good to pass by, honestly.  And you know how I love a cheap joke.  Loaf of pain, anyone?  White, whole wheat, gluten free perhaps?  How do you like your

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-51732974212155159632011-11-10T21:05:00.000-08:002011-11-23T18:27:18.993-08:00

Winter In The Pacific Northwest I was invited by the lovely Donna Iona Drozda of Following The Moon to be part of ‘My 7 Links’ project. Of course I felt pleased to have been chosen, but once pride left the building, sloth and torpor moved in while I considered the work involved. But then I thought it might be fun to look back over my blog posts, so off I trundled into the deep woods of blog

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-83903535107820556652011-11-06T22:02:00.000-08:002011-11-06T22:09:45.563-08:00

Pyramid Lake, Jasper, Alberta "Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?" Did you ever wake up asking yourself this question?  Maybe not in those exact words but you know what I mean.  Ajahn Brahm, an upside down Therevaden  monk,  has cleverly anticipated our question and written a book to help us find the culprit.  How can you not love this title?   I'm a total sucker for a sense of humour 

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-41518246508690817202011-10-29T03:08:00.000-07:002011-10-29T03:11:18.643-07:00

I am the one with the lovely grey coat and the blue accessories Here is one the beings I had the good fortune to meet at the bottom of my driveway as I headed out for a little stroll in the woods last week.  Is it synchronistic that Eeyore appears to remind me of my eeyoreness? I have been slipping effortlessly through the time and space of this planet, riding ferry boats, delivering people to

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-42245970419039976182011-10-18T09:45:00.000-07:002011-10-18T09:49:27.808-07:00

work in progress It is obvious that a thought about your mother is not your mother ( I borrowed this line from a wonderful Dharma talk by Howard Cohn).  But somehow it is less obvious to us that "who we think we are", is not who we are.  In a way this is related the "the straight jacket of insecurity" that I wrote about here because who we think we are is mostly less than we really are.  Cohn

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-53941480630936145652011-10-11T14:34:00.000-07:002011-10-11T14:34:59.025-07:00

Taken at the Japanese Garden in Seattle I was muck raking yesterday.  No, really I was.  Not the gossipy, wrong speech kind of muck raking.  I had a big 3 pronged claw-like rake and I was pulling old snags (and young ones) from our pond. The pond is ridiculously large and has been neglected for a long time.  One of our summer projects was to get out as much debris as we could while the water

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-11570038975027372142011-10-03T09:20:00.000-07:002011-10-03T14:49:41.783-07:00

I am thinking about insecurity this morning.  I have been thinking about it for a few days, remembering a teaching by one of the Zen monks from the OBC on how that feeling of "not good enough", a lack of self confidence is really a form of pride.  At first that seemed odd and confusing to me but then I got it.  We hold back, protect ourselves, lack confidence in our "little", ego bound selves

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-4772815933701030312011-09-22T23:34:00.000-07:002011-10-10T23:50:26.782-07:00

"Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.  It will not lead you astray" -Rumi I am using a tiny imaginary wood burning tool to etch these delicate words into my brain before heading into the quiet  heart of fall.  As I sat, nestled in the small nook of a cedar tree the other day, listening to the ravens discuss their fall plans I considered mine.  The cool,

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-741666776598629982011-09-02T13:54:00.000-07:002011-10-10T23:52:15.276-07:00

Moonlighting Monks Mixed Media (sold) I am thinking about travel today.  The idea of starting out on a physical journey is strong for me right now for a couple of reasons.  The weather is fine, families have returned home from summer vacations and this is the time of year I have often traveled.  So I feel the call of places other than home.  In a way it is the echo of what I have done in the

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-69060194390615746322011-08-22T23:52:00.000-07:002011-10-10T23:53:01.540-07:00

Here's a photo of Squirrel Nutkin chewing on the Dharma.  You remember that Beatrix Potter tale from your childhood, don't you? No?  Well let me refresh your memory.  It goes like this.  The heroine goes on retreat to a lovely idyllic spot, almost as nice as heaven, in a rural, pastoral sort of way. Silently she is stalked by her own mind.  Fur starts to fly and she finds she is more than a

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-2065097878330936842011-08-12T16:57:00.000-07:002011-10-10T23:53:46.708-07:00

Care- Full Buddha 12"x 24" "When an artist or sculptor creates a picture or a statue of Buddha sitting upon a lotus flower, it is not just to express his reverence towards the Buddha.  The artist must above all want to show the Buddha's state of mind as he sits: The state of complete peace, complete bliss." - Thich Nhat Hanh from "A Guide to Walking Meditation" Yes, this is it, it is to show

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-55737188475693156362011-08-10T09:25:00.001-07:002011-08-10T09:25:36.658-07:00

Namo'valokiteshvaraya Chanting from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-8194580382161644812011-08-09T11:02:00.000-07:002011-08-10T14:34:57.784-07:00

