"WINTER IS COMING," "THE HARD CRUEL TIMES."

George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: A Game of Thrones (New York: Bantam Books, 1996) ("'[A]nd I have a mind . . . and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keeps it edge.'" Id. at 101.).

George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Two: A Clash of Kings (New York: Bantam Books, 1999).

George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Three: A Storm of Swords (New York: Bantam Books, 2000) ("... Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you. Remember that . . . when you come to play the game.'" Id. at 692.).

George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Four: A Feast of Crows (New York: Bantam Books, 2005).

George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Five: A Dance with Dragons (New York: Bantam Books, 2011) ("Stark said, 'In this world only winter is certain. We may lose our heads, it's true...but what if we prevail?' My father sent him on his way with his head still on his shoulder. 'If you lose' he told Lord Eddard, 'you were never here'.'" Id. at 132-133.).

James Lowder, ed., Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire: From A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons, with a foreword by R. A. Salvatore (Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 2012).

"THE GREATEST MAN IS NOBODY"

The Man of Tao

The man in whom Tao
Acts without impediment
Harms no other being
By his actions
Yet he does not know himself
To be "kind," to be "gentle."

The man in whom Tao
Acts without impediment
Does not bother with his own interests
And does not despise
Others who do,
He does not struggle to make money
And does not make a virtue of poverty.
He goes his way
Without relying on others
And does not pride himself
On walking alone.
While he does not follow the crowd
He won't complain of those who do.
Rank and reward
Make no appeal to him;
Disgrace and shame
Do not deter him.
He is not always looking
For right and wrong
Always deciding "Yes" or "no."
The ancient said, therefore:

     "The man of Tao
     Remains unknown
     Perfect virtue
     Produces nothing
     'No-Self'
     Is 'True-Self.'
     And the greatest man
     Is Nobody."

Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu (New York & Boston: Shambhala, 2004), at 103-104.

DO NOTHING; JUST BE.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching: A New Translation, translated by William Scott Wilson (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2012) (Chapter 48: "If you take up studying, you increase day by day. / If you take up the Way, you decrease day by day. / You decrease and then decrease again. / In this way, you reach the point of nonfabrication: Nothing is fabricated, but there is nothing left undone. // Taking up the affairs of the world / Is always done without meddling. / If there is meddling, / It will not be sufficient to accomplish the job." Id. at 85.  Chapter 24: "If you are up on tiptoes, you will not stand with confidence. / If you move along straddling the road, you will be unable to put one foot in front of the other. / If you make yourself seen, you will not be illustrious. / If you consider yourself right, you will not be taken as a model. / If you denigrate others, you will get no credit. / If you consider yourself the grip of a spear, you will never become a staff of support. // Those who abide in the Way / Call such things 'leftover food' or 'warts on your behavior.' / Thus, those who possess the Way will be found elsewhere." Id. at 41.).

Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching (Updated Translation), translated by Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English with Toinette Lippe, with a Revised Introduction and Notes by Jacob Needleman (New York: Vintage Books, 2012) (Chapter Forty-Eight: "In the pursuit of learning, something is acquired everyday. / In the pursuit of the Tao, every day something is relinquished. // Less and less is done / Until non-action is achieved. / When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. // The world is governed by letting things take their course. / It cannot be governed through interference." Id. at 51. From Needleman's Introduction: "To be a warrior in the outer life, one must be a warrior in the inner life. To govern in the outer life, one must govern in the inner life. To be wise in the outer life, one must be wise in the inner life." "Thus, when the Tao Te Ching cautions the ruler against imposing concepts of good and evil onto the people, it is also cautioning us not to cut ourselves off from the vital forces within through attachment to mental or emotional judging of ourselves. To read anything in the Tao Te Ching as merely advice for the outer life is to distort it, that is, to pack it into our own store of illusions. But to apply it simultaneously to the outer life and to our own inner life is to embark in a search that will be supported, we are told, by the strongest and greatest energies in the universe." Id. at xl-xli.).

