tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72139370465375241652024-03-12T23:12:48.507-04:00Original MindPerspectives on Zen Buddhism, reflections on practice, and the occasional random insightUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger486125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-22064539944945324762022-01-01T15:27:00.000-05:002022-01-01T15:27:03.381-05:00Farewell to a dear friend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi--IEAJjmKEPmC_6dpse8ST1ckm8oZcnHhXJSIdbw9FFDRf9x4QRQ1SG1JbhJEn14NEq_iF2_rDwXsMvzBM6ga0pwtirF5EqRVtuBBTeFuPWoY5jxRBSHR-lDewUhJkAo48GmbNG6Io0BrhFLU1D6zakAvJ6Wyvn1pS-CGNRx01GpAjuqwWEk-kCJl=s1280" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi--IEAJjmKEPmC_6dpse8ST1ckm8oZcnHhXJSIdbw9FFDRf9x4QRQ1SG1JbhJEn14NEq_iF2_rDwXsMvzBM6ga0pwtirF5EqRVtuBBTeFuPWoY5jxRBSHR-lDewUhJkAo48GmbNG6Io0BrhFLU1D6zakAvJ6Wyvn1pS-CGNRx01GpAjuqwWEk-kCJl=w241-h181" width="241" /></a></div><p>About a week ago, my good friend and Zen teacher, Paul Wonji Lynch, died. I met Paul online more than a decade ago, and immediately I was overwhelmed by his great compassionate heart. Even though we had only just met, he offered to help me, a complete stranger, with my Zen practice. Soon we began meeting weekly via Zoom. Sometimes the topic of conversation was formal Zen practice (kong-ans in particular); while many other times it was just two friends enjoying each other's company.</p><p>In Paul I found a great friend, mentor, confidant, and teacher. I learned many things from him, but I suppose the greatest gift he left me was our friendship. Paul's heart was enormous. He never said "no" to anyone in need. For him, life was an opportunity to explore the mysterious nature of reality and to help our fellow beings. </p><p>Two phrases that encapsulate his approach to teaching Zen (and life, in general) were "How may I help you?" and "What is this? <i>Don't know</i>."</p><p>He encouraged all of his Dharma friends and students to greet the world with open arms, asking "How can I help the world?" And he practiced what he taught: Paul selflessly engaged with students all around the globe, never asking for compensation or recognition. He was a living bodhisattva of compassion. </p><p>Paul inherited the teaching of Don't-Know mind from his teacher, Zen Master Seung Sahn. This approach asks us to investigate our lives so deeply that the the conceptual interface that so often imprisons us drops away, leaving spacious awareness and freedom. </p><p>Through Paul I was able to ordain with the Five Mountain Zen Order and make many Dharma friends. I was able to become a Zen teacher myself, and hopefully to make a positive difference in this world through the Buddhadharma. </p><p>Despite all of that, I miss my friend. It saddens me to know what I will never have another chance to meet Paul online for our Wednesday meetings again. He was a great friend, whom I will never forget. I chose the above and below photos of Paul because there were so many facets to him. He was irreverent, fun-loving, humorous, sensitive, and playful; while also stern, serious, and no-nonsense. </p><p>If you knew him, then you know what I mean. There's no way that I can possibly repay him for all of the time that he offered me; all that I can try to do is embody the great compassion and friendship that he showed me.</p><p><i>Paul, </i></p><p><i>Thank you for everything. For all of the good laughs we shared, and the countless hours we spent together. And for making all of this possible. Without you and your unwavering commitment to others, none of this would ever have happened. </i></p><p><i>I love and miss you.</i></p><p><i>Your friend,</i></p><p><i>Andre</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLGBuYPhiHRfIohgQU814uYjW5qLQiYUz26ZAkJsFkADBQRAL6KNgac8jJLOWVUABN-GvKLzPQohyWORX_HnxvCYABq6XPGY2rF3fEPIbCrYTseYKp78Sn9mTMo9q1fhEJO1CTbFI4aTwbFY4CblFHivSaVro34tGiUXRKUsvaAUN3QUhbeise216T=s1441" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1434" data-original-width="1441" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLGBuYPhiHRfIohgQU814uYjW5qLQiYUz26ZAkJsFkADBQRAL6KNgac8jJLOWVUABN-GvKLzPQohyWORX_HnxvCYABq6XPGY2rF3fEPIbCrYTseYKp78Sn9mTMo9q1fhEJO1CTbFI4aTwbFY4CblFHivSaVro34tGiUXRKUsvaAUN3QUhbeise216T=w227-h226" width="227" /></a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-37577153258191438252020-10-24T10:42:00.000-04:002020-10-24T10:42:00.201-04:00New book - There is No You: Seeing Through the Illusion of the Self<p> I just published my latest work, <i><a href="There is No You: Seeing Through the Illusion of the Self">There is No You: Seeing Through the Illusion of the Self. </a> </i>See the description below.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L9PJPDW/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AQFvuLNe7dk/X5Q8qpWRzgI/AAAAAAAALa0/rRRkm9cE48ApeF2XS8jqMvmAq6xP0KhAACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="150" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif;">Nearly every religion, philosophy, and worldview has one belief in common — they all subscribe to the “I” myth, the idea that there is some “I” at the core of each person. This universal fallacy is the root of all human misery and suffering.</span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif;">It is the aim of this work to prove that no such being as an “I” or “you” exists. With any luck, it will be disastrous to your sense of self.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-13062347436218364672020-05-20T18:01:00.000-04:002020-05-20T18:01:59.399-04:00Video Dharma talk - "Who do you think you are?"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here's a talk from an online meditation session on 4/29/20.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-19801428826204509542020-02-15T15:26:00.002-05:002020-02-17T08:01:53.931-05:00Do As Little Harm As Possible<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There's some bozo (or bozos, I don't know) in my neighborhood who empties his litter all over the road. Whoever it is, he has a drinking problem because most of his trash are those tiny tequila or rum bottles. He also likes to eat chicken wings and toss the whole plastic container onto the side of the road.<br />
