…Counterintuitive Quote of the Day…

Posted on by
1

‘Altruism is compassion without wisdom.’

I don’t quite know how i feel about this – though I can understand it in relation to the context of loving oneself no more or less then loving others; and hence an integral part of the ‘middle way’. I was, though, surprised to hear it from a Buddhist abbot. The relevant parable is twenty seven minutes into the video, though the whole thing is a good watch, if you have an hour to spare. Now it probably shouldn’t matter, but Ajahn Brahm is a Theravadin monk – definitely old-school… I wonder if a Mahayana monk would agree?

-justin

…VPPD Altar 100% Made in China…

Posted on by
Reply

One of the more humorous moments from PPD 2009 came about halfway through the event when Dru Ann and I just happened to find ourselves standing at the altar.  We were popping new candles into some of the holders when we realized that everything – absolutely everything – on the altar was made of plastic.  there was not one natural item to be found.  from the fake plastic greenery, to the fake plastic seashell, to the plastic wand.  We had plastic pens, plastic candle lighters, and little plastic cups.  We quickly realized that this would just not do, so we reached into our bags of altar items (lets just say Dru and I come prepared for altar making…) and whipped out a cauldron, a bell and dorje, some scales, and other metal-y bits to complement our stash of plastic.  All of which was fine…

…until we realized that everything – absolutely everything – on the altar was made in China.  *sigh*… ya win some, ya lose some.  This year we’re going to try for a little bit more ‘nature’ on our altar.

For anyone who missed it at ppd, Stuart got some great pics of the finished altar.  The link to the ppd photo gallery is in the sidebar.

-justin

…Around the State for PPD…

Posted on by
Reply

You may not know this, but florida has a number of ppd events all over the place.  Many of us like to take road-trips to the various PPD’s, and some of us even help coordinate out-of-area events.  Our sister event is held in St Johns county (for all the St Augustine and surrounding area folk) at the Harris rec center.  This year the St Johns PPD is being held October 2nd, 2010.  I’m an assistant organizer for that event, so i’ll definitely be attending.  If your interested in it and need any other info, let me know and if I can’t answer you i’ll know where to get the info.  Another popular one is Jacksonville PPD.  Dru Ann usually vends at this one, and I go to hang out with all my jax buddies.  I like going to jax ppd because I get to ‘play’ since I’m not helping coordinate it – and i love getting to take part in other folks’ rituals.

Last year was the first annual Orlando PPD.  I haven’t heard much about date/time for 2010, but when I do, I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted.  It conflicted with jax last year so I couldn’t get to go, but i’m hoping to make it out to this year’s event.  heck, we’re practically neighbors.  And just for the sake of completeness, the Ft Lauderdale PPD is the same day as Volusia… but we figured that would be okay since we’re so geographically separated that there isn’t much crossover.

You can find links to the sites of any other Florida PPD over in the sidebar.  And, as always, if you have any comments about other PPD events, well, leave a comment!

-justin