Serendipity

I've looked at Buddhism, because, after all, it is a much better religion, from my perspective, than the cranky Abrahamic faiths. No offense intended to Judaism, the best of the Abrahamic faiths.

Yet even Buddhism, despite how cool it is, contains what I consider an inner flaw: The rejection of life, the attempt to escape from suffering into nothingness. The concept of suffering and most all of the Buddhist analysis sits very well with me, but right down at the core is the doctrine that life is not worth living.

I know nothing of Hinduism, so maybe I should learn about that. But I am not shopping for a religion. If I had to describe myself (and I don't -- so I'll duck and dodge if anyone tries to pin me down), I guess I'm some kind of desire-positive Buddhist. Attachment is the root of all suffering, true, but it's also the salve to all suffering.

Anyway, my pedantic lecturing is getting a bit far afield. This is the story of what I found in the Dalai Lama's book "The path to tranquility," which contains bits of wisdom for all the days of the year.

I am aware that in my October 7 post, I said some things about the president which were a bit , uh ... energized.

So as I waited for my son to dry himself off after his bath last night, I went in the bedroom and idly noticed the Dalai Lama's book, which belongs to my lovely wife.

I flipped to October 7, thinking that the Dalai Lama would have some advice chiding me about my anger. Far from it, he was right on message with me. The entry was so apt it was spooky:

The ignorance, arrogance, and obstinacy of certain individuals, whether their intentions were good or evil, have been the root of all the tragedies of history. The mere names of these ruthless tyrants inspire fear and loathing. So the extent to which people like us naturally depends on how much, or how little, we think of others' good.

Demonstrating this, we see that people don't like Bush much at all after he didn't think much of sending them help after Hurricane Katrina.

Doubtful that I could be so totally vindicated by such a cool holy man, I decided to flip to my birthday. Ah, here was the warning about anger.

Left grip is 28 pounds (25, 28, 25), right grip is 78 pounds (76, 78, 73), left leg balance is 4.71 seconds, and inhale volume is 4300 mL.