tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479607567330519082024-02-06T19:32:59.524-08:00Blue Waters, Blue Mountainsa blog on non-dual traditions and seemingly related mattersAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-44406226583282451562017-04-05T15:20:00.001-07:002017-04-05T15:20:36.414-07:00The cloud is the thought that I am a person. The biggest cloud of all is the thought that I am a person who is free from the cloud. <div><br></div><div>Francis Lucille </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-84647198277924289272017-04-05T11:36:00.002-07:002017-04-05T11:37:54.034-07:00Good Advice For Someone Like Me<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-b1dd17d8-3f61-8127-b90d-2a6494f717f3"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 19.5pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“If you don’t become the ocean you’ll be seasick every day.” </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 19.5pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 19.5pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leonard Cohen <i>(from the poem Good Advice For Someone Like Me)</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 19.5pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zGcZ0o6yVtFZtBsvUismmBCG7UHMsMWhBjpoD1pyKxZBA43NNmapQUjdLWUw7Est_1wVHEK_n_GWo42h6BznRohB5mAcbOGYUSfBWG4_v9p8bKFlVPvc2Qwex1nMe5MJN503luG3rd8/s1600/lcohen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zGcZ0o6yVtFZtBsvUismmBCG7UHMsMWhBjpoD1pyKxZBA43NNmapQUjdLWUw7Est_1wVHEK_n_GWo42h6BznRohB5mAcbOGYUSfBWG4_v9p8bKFlVPvc2Qwex1nMe5MJN503luG3rd8/s400/lcohen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: leonardcohen.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 19.5pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-32422378158905818802015-04-03T13:13:00.004-07:002015-04-03T13:13:59.197-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Love the discipline you know, and let it support you. Entrust yourself willingly to the divine, and then make your way through life- no one's master and no one's slave.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.31</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-73271366929783151182015-03-30T08:14:00.001-07:002015-04-13T14:40:23.932-07:00St Isaac of Syria: The Kingdom of God is Within (with some "commentary" from Ramana Maharshi) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">The spiritual country of the person who is pure in soul is within. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The sun which shines within them is the light of the holy trinity. The air which the inhabitants of that realm breathe is the strengthening and all holy spirit. The holy and bodiless beings make their abode within them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Christ, the light of the Father's light, is their life, joy and happiness. Such a person is gladdened at every moment by their soul's contemplation, and he is held in wonder at the beauty which lies within, a beauty which is truly a hundred times more resplendent than the brilliance of the sun itself.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This is Jerusalem and the Kingdom of God, lying hidden within us, as the Master says (Luke 17:21). This country is the cloud of God's glory which only the pure of heart may enter, so as to behold the face of their Master, having their minds enlightened by the rays of his light.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">*********************************************************************************</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The silence of the serene is prayer, as one of those clothed in Christ says, for their thoughts are divine stirrings.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The stirring of a pure mind constitutes still utterances, by means of which such people sing in a hidden way to God. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">-Daily Readings with St Isaac of Syria, Sebastian Brock (translation altered for clarity, gender and punctuation). P. 52, 53. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ramana Maharshi: "That state which transcends speech and thought is mauna (silence). Subjugation of the mind is meditation; deep meditation is eternal speech. Silence is ever-speaking; it is the perennial flow of 'language'. Lectures may entertain individuals for hours without improving them. Silence, on the other hand, is permanent and benfits the whole of humanity...by silence, eloquence is meant. Oral lectures are not so eloquent as silence. Silence is unceasing eloquence...it is the best language." (Maharshi's Gospel, Sri Ramanashram)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-58049258227113320442015-03-27T12:29:00.004-07:002015-03-27T12:29:48.194-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Those colours which have no name...are the real foundation of everything."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">-Vincent Van Gogh </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(quoted in Pat Schneider, "How The Light Gets In", p. 3)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-2559811867040852912015-03-27T09:48:00.001-07:002015-03-27T09:50:38.085-07:00Five Ways of Sustaining The Essence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Elevate your experience and remain wide open like the sky.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Expand your mindfulness and remain pervasive like the earth.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Steady your attention and remain unshakeable like a mountain.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Brighten your awareness and remain shining like a flame.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Clear your thought free wakefulness and remain lucid like a crystal.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">-Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, "Clarifying the Natural State".</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-35225985782117439442015-03-27T09:45:00.004-07:002015-03-27T09:45:57.116-07:00Effort and Effortlessness <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Do not think, "I will practice later." That attitude makes it never: our time simply runs out . Time will not wait for us. The ultimate practice is undistracted nonmeditation, which obliterates the root of confusion. It totally and permanently obliterates all karma, dusturbing emotions, and habitual tendencies.