Blatherskite

Foolish gibberish

recent posts

about

I am a Children’s Librarian living in the Portland, Oregon area. When I am not Children’s Librianing I like to play with cameras and film. I also like playing the ukulele, knitting, sketching, and hiking.

Tag: buddhism

  • Hands

    Hands

    In my meditation group we are reading, “How to Train a Wild Elephant: And Other Adventures in Mindfulness” by Jan Chozen Bays. Each week we are reading a chapter and then during the week we do the mindfulness exercise. It has been really eye-opening and I’ve already learned lots about myself. I should be blogging…

  • We read the shit out of that book

    For the past year my meditation group has been reading Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. It’s been the perfect book for this sort of setting. The chapters are short. We have enough time after zazen to read one out loud and then discuss it. Many times we would read a chapter and be like, “huh?” It…

  • Today it is raining.

    “Teaching is in each moment, in every existence.” -Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

  • On waterfalls and not giving a f*ck

      Last night at my meditation group we read a passage from Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind* called Nirvana And The Waterfall. Suzuki presents an image of a waterfall at Yosemite National Park: The highest one there is 1,340 feet high, and from it the water comes down like a curtain thrown from the top of…

  • My first visit to a zen center

    My first visit to a zen center

    Yesterday I visited a zen center for the first time and it was amazing. I visited Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland with my friend from my meditation group. She has gone there for years and invited anyone interested to come along with her yesterday morning. I’ve been really wanting to check it out but…