Another little shot of the Zen garden in progress In a comment on my last post, Dharma blogger extraordinaire 108zenbooks said something like "even in the harshness, I feel your gentleness".  This got me thinking.  Since that post was about the heavy club of judgment we often wield, I wondered about the flip side of that stick; appreciation. My own gentleness, hmm, appreciate that?? While

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-15424035737534659342011-08-05T21:00:00.000-07:002011-08-05T21:00:16.474-07:00

Here's the beginning of my Japanese style garden "We can make the light of mindfulness a searchlight for encroaching evil that we imagine dwells within us; this is what the habit-mind often does.  Or we can make this mindfulness the light of lovingkindness, gentle and hospitable.  Experience can be known and met warmly.  Dwelling in the glow of relaxed, loving acceptance, the chill is warmed,

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-88069100077585662612011-07-26T23:42:00.000-07:002011-07-27T10:10:09.812-07:00

Here's a new little 8"x8" Buddha called "Buddha In The Sky With Diamonds".  I would have been more short winded if the Beatles had treated Lucy with more brevity.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.  I have been sneaking a little more painting time this week, stealing time from the garden (a thief with paint & garden dirt on their jeans).  I have been so inspired by the wonderful art blogs

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-68166171581027693222011-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:002011-07-20T10:18:08.417-07:00

This is a close up shot of a piece I am slowly working on (perhaps I am inspired to slowness by the slugs that have all but decimated our garden).  It seems there are never enough hours in the day for both gardening and artwork, but I've said that before, haven't I?  I am not whining, really.  I promise.  Although occasionally I do have a little wine. But I must confess I always turn a little

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-37817242355241691592011-07-14T22:09:00.000-07:002011-07-14T22:09:40.417-07:00

It looks like we're going on a little poetry road trip.  Summer is a good time for road trips, don't you think? Someone mentioned David Whyte in yesterday's comments, another one of those lovely poets that aims straight for the heart and seldom misses. "Poetry," says Whyte on his website comments "is a break for freedom."   Now that's my kind of road trip. Loaves and FishesThis is notthe age

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-43876857036730254432011-07-13T21:57:00.000-07:002011-07-13T21:57:59.474-07:00

Poems are finding me.  I don't know how they do that.  But they are searching me out, tracking me down and imploring me to post them.  It seems innocent enough so I have agreed to cooperate.  No prisoners, no hostages, only poems.  Last night I posted a poem on my face book page which I think I will repost here for those who don't do face book (I know there is at least one of you out there!)

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-82587610825643990042011-07-09T22:11:00.000-07:002011-07-09T22:14:23.174-07:00

Life has been full of summer energy and things.  One of these things is that I have finally scrubbed the last of the sawdust from the ceiling of the old workshop and moved in paint and paper, canvases and all.  It feels good to have a workspace where I can make as much mess as I like. Paint on the floor, no problem it's plywood, paint on the counter, no problem, it's old wood.  Want to bang a

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-90774782900286258122011-07-04T18:59:00.000-07:002011-07-04T18:59:29.093-07:00

Last week as I nursed a fat ankle caused by some Samurai gardening,  I pulled out my copy of  "The Zen of Seeing" by Frederick Franck.  It doesn't get any better in my mind than when art and Dharma get mixed together, or should I say merged, because Franck joins the two in such a seamless way that you'd wonder why we ever thought they were two separate things. His work always makes me think if

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-54982138185961993482011-06-28T20:17:00.000-07:002011-06-28T20:24:39.840-07:00

Have I posted a picture of my repainted Zendo (which is really code for a living room with no furniture)?  We lightened it up a while ago from a browny, pink colour to a soft green, a testament to how a paint colour can change a room.  But really all this chat stand in for the fact that I don't have any artwork to post.  However I can report that the little outbuilding that will become, at least

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-41591619169355847602011-06-21T09:22:00.000-07:002011-06-21T09:25:49.744-07:00

The Summer DayWho made the world?Who made the swan, and the black bear?Who made the grasshopper?This grasshopper, I mean-the one who has flung herself out of the grass,the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.Now

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-2013750902000643172011-06-18T08:34:00.000-07:002011-06-18T08:38:32.481-07:00

If metta were a cloud would it look like this? Would your metta cloud be pink?  Metta, if you're not familiar with it, is the practice of generating loving kindness, offering well wishes and blessings to ourselves and others.  Two weekends ago I sat a metta retreat for the first time. It is a wonderfully nourishing practice, very different from traditional meditation, different in that you are

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-32536945526103906242011-06-10T08:45:00.000-07:002011-06-10T12:43:05.285-07:00

The mixed media piece to the left is something a little different for me as I explore the creative ether, exploring being present and combining with what the materials suggest and what comes to me.  Waiting and watching for what resonates.  There is Dharma in there.  But then there is Dharma in everything if we're willing to look, don't you think?  This piece combines images and words, something

