Mindful

I've become aware of a convergence in my little universe:  I seem to be bumping up against Buddhism, particularly Zen, everywhere.  First, I read and absorbed Momma Zen by Karen Maezen Miller, who is a Zen Buddhist priest and mom; I also read her excellent blog Cheerio Road.  Then Mama and went to the bookstore, where I picked up a book on bread making, The Tassajara Bread Book, by a baker/Zen priest and, unbeknownst to me, Mama bought me a mandala coloring book. Then I bought a book by Natalie Goldberg, a book on memoir writing seemingly unconnected to Buddhism.  Except that she is a Buddhist.  And was highlighted in a Kripalu Center catalog I unexpectedly received.  I read through the catalog of course offerings and understood it like I understand Mandarin, which is to say very little (though there was a special retreat for yoga for people with back pain.  Hmmm, and it's "close," being in Massachusetts).  Zen Buddhism, meditation, yoga, etc etc etc, has its own esoteric language, culture, practice that I do not understand--thank heavens I can look up "dharma transmission" on Google.  Then, this morning, sitting at the dentist's office waiting to talk about my ear-jaw pain, I came across the magazine Shambala Sun, which I had just heard of because Miller has written for them and will soon have a blog on their website (and their press published that bread book and that coloring book!).  Inside were references to all of the above (which was a good reminder to me to practice the yogic breathing I had learned through prenatal yoga while the dentist took impressions for my new nightguard--I'm grinding and clinching causing the ear pain).  The magazine also mentioned Theravada Buddhism, which is more like the Buddhism of Mama's family (and I'm still learning the basic differences of Zen, Theravada, and Mahayana Buddhism, having been introduced to the various art forms in my favorite undergrad art history class on an intro to Asian art.  We looked up intros to Buddhism on that trip to the bookstore when we bought Goldberg's book because Mama is interested in the literary and religious roots of her family's practice--mercy, there are as many books as practicioners).  Finally, of course, Mama spent weeks at her Transcendental Meditation class.  But that kind of meditation isn't Zen, as I've come to discover.  It's all curious to me, not only because I seem to keep crossing paths with Buddhism, but mainly because I find myself aligned with Buddhist teachings of mindfulness and compassion, such as I understand them, having learned similiar ideas through NVC.  Though I've long seen my practice of UU principles in a pagan light (nature, cycles, duality, the threefold law, feminism), I haven't really identified a philosophy that I can practice daily in that spirituality; Buddhism, however, contains elements I already embrace.   So, remaining open to these convergences, I'm absorbing more information about it all.  I wonder where it will take me.