Lao Tzu, The Teachings of Lao-Tzu: The Tao Te Ching, translated by Paul Carus (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 1913, 2000) (Chapter 48. "FORGETTING KNOWLEDGE. They who seek learnedness will daily increase. / They who seek Reason will daily diminish. /  They will diminish and continue to diminish until they arrive at non-assertion. // With non-assertion there is nothing that they cannot achieve. / When they take the empire, it is always because they use no diplomacy. / They who use diplomacy are not fit to take the empire." Id. at 99. Chapter 24. "TROUBLE FROM INDULGENCE. 'One on tiptoes is not steady; / One astride makes no advance. / Self-displayers are not enlightened, / Self-asserters lack distinction, / Self-approvers have no merit, / And self-seeker stunt their lives.' // Before Reason this is life surfeit of food: or a wart on the body with which people are apt to be disgusted. // Therefore the sage will not indulge in it." Id. at 66.).

Lao Tzu, The Way of Lao Tzu (Tao-te ching), translated, with introductory essays, comments, and notes by Wing-Tsit Chan (New York: Macmillian/Library of Liberal Arts. 1963, 1985) (Chapter 48: "The pursuit of learning is to increase day after day. / The pursuit of Tao is to decrease day after day. / It is to decrease and further decrease until one reaches the point of taking no action. / No action is undertaken, and yet nothing is left undone. / An empire is often brought to order by having no activity. / If one (likes to) undertake activity, he is not qualified to govern the empire." Id. at 184. Chapter 24: "He who stands on tiptoe is not steady. / He who strides forward does not go. / He who shows himself is not luminous. / He who justifies himself is not prominent. / He who boasts of himself is not given credit. / He who brags does not endure for long. // From the point of view of Tao, these are like remnants of food and tumors of action, / Which all creatures detest. / Therefore those who posses Tao turn away from them." Id. at 143. "No one can understand China or be an intelligent citizen of the world without some knowledge of the Lao Tzu, also called the Tao-te ching (The Classic of the Way and Its Virtue), for it has modified Chinese life and thought throughout history and has become an integral part of world literature." Id. at v.).

Lao Tzu, The Way of Life: According to Lao Tzu, translated by Witter Bynner (A Perigee Book, 1994) (Chapter 48. "A Man anxious for knowledge adds more to himself every minute; / A man acquiring life loses himself in it, / Has less and less to bear in mind, / Less and less to do, / Because life, he finds, is well inclined, / Including himself too. / Often a man sways the world like a wind / But not by deed; / And if there appears to you to be need / Of motion to sway it, it has left you behind." Id. at 75. Chapter 24. "Standing tiptoe a man loses balance, / Walking astride he has no pace, / Kindling himself he fails to light, / Acquitting himself he does so alone. / Pride has never brought a man greatness / But, according to the way of life, / Brings the ills that make him unfit, / Make him unclean in the eyes of his neighbors, / And a sane man will have none of them." Id. at 52.).

Arthur Waley, The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and Its Place In Chinese Thought (New York: Grove Press, 1958) ("I have noticed that general works about the history of Man either ignore China altogether or relegate this huge section of mankind to a couple of paragraphs. One of my aims in this book is to supply the general anthropologist with at any rate an impetus towards including China in his survey. This does not however mean that the book is addressed to a small class of specialists; for all intelligent people, that is to say, all people who want to understand what is going on in the world around them, are 'general anthropologists', in the sense that they are bent of finding out how mankind came to be what it is to-day. For hundreds of millennia Man was what we call 'primitive'; he has attempted to be civilized only (as regards Europe) in the last few centuries. During an overwhelmingly great proportion of his history he has sacrificed, been engrossed in omens, attempted to control the wind and the rain by magic. We who do none of these things can hardly be said to represent normal man, but rather a very specialized and perhaps very unstable branch-development. In each of us, under the thinnest possible veneer of homo industrialis, lie endless strata of barbarity. Any attempt to deal with ourselves or others on the supposition that what shows on the surface represents more than the mere topmast of modern man, is doomed to failure." Id. at 11. "The first great principle of Taoism is the relativity of all attributes. Nothing is in itself either long or short. If we call a thing long, we merely mean longer than something else that we take as a standard. What we take as our standard depends upon what we are used to, upon the general scale of size to which we belong. The fact that we endow our standard with absoluteness and objectivity, that we say 'No one could regard this as anything but long' is merely due to lack of imagination." Id. at 51-52. "Why did confidence in the absoluteness of any of the qualities that we attribute to things outside ourselves break down in China towards the end of the 4th century? Owing, I think, to rapidly increasing knowledge of what went on in the world outside of China. Quite apart from the changes in material culture (use of iron, knowledge of asbestos, use of cavalry in war and adoption of nonChinese dress in connection with it, familiarity with new forms of disposal of the dead) which these contacts brought, the Chinese were beginning to regard the world they knew merely as a gain int eh Great Barn." "There was n end to the wonders that this great storehouse might produce...." Id. at 52-53. Chapter LXXI: "'To know when one does not know is best. / To think one knows when one does not know is a dire disease. / Only he who recognized this disease as a disease / Can cure himself of he disease.' / The Sage's way of curing disease / Also consists in making people recognize their diseases as diseases and thus ceasing to be diseased." Id. at 231.).

