Ra Buddha and Ra Big Bad Wolf!

I only work till half twelve on a Wednesday and got up to the allotment this afternoon. A wren showed up after a couple of hours. It seemed to be checking the space out. Jumping about, sticking to walls, etc. It didn't go near the nest. I wonder if it knew I was there. They've got the wee-est eyes. But it didn't go up to the nest. When I was leaving, I put my hand in the nest and I've never done that before. It looked a bit decepit. There were two eggs in it. They felt cold. I got one out and it was so small! Tonight I was back there meditating and a wren jumped in through the chicken wire and went straight up and sat on the nest.

I was really pleased. I know nothing about birds. But the wrens are great.

Michi Regier sent me an email saying she got The Buddha and the Big Bad Wolf and would read it in the mountains this weekend. Brian Wilson got as far as the second paragraph and packed it in. It might have been the first paragraph. He could tell by that sample that no one was going to take their clothes off in this one. The only one of mine he read had people taking their clothes off in practically every page!

Michi Regier plays the violin and has a CD for sale. Brian Wilson says he has perfect pitch and has pots of money, so maybe he'll buy it. This weekend he's representing Scotland in Barcelona where he will sing the Boomerang song at a conference, get drunk on the collapso, then take his clothes off and try to molest the natives.

Michi Regier's favourite book is the Tao te Ching. It might start: The Tao that can be expressed is not the real Tao. Or spoken. Or maybe explained. Or told. Then the boy writes a whole book about it. Try pitching that to an agent. What's it all about, Lao? Can't be expressed. I see. Hmmm.

I think I got hold of The Bliss of Inner Fire around about when I turned fifty, about four years ago. Kick start. Before I read it, I used to get ra bliss and tried to ignore it. That's what I'm going to do over the next few days. Ra bliss and hopefully some of ra emptiness. I don't have to go to work till Monday! Phones don't ring up at the allotment. There's a big lock on the gate.

Ra bliss is the golden handcuffs. They think you might get stuck in ra bliss. I don't think I'm up to the kind of bliss you get stuck in yet. What a problem! Can't come to work today because I'm stuck in ra bliss.

The sensei says Michi Regier is into zen. I read Zen and the Art of Archery once. You should be able to adapt that to darts and make a lot of money. Hit the bullseye every time. You'd need arrows that split down the middle. The boy in the book couldn't miss. I wonder what that means. Is it about .... assume the boy can't miss the target and it's not just a wonderful show of concentration. Why can't he miss?

How can nothing exist outside your own mind?

If you ask a zen master things sometimes, don't they just tell you to fung off? Sounds great. Appeals to the hinayanist in me.

I've a clear view ahead for the next few days. Nothing to worry about. I'll have to get into the compassion a bit more. Compassion and altruism are the basis of the path. No more flatheids. I'll have to think of something else. Dafties.

I met this very nice woman down at the Samye last summer. Used to work in the same place. She is a much nicer person than I'll ever be. Effortlessly nice, wee fat woman. So I was thinking that all flatheids aren't like Brian Wilson, but the problem is in the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Heard about this guy tonight who's just got MS, a scourge in this country. He's also a very nice guy. It's not the bliss you're after. It's the equanimity.

The Dalai says afflictive emotions will be with you even in the mandala. He says it takes aeons and aeons to deal with afflictive emotions. Let's hope we started a bit earlier.

As the zen violinist said as they were driven away from Carnegie Hall. I'm glad we kept practising.