I am on a two week stint at Upaya and busy with all the course work and all the new ideas about Zen brain and meditation. This next week my cohort and I begin work on our rakusus, the small apron we sew ourselves and receive back at our ceremony next spring. I had a chance to do a little hiking today and want to include several images of Upaya and the hike as a way of filling the printed space here. The image say more than I could, in English or in Buddhist.

6-17-10, Thursday

I have been thinking more about what this blog could be about. It will be something a bit different from what I do with the weekly letters. In some ways, those letters are more timely and contemporary and this is a place where I can be more philosophical (oh, no, you say). Starting this blog, at Han's urging, comes at a time in my life when communicating with all of you has taken on new meanings for me. After all, I am not a spring chicken any more and I have become more aware of the need to send out whatever messages I can while I am able. No one of us knows what the future holds and how we will be bent or tested by all of life's vicissitudes (one of George Gelernter's favorite words). This holds true for any one of us at any age, of course, but more so as we pile up the years.

This blog is begun at a time when I have discovered new territories for exploration. These territories are not unknown to me because I have known about them for a long time. I have been reading about religions and about Buddhism for decades, but the details always seemed pretty academic. Now I have reasons to make them real in my life in ways that find expression nearly every day. In a metaphorical sense, I have found some new voices with which to express myself. There is something very exciting about this prospect and I wish the same excitement with new discoveries for each of you reading this. As I have thought about why "metaphorical" seemed a perfect part of the blog title, it occurred to me that the blog, itself, is a metaphor for this new part of my life. I doubt I would ever have begun a blog of this type several years ago without the opportunity to see my life differently, as is the case in this chaplaincy program. Sometimes, all it takes is a shift in mindset to bring new ideas into better focus. I think metaphors help us do this. Metaphors allow us to see our lives poetically and majestically. They allow us to turn weeding into caretaking for the earth. They are how our hearts can express who we are and how we feel about others. They contain the meanings we can't express any other way. They enrich our lives and help us reach into the lives of others in deeper ways. Metaphors allow us to relate more meaningfully and lovingly in this world full of the truth of pain and suffering. Sometimes metaphors are the only things that allow us to bear the darkest and most vicious things. I love metaphors.

So, I think I am beginning to see what this could be and will try to expand how I use it. Don't be surprised at what happens. Stay tuned.

Following the Buddha in my life.

This is my first effort at keeping a blog. I extend my apologies to all for any lapses that are obvious to you and which I seemed to have overlooked. I am not sure how I will use this site since I am so committed to the weekly letters. I know there are so many ways for people to communicate these days and this is just one of them. I will work with it for a while and see where it leads. Isn't that part of the metaphorical way?