A little Xmas shout-out to my main boys and girls!

Thanks lads




http://host.oddcast.com/api_misc/1083/thankyou.php?do=download&md5=9ef3b52995150c322bac19cd7853da15

I Love it. Well done Lise!

(I've never danced so well, in my life! ;-) And great to see my fellow Admins here as well!!

Move like Jagger...what stars

I have a few more home-boys and home-girls who oughta be in pictures . . . and might be, soon . . .

Lise wrote:

Thanks lads

It really is pretty good! I will have to show it around - maybe add it to my résumé LOL

.

My computer is steam-powered, but I did manage to get your greeting, Lise. As I said for years when a military history book dealer, "Mini Tanks." My wife has studied and followed pre-patriarchal spirituality for decades, and around this house we really revel in the Winter Solstice. White lights everywhere. Good holidays to all.

(Note on pre-patriarchal wives: I was long ago at a Sangha meeting when others were saying how delicate it was to tell friends and family they were practicing Buddhists, the shame of it all. When the group came to me, I told them that we were going to sacrifice a goat on the patio at midnight, and that my wife found Buddhists kind of wimpy.)


[Unauthorized admin graffiti by Lise on George's post:] Well done, sir. Every Sangha meeting needs a heaping spoon of cayenne to cut through the treacle and tapioca.

Merry Solstice to you, and bonus link for the revelries:

http://host.oddcast.com/api_misc/1083/thankyou.php?do=download&md5=a1e004811d511fa7c289faeb397a6aee

cheers,
Lise

:-) Thank you, Lise and team. for the admin and the dancin. (-:

Anne, did you say . . . "dancin'?

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Who are these awesome elflings? Forum prize to the first one who gets all the fly boys/fly girls right.

Lise wrote:

Anne, did you say . . . "dancin'?

http://host.oddcast.com/api_misc/1083/thankyou.php?do=download&md5=e640734e80723607f175f98f4028528c

Who are these awesome elflings? Forum prize to the first one who gets all the fly boys/fly girls right.

Hmm....not sure about all five, so I'll let someone have a crack at the forum prize :-)

brilliant

3 are very quick images.

I have inside info so someone else must get the prize

Ohh, good one Lise! James Ford and Josh Baran are unmistakable! The central person in many images may be Chisan--or Howard? The images are just too blurry for me to tell. The next image would, logically, be Anne--but I have not met her in person or seen her photograph, so I can't say. The 5th, mystery guy image is likewise, someone I don't recognize.

I look forward to the answers!

Oh dear Kozan,

I am sending over in time for Christmas,long and short sighted specs, and a copy of my latest book

100 best excuses for mendicant monks

Chisan, thank you so much! I accept this as your confirmation that you are, indeed, the central dance star in Lise's latest video!!!

I think it is the other ones that win the prize!!

:-) Hi Lise!

I definitely said dancin, as one of the arduous responsibilities of you and your elfin team.

Hmm...I see that Kozan is uncharacteristically trying to throw sand, snow or oofle dust in our eyes...but I will have a shot at 'name that elf':

Anne There is a new one and your name has been mentioned by Kozan

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:o) Have a "Rad" Christmas, yourself, CMH! Nice legs, nice moves, and I see you've have had your hair cut for the occasion...

James and Josh I recognise but not the other members of your elven retinue. C'mon, spill the magic beans!...

This is a mugshot of yours truly (after I blotted out the height-measurement on the wall behind me)...

:-)
Good lord Anne,

You seem to be going backward in years !

You must be concocting some pretty special elixirs in that garden of yours.

I can see why Chisan is always so keen to get his hands on your produce.

Better get an order in myself ! :-)

Stan you never change you are supposed to be guessing who is in the video!!

Anne I have told you many times it is OK for a girl to be tall, 6ft 10ins is fine it suits your personality, Tall girls can so easily be bossyboots the likes of Stan and I would never be rude or argue.

But enough i have signed a document not to tell so 1 more try

:-) Fee Fi Fo Fum...I am also keen to get my hands on that Cornish pixie Chisan. I will be over with my seven-league boots...and I'm not talking football (oops, soccer!)

...Before the police catch up with me on the above count ~ Kozan, I apologise for having libelled you. (-:

Oh alright Mike,

My eyes are not what they were but I`d guess at a certain James and Joshas possibles.

