Still deciding what to do with a blog in an instagram world… here's another try. I remember not being a big fan of book reports in school. I can recall in the fourth grade attempting to make an argument that The Wind in the Willows qualified as a biography. So maybe it was just that I wanted to read what I wanted to read when I wanted to read it.
At the moment I'm tearing through a number of books on Zen. A couple weeks ago I finished up, Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings, Translated and edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa. It's published by Wisdom Publications, Boston. In a real instance of missing the point, I kept thinking 'I wish this book had a different cover.'
It's not really a fair criticism. Of all people, I have a terrific understanding of all the opinions, emotions and random associations that go into design and illustration—it is commercial and not fine art. BUT, I don't need to worry about that here. So, I decided to make a new cover. It's my book report. I fear it's as obtuse as making the argument that The Wind in the Willows is Mr. Toad's biography, but so be it.
Even if all the heady philosophical discussion goes over my head at times, what I take away from this book is that zen involves disciplined routine. However, I think of this discipline more like nurturing. That forms the crux of this image—the nurturing of a plant so that it may grow and flourish.
Raised Lutheran, that naturally informs all of my interactions with other philosophies and religions. What began to feel overly complicated was learning of all the different sects of Buddhists and their various steps and paths towards enlightenment. Over here we have 88 steps towards this, then there are 12 paths towards this, after you go through the 5 ways… but I expect Lutherans seem just as confusing to folks raised Buddhist. All that manifests itself in the background of this image.
And that's my book report. Below is my bookmark.
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