Showing posts with label Buddhism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buddhism. Show all posts

Thursday, March 24, 2022

Dream log

Waking from a dream to the sound of a spring thunderstorm. The dream was abnormal for me. Like a synthetic dream in 3d. 
It began with my life of the ocean.
And a person on a large life raft.
Who was watching the water crash into a deep ocean scene with a few people in the water. One lone surfer sitting on a board, had a smooth incoming wave that concealed a very large grey shark like (whale shark) creature many whose closed mouth was many times larger than the man. The man on his surfboard looked our way in horror. 

And the scene changed to a small island. With an arch made of 3 tree trunks and an earthen box-like shelter. One small childlike man with a cleaned gunshot wound to his abdomen. And a dead soldier in uniform. I gave light to the man's wound and focused light with strong intention to draw the bullet and any metals out of the wound. This would remain with one more light treatment for a day or two. Until charcoal was made. I asked God for the person to heal. And, to forgive him any of his sins. He happened to look like Putin, yet seemed like a young boy. 

There was nothing there to support life. It was like exile, or an abandoned military post station. I imagined this was in the Kurils since the sky was chalky grey, and the water looked equally cold and uninviting.

So, i asked God to send food. And a large frond of seakelp appeared in the ocean, as if most of a stalk had broken off.
I took this and hung it to dry. And after taking the wooden arch down, needed some way to start a fire. Without an axe The plan is to burn the wood into smaller sections. So setting fire to it from the middle to make it manageable. 
And lacking a way to start fire, I focused on making the light energy from my hand to start this fire.
Also, for no apparent reason, a beached baby whale appeared on the shore. And I dug a deep trench with my hands so the whale had water from the sea around their body. The whale still needed a deep hole of water to take the weight off their structure.
And a way back to the ocean.
And gathered kindling of plant fibers to dry for the fire. It would take 2-5days for this to be used.
Returning to the wounded man, I blessed the charcoal from the chi fire I started. And to pray on it to be used to keep the wound clean.

The sea kelp made me quite happy, since I need minerals for my diet. And this plant offered me that which I need without killing animals. Yet upon cleaning the plant while wet, I found several live snails and shrimp.
So these life forms need water to thrive in. And I made small pools of water on some crater like sea stones and shells and placed the snails there.
Sadly, this man needs protein to recover, so I offered him a leaf of the kelp with live shrimp and snails, I never touched the (shrimp) prawns with my hands since I am very allergic to this crustacean shellfish. I used leafs of seaweed to wrap the live shrimp/prawns in order to move them.
I told him he could make a soup of them, though in reflection this is a compromise of my spirituality I must contend with as a vegan. But we still needed fresh water. And that he should only eat 1 at a time with some of the green kelp seaweed. The green part helps the body use the protein efficiently, and only 1-2 snail worth of protein (like 1 escargot) is needed in one meal. After some of the wood burned, I would make bowls if we could not find big seashells to use as spoons and bowls. Snails are hermaphrodites and their body contains their sentient brain. They reproduce quickly in one month.

I thought about the baby whale surviving somehow. And was uncertain if this man would help me return the whale to the sea.
I imagined a repeat of some primal tribes using this beautiful baby animal for survival and fishing hooks instead of helping them to the sea. And knowing we saw the large  shark creature in the sea. Made me happy this baby whale was alive.
In this unfriendly climate, I can only ask God for help. And with positive energy, hope that nature senses my intentions. And by returning the baby whale to the sea, still many times bigger than me. That nature would know my intentions and bestow grace and ease of travel on me. And In this dream I wished for my seeds to be seen in my clothing. And I said, this is why. This is why our ancestors took seeds with them to plant on their journeys. 

Here is where the dream splits into multi-verse of realities. Where release of the whale brings the aid of seabirds entangled in a net with a backpack of helpful tools. Or where the death and use of the whale becomes is the finite resources with a suffering period of nothing for punishment. And by returning the baby whale to the sea, an abandoned boat with fuel appears in the nearby sea after a larger whale appeared and breached the days before.

Praying, with God, I ask nature for grace and healing. And for the past sins of all of my relatives who killed humans and animals in war and for food to be cleansed.
In Japanese cultures, they say my karma is heavy from my ancestors. And my karma may have become heavier for normal people to handle because my mother married to her enemies nation that killed so many Japanese. This is quite different as a Japanese Buddhist with ancestral worship than to live Tibetan Buddhist and to be unattached to karmic debts of ancestral worship. 
Yet my Christian Lutheran upbringing taught me I would not reincarnate and can ask God's forgiveness before turning into nothingness.
My light giving practice and connection to God, I feel is stronger. As I asked in the Dreamworld to forgive this man who appeared injured with the thought "it is only skin" and I woke to Tengri the God of my ancient Siberian ancestors as I muttered some words of a thunderstorm blessing in Hebrew.
This is how my spirit world is. I am diverse in my ancestry across Indigenous Siberia, East Asia, and Asia to Europe, and America. That is too much religious practice as a human. And so, I only have my heart, my compassion. And thoughts of acknowledgement.

What is the multiverse today? What is our faith and intention to be with the world. And what options are presented to us, when we offer our assistance to those injured?

Yet what happens when life is good for those who believe in killing? Can we say that they do not experience God's bounty when they kill a creature such as a whale? 
Maybe it is not their nature to have such a frequency that supports life in the same way. And maybe today, in today's modern world we now have those options.







Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Visit to temple

I visit the temple at Byodo-In in Hawaii. 
There are many American tourists many who seem to be Latino who are sporting biceps with Christian tattoos while holding their cameras.  I heard some are say that the temple exists so they can find hookers and run hookers. One of them is a large African-American man. I hear one saying, that one's a hooker and that one there. He seems to be pointing out the Asian women. I'm horrified that this is what temple means to the non-Asian American men. 
After making a small donation, I light incense. And find a place to sit and meditate. A fat Caucasian woman moves the long bench I am sitting on in the Buddha room to adjust her sock. Then she turns around to sit.
There is no introduction room or anything for this temple structure. It seems to have little spiritual value to those around me. One Asian parent prostrated in front of Buddha. She tries to have them bow. The parent's children ask why he needs to pray to Buddha in English. 
I feel more violates than relieved to come to this "sanctuary" as it provides no sanctuary to me. 
I think of Buddhas animals as I continue meditate, and how they each have a place in Buddhas' kingdom. Then I think of the tourists. I try to internalize the outrage and anger I have found in this visit to temple.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I took the Middle Path

"Inspired by Buddhism, this philosophy stresses the "middle path" as an overriding principle for appropriate conduct and way of life of all people, at individual, community, business and government levels.Sufficiency means moderation, reasonableness and resilience to rapid changes."
From: International Herald Tribune "The wisdom of the 'middle path' Honor fit for a king"
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/25/opinion/edanand.php
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My mother always, always told me to take the middle path for as long as I can remember. I was raised with Shojin ryori values before I knew anything about animal rights and veganism. The U.S. nuked Japan and it directly & severly impacted my life by the time I was 7.
Despite my growing up as a baptized & confirmed Lutheran (The St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church were the racist community values that taught me self-hatred due to my race & ethnicity;- though I had to show community participation as part of this lifelong cultural exchange.)

Here's the article about an action from a decade ago about my then "questionable & radical" behavior.