sit zazen?

[john falkenstine]

I place Sit Zazen in the same category as Est seminars.

[jtk]

John F, that's an odd kind of comment.

 

I'll explore some of our mutual "categories":

 

Zen's been a discipline for a long time. Just in America it's been relatively well-known for sixty years or so...by contrast I'd thought EST was only marketed in the Disco era. Funny to be reminded of it.

 

Like you, I can be petty...I didn't like the ESTholes I knew way back then, but many were remarkably effective and generous, creating parks, schools, and playgrounds in impacted "minority" areas. Can't be proud of my prejudice about EST (more "categories"). Do you know anybody who still drives a BMW?

 

Do "EST seminars" still happen in Tucson? Not a trace in Albuquerque.

 

When an unknown person "categorizes," lacking the ability to express himself well enough to make his point, what are others to think?

 

Your snapshots show a casual, graphics-innocent attitude toward photography (I go overboard with graphics). You don't seem interested in taut situations, or people for that matter.

 

I hate to photograph people from behind...I like to address them openly, "respectfully" (a category) making me a nfg as a "street photographer."

 

You like Southwest kitch, rust, decay (me too). Your drive through Nogales, digital through the windshield, suggests fear...I feel that too, the only white guy in some neighborhoods, sometimes, but don't have the guts to show fear online.

 

I hear it's going to be 110deg in Tucson today. Albuquerque's a cool 82, destined for 90.

 

Nice go-kart details

 

John

[john falkenstine]

Question the statement and the ad hominems follows quickly. Last I remember he was driving a Ford Fiesta.

[jtk]

John, I think you portrayed something about yourself in one short statement. I portray things about myself in more complex statements. To each his own.

[kludge]

I find all this prejudice toward zazen odd. It's not about enlightenment or anything else. It's just about sitting still. Sitting still, I mean REALLY still, can be very difficult. But if you can't even sit still well, how do expect to be able to do anything else well?

 

For those interested in learning more about zazen, I recommend "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", by Shunryu Suzuki. It's not about enlightenment or other goals. It's basically just a how-to manual for sitting still. One of the most useful books I've ever read.

[johnya]

a comment regarding Tom Meyer's photo - After studying Wabi Sabi for over a year, I do not consider myself an expert but I believe I have a sense as to what Wabi Sabi is and isn't when I look at a picture. I must say the simple bowl with a dried leave is a good example of a Wabi Sabi photograph. The simplicity of the subject and the dead leave in a rusty earthy bowl does reflect the meaning of Wabi Sabi rather well.

 

Johny ( John ) Alives

[Allen Herbert]

1. Concentration

2. Koan Introspection

3. Shikantaza (just sitting)

 

 

What an incredible boring thing to do extreme nasal gazing when there is a whole world out there to explore. So many interesting places to visit, all those little moments of humanity to explore, which make up the whole.

 

 

too much of what I do now involves driving somewhere and trying to find something to photograph...

 

 

Photographs and life are all around you, everywhere; open your mind my friend and explore.

 

 

.in fact it involves letting go, for a short time, of ideas ("hope" as idea)./

 

 

I like that thought but you don't have to make a cup of tea, or, try to listen to the wings of a butterfly. Just let go of preconceptions. Look for the little moments of life, they are everywhere; keys to small doors which open up that big door of life.<div></div>

[Allen Herbert]

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