diamond vessel

"The quiet generosity of those who possess almost nothing is a treasure in itself."

p.133 The Yogi's Joy

"... our practice is not to fill ourselves with profound and precious teachings but to make ourselves fit to receive them, to become a strong, unbreakable vessel, even a diamond vessel."

p.135

Lentle Mitra

Shrine
Originally uploaded by sravacitta

Here is the shrine for our practice day today, where we meditate, talk about our lives and the Dharma. The mitra sangha continues to grow, we had a mitra ceremony. Instead of tossing rice, we tossed lentles so I called her the lentle mitra.

Confession of a Buddhist Atheist

"To steady one's gaze on the finitude, contingency, and anguish of one's existence is not easy; it requires mindfulness and concentration."

Stephen Batchelor in Confession of a Buddhist Atheist

I'm reading it on a kindle, so no page reference.

I'm thinking of developing a puja from some of his writings.

I am enjoying this book. I like the intellectual tour de force. I've read his other books. I like his freedom of thought. He's more into confrontation than consolation. He dislikes other power. He does not discuss sangha much, mostly in terms of disagreement. When I met him he said the other star Buddhists he hangs out with are his sangha and the editorial staff at Tricycle, but I thought that wasn't really a satisfactory answer. He was quite gracious to meet with the FWBO NYC sangha. He gave us a signed book, which was very generous. (Give it back Andrew!) Nevertheless this was an awesome book in many ways, and I really like him as a writer. I highly recommend all his works, and this latest is another sterling book that I quite enjoyed. An excellent blend of the personal and thoughts, practice and experiences.