Why I do the daily prompts
I had someone ask me why I do the daily prompts instead of only writing about Buddhism from a westerner’s perspective. To answer this I decided to look at the purpose of my blog, and if I meet my own goals. I have written about specific topics, such as the Heart Sūtra, and will be posting the remaining lines very shortly. I am changing the way I present educational posts such as the line by line commentary and explanation of the Heart Sūtra, so they are available as separate pages from the main page of the blog. this in response to a comment that mentioned they stumbled upon it after looking through back posts. Shortly afterwards I was looking at a few other blogs that also try to pass along knowledge about living as a Buddhist, as well as passing along some basic teachings. Looking at Renata’s well designed blog; ByChanceBuddhism and her page of Basic Buddhism helped solidify my thoughts on how to present the educational aspects.
However in today’s hectic world, where change happens faster than we can comprehend, living in the moment has become a very difficult challenge for all of us. So by answering these daily post challenges, I attempt to show how we can live a life according to our beliefs, whether they be Buddhist, Christian, Islāmic, Wiccan or any other system. By showing how we can learn from the tree that bends without breaking in the daily storms. As a Buddhist, I can present from that viewpoint, while respecting that others have an equally valid viewpoint, that may not agree with mine. Almost everyone I have met here, tries to be compassionate, loving and open-minded, while searching for ways to enrich our lives in a non material way.
I am not at the level of practice in my daily life, that some of my friends and mentors are, nor would I claim to be a scholar on Buddhism, I am someone who is doing the best I can to live a moral life, in a world that increasingly orients us towards being happy by consuming the next great product. Learning about ethics, morals, and values such as compassion are only baby steps in our daily practice. The important steps are how to integrate what we have learnt into our daily lives.
So please bear with me over the next few weeks, as I implement a few changes, to prepare for a reorganization that will make it easier(hopefully) to find what you are looking for while visiting.
I love your blog – don’t change it too much! We all have beliefs and we all have personalities and walking this journey of life is more complex than any of our ideals, no?
It is, and thank you for the comments you leave. The change is to make it easier to find the discourses, defintions of Buddhist terms, etc for those who are looking for those posts. I will still keep the style the same, just tidying up the organization, so you don’t have to use a boolean pretzel to find things.
haha! ok got it!
Love your candor. Stay the course Keith…
Thank you my friend, I enjoy you candor, and quirky humor as well.
I am truly touched that you mentioned my blog here in your post, Keith. Like I have said to others, the goal of my blog is to help people, and so if it has helped you in some way I am deeply contented. As for your blog, I really like the way you have organized and presented everything. I enjoy your daily prompts, and your further explanation of why you do them and why they are important to you has made me appreciate them even more. Although I understand that looking at other people’s blogs can prompt reevaluation of our own goals/writing (believe me, I have done this many times!) I think that your way of talking about ethics and morals (the things YOU think are important) are extremely well-thought out and inclusive. By all means take some time to think about your goals and intentions here, to refine and inspire your motivations and ideas. But I think I speak for others when I say you’re doing a wonderful job and that you’re on the right ‘path’.
As before, I will look forward to your future posts, and to learning about what changes you decide that will help fulfill and uphold your writing and spiritual goals.
With Metta,
Renata
Thank you Renata, I don’t plan to change the style, just borrowing an organiztional idea from you blog, to make it easier to find the how to posts, or the discourses, from the everyday posts about how I approach lifes situations.
Very well put. In everything there should be a balance and for many of us it is a lifelong struggle. Whether it be on the net or in real life. You are doing a great job from what I’ve seen so far. Keep it up.
Thank you, however balance is easier when seen from someone elses viewpoint.
So very true.