AZC and a book

Jonny and I finally made it to the Anchorage Zen Center the other night. Just visited for their newcomers night. It was a brief introduction to meditation and the customs of the zendo. We did about a 4-5 minute zazen and a little time for questions at the end. I enjoyed it. I want to come back on Sunday I think. Check out what it's like for an actual period. They have two periods of 25 minute zazen with a 10 minute walking meditation in between. Worth a shot.

Jonny asked me why it would be better in a group since I already practice on my own. I don't know. I think a lot of the ceremony in Buddhism is done because of the basic human desire to have structure and ceremony. At least, I think that's how it works for me. I do enjoy solitary practice. I just think I would like to add a tiny bit if ceremony and religion to it. I don't know though. I might end up not enjoying that, and just blessing off w/ the whole organized religion thing altogether. I think I'll always stick w/ individual practice though. I like it.

I finished Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist last night. Batchelor never quite makes the jump to proper Atheism. He is sort of Agnostic I think, or at least very non-aggressive about being an Atheist. I'm sort of tired of discussing or thinking about god and how people define it though. I don't believe in it like most people claim to, and that's enough of that. The book turned out to be sort of a collage of material that didn't have a real coherent flow to it. He does stick to the historical account of the life of Gotoma  throughout the book though. His life lessons and personal philosophies are sort of sprinkled in there amongst all the other stuff. I found the book interesting, but I think a lot of people would not. I think I did come away with a different idea of who Gotoma might have been. Traditional Buddhism presents him as a symbol more than a man, and after reading this book, I think I view him much more realistically. I think that's good though. It's the way he wished to be viewed after all.