Holmes Welch, Taoism: The Parting of the Way, Rev'd Ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957, 1965).

DECEIVING OURSELVES REGARDING WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

Leonard Mlodinow, Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior (New York: Pantheon, 2012) ("We may not like people in general, but however little or much we like our fellow human beings, our subliminal selves tend to like our fellow in-group members more. Consider the in-group that is your profession. In one study, researchers asked subjects to rate the  likability of doctors, lawyers, waiters, and hairdressers on a scale from 1-100. The twist was, every subject in this experiment was him- or herself either a doctor, a lawyer, a waiter, or a hairdresser. The results were very consistent: those in three of the four professions rated the members of the other professions as average, with a likability around 50. But they rated those in their own profession significantly higher, around 70. There was only one exception: the lawyers, who rated both those in the other professions and other lawyers at around 50. That probably brings to mind several lawyer jokes, so there is no need for me to make any. However, the fact that lawyers do not favor fellow lawyers is not necessarily due to the circumstances that the only difference between a lawyer and a catfish is that one is a bottom-feeding scavenger and the other is a fish. Of the four groups assessed by the researchers, lawyers, you see, form the only one whose members regularly oppose others in their own group. So while other lawyers may be in a given lawyer's in-group, they are also potentially in his or her out-group. Despite that anomaly, research suggests that, whether with regard to religion, race, nationality, computer use, or our operating unit at work, we generally have a built-in tendency to prefer those in our in-group. Studies show that common group membership can even trump negative personal attributes. As one researcher put it, 'One may like people as group members even as one dislikes them as individual persons.'" Id. at 167-168. One law school recently adopted a 'student honor code'. The irony of it is that a stated rationale for adopting the honor code was that the law students suspected that a significant number of other law students were engaging in wrongful conduct but were getting away with it. The honor code posited a duty to report wrongdoing (by others and, one assumes, by oneself). One is supposed to imagine that the fear of being detected and outed as a wrongdoer will deter potential wrongdoing. The proposed honor code does not make sense to me; but that may be due mainly to my  moral opposition to people finking on one another. I could not get my mind around why law students would support the adoption of the honor code. Now I get it. Law students, as-lawyers-in-training, are already indoctrinated into the adversarial culture of the legal profession where lawyers find other lawyers only of average likability (and, more important, go against the grain of tending to view members of one's own profession as significantly more likable than the members of other professions. Perhaps law students don't find their fellow lawyers-in-training to be likable (or honest, or trustworthy, etc). After all, the other law students are the competition, and cannot be trusted to not exploit any opportunity to get an advantage, fair or unfair, over them. So sad! "Adjusting our standards for accepting evidence to favor our preferred conclusions is but one instrument in the subliminal mind's motivated reasoning tool kit." Id. at 210. "In one study, participants considered applications from a male and a female candidate for the job of police chief. That's a stereotypically male position, so the researchers postulated that the participants would favor the male applicant and then unwittingly narrow the criteria by which they judged the applicants to those that would support that decision.  Here is how the study worked: There were two types of resumes. The experimenters designed one to portray a streetwise individual who was poorly educated and lacking in administrative skills. They designed the other to reflect a well-educated and politically connected sophisticate who had little street smarts. Some participants were given a pair of resumes in which the male applicant had the streetwise resume and the female was the sophisticate. Others were given a pair of resumes in which the man's and the woman's strong points were reversed. The participants were asked not just to make a choice but to explain it." "The results showed that when the male applicant had the streetwise resume, the participants decided street smarts were important for the job and selected him, but when the male applicant had the sophisticate's resume, they decided that street smarts were overrated and also chose the male. They were clearly making their decisions on the basis of gender and not on the streetwise-versus-sophisticated distinction, but they were just as clearly unaware of doing so. In fact, when asked, none of the subjects mentioned gender as having influenced them." "Our culture likes to portray situations in black and white. Antagonists are dishonest, insincere, greedy, evil. They are opposed by heroes who are the opposite in terms of those qualities. But the truth is, from criminals to greedy executives to the 'nasty' guy down the street, people who act in way we abhor are usually convinced that they are right." Id. at 211-212.).

