♦ "POINTING TOWARDS" -- An INTRODUCTION:Ma 2 --

♦ "POINTING TOWARDS" -- 
An INTRODUCTION: Ma 2 -- 
WHO Comes Here to Work 
a Practice on their inner selves 

" Ma -- They Vetted Me " !
1 1/  23EST BEST Ma 2 -- 
Good WHO Comes " Ma 
-----------------------------------------

The ‘All-the-Time-Awareness’
POINTING  Towards
 Contemplation in Pilgrimage 
In a squadron of five in a platoon, the person who goes ahead of the rest assessing things out-- is the Point-man or Point-woman. They function in many diverse skillful ways. I met a Pointer today-- POINTING --that's all someone else can really do for you is to Point towards IT --at IT --as IT is happening --to that momentary event. "A dew drop slip sliding down the leaf of an orchid" -- and the Pointer actually pointing directly to that plant -- with the whole Universe sliding right along with it. What is Reality ? "That". That event. That's not very abstract or complicated. Everyday reality is experienced Enlighteningly. Actually, it's very Zen.
For your consideration-- another Pointer might point towards the actual direction that you just might want to consider exploring. That would be called The Four or Twelve Compass Point Directions. "Go East, young questing one." From the Pointers view: No matter what their own self-evaluated success or failure with their own liberation seeking 'practices'-- somehow they went --they themselves went on their way on the the Way - they have gone the direction indicated -- or not - or for better or worse, or only sort-of, yea or nay. - We call this a Spiritual Quest. This is not a game but a set up for a tried and true, informed 'experimental' process -- an internal / external 'Happening' in your actual 'Experiential' experience that leads to your 'Enlightened' Realizations-- that with consistent 'practice', becomes a more continuous natural experience. 

FYI --- Etymology: the ‘study of words’
 

“Language Is All We Got” !
All individual ‘Words’--in every culture’s language can be ‘Contemplated --’ open to ponder, mull over, deep ecstatic consideration

The Etymology of ‘Etymology’ itself is relatively

straightforward -- the "true origin of a word" --  in Latin.

" Electronic screens aside --

these days I really like to actually be

in the same room with the teacher--

It’s much more rewarding."   ~ Anya Mandel

 

Self Dismantling ‘Self’ ~ How can that be ?

Today, here with many contemporary needs of guiding,

coaching and mentoring-- we’re combining the

cool, calm 'observation' approach of traditional,

quiet Vipassana Mindfulness Meditation ---

along side the 'Crazy Wisdom' irrationality

of the 'Zen-mind Realizations' that cognitively

short-circuits the common chronic suffering

of ' My Self ' -- helping you in dismantling your

so obsessive self- involved, self- concerned,

self- absorbed, self- Identified ego-mind.
 

( Mentoring Project 2016 -- see listings )

" Profile / Sch'mo-file,  

I told you to tell 'em

Absolutely Everything

-- and did you ?...

Now you go back

in there and...."

•♦• Much of this inner-work is 'Spiritual'
 NONE of this inner-work is 'Religious'
_____________________________
The Greatest Risk is Not Taking One
Directionless ?
Know that The Way
always faces East....
16 Himalaya Lama Lane ~
The Road Now Taken
And, after that...
 Be most welcome to read Akasa's
Himalayan Journal
of an American Buddhist Monk ~
 A Spiritual Star-studded Adventure Story
 Full of Illuminated Luminaries
 with an invitation to sit nearby
 to watch them work that thing
 they do so well: sharing the true
 Wisdom of Loving Kindness, the
 way Buddha must've radiated it.
 Essentially you still have to go out,
 search and find these special people.
Sweets: Don't show up empty handed
 Back in the day it was all accessible
 and Live. No click button to register -
 and Asia was much more 'primitive',
 yet more user-friendly intimate in a way...
 but even today, in our edgy, uncertain times,
 you still have to search your heart as you search
 for human beings who are 'pointers-out' of the Way.
 Asians do it all the time: It's called going on Pilgrimage.
Early 'Contributing Factors'
and Unexpected 'Conditions'

