Right Livlihood - oh that topic again...

I found the following quote via the Lotus in the Mud blog as I sit here at my desk job listening to The Ramones "Rock and Roll Radio" and think dreamily of a job which would help me to do good in the world.

I'm always get myself involved and over committed to things I think I want to be a part of only to realize that what I ended up with was just more anger, stress and anxiety. I guess I feel some comfort in that I realize that I'm feeling like I need a change rather than just sitting in the boiling pot.

Damm if the 'more balanced, simple, clear and focused life' doesn't sound ideal to me right now... Or am I just grasping? I'm having my mid-life career crisis early!


Those of us who start on the path to right livelihood find that our lives are more balanced, simple, clear, and focused. We are no longer strung out in a meaningless cycle of material consumption. The contemporary economy focuses on this cycle of consumption. It doesn't really support our efforts to find meaningful work. Today, work is a means to consume or to pay debt for consumption already indulged in. How many people do you know who really love the work they are doing? How many feel bored and alienated? How many are simply earning the money to spend it on material pleasures? Right livelihood demands that you take responsibility for making your work more meaningful. Good work is dignified. It develops your faculties and serves your community. It is a central human activity.
~ Roger Pritchard, in Claude Whitmyer's Mindfulness and Meaningful Work

Lama Phuntsok Montreal visit

Centre Rigpe Dorje in Montreal will be hosting Lama Phuntsok for a series of talks on Triyana : The 3 vehicles of Buddhism on June 13, 14 and 15th. He is the director of Thopaga Foundation - a centre in Kitchener, Ontario and regularly gives talks to community groups and educational insitutions.

For more information on the weekend, visit the Centre Rigpe Dorje website for details.

‘Peace panties’ from Canada

OK ladies.. get your knickers in an envelope and send them over to the Burmese Embassy in Ottawa to protest the actions of the country's military regime.

The Panties for Peace! campaign is basically aimed to play on the military junta's superstitious fear that contact with a woman's undergarment will rob them of their power,” organiser Mika Levesque of the Rights & Democracy Student Network told IANS.

She said, “We appeal to every Canadian woman to clean up her drawer, choose one piece of panties, glue a picture of the military rulers on it or scribble some slogan or message for the junta and then register it with us before sending it to the Myanmar embassy in Ottawa. Registering with us will help us to keep track of how many panties have been sent to the embassy.”

Levesque added, “Like all other cultures, there was a superstitious fear of female undergarments in Myanmar. Its military junta fears that any contact with panties will spell disaster for them. So ours is a non-violent method to force change in Myanmar.”

To get involved...

1) Find a pair you wish to send and write a message on them (for example: «Free Burma»
and/ or print and stick the photos of the military dictators on them from this website

2) You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!

The one closest to Montreal is:
Ambassade du Myanmar
85 Range Rd, 903
Ottawa (Ontario) K1N 8J6

3) Register your panties on the site www.ptitesculottespourlapaix.ca so they'll know how many pairs have been sent

The results of this campaign will be revealed August 8th 2008, the 20th anniversary of the uprising of 8-8-88


For more information on the Panties for Peace campaign, check out this article, the official website (in French) and this website (in English)

We got two Jealous Agains- Most romantic love song ever...

When I met Mr. TMcG, I knew he was the one.

It didn't take long but I knew that he was someone who I'd want to grow old with, could laugh each and every day with and would remain dedicated to irregardless of whatever obstacles faced us on our path together.

I'd always hear love songs and scoff at the overly flowery emotions which sounded too constructed and contrived.

Then NOFX come along and write this,,, the most beautiful love song I've ever heard..




I thought you were the one when I heard holidays in the sun come
From your bedroom but my mind started to stray when I saw youth of today
Mixed with your singles whats with this underdog
And this gnr ep? I dont think hanoi rocks
And I dont want your paul stanley next to my subhumans gatefold
Im not trying to be a jerk but I dont think this record mergers gonna work

But when I saw christ on parade, and this is boston, not la
I knew you were the one
I knew you were for me when I saw the first vandals ep
I found snfu and cool I owned that record too
Seems we both had social unrest and sung shes a pervert nurse
We both had the first pressing of how could hell be any worse

So now we got two earth ads and we got two killing jokes
We got two adolescents two penis and two the crews
We got two someone got their head kicked ins
We got two declines, two damaged
And two jealous agains, I knew you were the one

When I saw machine gun etiquette
I knew you were the one when I saw the peace war comp
We got two articles of faith, 31 minutes of group sex
We got a couple of avengers, and a pair of out of steps
We got 2 what we do is secret, we got 2 tsols
We got 2 freedom of choices we got two three hits from
Hells
I knew you were the one

You weren't there!!!

