Tao

[T]he Neo-taoists rejected any interpretation of the Tao which would make it conceptually or ontologically separate from phenomena themselves. Accordingly, there is no longer any conception of the Tao as a cosmologically antecedent matrix from which the ten thousand things evolved, nor is there any understanding of the Tao as some sort of metaphysical substance inhering in things. Instead, the manner in which things exist singly and collectively, and the way in which they exist in harmonious interrelationship, is what is meant by "Tao."

---Francis H. Cook---

The Practice

Practice is like cooking rice. If you use a gentle flame the rice will be perfect and easy to digest, whereas with a high flame, it will burn before it is done. One should practice with a very relaxed attitude.

---Master Sheng Yen---

A Verse from the Hsin Hsin Ming

In the very ultimate,
Rules and standards do not exist.


Commentary on the verse by Master Sheng Yen:

The ultimate is beyond all human rules and laws. It cannot be judged by worldly standards. Thoroughly enlightened people spontaneously help sentient beings in accordance with causes and conditions. Their actions are not bound by the moral codes of society. This is not the case for ordinary people. We must abide by certain principles and rules. But if the thoroughly enlightened are bound by these laws, it would not be genuine liberation. For them there is no boundary between activity and rest.

Buddhism in the West

When Buddhism was introduced from India to China, the abundance of different teachings and philosophical movements was confusing. It took time for them to be sorted out and become part of Chinese life. This is certainly no less the case today for Westerners interested in Buddhism. A further complication is the great variety of cultural colorations taken on by Buddhism and its different branches as it has traveled among Asian countries and interacted with native traditions. Thanks to modern communication and transportation, and the modern ecumenical spirit engendered by the great spiritual thirst and needs of contemporary people, all of Buddhism is now in contact and dialogue for the very first time since one or two centuries or so after Sakyamuni Buddha. In America, for example, there are now fine Asian teachers, as well as their Western successors, from all the Asian Buddhist countries and traditions.

---Taigen Dan Leighton---

To Understand, Simply Penetrate This Phrase

Everything is created by mind alone.

Everything and Nothing

In order to arrive
at being everything,
desire to be nothing.

---John of the Cross---

Meditation

You can expect certain benefits from meditation. The initial ones are practical things; the later stages are profoundly transcendental. They run together from the simple to the sublime.

---Bhante Henepola Gunaratana---

Leek Pie

4 medium leeks
1/3 cup of butter
2 eggs
1 cup of crumbled feta
2 tablespoons of crumbs from rye crispbread
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Short crust pastry (that recipe follow this one)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Wash and chop the leeks coarsely.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over low heat, add the chopped leeks and saute until all the liquid has evaporated.

Remove cooked leeks from the heat.

In a suitable bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the feta.

Mix the egg-feta mixture into the leeks. Stir in the crispbread crumbs. Add the salt and the pepper to taste.

Line a buttered 8-inch pie plate with the short crust pastry. Pour the leek mixture into the crust. Cover the leeks filling with the remaining crust.

Make a small vent hole in the center of the top crust.

Bake until the crust is a beautiful golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Serve.


The Recipe for the Short Crust Pastry

2 cups of flour
A pinch of salt
4 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
Cold water to mix

Sieve the flour and the salt together.

Rub the oil and the butter into the flour until the mixture looks like bread crumbs.

Add enough cold water to make a stiff dough (about 1/2 of a cup).

Roll the dough out on a floured board with a floured rolling pin. You want to make two separate layers of pastry, large enough to line the baking dish, about 1/4-inch thick.

Non-Alcoholic Cocktail - Wavebender

1 ounce of orange juice
1/2 ounce of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of grenadine
5 ounces of ginger ale

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine the orange juice, the lemon juice, and the grenadine. Shake well.

Strain into a highball glass almost filled with ice cubes.

Top with the ginger ale and stir well.

The Practice

No magic. No miracles.

Instead, Ethics and Wisdom and Mindfulness.

The Buddha

The Buddha is not God.
The Buddha is not a form of God.
The Buddha is not a son of God.
The Buddha is not a prophet of God.
The Buddha is not a messenger of God.
The Buddha was a Teacher.

The Teachings

The teachings of the Buddha are not a means to escape from life, they are meant to help us relate to ourselves and the world as thoroughly as possible.

