I'm still around...Let True Dharma Continue

It's been a while since I posted something here; there's been major "life" stuff happening of late.

I am hoping to have a substantial post next week about My Experience with Federal Jury Duty, but that won't appear before Wednesday.  But it might be a few days later.

I think there's still a need for a blog like this.  In some Rinzai based temples in the United States they still chant "Let true Dharma Continue.  [ Temple name ] become complete.  The fact that some abbots have become discredited because of scandal does not mean the invocation is a bad idea, but instead underscores the need for wholeness. 

Too, there are still points to be made about clarifying practice given the predominance of certain practices in the West and some of the statements by some of their prominent "teachers."  Not to mention points to be made in response to certain superficial "Buddhist" publications in the West.  (On the lower right hand corner of my version of the Tricycle website, there's still an ad shilling Frederick Lenz's dreck.)

And then there are the big mistakes I make and sometimes make and bake into this blog.  There's a need to get past them.

Let true Dharma Continue.

I'm wasn't a big fan of Neil deGrasse Tyson anyway, but...

I guess there is a place for Prof. Tyson in explaining The Science to everyone.  I get that.

And I really should stop reading Salon.  But, alas, today I did:

It’s also worth noting the difference between a full conception of philosophy and the caricature of it that Tyson has in mind. When Tyson, in the Nerdist podcast, laments the fact that philosophy seems to be overly concerned with deep questions, he cites the old Zen koan, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
This reductio ad absurdum of the spirit of philosophy may be the root of his own ignorance of the importance of the discipline, as well as his open hostility toward it. (None of this is even to mention that he’s confusing Western philosophy with an Eastern spiritual practice.) But the perspectivism and nuance of full-strength philosophy provide the catalyst that can transmute the lead of knowledge into the gold of flourishing.

I think I will try to contact him and explain something about Zen to him...if I can't get a hold of him I will publish a response to him here.