Introduction

Welcome to Erleichda, the home of Sh’am Buddhism.

Here I seek to live a life that is eudemon.

Philosophically I am Contrarian, politically I am a Lennonist.

Erleichda is a virtual community, so it doesn't really exist.

Some explanation is probably needed, and is forthcoming.

Briefly:

Erleichda is a term borrowed from Tom Robbins, who says that it is an ancient Anglo-Nordic word meaning “Lighten up”. I think that’s a great name for a community concerned with the serious business of life.

Sh’am Buddhism is, as the name implies, not really Buddhism at all, but it is inspired by the thinking of the Ch’an Buddhists. Ch’an is a step in the evolution of Zen, but more of that later.

Eudemon means happy, sort of, but truly happy, in the Greek sense of the word.

Contrarian is the idea of Marrilynne Robinson, American philosopher and author, and a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Lennonists believe in Lennon’s Law, which is “Everything the government touches turns to shit”, as originally expounded by Beetle John Lennon.

Being a virtual community means that there is, at the moment, only one of me, Peter McCloy, and the community exists only in my mind. But you are more than welcome to join me in Erleichda if you choose to adopt the Sh’am Buddhist Creed: “I choose to believe that everything in my life is there because I chose it to be, and I chose it out of love and wisdom for myself.”

Each of these paragraphs probably demands further explanation, and each will be the subject of at least one of the chapters which follow, in no particular order. I’ve been working on Sh’am  Buddhism for thirty years now, and it’s still a work in progress, which is just another way of saying that I’m still learning. Or that the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.

So it would be unreasonable to expect you to arrive at a similar state of confusion in a short time. You have to work at it. Confusion and paradox are simply symptoms of something that is still in development, but is at least moving – a very eudemon place to be.

Welcome!