Noble Advise

As he drew near to the end of his life, the Buddha advised those he taught to adhere to four principles:

1 . . . Ethics

2 . . . Meditation

3 . . . Understanding

4 . . . Liberation

This Old Man

Awakening at night and
poking embers from the ashes
this old man finds his company.

   ~Hojoki, by Kamo-no-Chomei

We Are Challenged to Be Responsible

And thanks to the work of ecologists and environmentalists, when we turn our attention to the future, we are increasingly conscious of how our individual and collective actions today will bear fruit long after we have turned to dust and been forgotten. Far more than the generalized speculations of karma theory, this knowledge provides a sobering vision of a degraded future world that is being shaped by how we lead our lives now. Rather than concern ourselves with our own hypothetical rebirth, we are challenged to assume a heightened responsibility for this planet and the continued flourishing of its inhabitants, human, animals, and vegetable, as we live our lives now.

~Stephen Batchelor, in after buddhism

Ananda the Fully Human

Unlike Sariputta, who, as a liberated arahant, is never shown displaying a hint of emotion, Ananda gives free rein to his feelings. It is this capacity—which, from the point of view of orthodoxy, is a sign of unenlightened weakness—that renders him fully human and sympathetic. In some ways, Ananda prefigures the later Mahayana ideal of the bodhisatta, one who rejects the transcendent peace of nirvana in order to respond to the suffering of myriad others in the world.

~Stephen Batchelor, in after buddhism

The Challenge of Articulating a Philosophically Coherent and Ethically Integrated Vision of Life That Is No Longer Tied to the Religious Dogmas and Institutions of Asian Buddhism

The Son tradition has its origins in a revolt against the institutional and doctrinal formalism that had come to characterize much of Indian Buddhism. It consistently maintains that external authority, scripture, and lofty ideas alone are incapable of conveying the living heartbeat of what Gotama taught. As Deshan says:

........Here there are no ancestors and no buddhas. Bodhidharma is a stinking foreigner. Shakyamuni is ........a dried-up piece of shit. "Awakening" and "nirvana" are posts to tether donkeys. The scriptural     ........canon was written by devils; it's just paper for wiping infected skin boils. None of these things     ........will save you.

A similar revolt against established Buddhism was taking place in India around the same time (from around the eighth century CE). This involved the rejection of monasticism and a recognition that the practice of the dharma was entirely compatible with a life embedded in the everyday messiness of the world. The leaders of the revolt came to be known as the mahasiddhas (great adepts). Like their contemporaries in China, they lived unconventional lives and articulated their vision in poetry and song rather than densely argued prose.

A similar rupture with Buddhism's past may be under way today. As participants in this process, we will find it difficult to appreciate or even notice the broad historical currents of change as they unfold. A person committed in good faith to the preservation of a revered Asian form of Buddhism might well find that the tumult and pace of change threaten the very foundations of Buddhist tradition. The tide of secularization that has swept up mindfulness and turned it into a therapeutic technique is unlikely to subside. The tide need not be viewed as a threat, Rather, it is an extraordinary opportunity for the dharma to be reimagined from the ground up in such a way that it speaks more clearly and directly to the condition of men and women confronting the challenges of today's world.

An oft-heard complaint among traditional Buddhist is that the mindfulness movement is a "dumbing down" of the dharma. This elitist objection fails to recognize that Buddhism has been dumbing itself down ever since it began. It is doubtful that those who condemn the mindfulness movement on such grounds would likewise condemn the practice of millions of Buddhists that consists in repeating over and over again the name of the mythical Buddha Amitabha or the title of the Lotus Sutra. Mindfulness is becoming the Om Mani Padme Hum of secular Buddhism. Instead of mumbling a mantra while spinning a prayer wheel and once a week going to the monastery to light butter lamps, modern practitioners may sit on a cushion for twenty minutes a day observing their breathing and once a week attend a "sitting group" in a friend's living room. In both cases, those involved may have little understanding of Buddhist philosophy or doctrine but find these simple exercises rewarding in helping them live balanced and meaningful lives.

