REFLECTION NOV 18

This precept about "distractions of entertainment' can be misinterpreted, as with any of the precepts. We could find ourselves sounding like puritans of another age by raging against singing and dancing, frivolous behaviour or consorting with those of dubious repute. The precepts are never about absolutues. TV is not an absolutely demonic medium. Listening to Celine Dion while preparing a meal, while it may be painful for some, is not evil. The precepts guide us to frame whatever activity we engage in by questions of purpose and wholesomeness. This implies some context, not any absolutes. To the extent that we take on the Bodhistattva vow, to liberate all beings, we can consider each action from that vantage point.


from Akashaloka,
Ray Innen Parchelo

REFLECTION NOV 17

Sitting at the breakfast table this morning, watching the birds at the feeders - jays, buntings, dees and woodpeckers. We joked about how it would be so much better if, like a friend, we had a TV sitting on the window sill. I tried to imagine how having a monitor of any kind, TV, web, even having the radio on , would have changed that experience. And yet, for so many people, that seems completely "normal".
In what way is our life improved by having several information inputs directed at our attention at once? What happens to the pace of life, the depth, the relationship with the observed when it is diluted with multiple demands?

from Akashaloka,
Ray Innen Parchelo