IF I WANTED TO CHANGE MY LIFE--THAT IS, IF I WANTED TO BE HEALTHIER--, THEN I HAD TO CHANGE MY ENVIRONMENT AND ASSOCIATE WITH A DIFFERENT (HEALTHIER) GROUP OF PEOPLE.

Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (New York: Random House, 2012) ("In a 1994 Harvard study that examined people who had radically changed their lives, for instance, researchers found that some people had remade their habits after personal tragedy, such as a divorce or a life-threatening illness. Other changed after they saw a friend go through something awful...." "Just as frequently, however, there is no tragedy that preceded people's transformations. Rather, they changed because they were embedded in social groups that made change easier...." "'Change occurs among other people,' one of the psychologists involved in the study...told me. 'It seems real when we can see it in other people's eyes.'" "The precise mechanisms of belief are still little understood.... " "But we do know that for habits to permanently change, people must believe that change is feasible. The same process that makes AA so effective--the power of a group to teach individuals how to believe--happens whenever people come together to help one another change. Belief is easier when it occurs within a community." Id. at 88-89. Also see Timothy D. Wilson, "Can't Help Myself," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 3/11/2012.).

Chonyi Taylor (aka Diana Susan Taylor), Enough!: A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from Addictive Patterns (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2010) ("The definition of addiction which is used in this book...: Addiction is a mental habit in which there appears to be no conscious control, which gives short-term pleasure and long-term harm, and in which our own needs override the needs of others. Id. at 9. "Ideas can also be unwanted, for example the idea that all bacteria are bad, or the idea that we will always be useless, or bad, or unlovable. Whatever the habit, whatever triggers the habit, undoing the habit begins with changing the way we think. A habit comes from the mind and so replacing the habit means replacing the patterns in the mind. Even very deep habits can be changed.:" Id. at 24. "Addiction is about wanting happiness, but the happiness that comes with addiction is necessarily a temporary, impermanent pleasure. We get trapped into addiction because we want this apparent happiness forever. We cannot have it forever and yet we still yearn for a lasting happiness? What does this mean? Is it possible to find a lasting happiness?" Id. at 59. "Emotions become exaggerated through fear. Even when that fear is about not getting what we want, behind that is often a desperate desire to prop up a shaky self-esteem." Id. at 78. "Addiction makes us very self-centered because when we blunt our minds from pain by our addiction, we blunt our mind from the pain of others. We become so absorbed by the addiction that we no longer care about others." Id. at 81. "Tools for How We Think: Humility, Patience, Contentment, Delight [:]... Humility comes form knowing clearly where we stand and not trying to pretend to be different. It comes from having equanimity towards ourselves. People with humility can see beyond their own viewpoint and interests. They are open to other viewpoints. Humility shifts one perspective from 'me' to 'others.'... Patience means not flaring up when someone disagrees with us or wants to hurt us, or when things go wrong. It is the opposite of instant gratification.... Contentment is about being satisfied with what we have instead of always wanting more.... People with addictions are discontented people. We are discontented when we cannot get access to whatever we are addicted to.... contentment is not the same as not caring about anything.... Delight is missing from the heart of an addicted person. It has been replaced by the excitement, or the numbness, of addiction. Delight comes about when we have love, contentment, and humility in our hearts. It is a sheer joy in the world and the people around us. How can we develop a habit of delight? [] We make delight a tool when we begin to notice little things...." Id. at 130-132. "Tools for How We Act: Kindness, Honesty, Generosity, Right Speech...." Id at 132-136. "Tools for How We Relate to Others: Respect, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Loyalty...." Id. at 138-143. "Tools for Finding Meaning: Principles, Aspiration, Service, Courage...." Id. at at 143-148. In order to change my life, in order to rid myself of my addictions, this construct called "I" must be mindful; that is, I must live with mindfulness.).

