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 Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 8:18 am
Recently my dad gave me this book he found called Zen Fables For Today by Richard McLean. I haven't started reading it yet, but I was wondering if these fables would have any relevence to Buddhism. The back cover says that they are parables, so they would have some sort of religious lesson, right?
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:30 am
Zen is a form of Buddhism and it IS known for its stories, so this could quite possibly be a Buddhist book! How lucky for you!
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 4:53 pm
I've read most of it now, and it is definitely Buddhist and very helpful. 3nodding One question though. In the beginning of the book it goes over some of the basic principles of Buddhism/Zen and one of them is mindfulness. It talks about living in the now and focusing on the present. Does this mean that I should live in the moment and not think about tomorrow?
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 10:08 pm
i read a book titled Be Here Now, which had that as the very core lesson to grasp... i have been understanding it more and more bit by bit... i havn't realy fully understood it, but i have come to an interesting and unexpected realization from it...
we never stop learning lessons, even the same lesson over and over again with new meaning. but we each must find our own understandings for each lesson.
forgive the barely-helpfull-if-at-all interuption, i know it doesn't realy answer your question. sweatdrop i just felt compelled to share that, since i was reminded of it by that...
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:11 am
Oddly enough, a children's picture book is one of my favourite Zen stories, and has been for a few days.
Seriously.
Zen Shorts by Jon Muth is great. biggrin
That being said, in response to the original post's question: The dharma is, technically, everywhere. You just have to look for it. So it's very possible that there's at least snapshots of it in that book, if not more.
As for mindfulness, that's a question I've been pondering for some time now. Generally, it's a call to live here and now, focus your mind and try not to suffer what Buddhist scholars are fond of calling Monkey Mind (where your brain jumps down a huge train of thought rather than focusing on the task at hand) - I can't manage it for more than an hour at a time, simply due to the nature of my need to plan things ahead. I wonder if I'll ever rectify it. xd
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:27 pm
I've been thinking on it quite a bit, and I think that I should think about the future as in planting reminders for things I need to do, yet not think about the decisions I have made or will make. I think that as long as I focus on what is happening to me here and now, it is alright to make a plan for the future as long as I don't dwell on it.
All in all, I think that this book has really helped me understand a lot more about what the goals and principles of Zen.
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