This zen quote is for you

Instead of filling with questions, empty of questions. Continue to
empty. Questions confine answers. When there are no longer questions,
answers are no longer bound by them.

-Lao Tzu

New Tattoos....Again! LOL!

So...a few weeks ago I got this tattoo

And Thursday I went to finish my other arm! In keeping with the style of my left arm I added the mantra for the Medicine Buddha on my right arm, and to balance it all out (cause the right arm is LONG)...I added a blue lotus to my left arm. I love it! I can honestly say I feel more relaxed just looking at them!

Pre- Tattooing...

Here we go!!!!

Half-way DONE!!!!

This one did hurt...I will be honest!

A few hours after it was finished....GORGEOUS!

And a few hours after it was done....I love it! And it wasn't that painful....the four outer edge characters KILLED!

My Tattoo is the short version of the mantra and is read like this:

oṃ bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajye mahābhaiṣajye bhaiṣajyarāje samudgate svāhā.(what it looks like written in "English")

oṃ bhe ṣa dzye bhe ṣa dzye ma hā bhe ṣa dzye rā dza ye sa mu dga te svā hā  (pronunciation)

There are a ton of English tranlsations---and the best that I could find (that fits with the repitious symbols)  is:

“Hail! Appear, O Healer, O Healer, O Great Healer, O King of Healing!”

I thought that this was very fitting---(1) with my religion and (2) with me trying to become a nurse. I love both tattoos! They are awesome!

Vandalism at Minnesota Buddhist Temple

This sickens me. Jesus saves, so you have to vandalize another religion to prove it? Looks like us Buddhists are scaring some people. Maybe Christians are realizing that their hypocricy is WRONG and Jesus doesn't have  answers? Or maybe they realize that the authors of the Bible paraphrased Buddha's lessons and didnt cite him....Either way....this doesn't make Christians look good.  

Via WCCO.com

May 21, 2010 5:53 pm US/Central

More Vandalism At Buddhist Temple In Rochester

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) ― Police are asking whoever's behind a string of vandalism incidents at a Cambodian Buddhist temple in Rochester to stop.

Investigators say the latest incident was Monday, when rocks, dirt and sand were put in the temple's mailbox. Twenty solar-powered lights were also taken.

Members say the mailbox has been vandalized five times in the past month, and there have also been five attempted break-ins.

Vandalism at the temple a year ago included smashed lights, yanked flowers and a cross along with "Jesus saves" spray-painted on the driveway in orange.

Olmsted County Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Behrns says the crimes are obviously motivated by bias.

Interesting how the police are calling this a "bias" motivated crime rather than a 'hate' crime. I wonder if this was a Mosque or a Synagogue would the police be considering it a 'biased' crime as well.

http://www.thereformedbuddhist.com/2010/05/vandalism-at-minnesota-buddhist-temple.html

This zen quote is for you

Dwell not on the faults and shortcomings of others; instead, seek
clarity about your own.

-Buddha

My Rough Draft is FINISHED!

I finally finished the rough draft of my paper! I am so glad its done. I am a bit sad that I had to limit what I had to say because of the length of the paper (I could have easily written a book on this, however, I dont think my professor would have appreciated it.)...so it's up. Look at the top of the page, and you can see the link to it, it's called Christian Misconceptions.

I am trying to clean up those top links so they look like more of a navigation bar...but right now I dont have the time...I'll get to it though.

So....head on over and check it out!

ZQOTD

Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life.

-Confucius

Raising children in America

...is proving to be quite difficult. Why is this so hard? So many people are doing it, why can't I? I'm not saying I can't, what I'm saying is that it's difficult.

We live in such a materialistic society that everyone falls victim to, so that's battle front number one- things aren't everything. Number two, is religion. I'm trying to be the best Buddhist I can be (which is difficult since I wasn't raised this way, but am having to learn now as an adult), and in turn I'm trying to raise my children as buddhists. This is quite a challenge. Human nature is to react...and I'm tired of people- myself included- just reacting. It's not about reacting, it's about acting. I don't want my children to react, I want them to hold their actions as their own, so in an attempt to raise them as Buddhists, that what I'm tackling first. Human nature coupled with child-behavior says "He made me mad." or "He made me cry." and so we are trying to learn to step away from the knee jerk reaction and learn that no one can make you do anything. How you react is up to you, and you have choices. And I am proud to say, that though it's HARD for anyone to learn this, slowly, my children are getting it.

-thoughts of the busy momma

Finally! My tattoo!

I've been wanting to get a specific tattoo for nearly a year, and that desire hasn't changed. I've wanted it inthe same place for the same length of time, so I finally went for it the other day!!!! Here are some pics!

Starting to tattoo







All done, going home





Finally, healing and feeling better!




I know...it looks like my leg...lol...but it's the inside of my left forearm. I absolutely love it! It's a Tibetan Buddhist mantra that reads "Om Mani Padme Hung"....

There is no exact literal meaning, but it encompasses all that is Buddhism. Here are some exerts from a buddisht web page for a better explanation
"Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer), Om Mani Padme Hum, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Viewing the written form of the mantra is said to have the same effect -- it is often carved into stones, like the one pictured above, and placed where people can see them."
"The mantra Om Mani Pädme Hum is easy to say yet quite powerful,
because it contains the essence of the entire teaching. When you say
the first syllable Om it is blessed to help you achieve perfection in the
practice of generosity, Ma helps perfect the practice of pure ethics,
and Ni helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and
patience. Päd, the fourth syllable, helps to achieve perfection of perseverance, Me helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration, and the final sixth syllable Hum helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom.

So in this way recitation of the mantra helps achieve perfection in the six practices from generosity to wisdom. The path of these six perfections is the path walked by all the Buddhas of the three times. What could then be more meaningful than to say the mantra and accomplish the six perfections?"

http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/meaning-of-om-mani-padme-hung.htm
-thoughts of the busy momma