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I find the blatant-ness of the act infuriating. Part of me would love to catch him in the act, follow him home, and then dump all of the trash onto his front lawn. In the meantime, when I walk my dog, I pick his litter up and add it to my own recycling and garbage cans. What else can I do, right? It beats leaving the trash there.<br />
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When asked about the heart of the Buddha's teachings, the Dalai Lama succinctly said, "If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them." While this bozo in my neighborhood is an obvious example of someone who causes harm to the community and environment through his carelessness, modern environmentalist and social movements reveal many of the subtle ways that people harm each other and their ecosystems.<br />
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How does shopping at Amazon contribute to pollution? In what small and subtle ways do we perpetuate prejudice? How do we harm others through our words, deeds, or silence? Do we eat responsibly or do we eat meat, despite the fact that modern factory farms cause an immense amount of suffering?<br />
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The core teaching of the historical Buddha is that all sentient beings suffer. The Bodhisattva Vow aims to help all beings transcend suffering. And yet how do we contribute to the suffering of others, either through our ignorance, laziness, or outright indifference?<br />
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One of the most beautiful and symbolic practices in a meditation hall occurs at the end of a meditation session. Before leaving, everyone cleans and straightens his or her meditation mat and cushion. The purpose is to honor our environment by leaving it in as good of condition as when we first encountered it.<br />
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More generally, are we leaving the world in as good of a place as it was when we first got here?<br />
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Modernity presents us with so many dilemmas about how to act conscientiously and responsibly. How do we dispose of our bodily and physical waste? Since most of us do not grow our own food, how does our choices as shoppers impact people and the environment, both locally and perhaps globally? Where does our clothing come from? And so on.<br />
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Sure, we can become paralyzed under the sheer burden of choices, or we can acknowledge that in no other period in history have people had so much control over their decisions.<br />
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Contrary to popular mythology, the world is not ours for the taking; it was not made for humans to use and exploit. We exist in a vast web of interconnection, where every act we perform echoes throughout eternity. The Dharma challenges us to live deliberately and morally, understanding that just as we suffer, so do others; that just as others' actions impact our lives, so too do our actions affect theirs.<br />
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There are no choices independent of morality.<br />
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We can dispose of our trash responsibly. Recycle. Choose not to support businesses that exploit people or the environment. Shop and consume responsibly.<br />
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In short, we can do our best to do as little harm as possible. After all, at the very least we owe the world that much.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-14564729511766042902020-01-26T11:33:00.003-05:002020-01-26T13:24:23.861-05:00Things Don't Happen For a Reason<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-chain-reaction-604899" target="_blank"><img alt="https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-chain-reaction-604899" height="213" src="https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/JwOUYaMa1MI2SvKboAJPgoPhKsI=/768x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-159754158-bca902837492447b99e5bc9bdef1e2f0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I hate it when people say, "Everything happens for a reason." As if the entire course of the universe is predetermined or somehow micromanaged by some guiding force—call it God, karma, the universe, whatever. Not only does this trite viewpoint undermine our agency and responsibility for our actions, but it's dangerously myopic. Things don't happen for any <i>one </i>reason; they happen because of many reasons. Sure, some factors seem to play a more visible or immediate role in how or why an event occurs, but to assign one single cause is both lazy and reductive thinking.<br />
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Let's look at an example. Say I get food poisoning from some bad oysters that I ate last night at a restaurant. The most obvious cause would be the oysters themselves, or perhaps the bacteria in them; after all, if they hadn't been contaminated, then I wouldn't have gotten sick. That's how our minds work most of the time: we identify the closest and largest factor prior to an event taking place, then assign causality or blame to it. <i>"If you hadn't called me when I was driving, then I would never have gotten into the accident!"</i></div>
