Wednesday

I believe in being respectful and appreciative, but sometimes I feel like Buddhism is like the above picture, where you're groomed to be a groomer of a groomer. Listen to you heart most of all, when you've gotten enough to practice, spend time in solitude. 

And it's OK to be swept away with gratitude, and feel deep feelings of appreciation about learning.

I woke up a lot in the night, and then slept late, and Shams didn't ask to meditate until 7:30 instead of 6AM, so I was lucky.

I was walking home with another mother I often talk to. She comes from Poland where 90% of the people are Catholic. She's not as interested, but she loves the holiday season and every night she has the elf on the shelf do something funny. 

I told her I celebrate winter solstice, cultural Christmas, Buddhamas, Hanukkah, Festivus. I'm thinking of giving Theradithi her present "early" so she can wear it to school tomorrow.

I told her it was Amitabha's birthday, but I'm not really into Pure Land, I'm going to meditate and go for it in this life, but I do love Amitabha as a diety, haha, Amitabha is love, the head on top of Avalokita, that leads to Tara, there's many connections and Amitabha is perhaps the most popular, maybe with Quan Yin, because China is so big. 

There's a Chinese woman, who went to Netherlands and Aruba and Puerto Rico, and now New York. I always get excited to meet new Chinese people, I hope they're Buddhists. Rarely are they really Buddhist. She's folk Chinese and wears a cross. I used to be excited to meet Indian people, but in my neighborhood they're all from Gujarat and don't know Ambedkar. They all don't speak English much or are very private, except one talked to me when my daughter played with her son. She used to climb mulberry trees and eat the mulberries in her childhood, and so did I. 

Dropping Ruby off last night to the car of her mother, downstairs, I saw a really bright star. Then I saw another one. Two bright stars, one to the east, one northwest. 

Shams laid down meditating. I've done it sometimes when it's my second meditation. He's tired from traveling to Turkey. What did you miss about Iran? The toilets. I remember being in France and a bathroom being a hole. Yikes.