A Father's Advice

Do Not Use Truth As A Weapon

The Absolute

If there is something which we may call the absolute, it is not some transcendental spirit or entity lurking behind the world of mere appearance, but is really the mode of apprehending the world about us; as T. R. V. Murti said, the absolute is intuition or insight itself (prajna).

---Francis H. Cook---

Reality

Reality is incessant change, a pure fluidity.

Sunyata (Sanskrit, also Shunyata; Pali: Suññatā)

Emptiness

Interdependent Being

Arising By Conditions

Empty of Independent Being

Thusness

Emptiness is a way of knowing. It is not something to be observed in phenomena.

Baked Egg Noodles

1 5-ounce package of fine egg noodles
1 cup of large curd cottage cheese
1 cup of sour cream
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
A dash of Tabasco sauce
Salt to taste


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter a casserole. In a large pot cook the noodles in boiling salted water for 10 minutes. Drain the noodles.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and blend well.

Add the cooked noodles to the mixture and toss to coat.

Pour the noodle mixture into the prepared casserole.

Bake for 45.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Non-Alcoholic Cocktail - Virgin Strawberry Colada

7 very ripe strawberries
5 ounces pineapple juice
1 1/2 ounces of coconut cream
1 cup of crushed ice
1 maraschino cherry
1 pineapple wedge

In a blender, combine the strawberries, the pineapple juice, and the coconut cream with the crushed ice.

Blend well on the high speed.

Pour in a collins glass.

Garnish with the cherry and the pineapple wedge.

The Use of the Word "Right" (Samma) in the Noble Eightfold Path

It's better that we understand right as "this is appropriate," "this works," "this is in sync with Reality." Right, on the eightfold path, doesn't mean right versus wrong so much as it means seeing versus not seeing. It refers to being in touch with Reality as opposed to being deluded by our own prejudices, thoughts, and beliefs. Samma [Pali for samyak] refers to Wholeness rather than fragmentation. Thus, when I use the word "right" . . . I intend it to refer to what is conducive to awakening.

---Steve Hagen---

The Four Noble Truths

Truth Number One: There is stress and anxiety.

Truth Number Two: Stress and anxiety have a cause.

Truth Number Three: There is freedom from stress and anxiety.

Truth Number Four: There is a path to freedom

Self or Not-Self

It is hard to imagine the Buddha being interested in any type of controversy about Self or Not-Self. His concern was in putting an end to ego.

Nagarjuna, the brilliant second century Buddhist dialectician, claimed Self was used by the Buddha as a teaching device. Nagarjuna posited the Buddha took no stand on the issue.





Nagarjuna said:
.........There is the teaching of Self
.........And there is the teaching of not-self.
.........But by the Buddhas neither Self nor not-Self
.........Has been taught as something that exists.
.................................................---Mulamadhyamika Karika XVII.6---
  

Peace

Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding.

---Albert Einstein---

The Perfection of Wisdom

The Perfection of wisdom cannot be discursively expounded or learned, nor isolated or described, nor stated in words, nor reflected upon by means of or in terms of any limited patterns of awareness.

---The Buddha, in Mother of the Buddhas: Reflections on the Prajnaparamita Sutra---

A Poem

Soaring birds disappear over the distant mountains,
Leaves fall continually in the quiet garden.
Lonely autumn breezes,
An old monk in his black robe, I stand alone.

---Ryokan---

Emptiness

The Buddha had taught that all things in the phenomenal world are conditioned in nature, brought into being and governed by causes and conditions. They are thus in a state of constant flux and are destined to change and pass away. They may therefore be designated as "empty" or "void" because they lack any inherent characteristics by which they can be described, changing as they do from instant to instant. At best they can be delineated by what they are not—not permanent, not possessed of any fixed form or self-nature.

---Burton Watson---

 

Atheists and Agnostics Not At War

The Bodhisattva Way to Buddhahood

What you are practicing
Is the bodhisattva way.
As you gradually practice and learn,
Every one of you should become a buddha.

---The Lotus Sutra---

The Lotus Sutra Verses Dedicated to Avalokitesvara (as translated by Gene Reeves)

Listen to the actions of the Cry Regarder.
How well he responds in every region.
His vow is as deep as the sea,
Unfathomable even after eons.

Serving many hundreds
Of billions of buddhas,
He has made a great pure vow.
Let me tell you briefly about it.

Those who listen to his name,
See his body, and keep him in mind,
Not wasting time,
Will be able to put an end to all their suffering.