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But what if the main reason that I visited the restaurant was because my coworker suggested it? Otherwise I would never have chosen <i>that</i> restaurant. Or say that same coworker told me, "You <i>have </i>to try the oysters at..." Obviously I wouldn't have gotten food poisoning from those oysters if I didn't order them from the menu, let alone if I had dined elsewhere. So aren't those two factors just as responsible for my getting food poisoning as the tainted oysters themselves?</div>
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Or say that the oysters went bad because the delivery truck's freezer broke down en route to the restaurant, which perhaps was the result of the truck company's financial inability to get the refrigeration system annually repaired. And so on and so on. Remove one of these conditions and the causal chain dissolves. </div>
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Which is why I can't stand the reductive "Everything happens for a reason" logic. </div>
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Everything happens because of a multitude of reasons. </blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/world/middleeast/iran-iraq-troops-brain-injuries.html" target="_blank">34 American soldiers in Iraq</a> are suffering from traumatic brain injuries from the Iranian airstrike a week ago. The Iranian response was a retaliation for the U.S.'s assassination of General Soleimani. So is President Trump responsible for these U.S. soldiers' injuries? Yes and no, in the same way as my friend's restaurant suggestion or the truck's broken freezer are integral conditions for my food poisoning.</div>
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Decades of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East contributed to the political climate that allowed Soleimani and the Iranian regime to flourish. Every event interacts with every other one to produce an intricately woven tapestry of exchanges and counter responses. This inter-conditionality forms the heart of Buddhist thought and ethics, which one might argue are two words for the same thing.</div>
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Every choice we make echoes throughout the amphitheater of history. This knowledge can paralyze us with worry, for fear that any one of our actions could wreak or catastrophe. Or it can inform our actions so that we respond with wisdom and compassion in order to--as the Dalai Lama so beautifully and succinctly puts it--"Do as little harm as possible."</div>
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Image borrowed from: <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-chain-reaction-604899">https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-chain-reaction-604899</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-64645369465756571802020-01-20T08:30:00.001-05:002020-01-20T08:30:55.494-05:00Such beautiful music<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="best-outdoor-dog-water-bowl" height="180" src="https://outdoordogworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/best-outdoor-dog-water-bowl.jpg" width="320" /></div>
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Yesterday, as I was meditating, I heard the most delightful pinging sound, almost like a note being played on a xylophone. Curious, I listened intently to discover its source; then I heard a faint jingling, accompanied by a slurping sound. And punctuating all of this was this intriguing xylophonic pinging.<br />
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It was my dog drinking. His water bowl was almost empty, so his flicking tongue made this intriguing metallic percussive sound against the sides of the bowl.<br />
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In a sense, that's Zen--moment to moment awareness of the mystery of life. It's not about achieving heightened states of god-like awareness or emotional aloofness. It's about awakening to the reality around and inside you, ones ordinarily drowned out by the confusing din of thoughts and emotions.<br />
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Life and reality are mysterious, always one step beyond the intellect's habit of and addiction to labeling things, trying to pin reality down the way butterfly collectors do their subjects. The ever-curious mind asks, "<i>Where</i> is the pinging sound? In the bowl, my ears, the air between the two, or better yet, my mind?" But such questions evade the fundamental experience itself.<br />
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It was just <i>ping ping ping</i>.<br />
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Life happens prior to words. Birds don't call themselves birds, atoms don't asked to be called atoms. Those are human conventions, albeit very useful ones. Labeling and defining can be useful tools for curing diseases and building cars, but they can become cruel tyrants if we mistake them for the world itself. Reality in non-binary; it's slippery and defies final definitions.<br />
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This is why in Zen we say that <i>not-knowing</i> is most intimate because it allows a <i>ping </i>simply to be. Life is truly mysterious so pay attention.<br />
