1 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:17,680 Good morning everyone. So today is the solstice and I 2 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:20,240 wanted to talk a little bit about that. 3 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:29,000 The solstice has become huge, whether you call it Christmas or 4 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,360 Yule or whatever else has become huge. 5 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:41,720 And the question to me is why? And you're a lot of comments 6 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:46,480 this time of year defending the phrase happy holidays that say, 7 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:51,120 oh, well, there are multiple holidays by multiple religions 8 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:56,120 this time of year. They all celebrate midwinter. 9 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:05,960 Do they? Or are all of them, or the vast 10 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:13,560 majority of them, expressions of the single holiday, Yule or 11 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:19,160 solstice, that arose in northern Europe and Scandinavia? 12 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:26,560 Because if we look at the history of Christmas, it wasn't 13 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:28,920 celebrated at all by the early church. 14 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,640 They could care less what date Jesus was born. 15 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:43,000 Then Mithrasm and other Roman religions started to celebrate a 16 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:49,120 festival called Saul Invictus around December 25th, the return 17 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,200 of the sun. And Christians began going, 18 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:55,960 yeah, that's when Jesus was born. 19 00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:01,240 We're going to celebrate that. And when Constantine took over 20 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:06,240 as emperor, he codified that as being the day to Christmas. 21 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:11,880 But it never became popular. It was celebrated as a mass at 22 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:16,640 church, just another feast day. It never became popular until 23 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:23,560 Christianity began moving into Northern Europe, the British 24 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,720 Isles, in Scandinavia, and encountering these celebrations 25 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:34,400 of Yule, which were so important to the people that it was the 26 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:38,560 biggest stumbling block to Christianity converting people 27 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:44,480 as of suddenly Christian Christmas became, Oh no, this is 28 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:46,720 one of our most important holidays. 29 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,120 And all those things you're celebrating, they're actually 30 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:57,080 expressions of Jesus's birth and the return of light. 31 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,400 And all of this is, is very important. 32 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:01,960 You're right, but you're just focusing it wrong. 33 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:11,000 And then Judaism moved in the same direction and said and took 34 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:19,600 a very minor feast, Hanukkah, and said, Oh, well, all of our 35 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:25,360 neighbors are celebrating, so let's make this a bigger thing. 36 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:33,600 And we don't have huge celebration around Hanukkah, but 37 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:43,400 it's all in response to this huge Celtic, ghoulish Norse 38 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,560 celebration of Yule, of the return of the sun. 39 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:58,640 And when you look at a bloom or the world, you see why it took 40 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,760 that long to become important to the major religions. 41 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:12,920 Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, all occurred 42 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:17,800 in tropical climates. All arose in tropical climates, 43 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:23,000 or subtropical at least, where, yeah, even if they noticed the 44 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:27,080 Cottage of the Seasons and the fact that, Oh yeah, it got an 45 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:34,160 arc earlier at the end of the year, it wasn't a huge thing. 46 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:42,640 It didn't go from 12 hours of light to four hours of light. 47 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:49,600 It went from 11 hours of light to 10 hours of light, so the 48 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,280 celebration of the return of the saw, the longest night of the 49 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:58,160 year, wasn't that big a thing and still Hinduism. 50 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:01,040 There are a couple of small festivals that are celebrated 51 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:04,880 around this time of year, occasionally holy. 52 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:10,080 The Festival of Lights falls this time of year, but it's on 53 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:14,720 the lunar calendars if it falls anywhere from September on. 54 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:24,200 Buddhism has really nothing this time of year until it moved into 55 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:29,280 China and Japan, where again you're N enough that suddenly 56 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:32,080 this longest night of the year becomes important. 57 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:38,240 So we saw the Chinese Buddhist or Chinese and Japanese Buddhist 58 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:43,440 started celebrating the Buddhist enlightenment in late in the 59 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:47,040 year. Makes sense. 