COMPLETED MY 200TH ASANA PRACTICE THIS EVENING

Pancham Sinh, translator, The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2007) ("The Asanas are a means of gaining steadiness of position and help to gain success in contemplation, without any distraction of the mind. If the position be not comfortable, the slightest inconvenience will draw the mind away from the laksya (aim), and so no peace of mind will be possible till the posture has ceased to cause pain by regular exercise." Id. at iv. "Whether young, old or too old, sick or lean, one who discards laziness, gets success if he practices Yoga." "Success comes to him who is engaged in the practice. How can one get success without practice; for by merely reading books on Yoga one can never get success." "Success cannot be attained by adopting a particular dress (Vesa). It cannot be gained by telling tales. Practice alone is the means to success, This is true, there is no doubt." Id. at 11. "Mind is the master of the senses, and the breath is the master of the mind. The breath in its turn is subordinated to the laya (absorption), and the laya depends on the nada." Id. at 51. "Freeing the mind from all thoughts and thinking of nothing, one should sit firmly like a pot in the space (surrounded and filled with the ether). Id. at 54. "One should become void in and void out, and void like a pot in the space. Full in and full outside, like a jar in the ocean." "He should be neither of his inside nor of outside world; and leaving all thoughts, he should think of nothing." "The whole of this world and all the schemes of the mind are but the creations of thought. Discarding these thoughts and taking leave of all conjectures, O Rama! obtain peace." "When the knowable, and the knowledge , are both destroyed equally, then there is no second way (i.e., Duality is destroyed). Id. at 55. "He whose mind is neither sleeping, waking, remembering, destitute of memory, disappearing nor appearing, is liberated." Id. at 62.).

Michael Roach (with the Diamond Mountain Teachers), The Tibetan Book of Yoga: Ancient Buddhist Teachings on the Philosophy and Practice of Yoga (New York: Doubleday, 2003) ("The ancient art of yoga came to Tibet from its birthplace in India over a thousand years ago. It quickly became very popular, and wonderful systems for its practice sprang up like mushrooms all over the country. The yoga practice you will learn here, which is called Tibetan Heart Yoga, belongs to the Gelukpa tradition of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet." "Tibetan Heart Yoga works on your heart in two ways: It makes your physical heart and body healthy and strong, and it opens your heart to love others. And of course, really the first always comes from the second." Id. at 1-2.).

AWAKENING FROM THE AMERICAN DREAM

Thich Nhat Hanh, The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology, with an introduction by Alan Weisman (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2008) ("We need a kind of collective awakening. There are among us men and women who are awakened, but it's not enough; most people are still sleeping. We have constructed a system we can't control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims. For most of us who want to have a house, a car, a refrigerator, a television, and so on, we must sacrifice our time and our lives in exchange. We are constantly under the pressure of time. In former times, we could afford three hours to drink one cup of tea, enjoying the company of our friends in a serene and spiritual atmosphere. We could organize a party to celebrate the blossoming of one orchid in our garden. But today we can no longer afford these things. We say that time is money. We have created a society in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and in which we are so caught up in our own immediate problems that we cannot afford to be aware of what is going on with the rest of the human family or our planet Earth. In my mind I see a group of chickens in a cage disputing over a few seeds of grain, unaware that in a few hours they will all be killed." "People in China, India, Vietnam, and other developing countries are still dreaming the 'American dream,' as if that dream were the ultimate goal of mankind--everyone has to have a car, a bank account, a cell phone, a television set of their own. In twenty-five years the population of China will be 1.5 billion people, and if each of them wants to drive their own private car, China will need 99 million barrels of oil every day. But world production today is only 84 million barrels per day. So the American dream is not possible for the people of China, India, or Vietnam. The American dream is no longer even possible for the Americans. We can't continue to live like this. It's not a sustainable economy." Id. at 2-3.).

