Like it or not, we live in a world of high and low, have and have-nots, powerful and weak. How does a Buddhist navigate this swamp and not get screwed?

Links mentioned:

• The 48 Laws of Power, as compiled by Robert Greene and Joost Elfers.

We consume it everyday, we excrete it everyday, and we hardly pay attention to it. Mindfulness in the kitchen, and later, on the toilet.

Links mentioned:

• Patrick’s Peak Condition Project, now with 3 new members!

• The Questions of King Milinda (sometimes called Menander), an old and surprisingly readable Buddhist text. Here is the excerpt that discusses taking care of the mortal body as if it were a wound

Excerpted from the Chapter, The Arhats and Their Bodies

The king asked: “Is the body dear to you recluses?”

“No, it is not.”

“But why then do you look after it, and cherish it so?”

“Has your majesty somewhere and at some time in the course of a battle been wounded by an arrow?”

“Yes, that has happened.”

“In such cases, is not the wound anointed with salve, smeared with oil, and bandaged with fine linen?”

“Yes, so it is.”

“Is then this treatment a sign that the wound is dear to your majesty?”

“No, it is not dear to me, but all this is done to it so that the flesh may grow again.”

“Just so the body is not dear to the recluses. Without being attached to the body they take care of it for the purpose of making a holy life possible. The Lord has compared the body to a wound, and so the recluses take care for the body as for a wound, without being attached to it. For the Lord has said:

A damp skin hides it, but it as a wound, large, with nine openings,
All around it oozes impure and evil-smelling matter.”

“Well answered, Nagasena!”

Books mentioned:

• Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food

• Skinny Bitch

We debate whether Gwen should be committed. Wait… that didn’t come out right.

Links mentioned:

• Nonviolent Communication (NVC).

• The NPR story about 22 being the peak reproductive age.

• The video about getting older.

We scoff at the jerks who blow hundreds of thousands on sports cars and jewelry, but aren’t we just as guilty of living large? And perhaps the real problem is the scoffing itself?