{"id":669,"date":"2007-02-05T05:24:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-05T05:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday\/"},"modified":"2007-02-05T05:24:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-05T05:24:00","slug":"life-a-good-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html","title":{"rendered":"Life: a good sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>The day started well and continues well.<\/p>\n<p>I spent the afternoon with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tibetanlanguage.org\/About_Us\/davidcurtis.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lama David Curtis<\/a> of the Tibetan Language Institute here in Montana.   He taught some <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/buddhism' target='_blank'>Dharma<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Treasury-Precious-Qualities-Commentary-Lingpa\/dp\/1570625980\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Treasury of Precious Qualities<\/a>, and then we chatted a bit.  I had only met him about a week ago when I went to the house he is at to see if he was teaching Tibetan.  He wasn\u2019t actually teaching at the time, but invited me in and we ended up talking for three hours.  It was like I\u2019d uncorked the treasure house of this man\u2019s whole life and dharma-experience.  It was a fascinating time and I barely noticed that it was well past 10pm\u2026 Now I\u2019ve been to two of his Dharma-teachings, in which he mixes a lot of western philosophy (he studied at UM way back when with a few folks that are still around today) and stories of his and his students\u2019 travels around the world with many of the highest Tibetan lamas alive.<\/p>\n<p>After that I did some work\u2026 read more of <span style=\"font-style: italic\">Ishmael<\/span>, in which I\u2019m very much happily absorbed.  I didn\u2019t see any of the Super Bowl, but did scoot around the net watching many of the commercials  (and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=u_5FaQff6EY&amp;NR\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">other stuff<\/a> that my attention deficit brain couldn\u2019t dodge).  Most of the commercials were funny enough, but one really caught me.<\/p>\n<p>The commercial presents a story of growth, of (spiritual) transformation from a destructive way of life (not unlike myself years ago) to a selfless do-gooder, one whose goodness is natural and spontaneous, not contrived or forced.  He becomes a being of goodness whose mere presence brings smiles and harmony, dancing police officers and sewer rats, and bowing horses\u2026  Have a look:<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MBKaLN5zU9Y\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MBKaLN5zU9Y<\/a>\n<p>The song is the best part (very <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/buddhism' target='_blank'>Buddhist<\/a>, hehe) \u2013 <span style=\"font-style: italic\">Sing along<\/span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">with feeling<\/span> \u2013 :<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-style: italic\">Give a little love<br>And it all comes back to you.<br>You\u2019re gonna be remembered<br>For the things tha\u2019cha say and do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>La la la lalalala\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Ya give a little love<br>and it all comes back to you.<\/p>\n<p>La la la lalalala\u2026<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re gonna be remembered<br>For the things tha\u2019cha say and do.<\/p>\n<p>La la la lalalala\u2026<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Ya give a little love<br>and it all comes back to you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>La la la lalalala\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7907151-7496720463603726820?l=americanbuddhist.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The day started well and continues well. I spent the afternoon with Lama David Curtis of the Tibetan Language Institute here in Montana. He taught some Dharma from The Treasury of Precious Qualities, and then we chatted a bit. I had only met him about a week ago when I went to the house he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Life: a good sunday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The day started well and continues well.I spent the afternoon with Lama David Curtis of the Tibetan Language Institute here in Montana. He taught some\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life: a good sunday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The day started well and continues well.I spent the afternoon with Lama David Curtis of the Tibetan Language Institute here in Montana. He taught some\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Buddhist Perspectives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-02-05T05:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7907151-7496720463603726820?l=americanbuddhist.blogspot.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html\",\"name\":\"Life: a good sunday\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-02-05T05:24:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-02-05T05:24:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\"},\"description\":\"The day started well and continues well.I spent the afternoon with Lama David Curtis of the Tibetan Language Institute here in Montana. He taught some\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Life: a good sunday\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/\",\"name\":\"American Buddhist Perspectives\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\",\"name\":\"Justin Whitaker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Justin Whitaker\"},\"description\":\"I am an almost-life-long Montanan; a baptized Catholic; an ardent Atheist; a practicing Buddhist; a lover of Wisdom. I have a BA and almost an MA in (Western) Philosophy from the University of Montana-Missoula, an MA in Buddhist Studies from Bristol University, UK, and I am currently working on a Ph.D. in Buddhist Ethics at the U of London. My main academic foci are early Buddhist ethics and Kant (odd combination, I know). I also study Western ethics, Tibetan Buddhism, Theravada, Comparative philosophy, and Environmental ethics. I also like photography, running, drinking wine, and eating peanut butter (often in that order).\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/author\/justinwhitaker\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Life: a good sunday","description":"The day started well and continues well.I spent the afternoon with Lama David Curtis of the Tibetan Language Institute here in Montana. He taught some","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Life: a good sunday","og_description":"The day started well and continues well.I spent the afternoon with Lama David Curtis of the Tibetan Language Institute here in Montana. He taught some","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html","og_site_name":"American Buddhist Perspectives","article_published_time":"2007-02-05T05:24:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7907151-7496720463603726820?l=americanbuddhist.blogspot.com"}],"author":"Justin Whitaker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justin Whitaker","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html","name":"Life: a good sunday","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-02-05T05:24:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-02-05T05:24:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9"},"description":"The day started well and continues well.I spent the afternoon with Lama David Curtis of the Tibetan Language Institute here in Montana. He taught some","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2007\/02\/life-a-good-sunday.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Life: a good sunday"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/","name":"American Buddhist Perspectives","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9","name":"Justin Whitaker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Justin Whitaker"},"description":"I am an almost-life-long Montanan; a baptized Catholic; an ardent Atheist; a practicing Buddhist; a lover of Wisdom. I have a BA and almost an MA in (Western) Philosophy from the University of Montana-Missoula, an MA in Buddhist Studies from Bristol University, UK, and I am currently working on a Ph.D. in Buddhist Ethics at the U of London. My main academic foci are early Buddhist ethics and Kant (odd combination, I know). I also study Western ethics, Tibetan Buddhism, Theravada, Comparative philosophy, and Environmental ethics. I also like photography, running, drinking wine, and eating peanut butter (often in that order).","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/author\/justinwhitaker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}