Starting Down the Path

I have been a student and lay practitioner of Zen Buddhism for nearly twenty years. I was fascinated and intrigued before that, but seriously embraced the concepts and began to view the world through a Buddhist lens at about that time. I read books by Pema Chodron, Ezra Bayda, Tich Naht Hanh as so many others do, and I subscribe to both Shambala Sun and BuddhaDharma. I have taken up serious meditation as well. All of this is well and good, but utterly meaningless, if it is simply internalized. My youngest child, Greg, a yoga instructor, is working on a book in which I was introduced to the concept of the "householder" yogi. That is someone who has chosen not to renounce the world, but rather to live in it fully in a state of awareness. I had no name for this before, even though I have striven to live in such a manner as long as I can remember. I can certainly make no claim for enlightenment, but I do aspire to be as much of a bodhisatva as I can, teaching both by words and example what I have learned through Buddhism about the benefits of living a compassionate life, both for myself and others. I try daily to follow the Path of Loving Kindness, that of the Peaceful Warrior; a warrior in the sense of opposing the negativity, suffering, and aggression I see all about me in every arena.

In a nutshell, that is the reason I have chosen to begin this blog. It is my intention to offer my observations on various occurrences and things I experience, viewed through the lens of compassion, in the hopes of showing that we all have a choice of how we respond in every instance in our lives. What and how we choose makes all the difference and can lead either to resolution and peace or to contention and aggression. There is a saying I came upon recently that sums this up nicely: "How others treat you is their Karma; how you choose to respond is yours."

I certainly will welcome discussion, criticism and even disagreement with anything I put out there. It is through the exchange of ideas that we can ultimately help each other...and that is the whole point. So, if you are willing, we can walk this path together, not knowing where it may lead, but secure in the belief that it will take us in the direction of understanding, awareness, and perhaps even toward enlightnment.