A Bad Time

When you're having a bad time, examine the badness.

Observe it mindfully.

Study it.

Learn what makes it work.

Learn what gives it birth.

Anger

The Buddha compared being angry with picking up hot embers with your bare hand and then trying to throw them at your antagonist.

Who gets burned first?

You might not even hit the person you intend. Others may get burned.

The one you throw the embers at may duck or run.

When all is over and the embers have cooled, whose hand is burned?

Having or Being

What is it that we hope to achieve through all this incessant accumulation? Why are we compulsively motivated to have things? In the first place we instinctively sense that a certain element is lacking in our lives. A vague hunger echoes from deep within us. Perhaps through acquiring material objects, friends, and knowledge this void could be filled. So we set out into the world and start to consume whatever commodities it has to offer. We eat and for a while feel satisfied, but the pangs of hunger always return. Ironically, the more we crave to possess and dominate the world and others, the deeper and more unbearable becomes the chasm of our emptiness. In order to conceal this rapidly widening gulf our compulsion develops into a frenzy. But, however hard we try, we will never succeed in filling an inner emptiness from the outside; it can only be filled from within. A lack of being remains unaffected by plenitude of having.

---Stephen Batchelor, in Alone With Others: An Existential Approach to Buddhism---

A Poem

Actually there isn't a thing
much less any dust to wipe away
who can master this
doesn't need to sit there stiff.

---Big Stick (Feng-kan)---

Our Life

One day, the Buddha asked his disciples, “How long is life?”

“Maybe fifty years?” a disciple replied.

“Wrong,” said the Buddha.

Another disciple answered, “Months.”

“No,” the Buddha replied.

“Days? Weeks?” another disciple suggested.

“Wrong,” the Buddha said. “Not years, not months, not weeks, not days.”

“Teacher,” they asked, “how long is our life?”

“Our life is only as long as one breath,” the Buddha answered.

Part of the Whole

The world and the universe we see and understand is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary and unfathomable whole.

Hemp Sack

Budai - Chinese

Bo Dai - Vietnamese

P'odae - Korean

Hotei - Japanese

Happiness and Problems

Our happiness does not depend on anything external.

When we perceive a problem, that perception comes from our mind.

When we perceive happiness, that perception comes from our mind.

Helping Others

If one wants to achieve stature for oneself,
one must do only that which helps others.
Do not those who want to clean their faces
need first to wipe the mirror clean?

---Sakya Pandita---

No Blame, No Judgment

Before we end our day with sleep, we stop and consider what we have done and said and thought.

If we have done or said or thought anything during the day that now we realize was in error or perhaps even cause hurt we understand and learn from that recognition.

There is no blame.

There is no judgment.

There is no condemnation.

There's the understanding we lacked attention and lost mindfulness.

We learn.

We will do better.

If able and appropriate, we will make amends.

But, no matter, we learn, free of self-condemnation, and we strive to do better.

Happiness

If, hoping to be happy, you strike at others who also seek happiness, you will be happy neither here nor hereafter. If, hoping to be happy, you do not strike at others who are also seeking happiness, you will be happy here and hereafter.

---The Buddha, in The Dhammapada---

Everyone Loves Life

Everyone fears punishment; everyone fears death, just as you do. Therefore do not kill. Everyone fears punishment; everyone loves life, as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill.

---The Buddha, in The Dhammapada---

Family

Family

Unconditional Love

Unconditional love is an expression of love that is not based on pleasant feelings.

Unconditional love is an expression of love that is not based on reward.

Unconditional love is unlimited.

When you meet a person with unconditional love, that love is felt immediately.

If you express unconditional love, you become a truly loving person. You change and bloom.

Think of the flower with a sweet fragrance. The flower shares that fragrance unconcerned with the value or worth of the one who smells it.

When I Find You Again, It Will Be In Mountains

This going away
has no circumstantial cause;
a solitary cloud
just has no fixed home.

---Chia Tao---

An Opinion

In Memoriam

Thought and Behavior

Control of the mind, the theme of chapter 3, is the most challenging and the most rewarding of human tasks, and the Buddha does not underestimate its difficulties. The mind, he suggests, has a depth far greater than the deepest sea, and all the way down it churns with emotional tempests of which we are barely conscious, but which virtually dictate thought and behavior.

