Zen Buddhism for Kids

Kid Week, Installment #2.


I had a conversation in the recent past with a friend, about a friend, in which it came to light that this mutual friend in our friend circle had become flustered with not only Buddhism, but all organized religion in toto, because of latent gender inequality, deeply woven into the fabric of these belief systems. I am not familiar with the specific problems with gender inequality in Zen Buddhism (I recall the problem has something to do with stoicism and militarism, as well as the combination thereof, tied up in the premises of Zen practice), but it certainly doesn't surprise me it would be there (I'm - short, of course, for "I am" - so failing at E-prime right now!). And there are, of course, lots of other reasons to get flustered by organized religion, its implicated relationship to oppressive power, perpetuating and replicating inequalities of all sorts through its hierarchical interstices of power and its many un-interrogated, unexploded, underlying assumptions.

In any case, on the surface, basic Zen Buddhist ideas can be very meaningful for children growing up in the frenetic industrialized culture common to America and Japan, Thailand and India. Perhaps it does not always manifest in its industrialized iteration, but obviously, any place where Buddhism is practiced, so is our culture. Simplicity, transcendence, rebirth, compassion, calm - these virtues and notions aren't unique to Buddhism, but depicted in simple allegories and vivid images, they provide an especial balm for frantic children growing up in a super-neurotic culture.

And so, some zen stories accessible online...


Zen Stories to tell your neighbors



101 Zen Stories




And in the category of children's books, here's a collected treasury of Zen Buddhist wisdom in art-book form, perfect for introducing the novice to a whole different way of approaching the world's beauty, its wondering elements, the fantastic speed of slowness, the joys of stillness, quiet, silence, emptiness, available from both the premier bookstore of the major world religions, Soul Desires, and your local independent bookstore. Happy travels and indulgences!


Zen Shorts,












Buddhist Animal Wisdom Stories,

Samsara Dog,












Zen Ties,












Three Questions,

The Sun in My Belly,












Tibet: Through the Red Box,












Peaceful Piggy Meditation,

Journey to the Heart,












and All the Way to Lhasa.

On the theme of how Zen can and does intersect with Christianity (visible in all these books, but especially on the children's book on centering prayer) ...The labyrinth from Chartres Cathedral meets a peaceful piggy (looking initially quite disgruntled)...

May calm and stillness fill your day!

Keep reading: Zen Buddhism for Kids...

"Glorious Beyond Expression And Beyond Thought"

My favorite Berkeley quote (all emphases in the original). Hoorah for the real, proper idealist, in the full sense of the word ...and for theology that can still stand up to our contemporary scruples. (For those who do not know, people often boil his philosophy down to "We are all just ideas in the mind of God!") I definitely think with heavy skepticism in most situations, especially those that instinctively make me feel uneasy (such as in a short interaction yesterday with a gutter salesman who was exceedingly schmaltzy, my uneasiness exacerbated more so when my grandmother did not seem "plussed" when he tried to sell her windows, too!, and imposed on the interior space of the house, when he was only expected to work on the gutters, outside!), but not like the skeptic in his Three Dialogues.

Philonous:

"Look! are not the fields covered with a delightful verdure? Is there not something in the woods and groves, in the rivers and clear springs, that soothes, that delights, that transports the soul? At the prospect of the wide and deep ocean, or some huge mountain whose top is lost in the clouds, or of an old gloomy forest, are not our minds filled with a pleasing horror? Even in rocks and deserts, is there not an agreeable wildness? How sincere a pleasure it is to behold the natural beauties of the earth! to preserve and renew our relish for them, is not the veil of night alternately drawn over her face, and doth she not change her dress with the seasons? How aptly are the elements disposed! What variety and use in the meanest production of nature! What delicacy, what beauty, what contrivance in animal and vegetable bodies! How exquisitely are all things suited as well to their particular ends, as to constitute opposite parts of the whole! and while they mutually aid and support, do they not also set off and illustrate each other? Raise now your thoughts that adorn the high arch of heaven. The motion and order? Were those (miscalled erratic) globes ever known to stray, in their repeated journeys through the pathless void? Do they not measure areas round the sun ever proportioned to the times? So fixed, so immutable are the laws by which the unseen Author of nature actuates the universe. How vivid and radiant is the lustre of the fixed stars! how magnificent and rich that negligent profusion, with which they appear to be scattered throughout the whole azure vault! yet if you take the telescope, it brings into your sight a new host of stars that escape the naked eye. Here they seem contiguous and minute, but to a nearer view immense orbs of light at various distances, far sunk in the abyss of space. Now you must call imagination to your aid. The feeble narrow sense cannot descry innumerable worlds revolving round the central fires; and in those worlds the energy of an all-perfect mind displayed in endless forms. But neither sense nor imagination are big enough to comprehend the boundless extent with all its glittering furniture. Though the labouring mind exert and strain each power to its utmost reach, there still stands out ungrasped a surplusage immeasurable. Yet all the vast bodies that compose this mighty frame, how distant and remote soever, are by some secret mechanism, some divine art and force, linked in a mutual dependence and intercourse with each other, even with this earth, which was almost slipped from my thoughts, and lost in the crowd of worlds. Is not the whole system immense, beautiful, glorious beyond expression and beyond thought? What treatment then do those philosphers deserve, who would deprive these noble and delightful scenes of all reality? How should those principles be entertained, that lead us to think all the visible beauty of the creation a false imaginary glare? To be plain, can you expect this scepticism of yours will not be thought extravagantly absurd by all men of sense?"

followed shortly by:

"...To me it is evident, for the reasons you allow of, that sensible things cannot exist otherwise than in a mind of spirit. Whence I conclude, not that they have no real existence, but that seeing they depend not on my thought, and have an existence distinct from being perceived by me, there must be some other mind wherein they exist. As sure therefore as the sensible world really exists, so sure is there an infinite, omnipresent Spirit who contains and supports it."

...to be continued!

Keep reading: "Glorious Beyond Expression And Beyond Thought"...

Missionaries

I met some Mormon missionaries today on the walk back down to the house from the end of the trail, where I'd finished my run. I caught sight of them down the block before they approached me, initially hoping that if I didn't make eye contact and stayed on my (opposite) side of the street, they wouldn't approach me. Well, that proved impossible, perhaps our encounter even seems inevitable, since they were missionaries after all.

I decided to speak to them cordially, acknowledging their human-ness as with any other fresh interaction with strangers. I have a hard enough time as it is curbing my mean-spirited streak, attitude-heavy. Before they spoke, I contemplated making some mention, rather unpleasant and not even accurate or deferential (to indigenous spiritual practice), that I believed in and practiced the original Native American spiritual traditions already, and in their proper form, thank you.

They went through what felt like an excruciatingly long introduction (since I had already taxonomized them) about being from a church in town, missionaries from The. Church. of. Jesus. Christ......(excruciatingly long pause).......of Latter Day Saints. Did I have time, blah blah blah.

I came up with the following response (not my best, but afterwards I considered how I might respond in the future, and nothing nearly as cordial or fitting came to mind; for instance, "I am a student of philosophy and theology and have spent plenty of time studying questions of faith. At this time, I feel perfectly comfortable and content with my own spiritual experience and so do not feel I need to hear any new message. Thank you. Good day." And perhaps even one day, I could say "Actually, I've read The Book of Mormon" and then see what happens!): "Well, I'm not really in a position to hear such a message right now [I had hoped my disheveled appearance from finishing a jog would have spoken well enough for itself, such that they wouldn't approach me, for apparently being out of place and not near a home in which they could speak to me, yet somehow they weren't dissuaded], but I've met with groups of missionaries in the past [which was perfectly true]. Sorry."

Then the guy asking said to me (it really felt as though he were about to fall apart), "Do you at least happen to know anybody around who might be willing to hear our message?"

Not a regular resident of the area, I had to deny them this, but I offered that perhaps since it was a nice summer evening, and there were plenty of people out enjoying it, they would find someone who was. And I wished them a nice evening.

Another exchange, in which they asked if there was anything they could do for me (I found this a bit odd, off-kilter), a bit of grandiose gesturing from me dismissing this strange inquiry, and another smiley, breathy, "No, no, I just hope you enjoy your evening."

