Avoiding Compunction

Cheap advice: Author of "Rancho Costa Nada" on how to not spend money:

'I'm as unambitious as a Buddhist,' Garlington said by way of explanation. 'I'd rather have leisure than income. I want plenty of time to ramble or lounge around with a book, and so don't wish the constraint of a schedule or an overseer.'

"My strategic goal is not to better the planet through reducing my share of smudge, although it's true my thumbprint is small," he said. "My goal is to avoid compunction by not working very much for others."

The Dharma Bums

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac read by Tom Parker

Description

Two ebullient young men are engaged in a passionate search for dharma, or truth. Their major adventure is the pursuit of the Zen way, which takes them climbing into the high Sierras to seek the lesson of solitude, a lesson that has a hard time surviving their forays into the pagan groves of San Francisco's Bohemia with its marathon wine-drinking bouts, poetry jam sessions, experiments in "yabyum," and similar nonascetic pastimes.

This autobiographical novel appeared just a year after the author's explosive On the Road put the Beat generation on the literary map and Kerouac on the best-seller lists. The same expansiveness, humor, and contagious zest for life that sparked the earlier novel ignites this one.

Getting Unstuck

Getting Unstuck by Pema Chodron read by Pema Chodron

Description

Have you ever had an itch--and not scratched it? In the Buddhist tradition, this points to a vast paradox: that by refraining from our urge to “scratch,” great peace and happiness is available. On Getting Unstuck, Pema Chödrön introduces a rare Tibetan teaching she received from her teacher, Dzigar Kontrul Rinpoche, and one that has become critical to her practice. Here, she unveils the mystery of an ineffable quality; a “pre-emotional” feeling that arises in us, brings us discomfort, and causes us to react by escaping the discomfort--often with harmful habits. With Getting Unstuck, she offers us a first look at “both the itch and the scratch”: what Tibetan Buddhists call ... shenpa. On this new recording, Pema Chödrön--bestselling author and beloved American Buddhist nun--shows us how to recognize shenpa, catch it as it appears, and develop a playful, lively curiosity toward it.

The Names of God

Arthur C. Clarke - Science Fiction - A Boy's Life, Guided by the Voice of Cosmic Wonder - New York Times:

In his short story “The Nine Billion Names of God,” published in 1953, Clarke wrote of a pair of computer programmers sent to a remote monastery in Tibet to help the monks there use a computer to compile a list of all the names of God. Once the list was complete, the monks believed, human and cosmic destiny would be fulfilled and the world would end.

The programmers are fleeing the mountain, hoping to escape the monks’ wrath when the program finishes and the world is still there, when one of them looks up.

“Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.”

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön

Description from publisher's website:

The beautiful practicality of her teaching has made Pema one of the most beloved of contemporary American spiritual authors among Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. A collection of talks she gave between 1987 and 1994, the book is a treasury of wisdom for going on living when we are overcome by pain and difficulties. Chödrön discusses:

• Using painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and courage
• Communicating so as to encourage others to open up rather than shut down
• Practices for reversing habitual patterns
• Methods for working with chaotic situations
• Ways for creating effective social action

I read this book this slowly, pausing to absorb each chapter. I'm on the waiting list for the audio cassette version and will comment further after hearing it.