---Eknath Easwaran, in his commentary on chapter 3 of The Dhammapada---

To Care

If you need to cry, cry.

If you need to laugh, laugh.

If you need to sleep, sleep.

If you need to piss, piss.

Take care of you.

Then you can take care of others.

A Practitioner in Times of Challenges

We should train ourselves to see all the problems that arise in life as challenges, learning opportunities.

This doesn't mean we go looking for problems. But, when negative events or occasions arise we don't run from them.

We don't hide or carry the troubles in holy silence. We don't condemn ourselves for weakness or the lacking of some knowledge.

When problems or troubles arise, we look them straight in the eye.

Easy to say. Hard to do.

This is why it's called a Practice.

We'll learn each time.

We'll grow a little each time.

We don't push ourselves beyond our ability. Compassion begins at home.

But, we'll come to a deeper and richer understanding.

We don't condemn. We face. We're honest.

Proper Understanding

A person may be able to recite sutras by heart. They may be able to wisely and successfully explain teachings, such as Emptiness or Impermanence or Non-Duality.

But, if during day-to-day life, a negative or positive comment is given; or praise or blame handed to the person and their mind immediately become emotional, there is no stability.

Instead there is like or dislike. There is no practice of Proper View.

Meditation

Sometimes the greatest obstacle to meditation is our doubt of our ability.

Let go of that doubt as we let go of all distractions.

Letting Go

To let go of nonsense is easy.

To let go of attachment is not easy.

Zazen

Recommending Zazen to All People

The real Way circulates everywhere; how could it re quire practice or enlightenment? The essential teaching is fully available; how could effort be necessary? Furthermore, the entire mirror is free of dust; why take steps to polish it? Nothing is separate from this very place; why journey away?

And yet, if you miss the mark even by a strand of hair, you are as distant as heaven from earth. If the slightest discrimination occurs, you will be lost in confusion. You could be proud of your understanding and have abundant realization, or acquire outstanding wisdom and attain the way by clarifying the mind. Still, if you are wandering about in your head, you may miss the vital path of letting your body leap.

 You should observe the example of Buddha Shakyamuni of the Jeta Grove, who practiced sitting up straight for six years even though he was gifted with intrinsic wisdom. Still celebrated is the Master Bodhidharma of Shaolin Temple who sat facing the wall for nine years, although he had already received the mind seal. Ancient sages were like this; who nowadays does not need to practice as they did?

Hence, you should stop searching for phrases and chasing after words. Take the backward step and turn the light inward. Your body-mind of itself will drop off and your original face will appear. If you want to attain just this, immediately just this.

For zazen, a quiet room is appropriate. Drink and eat in moderation. Let go of all involvements and let myriad things rest. Do not think good or bad. Do not judge right or wrong. Stop conscious endeavor and analytic introspection. Do not try to become a buddha. How could being a buddha be limited to sitting or not sitting?

In an appropriate place for sitting, set out a thick mat and put a round cushion on top of it. Sit in either the full- or half-lotus posture. For the full-lotus posture, first place the right foot on the left thigh, then the left foot on the right thigh. For the half-lotus posture, place the left foot on the right thigh. Loosen the robes and belts and arrange them in an orderly way. Then place the right hand palm up on the left foot, and the left hand on right hand, with the tips of the thumbs lightly touching each other.

Sit straight up without leaning to the right or left and without bending forward or backward. The ears should be in line with the shoulders and the nose in line with the navel. rest the tongue against the roof of the mouth, with lips and teeth closed. Keep the eyes open and breathe gently through the nose.

Having adjusted your body in this manner, take a breath and exhale fully, then sway your body to left and right. Now sit steadfastly and think not-thinking. How do you think not-thinking? Beyond thinking. This is the essential art of zazen.

The zazen I speak of is not learning meditation. It is simply the dharma gate of enjoyment and ease. It is the practice-realization of complete enlightenment. Realize the fundamental point free from the binding of nets and baskets. Once you experience it, you are like a dragon swimming in the water or a tiger reposing in the mountains. Know that the true dharma emerges of itself, clearing away hindrances and distractions.

When you stand up from sitting, move your body slowly and rise calmly, without haste. We understand from past precedents that going beyond ordinary and sacred, where sitting and standing are effortless and boundless, depends solely on the power of zazen.