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Image borrowed from: <a href="https://outdoordogworld.com/best-outdoor-dog-water-bowl/">https://outdoordogworld.com/best-outdoor-dog-water-bowl/</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-39132011967681513212020-01-04T09:49:00.000-05:002020-01-04T14:58:23.047-05:00War is Terrible - So Oppose It with IranIf there is one thing that intelligent people of conscience should agree on, it's that we should avoid war at all costs. No single event or governmental policy can be more destructive to life on this planet than war. Regardless of race, creed, political persuasion, all sane people should oppose war whenever it is possible because war is catastrophic. It is barbaric, cruel, fruitless, and ultimately, self-perpetuating.<br />
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I hope that, despite how divided America currently is, we can agree on that point.<br />
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I write this because of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/04/world/middleeast/iraq-funeral-general-soleimani-al-muhandis.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">recent assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani</a>, an event which may provoke a war between the U.S. and Iran. I don't sympathize with the oppressive Iranian regime in any way; I simply oppose going to war with them.<br />
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If the past two decades have taught the world anything about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, it's that going to war is an egregious blunder. President Bush's invasion of Iraq has been a 17-year nightmare that destroyed a nation, killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, and contributed to the birth of ISIS. Going to war with yet another country in that region is a terrible proposition, and unfortunately, a genuine possibility.<br />
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I sincerely hope that in several months I look back on this blog post and laugh at how unnecessarily worried I was today. But, based upon America's current political climate, I fear that this will not be the case. Rather, that in the short future we will look back on events of the coming weeks and wonder, "How did we allow this to happen? How did we wind up in yet another war?"<br />
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The sad and yet encouraging fact that history teaches us is that war is preventable. We don't need the advantage of hindsight to identify the tell-tale indicators that lead to conflict between nations. We simply need to be committed to finding an alternative to bloodshed, which often means the uncomfortable act of swallowing our national pride and devoting ourselves to the ingratiating, ignoble reality of diplomacy and compromise, rather than resorting to violence.<br />
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Regardless of whether you believe that this provocation with Iran is a tool for the Trump administration to distract the world from his impeachment hearings or a way to galvanize his political base, we should regard it as a genuine possibility to go to real war, in which real people will die.<br />
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17 years after the terrible decision to invade Iraq, it's time that America learns from its mistakes and avoids going to war again at all costs.<br />
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This is not a rant against American aggression or failed foreign policy; it's a plea to all people of conscience to oppose war. I'm afraid to check today's headlines for fear of how Iran might retaliate, and just as importantly, how America will greet that hostile response with open arms.<br />
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Whether you are a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, humanist, or atheist, Republican or Democrat, it is our responsibility as sensible beings to oppose war whenever possible.<br />
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This is that moment.<br />
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DescriptionDescription</h2>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Qasem Soleimani,</span>Qasem Soleimani,</h2>
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DescriptioQasem Soleimani,</h2>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-80951760065232333572020-01-01T15:25:00.001-05:002020-01-01T15:25:19.822-05:00Cause and Effect Are Obvious<div style="text-align: center;">
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One of the earliest lessons that I learned about Buddhism is also one of the most valuable: you get what you put in. If you plant corn, you get corn. If you fill your head with angry, self-centered thoughts, then it serves to reason that the quality of your life will reflect the content of your mind.<div>
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And yet people are often mystified by the simple cause-and-effect processes that govern the world and their lives. They want to hack the system, so to speak, and find the easiest route to happiness without sacrificing the comfort of their lives. But life doesn't work that way.</div>
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Anyone who has ever been on a diet can attest to this fact: change requires...well, <i>change</i>. If we continue the same patterns of thinking and behaving as we habitually have, then it's foolish to expect different results. It's simple cause and effect. </div>
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This reminds me of a joke. </div>
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<i>A man goes to the doctor, who asks him, "What's the problem?"</i> </blockquote>
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<i>He raises his arm and says, "It hurts when I do this." </i></blockquote>
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<i>"Then don't do that," the doctor says and walks away. </i></blockquote>