"LIVE ALONE"

Thich Nhat Hanh, Our Appointment with Life: Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2010). 

"The Buddha taught:

'Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is
in the very here and now,
the practitioner dwells 
in stability and freedom.
To wait till tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls a person who
dwells in mindfulness
night and day
'the one who knows
the better way to live alone.'"

Id. at 13-14.

"THINK, WAIT AND FAST"

Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, translated from the German by Sherab Chodzin Kohn, with an introduction by Paul W. Morris (Shambhala Classics) (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2000) ("'... See here, Kamala: When you throw a stone into water, it falls quickly by the fastest route to the bottom of the pond. This is the way it is when Siddhartha has an aim, an intention. Siddhartha does nothing--he waits, he thinks, he fasts--but he passes through the things of the world like the stone through the water, without bestirring himself. He is drawn forward and he lets himself fall. His goal draws him to it, for he lets nothing enter his mind that interferes with the goal. This is what Siddhartha learned from the shramanas. This is what fools call magic, thinking that it is brought about by demons. Nothing is brought about by demons; demons do not exist. Anyone can do magic, anyone can reach his goals if he can think, wait and fast.'" Id. at 49.).

ON "SOCIALLY RETARDED PEOPLE"

Jonathan Franzen, Farther Away: Essays (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2012) (For several years or so I listened to someone dear to me point out how I seemed constantly annoyed with PEOPLE, some particular people more than others, but still, people in general. So, I have been trying to be more mindful of my attitudes toward other people and on being less annoyed (or at least trying not to show my annoyance). After all, other people are not alive to make me happy. And, though at times I feel as though some of them exist for the sole purpose of annoying me, I know that such is not really true. Anyway, though I am much less annoyed these days--I have changed a little, people are pretty much the same (it is relatively easier for a person to change than for a society or a social norm to change)--, I remain critical of certain social practices. Franzen has deftly captured several of them, including my favorite (or, is it my least favorite?) social practice: From "I Just Called to Say I Love You," id. at 141-160. "Socially retarded people don't suddenly start acting more adult when social critics are peer-pressured into silence.  They only get ruder. One currently worsening national plague is the shopper who remains engrossed in a call throughout a transaction with a checkout clerk. The typical combination in my neighborhood, in Manhattan, involves a young white woman, recently graduated from someplace expensive, a local black or Hispanic woman of roughly the same age but fewer advantages. It is course, a liberal vanity to expect your checkout clerk to interact with you or to appreciate the scrupulousness of your determination to interact with her. Given the repetitive and low-paying nature of her job, she's allowed to treat you with boredom or indifference; at worst, it's unprofessional of her. But this does not relieve you of your own moral obligation to acknowledge her existence as a person. And while it's true that some clerks don't seem to mind being ignored, a notably large percentage do become visibly irritated or angered or saddened when a customer is unable to tear herself off her phone for even two seconds of direct interaction. Needless to say, the offender herself, like the chatty freeway driver, is blissfully unaware of pissing anyone off. In my experience, the longer the line behind her, the more likely it is she'll pay for her $1.98 purchase with a credit card. And not the tap-and-go- microchip kind of credit card, either, but the wait-for-the-printed-receipt-and-then-(only-then)-with-zombiesh-clumsiness-begin-shifting-the-cell-phone-from-one-ear-to-the-other-and-awkwardly-pin-the-phone-with-ear-to-shoulder-while-signing-the-receipt-and-continuing-to-express-doubt-about-whether-she-really-feels-like-meeting-up-with-that-Morgan-Stanly-guy-Zachary-at-the-Etats-Unis-wine-bar-again-tonight kind of credit card." Id. at 148. UGH!! Then again, trying to get beyond the day-to-day annoyances caused by "social retarded people" is a process. A month ago, as I sat on my mat waiting for yoga practice to begin, a woman pulled out her cell phone and made a call. This, notwithstanding a sign on the practice room door requesting that one turn off one's cell phone. This act has to be distinguished from the person who merely forgets to turn off her phone, for this was an act of aggression: She wanted to make a call and did not care about respecting the practice room and the people at practice. The real challenge of yoga is often just showing up for practice, just staying on the mat, just staying focused on one's own practice, just being respectful of the practices of others, and just blocking out the actions of those who do not respect the practice, the mat, or people. That is, understanding that people come to yoga for different reasons, and for many, the spiritual has little or nothing to do with why they come. Learning to have compassion for those who annoy the crap out of you. Learning not to be annoyed. Letting go. Just breathe.).