Happy now ?

Stan it is the others or the other 2

Anne forgiveness is required sending up by courier Cornish scones and Rhoddas clotted Cream

O.K,

Maybe a younger Jiyu, Mark and Isan ?

Stan



Stop smoking the weed man

Michael

That was a very long time ago.

More than some people can say .....man !

Hey Howard,

Long time no see. Really looked like Jiyu in one of those old fotos of her.

Then again, which vid are we talking about. The other one`s got the really
young looking girl...about thirty ? You telling me that`s Lise ? Surely not !

Everyone seems to be getting younger. Anne, Kozan...I`d swear he`s wearing
short trousers in that schoolboy avatar he uses. You ever going to point that
camera the other way instead of at your wife ? Just for xmas ? If you look
really young, I`m going to freak out. Talking of which,..did I ever mention that
Jiyu took acid ? just the once mind.
Must be xmas reminiscing time.... or something.

Just for you Stan

A new xmas avatar of me offering the sacred cheezy. Did ya smile?

Xmas offerings all.

H

Ahem, if I may have the attention of those who aren't focusing properly on the question at hand: this is the video for which a prize if offered if anyone can guess all five dancers.

http://host.oddcast.com/api_misc/1083/thankyou.php?do=download&md5=e640734e80723607f175f98f4028528c

Kozan and Stan have jointly contributed to the body of knowledge by correctly naming Chisanmichael, Josh and James Ford.

I prolong this suspense in the hope that someone who logged time in the earliest days of the Zen Mission Society will identify the other two. Earth to Mark? Mokurai? Jisho? Any of you should be able to solve it

Humming the theme to Jeopardy,
Lise

p.s. I am not thirty, Stan, but I thank you for that implication. I have a drink now and then but I've never actually "smoked weed" or "dropped acid" or any of that stuff, so . . . maybe that's connected somehow Just sayin'.

Lise wrote:

Kozan and Stan have jointly contributed to the body of knowledge by correctly naming Chisanmichael, Josh and James Ford.

I prolong this suspense in the hope that someone who logged time in the earliest days of the Zen Mission Society will identify the other two. Earth to Mark? Mokurai? Jisho? Any of you should be able to solve it

When all five dancers are on screen it does look like Peter (Keitetsu) Norton on the far right.

And so it is! We figured that was the only way we'd get him on the forum, don't you know

Keitetsu--here--at last?

Well done Lise!!

Well, it was past time for another "Monks in Hell" reunion, wasn't it? Except this time it's "Monks in Elf Shoes".

I can hardly wait till St. Patrick's Day. Timothy Schomberg doesn't know it yet, but he's going to lead a chorus line of high-kicking leprachauns . . .

i need to rush out and buy a green velvet outfit.....

Well who is the last person then?

Nice to see your face too Howard

:-) Lise, can we have a clue? Has the mystery elf posted on the forum? Has she posted recently? (-:

especially for the our friends over there this is where I live watching it I can see why it is in Cornish peoples hearts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dX7iLilW-A

Hey Howard,

Loved the avatar...... and yeah, I smiled a lot !

That Avatar is so you Howard.....must be `cause it is you...duh.
The Buddha like head with the smiling eyes. The hand in `holding cheesy`
Mudra. Ever cryptic.

You held aloft the cheesy....and I understood ! I claim to be cheesy
ancestor Nr 1 from hereon .

Thanks for putting it up. I really hope you keep it on.

All the best to you and yours for xmas.

Josh,

"i need to rush out and buy a green velvet outfit.....

That`s really blown your Avatar awhile for me ! I just see the green velvet.

Josh meets the Dalai Lama...in green. Josh at the socialite dinner party...
springs out from behind the door...in green. Love it.

I always thought that humor was the fifth Noble Truth.

Best wishes for xmas.

Anne wrote:

:-) Lise, can we have a clue? Has the mystery elf posted on the forum? Has she posted recently? (-:

Ok, a second clue. Yes and yes

Green velvet suit ...Phaw! Its the hat and socks I'm after.

Duly noted, Mark. This makes holiday shopping for you so much easier, and for Josh with his green suit. He lives in New York and will blend right in. Not sure about you though!

