Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- wenders
- Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
- Living in the desert on a ridge above an arroyo, I look at the sky more often than anything else. It is stunning in the subtlety of its colors, and in the range and changeability of the clouds. I live in a very small old place, which can get very hot in the summer, and very cold in the winter, but it's simple and, at the moment, it suits me. I live with my cat, the most devoted friend anyone could want. He seems to be a very accomplished being living in a kitty body. This blog was inspired by another blogger, Pierre Kuma Turlur, an independent Soto Zen monk now living and practicing in Japan. Other bloggers, Zen teachers, artists, composers (composers especially), and photographers, have been similarly inspirational; I've linked to some of the special ones below.
The Kitty Body
Solidarity with the Saffron Revolution in Burma
Conditions in Santa Fe
Join the Fight for Bloggers' Rights
Blogs by Women
Subscribe with Bloglines
5 comments:
Dear Wenders,
Your words are of course so precious, so true, so you, you, just you.
This world is the very flower. And you are It.
Thank you for sharing joy, doubt, sun and moon, duality and oneness, thank you for drinking that great blue sky-like thing for all of us.
You are certainly not a good student. Don't worry, They are the best.
You are what you cannot choose. You are the voice and body of the unknown. Sexy, slow, wise and mad.
Love
Monk Kuma
Dear Wenders,
Thank you so much for your poetry and precious words. Writing helps us to bear witness, to be aware of this very world whirling like the five petals flower held by Gautama. Writing not to make poetry or leave traces, as I understand it, writing like kids throw stones into the quiet fabric of pond. Wonder, wonder, wonder and open, open, open.
Thank you for your kindness and appreciation.
In sitting, neither one nor two.
monk Kuma
Dear Monk Kuma,
Wow! Thank you for your answer. This cricket is momentarily silenced.
I really just wanted you to know what you have inspired, and to encourage you to please continue with confidence your wonderful practice.
I am starting a new rakusu, and I plan to sew more. In looking for wood for the ring, I found a company that sells maple baseball bat blanks. They are 37" long; I'm not sure what that is in centimeters, but a meter is about 39". If you are good with a saw blade, that makes at least 70 nice round rings, which will be perfect for the 70+ rakusu I will make. Which is 70+ fields of happiness people can wear in which to unfold their Buddha nature!
I think I probably am a little mad at that.
Much love and gassho,
wenders
Dear Wenders,
Baseball bat for rakusu rings? Fantastic idea. I am glad to hear you are starting a rakusu. You ll find nice instructions on the following site
http://www.upaya.org/htmls/ZP_RakusuInstruction.html
But I imagine you know it well. As far as the nyohoe style rakusu, I should post one and I will in the future.
Why not starting a kesa? What do you think? A simple seven stripes in light cotton or nice hemp would be great to wrap you practice with.
Lets keep in touch and thank you for writing a post on Mahamudra which is so close to the beloved Dzogchen tradition ( identical, in fact) and to our sitting path.
Endless taste of the simplicity of being.
Love
Kuma
Dear Kuma-san,
Actually the rings will be made from what are called "baseball bat blanks." These are either dowel-shaped, which is perfect, or sort of shaped like a squared off pole. Depending on the wood, maple or ash or hickory (rarely) they cost $18-25 for the 37" length. I had been looking for wood, and never even thought of a baseball bat. But I stumbled on the website, and of course the blanks would be perfect (about 2 7/8" in diameter).
The Upaya Zen Center rakusu guide is exactly what I am using; it is almost identical to the one I used when I made my first rakusu in 1984.
It would be great if you could post the instructions for the Nyoho-e rakusu. I'll make one in that style and send it to you, if you like. Please send me your mailing address ; mine is: 2442 Cerrillos Rd., #486, Santa Fe, NM 87505 (a UPS mailbox rental place). I'll make sure they'll take an envelope from Japan addressed to Wenders!
The kesa suggestion is wonderful, too. I'll have to think about the material and the color. Your instructions and examples will be my guide.
Love and gassho,
wenders
Post a Comment