Buddha | Buddhist | Buddhism

I am hoping for rain tomorrow. Did you hear me say that? I can't believe I just said that. But there is an ulterior motive. If it rains I can stay in and paint all day! Recently I have been weed obsessed. I jump out of bed in the morning and race outside to spend time in the company of weeds. The definition of a weed is simply a plant growing where we don't want it to. Aren't we bossy,

With palms together, Good Afternoon Everyone, We were talking about the Ten Ox-herding pictures. Stage Two is Discovering the Footprints. The traces cannot be hidden. It is, after all, as plain as the nose on our face. What are these traces? How can our True Self be seen? I think, sometimes, the Ox can be like a bull in the proverbial China Shop. At other times, it is like the disappearing Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. *grin* Everywhere and nowhere, we are what we are, always will be, always have been. Our true self is that which never changes, does not belong to us, yet never parts from us. How can we not see its traces? Stage Three is Perceiving the Ox. There is it, the ass sticking out from behind the tree. Who can see its face? When we look for a face we will never see it, all we will ever see are faces we can imagine: these are not the true face, the face of our true self, but rather, our imagination running wild. So pretty, yet so untrue. Someone got a match? The thing abo

I have written about this topic before, but found the following article fairly compelling. As someone who has a foot in the technological world, but who readily chooses substance over convenience, I found these words to ring very true: Convenience seems to come at the price of interaction the sort of day-to-day interactions that make us a part of our communities. Instead of chatting with the

"To keep the body in good health is a duty. . . otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

According to the Lankavatara Sutra (Suzukis translation) the world appears to exist, but nothing is really existing. This is true from the standpoint of Mind itself, the absolute substance. I know I have mentioned this before, but in the example of a clay pot or an elephant carved from wood, neither the pot nor the elephant exist apart from the clay or the wood. And so it goes from the standpoint of absolute Mind. The world we observe is a phenomenalization of Mind. This becomes absolutely true for us when we realize Mind for the first time. Until that time, we have to believe that what the Buddha is teaching us is true. Nothing is really existing as if it were existing apart or separate from Mind itself . This brings me to another pointa very important point. We have to have a real intuition of pure Mind. This, I need to add, is what separates Buddhism from metaphysical and religious speculation. Buddhists dont have time to argue with some idiot philosopher or religionist who believe

Post written by Leo Babauta . Its one of those things that has spread on the Internet and unbelievably, has become accepted truth to many people: that soy is unhealthy, even dangerous. I mention (to otherwise smart and informed people) that I drink soymilk sometimes, and a look of pity comes over their faces. This guy doesnt know the dangers of soy, and might get cancer, or worse man boobs, theyre thinking. Just about every fitness expert I read people I respect and trust says that soy is bad for you, from Tim Ferriss to theprimal/paleo folk. Seriously, I respect these guys and otherwise think their work is great. And yet, when I look for their sources on soy, often they dont exist, and when they do, I can always trace them back to one place. The Weston A. Price Foundation . Seriously. Ive never seen anyone cite a single peer-reviewed study that shows that soy is unhealthy. The only sources are the Weston A. Price Foundation, or other articles that use the Weston A. Price Foundatio

With palms together, Good Morning Everyone, A monk asks in all earnestness, What is Buddha? The Master answers, Shit on a stick! If you think about this, you will go down the path to delusion. So, be careful. Only in your mind is the smell, feel, or judgment regarding shit. This koan asks us to see how we set things up, make shiny things in our minds, and fail then to see them clearly. Buddha is often shiny and golden. He is often calm and serene. He is always clean and well polished. Yet this, then, is only a clean and shiny Buddha. And if the Buddha is covered in puss? Or being eaten by worms and maggots? This, then, is a worm and maggot eaten Buddha. Are they the same or different? What makes a Buddha Buddha? Is it the shine, the gold, the purity? Or do these exist in our mind as Buddha attributes? Perhaps rather than asking What is Buddha? We might better ask, Where is Buddha? As Buddha is a figment of our imagination and thus a defilement itself. Cut through thoughts like this and