This is such a cute story and adorable animation showing how we create and construct our memories of events so vividly but sometimes without even being there.

dhamma musings - Buddhist blog I"m currently following

One of my favourite things about having this blog in my life is that I get to come across blogs from other Buddhists which serve to bring much more to my own practice and analysis.

Here is one such blog which has come my way - dhamma musings
Enjoy

Global Oneness project

The Global Oneness project is a site I just stumbled upon via a video they feature on their site of an interview with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa. It is a website with videos exploring the theme of oneness and our interconnectedness.

We hope that by showing the diverse ways oneness is expressed—in the fields of sustainability, conflict resolution, spirituality, art, economics, indigenous culture, and social justice—others will be inspired to create solutions to personal and community challenges from their own lived understanding of oneness.

Global Oneness project

Here is a video from Tibetan Buddhist monk and scholar Geshe Kalsang Damdul on how "Selfishness is the Root Cause"

Lagwagon - Montreal in September

One of my all time favourite bands will be coming to my town in the Fall and no doubt it will be all that I talk about for the next millennium. I will try not to be insufferable and turn this blog into a Lagwagon fan site. I will try...

New Weezer video - Soooo fun

OK so it's fun for a power-pop, internet fiend like myself.

Buddhist Forums

I just found a link to a great little community which is starting out on the Buddhist Forums website so you can find me lurking around there these days, asking questions and participating in their virtual sangha.

Thanks to Precious Metal for bringing this one to my attention and thanks to Loden Jinpa for starting this community.

Tibetan Medicine? Any thoughts?

I'm a fragile little one. I'm allergic to everything. A simple peanut can kill me. Has anyone been treated using Tibetan medicine for allergies and general wonky body imbalances?

The Masculine Heart- a new blog on the block

I've always enjoyed the Integral Options Cafe blog so I'm THRILLED to see that William has created a new blog called The Masculine Heart with the purpose to explore "the strong, tender heart inherent in men."

Well done William and thank you for your contribution to making the world a better place - for men and women alike.

Lhadon Tethong on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

Students For A Free Tibet's leader - Lhadon Tethong was recently featured on CBC's The Hour with Strombo and she did a great job in expressing the current situation in Tibet and was so well-spoken.

Check out the video via the link below to this clip from the CBC -
Lhadon Tethong on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

Adrian Sudbury - wish to help others

I received this article from a friend whose brother is also on the search for a bone marrow transplant and who is also looking to gain more awareness to bone marrow donation and registration.

It is a very inspiring story of someone who is using their last moments of life to help others. Truly inspiring and I wish to honor Adrian for his courage, bravery and his absolute selflessness.

BBC NEWS | Health | Fighting to the death for donors

Please spread the word to help to realize Adrian's last wish. Please Digg the article, email it to someone, join his Facebook group, send him words of support via his blog or lend some space to your blog for bringing attention to this cause.

Alltop - Religious News - How I keep up

I love technology - sometimes a little too much and the information overload that results gets a bit overwhelming.

I wanted to pass along a site I appreciate which gives me breaking Buddhist news at a glance and in a way which is shall we say 'zen-like minimialism'!

Sure beats the 10,000+ RSS items I have festering away in NetNewsWire. Gaah...

Alltop :Religious News

Kind Blog Badge (via the Vu D'ici blog)

What a great sentiment this is and I am going to add this badge to my blog.

OK... So maybe I've been a little mean to some pop culture celebrities but I'm happy to say that overall, my blog is pretty positive and kind to others.

Thanks to MC for spotting this site and bringing it to my attention via her beautiful, creative and inspiring blog Vu D'ici

Kind Blog

The practice is each and every day

I often fall into the trap of thinking I'm not practicing enough.

Geez I'm rough on myself!

Today I had the flash that there isn't a ruler measuring how dharmic I am and even if there was, it would be encouraged that I question the existence of that ruler!

I love that quote about 'the path is the goal' and it's so true. All of this living. All of this mundane dishwashing, internet surfing, Battlestar Gallactica watching, allergy-suffering, working 9-5 and feeling like a confused 20something trapped in an adult's body is my path.

It's my workable, fucked up, brilliant, funny, sad, joyous path... and it is to be embraced and looked at fearlessness and with a sense of wonder and curiosity. Who knows where it will all end up. That's the exciting part.*

*What's also exciting is that it used to be so scary... This Type A gal usually likes to know where she's going, how to get there and who will be sitting beside her.

Zen Unbound- Where did it bound off to?

I miss the Zen Unbound blog and wonder where it ended up. Does anyone have any information on if it will be resurrected?

