Buddha @ MindSay 
buddhism
First tattoo and it's amazing. I will have to post pics one day....
I just got the neatest question and I wanted to share it with all of you.
An elderly gentleman came in and said to me "I need some information but I don't know how to use a computer, can you help me?"
I told him that's my specialty. He said that he served in the Korean War and while he was there he was stationed in Japan. During the time he was in Japan (in 1952) they visited Kyushu Island where he saw a statue of a Buddha. He had a photograph of the statue to show me.
This is what he was looking for, he wanted to know more about the history of the statue and especially how big it is. In his picture, he is actually sitting on the thumbs of the buddha.
I told him that I could help him out and I was able to find out that this was the 2nd largest buddha statue ever built in Japan, but no dimensions. I also found out that it is very old and due to its poor condition it was closed to the public in 1965 and eventually dismantled in 1985. On its site there now sits a Buddhist Temple and graveyard.
I also found the man a website hosted by war veterans where they talked about visiting this temple. He was so thrilled to get all of this information.
He said to me, "I was talking to a couple of my buddies about this buddha and we wanted to know more. We couldn't find information anywhere. Then one of them said, go to the library, they'll know what to do." Then he paused for a minute and said "guess he was right."
It was so sweet. I told him I was glad I could help. He then pulled out this stack of pictures and showed them to me, pictures of his regiment parachuting out of a plane, a picture of him at 17 in his uniform and a couple other scenic photos of Japan. His photographs were amazing, all from the early 1950s. He was such a nice man and before he left, he told me I made his day.
Well, he made mine too. I love handling questions like this, so different from the usual run-of-the-mill type stuff I often get. This is what is so fun about my job!
9 days.
What’s Fair is Fair
In this entry I would like to explain what makes Le-way as fair as I propose it is. It’s important to point out that I don’t claim to be fully right or know all the answers. I merely wish to present a scenario that makes sense of what we know and could hopefully be worthy of discussion.
Billions of people have given their life to God by practicing the principles of their religion. It would be unfair to not reward these people for their efforts. According to Le-way the way to go to Heaven is to surrender the knowledge of good and evil but this can be accomplished in as many ways as there are sincere avenues to go about it. Men and women who have given their life to God should get to go to Heaven regardless of their religious preferences. God knows who His true followers are and they belong to virtually all of the worlds religions. There is no or has there ever been just one true religion that must be followed for it’s rituals or beliefs although I hope you’ll consider Le-way among the best of them.
At the same time no one deserves to experience the fires of hell for merely putting more faith into something like science and it’s methods than religion could ever be worth. There are as many reasons to not believe in God or agree with it’s doctrines as there are people who don’t. Religion is no substitute for what our experiences can teach us or what our minds can come up with. No one can say for sure that God truly exists or that He actually cares about any of us. The question we should all be asking is not what the truth is but what it should be and, if you ask me, there should be a God who cares enough to be as reasonable and fair as it takes to deserve the glory that is His and His alone.
As I see it, there can be no hell for there to truly be a God. The sins of a mere hundred years or so will never justify sending a person to hell for eternities sake. Forever should be based on forever and not a human lifetime. This means that God has to find an alternative which I believe He has in Utopia. Utopia is a place where bad things won’t happen to good people and the better you live your life, the better your life will be. That’s not to suggest that Utopia can’t be hell for some, for it surely is, but for no longer than is necessary for justice to be achieved.
There are three characteristics to this place that I believe make it fair. The first is Perfect On-going Justice which I’ve already touched on to a certain extent. It’s a concept I stole from the Hindu and Buddhist faiths that most people refer to as Karma. Karma is as close as the world has ever gotten to the true meaning of justice and the people of India should be credited for originating such a grand philosophy. Perfect On-going Justice means nothing without the help of the second of these principles which is Actual Free-will. Actual Free-will makes it possible for a person to control their own destinies without the interference of any demonic and/or psychic influences that could potentially alter the course of ones existence. It will make us truly accountable for who we are which is as fair as it gets. The final and most important of these things is Gods desire to give everyone a Permanent 2nd Chance to surrender the knowledge of good and evil and go to Heaven. This will ensure that forever will be based on forever as opposed to a human lifetime which is the way it should be and so I believe it shall be according to Le-way.
