What’s New With Me Me Me

What a coincidence! I love that (Thanks, Ed!).

Here’s a brief post (all about me me me, of course).

First off, you might notice that shiny new award notice over on the right sidebar for one of 50 best Buddhist blogs. It’s really going to my already inflated ego and so I’m wondering about the motivation of those blog awards rascals. 

I smell a conspiracy! “Let’s see if we can mess with the Buddhists by telling them how good they are. They’ll get all arrogant and then they’ll realize that they’ll have to repent and turn to Jesus….”

So I’ll just leave the button hanging there for a year or so and then humbly remove it.

Secondly, I’m off again tomorrow, this time to sesshin with James Ford and his Boundless Way Zen folks. I’ve been doing koan study with James and I’m looking forward to being a participant in sesshin. I haven’t been in the participant seat for quite a long time, maybe back to 2002.

When a friend recently asked why I was studying koans again I said, “It makes me happy.” 

That’s partly true. It’s also humiliating and frustrating but I love suffering in a Zen way. Me me me.  

Thirdly and to that end, I’m planning on offering what I’ve been working through by offering some practice at Heartwood Mindfulness Center in  the big city of Minneapolis (with James’ support, btw).

On Monday, August 16, 7pm, I’ll kick it off with a talk called Breakthrough Zen and continue on Monday nights in the fall with a series on the Mu koan from the Dogen Zen, nongaining perspective. 

That’s Dogen Zen, of course, as I personally and oh-so-deeply misunderstand it. 

Me me me. 

Oh, and I have been so busy taking care of life between these trips that I didn’t report on the American Zen Teachers’ conference. Well, it was very nice. 

Anyway, that’s all for tonight.