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Saturday, August 8, 2009

BIAW - Day 6 - playing hookey

I cheated today and did precious little writing. Fortunately my writing's ahead of schedule and I promise to make up for today's slackoff tomorrow. I did do a critique on a new work for my CP Angela. And I entered the Golden Rose contest with my YA, Pull My String. Then I just took a day off and headed for Chicago's Midwest Buddhist Temple and the annual Ginza festival.

I can't tell you enough how I love the Taiko Drummers. If you've never heard them, find the nearest place in your area that has a club and go see. If you have, you understand exactly what I mean. The Ginza festival includes a group from the Chicago temple, and a group from St. Paul, Minnesota. Together, those men and women are awesome.

Also, take a look at the little Japanese Dancer.

In my youth I tried a number of different religions - I was born a Baptist, tried out Catholicism in college (they had this insanely handsome priest) and I've studied Islam. Went Ecumenical for a while, and tried a Lutheran church that ended up being too Hellfire and Brimstone for my liking. I didn't stick with that long enough to see if it was just that one church or the entire denomination. I've been a Methodist for about seventeen years now. Truthfully, I don't see all that much difference between this and my old Baptist beginnings. At the Ginza festival, there's always a discussion during intermission about Buddhism. Today's discussion was largely question and answer. Learning that some of the core of this religion is a belief in impermanence, interdependency between all things, and cause and effect, leaves me wondering if there isn't a little Buddhism in me too. Especially now that I know that Karma is actually "the sum of who you are."

Guess in my case, Karma really is a bitch.

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