This last week, I've spent working on Charisma, but I've taken a step back from the manuscript itself to rework and replot the book. It's still got the same overall design and the same direction and conclusion, but many of the details along the way had to be adjusted once I wrote a rough version of the first third or so. These things happen; it's a good thing. It means I'm getting a handle on the book by way of the concrete details I have for it already -- that whole "in the trenches vs. from 30,000 feet up" thing.
I don't feel the purpose of Buddhism is to subsume others, or to make them over in our image.
One of the real headspinners I ran up against when reading about Hua-yen Buddhism is the idea that things are the same because they are different.
Discussion: "If you will conceive of a Buddha, you will be obstructed by that Buddha!"
"Your true nature is something never lost to you even in moments of delusion, nor is it gained at the moment of Enlightenment." A discussion.
The overwhelming majority of Western fiction that tangles with Buddhism comes out looking flat-flooted and foolishly literal.
Gut wisdom and creativity, examined.
Zen wonkery: on the idea that all things are enlightenment incarnate.
On using Zen Buddhist notions of time in writing SF&F.
What Zen taught me about writing SF&F, part 1.
We might as well have narratives that make sense of the universe in constructive and nurturing ways.
On the disconnect between the highest and most refined forms of spiritual guidance, and the day-to-day suffering people have.
More notes on writing SF&F, as a Buddhist- and Zen-influenced author.
Distraction or recreation? On the meaning of fun.
More about Buddhism's most misunderstood concept, "emptiness".
Or at least, free your Guy, and the rest will follow. (On "Free Guy" and some thoughts related.)
In a story that spans multiverses and multi-selves, do we even need to talk about a "self"?
If you meet one on the road, you know what to do. Right?
When you are faced with a world this chaotic and nasty, is the only sane response to reject it wholesale?
The one thing about Zen and Buddhism that most stood out for me: the idea that everyone's already enlightened and just doesn't know it yet.
On how the dharma is for doing, not talking about.
On the absolute primacy of the present moment (part 6,312).
On "the world of demons" in Buddhist study, and other things in it that are routinely misunderstood.
"I keep thinking," my friend said, "that if only I'd done more, we wouldn't be in this mess we're in now." Were they right?
One of the things Buddhism tries to get you to recognize within yourself is how all the things you are aren't "you".