I began this blog with the idea of Buddhism, of Bhuddistiness — what I said from the get-go remains entirely true: This blog, all my contemplations, my path, is firmly rooted in the path the Buddha himself laid-out, beginning with correcting our wrong views, to guide us to freedom from suffering. Simple as it sounds, this is the heart of my dharma practice — seeing the reality that everything is impermanent, subject to change, to cease, to die and that woven into the fabric of my life is suffering, discontent, peril  and consequence, brought about by a failure to align my view of the world with its true nature.  

Nonetheless, at around this time (late 2013) my contemplations began to incorporate some additional Buddhist concepts (like the aggregates, karma, the worldly conditions, self and self belonging). These evolved naturally, some arose as topics from my own contemplations, others were given to me as homework by my teachers. All the topics and their contemplation had a purpose —  they act as a scaffolding to grow my contemplations, concepts to help me structure my thinking more clearly.

So, in the eyes of some folks, the next period of practice will start looking a little more “Buddhist-y”.  At least it will introduce some fun new Pali/Sanskrit vocab, and if that’s not the sign of deep religious understanding, I don’t know what is ;). I ask that you guys, my readers, try not to get too distracted/overwhelmed, after all the heart of the practice remains as simple as it was in all the earlier stories. Just take what you can and leave the rest for someone else.
For my part, I will do my very best to keep it simple and to add explanations (to the best of my understanding) of those Bhuddist-y topics that come-up.  My goal is not to be all fancy or make things difficult, my goal is to show the direction my practice took/is taking. To do that fairly, I need to include some of these topics…so hold on, buckle-up and prepare for a Buddhisty ride..