In retrospect, the widespread adoption of mindfulness in diverse areas of contemporary life may come to be seen as part of the longer historical process of Buddhism's adaptation to modernity. It could mark a key moment in the acceptance of contemplative disciplines in a secular context, when the public perception of meditation as an exotic, alien, and marginal practice is transformed and it is accepted as an unexceptional and mainstream activity. If this turns out to be the case, then rather than complain about the "dumbing down" of the dharma, Buddhists need to rise to the challenge of articulating a philosophically coherent and ethically integrated vision of life that is no longer tied to the religious dogmas and institutions of Asian Buddhism. In this way, perhaps, they might help encourage the dawning of a culture of awakening, which may or may not call itself "Buddhist."

~Stephen Batchelor, in after buddhism

Meditation

Meditation is more appropriately compared to the ongoing practice of an art rather than the development of a technical skill.

Experiencing the Everyday Sublime - A Lifelong Practice

To experience the everyday sublime requires that we dismantle the perceptual conditioning that insists on seeing ourselves and the world as essentially comfortable, permanent, solid, and "mine." It means to embrace suffering and conflict rather than to shy away from them, to cultivate the embodied attention that contemplates the tragic, changing, empty, and impersonal dimensions of life, rather than succumbing to fantasies of self-glorification or self-loathing. This takes time. It is a lifelong practice.

~Stephen Batchelor, in after buddhism

My Youth

Late at night, listening to the winter rain,
    recalling my youth—
Was it only a dream? Was I really young once?

                                                         ~Ryokan

A Poem by Ryokan

We see only a straw hat and raincoat,
    but still the scarecrow
Does his job.

Truth

                                                    If you strive to make truth your home,
                                                    You may sometimes be lonely.

                                                                                             ~Hung Ying-ming

Reflections of a Chinese Sage

The gentleman who pretends to be good
     Is no different from the scoundrel who                  commits evil at will.

The gentleman who falls from honor
     Does not measure up to the villain who                improves his intent.

                                          ~Hung Ying-ming

A Poem by Ryokan

The sound of maple leaves falling
in this mountain village
makes it hard to tell
a rainy day
from one that is not.

Far From Cultish

Buddhism is far from cultish—it often downplays the importance of the teacher, and sometimes even leaves open the question of whether it is the right path.

As a Catholic, it was pounded into my brain day after day that I belonged to "the one, true faith." Buddhists, on the other hand, tend to say, "Well, here is a way, not the way, but a pretty good one. See if it works for you."

~Dinty W. Moore, in The Accidental Buddhist

The Problem Children

The present consumer society is like a drug addict, no matter how miserable he may feel, finds it extremely difficult to get off the hook. The problem children of the world—from this point of view and in spite of many other considerations that could be adduced—are the rich societies and not the poor.

~E. F. Schumacher, in Small is Beautiful

Black Walnut Pie

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup of dark corn syrup
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 unbaked pie shell
1 cup of black walnut meats

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream the butter and the brown sugar in a mixing bowl.

Stir in the corn syrup, the eggs, the salt, and the vanilla.

Pour the mixture into the pie shell.

Arrange the walnuts meats symmetrically on top and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until it is set.

What We Learn

In meditation we learn to neither engage nor suppress a thought or an emotion.

The same is true with desire or wanting. We do not engage or suppress. 

We allow the thought or emotion, the desire or wanting to pass.

What we have learned 'on the cushion' we take 'off the cushion'. As we go about our daily life, when we become aware of an intrusive emotion we neither engage nor suppress, we allow it to pass untouched.

May There Be Peace, May There Be Compassion, May There Be Wisdom

May Each One of Us be healthy and free and happy.
May Each One of Us be just and fair.
May Each One of Us be guided by compassion and wisdom.

May Our Loved Ones be healthy and free and happy.
May Our Loved Ones be just and fair.
May Our Loved Ones be guided by compassion and wisdom.

May All People We See be healthy and free and happy.
May All People We See be just and fair.
May All People We See be guided by compassion and wisdom.

May Those We Find Difficult be healthy and free and happy.
May Those We Find Difficult be just and fair.
May Those We Find Difficult be guided by compassion and wisdom.

May the All the People of this World be healthy and free and happy.
May the All the People of this World be just and fair.
May the All the People of this World be guided by compassion and wisdom.