Buddhist practice doesn't seek some mystical loophole in the laws of the universe that will allow us to defy gravity; rather, it is completely grounded in the law of cause and effect. It fully recognizes the mundane fact that we get what we put in. If we want to find peace and happiness, then our minds and hearts must reflect that. If we eat like shit, then that's how we will feel.<br />
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We cannot expect to find peace if our minds are constantly racing, scheming about the best way to exploit a situation or other people. Selfish people have selfish hearts, just as hungry people have hungry thoughts.</div>
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If we genuinely want to be happy, then we must stop the behavior that cause us to be unhappy. Transformation requires sacrifice. There is no way around it. Cause and effect are obvious. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-72343172442590619342019-01-20T13:03:00.001-05:002019-01-20T13:03:41.270-05:00The Way of the Sage<div style="text-align: center;">
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Here's how I see and understand awakening. Awakened people are not perfect, ethereally aloof, or devoid of passion. They do not need to reside in an ashram, monastery, or forest temple. By all means, they can if they want to; but they do not need to live there any more than a poet must live in a city or a tranquil village.<br />
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Most people imagine a Buddha as someone blissfully entranced as if on a perpetual meditation retreat. The statues of the Buddha as a transcendental saint, rapt in blissful tranquility, come to mind.<br />
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However, for me, awakening evokes images of the Taoist sage or Chinese Buddha, fully immersed in the world. Their minds and lives are characterized by an easy lightness, an ability to remain mentally balanced and lithe. Rather than be perplexed or agitated by paradox, awakened people are free within the constrains of binary logic and language like a character in <i>Through the Looking Glass</i>. They understand the inherent limits of human systems and view them with humor, not disdain. After all, boundaries can be very helpful, so long as we don't take them too seriously.<br />
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The human mind is sticky, as Alan Watts used to say. To create a sense of security, it likes to overgeneralize and draw broad conclusions. It wants an extended warranty on life, some assurance that things are and will continue to be okay. But life simply cannot deliver that certainty, for surety is a human psychological construct with no locatable counterpart in nature or the world.<br />
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Awakening frees us to dwell in uncertainty, in the emptiness of ambiguity, <i>not free from anxiety and stress, but with them. </i>Fear and distress gain their power from our resistance to them. To awakened people, worry and doubt and sadness are more like waves in an ocean--impermanent, momentary, and empty--than an ocean itself, which is how most of us experience powerful emotions or states of mind. When we misconstrue momentary events as being solid and absolute, we can easily become overwhelmed and mentally paralyzed.<br />
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Awakened people, however, don't clutch mental or emotional states. They allow them to arise, crest, and then decline, which is the nature of all events. The do not need to cleanse their minds, just as the sky needn't banish clouds. All things are already perfect.<br />
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In this sense, awakening does not free us from dualities any more than it liberates us from being human--from the mundanity of grooming, eating, sleeping, or the ambiguities of moral dilemmas. It frees us to live <i>within</i> life's dualities, to be <i>fully</i> human.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-15529214511157384502018-11-17T10:25:00.000-05:002018-11-17T10:25:23.253-05:00Guns, God, GridlockWhen people get attached to ideas, entrenched in their beliefs, it becomes hard for them to see past their views because it <i>appears</i> as if their viewpoint <i>is</i> reality. So much of the division in America results from people's inability to see that their perspective is just one of an infinite amount of ways of viewing the world.<br />
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Those people who staunchly defend the 2nd Amendment are often so thoroughly committed to their position that they are unable to see any alternative to either defending or attacking it unconditionally. The same applies to other single-issue voters who, for religions reasons, oppose same-sex unions or a woman's right to choose whether she wants to reproduce--because God opposes it, they must too.<br />
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It's this inflexible approach to the complexity of life that gridlocks both people and the institution of democracy. Buddhists can fall victim to this very condition as well.<br />
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Whenever people allow their lifestyle and choices to define them, they run the risk of trapping themselves in into a fixed identity. Then ideas become ideology.<br />
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I try not to consider myself a Buddhist because that entails an entire ecosystem of meanings that I do not feel necessary for me to practice the Buddha's teachings. Instead, I simply like to think (or say) that I practice Buddhism.<br />
