What is a Quafaie?


Quafaie (pronounced: kwa FAY) are fantasy creatures that exist in the fantasy writing of Hugh Kemeny, and are created by him. They are primarily in Hugh Kemeny’s Black Phoenix short stories...

To learn more, read this post: What is a Quafaie?

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

Those of you who look at my blog will have noticed I have not posted for a while, that is because I have been travelling central Canada (Ottawa, Montreal and now on to Toronto). I missed the last 2 HNTs as I was preparing to travel about two weeks ago, and was in Montreal last Thursday.

I flew to Ottawa on Sat 24 May, train to Montreal on Tue 27 May, and train to Toronto Tue 3 June (today).... the automobile has been somewhat lacking this trip - other than to and from the airport, and with family in Ottawa. But that's fine by me, save the environment :)

I've not been online much as my internet access has been spotty, and when I have connected it was more to check email than to blog.

I survived 3 days in Ottawa (May 24-27) with my Gran. I didn't do much there other than unwind.
My week in Montreal was what I was looking forward to (May 27 to June 3), even though I did not make it to many museums, and it rained nearly half the time I was there, I enjoyed it. A lot of walking, some shopping (including buying the game PervArtisty - a Charades / Pictionary game with sexual innuendo), and enjoying Rue St. Catherine in the Village.

I spent 4 hours wandering the unpaved, beaten paths on Mount Royal - see my next HNT for some of what I did ;-)

Montreal was also a chance to meet up with some friends, to relax, and just enjoy life as it comes. So I do not regret missing out on some things.

Toronto will begin getting back into the swing of things, I hope, as I am doing some correspondence / distance learning courses and have now fallen behind. My plans in Toronto have mainly been to meet up with friends. I'm not all that keen on doing much of the tourist thing, though I think I will be hanging out in the gay village most of the days.

I return to Calgary on Sunday, but don't expect the update of Zen-a-day to appear that night, I've unfortunately have an early morning, all day meeting, with work the next day.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Zen a day - May 22

Monday 19 May 2008
If you have attained something, this is the surest proof that you have gone astray. Therefore, not to have is to have, silence is thunder, ignorance is enlightenment.
- D. T. Suzuki

Tuesday 20 May 2008
The very act of observing disturbs the system.
- Werner Heisenberg

Wednesday 21 May 2008
Realization doesn't destroy the individual ane more than the relection of the moon breaks a drop of water. A drop of water can reflect the whole sky.
- Dōgen

Thursday 22 May 2008
There is nothing I dislike.
- Lin-chi

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Zen a day - May 18

Friday 16 May 2008
America has Zen students in the past, has them in the present, and will have many of them in the future. They mingle easily with so-called worldlings. They play with children' respect kings and beggers; and handle gold silver as pebbles and stones.
- Nyogen Senzaki

Saturday 17 May 2008
My heart
that was rapt away
by the wild cherry blossoms -
will it return to my body
when they scatter?
- Kotomichi

Sunday 18 May 2008
I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough.
- Diogenes

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Zen a day - May 15

Wednesday 14 May 2008
One day Lin-chi was out begging and came to the door of a rich family. He said, "Another bowl more than usual, please!"
An old woman came to the door and said, "What a vulgar, greedy creature!"
Lin-chi said, "I don't see the slightest sign of food - where id the vulgarity and greediness?"
The old woman shut the door in his face.
- Zen mondo

Thursday 15 May 2008
Between our two lives
      there is also the life of the
            cherry blossom
- Bashō

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Zen a day - May 13

Tuesday 13 May 2008
Kindness is more important whan wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.
- Theodore Rubin

Monday, May 12, 2008

Zen a day - May 12

Friday 9 May 2008
The best things in life are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties in your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Saturday 10 May 2008
Count no day lost in which you waited your turn, took only your share, and sought advantage over no one.
- Robert Brault

Sunday 11 May 2008
The Buddha asked Subhuti: "When I got supreme unexcelled enlightenment, what did I get? Did I get supreme unexcelled enlightenment?"
"No, Teacher," Subhuti answered. "You did not get anything when you got supreme unexcelled enlightenment."
"That is right, because if I had gotten anything," the Buddha said, "then it would not be supreme unexcelled enlightenment."
- Zen mondo

Monday 12 May 2008
At last I do not know how to draw!
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Zen a day - May 8

Thursday 8 May 2008
Monk: "What is the road of Ummon?"
Ummon: "Personal experience!"
Monk: "What is the Way?"
Ummon: "Go!"
Monk: "What is the road , where is the Way?"
Ummon: Begin walking it!"
- Zen mondo

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Zen a day - May 7

Tuesday 6 May 2008
White butterfly
   darting among pinks-
     whose spirit?
- Shiki

Wednesday 7 May 2008
Water doesn't wash water.
Gold isn't changed for gold.
- T'en-t'ung

Monday, May 5, 2008

Zen a day - May 5

Friday 2 May 2008
Thinking neither of good nor of evil, at this very moment, what is your Original Nature?
- Zen koan

Saturday 3 May 2008
Here in midde age my heart has found the Way,
and now I dwell at the foot of the mountain.
When moved by the spirit, I wander,
all alone, drinking the beauty around me.
I walk until I come to a river or lake,
then sit and watch the gathering clouds.
And some day I will meet an old woodcutter,
to talk, and laugh, and never return.
- Wang Wei

Sunday 4 May 2008
A great man is he who does not lose his childlike heart.
- Mencius

Monday 5 May 2008
Therefore, Zen is neither inward nor outward, not being or non-being, not real or false. As it is said, "Inner and outer views are both wrong."
- Huang-long

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Zen a day - May 1

Thursday 1 May 2008
I watched the trees gradually withdraw, waving their despairing arms, seeming to say to me, "What you fail to learn from us today, you will never know. If you allow us to drop back into the hollow of this road from which we sought to raise ourselves up to you, a whole part of yourself which we are bringing to you will fall forever into the abyss."
- Marcel Proust