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-25963166006924465122011-05-31T22:48:00.000-07:002011-05-31T23:06:41.606-07:00

I am hoping for rain tomorrow.  Did you hear me say that?  I can't believe I just said that.  But there is an ulterior motive.  If it rains I can stay in and paint all day!  Recently I have been weed obsessed.  I jump out of bed in the morning and race outside to spend time in the company of weeds.  The definition of a weed is simply a plant growing where we don't want it to.  Aren't we bossy,

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-76679024041561695492011-05-28T21:56:00.000-07:002011-05-28T22:04:31.987-07:00

Here's a page out of my sketch book (made from recycled paper). I've been sitting in the evening by the fire (am I using up non-renewable resources?) and playing in my sketch book.  This Buddha is done in a grey conte crayon. Is conte crayon stuff, is it toxic, how and where is it produced?  Do you see where I'm going with this?  I know, I need to offer a few more clues, no not Colonel Mustard in

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-87233689271659993332011-05-25T14:52:00.000-07:002011-05-25T14:52:49.760-07:00

Do you have a "special" person in your life? One that my friend the Zen monk calls "your great teacher". Not too long ago I spent some time with my "special" person. My joke was he shows me how good my practice isn't.And it's always interesting for me. Sometimes I prepare myself and I "do okay" in my assessment. No blood is spilled, no unkind words are uttered, no looks to make anyone wither

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-91074113553850223532011-05-18T15:42:00.000-07:002011-05-18T15:47:25.027-07:00

This picture doesn't do it justice but this is a wonderful painting by Vancouver Island artist, Coco Jones shown here in her book, "Surviving Great Expectations". This stunning painting was sold last year and all proceeds went to the Tibetan earthquake cause. I have always loved her art because it appears spontaneous and carefree, full of humour and colour and a passion for life. As an artist

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-31870655786896804752011-05-16T09:45:00.000-07:002011-05-16T09:45:56.305-07:00

This tree is just down the road from me. I call it the heart tree. It's a bit hard to see in the photo but people have gathered stones that are shaped like hearts and tucked them into the mossy crevices of this living tree. It makes you smile just to see it.In my imaginings, one creative soul tucked in the first rock and then others joined in, searching the ground for heart-shaped stones and

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-17930535923627769342011-05-09T22:59:00.000-07:002011-05-10T16:59:05.998-07:00

This Buddha is called "Begin Anywhere" for the words I stamped on the canvas. They are words from designer, Bruce Mau's "Incomplete Manifesto For Growth" which I love. They are words attributed to composer John Cage.Sometimes we just impart too much meaning on things. We turn problems or tasks into their own planetary systems and then we get overwhelmed by their orbit. Sometimes we just

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-86261760740985460762011-05-06T16:44:00.000-07:002011-05-06T16:45:29.807-07:00

Someone liked my blue painting called "Buddha Matters" but wondered if it was available in reds and pinks and so here it is! It's fun sometimes to pick up the challenge! Can I do the old in a new way? Can I do it without expectations? What comes up for me as I imagine what the other person wants?And I wonder if that isn't the eternal predicament of samsara, to want the red one when there is

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-54556719402076521802011-05-05T09:48:00.000-07:002011-05-05T12:21:56.579-07:00

The Dharma is everywhere, it infuses everything, just waiting for us to stumble upon it. Sometimes it is screaming in our face, "wake up" and sometimes it is peeking out, shyly, in it's humourous little incarnation giving us a nudge and a poke.My partner took this picture at a garden centre and he said it reminded him of the last lines in the movie "I Heart Huckabees" where some folks are going

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-71982544712376549042011-05-02T10:44:00.000-07:002011-05-02T10:47:00.867-07:00

So many things this morning are reminding me of the quote, "We see things not as they are, but as we are." As I was sitting in meditation this morning the words "the bubble of me" popped into my head (bubble popping pun intended).The me fits the bubble analogy, I think, because it's closed and protective and comfortable, all qualities of a good bubble. Bubbles are transparent so we hardly

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-59325031490105456882011-04-25T10:43:00.000-07:002011-04-25T10:55:07.271-07:00

Here's a new work, 24"x 24". As time goes on I find I like to work on bigger surfaces. An interesting admission from someone who started their art career on 5"x7" card stock! I was so intimidated by large surfaces but now I find small ones constraining. Another hard left for the guy in the impermanence corner! "All things arise and they pass away," as the the little chant goes that we

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-40123307429174252622011-04-22T21:51:00.000-07:002011-04-22T22:02:25.350-07:00

I forgot that I'd created this image to go with my BuddhaRocks Violates the Second Precept post, so here it is today. Waste not, want not, better late than never. Hmm what other trite-ism can I wedge in here to prop up my failing memory? And I actually am going to promise new art with the next post! Yes it's true despite my preoccupation with washing windows and raking up the windfall of at