KARMA arrived, showing up as a series of
many 'Non-Ordinary' Human Influences,
Impressions and Impacts were consistent,
yet unusual 'Contributing Factors' - early
magical 'Conditions' the best of Fine Arts
layered onto a little receptive boy person
and that has made all the difference --
Himalayan Diary of an
 American Buddhist Monk
at Kopan Gompa Monastery
Bodh’nath, Kathmandu, Nepal
________________________
Dear Reader ~
This same never-ending story in every human culture
always repeats itself, it always begins with a 'Search' -
through the deep Unknown with raw beginner's skills
that are barely known to an unaware beginner's mind.
Spiritually speaking, that's a very classic way to start.
At one's Core, something got lost - and one goes out
to try'n find it.  Don't we all kinda' relate with that ?
__________________________________
Foolish Nasreddin's Lost Keys ~
One late evening Nasreddin is walking home.
He can be seen to be upset about something.
Just then a young man comes along
and sees the Mullah's distress.
"Mullah, please tell me - What is wrong? "
"Friend, I seem to have lost my keys.
Would you help me search for them ?
I had them when I left the tea house.
So he helps Nasreddin search for the keys.
For quite a while the young man is searching
here and there but no keys are to be found.
He looks over to Nasreddin and sees him
searching only a very small limited area
around an old oil street lamp.
" Mullah, why are you only searching over there ? "
" Because there's much more light over here.
Should I foolishly search where there is no light ? "
The Mullah Nasreddin never found his keys.
______________________________­­___
" We shall not cease
from exploration,
And the end of
all our exploring
will be to arrive
where we started ~
And know the place
 for the very first time."  ~ T.S. Eliot

♦ An INTRODUCTION: "Pointing Towards"...

About this Home-made Blog-site collection:

I promised I'd make some more pragmatic, more tangible 'Work in Progress' on my own writing progress. TIME :: I've never done this 'memoir' thing before ~ So here goes... plz read patiently and tolerantly. 

WHY ? and HOW COME ? 
I Could Come and Go 
and so Came Closer 
and Backed Away 
and Came and Went 
and a regular 
Come and Go and 
a lengthy Here and Gone 
and almost never returned 
to pickup what's now mine: 
the bonafied ParaNibbana
certified certificate of Failure-- 
much of this my own 
Doing about Living js hugely 
about Failure 
Loss is about Failure . 
The in unoccasional 
Sorrow the occasional 

'How' is this great and obsessive, persistent inquiry of mine shaping itself ? Tedious  -- 'How' did it 'Come' to be ? to Arrive ? ( seems there's a 'method' being suggested ) How did you get interested in things Buddhist ? How Come you became a Buddhist monk. Whyd'ya do that ? You don't seem the type. You may not have met a scruffy, scrappy monk ?. But weren't you Jewish !!! Can you be both ? Banal conversation is a great learning opportunity. People always want to know what motivated you -- to see how that fits into their own head and hosts all their other private notions and sensibilities -- How could it not. -- Could I do that ?? Nah... 

A somewhat tone of urgent concern - in Sanskrit / "a sense of urgency" Sam'vega carries me forward now as I know the Body of Time and the Body of Flesh is fleeting-- so this thrown about tale of mine, this loose, non-academic exploration, almost an awkward schoolboy's account of a badge carrying Junior Investigator that led me to an organically deeper Truth-inquiry within -- and a maturing of my odd, little kid size anomaly of a quirky peculiar personal story. I relish my quirkiness !!! I could trust my insolence and badness --they're mine. more

'Peculiar' it is: so I'll apologize first in these first few messy in-work paragraphs that'll top this thing off with really bad grammar and a biased point of view -- as it jumps the fence of first second third person tense recklessly --as you read, who's talking ? --is it me, or you''re on about me, or there's a name dropping narrator out here somewhere. 
Best of all, Worst of all -- it's all about Me. I'm here in sunny Solipsistic Town as self-obsessed and self-important as anyone can get -- actually Not True. Which begins to lead me again to the serious purpose of this whole loose bag of a blog---  this site is meant to be a sort of mystical Pass with the hands, or a Mudra, a teaching Gesture of the fingers "Pointing Towards" ---and this my initial intent for being here on your screen to make these Great Road Trips within easier for you to eat Saag n' Subgee at my favorite Indian rest stop on the Benares Trunk Road while hitch-hiking to Calcutta on 18 wheelers. ( 1972 )

If you ask "Which Way ?" -- hopefully you get answers  that include a "Pointing Towards" -- But Firstly, Why was I even Here - back There - back Then ? -- When I was smaller. I was fascinated with objects Asian since a child quietly drawing while sitting on my Granpa Max's library floor on a little red Tibetan saddle rug on top of the last of the old Chinese medallion rugs, on top of a vast and never ending Persian carpet that could almost fly. In a pixelated Universe I thought visually and remembered life in textures. My , Dad was a big time big brass and copper pot collector. To me, he cautiously claimed to be an agnostic when I was eight, but by the time I was approaching the 13th Year Hebrew boy to adult male right of passage -- I knew that he knew, that I knew that he was an atheist -- and that I was confused. And he really pulled up some strange genetic oddities for himself: my Dad was a Cop: NYPD badge #6402 out of Queens/Jamacia. 