CAN I GET BEYOND THE "EGOTISTIC 'I' "?

Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, For the Benefit of All Beings: A Commentary on The Way of the Bodhisattva, translated from the Tibetan by The Padmakara Translation Group, with a Foreword by Tulku Pema Wangyal (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2009) ("What do we mean by Bodhisattva?  Bodhi means enlightenment, the state of devoid of all defects and endowed with all good qualities. Sattva refers to someone who has courage and confidence and who strives to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Those who have this spontaneous, sincere wish to attain enlightenment for the ultimate benefit of all beings are called Bodhisattvas. Through wisdom, they direct their minds to enlightenment, and thorough their compassion, they have concern for beings. This wish for perfect enlightenment for the sake of others is what we call bodhichitta, and it is the starting point on the path. By becoming aware of what enlightenment is one understands not only that there is a goal to accomplish but also that it is possible to do so. Driven by the desire to help beings, one thinks, For their sake, I must attain enlightenment! Such a thought forms the entrance to the Mahayana. Bodhichitta, then, is a double wish: to attain enlightenment in itself, and to do so for the sake of all beings." Id. at 12. "To be patient means not to get angry with those who harm us and instead to have compassion for them. That is not to say that we should let them do what they like. We Tibetans, for example, have undergone great difficulties at the hands of others. But if we get angry with them, we can only be losers. This is why we are practicing patience. But we are not going to let injustice and oppression go unnoticed." Id. at 74. "Putting ourselves in the place of others is very helpful for seeing the faults of the egotistic 'I,' and we become deeply disgusted with it. When we practice like this, using jealously as a tool, let us imagine that our old 'I' is very good-looking, well-dressed, wealthy, powerful, and has everything he needs. Then we imagine ourselves as an impartial spectator in the midst of a crowd of paupers, dressed in rags, the lowest of the low. Now observe the old 'I,' who since time without beginning has thought only of himself and has never given a thought for others. To further his own interests, he has enslaved others and has not hesitated to kill, steal, lie, slander, and selfishly indulge in sex. He has been nothing but a burden on others' lives. When we look at the egotistic 'I' in this way, true disgust will well up in our hearts. And as we identify ourselves with these other beings in all their misery, we will feel closer to them, and the wish to help them will grow." Id. at 111.).

Santideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life (Bodhicaryavatara), translated from the Sanskrit and Tibetan by Vesna A. Wallace & B. Alan Wallace (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1997) (From Chapter V: Guarding Introspection: "Those who wish to protect their practice should zealously guard the mind. The practice cannot be protected without guarding the unsteady mind. / Untamed, mad elephants do not inflict as much harm in this world as does the unleashed elephant of the mind in the Avici hell and the like. / But if the elephant of the mind is completely restrained by the rope of mindfulness, than all perils vanish and complete well-being is obtained...." Id. at 47. From Chapter VI: The Perfection of Patience: "Anger destroys all the good conduct, such as generosity and worshiping the Sugatas, that has been acquired over thousands of eons. / There is no vice like hatred, and there is no austerity like patience. Therefore, one should earnestly cultivate patience in various ways. / The mind does not find peace, nor does it enjoy pleasure and joy, nor does it find sleep or fortitude when the thorn of hatred dwells in the heart...." Id. at 61.).

UNTITLED

Stillborn Love

by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The hour which might have been yet might not be,
Which man’s and woman’s heart conceived and bore
Yet whereof life was barren,—on what shore
Bides it the breaking of Time’s weary sea?
Bondchild of all consummate joys set free,
It somewhere sighs and serves, and mute before
The house of Love, hears through the echoing door
His hours elect in choral consonancy.

But lo! what wedded souls now hand in hand
Together tread at last the immortal strand
With eyes where burning memory lights love home?
Lo! how the little outcast hour has turned
And leaped to them and in their faces yearned: —
‘I am your child: O parents, ye have come!’