Paul Monaco .com

On Thursday, August 23rd I lost my last little buddy. At the age of 14 my precious Tabitha developed blood clots which paralyzed her from the waist down. She was rushed to The Animal Wellness Center but it was clear only one thing could relieve her pain.

Her passing was especially difficult for me as she seemed to represent the last thread that weaved the previous chapter of my life together. In the past 2-years I lost my wife Julie, cat Sylvester, dog Amber and my cats Samantha and Tabitha whom all shared my life simulteneously at one point.

There is a story in the Lotus Sutra, of the Buddha coming upon a crying woman and asked what makes her so sad. The woman tells the Buddha that she just lost her child and hopes to hear words of encouragement. The Buddha simply sits and weeps besides her.

There are times when we simply must endure our pain. The sun will rise tomorrow and life will go on.

Many thanks goes out to the Animal Wellness Center of Vernon and Doctor Donald Aronson and staff for all they’ve done for my little friends through the years. I give them my highest recommendations and strongly encourage anyone in the greater Vernon, CT area to give them your consideration. Their care goes beyond the clinical, treating each patient as their own.

Just a little teaser… The following day, my heart just broke coming home from work without my little furry friend waiting for me. Since Tabitha was a rescued kitty herself, I knew that I just had to turn this poison into medicine and take the opportunity to made some more lives a little better and I visited our local Humane Society. I will tell you of that story another time.

Just a little sign I posted at my cubicle. I’ve been doing my best to follow this priciple and really have seen dramatic changes in the way people respond to me. Here is a PDF version if you’d like to print it out.

Global warming… a topic that often gets me into trouble with the circle I associate with but I really believe it’s just a catch phrase that caught on and the “in vogue” thing to save the planet from.

Specifically looking at warming trends, I think our impact on that aspect of the environment is insignificant compared to natural causes, and in our haste to save the planet we’re not necessarily making all the right decisions. (Do we really want to jump into replacing all our benign incandescents lamps with mercury filled fluorescents?)

That said however, we don’t want to be stupid. As a Buddhist I am all to aware of the simultaneity of cause and effect. How every action we take (or don’t take) has an immediate effect on our environment today and into the future. We should always be aware of our actions and make every effort to not pollute and otherwise have negative effects on our environment. Not in the name of the politically correct buzzword of the day but in the name of simply doing the right thing.

If we simply look at the health of the planet as a whole and stop worrying about only a small aspect of it (like global warming) then we can together make a much greater impact and cross more party lines.

As a Buddhist I am especially aware of my environment and the direct and immediate effect it has on us. Lately I’ve been thinking about the modest 2-bedroom 2-bath townhouse that I rent and thought for one person this is really a lot of space. Of course when I moved in here it was almost too small. With my wife, a dog and three cats I could almost argue the need for a larger space, especially when we entertained guests.

But now it’s just me and my one cat. I’ve been reluctant to move since I’ve been here for so long not only have I grown very comfortable here but also the rent is pretty low considering its size. But as I said, all this space is simply a waste and not economical use of the space. A young couple just starting out could really use this space.

Besides, even though heat is included in the rent it’s a shame to use all that oil to heat a space that’s nearly four times what I need.

So, on that thought I’m going to at least casually look for a new place. In my casual browsing so far, I’ve taken a like to small studio / loft styled apartments in the city. City living is bar far so much more efficient and generally greener then taking up obscene quantities of space and heating / air-conditioning huge homes in the suburbs and rural areas. It’s such a waste.

More to come I’m sure.

There is no need for you to compare yourself with others but instead strive powerfully and cheerfully to develop your state of life, aiming to improve yourself each day. From that struggle will bloom noble flowers of mission, flowers of happiness that are yours and yours alone. Shine as you are, live true to yourself and advance in your own unique way. - Daisaku Ikeda

As I read an article in this months Living Buddhism, this particular passage catches my minds eye. It was not long ago prior to discovering this Buddhism that while on a technical endeavor I could not get out of this thought process. Constantly seeking out what those considered to be on top and attempting to emulate them. Some of these tactics proved useful, while others seemed to have no or negative effects. In the end, at best I could only achieve the ‘almost as good as’ status and never best in my own rights.

The philosophy of Many in Body, One in Mind allows us to to all work towards common goals (One in Mind) while maintaining our own unique individuality (Many in Body). It is the Many in Body, that generates this great strength.

I recently was able to put the individuality aspects of this into play. As many of you know my latest recreational passion is playing The Sims Online. One of the biggest rewards of the game is to establish a popular property with many visitors and to hold a top spot in the games ranking system. Of course I couldn’t help but observe what other top houses are doing and try to out-do them. Fortunately I was able to catch myself before I completely ruined the game for myself and now between the six characters I play I have enough diversity to really keep things interesting for me and to occasionally stir the pot a bit for the other players.

It was important for me to write this thought down as I have seen myself have faint urges to repeat my misguided ways. Now though, I do have an elementary grasp of the Mystic Law and can modify my plans to utilize it for the greater good and hopefully use it to for the propagation of good (kosen rufu). I realize I am still very new to the practice (November 2006) and still have much to learn and I hope these exercises will help me better my understanding of Nichiren Buddhism as practiced by the Soka Gakkai.