To get right to it: I had to know, I didn't like not knowing. I started off with a simple but seminal question: Is there an authentic, wholesome, sound and stable, true, benevolent and universal spirituality 'element' that coalesces into the various individual, indigenous culture based Religions. And, of course, is there a God. By now I am a professional Seeker. I am doing a Spiritual Inquiry: I want to know things. It visibly began when I was eight and I asked "Could I See It ?"  Could I plumb the depths, the density of it ?" Simply put: is Religion and Spirituality and even God -- is it all Real ?  -- you see, there's a PURPOSE to this shaggy dog story, which is Oiy ! OK here's a Hint - It's the Original One that got me out the door and on my way. Actually I should say The Way !  

Apologia --

I Give Thanks and Grateful Appreciation to several friends - and of course, myself, that this old Notebook Journal of my journey even got assembled -- as I've got more pressing considerations, so they say, to give my attention to at 76 -- like the # 1 item in our home is composing my Advance Health Directive, Living Trust and other grown-up gravitas stuff like that to do -- maybe 'cause I'm still in Stage One foot dragging in Denial / Anger about my recently diagnosed Parkinson's Disease ( Dis-at-ease.)

~ Surprise, Blindsided, I didn't see it coming ! 

Parkinson's --

It's brought the whole felt-notion of 'Death' itself so truly close as a 'supreme inevitability' -- that in of itself, it pales in it's very own presence.

I just don't have the time left now to tell it:

So I'll give you Links

-----------------------------------------------

"I've been preaching to the choir
all my life. Gently stop. Go home.
For me, that's the Beauty of it.
Each person's also a choir master.
For me, that's also the Beauty of it. 
To Me, It's ALL So Metaphorical ! 
pictures no pictures nama rupa
images no images rupa nama
shapes and sizes kasa akasa
living or not compassionately  

Metaphorical is so Metaphysical.
Metaphysical is so Metaphorical.

It's all the same. Humans dream...

Metaphorical ~ The Stories Prevailed

The Stories prevailed. The Healing stories, the Hunting and Battle stories, the Tribal Family stories, the Mystical and the Ghost Spirit stories, and yes we're still honoring real natural Seasons and those seasoned wisdom Elders now gone. The stories come with images and Dance called Ritual. Stories are powerful. Some tribals have lost many of their people's stories. Often they Suffer. Did I mention that, to me, it was/is ALL Metaphorical. Metaphors were created in the indigenous Human mind for their own wellbeing and protection while they slept and dreamed other dreams.. The "Existential" metaphorical metaphysical experimental well-experienced or curious novice seek n' find me and what I 'know'. Yes, It's ALL Metaphorical -- it all started with a Seeker-story about an Empty place. And a powerful potent word: YHVH  Math and business machinations never were my forte'-- yet the 'Creatives' find me and ask me about "Inquiry" -- more. Deep inquiry into the Unfamiliar has to and does provide $ustenance for the Non-ordinary, Uncommon person. Literally, it's been a wonder-filled rugged ride in the esoteric momentary Life still streaming by --right here in amongst the ordinary dharma drama of the everyday world's massive consuming mall innocently scarfing away as it's always been. While pondering body/mind contemplations on the details of good thought and appreciative actions. "Don't take it personally" -themed Sutra stories and folk tale scenarios crafted in Buddhist art, rife with confusing conundrums, and the fearless poetic sacred words of the Heart. Buddhist teachings in particular make it an unanswerable challenge to dig out the True so you don't become a 'spoiler' of even the wrong items in your shopping cart. They don't want a pseudo transformation out there too easily. "IT's" a precious Big wisdom-mind  -- share it, would you ? dharshan Like the Tarot's Fool card true to the role of a Yogi Poet Dharma Bum -- I'm just a classy Old Hippie (1941) and always been kinda' loving it ! Nowadays I meet with new people drawn here by their own parallel soul-felt needs. And the Chakra Wheel of Life eternally turns. "I am Pennies Poor yet Blissfully Blessed" -- Odd, Huh... • Akasa Levi    

'Search' -- James Hilton's 1939 film "Lost Horizon", an Indiana Jones adventure             of it's day strongly influenced Akasa by the repeatedly persistent presence of 'The Search' for Wisdom Elders, sacred 'power objects' and human liberation from suffering.  'Search' as an umbrella theme explored in G.I.Gurdjief's "Meetings with Remarkable Men" 1927, and Paul Brunton's "Search In Secret India" 1931 -- these innocent and romantic pulp non-fiction adventure stories motivated Akasa’s sincere aspiration in going into the uncharted --and be willing to get entangled in the fascinations of Indra's Net in the first place... So Where did he go and what did he do ? --- there is more to come, but with the Answering process - just like the Questioning process - is up to the reader, adventurer, seeker -- facilitated by the Search.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akasa Levi’s original motivated intention
was to visit with a very special, now extremely endangered, almost extinct 'spiritual species'--
and a sincere and developing heart-felt
aspiration of his was:

To Be Directly With the Last Living

Asian Buddhist Meditation Teachers

of the Pre-Global Era (most passed on)

Akasa's 'actual' Meetings with these 

Remarkable Holy Men face-to-face -- 

was still a relative subjective Reality

that was seemingly totally Real

for that moment of experiencing.

The proof is I still posses intact, 

my well worn and road weary

old-style passport stamped

into story time oblivion.

That was 'Real' Enough for him.

Off he went on his way --

a solo Traveler all on HIS very own

improvised way towards 'The Way

( 1968 Europe/Mideast somewhere

-- The Big Bippy was yet to come ) 

------------------------------------------ 

Caveat Emptor

Given Akasa's Way -
an askew True Being:
A Bogus Rogue in
Buddha's Nature for 

Fraudulent Tricksters.
So someone thought
this cheeky Big Bio is 

rumored to be snarky,
affected, self-effacing,

flamboyant and funny.

So it is.

-------------------------------

 Big Bro • Poetry • To Go

 Mentors Mindfulness Therapy

 "Mind-FULLY" and ZEN•MEN 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

About MY "SELF"

I'm A Construction,

Fabricated

Out of My Own

Wounded 'Idea'

of A "Self"

--------------------------

" I Didn’t Get

Enough Love

As A Child "   

-------------------------

I Became

a Famished
UNmanageable 

Seriously Mad Poet

How Come ?

-------------------------

Everybody

Elsewhere,
Knows THAT

About Everyone

Everywhere Else
------------------------------

Knows That About Certain

Dreadful Things called

"Undesirable Deficits"

Everyone Else Knows

That To Be Undesirable

is Not Desirable.

is Not Lovable.

------------------------

Actually,
Maybe an Ity-Bitty
or Itsy-Bitsy Bit

Maybe Desirable, 

Maybe Wanted

Just a Little Bit -- 

Just 'Not Enough'

Bodies Laughing

Warm Skin Touch  

But Me Not Held -  

And That Left Me

A Very Needy

Grumpy Little Kid. 

-------------------------

The Curse of 

'Rejection' and 

'Just Not Enough'

Karma: Genetically,

Purely Random
Car Jack

It Strikes

Any One

Any Body

Any Where  

Any Which Way

Six Ways to Sunday

Any Damn Way,

ANYWAY -- Needy,

Angry and Confused.

The Loba, Dosa, Moha

Dark Mother Mantra cries
--- Sad n' Scary, Huh ?

------------------------------

'Cept If You Teach 

Yourself To Love

Yourself, First --

Compassionately 

and Buddha roared 

" Hey You -- 

It's Gotta Be

YOU First ! " 

-------------------

So I asked -- 

"Which way

is The WAY ?

The Way

Outta' Here ?"

You Mean

The Real Deal--

The Big Bippy--

Self-Realization out of 

the Emptiness of Self

------------------------------ 

"So Which Way
is The Way ?
Someone Pointed

n' said confidently
"That-a-Way" and
He Pointed East.
-------------------------

"Which way

is The Way ?

