Saraswati is an interesting woman. As an expression of female creative energy in Hinduism, she carries a lot of power, said to act as the goddess of music and poetry, the visual arts, literature, and knowledge. All knowledge. There are varying accounts of her origins — some say she was the daughter of Brahma and Durga,Continue reading “Patrons of writing and teaching: Saraswati/Benzaiten”
Category Archives: Buddhism
Patrons of writing and teaching: St. Francis de Sales and St. John the Apostle
I’ve been writing off and on about my “patrons of writing,” but I feel I need to acknowledge that, for me, the term I chose comes from Christianity, specifically Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and the Christian notion of “patron saints.” So I figure it’s about time I mention a couple of my Christian patrons. According toContinue reading “Patrons of writing and teaching: St. Francis de Sales and St. John the Apostle”
Research tip #2: Know your limits
For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page. Sing it with me now: “To everything there is a season . . . A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to research, andContinue reading “Research tip #2: Know your limits”
Tibet
I’m in Chicago, working on my novel and some short stories and preparing for my reading at PCA/ACA next week while my wife attends an important Intellectual Freedom committee meeting with ALA. I plan to post about my pop-culture conference in San Fransisco, so I had intended to spend this week posting a preview ofContinue reading “Tibet”
More metta to Maynmar
I’m sorry to say things have gotten worse in Burma (Myanmar). UPDATE: Things have gone from worse to deadly. Reportedly, even monks have been killed. For more information, please visit the Democratic Voice of Burma. Even more than before, I still fervently hope the Burmese people and the governments of the world can find aContinue reading “More metta to Maynmar”
Metta to Myanmar
Thynn Thynn, the woman I consider my first formal teacher in Buddhism, is from Burma (technically, Myanmar, but she refers to herself as Burmese). I’ve since shifted my focus to Mahayana practices (and some studies in Vajrayana), but I continually return to Thynn Thynn’s teachings on mindfulness when I feel a need to sit, toContinue reading “Metta to Myanmar”
No one writing
On my Google homepage, I subscribe to a series of quotes that change day to day. One is a daily Thoreau quote, one is a general literary quote, one is a daily Jon Stewart quote, and so on. I also receive daily quotes from Buddhism (the service applies the term a bit liberally, often ascribingContinue reading “No one writing”
Audience analysis
I’m listening to an audio recording of teachings on the Garland of Views that HH the Dalai Lama gave in Miami in 2004. About 45 minutes into the second recording, His Holiness talks about how to explain the diversity of teachings in Buddhism: If we were to ask what is exactly the Buddha’s own finalContinue reading “Audience analysis”
A note about the profile photo:
My profile photo* is of Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Poor student of Buddhism though I am, the study is important to me, and Tsongkhapa is among my favorite Buddhist poets and teachers. He is considered an incarnation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom, who is in turn usually considered theContinue reading “A note about the profile photo:”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 