Osho Zen Tarot

Ripeness

When the fruit is ripe, it drops from the tree by itself. One moment it hangs by a thread from the branches of the tree, bursting with juice. The next moment it falls--not because it has been forced to fall, or has made the effort to jump, but because the tree has recognized its ripeness and simply let it go. When this card appears in a reading it indicates that you are ready to share your inner riches, your 'juice'. All you need to do is relax right where you are, and be willing for it to happen. This sharing of yourself, this expression of your creativity, can come in many ways--in your work, your relationships, your everyday life experiences. No special preparation or effort on your part is required. It is simply the right time.

See which card you draw today from the Osho Zen Tarot

Secret Drugs Of Buddhism

Mike Crowley and his excellent work on the Secret Drugs of Buddhism. First is an introduction and a brief synopsis of his adventures leading up to his engagement with Buddhism. A lama is asked if psychedelics have been used as a secret practice. He answers, "How would I know if it was secret?" Mike Crowley elaborates an idea which many of us have long suspected.

Read more | via

GAIA MEDIA NEWSLETTER

As individuals, collectives, and a species we are heir to a living library far older than the Sun, and we were born to enjoy, celebrate and preserve our personal and unitive rights and expressions of access. A few thousand years ago, there was an accident — and the road to the library disappeared. That road is open again. link

~ DEDROIDIFICATION ~ It's high time you broaden your cute little close-minded reality tunnel if you think wonder only exists in fiction -- let me tell you a fantastic story, a history -- welcome to operation mindfuck link

Ibogaine - Rite of Passage is a documentary project about the use of Ibogaine for the treatment of addiction and its spiritual background.

CoverPop - This is truly a digital archivist's dream: data displayed in a way that is both aesthetically pleasing and informative." --Annalee Newitz / Wired.com.
Lots of fun! I like the musical instruments.
**NOTE: I had to turn OFF my pop-up blocker for this site**

The Strange, Harrowing Journeys of Free Energy Activists - The human journey hangs in the balance today. Humanity is very capable of destroying modern civilization and even most of life on earth. We are also quite capable of turning earth into a heavenly place where we all live in beauty, peace and plenty. The crux of the situation relies in great measure on real economics, and energy has always been the underlying basis for all economies for all time. Wade Frazier

"I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world." - that underpin evolution.
--Richard Dawkins
The God Delusion part 1
The Virus of Faith part 2

Hubble Deep Field - Representing a narrow "keyhole" view stretching to the visible horizon of the universe, the Hubble Deep Field image covers a speck of the sky only about the width of a dime 75 feet away.

(all links via Gaia Media News, a monthly newsletter.)

ZEN NOIR began more than ten years ago, when I was meditating in a Buddhist temple at 5 a.m. Keenly aware of all the half-asleep people sitting in the room, I was suddenly struck with an odd thought: "what would happen if one of us just keeled over, dead?"

From that moment, the ideas slowly evolved: Western vs. Eastern views of death; Love vs. the inevitable fact that Everything Changes; and finally, Logic vs. Reality.

It was this last thought that brought me to the idea of Film Noir. In Film Noir, the detective often sets out to solve one mystery, but ends up finding another, deeper mystery, and having to confront dark, sometimes frightening truths.

In Zen Buddhism, this type of mystery is often expressed as a koan. A koan is a teaching riddle the master poses to the student that cannot be solved with logic. The koan most Westerners are familiar with is: “what is the sound of one hand clapping?” On the surface, the question is absurd, because no amount of reason or logic will lead you to an answer. But there is an answer: the answer is who you become as you explore the question, what you discover about yourself, the universe, and all of existence. Opens September 15.

* A collection of Zen Koans

link

WEBTRAIL - Born, Explore!, Crispin, Cohen, King, Lovelock & Blangha

'Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man' is a low-key and impressive music documentary that screened at Sundance on Saturday. Australian director Lian Lunson builds her film around a recent Australian concert at which musicians from Rufus Wainwright to Jarvis Cocker, Beth Orton and Nick Cave covered a set-list of Cohen numbers. We see Cohen performing for the benefit of her film, and after a minute, the camera pulls back to reveal his backing-band. It's U2. Rufus doing 'Hallelujah' is a fucking masterpiece. So good it hurts [MORE...]

Chapter One of the new book, 'Cell' by Stephen King

Born Magazine - Exquisite Art & Lit Collaboration. Link

Flickr: Explore! - Flickr labs have been hard at work creating a way to show you some of the most awesome photos on Flickr.

News on the uber imaginative Crispin Hellion Glover and his long time project, "What Is It?" which prompted one reviewer to exclaim, "Like Fellini on psychedelics-- wildly creative but completely twisted." He's been working on this project f o r e v e r. Link from the excellent insider's film news CineMadMag.

The current 'Reality' of Gaia - Thirty years ago, the scientist James Lovelock worked out that the Earth possessed a planetary-scale control system which kept the environment fit for life. He called it Gaia, and the theory has become widely accepted. Now, he believes mankind's abuse of the environment is making that mechanism work against us. His astonishing conclusion - that climate change is already insoluble, and life on Earth will never be the same again. Link

What is Blangha? Blangha is a contraction of the words "blog" and "sangha." The Blangha is an aggregator of news feeds from a community of Zen-oriented Buddhist bloggers.

This website looks best when viewed on company time.

This is a repeat of a 2004 post since this has come up twice in the past few days.

