Tibetan Buddhist Insights About Living

When I go yurt camping on January 13-16 at Bullard's Beach State Park near Bandon, Oregon, I plan to include a number of spiritual practices while on Retreat: walking, Vipassana meditation, reading spiritual books, Taijiquan, Qigong.  I am interested in the ethical and aesthetic aspects of Zen Buddhist practice.  I will read two books:

Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path.  By Bhante Henepola Gunaratana.  Wisdom Pubs., 2001, 268 pages, VSCL.  

Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Modern World.  By Lama Surya Das.  432 pages, 1997.  VSCL.  

Lama Surya Das

Other books on the same topics, for reading at my home in Vancouver include:

The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness.  By Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.  290 pages, 2007. VSCL.  

Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life. By Lama Surya Das. New York, Broadway Books, 1999. Resources, 382 pages. ISBN: 0767902750.  VSCL.

Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism.  By John Powers.  592 pages, 2007.  VSCL.  

Buddha Is as Buddha Does: The Ten Original Practices for Enlightened Living.  By Lama Surya Das. New York, HarperOne, 2008. 264 pages. 

Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now.  By Lama Surya Das. Harper One, 2012. 224 pages. 

Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be: Lessons on Change, Loss and Spiritual Transformation. By Lama Surya Das. Broadway, 222 pages, 2003. VSCL. 

Hobbies and Enjoyment

“Mike, an old proverb says idle hands are the devil’s work. While I don’t necessarily agree with that sentiment, I do believe that hobbies are crucial for everyone. Not only do hobbies give you a chance to focus on something besides work or school, but they also give you a way to decompress.

A lifelong lover of hobbies, I’m a quilter before anything else, but I have an appreciation for hobbies in all forms. Quilting has given me the outlet I need when it’s time to recharge, and I love that I can create works of art and useful gifts for friends and family.

Because I think hobbies are great for everyone, I’ve included some excellent resources that might interest your readers. I hope you’ll find them useful. Maybe you can share them on one of your webpages.

Why Kids Need Hobbies

The Benefits Of Having A Hobby When You're In Recovery

Find Your Passion: Making Room for Hobbies

How to Start Your Own Urban Garden

11 Healthy Hobbies for Seniors

10 Hobbies That Can Pay Off

If you already enjoy a hobby in your spare time, then you know where I’m coming from. If you don’t have a hobby, I’m hopeful these ideas can spark an interest! Of course, if this information isn’t helpful to you at all, please let me know, and I won’t contact you again.”

Thank you in advance,
Martha

Martha Geoffries
martha@quiltingjr.com


My own hobbies include: reading, gardening, writing, walking, Taijiquan, Yoga/Qigong, weightlifting, and sightseeing in the Pacific Northwest.

Practicing Piano Again

One of my objectives is to play the piano every day for 60 minutes (2 sessions of 30 mintes, or 3 of 20 minutes).  
I play because it is enjoyable, challenging, and enriching.  
Currently, I am using the Casio LK 280 electronic keyboard with 61 keys.
I use a variety of instructional books and online UTube tutorials.
I like playing with chords.  
I played for one year when I was 41, and for two years when I was 63.
Being 70 years of age, and now recently retired, I have adequate time for renewed pleasures.
I intend to take lessons from a piano teacher when I move and get settled in Vancouver, Washington. Our home is currently for sale.
Lately, my favorite piano music is the Nocturnes by Chopin, performed by Maria Joao Pires.  

Enjoy It While It Lasts

"Belief in our mortality, the sense that we are eventually going to crack up and be extinguished like the flame of a candle, I say, is a gloriously fine thing.  It makes us sober; it makes us a little sad; and many of us it makes poetic.  But above all, it makes it possible for us to make up our mind and arrange to live sensibly, truthfully and always with a sense of our own limitations.  It gives us peace also, because true peace of mind comes from accepting the worst.

     Deprived of immortality, the proposition of living becomes a simple proposition.  It is this: that we human beings have a limited span of life to live on this earth, rarely more than seventy years, and that therefore we have to arrange our lives so that we may live as happily as we can under a given set of circumstances. ...  It made us therefore, cling to life─the life of the instinct and the life of senses─on the belief that, as we are all animals, we can be truly happy only when all our normal instincts are satisfied normally.  This applies to the enjoyment of life in all its aspects.

     A sad poetic touch is added to this intense love of life by the realization that this life we have is essentially mortal.  For if this earthly existence is all we have, we must try the harder to enjoy it while it lasts.  A vague hope of immortality detracts from our wholehearted enjoyment of this earthly existence."

 -  Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living, 1937, p.155-160.  



Death: Quotes, Poetry, Sayings, Wisdom 

How to Live the Good Life 

Hedonism and Epicureanism

  

Enjoy Yourself

“I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it.”
- Rita Mae Brown

“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!”
- Mae West

"If it does not come at the last to gladness, then to hell with it."
- Douglas Wilson, Angels in the Architecture

"I believe in the flesh and the appetites;
Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.
Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch’d from;
The scent of these arm-pits, aroma finer than prayer;
This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds."
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Pleasures

Epicureanism  

Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life By Daniel Klein. New York, Penguin Books, 2012. 164 pages. ISBN: 9780143126621. 

Living Fully With an End in Clear View

"Belief in our mortality, the sense that we are eventually going to crack up and be extinguished like the flame of a candle, I say, is a gloriously fine thing.  It makes us sober; it makes us a little sad; and many of us it makes poetic.  But above all, it makes it possible for us to make up our mind and arrange to live sensibly, truthfully and always with a sense of our own limitations.  It gives us peace also, because true peace of mind comes from accepting the worst.
     Deprived of immortality, the proposition of living becomes a simple proposition.  It is this: that we human beings have a limited span of life to live on this earth, rarely more than seventy years, and that therefore we have to arrange our lives so that we may live as happily as we can under a given set of circumstances. ...  It made us therefore, cling to life─the life of the instinct and the life of senses─on the belief that, as we are all animals, we can be truly happy only when all our normal instincts are satisfied normally.  This applies to the enjoyment of life in all its aspects.
     A sad poetic touch is added to this intense love of life by the realization that this life we have is essentially mortal.  For if this earthly existence is all we have, we must try the harder to enjoy it while it lasts.  A vague hope of immortality detracts from our wholehearted enjoyment of this earthly existence."
 -  Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living, 1937, p.155-160.  



Death: Quotes, Poetry, Sayings, Wisdom 

How to Live the Good Life