60 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:53,600 Enlightenment lights come, we won't like to come back, but it 61 00:05:53,600 --> 00:06:02,320 all comes back to this concept of solstice in places where 62 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:08,200 solstice was actually important. And now it's being kind of 63 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:14,920 exported across the world, I think especially of South 64 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:19,560 America and Australia, where they're celebrating the longest 65 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:25,360 night of the year and the return of the sun in the middle of 66 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:30,160 summer when it's hot as hell outside and the sun is shining 67 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:37,400 most of the day. But we've said, Oh, no, put up 68 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:42,320 greenery, lights and candles to celebrate the return of the sun 69 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:52,280 as so they do. And honestly, I, I just started 70 00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:54,720 thinking about this last night. I'm like, I don't know where I'm 71 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,440 going to go with this, but it's one of those things that just 72 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:04,800 tickles my mind to think about that here. 73 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:10,720 The only place it was really important was the far north of 74 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:17,640 Europe, Scandinavia, across into Eastern Europe, et cetera, where 75 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:25,080 the IT was very true that at the winter solstice it was dark. 76 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:32,840 The Scotts Gaelic name for December is the Blackness. 77 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:42,720 So yes, they're going to come up with festivals that suffer 78 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:47,360 around dithering as community because you want community 79 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:51,680 around you when it's dark outside, that celebrate feasting 80 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,640 because you want to pack on the pounds for the winter when it's 81 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:01,360 cold outside. That celebrate bringing greenery 82 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:08,920 inside to remember the green tiles, that celebrate light 83 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:14,800 lighting fires, keeping fires going because it's friggin dark 84 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:21,240 outside. And when we really think about 85 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:31,880 it, this, this little celebration has become, I would 86 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:36,840 not hesitate to say, the largest worldwide celebration that there 87 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:41,919 is and been exported to other religions. 88 00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:45,480 Other religions have kind of go, oh, yeah, that's a good idea, We 89 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:47,000 need to celebrate that. Yeah. 90 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,480 But other than the fact that, yes, in the northern latitudes, 91 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:02,520 it was fairly important to celebrate as community, to stay 92 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:07,040 as community, and to look forward to the returning of the 93 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:11,920 light and to getting out of your cramped little house that 94 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:17,760 contained you, your family, your neighbors and your cattle and 95 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:25,880 back out into the fields. What is it that we are so, 96 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:32,520 so-called to celebrate? Because if you look at the 97 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:39,920 summer solstice, there's not nearly the emphasis on it kind 98 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,120 of makes sense. You're at the longest day of the 99 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,720 year and now you know, oh, days are going to start getting 100 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,200 shorter. Not a big thing to celebrate. 101 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,160 You can celebrate the fact that, hey, this is a wonderful long 102 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,400 day, but there's always in the back of your mind. 103 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:58,440 Now they're going to start getting shorter again. 104 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:08,280 I think in in Buddhism, we probably would more likely 105 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:14,040 emphasize the equinoxes, that equality between dark and light, 106 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:20,000 that balance. But at the same time, if we look 107 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:26,160 at Buddhist teaching, it's also important to celebrate the 108 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:32,400 solstices because there are times that darkness is going to 109 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:39,320 have dominion. There are times that things are 110 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:45,120 going to be bad, but it's important to celebrate the fact 111 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:50,560 that those times are fleeting. They're passing. 112 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:57,640 They may be here now, but even now, in darkness, we can 113 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,400 celebrate the fact that light will return. 114 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:08,520 I was always bothered in my religious studies days by the 115 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:12,560 fact that whenever we studied and remember, I was in College 116 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:15,880 in the late 70s so we still called the class primitive 117 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:19,400 religions. But whenever we studied 118 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,320 primitive religions, we were told that, Oh yes, they were 119 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:28,720 doing these celebrations to bring back the saw. 120 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:35,480 And the logical part of my mind was going, well, wait a minute. 121 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:39,600 There had to be a time that they started. 122 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:46,600 And when they started, somebody had to remember that the year 123 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:51,880 before, before they started these celebrations, the sun and 124 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:55,880 still come back. And, you know, there were a 125 00:11:55,880 --> 00:12:02,040 couple of Druid priests going. I'm not going to celebrate. 