Phenomena Come and Go and Ebb and Flow

as Centuries of sometime Time Lines pass

-- and Monks with Exotic Spiritual Names 

having honest to God ancient mystical

incarnation lineages that never ever died---

as I deeply soak into kind, loving eyes merge

with a smiling little nut brown forest dweller

who's been happy almost for ever -- and 

that's the Way in some Pacifica place

they're monastery-made in a gracious 

silent flurry of a hurry as they scurry

like a happy house full of enabling

Bubbies and Aunties

with big soup spoons 

-----------------------------------------------

♦ An INTRODUCTION: "Pointing Towards"...
About this Home-made Blog-site collection:
I promised I'd make some more pragmatic, more tangible 'Work in Progress' on my own writing progress. I've never done this 'memoir' thing before ~ So here goes... plz read patiently and tolerantly. 
WHY ? and HOW COME ?  'How' did this great and persistent inquiry of mine -- 'How' did it 'Come' to be ? to Arrive ? - ( seems there's a 'method' being suggested ) How did you get interested in things Buddhist ?  People always want to know what motivated you. 
A somewhat tone of Urgent Concern -Sam'vega carries me forward as I know the Body of Time and the Body of Flesh is fleeting-- so this thrown about tale, this loose, non-academic exploration, almost an awkward schoolboy's account of an off the wall investigation that led me to an organically deeper inquiry within -- and a maturing of my odd, little kid size anomaly of a quirky peculiar personal story. 'Peculiar' it is: so I'll apologize first in these first few messy in-work paragraphs that'll top this thing off with really bad grammar and a biased point of view -- as it jumps the fence of first second third person tense recklessly, irresponsibly: as you read, who's talking ? --is it me, or you on about me, or there's a name dropping narrator out here somewhere. Best of all, Worst of all -- it's all about Me. I'm here in sunny Solipsistic Town as self-obsessed and self-important as anyone can get -- actually Not True. Which begins to lead me again to the serious purpose of this whole loose bag of a blog---  this site is meant to be a sort of mystical Pass with the hands, or a Mudra, a teaching Gesture of the fingers "Pointing Towards" ---and this my initial intent for being here on your screen to make these Great Road Trips within easier for you to eat Saag n' Subgee at my favorite Indian rest stop on the Benares Trunk Road while hitch-hiking to Calcutta on 18 wheelers. ( 1972 )
"Pointing Towards" --Why was I even Here - back There - back Then ? -- When I was smaller. I was fascinated with objects Asian since a child quietly drawing while sitting on my Granpa Max's library floor on a little red Tibetan saddle rug on top of the last of the old Chinese medallion rugs, on top of a vast and never ending Persian carpet that could almost fly. In a pixelated Universe I thought visually and remembered life in textures. My , Dad was a big time big brass and copper pot collector. To me, he cautiously claimed to be an agnostic when I was eight, but by the time I was approaching the 13th Year Hebrew boy to adult male right of passage -- I knew that he knew, that I knew that he was an atheist -- and that I was confused.
To get right to it: I had to know, I didn't like not knowing. I started off with a simple but seminal question: Is there an authentic, wholesome, sound and stable, true, benevolent and universal spirituality 'element' that coalesces into the various individual, indigenous culture based Religions. And, of course, is there a God. By now I am a professional Seeker. I am doing a Spiritual Inquiry: I want to know things. It visibly began when I was eight and I asked "Could I See It ?"  Could I plumb the depths, the density of it ?" Simply put: is Religion and Spirituality and even God -- is it all Real ?  -- you see, there's a PURPOSE to this shaggy dog story, which is Oiy ! OK here's a Hint - It's the Original One that got me out the door and on my way. Actually I should say The Way !  
Apologia --
I Give Thanks and Grateful Appreciation to several friends - and of course, myself, that this old Notebook Journal of my journey even got assembled -- as I've got more pressing considerations, so they say, to give my attention to at 76 -- like the # 1 item in our home is composing my Advance Health Directive, Living Trust and other grown-up gravitas stuff like that to do -- maybe 'cause I'm still in Stage One foot dragging in Denial / Anger about my recently diagnosed Parkinson's Disease ( Dis-at-ease.)
~ Surprise, Blindsided, I didn't see it coming ! 

Parkinson's --
It's brought the whole felt-notion of 'Death' itself so truly close as a 'supreme inevitability' -- that in of itself, it pales in it's very own presence.

 
I just don't have the time left to tell it:
So I'll give you Links
-----------------------------------------------
"To Me, It is ALL Metaphorical ! 
Metaphorical is Metaphysical:
It's all the same. Humans dream...
Metaphorical ~ The Stories Prevailed
The Stories prevailed. The Healing stories, the Hunting and Battle stories, the Tribal Family stories, the Mystical and the Spirit stories of real Seasons and those now gone. The stories come with pictures and Dance called Ritual. Stories are powerful. Some tribals have lost their people's stories. Often they Suffer. Did I mention that, to me, it was/is ALL Metaphorical. Metaphors were created in the indigenous Human mind for their own wellbeing. The "Existential" metaphorical metaphysical experimental experiences seek n' find me and what I 'know'. Yes, It's ALL Metaphorical -- it all started with a story about an Empty place.  Math and Business machinations never were my forte'-- yet the 'Creatives' find me and ask me. Deep inquiry into the Unfamiliar does provide $ustenance for the Non-ordinary, Uncommon person. Literally, it's been a wonder-filled esoteric Life streaming by --right here in amongst the ordinary dharma of the everyday world's massive consuming mall, as it's always been. "Buy Low, Resell Higher, Feed Your Family, Then Feed Your Mind," pondering body/mind contemplations on the details of good thought and appreciative actions. Sutra stories and folk tale scenarios crafted in Buddhist art, confusing conundrums, and the poetic sacred words of the Heart. Like the Tarot's Fool card true to the role of a Yogi Poet Dharma Bum -- I'm just an Old Hippie (1941) and always kinda' loving it ! Nowadays I meet with new people drawn here by their own soul-felt needs. And the Chakra of Life eternallly turns. "I am Poor yet Blessed" -- Odd, Huh... • Akasa Levi    