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">To begin with, we need some method, some techniques to lead us to the ultimate. The best method is of course effortlessness, but effortlessness cannot be taught or striven after. Even if we try- especially if we try- we can't become automatically effortless. Though effortlessness just does not seem to spontaneously take place, yet it is a fact that confused experience will fall apart the moment we simply let be in a nondualistic state. Right now, for most of us, every moment of ordinary experience is governed by conditioning. Our present habit is deliberate effort. Therefore, we have no choice but to use our present habit of deliberate effort to arrive at effortlessness. Once we are accustomed to effortful meditation, we can make the leap to the effortless state.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">- Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, "Present Fresh Wakefulness" </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-67877254127488994572015-03-23T08:30:00.002-07:002015-03-23T08:30:50.757-07:00The Spiritual Friend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Friends, until you attain awakening, you need a</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">teacher, so follow your spiritual friend.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Until you realize the natural state, you need to learn,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">so listen to his or her instructions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Atisha (980-1054)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(from "Jewels of Enlightenment", Erik Pema Kunsang</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">modified for gender neutrality).</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-57840918622840056512015-03-19T14:50:00.001-07:002015-03-19T15:00:28.042-07:00Francis Lucille on "The Teacher" (including some discussion of Ramana
Maharshi and Robert Adams)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Q: What is the role of the teacher?</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">A: The teacher does not give you a new necklace but just asks you to look in the mirror. The teacher does not give you anything new. One should be careful about any misunderstanding in this respect. Indian society is very hierarchical, highly differentiated and, due to these social traditions that have nothing to do with the truth, the guru is way above the fray. For instance, the Brahmin caste is above everybody else and this is an impediment at some point. Although Ramana Maharshi was a Brahmin, he would eat with everybody else at his ashram. There was a special dining room for the newcomers who were Brahmins and initially they would eat there. However, since the teacher was not there, they would eventually move in with everybody else. He was always very careful not to be put on a pedestal. He would even become angry if he received special treatment and rightfully so, because he didn't see himself as different from anyone else.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">One has to be careful about traditions that make a god of the teacher. It is true that the teacher is speaking the truth, but from his or her vantage point, everything is speaking he truth. For instance, when the student is asking a question, it is truth speaking to the teacher. Usually, when the teacher dies, when his body dies, his pedestal is raised up to the ceiling at least. Then, each subsequent year, it rises a couple more meters, and so eventually it is at an almost infinite distance from us! We forget that the teacher was and is what we are.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">A teacher is very human as a person, very much like us. There is a beautiful poem by Thayumanavar, a 16th century Indian poet, in which he compares the teacher with a deer who is sent towards a herd of deer, in order to lure them towards the hunter. God is the hunter in this metaphor and the teacher is the deer that is sent to the herd. There has to be a real deer or the herd would feel that there was a trap and would not follow.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There should not be any difference between the teacher and the student. It is natural that there is respect because the teacher sees the Self in you. Respect calls for respect, Love calls for love. At the same time, the teacher should make realization seem easy. If a teacher makes it seem difficult and out of reach, then find another one!</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The teacher that takes us to freedom, known in India as the Satguru or the Karana guru, wants our freedom above all else. In the Karana guru's presence, we feel this total freedom with respect to the rules. Deep inside we know that there are no rules, although it may be appropriate to follow the rules if a situation requires it. There is totoal freedom. The teacher doesn't judge you. Everything is OK. You are OK.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Take Robert Adams, for instance. He was a beautiful loose cannon! He was an expression of this freedom. It was this quality that enabled you to be free from your own conditioning, from what you thought you ought or ought not to do.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Freedom is the highest good. It is that which is closest to the Self. Above love, above intelligence, above beauty, there is freedom. That is why the game we are playing is called the game of bondage and liberation.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">- Francis Lucille, The Perfume of Silence</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-55834568793207666652015-03-03T12:34:00.002-08:002015-03-03T12:34:48.381-08:00Kosho Uchiyama: The Heart of Nembutsu<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Heart of Nembutsu</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I eat food from the whole heaven and earth</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I drink water from the whole heaven and earth</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I live the life of the whole heaven and earth</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Pulled by the gravity of the whole heaven and earth</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I become pure and clear, one with the whole heaven and earth</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The whole heaven and earth is where I return</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">- <i>Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo</i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-32629220569834006562015-02-03T14:34:00.001-08:002015-02-03T14:35:37.156-08:00New Blog!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have launched a new blog here: <a href="http://hashkata.com/">http://hashkata.com</a><br />