May All Beings be healthy and free and happy.
May All Beings be just and fair.
May All Beings be guided by compassion and wisdom.

May there be Peace.
May there be Compassion and Wisdom

No Causeless Cause

No ultimate origin of anything can be found.

There is No "I"

One's identity is a mental construction and there is nothing real in it to preserve or defend.

~Thomas Cleary

The School of Hua-Yen Buddhism

The teaching of Hua-Yen Buddhism is the uniting of the mind with the real universe of thusness*. This is the realization of the conditional origin of everything in the universe: everything at once and forever depends on everything else. By seeing the conditioned nature of one thing, one realizes the conditional nature of all things.

*The word thusness has a more positive connotation than emptiness. Thusness refers to the eternal nature of reality that is “ever thus” or “just so” free of all conceptual elaborations.  

Thusness

Those who come to realize thusness do not see birth-and-death and do not see nirvana—birth-and-death and nirvana are equal, without distinction.

~Tu Shun, quoting the Hua-Yen

Buddhism For Beginniners

We are what we think.

Be kind,
be careful,
be yourself.
Think before you act.
Love your neighbor.
Pay attention.
If you're unhappy,
look in a mirror to find out why.

Do the good.
Avoid the non-good.
Purify your mind.

Just as a bird needs two wings to fly, even so we need two wings to live an aware and civilized life. We need the wings of wisdom and compassion. The wings are of equal importance.

All conditioned things are impermanent.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
Do no believe in anything because it is rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not even believe what I [the Buddha] tell you simply because you have respect and affection for me.
But after observation and analysis when you find that something agrees with reason and is conductive to the good and the benefit of all then accept it and live up to it.

The past is a memory. The future is a fantasy. All we have is this moment.

Always remember, the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.

The Realization of Human Potential

Buddhism, systematized some two and a half thousand years ago, is one of the oldest religions on earth. Subsequently spreading over Asia through numerous cultural spheres, it become, more than a philosophy, a body of many philosophical systems embracing a wide variety of beliefs and practices. Generally speaking, however, it may be said that all forms of Buddhism comprise three spheres of learning: ethics, concentration methods, and analytic insight. These three spheres of learning support, enhance, and complete one another, and it is through their mutual interaction and development that Buddhism aims to realize human potential.

~Thomas Cleary

Our Actions

The consequences of what we do now will outlive us. The irrevocability of our actions implies that we are responsible not only for our own conduct in this life but for the impact of our actions after our death.

~Stephen Batchelor

Peace

Dharma is truth. If you reach the truth, there is no big or small, no happiness or suffering. There is peace.

~Achaan Chah

Practice

Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.

 ~Alfred A. Montapert

Purity and Impurity

By oneself is evil done;
by oneself is one defiled.
By oneself is evil left undone;
by oneself is one made pure.
Purity and impurity depend on oneself;
no one can purify another.

                  ~The Dhammapada, verse 165

Jerk-Type Things and the Realization of the Truth

You can do jerk-type things, or you can avoid doing jerk-type things. The moment you know that jerk-type action does not exist outside your own conduct, that is realization of the truth.

This is not a once-and-for-all realization. It appears dynamically, moment after moment. When enlightened people understand that not being a jerk requires not doing jerk-type things, they behave like decent people at each moment in the past, present, and future.

~Brad Warner, in Don't Be a Jerk

Simple Celery-Tomato Simmer

3 tablespoons of butter
2 cups of celery, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon of minced onion
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of water
2 large tomatoes, diced

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat.

Add the celery, the onion, the salt, the pepper, and the water. Bring to the boil. Lower the heat to simmer, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, stir a few times, cover, and simmer until the celery is tender to your liking.

As a side, this will serve 4 people.

Starving-Student Tomato Casserole

3 tablespoons of olive oil (Do not use extra-virgin olive oil for cooking.)
2/3 of a cup of seasoned bread crumbs
6 large tomatoes, quartered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 (or more to taste) tablespoons of Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread half of the oil over the bottom of a deep baking dish.

Sprinkle half of the bread crumbs onto the oil.

Arrange the tomato wedges on the bread crumbs.

Cover the tomatoes with the remaining bread crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs with the remaining oil, the salt and the pepper.