'Search' -- James Hilton's 1939 film "Lost Horizon"  strongly influenced Akasa by the persistent presence of The 'Search' as a theme explored in G.I.Gurdjief's "Meetings with Remarkable Men" 1927, and Paul Brunton's "Search In Secret India" 1931 -- these innocent and romantic pulp non-fiction adventure stories motivated Akasa’s sincere aspiration in going into the uncharted and be willing to get entangled in the fascinations of Indra's Net in the first place...

-------------------

‘All-the-time-Awareness’

 Beginners Very Welcome !

“ HOW TO BECOME

THE CLARITY OF YOUR

YOUR OWN CHOOSING.

Maybe It’s Time You

Became A Disciple

of Your Own Awareness,”

--------------------------------------

“ If Nothing Changes,

Nothing Changes ! “

-----------------------------------------

-

QUESTION ~

Respected Grandfather, What is ‘Destiny’ ? "

------------------------------------------------------------

“ DESTINY, my son, is every step we’re taking 

and going thru right now - to get there "

So, you must consciously choose 
to make a move– and make the choice 
to re-choose again and openly 'talk truth'
 with someone...and keep the truth-talk up !

To openly keep talking with someone and 
keep it up -- To be open to 'trust' in gradually letting it ALL arise -- We all have this worry-some Destiny Question --it's nothing new."

~ Grandfather Bearheart,  
contemporary Creek Elder

------------------------------------------------

Who Does Come Here To Explore ? 

Those who have a MAVERICK-MIND.

Those who practice Mindfulness-mind

Those who are highly educable people

Those who are dedicated to the dharma
Those who are involved in the intimate

learning process of Mentor / Mentee 

Those who we 'encourage' --highly

inquisitive, progressive minded people,

with a natural, deep love of learning -

Those who are committed their therapy

Those who are appreciative of effective,

conventional western psychotherapy.
Those who are now going way beyond it.
So, Who Does Come Here To Explore ?

Those who are personally refining the

‘Power of ‘Mindfulness’ for themselves

Those who are involved in the intimate

learning process of Mentor / Mentee  

Those who we encourage if highly

inquisitive, progressive minded people,

with a natural, deep dish love of learning

--- Those who relish an answerless inquiry, 
an anomalee, the abstract, and even 
the absurd –and have a genuine taste 
for the worst undefinable 'existential' stuff.

-----------------------------------------------------------

" A Buddhist Meditation Mentoring Project " ~ 'Mentoring' is an ancient tribal 'teaching-exploration' found in every indigenous culture planet wide -- Asian Buddhist sub-culture has it's own traditions and mentoring protocols of the village Monastics and Elders passing on critical, skilled 'knowledges' that encourage, guide and support a very self-confrontive and candid “Inquiry into personal illusory Self” with an initiated guiding teacher.

This is all an ancient experiential inner-practice, combining the cool, calm 'observation' approach of traditional, quiet Vipassana Mindfulness Meditation --- along side the 'Crazy Wisdom' irrationality of the 'Zen-mind Realizations' that cognitively short-circuits the common chronic suffering of 'My Self' --- helping you in dismantling your so obsessive self- involved, self- absorbed, self- Identified ego-mind.

 "Denial of the Self 
by the Self -- 
how can that be ? 

This is an experiential vocal inner-practice, combining:
---------------------------------------------

THE COOL CALM 'OBSERVATION' APPROACH of TRADITIONAL QUIET VIPASSANA INSIGHT MINDFULNESS MEDITATION ALONG SIDE THE 'CRAZY WISDOM' IRRATIONALITY of THE ZEN MIND REALIZATIONS THAT COGNITIVELY SHORT CIRCUIT THE COMMON CHRONIC OBSESSIVE SUFFERING of 'MY SELF.

HAVING A ‘SELF’ IS SO EXHAUSTING

-----------------------------------------------

POETIC Understandings

of Sounds Long
Gone Home

for Lunch

" Buddhism's all about

experiential, natural,

uncompromised truth

Buddhism is so much

closer to 'science'

than it is to 'theology'

To be 'Buddhist' is to be

both delightfully perplexed,

awakened and sweetened

by the strangely sane,

refreshingly 'rational'

path Buddha created.

