Sourav: Blog

Zen offers no comfort -- simply what is.

But what else is there?

An interesting (problematic?) look at whether Aristotelian teleology is compatible with Buddhist ethics,

Buddhist Virtue Ethics and the Oneness of Practice and Attainment by KnutJohan Øen

( My own thoughts on the essay ... )

So it snowed 3-4" here yesterday. It was right around freezing, so the snowflakes were big and moist -- perfect for making snowmen.

Two interesting things about Japanese snowmen:

* They have two segments, not three as in the US.

* They are called yuki daruma. Yuki here is snow, and daruma is literally Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen. (More here.)

Finally, I was awakened Sunday morning (after a late night in Shibuya; a sweet pic) by squealing kids running out into the snow -- I'm glad that is universal!

My friend ashaper has written a fine essay on the nature of "I" :

Strange Consequences of the Informatic Soul

http://www.conversationsnetwork.org

It's paradise for me, the quiet geek.

I was introduced when ashaper sent me this excellent podcast about having a growth mindset of experience and learning, rather a fixed mindset of ego and living up to it.

Thanks to t_blue,

You and Your Research

I had seen it before, but reading it today had real impact. I won't try to summarize it because it is itself the wisdom of a whole lifetime distilled into a 1 hour talk, but there are obvious similarities to what the wise have always known ...

An old Sanskrit poem by Kalidasa:

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life,
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendor of beauty,
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow only a vision,
But today well lived makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation of the dawn.