The Rubin Museum in New York City is hosting an exhibit called Hero, Villain, Yeti: Tibet in Comics. The exhibit is "the most complete collection of comics related to Tibet ever assembled, with examples ranging from the 1940s to the present." It closes June 11.

One of the featured comics is The Green Lama, whose serialized adventures were published between 1940 and 1946. Green Lama stories also appeared in pulp detective magazines in the 1940s. CBS Radio hosted 22 episodes of a Green Lama broadcast drama in 1949.

"Green Lama" was the alter ego of millionaire/genius/playboy Jethro Dumont (seriously?) who spent ten years in Tibet studying to be a lama. He came home intending to teach Buddhism, but decided he would be more use as a crime fighter. By chanting om mani padme hum, Dumont transformed into the caped dharma crusader Green Lama, fighting crime with his trusty sidekick Tsarong.

I swear I'm not making this up. You can read more about Green Lama at Salon. And what's with "green" superheroes (e.g., Green Lantern, Green Arrow). I don't think they associated "green" with environmentalism in the 1940s.

I apologize for being scarce this week. I have the Mother of All Head Colds and am nearly incapacitated. For now I am going to leave a provocative quote from one of my favorite texts, Dogen's Mountains and Rivers Sutra (Sansui-kyo)

"All beings do not see mountains and waters in the same way. Some beings see water as a jeweled ornament, but they do not regard jeweled ornaments as water. What in the human realm corresponds to their water? We only see their jeweled ornaments as water. Some beings see water as wondrous blossoms, but they do not use blossoms as water. Hungry ghosts see water as raging fire or pus and blood. Dragons see water as a palace or a pavilion. Some beings see water as the seven treasures or a wish-granting jewel. Some beings see water as a forest or a wall. Some see it as the Dharma nature of pure liberation, the true human body, or as the form of body and essence of mind. Human beings see water as water. Water is seen as dead or alive depending on causes and conditions. Thus the views of all beings are not the same. You should question this matter now. Are there many ways to see one thing, or is it a mistake to see many forms as one thing? You should pursue this beyond the limit of pursuit."

You are welcome to discuss this or leave another quote that lights your dharma candle.

What is it about head colds that zap brain cells? I haven't taken any medication that would make me groggy, but all I've been able to do for the past half hour is stare at the monitor and wish I were taking a nap.

With the caveat that I'm not exactly on top of things today -- please do read the post "Authentic Practice" at Wild Fox Zen. Koun Franz writes that authentic practice has two components:

1. "Authentic practice is radically, emphatically impersonal."
2. "Authentic practice is expressed physically, moment by moment; that is, it is not purely internal or mental."

That first component might be surprising to some of you. If it is, let's discuss.

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Here's a question that came up in the comments to the last post:

One aspect of Zen meditation I could not yet understand is why there is no metta meditation. In the Triratna tradition - and I suppose in most other Tibetan meditation traditions also- amongst other things there is like mindfulness of the breath meditation also the metta bhavana; a practice I have done on some occassions and also found it helpful to develop compassion. Why does the meditation and chanting practice found in the Metta Sutra and Brahmaviharas not form part of the Zen liturgy or canon? It appears in the Vietnamese Zen (Thien) tradition the Metta Bhavana might be practiced?

In the two major schools of Zen, known in Japanese as Soto and Rinzai, there are two kinds of meditation. In the koan contemplation of Rinzai, students work on and resolve hundreds of koans. I would argue that some of those koans amount to something like metta meditation, although you can't tell that by reading them.

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