The Spirituality of
contemporary Buddhism
is so flexibly open and 
universal ( and agnostic ) - 
that it can always 
be expressed in 
your own way.”

‘All-the-time-Awareness’

 Beginners Very Welcome !

Hi and Welcome

and Nama’ste !
The LAUGHING  BUDDHA 

SANGHA offers Therapy
When you really should

go see someone ---

You could also go see him --

-- just as one of your options

-----------------------------------

WHAT
IS THERAPY ?
Therapy is where

two people sit down
and empathically

work on one of them

-- Together

And, PLEASE,

please do not expect only

a few sessions to be sufficient:

Betrayed Expectation is partly how you got here...Self-healing' your difficult issues and wounded feelings -- One of the most classic therapy-gained Truths -- comes as a deep personal realization and a sharp pointed reminder of time fleeting --when asking how long does therapy take ?

---------------------------------------------------------
Working on yourself, your difficult issues,

bruised, hurt, wounded feelings, damage ---

FEELINGS that took your

whole Life-time to develop,

-will certainly take some time

.... to turn around.

” Whatever the Question,

'Kindness' is the Answer.”

~ The Dalai Lama

_____________________________ 

.............. 

_/\_

with palms joined together

The Laughing Buddha Sangha - Santa Monica
encourages a Maverick Spirited Inner-Quest

thru a "Mindfulness-Awakening" Meditation that Nourishes an Iconoclast Intelligence and cultivates a Big Good-Hearted Mind –
Eventually 'Me' discovering my own 'Buddha-Nature' by Awakening the Compassionate Healing Awareness -- a Wise Empathy Naturally Deep Within Us All.

Ready to be ‘worked’ with ? --- so we will work with THAT…For What ? Just the natural emergence of your own individual True 'Knowing’ and personal excellence. It's taken you a long time to become your very own"Bodhisattva" - a sort of "Buddha-in-the-making".

And here you are Becoming Happier as the True You. The Spirituality of contemporary Buddhism is so flexiblyopen and universal ( and agnostic ) - that it can always beexpressed in your own way. Right at start, it's all about you.

THERAPY for MAVERICKS - THERAPY for SMART PEOPLE - THERAPY for CREATIVES

" The Greatest Risk
Is Not Taking One "

THERAPY here with me --
is an interactive Buddhist-based teaching

of more self-compassion and certainly less
clinical protocol-- a more 'alternative' approach
to relating with Your True Self.

• One-to-One individual therapy or relationship counseling - all kinds of stressful partnering issues: couples, genders, family.

Difficult to communicate or resolve feelings. Existential Angst is alive and suffering terribly well within all of us. Bewilderment

follows on their coat tails continually asking "Why".• Therapy for "Creatives" -- Counseling for Smart People: Often Lost, often quite gifted, sensitive, artistic, intellectual, --gifted yet domestically or 'existentially' unhappy people.

• Maybe a more Maverick Spirited deeper inner-quest to nourish a rebellious, iconoclast intelligence and

a Big Good-Hearted Mind can actually ‘work’ for you !

• 'Theravada' Mindfulness ~ the original, earliest 'Path of The Elders' -- an India, Buddhist South Asia& amp; Sri Lanka Lineage-based Practice of traditional Vipassana Satpatthana Mindfulness Meditation – alongside a skillful, eclectic-mix of other world-wide Buddhist psychology teachings.

♦ The Main CORE PURPOSE of Vipassana Insight MINDFULNESS Meditation Practice Veh.poss.ana in the Pali-language of the original Buddha's teachings, is the simple and direct practice of ‘moment-to-moment’ mindfulness. Through careful 'sustained observation', we experience directly for ourselves the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. This keen awareness leads us to accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness that life inevitably brings to all our ‘experiences’. As Insight-Awareness deepens, we develop greater equanimity and peace - in the face of Change--.Mindfulness, Wisdom and Compassion increasingly become the major Dharma guiding-principles ‘informing’ our lives.. ~ Joseph Goldstein

" The Greatest Risk Is Not Taking One "  

• GUIDANCE: Mentoring, Direction and Pointing

That's why I offer a lengthy FREE phone consultation - First - before coming in here for the first time. Inner-Healing MUST be a very, very 'Human' thing. A 'therapist' or a 'counselor' is a special new 'human' in your life. Beginning to go to  'therapy' is sort of a professional Blind-Date. Do you two even 'Like' each other ? Maybe, maybe not. • So go easy on the immediate impulse to judge or evaluate these first few session impressions. So give a fresh new experience a fresh new chance. Therapy takes time and takes work. And, please, do not expect only a few sessions to be sufficient --- Self-healing' your difficult issues and wounded feelings - FEELINGS that took your whole life-time to develop - will certainly take some time to turn around. • There are NO silver bullets, no magic pills or divine interventions. No 'spiritual' fantasies. There IS a lot of 'resistance'. Of course there is, that's how you muscled-up and survived so far... It's You and me, your counselor, are going to have to work, walk and talk in each other’s one-to-one presence -- that could seem intimidating and  kinda ‘creepy’ intimate –  be truthful, trusting and honest. Don’t sabotage or undermine the work… Change takes a willingness to work it, and to work it off, and to give it time -- and to begin to responsibly really KNOW that….

