0805

August 5, 2022

 Down at 9:30, up at 5:30, 3 or 4 pss, no toddy.

A proposal of nothing: a favorite simile: thoughts flitting about in my head like minnows in a bait bucket.

Finished watching "Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East.

"I became a hermit to free myself from the dust and the dirt of the world, looking for perfection on the other shore.  But I realized that it was impossible to achieve it without loving even the garbage, the dust of the world, and life's anguish.  Perfection can be achieved by embracing all things.  While it is easy to fight against reality and fate, it is difficult to love them.  What a beautiful world when you know how to love it!  The universe is by no means imperfect.  I think imperfection is in our language, our knowledge, our thought, and our consciousness.  Isn't Enlightenment merely a dream?  Believing in attaining Buddhahood, I laid down the world entirely.  But when I look at the things I sacrificed, I seem to be surrounded by their rancor and I am afraid of falling into a hell of remorse.  "Saving living beings"?    What on earth does it mean to those who abandoned their father, mother, wife, and children only for becoming a Buddha?

"As the universe is deep in the shadows now, kindle the wick in your mind to light the way yourself."

I need to watch this film again.  Many thoughts are stimulated.  Wondering to what extent Jesus of Nazareth's thoughts and teachings were influenced by Buddhism, Hinduism, and/or Zoroastrianism and other resident Middle Eastern religions.

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Did some salvage work on the eyes and torso of Munch's Madonna. Still not at all good, but better than yesterday.  Need to work a bit on the Modigliani Woman with Black Tie, flesh tones.