126 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,640 See what happens. Oh, damn, the sun still came 127 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:06,880 back. What do you know? 128 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:10,840 These people lived close to nature. 129 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:16,720 That's why I tend to think that all of these celebrations were 130 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:20,800 more celebrating the fact that we've reached the depth of 131 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,360 darkness and now the sun is coming back. 132 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:30,240 Rather than chasing away darkness or seeding with the sun 133 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:33,280 to come back. They were observing the fact 134 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,720 that, hey, this is going to happen. 135 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:39,960 We've passed the longest night, it's time to celebrate. 136 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:53,320 And that, I think is reflected well in Buddhist and even 137 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:58,480 Taoist, which is a huge influence in Zen philosophy, 138 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:07,040 that yes, when you encounter darkness, it is passing, it is 139 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:13,720 going to go away and be overcome by light. 140 00:13:14,680 --> 00:13:19,240 And when you get to summer solstice and everything is 141 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:23,560 bright and beautiful, that's going to go away too. 142 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:30,920 Remember that these things are all fleeting, that they pass. 143 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:42,040 And so to me as a Buddhist priest, the centrality of the 144 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:49,200 winter solstice is not about the fact that we've reached the 145 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,440 darkest night and are now heading toward the light. 146 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:59,440 I should say it's not about the the dark light portion of that 147 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:03,040 statement. It's about the we've reached in 148 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,640 our now passing. It's about the transition 149 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:15,200 because Buddhists observation of reality. 150 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,960 And remember, that's to me, that is where the Buddha is coming 151 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:23,640 from. He observed that things pass, 152 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:26,840 that things move from one state to another. 153 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:34,520 The centrality of this time of year is in the recognition that 154 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,840 this is one of those peak points where it's easier to see the 155 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:43,360 transition. It's easier to see the movement 156 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:49,280 from say, December 10th to January 10th in the light of the 157 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:56,280 sun than it is to see the movement the change in daylight 158 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:01,400 from July 10th to August jump. You don't really notice it 159 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,080 there. Was it time to notice that 160 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:13,560 things do change and move not only in nature, but in our own 161 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:18,760 lives? So with all that being said, 162 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,480 Happy Solstice. Enjoy the return of the light. 163 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,240 Just remember the darkness is going to return too. 164 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:32,080 Now, it's not a bad thing. If it weren't for darkness, 165 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:34,560 there'd be no time to rest and recover. 166 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:37,640 How could we do much of that anymore? 167 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:42,680 But that's what this time of year is about, is resting and 168 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:50,200 recover. So enjoy your rest, get ready 169 00:15:50,200 --> 00:16:00,080 for spring. Serge put into the chat Winter 170 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,640 Summer solstices are verted between the hemispheres, the 171 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:08,480 December solstices, winter in the north and summer solstice in 172 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:12,520 the South. Yeah, as far as naming goes, 173 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:18,080 they did after colonialism or as colonialism collapsed. 174 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:21,920 They did basically in the Southern hemisphere say fuck 175 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,960 this, we're not going to call it winter solstice anymore because 176 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:26,840 it's not for us. It's supper. 177 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,320 But we still do. They still celebrate all of the 178 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:36,040 festivals around winter solstice at the summer solstice time. 179 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,080 My. Mom said the reason that they 180 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,960 moved from Corpus Christi was she was Christmas shopping one 181 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:47,000 year and she realized that all she had on was done booty shorts 182 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,920 and bikini top. And she was like, yeah, that 183 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:55,080 felt really unnatural, so. And I'm sorry for being on my 184 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:56,840 phone. I was looking for a post that I 185 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:00,280 had made a few years ago after doing some research about, I 186 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,600 think it was Pope Julius in the six hundreds. 187 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,920 They were, you know, lots of colonialism, and he was newly 188 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:12,480 elected or whatever it is you call the selection of a Pope. 189 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,440 And there were lots of people from different religions who 190 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:21,000 were, you know, cohabitating in the same general space. 