Note to myself:
Zen Books to read before I kick the bucket :-)
1. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind - by Shunryu Suzuki
2. Dharma Bums - by Jack Kerouac
3. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - by Robert Pirsig
4. Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart, A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness: Lessons from Meditation and Psychotherapy (Broadway Books, 1998) - by Mark Epstein, M.D.,
5. Stumbling Towards Enlightenment - by Geri Larkin
6. Wherever You Go, There You Are - by Jon Kabat-Zinn
7. Catastrophe Living - by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
I have been reading 4 books these days. That sounds a little crazy, I know. Okay, okay, more than a little crazy. I haven't done this before and wouldn't have advised it for anyone earlier. But all said and done, I don't think it is such a disastrous experience after all. I agree one of the books is pretty light - Tintin in Tibet :-) - which I will finish tonight, in all probability. One of my Business School friends introduced me to this series. And I am glad he did. I am determined to finish the whole series before the next year is out. :-)
The second book (a pdf actually) is 'The Complete Idiot's Guide To Zen Living'. This isn't light reading but given that it is meant for idiots, it isn't any heavy-duty stuff either. The only problem is that it is meant for the westerners and so every time I come across lines such as 'Zen perks are so relevant to the stressed-out,busy, and sometimes isolated lives of typical Westerners' I laugh out aloud. Someone please tell the authors that such a life has become the fate of millions across the world who are not 'westerners'. Anyways, I am almost at the end of part 2 (7 chapters) but haven't found anything substantial as of now - maybe because we Asians in general, and perhaps Indians in particular, are familiar with the concepts of Nirvana etc which have been explained in some detail for the benefit of the westerners. More on this as I make further progress...
The 3rd book is of course the one that I brought home from the library - Hillary Rodham Clinton's 'Living History'. I am more than halfway through this one as well. Whatever my misconceptions before I started reading it, one thing is certain - it has vetted my appetite for reading more such books written by people in world politics. While one can argue that the authors may sugar-coat or gloss over certain negative events to present themselves in better light or to state their side of the story, it cannot be ignored that it gives one some insight into how the game is played out day after day in power corridors across the world. I hope I find similar books written by Indian politicians.
The last book that I have been reading is 'Bhagwad Gita - As It Is'. Yeah, yeah, the same book that is being banned in some part of Russia. Of course, I had started reading it before the controversy erupted. I must confess though that I wouldn't have been surprised if the demand to ban the book had been made on the grounds that it might encourage people to convert to Hinduism. Even then it would have been a silly accusation. I am almost halfway through the 4th Adhyaya and till now I am yet to come across any such suggestion. But I can understand how a non-Hindu reading about yagnas, chaturwarnya vyavastha, brahman etc might mistakenly conclude so.
What took me aback was the fact that people are demanding that the book be banned because they think it promotes terrorism. I am not quite sure what has caused this reaction. Maybe someone misunderstood some passage and the rest of them could have just taken up the war cry without bothering to verify the allegations. This underscores the importance of having a global platform for the interpretation of holy scriptures of the major religions.
To take an example closer to home, many (Hindus) claim that the Holy Koran calls anyone who doesn't believe in Allah a 'Kafir' and urges a true Muslim to either convert such people or to destroy them. But some Muslim scholars are quick to refute this. And the rest of us are left wondering about who is speaking the truth. If Muslim scholars the world over could come together to interpret and share the message of the Koran (without any calls for conversion, of course!), that could go a long way in combating Muslim fundamentalism. A similar interpretation of the Gita can nip any Hindu extremism right in the bud.
Sadly though, the question is 'Who will bell the cat'? :-(
The second book (a pdf actually) is 'The Complete Idiot's Guide To Zen Living'. This isn't light reading but given that it is meant for idiots, it isn't any heavy-duty stuff either. The only problem is that it is meant for the westerners and so every time I come across lines such as 'Zen perks are so relevant to the stressed-out,busy, and sometimes isolated lives of typical Westerners' I laugh out aloud. Someone please tell the authors that such a life has become the fate of millions across the world who are not 'westerners'. Anyways, I am almost at the end of part 2 (7 chapters) but haven't found anything substantial as of now - maybe because we Asians in general, and perhaps Indians in particular, are familiar with the concepts of Nirvana etc which have been explained in some detail for the benefit of the westerners. More on this as I make further progress...
The 3rd book is of course the one that I brought home from the library - Hillary Rodham Clinton's 'Living History'. I am more than halfway through this one as well. Whatever my misconceptions before I started reading it, one thing is certain - it has vetted my appetite for reading more such books written by people in world politics. While one can argue that the authors may sugar-coat or gloss over certain negative events to present themselves in better light or to state their side of the story, it cannot be ignored that it gives one some insight into how the game is played out day after day in power corridors across the world. I hope I find similar books written by Indian politicians.
