Rev. Danny Fisher

The author having breakfast at Fo Guang Shan Monastery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, this past January. Photo by Daphna McKnight.
To wrap up 2008, I offer you my answers to one of those memes that pop up ’round this time of the year…

I remembered the Alamo.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t remember if I made a New Year’s resolution…so probably “no” to the first question. I think I’ll just resolve to practice more and take better care of myself in 2009 (which, now that I think about it, is probably what I resolved to do in 2008).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Quite a few people, actually. Mostly recently, my friends Tom and Erin welcomed a daughter (Rhiannon), and my friends Briana and Joe welcomed a son (Mateo).

4. Did anyone close to you die?

A few people–two mentioned previously at this blog (here and here).

5. What countries did you visit?

I went to Taiwan in January.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

A full-time job, please. : )

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Well, November 4th was pretty memorable, wasn’t it? President-Elect Obama is not perfect and, as a progressive, I’ll have to be on his case about a few things (I am already, actually), but his election was extremely important. He galvanized people like no other American political leader in my lifetime. With his election, what has become the majority of Americans said, “We want a change from the kind of politics we’ve suffered through for the last eight years. We have hope.” And that was so incredibly moving to see. What a moment–my hope is that he lives up to it.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

My ordination as a lay Buddhist minister.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I still haven’t given up on my perfectionist tendencies, even though they continue to get in my way of doing the best work I can. My continual tinkering and polishing, for example, led to me not doing as good a job as I could have done on my AAR presentation.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I did something to my back–from sleeping on weird beds in Taiwan and New Haven, I think. It’s still kind of achey.

11. What was the best thing someone bought you?

My friend and Dharma brother Rev. Somya Malasri sent me a new set of minister’s robes from Thailand for Christmas.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

The citizenry and Buddhist monastics in Burma and Tibet who continue to stand up and speak out nonviolently. They face impossible odds, as well as the threat of harsh retribution and even death…and still they do it. To paraphrase Aung San Suu Kyi, we must use our freedom to promote theirs.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

The Bush Administration’s.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Room and board, travel, clothes, Dharma stuff, movie tickets.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

A development that I can’t share with you all just yet, but will soon–I promise.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

My cousin Cilloran turned me on to this song at just the right moment.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a.) happier or sadder? A little from column A, a little from column B.
b.) fatter or skinner? The same. My body has always looked liked Jimmy Stewart’s in Rear Window.
c.) richer or poorer? Poorer. Aren’t we all?

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

As always, I wish I’d spent more time practicing.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Being hard on myself.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

With my mom, dad, and sister in Greensboro.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

Only with the sweet potato rolls at the Kumo Japanese Restaurant, Hamden, CT.

22. How many one night stands?

Are you referring to the annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment? Because if so, then the answer is “none.”

23. What was your favorite TV program?

30 Rock (“I want to go to there…”) and The Office (“Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-KA-CHING!”)

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Honestly, I really try not to hate anyone.

25. What was the best book you read?

I’m a doctoral student, so I rarely read anything not related to what I’m working on. But I did find time to read two new books about His Holiness the Dalai Lama that were written this year, both of which I thought were terrific: Pico Iyer’s The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman’s Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

This. (Thanks again, Cilloran!)

27. What did you want and get?

To be around friends.

28. What did you want and not get?

The 2008 Triumph Bonneville T100.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

I saw quite a few films in 2008–including a lot of the year-end Oscar bait–but I didn’t see a more ambitious, relevant, enthralling, memorable, or essential work than The Dark Knight. (It’s kinda nice to be able to say “Hooray for Hollywood” for a change!)

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I spent the day in New York City with my old and dear friend Ashley, who took me to the Met. (A recap can be found here.) I turned 29.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Not wanting things to be more satisfying.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

“Pants. Shirt. Matching optional.”

33. What kept you sane?

Having work to do.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

How ’bout that Jon Stewart? Is he awesome, or what?

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

I’m sorry to say that there were a lot that stirred me up this year. Burma, the economy, the war in Iraq, Prop. 8, Tibet, cynical and nasty campaign tactics… Take your pick.

36. Who do you miss?

The gang back in Bodh Gaya…

37. Who was the best new person you met?

My friends Michael and Jennifer’s daughter Zoe.

38. What was the best thing you ate?

My buddy Phil’s split-pea-and-barley soup.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008?

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” – Woody Allen

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

“It takes two, and it used to take only one.”

This via the Facebook page of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje: You can stream His Holiness the Karmapa’s third “Lineage Practice Teaching Series” in India live online. The broadcast information is as follows:

Broadcast Date: 2008/12/31－2009/01/02

Broadcast Time: 9:00-11:00 am & 3:00-5:00（India Time)

You can watch it here or below. (Unfortunately, though, the audio is only available in Tibetan with Chinese translation.)

My friend Sumi Loundon Kim guest-posts at The Worst Horse about her “e-Dharma dilemma”: how to sign-off emails to fellow Buddhists.

Sumi is the author of two important books–Blue Jean Buddha: Voices of Young Buddhists and The Buddha’s Apprentices: More Voices of Young Buddhists–and was until recently the associate director at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, MA.

The Associated Press reports on a new wrinkle in the Rick Warren controversy that I suspect many readers of this blog will take an interest in:

President-elect Barack Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation drew one kind of protest. Whether the evangelical pastor offers the prayer in the name of Jesus may draw another. At George W. Bush’s 2001 swearing-in, the Revs. Franklin Graham and Kirbyjon Caldwell were criticized for invoking Christ. The distinctly Christian reference at a national civic event offended some, and even prompted a lawsuit.

Warren did not answer directly when asked whether he would dedicate his prayer to Jesus. In a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press, Warren would say only that, “I’m a Christian pastor so I will pray the only kind of prayer I know how to pray.”

“Prayers are not to be sermons, speeches, position statements nor political posturing. They are humble, personal appeals to God,” Warren wrote. His spokesman would not elaborate.

As a Buddhist, I’m not sure I would feel included in an invocation or benediction invoking Christ. Any religious components of this inauguration should take great care to be mindful that the United States is a country of quite incredible spiritual and cultural diversity. Praying with only one contingent–even a majority one–in mind would be short-sighted at best and offensive at worst.

For more from me on the Rick Warren issue, check out the posts I’ve written for elephant journal–here and here.