Finding Zen and Flowers in Bloom

The Tassajara Zen Mountain Center is a Buddhist monastery in the Ventana Wilderness of central California, some 25 miles east of Big Sur. Founded in 1966 by a Japanese Buddhist priest, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, the monastery is home to about 50 monks and lay practitioners. From April to September, roughly 80 guests at a time may stay, partaking in as much or as little of the Zen meditation practice as they wish.

I'm so glad that I stumbled upon this article. My California Zen wilderness hiking days are 35 years behind me now, but oh so precious. I'm so focused on the challenges of the day to day, I never think about those days any more. But you know, even though Here and Now is all there is, I don't think it's necessarily a healthy thing to forget about, or refuse to contmplate the past. Reading this article brings me right back to a vivid memory of Big Sur which in turn enriches the present moment.

A recent three-part series in Salon, "Can Bush be toppled?", gave me a small measure of hope that maybe, just maybe, it's possible. But past experience combined with the current lackluster crop of Democratic candidates, and columns like the one Bob Herbert wrote for today's New York Times cause me to plunge instantly into a dark, pessimistic view of the future. I mean, what's the use? Why even bother to vote?

And yet, I can't help myself. I'm a political junkie, and there's too much at stake. It may seem like an impossible contradiction, but it is possible to be engaged and practice non-attachment at the same time.

What we've got is what it is, so I'm trying to become educated about our existing choices. Many of you are already familiar with MoveOn.org. Their motto for the 2004 election is "Regime Change Begins At Home." In an effort to build grassroots support and funding for candidates their members support, they are trying to get ahead of the curve by holding their own primary beginning tomorrow. You can read an informative article about it in AlterNet.

If you are even mildly interested in all of this at this time, I would suggest that you begin with MoveOn's "Get To Know The Candidates" section on the previously mentioned primary page. Each of these contain a link to the candidates own web site. Another good source is the series of articles that Slate is running. So far these include "Profiles" and "Buzzwords."

I haven't made up my mind about anything at this early stage. As such, I won't be prepared to cast a vote in anything. I am however, extremely interested in anything anybody has to say. Any thoughts?