Your S.P.O.T.
Some Buddhists and others have what's known as a SPOT: "Special Place Of Tranquility" and it translates well to anybody no mater what your spiritual level. (S.P.O.T.)

Basic SPOT items are:

prayer or meditation beads, amulets, candles, incense and holder, bells, crystals, and flowers. Incense takes the center of the alter, shelf, or table, with a candle and a bell on the right and flowers on the left. Your SPOT should have a universal flavor that can also be individually customized.

You can chant, pray, meditate, or do a reading while lighting the candle, ringing the bell, or using the prayer beads in any order or rhythm that fits you. A minimal SPOT visit could just be ringing the bell and doing gassho (bowing with palms together), and you could have a more involved SPOT visit when something other than routine rolls around or mood dictates it. It can be as basic or grandiose as you wish.

[gassho (gah-'show) is a zen affirmation of life from an intention of humility, gratitude, and mindfulness together with a quick bow with palms together]

[MORE...]

Something I enjoy doing at home for spiritual nourishment and to keep me grounded and thought you may want to incorporate it into your daily life, too.

PICK A CARD - Osho Zen Tarot Reading - The Osho site has lots of goodies-- meditation, music, shopping and more.

KEYBOARD CONFESSIONAL, by Tamara Wieder, Boston Phoenix. A programmer's 'little' side project of anonymous confessions, GroupHug.us, (remember them?) received over 13 million hits in its first three months. The best are now collected in a book: 'Stoned, Naked, and Looking in My Neighbor's Window.' Those who registered their love at GroupHug may be feeling ripped off right about now. [more...]

Sadly, DW Cooper, one of our blog friends, and part of the great Chapel Perilous family, has passed on. (via sauceruney & ollapodrida)

You can wait here in the sitting room or you can sit there in the waiting room. -- Firesign Theatre

Two notable men both born on the same day in 1915. Alan Watts was born on Jan 6, 1915, in Chiselhurst, England. The original California guru, polymath, liberationist. He become widely recognized for his Zen writings and for The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. He died in 1973 at his home in California, and is survived by his second wife and seven children. {Deoxy Link}
~ ~ ~
And John Lilly who was born on Jan. 6, 1915, in St Paul, MN. A physician and psychoanalyst specializing in biophysics, neurophysiology, electronics, computer theory, and neuroanatomy. Inventor of The Isolation Tank Method of exploring consciousness. Which led to research projects between man and dolphin. Specifically a research program dedicated to interfacing dolphins and whales through music, art, and ceremony: Interspecies Communication.

Your S.P.O.T.
Some Buddhists (and others) have what's known as a SPOT: "Special Place of Tranquility" and it translates well to anyone at any spiritual level. (Word Doc)

Basic SPOT items are:
prayer or meditation beads, amulets, candles, incense and holder, bells, crystals, and flowers. Incense takes the center of the alter, shelf, or table, with a candle and a bell on the right and flowers on the left. Your SPOT should have a universal flavor that can also be individually customized.

You can chant, pray, meditate, or do a reading while lighting the candle, ringing the bell, or using the prayer beads in any order or rhythm that fits you. A minimal SPOT visit could just be ringing the bell and doing gassho (bowing with palms together), and you could have a more involved SPOT visit when something other than routine rolls around or mood dictates it. It can be as basic or grandiose as you wish.

(gassho (gah-'show) is a zen affirmation of life from an intention of humility, gratitude, and mindfulness together with a quick bow with palms together)

Something I enjoy doing at home for spiritual nourishment and to keep me grounded and thought you may want to incorporate it into your daily life, too.

Oh, yeah, I chumped out on the No TV thing. (See previous post) I had the television on from Sunday night to see one of my all time favorite films, "La Femme Nikita", starring the breath-takingly beautiful Anne Parillaud. The original French version (1990) by director Luc Besson who also wrote and directed another favorite, The Fifth Element. The Nikita music is so pulsating and mesmerizing; quite possibly the best movie score I've ever heard.

And then there's CNN International humming along evenings in the background until Trio, Link TV, Sundance, or IFC has something good to watch.

Witchy and Anathea already said they weren't giving up their tv either. Have you ever given up television viewing? Or maybe some don't even watch it at all. If you're an avid viewer, it may take a lot for you to stop watching, but I'd like to think I'm a wise viewer, and that I've given wise informative viewing ideas to my kids as well. Besides, I couldn't possibly miss The Truth About Gay Animals on Trio Wednesday night, could I?

Trojan Pleasure: Sexual Organ - via: Geisha Asobi
Select one of four backing tracks, and then play the keyboard for wave after wave after wave of glorious ecstasy-filled music. Read: Music accompaniment for pron. OK silliness for work if you don't crank it up.

Yes, cram this weekend. Because Monday begins TV-Turnoff Week. TV-Turnoff Network is a national nonprofit organization that encourages children and adults to watch much less television in order to promote healthier lives and communities. Can you actually do it or will you rationalize, like I probably will, on how you'll suffer if you miss all those educational shows?

Earth Mandalas - Make your own mandala on the computer from your favorite graphic. via: zenlunatic who with a beautiful new baby finds the time to open up her own store very soon.

And Bryn is also opening up her store really soon. These two lovely spirits are following their dreams and we can vicariously come along for the ride as they post pictures of their latest developments.

Jumping in the shower and he says, "Great, you can wash my hair!"
His favorite foods and wine by candlelight to no avail
He asks you what a Brazilian is and you show him
...Priceless.