Having said all that I hope you will take my words serious enough to actually think about what they mean. There is no reason to ignore what I say merely because they come from a crazy man. What I say makes sense and it makes even more sense to realize that fact. My name is Gary Oesterle and I’m the chosen one. Like it or not that’s who I am. It wasn’t up to me and it wasn’t up to Ozzy. It was and always has been up to God. Wish me luck!
.
I've been very busy as of late because of a couple of things in my life that auspiciously occured a few weeks ago. I have been studying Buddhism for some time now and I had come to a junction in my path where I needed to find some guidance, choose direction, go deeper into myself, my studies and my mind than I ever have before. As I meditated I asked to be blessed with a teacher if that was the right way for my path to go.
At the same time my spiritual questions swirled, I also was looking at my work and thinking about life, fragility and waste. There had been a motorcycle accident that left a beautiful young soldier dead, the next day a horrific car / motorcycle accident that left 5 dead, and as an ER we had worked to try to save the lives of several without success. It was so very drastic, so very sad, and one of the few times I have seen the ER come to a standstill as almost everyone had to be involved in the trauma. It also was one of the few times that the sadness, reality, and emptiness hit once the CPR stopped and the machines were turned off. Staff stopped and called home to say they loved their families, some cried then, some later. Usually trauma's don't stop the place cold, they come, they go, but this was big and it was sad.
I was struggling after the event with the people that then came in to see me in Psych with the " I'm going to kill myself because my boy/girl left me". I don't mean those suffering from a real depression, psychosis, or other serious mental health problem - for those the trauma was as equal as the accident. But for just a moment my compassion waned for those using life and death as manipulation - and I thought - " you want to see dead - come with me". Of course I quickly caught the thought and my compassion returned but I was distressed that it was there.
The other thing that concerned me was the brutality of what is done to save a life that is so very gone. I know how often we do save lives with what we do, but sometimes it is so harsh to see what happens as the efforts go on and on. As part of my faith when one dies they should be given dignity and peace, time to transition to the next life. What I see is so far from dignified, and there is little peace as the curtain is closed and the work goes on around them. In all of this I wondered how I might bring just a small amount of quiet to the person, and a bit of dignity. I try to sneak in and cover the person, fix hair, turn off a light, some little thing.
Suddenly I had a phone call that there was a Lama, Rinpoche and Monk from Tibet in town for several weeks. They were looking for people to help cook, clean the house, serve meals, meal clean up, etc. for them as well as teach a little English when possible. They were here to teach as well as to work with a Translation Committee to translate into English precious texts that had been smuggled out of Tibet with the Dalai Lama and others in 1959. I offered up my time and limited cooking talents to the task and it has proved to be interesting, fascinating, precious, spiritual, humbling, and honourable. If you had told me 7 years ago that I'd be cleaning the toilet of some man from Tibet and honoured to do so I'd have laughed at you!!
I am honoured, and so very humbled. To be in the presence of people that own only 2 sets of robes, toothbrush and comb. Who smile and are so very happy in life, and whose energy, and soul radiates from their faces so strongly I am blessed to simply be in the same house as they are. Their simplicity and graciousness is nothing I have ever seen in my own culture and I am shocked at how rude we in North America are compared to these beautiful people.
I was granted an audience with both the Rinpoche and Lama, and I talk often to the Monk, also Rinpoche's Nephew. I asked Rinpoche to be my teacher and have discussed visiting the Lama to help him set up a medical clinic. I got to ask my questions, and was given simple and beautiful answers om how to deal with my questions. I was given blessings on my work to build my 50 acres healing garden, and offered a visit to bless it once complete. (In Tibet Rinpoche is like a Phd, but also with a spiritual component like a Pope might be to a Catholic. While it is a Title, it is also used as a name).
And then ... my puppy found me and her name was apparent - Teshe Dechen - Lucky Joy in Tibetan.
I go tomorrow and spend the day again with Rinpoche and Sange his nephew. One of daughters comes (19) and she helps teach English to Sanje who is only 23 and likes to talk to her. Tomorrow she is going to show him her iPod, music, and a few other modern things he might find interesting. I'm cooking meatloaf, and making some homemade fries with Gingerbread & Caramel sauce - LOL - some real old home cooking. I look forward to it and to a day of positive energy and calm abiding.
I wonder if gets a lot better!!
Namaste'
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