191 00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:25,720 And there was lots of fighting going on because of whatever 192 00:17:25,839 --> 00:17:32,520 winter holiday people had. So in the using the audacity of 193 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,120 the Catholic Church, he was like, OK, well, let's just call 194 00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:37,280 it December 25th. And then everybody can celebrate 195 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:38,560 whatever they celebrate on that day. 196 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:43,480 And I thought that was really interesting that especially a 197 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,800 Pope would say, OK, well, you know, we don't need this 198 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:48,560 fighting. Let's everybody just get along. 199 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:53,160 I'm calling it this day. So there's lots of, you know, 200 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:55,440 bad stuff in there. But I just thought it was cool 201 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,560 that he was like, OK, everybody just come down and celebrate 202 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:01,640 your own holiday. Which is basically I there's a 203 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:05,920 meme that pops up on my feet every year at this time saying 204 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:12,440 Happy Solstice, the time when the whole world celebrates 205 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:16,880 paganism and drops their own drops their clinging to their 206 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:18,440 religion. Right. 207 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:27,240 So, but yeah, there is also interesting that the only real 208 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:32,640 opposition to December 25th being celebrated as Christmas 209 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:39,040 was from the early fundamentalist Puritans who were 210 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:47,200 able to read the Bible and go. This obviously was not December. 211 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:55,080 It it was springtime because the lambs were being born and you 212 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:59,120 all got it wrong. So don't celebrate this hawkish 213 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:10,760 Catholic thing and let go of it. And then of course, my husband's 214 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:15,440 family was Jehovah's, or still is Jehovah's Witness. 215 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,200 And so he grew up not celebrating it before. 216 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,240 Essentially that same reason that, hey, there's no reason to 217 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,840 celebrate Jesus's birth, that that wasn't important except 218 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:32,400 that it brought in it to the world and we don't celebrate 219 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:37,720 this world. So yeah, the and as always, 220 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:42,440 whenever I hear that Christmas is being banned and always like, 221 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,360 yeah, the only people who've ever abandoned are are 222 00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:52,320 Christians, so. I don't know if this is a 223 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:57,280 product of the Solstice or my age, but as clearly my friends 224 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:03,320 and I, it turns into more of a nostalgic slash reminiscent 225 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:04,840 time. I guess. 226 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:08,440 Kind of preparing for the end of the year and thinking back and 227 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:12,760 thinking ahead of what you want. But I'd always thought there 228 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:17,280 should be a holiday at the end of February because I'm OK at 229 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,560 this time of year. But the end of February, when 230 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,920 there haven't been leaves on the trees or any of that for like 231 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,680 months, and it's still brown and the snow, if there is snow, is 232 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:29,960 all dirty, that's when I'm ready for slump a day. 233 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,880 Yeah, it's funny you say that because my boss, we had a 234 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:43,080 holiday party at work last Sunday and my boss said was 235 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:44,800 arguing for exactly the same thing. 236 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,800 He's like, Christmas needs to be moved to the end of February. 237 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:51,000 So we've already got Thanksgiving this time of year. 238 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,480 That takes care of that. We need something the end of 239 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:55,720 February because that's when people need trick up. 240 00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:01,200 Yeah. So 1 holiday one could make for 241 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,640 February or end of February would be seed bank holiday or 242 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:10,400 anyone that's into gardening and that that's that's one I would 243 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:11,840 claim. Thanks. 244 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,480 Good morning. And thank you, Sensei Glenn, for 245 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,760 your talk. Before Buddhism, I was fully 246 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:30,320 engaged in Panzism as a philosophy and, you know, living 247 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:35,200 with nature, kind of a Dallas Buddhist thing. 248 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:40,720 So the solstices and the equinoxes weren't so much a 249 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:44,880 celebration, but kind of a recognition and a time just to 250 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:46,600 say something nice to your friends. 