Ox Herding

Everything Matters

The good news of Buddhism is that everything matters. Your intentions, actions, thoughts and impulses - they all matter. This means that, if you take responsibility for everything, you can transform your life!

The bad news of Buddhism is that everything matters. Your intentions, actions, thoughts and impulses - they all matter. This means that, if you don't choose to take responsibility for everything, well . . . you know . . .

Two weeks ago I gave a talk at Deming Zen Center in New Mexico and discussed this news. Perhaps you'll find it useful. Thanks to Algernon for filming and editing the talk! (You'll want to turn up the volume.)

Thank you for reading Ox Herding. May we together take responsibility for our lives this weekend!

For Sale: Just Tolkoff

One of my most favorite bloggers/illustrators, Joanne Tolkoff (see: Just Tolkoff), has launched an Etsy store to sell greeting cards (and other kinds) bearing her wonderful illustrations. As I understand it, this is an interim step before launching her own website.

Please take a few minutes and go to Joanne's store. And if you're in need of a card or two, well . . . Joanne would be grateful if you'd fill your cart.

San Francisco de Asis

The astonishing apse of San Francisco de Asis spills into the small plaza of Ranchos de Taos.

Perhaps the high, clear light of New Mexico calls forth its beauty. Or perhaps its beauty arises from something within. Whatever the source, I find it astonishing.

Upaya Zen Center (and Dogen!)

As I drove toward Santa Fe last week, I emailed Maia Duerr (who writes The Jizo Chronicles and The Liberated Life Project) at the last minute to see if she had time for a visit. Not only did she have time, but she invited me to Upaya Zen Center for a tour.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to connect with a blogger whose work I respect. And I'm grateful for the chance to see a beautiful Zen center, high on a ridge outside of Santa Fe.

Maia asked if I would inform readers of Ox Herding about Upaya's upcoming symposium on Dogen, July 12-15. This event features many of the most important translators of Dogen's writings, including Kazuaki Tanahashi, Taigen Dan Leighton, and Shohaku Okumura. It also includes Peter Levitt and Natalie Goldberg, writers who will share their insights on Dogen, along with other wonderful teachers.

If you value Dogen's writings, then you might consider this important seminar. (Plus, it's a great way to experience Upaya Zen Center!)

Tree

A tree being itself by the highway south of Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico.

Road Rage

As you know, I've been driving around the country for nearly four weeks. And I've seen plenty of foolish driving behavior (and have even done a bit of it myself).

So I was delighted to find this slight fable about the consequences of road foolishness. I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you for reading Ox Herding! Please drive safely and wisely - you never know where you'll end up!

Barry

The Menil Collection

The Menil Collection is housed in a Renzo Piano building. More pics below.

Michael Heizer sculpture (detail).

During this journey, I've frequently altered my itinerary . . . and haven't regretted it once.

For example, after visiting relatives in Dallas, I had originally planned to go to Austin to swim in a famous outdoor pool. But the night before, I decided instead to go to Houston to see The Menil Collection.

As a result, I had the good fortune to experience perhaps the most astonishing gathering of art in North America.

The Menil Collection holds paintings, artifacts and sculpture collected by the Menil family. These works, ranging from very early Egyptian reliefs to modern masters, are extraordinarily beautiful, exemplars of their kind. This is not a "greatest hits" collection, but rather a "greatest intelligence" collection.

And the galleries display these works with an equal intelligence. For example, a 13th century CE Shinto deity sits in a small room with a 2nd century BCE relief of the Egyptian deity Horus. Although separated by 3,000 years, these two figures share much in common - the installation took my breath away.

Similar matches exist throughout the museum. A John Chamberlain sculpture sits across a hallway from a Morris Louis drip painting, and both inform the other. In fact, I feel like I finally "got" Chamberlain as a result of this match.

An Alexander Calder mobile hangs in front of a Joan Miro painting. Both dance together.

Even though the museum itself merits a journey, three additional buildings surround it and add to its luster. I don't know anything like this grouping of beauty, anywhere in the world.

The famous Rothko Chapel sits just 100 yards away from the Collection. Within the chapel hang 14 somber, profound Rothko canvas - vast and deep works that took me into new territory. Photo below.

An entire building is dedicated to over 40 works by Cy Twombly, the modernist painter who explored life and death with creativity and power. Another building houses a massive work by Dan Flavin, the modern sculptor who used florescent fixtures to great delight. And additional artworks are placed on the grounds surrounding these buildings.

The Menil Collection does not permit photography within the buildings so I've picked up some images from the tubes to give you a sense of the rich experience offered in Houston. The exterior pics were taken with my iPhone.

If you care about art, you will never regret making the journey to Houston.

Sculpture by Jim Love


Rothko Chapel


Cy Twombly


Gallery in the Collection.

 
Dan Flavin installation.

Under Earth

Entrance to Carlsbad Cavern, seen from within the cave. More photos below.

During my travels, I've visited two major caves: Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico.

Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave in the world - over 390 miles have been explored. Carlsbad Cavern is smaller but contains a staggering array of speleothems, the beautiful formations that appear from steadily dripping water. (The most commonly known speleothems are stalagmites and stalactites, although there are many other forms.)

I don't much like being underground and watched my mind make up stories about what would happen if one of the cave ceilings were to collapse. These fears were real, but not true - not in alignment with the reality that these cave ceilings haven't moved for thousands of years.

So these journeys under the earth made for good practice.

I also noted, especially in Carlsbad Cavern, with its extraordinary range of speleothem formation, that the earth is actually quite fluid - despite the apparent solidity we experience on the surface.

Under ground, the inherent plasticity of our planet becomes much more obvious, with water dripping everywhere, stalagmites continuing to reach toward the cave ceilings, and curtains of calcium rippling in stone.

It was a good reminder of the limits of experience. And an even better reminder that everything always changes.

Photos taken in Carlsbad Cavern with an iPhone 4S using available light. Click on images for a better view.

Buddhism in the South

Here's something cool . . .

In coffee shop in Northwestern Arkansas I overheard the conversation of three perfectly ordinary-looking women in their 50s.

One of them said to the others, "When I've got my mindfulness, things just go easier."

Perhaps this is how Buddhism will slip into mainstream Western culture (particularly in regions like the Southern U.S. that may resist non-Christian paths) - not as a spiritual tradition, but as a simple activity that helps with everyday life.

Photo: My traveling companion. Thanks, Willy!

Religion

As I traveled through the Southern U.S., I couldn't help but notice the very public nature of religious (that is, Christian) life in that region.

In cafes, coffee shops, and museums, I consistently overheard people speaking ardently about their faith. And if they weren't talking about it, then they wore clothing or jewelry that proclaimed it (for example, a t-shirt that read "Invincible in Jesus").

Perhaps I've limited my exposure, but I rarely encounter such public expressions of faith on the West Coast or New England.

The Southern tendency to incorporate religion into everyday life brought back a memory from my visit to Tibet in the mid-1990s. Ordinary Tibetan people, at least at that time, would spin prayer wheels while walking down the streets, prostrate themselves publicly in front of the Jokhang Temple, and recite mantras while engaging in commerce.

In short, religion in Tibet was as public as religion in the South.

In Tibet, I was deeply affected by this public devotion but I didn't have a similar response in the South.

I'd like to think that the Tibetan Buddhists were practicing, while Southern Christians were "merely" engaging in belief.

But the distinction between practice and belief actually doesn't seem very clear. Such parsing doesn't really clarify anything - it only reveals my attachment to opposites-thinking.

So I don't have a tidy conclusion for this post - only ongoing puzzlement about my experience.