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One of the most beautiful and liberating implications of <i>sunyata, </i>or <i>emptiness</i> at is often rendered in English, is a lack of fixity, of having no set position or viewpoint. Rather than saying I support or oppose the 2nd Amendment--both of which fall prey to a single, landlocked viewpoint--I think that's it's more skillful to say that I do not own a gun, nor do I think <i>in most circumstances</i> that private citizens should own... and so on.<br />
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For me, Buddhism is not what I believe, but what I do. The former often entails a rigid identity, a calcified, unwavering <i>this is what I believe under all circumstances </i>attitude and viewpoint; whereas the latter allows us to <i>become whatever the current circumstances require us to be</i>. Or maybe it might be better to see Buddhism as the freedom that emerges from a series of practices and teachings.<br />
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Even though I'm not a carpenter, if my roof collapses, I may have to become one until a professional arrives. Instead of cornering myself with the belief that <i>I'm not a carpenter; I'm a high school teacher</i>, I can see through that belief and just try my best to repair the roof before it causes more damage. Or maybe not--if the task is too great or dangerous, perhaps I should just wait.<br />
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There's no formula to life; that's what <i>sunyata </i>means. Rise to the occasion, respond to life on its terms, not our own.<br />
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This is why <i>upaya </i>or<i> skillfiul means </i>is so vital to many schools of Buddhism. I don't need to commit unequivocally to the teachings of impermanence, rebirth, or karma. Rather, in the true spirit of <i>sunyata</i>, we can relinquish the human tendency for a fixed view, and instead respond to circumstances as they arise.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-27584162365874372812018-11-11T07:56:00.001-05:002018-11-11T08:00:03.982-05:00Forget about your butt. Where is your mind?One of the most disappointing aspects of Zen is how ossified it has become in many organizations. What originally distinguished Zen from other Buddhist schools was its reliance on mind-to-mind transmission between teacher and student. Rather than some esoteric, mystical experience, this process is simply the mirroring of two minds--the recognition that each mind is already Buddha.<br />
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Yet, many Zen schools, especially those in Europe and America, have (in my opinion) lost sight of this guiding principle. Institutions have grown to protect what they see as the integrity of Zen, acting as a kind of self-appointed litmus testers to determine who actually has the Zen mojo and who doesn't. However, in doing so, they have fallen into the very trap that Zen itself was a response to--namely the rigid authoritarianism of tradition and dogma.<br />
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Zen has always been iconoclastic. The famous Sixth Ancestor, Huineng, was an illiterate lay person in his teens when he was given the mind-to-mind transmission ceremony from his teacher. Talk about a slap in the face to authority, tradition, and ritual!<br />
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Nowadays the yardstick for good Zen teachers is how many retreats they have attended (i.e., how many hours they can prove their ass has sat on a cushion) and how long they have been practicing Zen. But this reductive formula--designed and approved by the American Zen Teachers Association--defies the central tenet of Zen, namely that it's about awakening, not how much time someone has put it in. It's not about seniority, age, race, gender, sexual orientation, how many koans someone has answered, or even about how many Buddhist miles someone has accrued/earned.<br />
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It's about mind. That's the Dharma Seal.<br />
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Personally, I am much more concerned with the state of students' minds than I am with how many hours they have sat on their asses or where they stand in some koan curriculum.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-1085042746176928132018-03-08T12:07:00.001-05:002018-03-08T12:07:15.875-05:00I'll Pass on FaithI don't rely on faith. I try not to believe in anything that requires me to believe in it, kind of like that old Groucho Marx line, "I would never join a club that would have me as a member."<br />
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I don't believe in spirits, souls, gods, angels, or even karma. I don't <i>dis</i>believe in them either, any more than I actively disbelieve in unicorns or pixies and fairies.<br />
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Instead, I like to rely on what I can hear, see, smell, etc. Or theoretically know for myself. For instance, although I have never visited Japan or viewed an electron myself, it is within reason that I <i>could</i> if I tried hard enough. I could travel to Japan or find a laboratory with an electron microscope.<br />
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This skepticism, I believe, coincides with the Buddha's teaching regarding faith. We shouldn't believe anything until we have thoroughly questioned and tested it first.<br />
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I don't know what will happen after I die, nor do I know why certain events occur. Will I be reborn after I die? Is karma responsible for the circumstances of my life? I do not know. In order to answer in a definitive yes or no, I would have to rely on someone else's experiences, not my own. And this runs counter to what I actually <i>do </i>know to be true--that I am sitting on the couch, chilly from the winter temperature outside, hungry for lunch.<br />
