Wisdom Is Something Which Will Come Out Of Your Mindfulness

Just to see, and to be ready to see things with our whole mind, is zazen practice. If we prepare for thinking, there is no need to make an effort to think. This is called mindfulness. Mindfulness is, at the same time, wisdom. By wisdom we do not mean some particular faculty or philosophy. It is the readiness of the mind that is wisdom. So wisdom could be various philosophies and teachings, and various kinds of research and studies. But we should not be attached to some particular wisdom, such as that which was taught by Buddha. Wisdom is not something to learn. Wisdom is something which will come out of your mindfulness. So the point is to be ready for observing things, and to be ready for thinking. This is called emptiness of your mind. Emptiness is nothing but the practice.

~Shunryu Suzuki, in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

No God

Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. ~Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking

January 8, 1942, Oxford, United Kingdom - March 14, 2018, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Nirvana

Nirvana is said to be the absence of the Three Poisons of greed, hatred, and ignorance.

Nirvana is said to be the absence of opinion over reality.

Thomas Cleary, the translator of the Avatamsaka Sutra, defines Nirvana as a "tranquil, dispassionate state of extinction of afflictions."

Intention

How foolish you are,
grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention.

~Vasubandhu

The Inconceivable Plane

If regarding the Buddha and truth,
One understands that they are equal,
Having no thought of duality,
One will walk on the inconceivable plane.

If one sees the Buddha and oneself
Resting in equality,
Without abode, entering nowhere,
One will become one of the Rare.

Form and feeling have no sets:
Nor do conception, action, consciousness;
Any who can know this way
Will become great sages.

Whether mundane or transmundane views,
Having risen beyond them all
While able to know the truth,
One will become a great illuminate.

~The Avatamsaka Sutra

Manjushri Asks a Question

Manjushri "Gentle Glory" the Bodhisattva associated with Insight

Then Manjushri asked Chief in Doctrine, "According to what the Buddha says, if any sentient beings accept and hold the true teaching, they can cut off all afflictions. Why then are there those who accept and hold the true teaching and yet do not cut off afflictions, who go along with anger and resentment, go along with jealousy and stinginess, go along with deception and flattery, compelled by the power of these things, having no will to detach from them? If they are able to accept and hold the true teaching, why then do they still produce afflictions in their mental actions?" Chief in Doctrine answered in verse:

Listen well and clearly
To the true meaning of what you ask.
It is not only by much learning
That one can enter the Buddhas' teaching.

Like a man floating in water
Who dies of thirst, afraid of drowning:
So are those who are learned
Who do not apply the teaching.

Like a person skilled in medicine
Who can't cure his own disease:
So are those who are learned
But do not apply the teaching.

Like someone counting others' treasures
Without half a coin of his own:
So is the one who is learned
Who doesn't practice the teaching.

~The Avatamsaka Sutra

Old Shaker Song

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the 
    gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we 
    ought to be.
And when we find ourselves in the
    place just right
'Twill be in the valley of love and
    delight.

Freedom of Thought

The freedom of thought allowed by the Buddha is unheard of elsewhere in the history of religions. This freedom is necessary because, according to the Buddha, man's emancipation depends on his own realization of Truth, and not on the benevolent grace of a god or any external power as a reward for his obedient good behaviour.

Mind

Mind is only a faculty or organ like the eye or the ear. It can be controlled and developed like any other faculty.

~Walpola Rahula, in What the Buddha Taught

No Distinction

The Noble Eightfold Path, which is the Buddhist way of life, is meant for all, without distinction of any kind.

~Walpola Rahula, in What the Buddha Taught

The Practice

The common belief that to follow the Buddha's teaching one has to retire from life is a misconception. It is really an unconscious defense against practicing it.

~Walpola Rahula, in What the Buddha Taught

Baked Hominy and Tomatoes

3 cups of canned hominy drained
1 tablespoon of butter, melted (I have also used olive oil.)
2 cups of canned chopped tomatoes (I have also used stewed tomatoes.)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of your favorite grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the hominy, the butter, the tomatoes, and the cheese.

Season to taste.

Pour the mixture into a well-buttered or well-oiled baking dish.

Bake about 45 minutes, until bubbling and crusted.

Serve.

Lucky Charms

Question: But some lucky charms do work, don't they?

Answer: I know a person who makes a good living selling lucky charms. He claims that his charms can give good luck, prosperity and he guarantees that you will be able to predict winning lottery numbers. But if what he says is true then why isn't he himself a millionaire? If his lucky charms really work, then why doesn't he win the lottery week after week? The only luck he has is that there are people silly enough to but his magic charms.

~S. Dhammika, in Good Question Good Answer

Vietnamese Proverb

Greed is bottomless.

Unwholesome

War, class oppression, racism, and environmental pollution are affronts to the Buddha. They are affronts to the Buddha precisely because they assault and insult the buddha-nature in people and give rise to totally unnecessary suffering.

~~Gene Reeves, in The Stories of the Lotus Sutra

Awareness

Paying attention to your own mistakes will keep you in step with the Way. 

~Hui-neng

Enlightenment

Enlightenment is already pure, the thought of it is a delusion. 

~Hui-neng

Reality

Words and thoughts are not clung to as ultimate arbiters of reality.

~Thomas Cleary, in Entry Into the Inconceivable

The Universe

The universe is beyond views, without emotions, profusely evolving myriad of forms.

~Thomas Cleary, in Entry Into the Inconceivable