After reading a couple fellow bloggers thoughts on New Years, and finding them wonderfully provocative and inspiring, I\u2019ve decided to try to <\/span>round \u2019em up<\/span>.<\/span> It\u2019s somewhat in the style of Tom<\/a> from his ZenUnbound days, but with no hopes of being so thorough or wise in my observations.<\/p>\n Buddhists are a peculiar bunch, and as you\u2019ll see, around the holidays the eggnog and lack of sunlight seems to bring that out in spades. It\u2019s been a great privilege to read so many interesting angles on Thanksgiving and Christmas over the last month, and now\u2026. It\u2019s New Years: Buddhist Style<\/span>.<\/p>\n First, and winning awards in the <\/span>concise <\/span>category<\/span> is Barbara over at About.com<\/a>. The title is really the best: \u201cAcknowledgment of Arbitrary Marker in the Time Continuum.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan, over at Dangerous Harvests<\/a>, a blog not even a year old but already on the vanguard of the Buddhoblogosphere, picks up on Barbara\u2019s notion and suggests we \u201cScrew New Years Resolutions\u201d<\/span> and basically focus more realistically on the daily and momentary opportunities for living better. I think he sums it up well in this bit:<\/p>\n I like the idea of beginning anew. Of starting again and again \u2013 with fresh eyes. Beginning anew is akin to \u201cdon\u2019t know mind\u201d in that both, in their process, breaking through fixed views of what is.<\/p>\n Resolutions, on the other hand, feel like sucking on sugar coated shit balls. You roll a piece of your shitty self, a part you really don\u2019t like, in sugar and then suck on it, hoping that you put enough sugar on to spur you to make the effort to change.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He goes on to use one of those nautical metaphors that I heard a lot in Catholic church growing up.<\/p>\n Next, NellaLou, at the Smiling Buddha Cabaret<\/a>, keeps it simple (though not as simple as Barbara), resolving basically just to awaken<\/span>. She quotes the often repeated exhortation by the Buddha:<\/p>\n This is peace, this is exquisite \u2014 the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The other <\/span>Nathan (Nate), or perhaps the original one, over at Precious Metal<\/a> \u2013 the great mind behind our recent article swap and one coming soon \u2013 used his New Years wishes to thank people, and to devote himself to practice<\/span>. Speaking no doubt for many Buddhists, new and old, he says:<\/p>\n Speaking of practice, my resolution this year is to truly buckle down on it. I\u2019ve had difficulty sustaining for the most part, mainly on the cushion. So, however minor it seems, I hope to spend alot more time on the cushion so my time off the cushion is more beneficial for myself and those in the community in which I coexist.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Arun, the Angry Asian, writes something Asian<\/a>, and probably very angry \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Shravasti Dhammika, at Dhamma Musings<\/a>, fits somewhere in with Barbara and NellaLou, also quoting the Buddha:<\/p>\n For the pure every day is special. For them every day is holy. Being only human, he does, on Jan 3, post another perspective<\/a>, stating \u201cThe New Year is always a time for neuralgia \u2013 sorry, I mean nostalgia \u2013 so I thought a few old photos might interest some of my readers.\u201d It\u2019s nice to see this wise monk taking a pause to turn the pages of the past and share the stories of his youth.<\/p>\n Kyle, the Reformed Buddhist, doesn\u2019t fail to delight with <\/span>his gratitude list for \u201909<\/a> (he\u2019s dropped his old disclaimer, but basically just be forewarned that it\u2019s off-color humor, so if you\u2019re easily offended by such things, best not mosey over there).<\/p>\n
The Buddha, M.I,39<\/p><\/blockquote>\n