My Heroic Dad: A Facebook Memory

Originally posted to Facebook December 10, 2016

Dad more-or-less in those days

Thinking of my dad this December morning.

D-Boy broke a pedal on his bike in one of his many spills, and scuffed up the other one pretty bad. They needed to be replaced, so I bought a new pair, but I don't have any open-end wrenches (and my one big crescent is too thick to fit in the space).

So Vic, the guard across the street, brought his wrenches over to do it for me. As I watched him try to thread the right pedal, I realized he must have the wrong one--left bike pedals are reverse-threaded to keep them from unscrewing. I picked up the other pedal and sure enough, there was an "R" on the end of the spindle; he was trying to put the left pedal on the right side!

As I continued to watch, I asked myself, "How did I know that?" and I realized I must have learned it from Dad.

Then a flood of memory came. As I told Vic and D-Boy: When I was in my grade school years, after Thanksgiving Dad would go to "the plant" for the usual workday (in those days on his feet much of the day, before he got a "desk job"), come home for a quick dinner, and then head off to the local toy store, where he assembled bicycles in the back room for people who couldn't (or didn't want to) do it themselves (at an extra charge by the store, of course).

In this way, he raised the extra $$$ so we could have a better Christmas.

For most of my life, when I have thought of "sacrifice," I haven't really thought of the grand gestures that we romanticize in literature and film; I've thought of the millions or billions of these small, extraordinary acts that people like my Dad and Mom performed to make the lives of their kids (and others' kids, like with the Scouts and the PTA) a little better.

Now that Lila and I are responsible for a kid, I "get it" in a whole new way.

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Othello: Stray Questions

[This essay was originally posted to "The Third Tale," a blog on Weebly. In transferring it I have updated and made corrections where necessary.]

Here's my first week's effort from my new project: questions about Othello.

My New Project: Shakespeare's Plays

[This essay was originally posted to "The Third Tale," a blog on Weebly. In transferring it I have updated and made corrections where necessary.]

I've just started a new project: I'll try to read (study, really, with footnotes) one Shakespeare play a week for the next ten months or so, and then watch the BBC production of that play, from back in the '80s. I've downloaded 37 of them (The Two Noble Kinsmen seems not to be included). When time is tight, I may find myself taking two weeks, so this might last a year or so.

This week I read and watched Othello. Each day I read and studied one act, then watched it in the evening, while the reading was still fresh. Tomorrow I may try to watch the whole thing again, time permitting.

Next week is King Lear; I chose these two mainly because I bought cheap copies at a used bookstore in the Philippines in February. This week I'll need to go seek out copies of more plays in Shenzhen's bookstores.

Why not just read the online versions? Because a "real book" like the Folger Shakespeare Library series puts the notes on a page facing the text--most convenient. True, you can find nicely-formatted versions online, too, but they're not portable. (To tell the truth, I understand over 90% of what I read; but understanding those rare archaisms and occasional obscure allusions can make all the difference.)

Rather than blab on (I found "blab" in Othello!) about what I think of the plays, I'll try to post questions that occurred to me; you can then form your own opinions (though sometimes mine may be given away in the very questions).

So, avaunt! Hie thee to my next post upon the nonce, lest with delay you lose the sense of it. (Anything interesting about that sentence, meter-wise?) I'll let you know on Facebook any time I've posted new stuff. Enjoy!

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Categories: Shakespeare

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The Heart Sutra

[This essay was originally posted to "The Third Tale," a blog on Weebly. In transferring it I have updated and made corrections where necessary.]

The Prajna Paramita Mantra in Devanagari characters

Here's the Heart Sutra as I chant it:

Maha Prajna Paramita Hridya Sutra

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva
when practicing deeply the Prajna Paramita
perceives that all five skandhas are empty
and is saved from all suffering and distress.

Shariputra,
form does not differ from emptiness,
emptiness does not differ from form.
That which is form is emptiness,
that which is emptiness form.
The same is true of feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.

Shariputra,
all dharmas are marked with emptiness;
they do not appear or disappear,
are not tainted or pure,
do not increase or decrease.
Therefore, in emptiness no form, no feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.

No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;
no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch,
no object of mind;
no realm of eyes
and so forth until no realm of mind consciousness.

No ignorance and also no extinction of it,
and so forth until no old age and death
and also no extinction of them.

No suffering, no origination,
no stopping, no path, no cognition,
also no attainment with nothing to attain.

The Bodhisattva depends on Prajna Paramita
and the mind is no hindrance;
without any hindrance no fears exist.
Far apart from every perverted view one dwells in Nirvana.

In the three worlds
all Buddhas depend on Prajna Paramita
and attain Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.

Therefore know that Prajna Paramita
is the great transcendent mantra,
is the great bright mantra,
is the utmost mantra,
is the supreme mantra
which is able to relieve all suffering
and is true, not false.

So proclaim the Prajna Paramita mantra,
proclaim the mantra which says:

gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

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Here's an audio version (I use Version 2)

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Comment(s):

Harriet:

Thank you for sharing this. What a peaceful feeling it brings...

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Categories: Buddhism, Spirituality

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Wellesley High grads told: "You're not special"

[This essay was originally posted to "The Third Tale," a blog on Weebly. In transferring it I have updated and made corrections where necessary.]

Some common sense for graduates (despite the sensational headline). I have reposted this here because (a) the original cannot be accessed in China at this moment and (b) I like it. A lot.

(Links at end)

[Intro and text from the "Swellesley Report"]

We'd been hearing good things over the weekend about Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough, Jr.'s faculty speech to the Class of 2012 last Friday. Here it is, in its entirety, courtesy of Mr. McCullough:

How to Live

[This essay was originally posted to "The Third Tale," a blog on Weebly. In transferring it I have updated and made corrections where necessary.]

The Dhammapada is a widely-quoted collection of sayings of the Buddha. I read selections (almost) every day, and have learned some by heart.

How the Southwest Saved My Life, Part I

[This essay was originally posted to "The Third Tale," a blog on Weebly. In transferring it I have updated and made corrections where necessary.]

Post-divorce and pre-Japan was a wandering time (as mentioned in my post about Robert Urich). And the wandering place that meant the most was the Four Corners area, especially New Mexico.