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-42833715870766260812011-04-20T22:52:00.000-07:002011-04-20T23:01:19.865-07:00

Adam from Fly Like A Crow alerted me the other day that a blog called BuddhaRocks.org was reposting my blog content without permission or credit and that of several others in the Buddhist blog community (Dangerous Harvest & The Zennist). Turns out this has been going on for at least a year. We write and post, he reposts, no credit, no link, no acknowledgement. Apparently there's a word for it

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-43150288045662767192011-04-18T15:54:00.000-07:002011-04-18T20:07:34.727-07:00

Yesterday I arrived home after an all day sit at the intensely beautiful Stowel Lake Farm to find a somewhat unpleasant phone message, at least one I didn't appreciate. I won't go into the details but it revolved around a request to hang some of my work. After several trips and some preparation on my part, the person had changed their mind. Now what came up very quickly was not the work I'd

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-52175384811050743162011-04-15T20:38:00.000-07:002011-04-15T20:53:19.436-07:00

I have been painting, not on canvas, not on cradled panels, no paper involved. No Buddhas, no abstract marks, just swaths of green paint, the colour of Martha Stewart's fancy chicken eggs. Painting walls, struggling with the application of eco friendly paint that doesn't quite cover like that old toxic stuff. But it's done now, the zendo painted, from it's deep purply brown that stole light

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-7983089369496578252011-04-09T10:04:00.000-07:002011-04-09T10:04:52.025-07:00

I am having a lovely quiet morning and noticing the 2 stacks of books I have lying on the very deep window sill of my bedroom. I have often thought it would be fun to write a novel that consisted only of people's shopping lists, to do lists and the stacks of books left lying around the house. It would work in terms of characterization, but I'm not sure how action packed it would be. I suppose

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-16697363841915079062011-04-06T17:12:00.000-07:002011-04-07T09:20:07.568-07:00

If you hang out here a bit, you might think you've seen this image before and you'd be right. I am asking you to do a little practice based on the words on the canvas. Empty your mind of this form and then it will seem fresh and new, rather than my slightly lame attempt to post art when there is nothing new and fresh out of the easy bake studio. Perhaps a few old, burnt ones; nasty and chewy and

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-89192607851565830182011-04-03T19:50:00.000-07:002011-04-03T19:50:17.683-07:00

I am doing two things these days. Eek it's Dharma multi tasking! To start with I have turned my ears around. I know, you'd like to see a picture but I'm afraid you're just going to have to take my word for it.I have turned them around to facilitate listening to that sense of inner knowing. Okay, the gig's up. It's just a metaphorical turning of the ear. I am talking about listening to the

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-26808948322379628742011-03-30T23:09:00.000-07:002011-03-30T23:10:08.721-07:00

Recently I invited the Dalai Lama to come sit on the couch in my living room. He looks right at home there, don't you think? Blends right in and all, just what you'd think the Dalai Lama would do. Serene, at home, reflective.You'd think I might have had a few intelligent questions for him. Maybe even a cup of tea. Well if you thought that you'd be wrong. But he's a patient guy and he just

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-35935017603572996112011-03-25T22:30:00.000-07:002011-03-25T22:35:14.025-07:00

There is nothing that reminds me more of anicca (imperm anence) at this time of year than the weather. Lots of grey and wet on the west coast this winter, so when the sun shone Wednesday we knew just what we needed to do. We tied on our hiking boots and went in search of the waterfall that we've heard so much about. Just down the road, you'll hear it at this time of year, we'd been told.There is

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-58656999375871944832011-03-22T19:32:00.000-07:002011-03-22T22:51:11.321-07:00

I am taking an energy healing course and there is a meditation on the heart centre which lists the attributes of the heart: compassion, harmony, healing presence and unconditional love. The meditation feels a lot like metta or loving kindness practice. It feels nourishing, like filling up a well. I feel a bit like a sponge soaking up the feelings of compassion, harmony, healing and love. It

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-55805437970243762142011-03-18T16:10:00.000-07:002011-03-18T16:10:58.211-07:00

I received a wonderful treat in the mail today, a White Tara With Deer" painting by friend and amazing artist, Lasha Mutual who is working her way toward 108 White Tara paintings. Sharing our Buddhist practice and art, we decided to do a little trade. The piece is exquisite, full of delicious detail. Someone has called her a modern, Canadian Thangka painter and I think this is quite apt. I even

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-40766710578969923032011-03-16T22:48:00.000-07:002011-03-17T09:27:49.291-07:00

New little Buddha Painting8x10 mixed mediaDropping KeysThe small manBuilds cages for everyoneHeKnows.While the sage,Who has to duck his headWhen the moon is low,Keeps dropping keys all night longFor theBeautifulRowdyPrisoners. - HafizI was out gathering keys tonight because as you all know I need as many as I can scoop up. And I like feeling beautiful and rowdy all at the same time. So kind of