Do you ever get so caught up in the rush of your crazy-busy-life that you forget to stop and reflect a little? Wait, dont answer that - Im going to go ahead and assume yes. I mean lets be honest here when was the last time you actively pursued an activity that was: closely related to one of your big dreams, made you feel most alive or most yourself, or just plain old wasnt part of your busy-list? If you couldnt think of the answer to at least one of those right away, it was probably longer than it should be. Assuming, of course, that it is important to you to pursue your dream life. Sometime this decade. How Often Do You Stop To Sharpen The Saw? Steven Covey, famed for his teaching on productivity and life-management, talks about taking time out for something he calls sharpening the saw. The saw being you, your skills and talents, and most certainly your goals and dreams. Of course the benefits to such time out from daily life are obvious, but that doesnt make it any easie

There is an excellent post and discussion about desire going on over at the blog On the Precipice. Specifically, it's tackling sex and sexual desire, which are, for obvious and not so obvious reasons both major stumbling blocks for humans and also gateways to enlightenment. To open the discussion up further, let's consider a few of the comments made over there first. Katherine, the post author,

"Little by little a person becomes evil, as a water pot is filled by drops of water... Little by little a person becomes good, as a water pot is filled by drops of water." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

The so-called Zen moment or your moment of Zen is when we are caught off guard, our cultural filters suddenly being ineffective. At this exact moment we see somethingor an eventas it is. We might even say the Zen moment is seeing something as it really is rather than as it is supposed to be according to our culture. Such moments, I need to add, help to put us onto a spiritual path so that we might one day come to realize that our all-too-human world is completely illusory. It has no reality behind it or holding it up. From a Buddhist perspective, it is starkly empty; a mere composition of Mind which is the only true substance of reality. It this context, are the performances of Grace Jones or Lady Gaga expressive of the Zen moment? To a limited extent one would have to say, yes (more so with the iconic Grace Jones). At times their performances do catch us with all of our filters down around our ankles with our bare arses showing. In such a moment words like chic or avant-garde also

With palms together, Good Morning Everyone, The other day in our Zen Discussion Group someone let slip that they did not think shikantaza was the essential method of practicing Zazen in the Soto School. This person was incorrect. I sense her error is based in the fact that the terms Zazen and shikantaza seem different, and indeed, are seemingly taught differently, but in the end, this is not so. They are one in the same. The Soto tradition, founded in Japan by Master Dogen, was founded upon the practice of Zazen and its essence is the practice of what is referred to as Silent Illumination. Whenever Dogen refers to Zazen, he is referring to shikantaza. So, why the confusion? I think it is because of how Zazen is taught. Introductions to the practice often include breath watching and/or breath counting, and while one is sitting quietly while doing this, one is not in the posture of Zazen , properly understood. As Taigon Leighton points out in his introduction to The Art of Just Sitting,

The practice of mindfulness, popularized perhaps most famously by Thich Nhat Hanh , is today even more on the rise. Significant themes of the popularity of this practice have to do with it being divorced from the tradition of Buddhism and its relationship with scientific study and health benefits. Two recent websites dedicated to mindfulness practice and research are interesting examples of the popularity and ideas surrounding mindfulness. Mindful: Living with Awareness and Compassion Website promote the specific practice of mindfulness without Buddhism. The website explicitly states to check out their magazines, Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma , if looking for a more Buddhist context. This idea of separate teachings/practices for those interested in Buddhism, is not new. I have seen this in my research of international meditation centers. For example, the Buddhist Meditation Institute at Wat Luang Por Sot is planning to have two websites: one for people interested in Buddhism, and on

Here's a page out of my sketch book (made from recycled paper). I've been sitting in the evening by the fire (am I using up non-renewable resources?) and playing in my sketch book. This Buddha is done in a grey conte crayon. Is conte crayon stuff, is it toxic, how and where is it produced? Do you see where I'm going with this? I know, I need to offer a few more clues, no not Colonel Mustard in