Missionary work was one of the first big turn offs for me from the Baptist church in which I grew up, and in an extension of that swearing off, a dismissal of all of Christianity as a whole, for a time. I have chronicled my spiritual journey elsewhere, though perhaps it's time to bring it back to the foreground here in my blog. Anyhow, my early inklings as a history and anthropology student instilled in me much guilt for living just past an old creek bed in a house where no house used to sit and tribes used to roam freely, and it also aroused much suspicion and disdain in my being when, at Children's Sermon, a special interlude in the service where the pastor spoke to the kids, who came forward and gathered round for stories, magic tricks, puppets, and all sorts of marvelous, enticing stuff, little pieces of cardboard were produced, which could be turned into little houses or plain boxes with lots of colorful print about religiously-oriented mission work in places like India, quickly-assembled cardboard piggy banks to donate to such abomination organizations.

This bothered me to no end. Did not the people of India already have Hinduism, a perfectly valid religion, to follow reverently in their land? (At this time, nuances about the populations of Muslims, Buddhists, Jains, and other spiritual minorities or sects in India did not have especial prominence in my knowledge.) In any case, it was a step on my way to being swept up with Daniel Quinn's writing, which wove together so much of the uneasy feelings I'd already developed about the trajectory and ambitions of this culture into a coherent, acceptable (to me) whole. Missionaries rely on archaic views of the Other and what exactly that other needs in terms of assistance in physical and spiritual nourishment, and otherwise.

There was a lot of interesting material in the most recent part that I read of If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways about several common misconceptions of reality tied to Christianity, old premises that don't hold up to scrutiny, a topic I felt pleasantly surprised to find Quinn addressing, as I've spent so much of my time since Ishmael learning about logic, partly to find how Quinn fits into the intellectual precedent as a writer not officially of academic books, though heavily grounded in the findings of biology, anthropology, history, etc..

Keep reading: Missionaries...

Remedies to the Why-am-I-so-crazy? Wonders

"How is it with your soul?" ask the United Methodists with a zeal peerless in these often glum twenty-first century days. The perpetual inquiry of John Wesley at his small spiritual meetings centuries ago, I ask it of you today. Do you feel fulfilled? Do you feel you've barely begun to live, to grasp the meaning of existence, of your actions, beliefs, emotions, ambitions? Do you waver up and down, some days just wanting to give up? Fear no longer! A companion is here!

My mother discovered Susan Brackney's The Lost Soul Companion for me years ago, and I read it at the time she handed it on to me (so probably about time for a re-reading, huh?). A delightful little compilation of sound advice, quirky ideas, and general creative revelry! I recommend it highly to "free spirits" and those looking for "comfort and constructive advice" in general, in other words, "lost" souls of both kinds, those down on their cheeriness, happiness, or fulfillment luck, and those diving down in the dumpsters.

In this book, I discovered a technique for concocting home-made snow globes, using epoxy (eww!) and old jars (yay!); a handful of microwave recipes I never got around to using; snazzy advice on improving one's social life, ability to socialize, and relationships in general (ask questions, listen, talk less - advice which I've doled out a lot lately for other reasons); my interest in attending Burning Man (which only grew more incendiary after I experienced a miniature version during the talent show at the conclusion of my introductory course on natural building in Brazil four years ago); many uplifting, encouraging, inspiring words on creativity and fulfillment (some areas of rumination dear to me!); two little, disoriented birds, and many other zany drawings and heartening words.

This book has quite a spunky feel to it. Check it out if you've had the hopelessness blues or the why-am-I-so-crazy? wonders lately...or just for a relaxing kick. (She suggests purchasing the book from an "indie store," your local bookseller, which I also support, or for those in need of instant gratification, she says, using the big box and online stores, but I'd suggest that eager readers check out Alibris, the compendium of used booksales online, instead. Turning to your library or a book-swapping site or system doesn't hurt, either.) You can also drop by Susan's website, which features excerpts, resources, and her own blog (or apparently just use my links - got a little overzealous there! Ahem! I mean, O.C.D.. I could've kept going and hyperlinked the whole post! Double entendre on the hyper!). And if you're not feeling especially much like a lost soul, you can always check out Susan's other title on the topic, The Not-so-Lost Soul Companion: More Hope, Strength, and Strategies for Artists and Artists at Heart. I've set my sights on that one! Oh, ever expanding guilt-laden reading list!