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Those things I directly experience. They are here and now and require no speculation on my part. They do not require faith.<br />
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Zen practice draws us out of the virtual reality of our thoughts and back into the present moment, back to what we feel, emote, see, taste, and so on. I don't need to have faith that I can raise my left arm. It just happens, free from thought and deliberation--spontaneous, independent of my knowing how it occurs.<br />
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It's funny and terribly ironic that so many people, encouraged by religion, spurn what they actually know to be true--the world they live in--to pursue some speculative future after death. They literally pass up what is real for an imagined future, since after all, no one truly knows what happens when we are dead.<br />
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I personally would much rather rely on what I actually experience than to place my faith in someone else's teaching.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-454862116690858062017-10-22T08:30:00.002-04:002017-10-22T08:30:27.788-04:00Why Isn't the World Enough?It seems that humans have an innate impulse to seek transcendence. A god of some sort, soul, spirit, or some realm beyond our own.<br />
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I don't understand why. Perhaps it's that the world is too mundane for some, and that the spiritual imagination seeks broader, more idealized horizons--some truth untarnished by time, something purer than the world of form with all of its imperfections and disappointments.<br />
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Again, I don't understand this impulse, which is not to say that I am immune to it. From time to time, I too find myself instinctively yearning for some truer reality not subject to the vacillations of life--as if one existed.<br />
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One of the many marvels of Chan Buddhism is how it redeemed the physical world. Indian Buddhism often eschewed the natural world of form and time as something to be transcended and relinquished. Chinese Buddhism, on the other hand, fully embraced the world that we live in. The song of birds, the heat of the noon sun, the pain in our hearts: these are not imperfections to be overcome, but the very expression of reality itself.<br />
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The earth beneath our feet and the air in our lungs <i>is </i>the great reality. Why seek salvation in some speculative reality--call it God, the soul, or the Dharmakaya--when the only world we have ever known surrounds us every moment of our lives?<br />
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That's the great irony: people seek to escape into some truer reality when in actuality, the world they wish to abandon is actually that which they seek! We chase phantom ideals when the breathtaking vistas of the human spirit are always present--the air that we breathe, the longing in our hearts, the pain of a stubbed toe...<br />
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Time and space are not impure obstacles on our spiritual path to some greater reality; they <i>are</i> reality. Why can't that be enough?<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-33519382147124830862017-08-27T09:33:00.002-04:002017-08-27T09:33:44.646-04:00The Mysteries of the UniverseMy dog likes to walk around with socks in his mouth. This morning I told him to drop my daughter's sock and he did, but the moment I left the room my family started laughing because he picked it up again.<br />
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"He's found the secrets to the universe in her sock," I joked. But it's true; the greatest mysteries are everywhere--in a drop of water, a smile, an angry expression, even a wet sock.<br />
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We don't need to sit for hours in meditation to realize this. It may help, but that's not the only way to realize what has always been in front of us.<br />
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In many version of the Bodhisattva's Vow, we recite that Dharma Gates or the Buddha Way is endless, meaning that practice never truly ends. We don't simply hang up the reigns and say, "Ok, I'm enlightened. Have a great life, everyone."<br />
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But if practice is truly endless, then it is also beginning-less. This means that we are never truly attaining anything; we are just seeing what is always there, just in a new way, perhaps with a sense of wonder or openness, less rigidity.<br />
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According to legend, Huineng, the Sixth Ancestor of Chan, awoke without ever formally meditating in his life. He received transmission of the Dharma from the Fifth Ancestor before he had even ordained as a monk. This is an important lesson, suggesting that it is the quality of our minds, of our ability to see and respond clearly, that it important, not how many hours we spend on a cushion or how many retreats we attend.<br />
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This is not to diminish meditation, for as the story goes, Huineng did later ordain and spend the next twenty years devoted to meditation in order to digest his insight. I have spent most of this summer playing guitar, exercising, renovating a bathroom, and sitting in meditation. I meditate because I want to, not because I need to or because some authority is logging the amount of hours I spend on a cushion. And because I enjoy it.<br />
