Aug2

Olympic gold

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children
grasping at straws-
olympic gold

While watching the Olympics I am reminded of my own childhood where each of us on the playground was a gold medal winner.

Filed under Haiku and tagged , | 5 Comments

About fiercebuddhist

Welcome. I am happy that our paths have crossed. Here you will find various poems, articles and photography. I hope that you enjoy them and visit often. I am currently working on writing “A Haiku A Day” so that I can, perhaps, have enough good ones for publication. If you are wondering what a “Fierce Buddhist” the following declaration should clarify. The “Fierce” in FierceBuddhist I define as “an obligation to do what I can to benefit all sentient beings, not just those close to me or those I agree with. If I see something or someone that is hurting others I must step forward and do what I can to assist them.” In the Army and in the dojo I learned how to defend myself, family and country but that does not mean I endorse the use of force. Two nonviolent examples of Fierce Buddhists that come to mind are Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama. While I do not claim be even close to them I can strive and so can you. Furthermore, my Buddhist name, given to me by Sensei Kubose, is Seiyo. His interpretation of my communication and interaction with him led him to this name. He told me Seiyo means “Fierce Sun.” The sun shines on everyone without prejudices without giving preferential treatment to anyone. This is tough to live up to, as you can imagine, but it sure sets the tone for my life. In Buddhism this is called a Fierce Bodhisattva. I am only on the path to Enlightenment and can only say to be a Fierce Buddhist.

5 responses »

  1. How very different your childhood than mine. We (the 3 siblings) had 2 sports in which we had to participate. Wonderful sports marred for me by the absolute necessity of competition. I heard over and over : “there are two places 1st and last.” We participated in state championships a precursor to the Olympics in skiing. In the summer (and I was raised with horses) we did Pony Club and three day work (part of which is dressage). I loved both sports. With riding what I loved most was horsemanship – caring for my horse. I loathed competition. I learned not many years ago that my sister who was highly competitive was resentful of being sent away to secondary school as she had worked so hard and would have at least made the cut in both sports. She wanted to go to the Olympics. I was glad to be sent away.

    Reply ↓

    • I have heard this many times. I was competitive playing Soccer, Football and Baseball in my youth. Was on the Army Powerlifting team, martial arts , was a sponsored Triathlete and I continued to play soccer competitively until my injuries got the better of me.
      I still exercise as best I can with Wing Chun to stay in shape.

      I encourage my children to participate in sports but I only support them not use it as a way to relive the “glory days.” One child tried a few and prefers a scholarly lifestyle while my youngest thrives on Kungfu and swimming. I am proud of both and hope they enjoy what they do.

      Even though I went to a boarding school I was my only competitor as I just wanted to improve myself.

      Thank you for sharing and I wish you well.

      Reply ↓

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