251 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:53,760 Because they could actually be marked by the Earth's position 252 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,360 within the orbit of the sun, which caused the change in light 253 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:02,840 or whatever, depending on your latitude, as opposed to the kind 254 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:07,360 of random date they chose of the Earth's orbit to be New Year's 255 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:12,080 Day. So I've always kind of, my wife 256 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,800 celebrated Christmas and so I kind of threw in the winter 257 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:19,240 solstice with that. So we had kind of a longer week 258 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,840 of celebration. But I do appreciate your 259 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:26,120 thoughts this morning. Thank you and happy Solstice to 260 00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:32,320 everyone. You were talking about how we 261 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:37,600 don't live so close to nature anymore and how holidays like 262 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,520 this and equinoxes are a good reminder that things are 263 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:48,440 temporary. But I think as women, because 264 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:53,720 our very nature is cyclical, that we're more used to that. 265 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:59,440 And I think that most of my women friends are very much 266 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:05,640 affected by as much as they like, you know, the darker time, 267 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,640 you know, where you rest more and you make soup and, you know, 268 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,960 you read, which I do a lot of in the winter. 269 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:17,400 It also is they're very much affected by, you know, people 270 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:21,720 need vitamin D too. And I think it helps a little 271 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:28,320 bit to have that reminder in the form of any sort of a holiday 272 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:33,080 that our nature as humans is cyclical too. 273 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,840 I have a girlfriend of mine who gets seasonal affective disorder 274 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,440 really bad. And from the day of the autumnal 275 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,160 equinox, she posts on Facebook every day like this, many days 276 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,120 until the return of the light. And honestly, I find that very 277 00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:49,760 helpful. Like, I don't even really, I'm 278 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,880 not really even affected by the seasonal depression, but I 279 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,320 always really enjoy seeing that. It's a good reminder for me. 280 00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:01,680 As someone who claims Buddhism, you know that we're moving 281 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:03,600 along. Yeah. 282 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:17,760 No, I really, I really like the and as far as paganism dealing 283 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:22,080 real, real ones that I'm familiar with are kind of 284 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:27,160 European paganism, the Druidic traditions in that area. 285 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,920 But the fact that they celebrated not only the quarters 286 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,720 but the eighths. So it wasn't just the solstices 287 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:39,560 and the equinoxes, but the Vin point in between each of those. 288 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:46,760 And I think the reason is that continuous reinforcement of 289 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,880 things are moving along. So we get to February 1st. 290 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:56,440 And in Celtic paganism, you celebrated the Feast of Bridget 291 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,280 because it's that midpoint in winter. 292 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,640 And it's like, no, we need to celebrate the fact that, hey, I 293 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,640 know it's still cold outside, but it's getting better. 294 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:22,880 There is a statement in Irish Christianity that the light 295 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:30,120 returns on Christmas, the ice breaks on Saint Bridget's Day, 296 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:35,200 and the rivers flow on Saint Patrick's Day which is basically 297 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:43,200 solstice, midpoint and equinox. So this is that recognition is 298 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:48,200 just very phrasing it as Christian remembrances rather 299 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:53,040 than the Pagan. But it is that remembrance that 300 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,320 hey, as we go along, it's important to have that 301 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,920 celebration that hey, yeah, things are moving along. 302 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:06,360 And that is what we we kind of are missing in the midwinter 303 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:11,600 period because we kind of don't have anything. 304 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:17,560 And we are OK Christmas is over now. 305 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:21,560 Eastern April. Wow. 306 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,520 And. That's a long time, everyone. 307 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,240 Takes all the decorations down and everyone. 308 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,360 Yeah, again, my boss swears that he's not taking your Christmas 309 00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:37,560 lights down at work until March. He's like, these are winter 310 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,080 lights. They're green step for the 311 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,240 winter. Yeah. 312 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,840 So I was just curious. I had a question, do you do 313 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,880 people tend to walk clockwise up quanter clockwise around the 314 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,960 temple just out of curiosity? Thanks. 315 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:57,800 In pragmatic Buddhism it don't matter. 