Thinking about Harry Potter and Buddhism
Jul. 27th, 2005 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The Horcrux idea is very similar to the Buddhist idea of Tulkus. Tulkus are hidden objects or bodies of knowledge which are hidden in Buddhism. Since time in Buddhism is infinitely looped, you can travel forwards or backwards and be reincarnated forwards or backwards. Wisdom has been hidden in objects, or in people. It reminds me so much of the Horcrux idea
I've been really thinking about my connection to Buddhism lately. I feel very alienated from it, and I don't like that feeling. I haven't been practicing for a while, and haven't been working on exploring the path lately. I guess I've fallen off the path in a lot of ways.
In the past few months, I realize that I am having trouble balancing various parts of my life. I don't feel like I've been a very good activist. I want to be more involved in things and in good, solid conscious efforts. After reading "Grassroots", a guide to feminist activism, I felt a bit better about how I act as an activist through my daily activities. But I still feel like I'm not as involved as I could be.
My feelings about myself as a Buddhist and my sense of loss of my spiritual practice have been triggered by a variety of things-
1. Meeting and interacting with Ruth Ozeki, who I related to on so many levels. She is a Buddhist, and I realize that I feel like I'm missing that part of myself in my life.
2. Watching the movie "Samsara", which reminded me of how much I enjoy learning about Buddhism and deepening my own understanding
3. Reading "Dharma Punx" by Noah Levine. I'm loving this book so much. I intend to post a lot more about it later. I'd seen it a few times in the book store. Noah recently came here for a reading. The reading was co-sponsored by Pulp Fiction (one of my favourite bookstores) and the Radha Yoga Centre, which I'm also connected to. I was curious about the reading, but neglected to go. Instead, I just picked up the book. Now I really wish that I'd gone to see him read. Oh well, life is 20-20, right.
4. Realizing that I really miss travelling. In all honesty, I actually really miss Mongolia. I felt very alive when I was there and everything was so intense. I love living in Vancouver and I'm learning and growing a lot here. But I know that I need to go back overseas at some. I need to go back to Asia. At some point, I'm probably going to live there again, and I want to spend some time in Mongolia. Specifically, I need to write about that country. So little has been written, and there is so much there....
Yesterday, I took a different bus home from Raincoast, and ended up passing The Tilopa Buddhist centre. I immediately hopped off the bus, and tried to stick my nose in the door. It was closed, but I intend to go back at a later date.