bodhi tree swaying

A large stone Buddha head I photographed while I was leading a workshop at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY.

[Click on the image for an embiggened version.]

I thought it would be an interesting project to paste the entire text of the Dhammapada into Wordle in order to see what language the Buddha (or at least that text, which is generally reckoned to be one of the older Buddhist suttas) used.

I used Buddharakkhita’s translation from Access to Insight.

The size of the word depends on how frequently it’s used, so this is a reflection of certain emphases of the Buddha’s language.

The language strikes me as being predominantly positive and humanistic. “One” here is mainly the personal pronoun plus phrases like “Wise One.” “Man” is the main subject. “Wise,” “holy,” and “good” are the main adjectives. “Like” is common because the Buddha used a lot of similes, so this is “like” as in “fortifying this mind like …

An Australia palliative nurse has recorded the most common regrets of the dying, and among the top ones is “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

In Buddhism there’s a list of five reflections, which are, basically, that I’m going to get old, get sick, die, be separated from all that’s dear to me, and (and here’s the kicker) that I’m responsible for everything I do and for the consequences of those things. Basically this amounts to reflecting on the fact that we’re going to die, so that we choose …

Disturbing news about ADD medication."To date, no study has found any long-term benefit of attention-deficit medication on academic performance, peer relationships or behavior problems, the very things we would most want to improve."Children?…

I just watched and enjoyed "Monsters," which is a low-budget (almost home made) Sci-Fi movie with surprisingly high production values, decent acting, and an affecting plot.Monsters(2010)Six years after Earth has suffered an alien invasion a …

More Lana Del Rey. Love it.LANA DEL REY-BLUE JEANSTaken from the album Born to Die, out January 30 (UK) / January 31 (US)

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"I’m defending their Constitution, too."Jessica Alquist, the 16-year-old Rhode Island atheist who got a prayer banned from her school, in the Christians who support the prayer's retention: “It’s almost like making a child get a shot…

"Good Morning Border Pastor." Yup, Google Voice's automatic voicemail transcription strikes again.Still, it's miraculous that it works at all.

How prone are you to disgust?There's a very interesting article in the New York Times about studies on the emotion of disgust (http://nyti.ms/zcqt1w) as well as a link to a survey set up by Jonathan Haidt. The survey (http://bit.ly/youNKH) was fasc…

A major victory over the encroaching surveillance statePolice Use of G.P.S. Is Ruled UnconstitutionalThe Supreme Court unanimously ruled that putting a tracking device on a suspect’s car violated his rights, although they differed on why.

Facebook’s a funny place. You’ll post a link to a really brilliant, informative, insightful, and useful article on meditation and get very little response, and then post a picture of a dog meditating and get swamped with “likes” and comments. An example of the latter happened recently when I idly shared this cartoon on reincarnation. [...]

Someone on Facebook just introduced me to this very moving clip from Luc Besson’s 2005 film, Angel-A, about an angel, played by Danish actress Rie Rasmussen, who intervenes to rescue, André (played by Jamel Debbouze), a self-loathing scam artist on the verge of killing himself. This makes me long for the days when I used [...]

This Filipino traffic cop requires us to redefine "awesome." Although the fact that the cars create shadows and he doesn't is more than a little suspicious Filipino Traffic Cop Doing His Job Like A BossTHIS IS BOSS !!!!!!!

Every muppet deserves its day in court.This is hilarious. An Ohio TV station wasn't given permission to film a juicy corruption trial, so they're recreating highlights of the trial using puppets. They should do this for the Supreme Court as wel…

In the interests of full disclosure I should say that Ashley Davis Bush, the author of Shortcuts to Inner Peace: 70 Simple Paths to Everyday Serenity, attends the same Buddhist center I teach at. I’ve bumped into her and her husband a literally a couple of times, but it’s a large center, we’re not by [...]

I've been listening to this album obsessively since downloading it last night.Young Knives – Human AgainClick here to buy the album – http://bit.ly/gjercl. This is the video for the new single, 'Human Again' taken from the brand new album &…

Saddhamala wrote the other day about how we “catch” emotions from others. As she points out, this happens when you’re hanging around someone who is negative, and it brings you down, and that it even happens when we watch a movie! So this is definitely a part of our experience. You may not have realized, [...]

Good for George Lucas, who funded his latest movie after major studios refused to touch a film with a mostly black cast.Pilots Who Fought to Soar Above Racism“Red Tails” is a whiz-bang action film about the Tuskegee Airmen, African-American fighter…

Researchers have been able to prod yeast to evolve multicellularity, with some specialization of function. And it wasn't that hard to do.Test Tube Yeast Evolve Multicellularity: Scientific AmericanBy watching evolution in progress, scientists revea…