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-82311380151239984202011-03-14T21:24:00.000-07:002011-03-14T21:24:58.595-07:00

I am generally not much of a news follower but this last while it seems unavoidable: trouble in the middle east, earthquake in New Zealand, earthquake and tsunami in Japan, weird political rumblings in the US. It's not just the news media trying to drum up another drama to keep the evening news ratings up. It seems to me we are truly being shaken and stirred. Ice storms in the north east,

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-6500947947503040932011-03-10T22:11:00.000-08:002011-03-10T22:13:00.704-08:00

I received this lovely little peace card from fellow blogger, Suki whose aim it is to send messages of peace out into the world one little card at a time. And the card is as beautiful as the idea. It reminded me that we change the world in tiny ways by our actions. Receiving the card brightened my day, making it I imagine brightened Suki's and might have been a meditative act. And then there

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-14803445946153893402011-03-07T22:59:00.000-08:002011-03-07T23:00:12.125-08:00

The Law of Dependent Origination is an important Buddhist concept and generally considered fairly difficult. Heck it even sounds difficult (what do all those words strung together actually mean?). But as I was reading Joseph Goldstein's, "The Experience of Insight, I was struck by his clear and simple explanation. I am not going to list the 12 links of dependent origination but I will offer up

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-73703164571946577792011-03-05T12:19:00.000-08:002011-03-06T09:26:05.297-08:00

I have just completed a teleconference class that centred on "Seeking Authentic Voice" with a group of artists, all with deep spiritual underpinnings and an interest in exploring what is "authentic voice" and how do I get in touch with it. How do I grow and nurture this way of seeing and expressing that can only be born into this world through the being that lives in this skin? It has been a

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-29118325112197519222011-03-01T16:38:00.000-08:002011-03-01T16:39:56.781-08:00

"We see the world not as it is but as we are" Someone made this comment at the second day long of our intro to Vipassana/ Insight meditation workshop. This is something that rings so true for me these days and something I am paying a lot of attention to.How could it be otherwise? Even scientists will tell you that there is no such thing as objectivity. Every researcher influences the outcome

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-25764193484896105392011-02-26T22:33:00.000-08:002011-02-26T22:34:06.200-08:00

As part of a workshop I am doing I am spending a lot of time exploring the artistic process. I have become increasingly aware of the struggle involved in the process and my inability to manage it in some way that feels skillful or graceful. I have also been hearing the call to work in other ways as well as "buddha images". There has been some inner nudging to work in more abstract form and so

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-54843671170227508622011-02-21T12:12:00.000-08:002011-02-22T00:12:20.000-08:00

I am having a great time bathing in my own frustration ( could someone turn the hot water off?) and trying out my authentic voice in the metaphorical shower. That is to say, along with some other artists I am participating in a workshop called "Seeking Authentic Voice" offered by artist, coach and blogger, Leslie Avon Miller. We are exploring and mining some deep veins of artistic importance (

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-77943981333429904592011-02-17T20:19:00.000-08:002011-02-17T22:07:57.680-08:00

At our weekend retreat the Saturday night Dharma talk was about happiness. Now this was pretty exciting for me because the Dharma circles I've traveled in never gave much airtime to happiness. So I was all ears, even though I was exhausted. I particularly liked the analogy that if we are looking to outside circumstances to make us happy "we are simply arranging deck chairs on the titanic". At

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-11106534583796442052011-02-15T20:51:00.000-08:002011-02-15T20:51:19.070-08:00

As part of a creativity class I am assembling a first aid kit that I can open when I get thrown off centre and land somewhere in the street below, stunned and wondering what the heck I am doing and why I bother, and all those other hair pulling questions we ask ourselves in moments of frustration. I am filling this funky vintage first aid box with all kinds of elixirs and remedies, wake up

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-11585517285514432692011-02-09T22:53:00.000-08:002011-02-09T22:59:57.173-08:00

I hope you're sitting down because I almost have a new piece of art to post. I guess that means you only have to be half way sitting down because it's a "not quite done piece". But that half way sitting down could be really awkward and uncomfortable so maybe we should just forget that part of the equation. Collage and painted background of one of our favourite guys in some of my habitual

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-42297935529186421972011-02-03T09:20:00.000-08:002011-02-03T09:26:21.556-08:00

I am hoping you all have bad memories and think you haven't seen this little collage before! Another nice Dharma talk by Heather Martin at the Gate House last night. The part that resonated deeply for me had to do with having unconditional friendliness toward what she called "the defilements". I am more familiar with them as the 5 hindrances (remember Buddhism is the religion of lists, not to

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-53352740541048404942011-02-01T19:04:00.000-08:002011-02-01T19:05:42.719-08:00

We had a little Buddhist stand up routine over at 108 Zenbooks yesterday where Genju was trying to give away her suffering and I offered to adopt it from SPCS (society for prevention of cruelty to suffering). Now this got her thinking about how she should be nicer to her suffering.And I'm going to play off that riff. In fact it must have been out there in the ether because I woke up thinking