Furthermore, bringing forth the turning point by using a finger, a pole, a needle, or a mallet, or leading people to enlightenment with a whisk, a fist, a stick, or a shout, cannot be understood by discriminatory thinking? How can it be understood by the use of supernatural powers? Zazen is an awesome presence outside form and color. How is it not the path preceding concept?

Thus, do not be concerned with who is wise and who is stupid. Do not discriminate the sharp from the dull. To practice wholeheartedly is the true endeavor of the way. Practice-realization is not defiled with specialness; it is a matter for every day.

Now, in this world and in other worlds, in India and China, buddha ancestors equally carry the buddha seal and teach to sit immersed in steadfastness. Although circumstances may vary in a thousand ways, wholeheartedly practice Zen, giving yourself fully to the way. Why give up the sitting platform of your own house and wander uselessly in the dust of a remote land? Once a wrong step is taken, you depart from the way.

Having received a human life, do not waste the passing moments. Already upholding the buddha way, why would you indulge in the sparks from a flint? After all, form is like a dewdrop on the grass. Human life is like a flash of lightening, transient and illusory, gone in a moment.

Honored practitioners of Zen, please do not grope for the elephant or try to grasp the true dragon. Strive to hit the mark by directly pointing. Revere the mind that goes beyond study and surpasses all doings. Experience the enlightenment of the buddhas, correctly inheriting the samadhi of the ancestors. Practice thusness continuously, and you will be thus. The treasury will open of itself for you to use as you wish.

---Master Dogen, written at the Kannondori Monastery, July, 1233---

Question and Answer

Question 13: Should zazen be practiced by lay men and women, or should it be practiced solely by home leavers?

Answer: The Ancestors say, "In understanding buddha dharma, men and women, nobles and commoners, are not distinguished."

---Shobo Genzo (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye), by Master Dogen---

Zazen

A Chinese compound of zuo [za], sitting, and chan [zen], meditation.

Zazen refers to body and mind in upright seated meditation posture, which is the basis of Zen Buddhist practice.

Buddha Dharma

You should know that buddha dharma is studied by giving up the view of self and other.

---Shobo Genzo (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye), by Master Dogen---

The Most Valuable Learning

The most valuable learning we do is not the memorizing of facts. It's not a knowledge of dates and names. It's not about a higher grade point average or the accumulation of degrees.

The most valuable learning is to understand why you step over the caterpillar on the sidewalk and not on it.

The most valuable learning is to know Reality and not belief.

The most valuable learning is Compassion guided by Wisdom and Wisdom embraced by Compassion.

The most valuable learning is One. You, I, Him, Her, all of Us, the Horses and Turtles and Wind and Sand, all of Us are One. 

The Boy and the Buffalo Know

Be still and know, all Things love life.

The Correct Way

Treat others justly, fairly, and with compassion guided by wisdom.

Do this not because of the hope of a reward.

Do this not because of the fear of punishment.

Do this because it is the correct way, the civilized way, the humane way.

We are all in this together.

We are all this.

What I do to you, I do to me.

What I do to me, I do to you.

What I do to that person, I do to all persons.

What I do to that Life I do to all Life.

Pluck the web and it vibrates everywhere.

The Non-Existing Trap

If you feel trapped there is a way out of the trap.

Study the trap. Learn it's history. Learn how it is built.

This learning is done by taking the trap apart.

Piece by piece, take the trap apart.

If the trap is in pieces before you it can't hold you.

Freedom.

Mind

Mind is the basis of everything.

Mind is Enlightenment.

Mind is illusion.

Mind is the basis of everything.

Breath

Why follow our breath?

If we can follow our breath and not become involved with an arising and passing thought or emotion or sound, perhaps we can also cope with the happiness and pain that comes and goes in our daily life.

Meditation is our place of safety. It is, to quote Shen Su, our "controlled space." Through practice on the cushion we learn to live mindfully off the cushion.

Equanimity means to not be guided by the highs and lows, the ups and downs of life.

We learn to live a balanced life, a life of equanimity, on the cushion. We take that learning off the cushion into the marketplace, into our homes, into our every-moment of life.

This is perhaps why we follow our breath.