316 00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:03,920 In Zen and most other Buddhisms clockwise sun wise. 317 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:06,680 OK. Got it. 318 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,760 Thanks. Yeah. 319 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:17,160 And if we Stephen Bachelor has a wonderful book called After 320 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:27,520 Buddhism where he traces a lot of the teachings and talks about 321 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:32,760 a where they came from and B where they could be going in the 322 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,880 current world. But he does this by talking 323 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:42,200 about the the history of why things are done the way they 324 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:50,760 are. And one of his points is in very 325 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:53,840 traditional Buddhist temples, especially in the Theravan 326 00:27:53,840 --> 00:28:00,800 tradition, the Buddhist statue will always be placed in the 327 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:07,720 West of the temple, facing to the east, because that's where 328 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,880 the Buddha sat, supposedly under the Buddhi tree. 329 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,760 He sat on the West side of the tree facing the rising sun. 330 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:22,640 And Bachelor went on to say this. 331 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:28,920 The Sakya tribe from which the Buddha came were actually not 332 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:33,000 Vedic practitioners at that time. 333 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:37,960 They were some worshippers. And so the orientation was very 334 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,440 important. It was very important to them to 335 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:46,240 know that the Buddha was facing into the sun when he attained 336 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:51,160 enlight because that confirmed the enlight. 337 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:56,640 The tradition has gone on in time. 338 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:04,280 There are some other sects who switch it and put the Buddha 339 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:09,320 statue in the east because now the Buddha having been 340 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:15,960 enlightened becomes the sun to provide enlightened for the rest 341 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:20,640 of us. But the movement tradition is 342 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:28,360 always always been sun wise. So clockwise. 343 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:38,560 A student of mine went to a Zen temple in North Carolina and he 344 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,120 made the mistake of turning to the left when he got off his 345 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:46,760 cushion and the lady behind him slapped him and said we turned 346 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:52,800 right. So there are people who are hold 347 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:57,800 very closely to it. Yeah, thank you. 348 00:29:57,800 --> 00:29:59,800 I appreciate that. It's, it's definitely 349 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:04,800 interesting because then then you could, one could also ask 350 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:08,000 another second question, which would be, would meditation be 351 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,600 better reserved for before noon or afternoon? 352 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,920 Yeah, good question there too. And I think. 353 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:22,960 Whenever I have. Time to sit down. 354 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:23,760 Yeah. Thank you. 355 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,840 Yeah, I think a lot of people do meditate in the morning to kind 356 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:32,120 of start their day. I tend to do it more in the 357 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:38,800 evening to end mine. But again, when is the best time 358 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:40,600 to meditate? Whenever the fuck you can sit 359 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,840 down. Oh, it's got throwing that bomb 360 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:45,440 in there, don't you? You're worse than me. 361 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,680 Hey, Joe did it last time. Yeah, we, yeah, we were about to 362 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:55,080 go for a non explicit talking and so they would come. 363 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,840 Hey, Glenn, thanks for the talk. I was. 364 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,360 Interested in what you were saying about some ancient 365 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:10,600 religion celebrating things on the eighth of the year that 366 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:14,280 still happens today. I don't know how involved in 367 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:19,200 their religion it is, but the Sammy people that live in the 368 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:24,760 extreme north of Finland, Sweden, that area that white 369 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,240 people tend to call Lapland and they call Suomi. 370 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:33,760 I think they celebrate on the eighth because they are to this 371 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,440 day reindeer herders and have been for 10,000 years up there. 372 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:39,760 They they're the indigenous people in that region. 373 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:46,000 And it's important in terms of reindeer herding that you do 374 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:53,200 things on the first day of fall winter or of spring summer. 375 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,320 Then there's also a first day of summer. 376 00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,160 But if you don't start moving that herd on the first day of 377 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:00,840 spring summer, then you're fucked. 