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-73633613429079166252011-01-30T11:50:00.000-08:002011-01-30T11:50:39.815-08:00

In an email exchange with a friend the topic of "intuition" came up. It ties in deeply with the things I have been trying to capture in my studio lately (eek, capture, that sounds a bit like I'm chasing a fly around the house). As part of a project on "seeking authentic voice" I have been turning my attention to "listening" and patience during my studio time. I have had mixed success with both

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-66412509341757363092011-01-27T23:00:00.000-08:002011-01-28T08:32:40.895-08:00

Last night I decided it was time to meet some new Dharma friends so I headed off in the direction of the local Vipassana group. I have felt pulled in the direction of some of the Bon teachings and other Tibetan traditions since leaving the Zen Sangha I sat with but there are limited choices on this small island. Last night I put on my adventurer's hat and went to see what was up.And what did I

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-79643975872263214742011-01-26T22:39:00.000-08:002011-01-26T22:39:30.077-08:00

This giant fir tree decided to give up standing a couple of Friday's ago. A massive, ancient beast, it had been listing for a long time, speaking of its future collapse. With all the rain, several snow falls and the help of a little wind it made it's final descent and is now lying 3/4 of the way across the pond. A neighbour who heard the big bang (of the tree variety) has kindly offered to

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-28374668106261185462011-01-21T17:51:00.000-08:002011-01-21T17:51:35.572-08:00

"The real issue for most people is not what is happening outside, but what is happening inside of us. How we experience a situation depends on how we view it -- how we interpret what is happening, how we describe the situation to ourselves. Our experiences of happiness and suffering don't come from other people or other things, but from our own minds.When we look back over the day or our lives,

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-46611002895070761732011-01-19T19:59:00.000-08:002011-01-19T19:59:25.245-08:00

If you stop by here regularly you'll know I haven't posted any new art for a while. Life has somehow intervened to give me lots of time to digest and percolate. Here's a new piece 12"x24" and you can see I continue to be in love with old sewing pattern pieces.Nothing to do with the painting but this morning I was thinking about a lovely oil blend called "Thieves Oil" and the story that goes

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-40775370558170264282011-01-08T23:17:00.000-08:002011-01-08T23:17:15.504-08:00

Is it just me or is January a challenging month? After riding the updraft of the holiday season, visiting with family and friends, I always get a little melancholy in January. It's kind of classic, isn't it? There is the excitement of looking forward to the new year, writing about it in my journal and contemplating it and then it's here. And then comes the question what to do with it? The

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-51598763502886381962011-01-05T18:09:00.000-08:002011-01-06T10:31:45.742-08:00

I have been thinking about art a lot lately (in a prelude to diving in). I am still in holiday/ visiting mode (my daughter is here until Tuesday) and boxes are finally unpacking themselves in a realization that this is home. I am still in the getting settled mode and the artists making up excuses mode. But there you have it. I have this terrible linear bend to me (can you be linear and bent at

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-62869623901840869572011-01-01T12:30:00.000-08:002011-01-02T00:31:30.473-08:00

2010 was about transitions for me. Change and movement were key words as we said good-bye to the home we'd lived in for 13 years and the city we'd lived in for 30 years. We were homeless for a time, living in a friends basement suite for a couple of weeks, taking to the road like gypsies(as our daughter told her friends). And finally landing on a new island, orienting ourselves and moving from

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-49997058717271903752010-12-31T22:13:00.000-08:002011-01-01T01:07:22.588-08:00

After a lovely day of wandering the island and having a mini feast that we conjured up in the new kitchen ( a little red pepper homous, sun dried tomato tapenade, Moroccan lentil soup, some raw olives, a few dolmades ... you're getting the feasting picture!) we are preparing to join Peter in his alternative new year's celebration. We have lit the fire in the Zendo (first time), have some candles

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-18389490125579151252010-12-30T22:44:00.000-08:002010-12-30T22:44:22.243-08:00

Two years ago today, I wrote my first post on blogger. I was dipping my toe into the cyber ink pot (now that's better than ambidextrous, don't you think?). I had posted some art on etsy and the etsy tips suggested a blog was a good thing. Sure why not. I didn't have a clear idea of where I was going but I pulled on my blogger boots and headed off down the trail, posting my first piece of art

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-66714045312339837072010-12-28T20:58:00.000-08:002010-12-28T21:04:39.558-08:00

I have been fortunate enough to have lots of delicious time for just lolly gagging around the house, reading, eating, contemplating. Along with a wonderful constitutional homeopathic remedy and some amazing food prepared by Everyoneisvegan this quiet time has been exactly what I needed.Last night enough space opened up around me that I started thinking about my art again. Three encounters got me

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-46331485705268225022010-12-25T19:20:00.000-08:002010-12-25T19:22:29.338-08:00

