Pariyatti

Story 53 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Many years ago, I attended a performance of Aida. This was a full production and the director wanted to impress. In the opening scene, he featured a live elephant. The audience seemed to anticipate the arrival of the elephant more than the two hours of Verdi that would follow the pachyderm's entrance. As the curtain parted, there stood the...

Story 52 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Life naturally simplifies. The many miracles of small things sidetrack the singular quest for ever greater success and accomplishments. Life loses its Photoshop luster when you simply live it. The little voices in your head or your gut may tell you to go right or left, here or there as they are conditioned. These are not usually the voices...

Story 51 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Even the daily grind can be seen anew. Marcus Aurelius said it best: “Early in the morning I am rising to do the work of a human being.” It matters not a jot how you spend your days, but each one bears the possibility of doing the work of a human being. narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 2 minutes 41 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your brows...

Story 49 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Doing non-doing, allowing the suffocating angst in, though insisting it must sit in the corner and not suck out all the oxygen in the room, opens up a new way of seeing and experiencing daily life. It is as if you had been suffering from severe cataracts before and now your vision is unimpaired. The clouds have dissipated. The familiar tak...

Story 50 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I run almost every day. I don't push myself. I enjoy the sights and especially the smells as I run. I don't wear my glasses for that reason; my astigmatism enhances my sense of smell. I like the mustiness of mud thawing in the early spring and the tang of last night's rain as it evaporates in the first rays of the sun. Running is a kind of...

Story 48 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . The fourth and final noble truth, the prescription for our illness, to continue the medical metaphor, is outlined in eight stages. The path (which is not, you may remember, a path but a wheel) covers everything from your behavior, your occupation, your speech, and your daily practice, right up to your thoughts and understanding. Note, howe...

Story 47 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . We used to drive to Toronto every Christmas vacation to spend the holidays with my grandmother. It was about 250 miles away, two-lane blacktop all the way. Our means of conveyance was at first a Prefect and later a Vanguard, both inexpensive, four-cylinder British imports with all the fire power of a lawn mower with Chronic Fatigue Syndrom...

Story 46 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . For many years I faithfully sat two hours a day. This was my formal meditation practice. Two hours a day is a lot of meditation, I thought. I was wrong. Two hours a day is a lot of practice, but it is not a lot of meditation. Meditation cannot be measured.... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 4 minutes 58 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your...

Story 45 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Without the ability to silently sit alone in a darkened room, we are destined to be a slave to our conditioned mind, reacting to self-imposed habitual preconditions, convinced that everything out there is awesome and everyone else is as happy as kings. So why, you wonder, am I so miserable? I have lost count of the number of times in a giv...

Story 44 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Happiness is not something to pursue. Like the truth, happiness too is not out there somewhere. Chasing it is like a dog trying to catch its tail. Happiness has been hijacked by old habit patterns which have convinced us to look for it under the bright lights. We are so busy frantically... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 4 minutes 37 seconds...

Story 43 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . The question remains, however, why is practice so difficult? To begin with, doing non-doing is by and of itself difficult because to be still and just watch goes against our very nature. This is especially true when... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 5 minutes 01 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio eleme...

Story 42 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In large stores in Korea there is a greeter at the front door. He or she bows and wishes you well and a good shopping experience. Koreans are used to this formal welcome. They walk by without... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 2 minutes 00 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Download Audio (1.4M...

Story 41 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . You need to walk before you run. This much is certain. There is an old joke of a tourist lost in New York City who asked a passerby how to get to Carnegie Hall. He was told, “Practice, my boy, practice.” This process can appear to be slow going. This is quite normal, as the progress is incremental. (And meditation practice redefines increm...

Story 40 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . “You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.” This was the great jazz saxophonist, Charlie Parker’s, musical lesson. But it... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2022 3 minutes 15 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser do...

Story 39 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . My father would go apoplectic when he was near gum chewers. He would physically recoil as they mashed away in complete obliviousness to the consternation they were causing him. Though I didn’t understand the reason for his meltdowns, over time I absorbed his attitude. Each time some unsuspecting gum smacker tried to engage my father in a c...

Story 38 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . The Buddha was also the first neuroscientist. He confirmed neuroplasticity, the mind's ability to change by restructuring itself at the neurological level. The Buddha altered his mind to such an extent that he transcended the final two complex, problematic stages of the thinking process. He declared himself enlightened, which is to say fre...

Story 37 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . The Buddha was more scientist than spiritual seeker. He wanted to understand human suffering using himself, his body, and his mind as his laboratory. After many years of ascetic practices, while sitting under a pipal tree in Bihar in northern India, he took a vow not to move until his experiment gave up an answer. As dawn broke so did the...

Story 36 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . One night a man lost his keys. He looked for them under a street lamp. A friend walked by, saw him looking for something, and asked him what he lost. “My keys,” he replied. “Oh,” said his friend. “Where did you lose them?” “Over there. In the woods,” came the reply. Stunned, the friend asked, “But why are you looking for them here?” “The l...

Story 35 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . For my father’s entire life, I was not a parent. In his presence I reverted to a child-like sense of entitlement. His world revolved around me and this, I thought, was how it should be. I had my family after he had passed away. And it was only as my boys got older and I dealt with all the practical aspects of child-rearing that I fully app...

Story 34 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Nature doesn't lie. It acts according to natural laws. And human nature, too, doesn't lie. It plays out as a series of causes and effects. If the inputs are negative, stifling, abusive, or spiteful, the immediate effects may be unpleasant. Even if there is no evidence of any negative aftermath, in time, inauspicious acts invariably lead to...

This talk by Paul R. Fleischman was given at the 2022 virtual conference by The Association of Buddhist Care and Counseling. Paul's talk is titled "The Buddha's Teaching on Non-violence" based on his book The Buddha Taught Nonviolence, Not Pacifism. Paul R. Fleischman video host: John Freese 2022 20 minutes Watch the video or download the audio.   Download Audio (20MB) Download Transcript (149kb)...

Story 33 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . A healthy component of the practice is to stay awake to encroaching spiritual materialism. This danger begins to raise its head after you think of yourself as an experienced practitioner. You may judge your practice as quite advanced. You pat yourself on the back. You start acquiring compliments. Thoughts that you might teach someday may f...

Story 32 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . An abscessed tooth forced me out of my hut and into Bombay, as it was known then, to see a dentist. I had his name on a piece of paper and was assured he was ektampukkha, “a cheap but best” dentist. No one was in the waiting room, and he said he could take me right away, two facts that should have warned me to be careful. Once I was in the...

Story 31 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I had an aunt who lived on a forty-acre estate west of Toronto. The manor house was an Elizabethan structure with separate breakfast and dining rooms, a full maid's quarters, apple orchards, and a forest with deer and other wildlife. In the late afternoon we would dress for tea and retire to the screened porch off the living room. My aunt...

Story 30 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . When you find yourself in a hole, first stop digging. Trite but true, when we find ourselves in this predicament, we need to lay down the activities that led us to be that deep in the hole. When I found myself in an alcohol-induced hole, I let all the alcohol-related activities go. These included for a time even good friends... narrated by...