Cover the dish and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the cover and bake for 20 minutes more.

This should feed 3 to 4 hungry students.

Remember, a recipe is a guide not gospel. If you need more bread crumbs or more tomatoes, go for it. If you want a little heat, add some crushed red pepper flakes along with the salt and the pepper.

A Monk's Poem

Only when you are neither wise nor foolish
can you be called one who has attained the way.

                                                                   ~Ryokan

Don't Imitate

We have to be aware of how people tend to imitate their teachers. They become copies, prints, castings. It is like the story of the king's horse trainer. The old trainer died, so the king hired a new trainer. Unfortunately, this man limped when he walked. New and beautiful horses were brought to him, and he trained them exquisitely—to run, to canter, to pull carriages. But each of the new stallions developed a limp. Finally, the king summoned the trainer, and seeing him limp as he entered the court, he understood everything and immediately hired a new trainer.

As teachers, you must be aware of the focus of the examples you set. And, even more important, as students, you must not follow the image, the outer form, of your teacher. He is pointing you back to your own inner perfection. Take the inner wisdom as your model, and do not imitate his limp.

~Achaan Chah

Buddhism

The pursuit of Buddhism throughout its long history has always been to free humanity of greed, hatred, and ignorance, and whatever we may isolate from the body of Buddhism as "philosophy" or "practice" always has that pursuit in mind.

Native Chinese Influence on Buddhist Practice

By a return to the "source," which is that innate ability to respond innocently and in a childlike manner to experience, the individual transcended those maddening contraries of "is" and "is not" which Chuang-tzu spoke of, and learned the difficult art of noncalculating action, or the nonaction in action which in Chinese is called wu-wei. The enlightened person is presumably he who has expunged from his nature the learned responses to life's situations which lead ordinary men to favor one experience over another. In "returning to the source," the individual has discovered that inmost core of subjectivity in which all the ferocious contraries are completely resolved. The difference between this view of the sage and that of Indian Buddhism can be seen quite clearly when we compare the two as portrayed in their respective traditions. The Indian figure—a Manjusri, Sakyamuni, or Avalokitesvara—is dressed in a manner befitting royalty, and royalty they are, though not profane royalty. Jewels hang from neck, ears, arms, and legs; the hair is elaborately arranged; and he wears the robes of a prince. The pose is especially remarkable. The figure often sits cross-legged in yogic meditation, regal, aloof, with eyes half closed in eternal samadhi, the faint smile on the lips betraying the unspeakable bliss of one who has found a peace far removed from the dust and turmoil of the earthly arena. In contrast, the Chinese saint, perhaps best portrayed in the figures of Pu-tai and those rascally saints Shih-te and Han-shan, is frequently rather fat, jovial, and totally relaxed. He is barefooted and his hair and clothes (more like rags) are in negligent disarray. He obviously still enjoys plum wine and a good meal; there is nothing of the renunciant about him. He travels freely from village to village, dispensing goodies from his bag to the children who tease him and adore him, never for a moment losing the happy, silly grin of a man who knows who he is ("Nobody") and where he is ("Nowhere"). These figures are painted over and over by Chines artists, and there lesson is clear. The emancipated individual is not superhuman or royal, like the Indian Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; he would never walk on water or levitate. And who wants to sit forever in yogic withdrawal when one can play games with the village urchins? They delight in the ordinary, the simple, and the humble—chopping wood and carrying water, therein lies the wonderful Way. To the person who has seen things in their true form, what can there be which is really negligible or contemptible?

~Francis H Cook, in Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra

Humanity Often Thinks: I Am Superior to All & The Universe Was Created For Me and My Use

i met a toad
the other day by the name
of warty bliggens
he was sitting under
a toadstool
feeling contented
he explained that when the cosmos
was created
this toadstool was especially
planned for his personal
shelter from sun and rain
thought out and prepared
for him
do not tell me
said warty bliggens
that there is not a purpose in the universe
the thought is blasphemy
a little more
conversation revealed
that warty bliggens
considers himself to be
the center of the said
universe
the earth exists
to grow toadstools for him
to sit under
the sun to give him light
by day and the moon
and wheeling constellations
to make beautiful
the night for the sake of
warty bliggens

~Don Marquis