378 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:06,400 See, I do it to you, Glenn. And I don't know a lot about 379 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:10,600 their religion, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if there were 380 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:15,280 festivals on the eights where they aren't like actively 381 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:19,480 birthing reindeer or whatever. But when I visited that region, 382 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,840 I was very taken with that tradition and have taken it back 383 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:25,400 here. And so I do a little personal 384 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:30,320 celebration just internally of the first day of fall winter, 385 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:34,240 which is where the aspens are still bright, bright yellow, but 386 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:39,400 they've got snow all over them. And that's just such a beautiful 387 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,720 transition moment that I really like to sit in that. 388 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:48,040 And so maybe even some of the members of your song are 389 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:55,600 celebrating on the eights. Yeah, I think there are 390 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,440 definitely, there are definitely people who still celebrate the 391 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,560 eights. It's still honestly incredibly 392 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:09,240 important to Irish Catholicism. They've simply replaced the gods 393 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:14,680 and goddesses with Christian Saints and put the same day on 394 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:23,000 the eighths or close to them. So yeah, it's still still 395 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,320 important to a lot of traditions, especially I think 396 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:30,560 agricultural traditions because again, if you don't start 397 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:36,720 preparing your land until March 21st, you're probably falling 398 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:39,560 behind a little bit. You need to start getting ready 399 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,320 around February 1st to get it prepared. 400 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:50,880 If you don't do your harvest until done the fall equinox, 401 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:54,480 you're probably running late. Part of good part of your crop 402 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:58,080 is rotted in the field. So yeah, the eights are very 403 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:00,080 important in agricultural communities. 404 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:04,800 They just don't necessarily call them that because it doesn't 405 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,400 fall with the majority religion anymore. 406 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:12,800 It becomes folk tradition. I'm. 407 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,360 Not sure where I'm going with this, which is why it was very 408 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:26,280 easy to let that go right then it it seems that it is an 409 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:28,840 interesting. I guess this is just an 410 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:33,120 observation in Buddhism. I think especially in the way I 411 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,719 practice, I'm very concerned with attachment and aversions, 412 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,719 kind of these intrinsic human qualities. 413 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:48,159 And it seems to me that these solstices kind of marked the 414 00:34:48,159 --> 00:34:53,800 transition of wanting more of something and then mourning the 415 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,600 loss of something, right? Like right now we started being 416 00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,440 like, all right, every day we're going to get more and more 417 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:01,320 sunlight. I can't wait to have just a 418 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:03,200 little bit more and just a little bit more and just a 419 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:08,080 little bit more. And then at the summer solstice, 420 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:09,880 we're like, yeah, we got all the sun. 421 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,480 And then they easily, right. The next day we're like, oh, but 422 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,080 now it's going again, you know what I mean? 423 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:22,680 And then so I think just like in an observation of this is kind 424 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:27,960 of this human cycle of wanting more and never really being 425 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:32,120 satisfied and then mourning the loss of things that are changing 426 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:35,800 and then also not understanding that either. 427 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:37,800 So. Yeah. 428 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:46,000 And I think it's, it is a good point and it to me should guide 429 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:50,400 the way we approach the solstices and equinoxes and the 430 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:59,200 apes, where if we approach them as simply recognition of, then 431 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:04,160 it becomes very different from celebration or morning. 432 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:12,280 It's just the recognition that hey, we've reached the longest 433 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:18,800 night now we start getting more sun and February 1st comes and 434 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:23,160 it's like, hey, we can actually notice now. 435 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:28,880 And March 21st comes, ah, of balance. 436 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:35,560 Then when you're noticing those things, you're sitting in 437 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:39,080 reality. But yes, would you if, if you 438 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:43,920 allow that to move over into attachment and aversion, then it 439 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:51,480 becomes those, those moments of sitting with reality become 440 00:36:51,480 --> 00:37:00,040 instead moments of essentially increasing your own 441 00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:04,520 dissatisfaction. So very good point. 442 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:06,120 Thank you. Well, thank you all for the 443 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:10,800 discussion today. We'll go ahead and close up for 444 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:11,200 the day.