FOREIGN SUPERMARKTS
One of the great joys/challenges of doing what I do is negotiating foreign supermarkets. Or markts as they seem to be called in many countries in Europe.
My friend Robin has an apartment in Amsterdam that he rarely uses and has kindly allowed me to stay here. It's like having my own swingin' bachelor pad in the city. But a bachelor needs to eat breakfast. So I had to go hunt down some foodstuffs.
The big supermarket chain in The Netherlands, or at least here in Amsterdam, is Albert Heijn. You don't pronounce the J. It's smaller than most US supermarkets but about the same size as the ones in Japan. At least in Japan, though, I could read the packages. Here I had to guess. I figured that "roomboter" in a yellow package was probably butter. I was right! I also got some cereal and some halfvoole melk, which I believe to be 2% milk. I'm guessing "halfvoole" is "half whole" and therefore half the usual fat of whole milk, therefore 2%. Deductive reasoning! Or something...
They say — somebody says anyway, I can't remember who (which may be relevant) — that one way to avoid becoming senile in your old age is to never get into a rut. You've got to keep changing your habits and not get stuck in routines, apparently. If this is true I ought to be in good shape. It's pretty intense when even basic things like figuring out what's edible become problematic. I suppose our ancient ancestors had to do a lot of that, though.
Friday I'll be in Paris. Then the following week I'm in Berlin. Leonard Cohen took Manhattan first and then Berlin. But I'm starting with Paris.
The rest of my schedule is at this link. There are still a bunch of things you can participate in. So if you're in Poitiers, Berlin, Munich, Bielefeld, Östringen, Essex, Antwerp or Manchester your plans are already made!
See ya!
(Here is a video of some cats I stayed with in Nijmegen, Netherlands)
Posts
307 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 307 of 307I'd say Harry's avatar is spud-tacular.
Couldn't agree more, begorrah.
Regarrahs,
Harrah.
(CAPTCHA: headdy)
Gesundheit?
"Voynichation said...
and
how
love
them
i"
awww
you
sweet
little
bodhisattva
rip
their
guts
and
hang
them
out
to
dry
i
do !
you are sorta getting there, the rest is closer than usual
a
lie
is
neither
white
nor
hot
but
a
lie
for
the
trouble
it
brings
or
avoids !
a
lie
is
neither
white
nor
hot
but
a
lie
for
the
trouble
it
brings
or
doesn't !
a
lie
is
neither
white
nor
hot
but
a
lie
for
the
trouble
it
brings
or
not !
let's
shed
a
l
i
t
t
l
e
t
e
a
r
for
the
horizontal
outwitted
by
t
h
e
v
e
r
t
i
c
l
e
e
r
I'm a little shocked that so many at treeleaf are ready to ban praxis. Brad struggles with the woolier commentors here but resists the urge to censor. I feel Brad's instincts are sound. Jundo is having problems telling the truth.
If Harry can switch avatars, so can I.
(actually just switched to using Google account, buy hey)
Jundo said:
"Now, I have been told by someone I trust that some or all of this "Praxis" thing may be an attempt by some folks connected there to create a "Chet II" incident just to "get us". I hope that is not true."
Shame on you Jundo. You know very well it's not about "us". It is about YOU.
People conspiring to create a single internet identity so as to attack Treeleaf from 'over here'?
That's pretty whacked out thinking. Why would someone even openly speculate something as silly as that? (Yeah, that's probably why).
Jundo, seriously, calm down dude and consider refraining from wildly and carelessly casting accusations. Your head is not in a good place around this trivial internet nonsense.
Regards,
Harry.
"I'm a little shocked that so many at treeleaf are ready to ban praxis.'
you
cannot
sustain
the
illusion
of
doing
something
useful
and
be
open
i
suppose
that's
what
religion
is
about
really
the
illusion
of
doing
something
useful
and
it's
all
a
bloody
waste
of
time !
what's jundo
fighting
for
what
are
you
fighting
for ?
Anon @ 10:28, why is that so shocking?
A blog post back or two there were people here practically BEGGING Brad to ban An3drew.
This kind of thing happens.
Blogger an3drew said...
"i suppose that's what religion is about really the illusion of
doing something useful and it's
all a bloody waste of time !"
NOW you're getting it, grasshoppah!
Are you mocking me, Harry? I don't actually enjoy having a potato for a head and torso, so cut a guy some slack. It's not like I chose this body of mine.
It's damned near impossible to sit properly.
I'd like to sincerely apologise to potato-headed people everywhere.
Really, what was I thinkin'?
Regards,
H.
"a blog post back or two there were people here practically BEGGING Brad to ban Andrew."
years ago i was on a a particularly rough and violent ug krishnamurti board and a dutchman there (who hated ug krishnamurti, i think he was a jk fan) couldn't stand me, but since ug himself was such a rough diamond they couldn't in all conscience kick me off, but the dutchman had lent money to the board owner so he put the "hard word on", the owner actually closed the message board rather than betray his principles which was fair enough i suppose !
this
dutch
man
paid
me
the
highest
compliment
of
my
life
"i
was
worse
than
ug
krishnamurti!"
even
just
to
read
my
stuff
frightens
people
because
it
draws
them
into
a
level
of
deconstruction
they
are
not
used
too !
". So he or she, cream or no, is doing more good out there every day than any lawyer or stockbroker or president of the United States can ever do in their lifetime"
A Treeleafer comparing Jundo to a
cop on the take.
a
stupid
analogy
attempting
to
wipe
the
shit
off
your
shoes
and
making
a
bigger
mess.
An3drew
wake
up.
this
is
reality
voynicher, in your own words
"a
stupid
analogy"
An3drew et al
Have I missed something? My 'The Horizontal Autist' was written without anything Treeleaf in mind.
Did someone take it as a comment of some sort?
UG Krishnamurti:
"All gurus are welfare organizations providing petty experiences to their followers. The guru game is a profitable industry; try and make two million dollars a year any other way."
No comment taken. The words speak
for themselves.
i do not experience the world like
An3drew, nor he like i. your
lumping is a form of violence.
HARRY!
Thanks for losing the hoodie.
Mr Potato Head originated at the Hasbro toy company, which is in the town next to mine, Pawtucket RI. In 2000 the state of Rhode Island appointed Mr. PH 'tourist ambassador' and put up 47 life size Mr/Mrs PH's around the state.
Gawsh, I'm sounding like Mysterion with the link & all :(
Zen.
Hmm. Dunno. I kinda liked the bug-eyed hoodied Harry:
Q "What is the Buddha-nature...?"
A "Three heads and eight arms"
Mr Potato Head was one of the only toys I can recall playing with and enjoying as a kid. I didn't have many toys. In fact, I can only recall a clockwork train I never ever played with, a robot that scared the shit out of me, and a couple of 'corgi' toy cars that I bought with my pocket money. I don't recall any birthday parties, either - not one. You all should feel very sorry for me.
we do
I guess parents in America had Dr. Spock and Mr. Rogers to learn from. Who was it in the UK? Oh yeah, Charles Dickens. Sorry 108 :(
Ironically enough, my 4 year old daughter has a plush Charles Darwin doll we got at London's Natural History Museum. :-p
What! Mr. 108: Are you a Prince or something??
Growing up I had only a spoon, to eat with, to dig with, to use to fashion small mud effigies of "toys" I might play with before it rained, and I cried myself to sleep over their loss.
Did I mention I had to sleep in a rolled up newspaper in the middle of the street?
That's AWFUL, Mr Pitiful! Poor poppet.
OK...Here's a link to Bradley Warner's talk what he gave in Bonn, Germany to the AZI people there. Another bunch of fucking idiots. I'm KIDDING!!! ~ ~ ~ Or AM I???
http://www.zen-bonn.de/audio/Teisho_Brad_Warner_08_10_2011.mp3
Doug - I don't know that you should be admitting to corrupting your daughter with Charles Darwin dolls, not a religious web-site. You could teach her to stick pins in it, maybe?
untitled
it wasn’t that long ago a blood-dry surf
reclaimed the sea
a snail wept its foot
Annaliese Michel broke the bread of herself
poor soot
hem-scratched to the brine
and the fringes of Fayette
Maine tucked-up flotsam-
Emeline’s love-froth
in the earth
@Anon108: I'm way ahead of you. ;-)
Nothing brings the family together like a religiously-intolerant bonfire.
ForAn3drew
Dylan Thomas;
"And over the sea wet church the size of a snail
With its horns through mist and the castle"
and
"the knock of sailing
boats on the net webbed wall"
You have plagiarized some images,
not that there is any wrong with
that.
I'm confused.
Dear "Jundo":
I see that you posted a direct reply to something I posted here yesterday.
Do you need me to produce other examples of you posting on here, arguing and trying to refute, within the last 4 months or so?
I can't believe that I've somehow found myself in an inter-forum back-and-forth with some guy who claims to be a real-deal zen master! And I'm looking better than he is! Amazing.
- The Fake Praxis
PS - You're ugly and probably stink like garlic, sweat and urine.
"No comment taken. The words speak
for themselves.
i do not experience the world like
An3drew, nor he like i. your
lumping is a form of violence."
I'm not sure if you were the poster An3drew was referring to when he mentioned @4.45 someone's reply to the poem.
I have no idea what you mean by 'lumping'.
If you think that the poem was based on the assumption, or was attempting express, that I could experience the world like Andrew, then you have a very limited grasp of poetic expression, amongst other things.
Written words don't speak for themselves, especially the sort of words in poems. Readers make them speak. Something along the lines of Blake's fools not seeing the same tree as a wise man.
Rather than your morally outraged posturing in 'violence', I prefer think in terms of intimacy and creative play.
The mirror speaks for itself.
To Voynicher
"You have plagiarized some images,
not that there is any wrong with
that."
Er, no I haven't. What, did you google the poem I wrote and found one with the words 'snail' and 'sea' in proximity?!
If there is any similarity, it's perhaps in the rhythm and tone.
Voynicher
Perhaps it's the air in here - but you smell a bit Jundo - or Treeleafy.
'The mirror speaks for itself'
Well the metaphor's having a go, at least!
Relax some, and have a good one.
Go suck a cock. Go suck a thousand cocks.
You are not worth the effort.
To avoid confusing An3drew, I'll use this handle instead rather than 'For An3drew' - as the above was addressed to Voynicher and not An3drew.
I don't know who is who. Up is down. Black is white.
Did Jundo post here and I missed it? I'm sure he has but I can't be troubled to run through all the posts and check it. I'm terribly busy.
" What, did you google the poem I wrote and found one with the words 'snail' and 'sea' in proximity?!"
No, I googled the 2 women who died
of starvation.
What's with "?!" Is that a poetic
thing or an autist thing?
Question asked without any
prejudice or violence.
*********************
*********************
"People conspiring to create a single internet identity so as to attack Treeleaf from 'over here'? That's pretty whacked out thinking. Why would someone even openly speculate something as silly as that? (Yeah, that's probably why)." ~ Harry
*********************
*********************
Hello Harry,
To me it appears to be some kind of ad hominem strategy. I think Jundo finally had nothing left so he resorted to discrediting my character, making me appear to be some disgruntled former Treeleaf member (Chet?) or worse, a whole group of Treeleaf haters who are out to "get them."
Suddenly everything I said over there is irrelevant, I was just try'n to "get them."
I would say that it was a clever tactic, if it weren't a case of losing by winning.
The Treeleafers seem to have bought it though, hook, line and sinker.
To Voynicher who wrote:
"No, I googled the 2 women who died
of starvation.
What's with "?!" Is that a poetic
thing or an autist thing?
Question asked without any
prejudice or violence."
It's a hardly worth mentioning it kinda thing.
Glad to find you were intrigued enough to google the women. Sad echoes, yet shared.
Praxis,
You're a clever and entertaining guy. I dig your style, son. You were running circles around those yokels.
Anon don't fawn all over that guy, it's embarrassing.. He probably isn't even Praxis and the treeleafers certainly aren't yokels.
mysterion is the only yokel around here.
"Anon don't fawn all over that guy, it's embarrassing.. He probably isn't even Praxis and the treeleafers certainly aren't yokels.
mysterion is the only yokel around here."
Whatever you say, Jundo.
instead of 'home leaving'
pr'haps 'blog leaving' is the coin of this realm, indra's internet
at treeleaf
it might be treeleaving is in store
after all, zendergardners do grow and one can only repeat a grade or be held back for so long elezentary, my dear Watson
leaving
leaving well enough alone
_________________________
Now about this particular hardcoreblog/comment section? even with a moderator I feel like I've arrived at the intergalactic bar from Star Wars
who are these people these odd beings? this glimpse of life I don't encounter in my day to day
The actual blogposts are quotidian. I've developed a taste for it, the running stream of subconsciousness (comments section) and the simple statements of quite ordinary facts, observations, and experiences as relayed by Brad
Exzenplifies the clockworks of mind quite well.
"who are these people these odd beings? this glimpse of life I don't encounter in my day to day"
a glimpse of nothingness, best seen
holding the hand of the Absolute
on the other side of Nothing
a glimpse of somethingness, best seen
holding the hand of your Mom
on this side of Everything
a glimpse of this
imagine this
replying to that dylan thomas quote, my reply is here
258
posting as a self-educating process
this board has been amazing for me, really sorted out and improved my grasp of some areas that i am weak and and also am strong in, it can be and actually has been the same for some of you if you approach it the right way, like "what has this to teach me?"
enlightenment is a card house !
so i am saying that enlightenment is just not possible and by extension jesus and buddha never existed but hui-neng could have !
so
i
really
could
be
the
seventh
patriarch
i
am
abit
gobsmakced
but
i
suppose
it's
not
really
a
big
deal !
i
think
enlightenment
is
like
holy
a
nice
idea
but
it
just
doesn't
and
can't
happen
in
practice !
"What time is it day I may sleep hour on hour
or all the time, what
a consideration, you pretty good, what a question forwards in a circle the other way around it may have gone, the thought of what to do a tree sits and birds come there's a word for each leaf, and each wall and a word for nothing"
Regarding the straight line to
infinity and visual processing.
Perhaps that works for you. Blind
normals have to take a different
"self" educating path.
As for enlightenment both Gudo and
Brad have stated that it's no big
deal - fireworks for your zen
flavored ego.
The mirror works both ways for
Jundo and Praxis.
What mirror?
A darvish pointed to a reflection of the moon in bucket full of water and exclaimed "look how beautiful the moon is!"
al-Hallaj replied "unless there's a boil on your neck, why not just look up at the moon in the sky?
What's comes before knowing a pleasant visual form, no matter what you call it?
The held up for Praxis and Jundo is
a metaphor for seeing the aspects
in ourselves that we split off and
hide from consciosness which we
react strongly to in others.
The mirror in the boil meataphor
involves diect seeing into our
self nature. Why look at a
reflection of what is, like online
words, when reality is right before
your eyes?
What comes before knowing a
pleasant visual form? - a surge of
dopamine.
you
blind
normals
are
all
the
same!
"Nirvana and Samsara are identical, the what's the point of practice?"
Easy, how will you know if Nirvana
and Samsara are identical if you
don't practice? Do you just take
someone's word for it?
Don't limit words and then argue over those limits.
t
h
i
s
i
s
t
h
e
m
o
s
t
c
l
u
s
t
e
r
f
u
c
k
e
d
c
o
m
m
e
n
t
s
t
h
r
e
a
d
i
h
a
v
e
e
v
e
r
s
e
e
n
o
n
b
r
a
d
l
e
y
'
s
b
l
o
g
.
Don't limit words and then argue over those limits.
Time to make the donuts!
"Feels like standing at a graveside. Or looking out at the backyard after a tornado blew through."
If Treeleaf is like a tornado
scene, this place must be a
nuclear meltdown.
It's time for me to appear and clear shit up. This is out of hand.
I don't think anyone forsaw me coming back right here, right now, as comment 278 on this blog article about "supermarkt," but it is what it is. I'm back and I'm about to put these false teachers in their place.
"As for enlightenment both Gudo and
Brad have stated that it's no big
deal - fireworks for your zen
flavored ego."
i was looking at a video of brad's talk in germany last night and was interested to see his approach about god,that is buddhism and christianity are roughly equivalent which i agree with
so enlightenment roughly equals holy
i'm not saying there are no enlightenment experiences or visions of god so to speak
but
there's
no
enlightenment
or
holiness you
could
argue
the
poet
wang
wei
was
enlightened
but
even
so
there's
a
shortfall !
it's
just
too
difficult
and
death
delivers
it
anyway
as
regards
gudo
and
brad
i'm
going
to
pull
rank
as
the
SEVENTH
PATRIARCH !
"Maitreya said...
It's time for me to appear and clear shit up. This is out of hand."
just
the
usual
anonymous
fiction!
i
am
real
and
not
a
fiction
which
you
all
know
which
is
why
you
get
upset !
so
sorry
there's
no
enlightened
state
for
you
to
retreat
to
but
actually
none
of
you
have
got
to
first
base
anyway !
i'm
not
100
miles
ahead
but
a
million
miles
in
all
directions !
I
sometimes
jack
off
and
eat
the
gooey
issue
straight
out
of
my
hand !
PULP FICTION was just on. I haven't seen it in a long time. Interesting flick.
Take your meds and be a good boy.
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
Where have you gone, Mr. Potato Head?
"Voynich the idiot for real said --
Take your meds and be a good boy."
i
do
that's
what
gives
me
the
edge
Gay wad eater.
You are NOT real.
"You" are a figment of your own imagination.
You are a fictional character in a make believe world.
some
real
zen
in
the
style
of
the
old
stories
and
koans
(minus
the
voynich!)
and
you
all
run
like
bloody
rabbits
don't
you !
btw
voynich
doesn't
mean
bullshit
but
bullshit
disguised
as
sense
with
a
certain
competentcy
which
i
guess
you
may
aspire
to !
Hey Mysterion,
Do you happen to have a copy of THIS BOOK that I may borrow?
“Andrew's Dad said...
Gay wad eater.
You are NOT real.
“You” are a figment of your own imagination.
You are a fictional character in a make believe world.”
look, go right back to the beginning, like you are not my father, whose being fictional ?
until you are not afraid to be yourself on this board you are just pissing in the wind?
you are just going around in circles stuck on this problem of having to fake yourself on here (ed. the hardcore zen blog)
for
god's
sake
anybody
with
half
a
brain
can
see
this !
do
the
old
stories
have
replies like
“ gay
wad
eater? ”
where
are
you
in
hell
being
munched
on
by
hungry
demons
why
not
walk
out
of
the
cave ?
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Hey Mysterion,
Do you happen to have a copy of Buddha and Christ: Nativity Stories and Indian Traditions (Studies in the History of Religions) [Hardcover]
Zacharias P. Thundy that I may borrow?
Unfortunately, no. But I'll keep my eyes open on the USED BOOK scene here in the Bay Area.
Thanks for the heads up on this.
For 75 years, scholars have suspected that Jesus is a copycat [Hellenized] Buddha. (It is obvious).
Nothing new here, move along, move along...
let's
call
being
enlightened
or
holy
not
being
a
hypocrite
or
personally
inconsistent!
not
so
glamorous
but
truer !
see !
anonymous
a
big
step
forward
would
be
to
say
why
you
can't
have
your
real
identity
on
this
blog
you
don't
have
to
give
everything
away
but
indicate
why !
it
would
be
cathartic
for
you
break
down
the
shell
walls
of
the
encasing
prison
you
have
built
yourself
into !
I added a second page scan to the Jesus wanna-be Buddha posting.
cheers,
Chas
say it isn't so
“ For 75 years, scholars have suspected that Jesus is a copycat [Hellenized] Buddha ”
imo
this
map
(ed. 1/6th of the way down)
says
it
all
religion
is
intellectual
property
and
easily
transferrable
and
people
are
not
very
original
basically
easier
to
copy
than
work
something
out !
An3drew, Enlightenment is when the
Self reaches right through thr
fiction and grabs the Self
or when the self becomes the no-
self upon the Absolute on the other
side of Nothing
or the moonlight radiates in
reflection off a platupus'
glistening back
or infinity .......
"mr. voynich prison"
enlightment is being partly out of the prison, we never get completely out and actually as you get older health issues can be a prison more complete than the old one !
a
word
of
advice
i'd
just
forget
the
"self"
vocabularly
it's
not
helpful
Considering how caustic this message string can be I hesitate to comment, but seeing my old pal Mr. Potato Head writing with reckless abandon gives me courage, so here goes:
Never wrestle with a pig
You both get dirty and the pig likes it!
A mantra all sides can claim as their own.
Cheers!
Leo
The pig defiantly like the mud. That is crystal.
Dear commentators;
Hell hath no limits, nor is
circumscrib'd
In one self place; but where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be.
Hell hath limits and is circumscrib'd
infinities
radiance
permeates all
don't get too
depressed
: o )
the
southern
cross
on
a
white
blue
sky
of
a
rainy
dusk
gusty
cold
wind
from
the
south
zen
and
sitting
are
senseless !
Today's entry on Mike Cross's blog, MINING ASHVAGHOSHA'S GOLD -
"Yesterday in preparing today's comment I was moved by a lingering sense of outrage. Nothing new there, then.
A man to whom the highest status had been accorded, when called upon on a big stage to exercise wisdom, conspicuously failed to exercise wisdom. Instead Alain Rolland, refereeing the Rugby World Cup semi-final match between Wales and France, reached impetuously for the red card, only 20 minutes into the game, thereby killing the enjoyment of millions of rugby fans around the world.
It is customary in rugby for players to show respect to the referee. Hence when the Welsh skipper Sam Warburton was shown the red card he did not make a song and dance of complaining to the referee, but simply walked off the pitch.
But showing respect to a person in a position that commands respect, and really appreciating a person as an individual, are not necessarily the same thing.
[...]
What I am striving, through my anger, to express has been expressed much more eloquently and intelligently by Richard Feynman, for example, in this Youtube clip.
[...]
...he illustrates well my point that showing of respect and real appreciation are not necessarily the same thing at all. Showing of respect is cheap. Real appreciation costs more.
[...]
Coming back to today's verse, the point is that Nanda's action of bowing as Aśvaghoṣa describes it was not done out of respect for the Buddha's uniform, or out of respect for the Buddha's position as top dog in a brotherhood of monks. It was done out of great, deep, real appreciation, because the Buddha had taught Nanda a way of working that Nanda found in his own experience had actually worked for him.
That is why Nanda was able to bow to the Buddha sarveṇa kāyena, with his whole body -- because there were not two Nandas. There wasn't a spiritual Nanda in conflict with a material Nanda. There wasn't a religious Nanda in conflict with an ordinary Nanda. There wasn't an emotional Nanda in conflict with a rational Nanda. There wasn't a mental Nanda in conflict with a physical Nanda. Following the Buddha's teaching had caused Nanda to allow himself to be totally himself."
[...]
- With apologies to MC for the edits.
It's not that Mike's comment is a perfect expression of the truth of some particular situation. Or, god forbid, that it proves somebody or other right. As I see it, the point is more that his comment is the comment of a person trying to understand what it might be for a normal human being to have honestly integrated the path of dukkha nirodha - the cessation, or restraint, of suffering - resisting the urge to comply with some easy, but dishonest, received notion of Buddhist 'compassion' or 'right speech'.
Whatever...what he writes is food for a thought or two.
god
the
cackle
of
schizophrenics !
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