Jack on May 20th, 2009

A two-fer: a physical tuneup and more importantly, a spiritual tuneup. On April 29th I started having pains in my upper right abdomen. Because I knew I could get test results quicker at the emergency room, I went there the next day when the pain increased. I expected it might be something like gallstones, since [...]

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Jack on November 8th, 2008

“Great events never have minor omens. When great evil occurs, great good follows.” So says Nichiren, founder of the largest sect of Buddhism practiced in the United States. While it would be an overstatement to characterize the entirety of the Bush administration years as great evil, there certainly has been plenty of it. Greed, lies, [...]

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Jack on October 13th, 2008

A little later than I would like, but still I have to let everyone know that the new and improved Eagle Peak Press website is now up and running. The hook on which I want to hang this publisher hat is in honor of the inscription of the Dai-Gohonzon on October 12, 1279 and the [...]

Continue reading about More Shameless Self-Promotion

Jack on October 10th, 2008

What news will come from the MastersButtheads of the Universe today, a continuing fall in the global economy perhaps? Maybe the MBAs should have “learned to play the guitar,” as Mark Knopfler suggests, instead of learning to play the market. At least then the suffering we are enduring would have been limited to our ears [...]

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Jack on September 29th, 2008

Not today, but hopefully this week, the new and improved version of the Eagle Peak Press website will become available at a browser near you. On the site will be an Arts Showcase for SGI members to post prose, poetry, visual art and music. But I will let the site speak for itself. Check the [...]

Continue reading about Upcoming Events at Eagle Peak

Jack on September 23rd, 2008

Obama will tell you it’s Bush and his buddy McCain that helped make the current money morass happen. He is not entirely wrong but he is not entirely right either. Congress facilitated the mess by repealing the Glass-Steagal Act that kept the insurance, investment and banking businesses firewalled from one another. Institutional investors, including the [...]

Continue reading about Financial Fallout and the Blame Game

Jack on September 11th, 2008

About 7 1/2 years ago, my wife felt frustrated that she had not received a promotion she had applied for. Everyone (her coworkers and associates) were surprised when someone else got the job instead of her. She worked for the Department of the Army then, before retiring in 2004. As Buddhists we recognize that sometimes we [...]

Continue reading about A day to remember, 9/11

Jack on August 8th, 2008

I promised an update on priorities within a week in the recent post, Making decisions. So here it is: I am focusing on writing a sci-fi book next. The story will be about the withering away of the military industrial complex and its replacement by the multinational Entertainment-Food-Cosmetic Consortium–sponsors of extreme reality TV. Which will [...]

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Jack on August 2nd, 2008

Thirty-one years ago, among other reasons, I began practicing Buddhism to make better decisions. Actually, not just to make better ones but to decide period. I had no difficulty seeing alternatives but real difficulty choosing among them. Over the years I have become better at it but from time to time it still comes back to [...]

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Jack on July 12th, 2008

For those whose loved ones are there now or who suffer after effects from time they spent in combat, Iraq and Afghanistan remain an immediate concern. For others, like myself, the conflicts are an abstraction. The sufferings of the soldiers and the civilians do not pain my psyche. I have to remind myself again and  [...]

Continue reading about Iraq, Afghanistan and the American Psyche