Keep reading: Remedies to the Why-am-I-so-crazy? Wonders...

Theology For Our Time

Here's my hodge podge for April:

Today, I attended a couple of talks by a Sister of Mercy, Kathleen Erikson, who works with immigrants on the border at the Women's Intercultural Center, at the detention center, and in other settings. The Center is in Anthony, New Mexico, which isn't far from El Paso and Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua, Mexico. She gave a talk in the early afternoon entitled, "Voices from the U.S. - Mexico Border," and one in the evening called "No Human Being is Illegal: Spiritual Activism and Immigration."

This past weekend, Horizons of Faith presented four spectacular lectures by Rita Nakashima Brock, a scholar whose work focuses on the destructive nature of the crucifixion obsession to Christianity. Her lectures centered around the idea of paradise, thoroughly informed by the research she and co-writer Rebecca Ann Parker worked on for their forthcoming book, Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire. Their 2001 release, Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us was a stunning exploration that blended their theology of the cross with their personal histories in connection with violence and suffering. Their cooperative endeavors and presentation style, as well as a handful of others, have already infused academia with new forms of scholarly writing, forms that I believe must become the favored approaches to academic work. An obsession with objectivity neglects the role that personal history plays in the shaping of theories and ideologies.

Throughout the weekend, Rita made mentions of the ev08 (or Envision '08) conference that she's been organizing. Though I'm still trying to figure out the distinctions in the word "evangelical" (How differently fundamentalists use is from the way ELCA Lutherans claim it! For those who don't know, perhaps many, ELCA stands for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America...) and pin down the purview of the Emergent Church movement and it's cross-sections with Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It and The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America, and his contingent of Brian McLaren, Shane Claiborne, Diana Butler Bass (her? really?), and others, I think it's really cool that Rita and her people at Faith Voices for the Common Good are working to ensure that the young evangelicals with the left-leaning activist-y political sentiment don't feel silenced. The inroads they're making to connect progressive Christians with these young evangelicals, who in turn, will connect progressive impulses with conservative Christianity, are really fascinating. Keep the youth and their impulses from feeling silenced, and they won't break off into a faction and refuse to dialogue with mainstream Protestants and other progressive Christians. Sounds logical enough, right?

Also this month, I gave my "Images of God" presentation in theology class (we were all assigned this presentation). Everyone else had their paper from which they read, detailing their spiritual histories and responses to the course and the images of God examined so far. I instead went and looked for my own, as I had written plenty in my journals for the class about my spiritual journey so far--about my happenstance introduction to the American Baptist Church (distinct from the Southern Baptists as slightly less virulent conservative theology), the mild exposure throughout my childhood to Russian Orthodox icons brought by various relatives from Saint Petersburg, my break with Christianity as a young adolescent, my dabbling in Buddhism, then atheism, then agnosticism, until my experiences with the earth slowly brought me back to some sense of the "sacred," and brought me to an ecumenical bookstore, where I not only broadened my knowledge of theology but also renewed by faith in Nebraskans as a not entirely closed-minded population.

My images of god presentation (if I had any say in it, we would have been examining images of gods, but that would have only been a subject for a secular school exploring theology and religion)

• showed the feminine face of god,
• spoke to my need for silence, solitude, serenity, and simplicity,
• explored Marian images co-opted by indigenous and marginalized communities (in Japan, Korea, Australia, Indonesia, and the United States, many of which I found at this amazing repository of Marian images), especially the Black Madonna as portrayed by both black and white artists (I even found a remarkable Adam image of a contemporary black youth, holding his iPod, against Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel background),
• discussed the concept of hospitality and openness through an attitude of welcoming all (but I also discussed how viewing God as all-encompassing, of both good and bad, everything, is problematic because of the problem of evil),
• covered dance as a spiritual image and experience, before
• discussing animism in contrast to the debate about dominion versus stewardship, and
• considering earth images, earth-based spirituality, permaculture and the design of welcoming, inviting, spiritually-nourishing spaces (not to mention the appreciation of such spaces that exist without human tampering), community, and images of people embracing the planet-globe.

I covered all of the images most poignant and meaningful to me at this point in my life and detailed why they seemed to fill fill such a void, a void that had been left by Christianity up 'til now.

Keep reading: Theology For Our Time...