Zennie

Here's #1000 -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Yeah the Wonderhog would be a cool one. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I vote for Cozumel. Carlos-N-Charlies would rock! -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Matt & I did a horny gorilla -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Hey Michele. Post his response if he sends you one. I'd really be interested to hear what he has to say. Especially an elucidation of the "problems" fun jumpers (as opposed to "no fun" jumpers?) have caused. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Hey Pammi, I'm a little more book-ish, so I'm not all that familiar with good Zen resources on the web. But, as promised, here are some books that would be good (besides Three Pillars already mentioned). "Everyday Zen", Charlotte Joko Beck "Zen Mind, Beginners Mind", Shunryu Suzuki "The Miracle of Mindfulness", Thich Nhat Hanh I have a few others, but they're a little more heavy reading. These, especially Everyday Zen, are good books light on theory and good on practicality. And pyke, you might like "The Tao of Zen" by Ray Grigg. It's premise is that Zen is really Taoism in Buddhist clothing. It traces the historical roots of Taoism and Zen and notes the remarkable conceptual similarities. Very good read. FWIW, I don't really ascribe to any particular religion, although I gravitate toward the Eastern philosophies because I think they most closely match my temperment & view of the world. If you're into labels, I guess I'm more of a philosophical Zen/Taoist/Buddhist than anything. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I believe they are. There's a huge brouhaha over one of the USPA officers handing over the voluntary incident reporting documents that SLV filled out after a tandem fatality. Everything I've heard about SLV and Mikey Hawkes is bad. Hey it's his business and he has a right to run it howevere he wants. And of course I have a right not to give him any of my money and steer as many people as I can away from him. As far as the Gravity Zone goes, I think its run by the same folks who run the Flyaway wind tunnel (which I also recommend if you're in vegas). -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

There is no spoon.... -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Stanza from another translation.... All in the world recognize the beautiful as beautiful. Herein lies ugliness. All recognize the good as good. Herein lies evil. Therefore Being and non-being produce each other. Difficulty and ease bring about each other. Long and short delimit each other. High and low rest on each other. Sound and voice harmonize each other. Front and back follow each other. Therefore the sage abides in the condition of wu-wei(unattached action). And carries out the wordless teaching. Here, the myriad things are made, yet not separated. Therefore the sage produces without possessing, Acts without expectations And accomplishes without abiding in her accomplishments. It is precisely because she does not abide in them That they never leave her. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Tao Te Ching is great. It's short and a pretty easy read. There are several online versions. Here's one. One of my favorite stanzas is: "Thirty spokes meet at a nave; Because of the hole we may use the wheel. Clay is moulded into a vessel; Because of the hollow we may use the cup. Walls are built around a hearth; Because of the doors we may use the house. Thus tools come from what exists, But use from what does not." I love this shit. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I've heard good things about Three Pillars, but oddly enough I haven't read it. I've read a lot of Suzuki, Thomas Merton, Charlotte Joko Beck & Thich Nhat Hanh. I have a pretty sizable list of recommended reading. I'll post it a little later. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Well Zen is very closely tied to Buddhism. This reminds me of the Hui Neng story. I'll keep it short... There was a poetry contest at a Buddhist monestary. One of the best read monks posted the following poem: The body is the bodhi tree. The mind a mirror shining bright. Take care to always keep it clean. And let no dust alight. All the monks were very impressed. Hui Neng, who was illiterate, had a friend write down and post the following response to the poem... There never was a bodhi tree. Nor mirror shining bright. Since there is nothing from the first. Where shall the dust alight? Hui Neng, the illiterate monk, went on to become the Sixth Patriarch of Zen. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Yeah that works too. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

LOL. Most people who know me would probably say "blank stare". That or "stupid grin". -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

FYI (again). I found this article off of fruce's home page. Good discussion of sit/stand as well. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Nothing. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Right you are mountainman! That's basically where it comes from. People who are into Zen sometimes refer to themselves as "Zennies" and I sort of adopted that as my online handle. I've used it for quite a while. Most people at the DZ call me "Ted", but I'll answer to about anything. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Mao? No thanks. More Tao please. Zen & Tao are two sides of the same coin in my book. More a matter of method than outlook. And I'm not so sure about the method when you really get down to it. There is no stream.... -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

FYI there's a nice article about sitfly in the Sept. 2001 issue of "Skydiving". Might want to grab a copy at the DZ if you don't get it. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Weather delays suck when you have a goal set, eh? Come to think of it, weather delays just plain suck. There's this thing... it's called "winter" I believe... that supposedly delays northerners jumps for months on end. Man that would blow or what? Anyhoo, hope the weather presents a few holes for ya. I've been checking weather.com out to see what San Marcos is gonna be like on Saturday. So far so good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Nice haiku! -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Body shots? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I'll look around for you and Snowflake. I'm looking forward to going. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

All the instructors, current and past, who have taught AFP have nothing but good things to say about it. They feel that as a general rule it turns out better, safer skydivers than other programs. I went through it and thought it was a very good program. Of course I have nothing to compare it against. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Eye kin spel reel gud!!!! Seriously, didn't you know that your programs run faster if you remove all unnecessary vowels? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool