Ode to Leonard Cohen from a fellow Zen Monk

[lightning]

This surprising piece is in the men's fashion section of the New York Times. A zen monk who is a member of the National Rifle Association!! Is that a new "men's fashion?" Well, he "took his gun and vanished" as the Partisan song says, and left a noble silence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/06/fashi ... ebook&_r=0

[danishdog]

Thanks for this, Lightning. He was a man of many pairts.

Duncan

[AndoDoug]

A man of many aspects indeed - but this is pretty stunning. Cohen did extol the virtues of the militaristic routine at Mt. Baldy, but I can't quite extrapolate that to being a member of the N.R.A. Can anyone confirm this report?

Cohen had an office nearby, and we spent the afternoon brainstorming about how to revitalize the monastery now that our teacher was dead.

“What if you put in a rifle range and get a bunch of young guys up there?” Jikan (L.C.) said. “Man, if I were 15 minutes younger, I’d join you.”

Yes, rifles. For all the self-satisfied liberals who want to claim him as one of their own, I’m sorry, but Leonard Cohen belongs to everyone. Once, when we were waiting in the lobby at the doctor’s office, he said: “My National Rifle Association hat came in the mail today. I looked at the tag. I couldn’t believe it: Made in China!”

After I rearranged my jaw on my face from its descent to the floor, I said, “You’re an N.R.A. member?”

He kept staring straight ahead. “Let’s keep that between us,” he said.

[lightning]

Field Commander Cohen long ago wanted to be a cop, the biographies tell us. Sometimes he sent out the raven instead of the dove.

[Jean Fournell]

Folks, I don't mean to "kill the flame" of your party — only: that's a zen monk speaking about a zen monk.
(But let's keep that between us...)

Sometimes it is called "grandmotherly love":
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... rly%20love

"You can understand all of Buddhism, but you cannot go beyond your abilities and your intelligence unless you have robai-shin, grandmother mind, the mind of great compassion."
Eihei Dogen

https://buddhismnow.com/2013/06/30/gran ... a-st-ruth/

Never trust a man who "don't like to see / Temptation caving in"

[MaryB]

I loved reading this personal and revealing article - thank you Thelma.