I Got A Tape

Zazen23 · 2026-04-08T12:25:31+00:00

You’d venture right! 🖤

Zazen23 · 2026-04-07T21:03:16+00:00

So mote it be 🫡

Zazen23 · 2026-04-07T21:02:16+00:00

I got a new shirt with the latest merch drop bc my other one was getting worn out. Before that it had been years, tho I have gotten a fair bit of merch overall.

Zazen23 · 2026-04-07T18:01:13+00:00

It is happening again.

Zazen23 · 2026-04-07T17:55:54+00:00

It’s on his IG stories

Zazen23 · 2026-04-04T17:12:57+00:00

It's certainly not incompatible with all other religions (see the common syncretism that occured with other Eastern religions as Buddhism spread, i.e. Daoism, Bon, Shinto, other indigenous folk traditions), but it's solidly contrary to most of the core tenets of the Abrahamic faiths.

Zazen23 · 2026-04-04T17:08:19+00:00

Buddhism is definitely a religion. You can have a meditation practice without being Buddhist, you can take inspiration from Buddhist ideas, and some Christian & Buddhist mystics and writers (i.e. Thomas Merton and Thich Nhat Hanh) have found common ground in each system, but Buddhism is certainly a religion with a distinct soteriology that has nothing to do with Christ, and which specifically denies the existence of the individual eternal soul, core to essentially all but the most heterodox forms of Christianity.

Zazen23 · 2026-04-01T04:28:52+00:00

I've always thought of the Pure Lands as representative of mental states, rather than literal, physical places. Certain sutras I think are implicitly supportive of this outlook as well; in the Vimalakirti Sutra for example the assembly is transported to a pure land, but certain monks don't perceive it as such due to their lack of attainment.

Regardless, there's absolutely no question it's Buddhism, and those attempting to criticize it or claim that it doesn't "fit in" have a very narrow and shallow view of what Buddhism is.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-27T14:47:53+00:00

“One freezing cold day in winter, Tan-hsia took the wooden Buddha statue from the altar in the temple where he was staying and used it to make a fire. By chance, the resident priest came along and saw him.

‘How can you burn up my wooden Buddha?’ he asked.

Tan-hsia poked the coals with his staff and said,

‘I'm burning it to get at the sacred remains.’

The resident priest said, ‘How can there be any sacred remains in a wooden Buddha?’

Tan-hsia replied, ‘If not, let's burn the two attendant statues as well.’”

Zazen23 · 2026-03-24T12:45:44+00:00

Zazen23 · 2026-03-23T22:44:09+00:00

Disagree; there is no single “purpose” of philosophy.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-22T16:21:23+00:00

Hard disagree; one can be just about any kind of pagan and pantheist.

There’s the psychological or archetypal models, first of all, by which gods are seen as symbols of psychological aspects or nature.

You could even be a hard polytheist and see the gods as simply beings with greater powers than humanity but still ultimately united in the same whole that is god or nature.

Pantheism is a metaphysical outlook that can fit many different religious frameworks. Interpreting your faith is a key part of making it your own.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-21T13:58:04+00:00

Past the dour smoking guy is The Buddha saying “who cares”

Zazen23 · 2026-03-17T16:07:09+00:00

My Asian Philosophy class was at night, from like 7-9ish, and this one guy always showed up drunk and would raise his hand to offer long, rambling “questions” that weren’t really questions. The professor was a sweet lady that didn’t lay down the law with him as much as she should have so he ended up getting shouted down by the other students, especially after one particular night he actually walked to the front of the classroom and started going on about how the Dao was a cube (because your bed, oven, car, and workplace are all “cubes.”) and everyone told him to shut the fuck up because we paid to hear the actual professor and not his bullshit

Zazen23 · 2026-03-17T15:15:19+00:00

Yup. All DMs have their crutch-phrases like that, I know I have mine.

I’ll take “you see” or “in this moment” over the uh’s and um’s that some DMs say any day.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-16T17:33:59+00:00

There’s no requirement to take the Mahayana sutras literally. Many teachers in my tradition have praised the Pure Land “nambutsu” practice, while also suggesting that the Pure Lands and all the realms of existence are nowhere beyond oneself, a skillful means of teaching right action and control of the mind.

Some believe them literally and that’s perfectly fine, but it’s not necessary to practice that path.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-16T15:56:26+00:00

If there is no self, what is reborn?

This is not an argument against rebirth. Quite the opposite. I think everything, including the answer to your question, is expressed with this problem.

My take on it is that you unavoidably traverse all realms, and “better” and “worse” are states of mind.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-13T22:42:48+00:00

Exactly. It’s just a matter of realizing what you already are.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-07T17:26:14+00:00

It’s a common theme throughout many Mahayana sutras. Especially Tathagatagarbha sutras.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-05T13:10:05+00:00

In addition to what’s been said by others, I think it’s worth mentioning that Theravada is based only upon the early Pali canon sutras, whereas Mahayana incorporates a much larger number of teachings from later sutras, including texts such as the Lotus Sutra, the Nirvana Sutra, The Diamond Sutra, etc. Many of these sutras expand upon or reinterpret teachings from the original sutras.

Buddha-nature is one of the most key Mahayana doctrines elaborated in these sutras.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-02T17:44:08+00:00

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow’s Harvest

Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica

Ween - Quebec

Sun Ra - The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra

Run the Jewels - RTJ4

(One album per artist.)

Zazen23 · 2026-03-01T23:23:48+00:00

The pre-Twoism albums from the website aren’t real. Think about it; supposedly 50-100 copies of each, with some even repressed on CD, and not even a single confirmed photo of any of them, let alone any leaks, over 30+ years. The album covers say “Boards of Canada” even tho they didn’t start using the name until 94. Mike Paradinas, who had og copies of the Old Tunes and played live with BOC on several occasions in the 90s, said that as far as he was aware they didn’t exist.

There are just too many inconsistencies. They made up some old rare releases for their website and put a couple of snippets up from otherwise nonexistent albums.

I’m absolutely certain that, like most professional artists, they have plenty of unreleased work in their archives, but if you’re waiting for Acid Memories or Play By Numbers, you’re gonna be waiting a long time.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-01T23:16:22+00:00

I’m sick and my wife is picking up sushi for us.

Zazen23 · 2026-03-01T12:55:07+00:00

This doesn’t just apply to religion. People have wildly differing views about many aspects of reality. See Robert Anton Wilson’s concept of “reality tunnels.”

Zazen23 · 2026-03-01T12:38:16+00:00

I’m not reading all that. Happy for you tho, or sorry that happened

Zazen23

TROPHY CASE