{"id":2011,"date":"2010-04-11T08:09:58","date_gmt":"2010-04-11T12:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=2011"},"modified":"2010-04-11T08:09:58","modified_gmt":"2010-04-11T12:09:58","slug":"everyday-dharma-challenge-the-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=2011","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Dharma Challenge: The Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

After completing “The Colbert Healthcare Challenge<\/a>“, where I read the now horribly irrelevant 1018 page House healthcare bill and shared what little I learned with Buffet readers, many asked what was next. I had never received so much feedback and support as I did when I undertook the challenge of reading that monster. This caused me to realize that much like when reading a book, watching a television show, or seeing a movie, people liked it when the main character actually does something. Since I\u2019m the closest thing to a main character that The Magical Buffet has, I thought, well I better not just rest on my laurels, I had better do something. Thankfully, a package from Quest Books <\/a>arrived with just the thing I was looking for.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>“Everyday Dharma: Seven Weeks to Finding the Buddha in You” by Lama Willa Miller. I’m always interested in learning more about different spiritualities, I had already been struggling to develop some sort of meditation practice, and it took me more than seven weeks to read the House healthcare bill. Sold! I decided that the next thing I was going to tackle would be going through Lama Willa\u2019s book day by day, and sharing the results of each week with everyone here on The Magical Buffet.<\/p>\n

I’m extra excited about this project because by some incredible luck the author, Lama Willa Miller<\/a>, has agreed to offer her thoughts about each of my weeks! How does a Lama respond to references to Kathy Griffin’s suck it philosophy? We’ll soon find out.<\/p>\n

Now I should take a moment for full disclosure. First, I have actually already completed all seven weeks. It made more sense, and makes things more convenient for a busy author (That would be Lama Willa, not me.) to have it all at once to look at. So I’ll be publishing one a week, but yes, this won’t be in “real time”. Also, I feel I should point out that I am fairly familiar with Buddhism. I’m by no means an expert, but I know more than some. Lama Willa comes from a Tibetan Buddhist background, I’m more knowledgeable about Zen Buddhism. I have more of a preference for Japan\u2019s Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism than Tibetan Buddhism. Lastly, I am horrible at meditating. Just awful. This makes my affection for Zen extra especially funny and wrong.<\/p>\n

With all that out of the way, there is nothing else left to say but to stay tuned for Rebecca’s “Everyday Dharma” challenge! Buddhism may never be the same!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"