Being Nobody, Going Nowhere (Book Report)

Just finished this book by Ayya Khema.

I love the title of this book. Don't know when I first purchased and read it, but cracked it open again here just recently. I've often been told I'm a nobody, and that I'm going nowhere! Seems like my kinda book. Ayya is a Buddhist Nun of the first degree. She brings Buddhism 101 to this book in a thorough, direct way. She seems strict to me, I kinda like that! I like returning to the basics now and again, always helpful. She's like, eat your vegetables, they're good for you! It's always a good thing, talking about the teachings directly. In her chapters on meditation she does a wonderful job of reminding us why we meditate. And from it I get that it's the best way to train and calm your mind, which is the source of suffering, dukka. It's practice. Getting to know yourself. Getting to know how your mind works, so that you can use it skillfully. I meditate on my easy chair, kind of a cheater. Here's a couple of excerpts I found interesting: Survival is a lost cause, it doesn't need our effort. There is a lot to learn in this realm and that is its purpose. It is a continual adult education class; that is what this whole human realm is designed for. There is a strong feeling in each one of us that this body is mine. Yet there's very little one can do with it, except constantly comply with its demands. Put it to bed when it's tired, get it to the dinner table when it's hungry, give it something to drink when it's thirsty, make it move when it's uncomfortable. Desire is always suffering. Again, this is a great primer on some of the fundamentals of Buddhist Dharma (she spells it Dhamma). Here's some of the Table of Contents: Meditation Calm and Insight Four Friends (Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy) Equanimity Five Hindrances (Sensual Desire, Ill Will, Sloth and Torpor, Restlessness and Worry, Skeptical Doubt) Four Kinds of Happiness The Five Aggregates (The Body, Feeling, Perceptions, Mental Formations, Sense Consciousness) Ten Virtues The four Nobel Truths The Noble Eightfold Path She treats them all very thoroughly and firmly. Reminds me of the idea of No Time to Loose. I really enjoyed the meditation theme that ran throughout the book. Something I can always use a bit more help with. It's sinking in, cumulatively, as I sit more. One of the things I just can't help but find funny about Buddhism, is that pretty much everything is numbered. You see that table of contents! It got me to thinking how much everything is numbered. For example: 1 is the loneliest number 2's Company 2 Wheel Drive 2 Men and a Truck 3rd Time's a Charm 3 Kings (Wise men) 3 Stooges 4 Noble Truths 4 Seasons 4 Directions The 4 Agreements The 5 Precepts 5 senses 5 Hindrances 6 foot under 6 Flags over Texas Motel 6 7 Factors of Enlightenment 7 Habits Snow White & The 7 Dwarfs 7-11 The 7 Wonders Super 8 Motel The Whole 9 Yards Nix Nine Frankenstein (OK, that's a cheat) The 10th Insight The Big 10 The 10 Commandments Top 10 September 11th, 12 Steps 12 Days of Christmas 12 Disciples 12 Steps to Curing eMail Addiction 38 Blessing 100th Monkey 10,000 Things

oops, somebody stop me!