In our culture, part of the season's ritual includes exchanging gifts. A lot of us have mixed and contradictory feelings about this. I have jokingly heard the season referred to as "the winter shopping festival." It is the commercial pressure circus that makes us recoil in disgust. Something gets lost in the foofaraw of black friday and cyber monday and the cry for us to buy, buy, buy, now,

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-55260401357322253822010-12-23T21:00:00.000-08:002010-12-23T21:00:53.990-08:00

I am reading a lovely little book by Dzigar Kongtrul, called "Light Comes Through". Seemed an appropriate title for Solstice, don't you think? I also thought it was seasonally appropriate as he talks about the practice of rejoicing. Rejoicing he says is the antidote to jealousy. He suggests jealousy is the grossest of emotions, so easy to see, so it is the easiest to work with. "The jealous

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-46674498593954572022010-12-17T23:53:00.000-08:002010-12-17T23:53:36.337-08:00

There has definitely been a samsaric quality to the last several weeks. And that's okay, as long as samsara proves to be an educational experience (ah, I have spent many years in Samsara Elementary). What's important is that the suffering you encounter is the suffering that leads to the end of suffering as opposed to the suffering that just leads to more suffering. There has been a quality

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-82166998670569550272010-12-10T08:12:00.000-08:002010-12-10T08:14:13.886-08:00

"With the ideal comes the actual, like a boxAll with its lid. Lo! with the ideal comesThe actual, like two arrows in mid-airThat meet."These are lines from a Zen poem called "The Sandokai" which I think translates as the harmonization of sameness and differences. I was emailing with my friend the Buddhist monastic and telling her the story of my life as a home renovator. Her helpful and

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-9160880312267992562010-12-02T20:40:00.000-08:002010-12-02T20:41:11.516-08:00

Where do you find the Dharma when you discover hidden mold on the wall during your kitchen reno and you don't know what to do? How does the Dharma fit into a house bustling with 2 plumbers, 2 tilers, a carpenter and fallers arriving to remove some trees? Well for starters, you do the best you can. You get to see your habitual tendencies in full bloom and then you dance with them as you

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-87792940910857416312010-11-27T09:28:00.000-08:002010-11-27T09:31:08.466-08:00

Technology and I have never been the best of friends. And it is said that your enemies (a bit strong perhaps??) are your teachers. I finally succumbed to several suggestions that facebook might not be a bad thing to do. A little social media marketing. I am slowly being dragged into the 21st century (kicking and screaming a bit). So there we are technology and I staring each other down.It

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-58086417224471515552010-11-26T11:56:00.000-08:002010-11-26T11:56:56.234-08:00

I don't have any new art to show due to a variety of distractions so I will do a little shameless shilling for some of the holiday cards I have posted to Etsy. And that's all I want to say about that.As I worked away this morning clearing out the kitchen cupboards, that will be removed tomorrow to make way for new ones, I became aware of a subtle (no maybe it wasn't all that subtle!) tension.

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-58542040244069026552010-11-23T22:31:00.000-08:002010-11-23T22:32:34.258-08:00

That's me as a little dot in the snow. Puts it all in perspective, don't you think? We spend most of our days thinking whatever is going on in our world and our personal needs are the most important thing, well at least to us. We spend a lot of time arranging the world to suit us. But if we are honest with ourselves the reality is more like this picture. It is one of our biggest delusions,

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-21782865878327292622010-11-22T11:50:00.000-08:002010-11-22T11:50:59.329-08:00

Today is the opening of the Shambhala Sun's On-line Auction. Just in time for Christmas shopping! Is that a Buddhist oxymoron? Or does that make me a moron for suggesting that Buddhists should do Christmas shopping? Oh, help get me out of this tangle! At any rate there are some pretty fine treasures and retreats over at the auction site including a piece by moi! This is my second year

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-36499089198902984282010-11-19T18:49:00.000-08:002010-11-19T18:54:05.034-08:00

"Nourishing Your Inner Being" is the title of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's latest webcast which you can watch here. I love that he even asks this question, "how do you nourish your inner being?" There are a lot of similarities in the various traditions of spiritual practice and some differences.These days I find myself gravitating to the positive, nourishing aspects of practice. Probably for a

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-78623778242876840812010-11-17T18:05:00.000-08:002010-11-17T18:10:20.175-08:00

The Dharma is everywhere. But you knew that. And I have been a careful observer of the Dharma of me over the last few days. And it hasn't been a pretty sight. It all started with the frivolous wish to transform the house we bought into something a little more beautiful (man I'm a sucker for the visually pleasing). I decided it needed some new kitchen cabinets, a wall out here, a bathroom redo.