“ If Nothing Changes,

Nothing Changes ! “

And at times you will experience painful, awful sobbing moments, even days - and even 'scrape bottom' --where hidden hopelessness lies...don't sabotage, be brave. After a short time gradually - you will begin to consciously 'process' --as you progress in your 'mindfulness meditation' - towards a healthy noticeable 'shift' in your very own 'experience' of yourself. Yet, it's gonna take some TIME.

“ Small victories, and
self realized baby-steps
give definite, authentic,
realistic motivation
and momentum
to the journey.
I will promise you
some small

 Victories ! “ 

_________________________________

" While one person hesitates because they
'feel' inferior and 'think' insecure thoughts –
The other is just busy making mistakes aplenty
and becoming quite superior."....~ The Tao

.

Mindfulness - the ‘All-the-time-Awareness’

We’re looking for home-made beginning Buddhas… One of the Buddha’s classic therapy-gained Truths comes as a deep personal realization and a pointed reminder ( or wrong end of a pointed stick )... that working on yourself, your difficult issues and bruised

wounded feelings - FEELINGS that took your whole life-time to develop - will certainly take some time to turn you around to  the natural emergence of your own individual True 'Knowing’ and personal excellence. IIt's taken you a long time to become your very own

 "Bodhisattva" - a sort of "Buddha-in-the-making". And here you are Becoming Happy as the True You.

The Spirituality of contemporary Buddhism is so flexibly open and universal ( and agnostic ) - that it can always be expressed in your own way. Right at start, it's all about you.

‘Mindfulness - the ‘All-the-time-Awareness’ We’re looking for some home-grown Buddhas… One of the Buddha’s classic therapy-gained Truths comes as a deep personal realization and a pointed reminder ( or wrong end of a pointed stick )... that

working on yourself, your difficult issues and bruised wounded feelings - FEELINGS that took your whole life-time to develop - will certainly take some time to turn around... we just have to work with that...

For What ? Just the natural emergence of your own individual True 'Knowing’ and personal excellence.!It's taken you a long time to become your very own "Bodhisattva" - a sort of "Buddha-in-the-making". An here you are Becoming Happy as the True You. The Spirituality of contemporary Buddhism is so flexibly open and universal ( and agnostic ) - that it can always be expressed in your own way. Right at start, it's all about you. AND that's a good thing...Hidden in these wonderful, 'vague' poetic teaching- quotesare some sincere responses to this quite ancient Question: How Long ? --- Therapy takes time and therapy takes work.

Good therapy ...is not just in your therapist’s  office -- but what you put into it in your day to day -- call it ‘All-the-time-Awareness’ towards a spacious, clear and richer mindfulness that opens you for a much more aware, alive Living Experience of Living.  

-----------------------------------

"We shall not cease

from exploration,

And

the end of
all our exploring

will be to arrive

where we started

And

know the place

for the

very first time."

 ~ T.S. Eliot

 

" Buddhism's all about experiential,

natural, uncompromised truth

Buddhism is so much closer

to 'science' than it is to 'theology'

To be 'Buddhist' is to be

both delightfully perplexed,

awakened and sweetened

by the strangely sane,

refreshingly 'rational'

path Buddha created."

The Lotus has its roots in the dank dark mud,

Grows up through the cloudy deep water,

And finally rises to the surface.

It blooms into perfect beauty and purity in the sunlight.

It is like the mind unfolding to perfect joy and wisdom.

~ Lotus Sutra

" What is accepted by the majority of people ~

 does not mean it is Real " ............................ ~ Buddha

" One common mistake

is to think that 'your' reality is THE reality.

You must always be prepared to leave

'your' reality for a greater one." ............ ~ Meeraji 

" Only in quiet waters

do things mirror themselves undistorted.

Only in a quiet mind

is there a more complete perception of the world " . ~ Hans Margolius

" Good timber does not grow with ease.

The stronger the wind ~ the stronger the trees." .. ~ Willard Marriot

" The Greatest Risk Is Not Taking One "