The last book that I have been reading is 'Bhagwad Gita - As It Is'. Yeah, yeah, the same book that is being banned in some part of Russia. Of course, I had started reading it before the controversy erupted. I must confess though that I wouldn't have been surprised if the demand to ban the book had been made on the grounds that it might encourage people to convert to Hinduism. Even then it would have been a silly accusation. I am almost halfway through the 4th Adhyaya and till now I am yet to come across any such suggestion. But I can understand how a non-Hindu reading about yagnas, chaturwarnya vyavastha, brahman etc might mistakenly conclude so.
What took me aback was the fact that people are demanding that the book be banned because they think it promotes terrorism. I am not quite sure what has caused this reaction. Maybe someone misunderstood some passage and the rest of them could have just taken up the war cry without bothering to verify the allegations. This underscores the importance of having a global platform for the interpretation of holy scriptures of the major religions.
To take an example closer to home, many (Hindus) claim that the Holy Koran calls anyone who doesn't believe in Allah a 'Kafir' and urges a true Muslim to either convert such people or to destroy them. But some Muslim scholars are quick to refute this. And the rest of us are left wondering about who is speaking the truth. If Muslim scholars the world over could come together to interpret and share the message of the Koran (without any calls for conversion, of course!), that could go a long way in combating Muslim fundamentalism. A similar interpretation of the Gita can nip any Hindu extremism right in the bud.
Sadly though, the question is 'Who will bell the cat'? :-(
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Voyage Of Life
A friend has forwarded a Dummy's guide to Zen. It's a pdf file. And I have been going through it on a chapter by chapter basis when I find some time daily. I came across a reference to Thomas Cole's 4 paintings called "The Voyage Of Life" in it. Curious, I searched on the net and here is the link to the paintings and a description of what they represent.
Something worth checking out and pondering on.
Something worth checking out and pondering on.
Monday, December 26, 2011
The Lost Symbol (Spoiler!)
I finally managed to read Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol'. Awesome! It was hard to put it down every night. Though it wasn't difficult to guess Malakh's real identity, the book kept me spellbound right till the end. Speaking of which, the end slightly disappointed me. I would have preferred a staircase spiraling down into the bowels of the earth in some far-away ancient cave rather than at the base of some Washington monument. :-(
Living History - by Hillary Rodham Clinton
I was in two minds when I saw Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Living History" on the library shelf. Politics is not one of my favorite subjects. Plus, such books, more often than not, present a lop-sided view of the events. So I was a bit reluctant to commit my time to reading it. Finally, I decided that I will read a few pages and return it if I don't find it interesting enough.
I must confess that though I found the first few pages interesting enough, I was hopelessly lost by the time Hillary started describing the health care reform initiatives. It felt as if all the related chapters were written only for American people. I didn't want to know about the various committees and organizations involved but it was impossible to understand the successive pages without a basic familiarity with things. I seriously thought about returning the book.
Then I stole a glance at the pages ahead. They appeared worth reading and so I decided to run through the chapters covering the Clintons' failed attempt at improving the health care facilities. Almost halfway through the book now, I am glad I did that.
A couple of things surprised me though. Hillary mentions how there was quite an uproar in the country because she kept her maiden name of 'Rodham' after marriage. This would have been an expected reaction in India a couple of years ago though now-a-days married Indian women prefer to keep their maiden names. Of course, she is talking about the 70s. But somehow I had assumed that things would have been different even then in the US.
Then there is reference to how people were surprised that she could hold on her own despite being a woman - the Talking Dog Syndrome. She mentions a quote by Samuel Johnson that is both, amusing and very much annoying:
Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprized to find it done at all.
I could only roll my eyes at this :-)
So far, my favorite has been the quote by Eleanor Roosevelt:
A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.
I must confess that though I found the first few pages interesting enough, I was hopelessly lost by the time Hillary started describing the health care reform initiatives. It felt as if all the related chapters were written only for American people. I didn't want to know about the various committees and organizations involved but it was impossible to understand the successive pages without a basic familiarity with things. I seriously thought about returning the book.
Then I stole a glance at the pages ahead. They appeared worth reading and so I decided to run through the chapters covering the Clintons' failed attempt at improving the health care facilities. Almost halfway through the book now, I am glad I did that.
A couple of things surprised me though. Hillary mentions how there was quite an uproar in the country because she kept her maiden name of 'Rodham' after marriage. This would have been an expected reaction in India a couple of years ago though now-a-days married Indian women prefer to keep their maiden names. Of course, she is talking about the 70s. But somehow I had assumed that things would have been different even then in the US.
Then there is reference to how people were surprised that she could hold on her own despite being a woman - the Talking Dog Syndrome. She mentions a quote by Samuel Johnson that is both, amusing and very much annoying:
Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprized to find it done at all.
I could only roll my eyes at this :-)
So far, my favorite has been the quote by Eleanor Roosevelt:
A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.
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