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-5823567262809346962010-11-14T11:09:00.000-08:002010-11-14T17:26:02.485-08:00

In my wanderings of my new home and especially circumam bulating the pond, Thoreau's "Walden Pond" came to mind. The deep tranquility, connection and sense of healing I experienced on these ambles made me think of Thoreau's writings about his life at his pond. So in some continued unpacking I unearthed my ancient, University days copy of "Walden & Other Writings" and have been exploring the

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-73161684057757376662010-11-08T21:14:00.000-08:002010-11-08T22:31:59.362-08:00

This is a picture of me in my flowered gumboots and my daughter's old down vest, working down by the pond. There is no shortage of things to be done around here and I have to be careful not to work with the grim determination of "there's so much to do around here". You know that crunched brow, shoulder to the grindstone body posture, it completely sucks all the fun out of the beauty of the day.

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-87091350891595816612010-11-04T20:38:00.000-07:002010-11-04T20:43:35.143-07:00

I promised I would share my spiritual thrashings with you and here's a bit. I am reading "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream And Sleep" by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Dreams have always intrigued me and I have a dream that has followed me in different variations throughout my life. I am always driving in this dream and of course there's lots of variation, mostly troubling like the brakes don't work, or

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-89900653170549160652010-11-02T14:25:00.000-07:002010-11-03T20:51:33.546-07:00

Here's a picture of the carpenter's helpers that have been staying off and on at our house. Sometimes they get a bit bushed from all the work they do and sneak into the zendo to do a little closed eye meditation.On a slightly different topic from cute little puppies....or perhaps we can say i've been following the scent of something that's been enticing me, at least spiritually. For a while now

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-21337508555252334972010-10-27T19:48:00.000-07:002010-10-27T22:10:51.415-07:00

I could make excuses for being awol from the blogging world but what are excuses anyway? Justification, explanation, the whirring of monkey mind when we feel we should have done other than we did. Wisdom lies simply in acknowledging what is. I have been preoccupied sweeping and phoning and feeding the fabulous carpenter who is staying with us while he does some reno work in our new-to-us

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-12566821019901707312010-10-15T20:36:00.000-07:002010-10-15T21:31:42.527-07:00

It's blog action day today and the topic is water. When you live on an island as I do, water is never very far from your thoughts or sight. In many ways we take it for granted, at least its potential for great beauty. On an island water also feels enveloping, protective, sometimes. It creates community by its definitive boundaries. Islanders sometimes lament the difficulty of getting places

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-19669115721156703982010-10-12T23:39:00.000-07:002010-10-12T23:39:57.876-07:00

We learn a lot from our children, from our parents, from anyone for that matter, if we are willing to be their student. When my mother used to tell me what other family members should be doing, I would remind her that we only get one life to live and that's our own. Today I got to remind myself of this. And when I said this to my self, I could feel the irritation and coldness behind those

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-74122428349683444432010-10-08T10:14:00.000-07:002010-10-08T10:14:39.959-07:00

Here's a picture of morning in the new zendo. It was actually the formal living room in the house but after I placed the buddha in the window seat and considering the dark, serene quality of the room it felt like a meditation space. And as our living room furniture quickly made itself comfortable in the sunroom with its soaring windows and view of the pond, well, the inclination to have this as

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-49590071365677445202010-09-28T18:55:00.000-07:002010-09-28T18:56:05.513-07:00

Here's a picture of the future studio. At this point in time it seems far into the future. I have been playing host to fatigue from cleaning and packing and riding the emotional horse of doubt and angst as we get ready to move tomorrow. I am holding on for the ride, watching the changing terrain as I fly over each boulder and tree root of my imaginings. Sometimes I am sliding down one side or

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-47285647490400005442010-09-19T09:37:00.000-07:002010-09-19T09:47:57.229-07:00

The "self" is an interesting creature to watch. It can provide more entertainment and drama than any movie you might rent. Two days ago I got to watch a curious drama of the self unfold, an oscar worthy drama to be sure. Two months ago we bought a new home but because the owners needed time to collect and arrange 18 years of belongings, the possession date was set 2 months into the future. We

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-13298080943176897912010-09-13T17:26:00.000-07:002010-09-13T17:39:51.791-07:00

"When an object appears familiar, it's a certainty that I'm merely seeing my ideas of the object rather than the object itself. Furthermore, the idea I form of an object is invariably a "rounding off" of the object to accommodate a categorical generalization, whereas the object itself is always sharp, specific to this exact moment, and doesn't repeat itself. Categorical generalizations render

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008721669500573823.post-58249415872021162792010-09-10T11:38:00.000-07:002010-09-10T11:41:49.916-07:00

Here's a link to the Art Auction by Student's For A Free Tibet. Volunteers have been working really hard to put this all together. "What The Buddha Sewed 2", shown here is part of the online auction. Check out this 11x14" cradled panel piece that I donated and all the other wonderful art. Here's an opportunity to buy some art to kick off the fall nesting season. Beautify that hibernation cave!

ZenDotStudiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06051368546505731081noreply@blogger.com1