Ok. I must now reveal that the mystery elf in the latest video is none other than . . .

our own Myozen! Doesn't she make an awesome elf? And she looks like kindness itself

I'm still mind locked at the thought of Mark dancing in only a green Hat and socks. Talk about sticking out in a dance line up.

Step away from your imagination folks. Yeah, you too buddy. Just keep moving along..

And You, Lisa, don't even think about it.

very good fun
Also Lise thanks again for setting up the forum and keeping it going.
i think you have helped a lot of us have a place where we can sort out a piece of our pasts.It has for me been very helpful,continuing to hear other peoples stories and how they have coped .
I think without this forum and others like seeping zen a balance would be missing,and in many ways we might feel isolated.
The other way of looking at it for me is seeing that many people on this forum and other places have been touched by something positive inside themselves,and they have certainly not lost what they believe in.
I am sure it must be quite taxing keeping it going, I keep thinking we have said it all we got things of our chests and what is next,however from me a great thank you for allowing us to voice our views.

Of course it would not be Christmas with out the usual present,yours was sent early ( surface mail) this time double the portion of specially fermented martini cocktail and the last Dorset pie from the cupboard

Stan Giko wrote:

Everyone seems to be getting younger. Anne, Kozan...I`d swear he`s wearing
short trousers in that schoolboy avatar he uses.

Actually, Stan, I'm just now completing the first draft manuscript of my next book:

Zen Is Eternal Youth

I have been under intense pressure to complete this work--in no small part from those grocery store clerks who have repeatedley demanded to see my ID, whenever I have attempted to buy a bottle of wine!

The book is primarily a presentation of a series of principles and (the resulting) causal dynamics.

The first is: Always live in the present. Or more precisely, keep the center of your life-gravity, in the present. If you identify inordinantly with a particular time or place in the past--or (paradoxically) dis-identify with a particular time or place--you will age accordingly.

But most of all, the secret of eternal youth is to heal existential misunderstanding and trauma, back into awareness itself. Of course, this requires some effort. But more importantly, it requires an outrageous, over the top, sense of HUMOR! (or humour, as the case may be ;-)

My publisher has restricted further comments until after publication. But, since she does not visit this site, it is quite possible that I will inadvertantly fail to comply with her wishes ;-).

Lise wrote:

Ok. I must now reveal that the mystery elf in the latest video is none other than . . .

our own Myozen! Doesn't she make an awesome elf? And she looks like kindness itself

Yay! The mystery is solved!! Myozen certainly does make an awesome elf. My conviction, from the time when I first met Myozen, in November of 1969, was that she was, indeed, 'kindness itself'!

And this was proven over succeeding months and years.

Chisan wrote:

very good fun
Also Lise thanks again for setting up the forum and keeping it going.
i think you have helped a lot of us have a place where we can sort out a piece of our pasts.It has for me been very helpful,continuing to hear other peoples stories and how they have coped .
I think without this forum and others like seeping zen a balance would be missing,and in many ways we might feel isolated.
The other way of looking at it for me is seeing that many people on this forum and other places have been touched by something positive inside themselves,and they have certainly not lost what they believe in.
I am sure it must be quite taxing keeping it going, I keep thinking we have said it all we got things of our chests and what is next,however from me a great thank you for allowing us to voice our views.

:-) Goes for me too, Lise! (-:

:-) Bravo, Myozen, for thus boldly venturing out into the forum!

In divulging active principles in his secret of eternal youth, Kozan wrote:

The first is: Always live in the present. Or more precisely, keep the center of your life-gravity, in the present. If you identify inordinantly with a particular time or place in the past--or (paradoxically) dis-identify with a particular time or place--you will age accordingly.

But most of all, the secret of eternal youth is to heal existential misunderstanding and trauma, back into awareness itself. Of course, this requires some effort. But more importantly, it requires an outrageous, over the top, sense of HUMOR! (or humour, as the case may be ;-)

:-) Speaking for the other side, I can also recommend face-exercises, selling ones soul to the Devil, and a hidden portrait to take the flak! ;-)

Anne wrote:

:-) Speaking for the other side, I can also recommend face-exercises, selling ones soul to the Devil, and a hidden portrait to take the flak! ;-)

Dang! Why didn't I think of that?! ;-)