Off topic, if you - dear reader are following my blog and I'm not following yours, please drop me a line. I'm always looking for new blogs to add to this blogroll...

Bloggers Unite for Human Rights - May 15th

Today is the Bloggers Unite for Human Rights day in which bloggers around the world lend their voices to those global causes which they wish to see coverage given to.

I can't just choose one issue. There are so many urgent actions that need our attention so I'm dedicating this blog post dedicating a wish to all sentient beings everywhere to be free from suffering.

This post contains an aspiration for animals to feel no pain, for children to grow up happy and safe regardless of their geo-physical location, for our elderly to not be alone and feel like they are no longer of value, for people to feel the freedom to recognize their potential and for those how are inflicting pain and suffering onto others to realize that their actions come from confusion.


We are all interdependent. We easily feel the pain of those in China, in Burma, in our own backyards and in our minds.

I dedicate that I will try my best not bring any additional confusion or suffering into this world, but work to help be of benefit.

Law, Buddhism and right livelihood

Japanese criminal law texts.
Originally uploaded by umjanedoan

Did you hear the one about the lawyer and the buddha? No? Neither did I. That's why I'm asking if there are any lawyers in the house?

I'm giving more and more thought to right livelihood these days and I'm going to be applying to law school in the winter to give it a go.

It's a childhood dream of mine (as a child of divorce- you get to know lawyers pretty early in your life!) and feel like it would be a good way for me to exercise wisdom, compassion and service. Am I deluded?

May 15th -Bloggers Unite - Blogging for Hope

Bloggers Unite is an initiative designed to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support 3rd world countries.

Bloggers Unite - Blogging for Hope

May 15th - What will you be blogging about? Stay tuned for tomorrow to see what topic I will cover.

Finding Common Ground - St.Lukes United and Shambhala

I found this cool article online in The Chronicle Herald (one of Halifax, Nova Scotia's local newspapers) featuring details on how members of St Lukes United Church and the local Shambhala Buddhist centre are hanging out and getting to know one another's traditions .

Finding Common Ground: TheChronicleHerald.ca

Does your practice centre do this kind of thing? What's your take? Is this kind of interfaith exploration important?

Where are all the Montreal Tibetan Buddhist practitioners?

Way back, I had the intention to work on a local Dharma Punx group however, I'm not of the Vipassana persuasion so that didn't really go all that far for me.

I'm just wondering where the Montreal Tibetan Buddhist practitioners are at?

If you are of this 'demographic', please email me some details (to be kept confidential if you wish):

What do you consider your main practice centre in Montreal or do you go to many centres around the city?
Do you have a teacher or Buddhist mediation instructor here in Montreal?
Do you practice yoga as well?
How long have you been practicing Tibetan Buddhist meditation?

Dalai Lama prays for China earthquake victims

The earthquake victims in China this past week require our assistance. This has been a massive tragedy and a disaster which has caused so much suffering.

In Canada, our Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and Bev Oda, the international co-operation minister have expressed Canada's ability to provide humanitarian assistance when needed. I'm waiting for details on how people can contribute and providing aid. I can only hope that the effort will be more coordinated that what is happening in Burma.

Check out the Dalai Lama's aspiration via this link:
The Associated Press: Dalai Lama prays for China earthquake victims

Remembering Nana on Mother’s Day

This is a beautiful piece which was run on Sunday in The New York Times.

Remembering Nana on Mother’s Day - The New York Times
(Illustration by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki)

Tibetan Freedom Torch...

The Montreal leg of the Freedom Torch relay will start at 11:00 AM on Friday, May 16^th at Parc Kelso in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. The Torch will travel by bike along the Lachine Canada to the Old Port where it will be passed to a series of runners travelling along St. Paul to Beaver Hall and along Rene Levesque to Westmount Park. The Torch will then be biked via the de Maisonneuve bike path to Berri and finally to Parc Lafontaine where it will be passed to a series of walkers who will carry the Torch to the Olympic Stadium for a welcoming ceremony beginning at 5:00 PM.

For more information on other events occurring throughout Canada, please check the
Canada Tibet Committee website.

In or Out?

Ideas are not solid, if they are not founded on aggression or dogma. We can have open ideas. There is no problem with that. Ideas are not really founded on solid ground at all. They are just...ideas, which is a very important point. If you completely buy into someone else's idea or version of spirituality, it's like being caught in the jaws of a crocodile. This is one of the problems with many approaches to spirituality: either you are in it or you are not in it. In or out. You can't actually experience the space between the two. That is a problem, and that seems to be a spiritual materialistic trick to use on people: trying to save them from their experience. That approach is based on a hesitation or inability to provide everything legitimately, step by step. If the leaders of a spiritual group feel somewhat inadequate, they may tell potential students, "Buy it or don't buy it." That seems to be too cheap. Spiritual discipline is not based on becoming somebody else. But you become you in your enlightened version. That is the whole point.

From OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa.

Free marrow-donor kit and registration

The National Marrow Donor Program is running a campaign from May 5 to 19 with
free registration for the first 10 000 people who register with them online during this period. This allows those who want to get on the registry who haven't been able to afford it to reigister online with a cheek swab kit, WITHOUT EVEN LEAVING HOME. Ethnicity plays a huge part in matching and this will be of help to Emru...

From the heal Emru website:
"You may know Emru Townsend as an animation or technology writer and blogger. You might have run into him at an animation event or conference. A husband and father, you may know him as an old or new friend. Or you might not know him at all.

In mid-December, Emru was diagnosed with leukemia, and a condition called monosomy 7. Due to the monosomy 7, he has an increased risk of the leukemia coming back, no matter how successful chemotherapy is. This is where you can help save his life. "

For more information, check out the link on Boing Boing

The US Campaign for Burma. Burma: It Can't Wait

Please click here to help raise a million voices of support for Burma in 30 days and join the US Campaign for Burma.

While you're at it, watch a video with a serious Will Farrell describing the campaign and the reasons why this is important.

Strike Anywhere- Touring Canada

Oh I'm is sooo happy that Strike Anywhere will be touring Canada this summer and will be playing Montreal June 13th along with the awesome Canuck band The Flatliners.

If you'd like to hear more from these punk rock standouts, check out some of their MP3's on their most awesome record label, Fat Wreck Chords.

Being media shy and egoless

So I'm shy by nature. As a young kid, I never really sought attention from anyone aside from my parents. Attention seekers always made me feel uncomfortable and to some extent, they still do.

I had to recite the poem 'In Flanders Fields' for a school Remembrance Day pageant and was certain that only a swig of hooch and handful of kiddie Prozac would be enough to calm my shaking knees and wobbily stomach.

Then came punk rock music in my teen years and the challenge of not being on the receiving end of attention by having a mohawk in a little city in small town, bluecollar Canada. Taunts of 'Cut your hair freak", "You're ugly" and several run-ins with school officials helped me to see that perhaps attention seeking for a cause and with the purpose of social change is a good thing.

I never spit back at them. I just felt bad for those kids that would never be open minded and curious enough to give rise to further examination to the world they were living in.

Jump forward to my adult life and being someone who embraces social media both personally and professionally. Last week, I was interviewed for a local technology publication and walked around the whole day blushing, nervous and fearful of what would become of this foray into publicness.

I hate promoting myself and am really trying to walk the delicate line between being one of those assholes you hate sitting next to at a party who drones on and on about what they do for a living and being someone who is a business professional looking to advance themselves career-wise.

So this photo pretty much captures how I feel about being the centre of attention. It's a delicate balance of enjoying the attention while wanting to shield myself from anything negative or hurtful.

Life is full of sharpness, aggression, suffering and pain as well as joy, tenderness, comfort and pleasure.

We sometimes wear masks to cover and shield ourselves... but there is some brightness and fearlessness that peeks through giving a glimmer of wisdom.

More books.. I see

Librarything is a pretty cool site which allows people to list what's on their bookshelf. They feature a group listing relating to what was on the bookshelves of those famous people who have since passed on. I think it's pretty cool to see what these historical figures were reading.

I See Dead People['s Books] | LibraryThing

Currently (while I'm alive.. ) I have several books on the go:

Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody" - A book about organizing without organizations

Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story- Laugh-out funny, weird and wonderful. I want to take a roadtrip with Chuck but would be scared of what he'd write about me and my musical taste.

Blue Pills- A Positive Love Story by Frederik Peeters- What can I say? I like my comics deep and this one is beaaautiful with such depth and exploration of what it means to be truly in love.

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol.1 Eiji Otsuka, Housui Yamazaki
More comics.. Described best as per the Dark Horse website...
Your body is their business! Five young students at a Buddhist university, three guys and two girls, find little call for their job skills in today's Tokyo . . . among the living, that is! But all that stuff in college they were told would never pay off-you know, channeling, dowsing, ESP-gives them a direct line to the dead . . . the dead who are still trapped in their corpses and can't move on to the next reincarnation.

Oh and some good music to accompany these reads is the podcast from Wade and George from Alexisonfire and the High Minded Low Lives podcast (*warning* To listen to this, you must like punkrock and dragqueens)