"To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

Post written by Leo Babauta . Decluttering your home or workspace can often seem overwhelming, but in truth it can be as peaceful as meditation, and can be a way to practice living mindfully and in the moment. Decluttering can be your zazen, as it is often mine. Recently I was honored with the chance to speak to a class at the San Francisco Zen Center, with the wonderful Zen priest Susan OConnell (one of my favorite people in the world, and my favorite movie star friend). I talked with the Zen students about decluttering, and a couple things stood out for me as I talked: Clutter is a manifestation of a) holding onto the past and b) fear of what might happen in the future. Letting go of clutter is a way to live more mindfully and in the present. The act of decluttering itself can be a mindfulness practice. Lets talk about each of those things briefly. Clutter is holding onto the past, or fear of the future Why do we have clutter in the first place? Why do we keep it when we dont really

With palms together, Good Morning Everyone, Zazen is the practice of seated meditation, we say, yet it is far more than that. Zazen is a state of being. What are the ontological elements? Steadiness, serenity, surrender, alertness, openness, in short, a state of being that is upright and aware. We exist naturally in this state of being until we are encumbered by thoughts and feelings. We collect thoughts and feelings and store them for daily reference. They form a sort of vetting process for us. A process which, in truth, actually becomes a veil clouding our ability to see clearly. My Clouds: Growing up in poor in Miami, in a household headed by an addict and a co-dependent partner, I saw what other people had and I dearly wanted it. The good life, the life of leisure and fun. I saw in base relief, then, my poverty. Television helped with this, as well. It framed the world and taught me to turn my wants into needs. I had hope. I saw, eventually, though, that the rich were rich and the

Well, that was a short hiatus !! I'm glad I didn't force the inspiration though--force never works. It fights the natural flow of the stream of life. Now, on with the new post!! (Artists rendering of accused killer, Jared Lee Loughner, in court. Photo Credit : Associated Press ) By Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times

Well, that was a short hiatus !! I'm glad I didn't force the inspiration though--force never works. It fights the natural flow of the stream of life. Now, on with the new post!! (Artists rendering of accused killer, Jared Lee Loughner, in court. Photo Credit : Associated Press ) By Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times

Kensho: The Heart of Zen An authoritative and prolific translator of and commentator on East Asian religious texts, Cleary tells us that kensho means "Zen insight into the essence of one's own being." To explain this concept in depth, he translates and comments on three Zen texts and divides his book into corresponding parts, which he titles "The True Mind," "Applications," and "Zen Koans." The three Zen texts are Chinul's (Korean, 1158-1210) Straightforward Explanation of the True Mind, several works by Hakuin (Japanese Zen master, 1689-1769), and The Book of Ease, a Chinese koan collection. Cleary's approach is to state a theme, expound on it, quote several passages from one of the three works to illuminate the concept, show what this contributes to the Zen understanding of true mind, and summarize his presentation. His work is tightly reasoned, complex, and for the advanced student of Zen. MediaFire Filesonic

I'm on the bus last night, coming home from my yoga teacher training core class. It's fairly late, around 9:30 pm, and so some of the people getting on are clearly intoxicated, high, or just plain wound up. This includes a woman sitting in the back, loudly talking on her phone, first to her son, and later to her mother in law. Felt myself getting irritated. There's no where to go inside of a bus;

"Misdirected life force is the activity in disease process. Disease has no energy save what it borrows from the life of the organism. It is by adjusting the life force that healing must be brought about, and it is the sun as transformer and distributor of primal spiritual energy that must be utilized in this process, for life and the sun are so intimately connected." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

