For those of you who don't know me yet, my name is Daikan Rising Crow. I'm a Zen Buddhist from Williamsport, Pennsylvania and I have severe Cerebral Palsy. Jundo has asked me to post often so that the sangha can get to know me better. I type with my head using a headpointer that I designed myself and use a power wheelchair to motor around town and my apartment. Since zen is found in everyday life, Jundo & I feel that sharing my everyday experiences would be beneficial to others here. My profile has my basic information so there is no need to repeat it here. I will however say that I live in a building which is highly unsupportive to my practice yet sometimes this is my best teacher. Drugs, alcohol, prostitution, you name it, it is here! Buddhism is the last thing anyone has heard of here. So it would be great to make friends of like mind on here too. To all the zen ladies, there's no Mrs. Rising Crow so it is safe to reply to me. Nobody will whack me with a rolling pin for conversing in the Dharma. To all the guys, I'm straight forward about everything. So feel free to talk to me.
So to start, let me share a story that happened to me just the other day. As I mentioned above, my power wheelchair is my only means of moving around at all. So the other day I was returning home from the market and got within half a block of my building when the sky opened up and it started pouring! Now rain doesn't bother me but it shorts out the joystick that controls the wheelchair. Usually it is covered with a plastic bag, but that day it wasn't so water got in it and it shorted out at the worst possible time, bedtime! I always put myself in bed after my caregiver leaves. So as usual I went to drive in the bedroom to transfer into bed when three feet from the bed the chair just stops. I tried to get it to move for half an hour but to no avail. Finally, I was forced to give up and sleep wrapped in a blanket on the concrete floor which is covered by just a thin rough carpet. Needless to say it was horribly uncomfortable! My caregiver returned the next morning shocked to find me on the floor but we both just started laughing at the ridiculousness of life! We found a spare joystick and put it on until we can get it replaced. I'm extremely grateful to be able to move around!
Zen is about being where you are in every moment good, bad,or neutral. I did not like sleeping on the floor, but that is where I was at that moment. I moaned and groaned a bit, but it didn't help. So this is the first except from Zen On Wheels .. More to come soon..........
So to start, let me share a story that happened to me just the other day. As I mentioned above, my power wheelchair is my only means of moving around at all. So the other day I was returning home from the market and got within half a block of my building when the sky opened up and it started pouring! Now rain doesn't bother me but it shorts out the joystick that controls the wheelchair. Usually it is covered with a plastic bag, but that day it wasn't so water got in it and it shorted out at the worst possible time, bedtime! I always put myself in bed after my caregiver leaves. So as usual I went to drive in the bedroom to transfer into bed when three feet from the bed the chair just stops. I tried to get it to move for half an hour but to no avail. Finally, I was forced to give up and sleep wrapped in a blanket on the concrete floor which is covered by just a thin rough carpet. Needless to say it was horribly uncomfortable! My caregiver returned the next morning shocked to find me on the floor but we both just started laughing at the ridiculousness of life! We found a spare joystick and put it on until we can get it replaced. I'm extremely grateful to be able to move around!
Zen is about being where you are in every moment good, bad,or neutral. I did not like sleeping on the floor, but that is where I was at that moment. I moaned and groaned a bit, but it didn't help. So this is the first except from Zen On Wheels .. More to come soon..........
(just kidding Daikan)
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