I found this post on One foot in front of the other, a “Buddhist” blog authored by Michael, a New Jersey newspaper man (10 times fast 
). You can find the quoted post here.
While reading this, a few thoughts started circling, trying to land. Is my blog a product of my own unbridled ego? Do I just need to be heard above the din? Is this really a “Buddhist blog” or is it more about me craving to be recognized as a Zen Buddhist? Ouch.
Well…probably that and more. But here’s Michael’s post for you to read and I encourage you to read more of his writing. In case you read this, Michael, I am NOT a newspaperman – I’m just a bubba down in Texas trying to put some words together.
But please read on, I’ll address those buzzing thoughts in another post.
Warning: Buddhist blog
I’ve come to hate the designations “Buddhist blog” and “Zen blog.”
What makes a blog Buddhist, Zen or non-denominational, anyway?
I subscribe to several blogs linked to Zen or Buddhism either through self-description or by inclusion in “roundup blogs” that post weekly or monthly synopses of blogs deemed Zen or Buddhist in nature.
On some of these blogs, all that’s done is a lot of bickering over what’s perceived as good or bad in terms of personal practice, teachings, what he said or she said and so on.
Fine. People bicker.
If I don’t like it, I tune out.
If I like it, I keep reading.
I can be awfully argumentative and judgmental myself.
Some of the bickering on these blogs seems to come from the heart of whomever is trying to make the point.
But a lot of it seems to come, in my opinion, from unbridled ego, a need to be heard above the din (sometimes just for the sake of being heard), Read the rest of this entry »