If someone intending to harm you
Throws you into a burning pit,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And the pit of fire will become a pond!

Or if you are drifting around in a great ocean,
Threatened by dragons, fish, and various demons,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And you will not drown in the waves!

If you are on the peak of Sumeru
And someone pushed you off,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And you will stay in the sky like the sun!

Or if you are pursued by bad people
And thrown down from Diamond Mountain,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And not a hair will be injured!

If you are surrounded by robbers,
Each with a knife ready to use on you,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And their hearts will become compassionate!

Or if you get into trouble with the king
And are threatened with execution,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And the executioner's sword will break into pieces!

If you are imprisoned, shackled, and chained,
Your arms and legs in stocks,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And you will be freed from your bonds!

Of if someone tries to hurt you
With curses or poisons,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And the harm will revert to its originator.

Or if you meet evil ogres,
Poisonous dragons or various spirits,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And none of them will dare to harm you.

If you are surrounded by evil beasts,
With sharp tusks and frightening claws,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And they will flee in every direction.

If there are lizards, snakes vipers, or scorpions
With poisonous breath that burns like fire,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And at the sound of your voice they will flee.

Or if clouds bring thunder and lightening flashes,
Hail pelts you, or rain pours down,
Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers
And all will instantly disappear.

If living beings suffer adversity
And are oppressed by countless pains,
The power of the wonderful wisdom of the Cry Regarder
Will liberate them from the world's suffering.

Perfect in divine powers,
Practicing wisdom of skillful means everywhere,
Throughout the universe there is no place
Where he does not appear.

All evil circumstances
In the realms of purgatories, hungry spirits, and animals,
In suffering birth, old age, sickness, and death—

Gradually he brings all of them to an end.

True regarder, pure regarder,

Vast wisdom regarder,

Compassionate and kind regarder—

Always called upon, always looked up to!

His pure and spotless radiance

Is a wisdom-sun, destroying all kind of darkness,

He subdues the storms and fires of disaster,

He illumines the whole world!

Precepts from his compassionate body shake like thunder.

His compassion is like a great cloud

Pouring Dharma rain like nectar,

Quenching the flames of affliction!

If you are brought before a judge in a dispute,

Or terrified in the midst of a battle,

Keep in mind the Cry Regarder's powers

And all vengeance will be driven away.

Wonderful voice, regarder of the cries of the world,

Brahma-voice, voice of the rolling tide,

World-surpassing voice—

He should always be kept in mind.

Never have a moment of doubt about him,

The pure and holy Regarder of the Cries of the World.

By those in suffering and agony, or facing death,

He can be relied on for protection.

Equipped with all blessing,

Viewing all with compassionate eyes,

His ocean of accumulated blessings is immeasurable.

Heads should be bowed to him.

The Alternative Name of The Hua-yen School

Dharma-dhatu Pratityasamutpada









The Interdependent Origination of the Universe School

Delighting in Good

If one does what is good, let one do the same thing again. Let one take delight in good. The accumulation of good is joyful.

---The Dhammapada, 118---

Non-Alcoholic Cocktail - Banana Bracer

1 very ripe banana, cut into chunks
3 ounces of milk
1 ounce of pineapple juice
1 ounce of coconut cream
1/2 cup of crushed ice
1 maraschino cherry

Combine all the ingredients in a blender except for the cherry.

Blend well.

Pour into a collins glass and garnish with the cherry.

Hua-yen and Ch'an

Hua-yen came to serve as the philosophical basis for the other schools of Buddhism more concerned with practice and realization. Thus not only is there no mutual exclusiveness at all between Hua-yen and Ch'an, but they are mutually complementary in a most profound and organic way. The Chinese have a saying: "Hua-yen for philosophy, Ch'an for practice." This does not imply a choice, but rather the interrelationship of the two.  As D. T. Suzuki remarked, Hua-yen is the philosophy of Zen and Zen is the practice of Hua-yen. Put another way, the picture of existence presented by Hua-yen is the universe experienced in Zen enlightenment. Without the practice and realization of Zen, Hua-yen philosophy remains mere intellectual fun, never a vibrant reality. Hua-yen, in turn, serves as an intriguing lure to the practitioner, a stimulus to effort, and a promise of a vision undreamed on in our more common hours. For these two reasons, Hua-yen is far from insignificant in the history of Buddhism.

---Francis H. Cook---

Taoism Questions Cause

Was
what there was
before the universe
a thing?

---Chuang-tzu---