tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56610142011-07-23T17:21:21.916-03:00The Cool Discipline of FreedomFrom Householder to Monastic; one principled practitioner's voyage.Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-90907846200205860772007-12-11T03:13:00.000-04:002007-12-11T03:14:06.731-04:00"The koan arises naturally, in daily life."I have apparently been alone in wanting my daily life to have the quality of life that one finds in a monastic setting. At least, alone recently, since this notion comes to me not from speculation but, rather, from experience: once through Roman Catholicism (in a "formation house", where individuals considering the priesthood lived together in Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-72292131060567314732007-10-20T16:34:00.000-03:002007-10-20T16:41:29.472-03:00Too simple to understand (a thought in the moment)It comes down to this: not only what we do, but how we do it. Ultimately, "why" becomes the point. (Which is another way of saying that in the end our actual motive manifests ... it comes to be ... it creates karma.)The number of "errancy modes" is beyond estimation. Either our motive is some variation of "for the good of all sentient beings" or Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-57479423739583122842007-03-31T22:45:00.000-03:002007-03-31T22:54:22.088-03:00How stupid is google's treatment of blogspot/blogger? (Of course you think I'm kidding ... likely you haven't had a serious thought in your entire life!) How about this: I "upgraded" this template. Immediate consequence? The Profile "widget" SHOUTS MY NAME AND ADDRESS. That's dumb. What's dumber? There's no title on this Post Edit form. No title. On a blog post form.Earn your money from google? Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1062268427951524562003-08-30T15:33:00.000-03:002003-08-30T15:33:47.896-03:00Updated information on the Open Retreat with The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche Dzogchen and Egolessness: Gaining Confidence in Liberation.
December 1-7, 2003
Santa Sabina Retreat Center, San Rafael, CA
Please join The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche for a week of engaging talks, powerful meditation instruction, and songs of enlightenment from the Kagyu and Dzogchen traditions.
This year, Rinpoche will Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1062034945153486702003-08-27T22:42:00.000-03:002003-08-27T22:42:25.106-03:00"The koan arises naturally, in daily life."
I have apparently been alone in wanting my daily life to have the quality of life that one finds in a monastic setting. At least, alone recently, since this notion comes to me not from speculation but, rather, from experience: once through Roman Catholicism (in a "formation house", where individuals considering the priesthood lived together in Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1061944763523791042003-08-26T21:39:00.000-03:002003-08-26T21:39:23.566-03:00Why is 30 years more potent than 25?
A couple of weeks ago I had a profound insight into my PTSD, but didn't get it quite right: it turns out that I taint moments of success /not/ because I have come to believe myself unworthy, but rather (and, friends, incredible as it might seem, this next detail explains away my writer's block!), because that "success" was actually negative ... retrograde ... Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1061427761460386062003-08-20T22:02:00.000-03:002003-08-22T23:23:10.890-03:00As I've done for the past four Wednesdays, tonight I went to the Shambhala Center for openhouse. Nice to site in group, and nice too to rub my present situation up against whatever the talked happened to be. This evening it was by a member who is active with art therapy and she gave us a very simple excercise; she passed each person a single raisin (and a paper napkin) and then, after talking Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1060798002006161682003-08-13T15:06:00.000-03:002003-08-13T15:11:27.426-03:00Between the Unsustainable and the Unknown (Part 2)
July 31, 2003
Pondering my decade (11 years, actually) in Halifax leaves me with the following supplication: for refuge and retreat at Gampo Abbey. In the crudest terms, my life has been (if not a catastrophe, though I could argue for that) a total failure, and very nearly a total waste ... given that I derive no satisfaction from Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1060797941623410542003-08-13T15:05:00.000-03:002003-08-13T15:10:27.020-03:00Between the Unsustainable and the Unknown (Part 1)
July 27, 2003
The meditation session during the Wednesday night Shambhala openhouse brought to mind a number of things that I'd like to share with you, things having to do with my possible residency at Gampo.
First off, just before the session I had been online at home, reading the Abbey's daily schedule in detail, remembering the vaiours Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1060616280474872762003-08-11T12:38:00.000-03:002003-08-11T12:38:00.440-03:00A uniform convergence ... with a fair amount of personal interaction bouying me up (a couple of acquaintances have really opened up, showing the sort of humane warmth that I've always posited as potential ), nothing concrete arises. Indeed, over the entire weekend I managed to raise only just barely more than CDN$10 busking ... a new low [nota: I've been busking since 1978, in Halifax since 1984,Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1060403433593014532003-08-09T01:30:00.000-03:002003-08-09T01:47:27.306-03:00[N.B.: The original version of this, as first published here, will remain in my LiveJournal posting here. The version below will be revised and edited to develop the dharmic aspects of what I'll be calling "the bodhisattva project" (which roughly corresponds to the Age of Enlightement notion "emancipation project".]
Syndrome Insight!
(I can't believe that this major breakthrough coincides with Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1060393962453462612003-08-08T22:52:00.000-03:002003-08-08T22:52:42.446-03:00Since I've started this journal a bitter late (I should have started about 3 weeks ago, when the notion of returning to Gampo started to take root), I'm going to try to pressing rewind from NOW:
As a glimpse of who I am just now, here's the sort of thing I post into the LiveJournal commmunities I subscribe to:
theleftunited: If /we/ can support our troops, why can't Bush?
I'll post pointers to Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1060388412370469612003-08-08T21:20:00.000-03:002003-08-08T21:41:48.416-03:00What utter rubbish: I change the template, republish, reload ... and the old page is there.
So here's the trick: edit template, republish, edit this post *yet again*, and reload the page.
What utter garbage people have collected decades of paycheques to produce!
*Yes, yes, I know, this is due to local cache issues ... something users have been fighting since Mosaic 0.72a, so give over!!*
HandyBen Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5661014.post-1060387764924321002003-08-08T21:09:00.000-03:002003-08-08T21:10:41.020-03:00"The following Blog*Spot page was not found:
/servlet/BlogSpot=kewlmonk"
So, tell me ... how is it that I can't afford a cuppa while you guys are financing new cars?Ben Tremblayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.com