BBQ at UWest
A photo from today's beginning-of-the-semester cookout at University of the West. Photo by the author.
Rev. Danny Fisher
Just a Buddhist Minister Trying to Benefit Beings
Month: January, 2010
January 29, 2010
I’ve Been Nominated for a 2010 Shorty Award in the Category “Religion”!
After admittedly campaigning a little, I’ve been nominated by some sweet folks out there in the Twitterverse for a 2010 Shorty Award in the category “religion”. The Shorty Awards are, as USA Today’s Whitney Matheson put it recently, “like the Oscars or the Grammys, only for Twitter.”
Below is my “Shorty Interview,” and my profile page for the awards is here.
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What’s your best tweet?
http://twitter.com/RevDannyFisher/status/8360412066
What are six things you could never do without?
Dharma books, an iPhone, Moleskine notebooks, cowboy shirts, comfortable shoes, trucker jackets.
How do you use Twitter in your professional life?
I use it for professional development (sharing my writing, etc.), but I appreciate it most as a way of sharing bits of Dharma with others.
What’s your favorite Twitter app?
Does TweetDeck count?
Twitter or Facebook?
It’s apples and oranges.
What was the funniest trend you’ve seen?
#TheBigLebowski
What feature should Twitter add?
I’ve got no suggestions at the moment.
Who do you wish had a Twitter feed but doesn’t?
Jon Stewart.
What are some words or phrases you refuse to shorten for brevity?
I don’t like to shorten things when I’m quoting something. If I can’t get it in 140 characters the way it is, I won’t do it.
Is there someone you want to follow you who doesn’t already? If so, who?
@bobthurman is awesome, and I’d feel like one of the cool kids if he followed me. ; )
Have you ever unfollowed someone? Who and why?
I don’t think I have, and I’m not quite sure what would push me do it.
Why should we vote for you?
I think I’m good at sussing out stuff that’s helpful to others. Voting for me will assist in delivering important resources to more people.
Terms you wish would start trending on Twitter right now?
#compassion, #lovingkindness, #forgiveness, #reconciliation, #peace, #justice
What’s the most interesting connection you’ve made through Twitter?
@spiver is a great Twitterer, and I enjoy her tweets a lot.
Hashtag you created that you wish everyone used?
I haven’t created any yet.
How do you make your tweets unique?
I just try to follow one of the principles of meditation: “Not too tight, not too loose.” I try not to be too stuffy or too irreverent.
What inspires you to tweet?
I’m extremely interested in human communication, and, like it or not, tweeting has emerged as a unique new way of communicating.
Ever get called out for tweeting too much?
Yep.
140 characters of advice for a new user?
There’s no right way to do this. Just be yourself. The most interesting tweeters make the medium their own. Just be real, and it’ll be great.
How long can you go without a tweet?
Is this an intervention?
What question are we not asking here that we should?
You’re doing just fine. Don’t be too hard on yourself. ; )
Who do you admire most for his or her use of Twitter?
@elephantjournal tweets important, insightful, and interesting stuff. Great for spiritual, health-conscious stewards of the planet.
Why’d you start tweeting?
I was curious about the whole thing, and it seemed like a useful tool.
Has Twitter changed your life? If yes, how?
It’s teaching me to keep things pithy. (I tend to be a verbose fellow.)
What do you wish people would do more of on Twitter?
Activism.
How will the world change in 2010?
I wouldn’t presume to make any predictions. I hope it changes for the better, though.
What are some big Twitter faux pas?
I don’t need every detail of someone’s day. Tell what interests or moves you, but spare me notifications about your trip to Target.
What will the world be like 10 years from now?
No idea. No predictions. Hopefully a nice, safe place to live.
January 29, 2010
Newsweek: “China Finally Realizes How Badly It Bungled Tibet”
From Newsweek this week:
After the mass riots there in March 2008, Tibet faded once again into relative obscurity—the province of foreign-affairs wonks, adventure tourists, and a few well-organized protest groups who object to China’s rule there. But during that time, Beijing has come slowly to two painful realizations. First, the restive plateau it had treated for decades as a colony is central to its national plan: development and stability are “vital to ethnic unity, social stability, and national security,” President Hu Jintao recently told his Politburo. And second, a corollary realization: China’s government has been mishandling the issue of Tibet all along.
Read the whole article here.
January 28, 2010
A Gift of Dharma for 1.28.10
Today’s dharma quote is yet another from the Vidyādhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987), whom I first quoted and wrote a little bio for here. It’s from his book The Sanity We Are Born With: A Buddhist Approach to Psychology, pg. 28 (via the Chronicles of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche):
A common misunderstanding is that the meditative state of mind has to be captured and then nursed and cherished. That is definitely the wrong approach. If you try to domesticate your mind through meditation—try to possess it by holding on to the meditative state—the clear result will be regression on the path, with a loss of freshness and spontaneity. If you try to hold on without lapse all the time, then maintaining your awareness will begin to become a domestic hassle. It will become like painfully going through housework. There will be an underlying sense of resentment, and the practice of meditation will become confusing. You will begin to develop a love-hate relationship toward your practice, in which your concept of it seems good, but at the same time, the demand that rigid concept makes on you is too painful.
January 28, 2010
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly on Thailand’s Socially Engaged Forest Monks
Read the transcript of this report at Religion & Ethics Newsweekly‘s website here.