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I suppose I do it for the same reason that my dog steals our socks--it is an expression of who and what I am.<br />
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But no more so than playing my guitar or mowing the lawn. Lifting weights <i>is </i>meditating, driving to work <i>is </i>meditating. Wherever you are, where is your mind? If it is fully present, immersed in the moment, then you are embodying the Buddhadharma, regardless of whether you are sitting, lying down, or standing.<br />
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Your life is the Zen center.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-49011886121031687172017-06-28T09:14:00.000-04:002017-06-28T09:14:14.936-04:00Dharma talk - Whether Sitting, Standing, or Lying DownZen may begin on the meditation cushion; however, true practice should extend into every aspect of our lives, not just the seated position.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/330175824&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-84422625068065596382017-06-26T09:07:00.004-04:002017-06-26T09:07:52.897-04:00Dharma Talk - For The Sake Of True Zen practice does not expect anything in return. It is not a means to an ends, but the ends itself.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/330175169&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-20910821011235831262017-06-14T18:17:00.000-04:002017-06-14T18:17:46.185-04:00Dharma talk - The Good News and the Bad NewsThe good news is that everything is impermanent, changing; every moment is brand new. This means that we are ultimately free. However, if we expect certainty and fixedness from life, then impermanence is also bad news. Buddhism teaches us how to stop clinging and accept things just as they are--free from both bad and good.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/327848643&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-16658593644796671402017-06-13T07:54:00.000-04:002017-06-13T07:54:55.298-04:00Dharma talk - The Harmless WayDo as little harm as possible; that is the way of the Buddhas.<br />
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Last night I watched <i>Dr. Strange </i>with my son. There's a scene at the end of the film that spoke to me as a Buddhist. Dr. Strange, battling an evil entity that lives outside of time, traps himself and his nemesis in a time loop.</div>
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Knowing that Dr. Strange cannot possibly win in a battle, the evil being says,"You can never win."<br />
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Dr. Strange replies, "No, but I can lose again and again and again--forever." The scene continues as the monster kills Dr. Strange but, due to the time loop, Dr. Strange reappears only to die again and again. In this way, at the price of his own life, he has saved humanity against the destruction of the evil being.<br />
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This is the Bodhisattva's Vow--trying to help all beings for eternity, no matter how futile or painful. Dr. Strange is willing to die an infinite amount of times to save the universe just as a Bodhisattva vows to be reborn for eternity to save all sentient beings. This vow may or may not refer to actual rebirth. In a more figurative way, the oath means to return to the present moment of the here-and-now and dedicate our lives to the well being of others. Even if that means losing forever.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-18760904221011107222017-06-05T08:02:00.001-04:002017-06-05T08:02:34.874-04:00Dharma talk - Buddha Is Your BirthrightProbably the most staggering teaching in Buddhism is that we are already Buddha. Our minds and the minds of all Buddhas are fundamentally identical.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/326166545&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-35537603981850437232017-06-05T07:51:00.000-04:002017-06-05T07:51:10.815-04:00Dharma talk - Treat Every Being Like BuddhaEvery being and blade of grass is sacred. All deserve our kindness and respect, even those we view as unpleasant.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-41586519995597960322017-04-20T07:37:00.001-04:002017-04-20T07:37:53.732-04:00Dharma talks<div style="text-align: center;">
Even the Worms</div>
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In Buddhism, everything is sacred. If we treat the smallest organisms with respect and compassion, imagine how we could treat our fellow humans.<br />
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Neither Gain Nor Loss</div>
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Zen practice walks the middle path between trying to gain or lose anything. Just as we eat to eat and sleep to sleep, we practice to practice--not to gain patience or lose stress.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/318614195&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213937046537524165.post-64745456630114841442017-04-01T14:52:00.001-04:002017-04-01T14:52:21.918-04:00Dance on the Lines - Dharma talkWe don't have to live any single way. What constrains us the most is not our circumstances, but our own minds and the ways that we view the world.<br />
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Introduction and sound engineering by Tom Eunsahn Gartland.<br />
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Introduction and sound engineering by Tom Eunsahn Gartland.<br />
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