With palms together, Good Morning Everyone, Recently my practice as abbot and founder of this Order has become challenging, well, more challenging than is usual. We are experiencing a degree of growth that can be a challenge in and of itself. Yet, growth we expect. What I didnt expect was being faced with such a need for volunteers to staff the Temple, lead groups, and do some of the background work that is essential to the Order itself. We currently have four groups a week: Comparative Religion, Zen 101, Women in Zen, and Zen Discussion. We are practicing Zazen Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday as formal Zen practice periods. We have two Zen in the Park periods and one Tai Chi Chih class. We are working with Sangha members Tamra and Shelley to bring formal Zen practice to Mesilla and are traveling to El Paso regularly to offer teaching at our Both Sides/No Sides Sangha there. I received a letter from the CYFD Superintendent asking to meet with us regarding bringing meditation to the

When a Bodhisattva awakens they awaken to something. We might say a Bodhisattva like Siddhartha awakened to the absolute ( dharma ) thus attaining nirvana, or he realized the absolute and thus attained nirvana or beheld the absolute and thus attained nirvana. Of course, nirvana, itself, is a mystery for those not beholding and experiencing it directly. Nevertheless, it is something very transcendent and real. Here we read a description of it found in the Udana . Monks, there exists that condition where is neither earth nor water nor fire nor air: wherein is neither the sphere of infinite space nor of infinite consciousness nor of nothingness nor of neither-consciousness-nor-unconsciousness; where there is neither this world nor a world beyond nor both together nor moon-and-sun. Thence, monks, I declare is no coming to birth; thither is no going (from life); therein is no duration; thence is not falling; there is no arising. It is not something fixed, it moves not on, it is not based on

Do you have a "special" person in your life? One that my friend the Zen monk calls "your great teacher". Not too long ago I spent some time with my "special" person. My joke was he shows me how good my practice isn't.And it's always interesting for me. Sometimes I prepare myself and I "do okay" in my assessment. No blood is spilled, no unkind words are uttered, no looks to make anyone wither

"Let no sleep fall upon thy eyes till thou hast thrice reviewed the transactions of the past day. Where have I turned aside from rectitude? What have I been doing? What have left undone, which I ought to have done? Begin thus from the first act, and proceed; and, in conclusion, at the ill which thou hast done, be troubled, and rejoice for the good." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

One-pointed of Mind samadhi , if perfected, whether one realizes it from the teachings of the Buddha, Patanjali, or Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, leads to a more profound attainment which Buddhists call bodhicittotpada (lit. bodhi-mind-arising) in which one sees the world, for the first time, from the perspective of an enlightened being ( buddha ). As far as this blog is concerned, I hardly dwell on this profound attainment because when we have authentic one-pointed of Mind samadhi, it is the magical key that will help us to eventually unlock the door to bodhicittotpada . Naturally, I find it much easier to blog about how to see and engage with Zen and Buddhism correctlyat lest to have the right orientation. Turning back to the matter of one-pointed of Mind samadhi it is a subtle subject to blog about. Nevertheless, I have tried to cover it in various ways. One major problem is we are not used to our mind being an attainable, effective substance, as being fundamentally transcendent to the c

As many of you can see, I haven't written much lately. Well, it appears that I've been bitten by the "writer's block" bug. Be sure to subscribe by email to the blog for my return. In the meantime, check out the vast archives, located on the lower right hand column of the blog. I will try to return soon, replete with fresh ideas and insights; it might be later today, or a couple weeks from now!! But, rest assured, I won't go far, dear readers!! As always, I'll be reading my fellow bloggers' posts in the meantime. May the time apart be filled with smiles, love and happiness for you all. ~Peace to all beings~

When, for example, Dogen says, "What we call Buddha Mind is synonymous with the three temporal worlds of past, present, and future, Dogen doesn't understand that Buddha Mind doesn't behold a temporal world existing in its own independent right. Buddha Mind is the absolute awakening to itself which means the temporal world doesn't actually exist. The temporal world is an illusion or my . To suggest that the temporal world is in anyway real, thus putting it on a par with Buddha Mind, is like saying that Fa-tsang's lion, in his work, Essay on the Golden Lion , possesses real substance apart from the goldwell, it doesn't. There is only gold which has been shaped and named lion; which is fundamentally empty of lions, etc. In addition, Dogen doesn't seem to comprehend, as he should, that a Bodhisattva does not train in any thing or settle down in any thing or dharma according to the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra ( The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousa

The past few weeks have felt kind of odd. All the rapture talk. Tornadoes here in Minnesota and in other parts of the country. A bit of bumpiness at the zen center. Struggling to find flow between the yoga and Zen practices. Confused encounters with a few friends. Flat tire, mistake after mistake Friday the 13th. Dreams of snow destroying my garden. The shaky, ever-changing ground upon which we

Editors Note : This is a guest post from Christopher Foster of The Happy Seeker . Many years ago, when I was a young fellow of 23, I said goodbye to my native England and journeyed to British Columbia. My heart said I would find meaning and freedom in that big, wild country. About a year after arriving in BC my entire life changed in an instant one summer afternoon. A friend had arranged for me to meet a British lord named Martin Cecil. He was a member of a famous British family, a well-known B.C. cattleman and also leader of a spiritual community in the interior B.C. I had a good job as a reporter in Victoria, B.C., but wanted to learn more about this community. I had a strong feeling that I would know, as soon as I met Martin Cecil, if I could trust him and if the community was the right thing for me. No sooner did he get out of his chair and walk toward me than I knew instinctively that I could trust him andwanted to join the community. He was irresistible. He didnt have to say a

"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

With palms together, Good Morning Everyone, The news this morning was difficult to bear. The city of Joplin was devastated by a massive tornado going into the night. People were left to withstand natures carnage in the dark of night. As I read the story and watched some video, I was moved to those still, silent tears that come from deep within my heart: people are frightened, huddled against the terror of chaos with little ability to secure themselves, I weep for them. My heart touches theirs as I have been in that darkness and cannot tell you how overwhelmingly terrifying it can be. Combat in Vietnam; hurricanes in Miami; violent, psychotic assault; these things can touch us to the core in ways that destroy our very foundation, that foundational platform we use to get through the day. Zen teaches us that nothing is permanent, that everything changes, and we are OK with that as long as the change is slow, giving us time to deal with it. But in the case of such disasters as tornadoes, e

For the Zen mystic who is trying to realize pure Mind, he firmly believes that such an entity as pure Mind or Buddha Mind is a real entity ; moreover it can be discovered, that is, directly apperceivedalthough not without a long and patient struggle. This is very much a different entity than a fictitious entity which Jeremy Bentham describes as follows: A fictitious entity is an entity to which, though by the grammatical form of the discourse employed in speaking of it, existence be ascribed, yet in truth and reality existence is not meant to be ascribed (Ogden, Bethams Theory of Fictions [1932], p. 12). Buddhists, I hope, grasp the meaning of a fictitious entityalthough I am inclined to believe they often dont. When I say, Buddha Mind this is not a fictitious entityfar from it. Its particular use in discourse is really meant to refer to attained Buddha Mind which is a real entity (yes, some Buddhists have actually beheld Buddha Mind face to face). A more down to earth example, when I

Zennists, sometime in the future (or hell, right now), are going to have to investigate the effectiveness of Zens rituals as they concern Zens ancient injunction to realize Buddha Mind or the same, realize our true nature. I say this because rituals may not work as intended, that is, they may fail to evoke the necessary realization of the Buddha Mind. A ritual might be, in fact, impractical when it comes to attaining gnosis of our true nature, but not entirely useless as far as beginners are concerned which is another topic. This leads me to a troubling question, is zazen just a ritual? The answer shouldnt be automatically, no. Those who believe that the performance of zazen is completely without ritualistic underpinnings have, I would argue, not sufficiently looked deep enough, for example, into the impact of Confucian ritualism on the formation of Chinese Buddhism, including Zen, and also, Japanese Buddhism. Given that zazen emphasizes the external performance of sitting za , and