<br />
It is called "Voices: Comparative Theology and Intertraditional Polylogue". Yes, that's a mouthful, but it goes with the over-all tone of the site :)<br />
<br />
I am creating this blog as a place to host a particular type of writing I do and find myself doing more of as time goes by. This is writing which presents voices in dialogue from across religious and philosopical traditions. I see this as both intrinsically valuable and a way of promoting peace and understanding among different religious and cultural groups.<br />
<br />
I hope you'll take a look. <a href="http://hashkata.com/">http://hashkata.com</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-33639723208668806902015-01-25T14:03:00.001-08:002015-01-25T14:07:21.740-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">The real quest begins when this not-knowing ceases to be an agnostic concept and becomes a living experience.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Jean Klein, <i>Who Am I?</i></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-67869997689767846102015-01-24T14:01:00.001-08:002015-01-25T14:08:45.219-08:00Zazen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Zazen is a posture which enables us to see through the illusions of our thinking selves.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
Kosho Uchiyama </div>
<div>
<i>The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo </i></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-41901315517611632172015-01-19T19:47:00.001-08:002015-01-25T14:08:03.726-08:00Zen Wars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some Zen priests during WW2 twisted Zen lingo in order to encourage warfare, chauvinism, and fascism. Brian Victoria's book Zen at War, thought it has some flaws, brought this to all of our attention. In some cases the revelation was shocking, as in the case of Yasutani Roshi, who was revered as an enlightened being by many in the West. That storm has mostly passed, but the book has otherwise gotten quite a bit of attention in the years since its writing. Some of this attention, I feel, is excessive or wrongheaded, and I wanted to share some thoughts on that. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I am certainly not opposed to Brian Victoria's book in principle, and agree that misbehaviour and delusion among Buddhist masters past or present needs to be faced and discussed. I just think the attention this issue has gotten is excessive and, frankly, that it is being pressed into the service of ulterior motivations. Why do I think the attention its getting is excessive and inappropriate?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Well, first of all, the words of Zen priests in Japan legitimizing violence and chauvinism are often treated as an "embarrasment" to Soto Zen, or worse as a condemnation by association of Zen doctrines themselves. Is that logical? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">First off, it is not an embarrassment to Soto Zen. It is an embarrassment to many members of the Soto establishment who were in positions of authority, or were teachers, at that time. Japan's actions during WW2 were not motivated by Buddhism in any sense. The ideology behind Japan's aggression was a mixture of racism, greed and imperialism, and was given its core ideological justification by State Shinto, not State Buddhism. Even if it has been State Buddhism, however, so what? Mainstream Buddhist doctrines, especially in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, are the most nonviolent of any religious doctrines in human history (with the exception of Jainism). The fact that even Buddhist doctrine can be twisted into the service of greed, hatred and delusion is not a condemnation of Buddhism or of religion, but of the darkness of the human heart itself.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Second, to examine the issue a little more closely, is what happened in Japan a condemnation of Zen as inherently tending towards the legitimization of violence? Some have suggested that the intense asceticism, hierarchy, or nondual philosophy of Zen encourage emotional attitudes of machismo, abuse of authority, amorality or nihilism. I would be more likely to agree with Professor Bob Thurman, who suggested years ago that there is a correlation in societies who are shutting down their monasteries (as Japan has been slowly doing for centuries and much of Europe did five hundred years ago) with rising militarism and imperial expansion. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The sad fact is that every religion on the planet has been been used as a justification for violence and other immoral acts (immoral by Buddhist standards, anyway!). Is this because "religion poisons everything"? Well, if that was true, than we would expect non-religious countries or atheistic governments to be more peaceful. Let's see- Nazis? Nope. Maoists? Nope. Saddam Hussein? Pol Pot? Kim Jong Il? Joseph Stalin? Wait, these governments have been many times more brutal than any religious government or society, and been responsible for a massive amount more deaths. There goes that theory. Actually, it seems like religious countries, although sadly still violent, may on the whole be less violent. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Is the problem organized religions? Maybe indigenous peoples and pagans were peaceful. Some think so. But is this true? Wait, wasn't Japan in WW2 energized by the use of Shinto, a "pagan" religion? Wasn't Hitler fascinated with the Occult and pre-Christian Teutonic Paganism? What about brutal world conquering Ancient Rome. What about the endless wars of blood vengeance among Aboriginals in New Zealand or the abduction and counter abductions and ceremonial torture among Canadian First Nations peoples? What about Mayan human sacrifice? Nope, Pagans all. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So where does that leave us? It seems that organized religion is to blame, and disorganized religion, and atheism, and secularism! Hmmn. Maybe we're missing a common factor, something besides religion or irreligion, something else present in all of these cases and instances. What could it be? What or who was there all the time?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Satan? No, us. Yes, that's right, human beings. Human beings who hurt and kill other beings for the sake of power, or security, or out of greed, hatred, anger, or vengeance. Human beings who are probably in most instances just trying to be safe, or have a good life, and woefully confused about what will bring that about. In a world determined not by wishful thinking but by causes and conditions, confusion kills.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe if we could understand our interconnection, let go of our self-defensiveness, and reduce our greed, hatred and delusion we'd be better off. Maybe if we embraced non-violence and compassion and tried to stop reifying our own point of view and began training our minds we could overcome these tendencies. If only we had a religion that taught those things. Wait! We do!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">If Buddhism generally, and Zen specifically, teaches these things, how could it be that some Zen priests in WW2 advocated warfare, racism, and fascism? Well, you see, the weakness of Buddhism is that is has to be understood properly and practiced properly to work. Even more difficult, the practitioner also has to use it as a light to shine on themselves in every nook and cranny. The honest truth is that all of us fail at this more than we succeed, because it is very difficult. Buddhism itself does not claim that it is easy, but explicitly says that this is very difficult. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Buddha himself warned that even ultimate truth, healing truth, wondrous truth, if used the wrong way, is a snake that will bite you (Alagaduppama Sutta). In the words of the immortal bard (Willam Blake): A truth told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So one reason the focus on Zen at War bothers me is that it can cause doubt and suspicion to arise and be directed in the wrong direction, away from our own hearts and towards one of the very things that can help us- Zen practice. Another reason reason is that the events in Victoria's book are in the past. We would do better to study what evil we are legitimizing or overlooking today. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">How do I think we should respond to the delusion and bad conduct of Zen priests in WW2? Well, I do think we should try to understand where they went wrong. We should then see if we are going wrong in similar ways today, as communities or individuals. It is not the doctrines they believed, but how and whay they twisted them that we need to examine. If there is anything in the structures of their communities that we can demonstrate empirically, not speculatively, to be at fault, than we should look at how to change that. We should not discount everything good that person ever did, although we should certainly treat them with greater suspicion, particularly if they never repented (unlike Kodo Sawaki, for instance, who did).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">We should then get on with the great matter of the present moment.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm sure that many in the Zen community have acted exactly as I just prescribed. If I had focused on them, however, I would have had nothing to complain about today. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-29405936890176969592015-01-16T13:18:00.001-08:002015-01-25T14:08:30.487-08:00Religion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Religion" is to live out the ever fresh self, which is not decieved by anything."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">-Kodo Sawaki, quoted in <i>The Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo</i> </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-72441548820742629262013-07-06T19:32:00.001-07:002013-07-06T19:32:24.848-07:00New Article on Elephant Journal<p> http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/07/sure-road-to-freedom-ayurvedic-wisdom-on-changing-habits-matthew-gindin/</p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-47139292582628284702013-07-03T11:59:00.001-07:002013-07-03T12:02:31.702-07:00The Truth Beyond Us And Them<p><font size="5">When I was younger I used to go to protest marches. Although initially energized by the solidarity and sense of positive power that gathered around the protesters I usually found that by the end of the march I felt alienated and dispassionate. I felt that way not about the cause, but about the gathering. It was hard to put my finger on what the problem was at first. Something about the tone: angry, self-righteous. Confrontational. In one phrase: Us against Them. <br>
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<p><font size="5">I don't deny the existence of bad guys in the world. But I do think they are exceedingly rare. Duplicity, self-absorption ignorance, opportunism- these are very real, and all of us are guilty, or at least I am. But real villains- they are few and far between. What I disliked about the energy of the protests was the sense that we were on the side of heaven- righteous, possessed of the truth, and in a holy wrath- and our opponents were benighted, evil, ignorant, and even subhuman- "pigs", as you-know-who were repeatedly referred to at one march.</font></p>
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<p><font size="5">There are three things I dislike about this approach. 1) It is not true. 2) The sense of righteousness- the sense of moral and intellectual superiority- can itself become an addicting brew, intoxicating the conscience and leading one to a view life through a distorting glass that renders everything falsely black and white. 3) This approach, so often hostile and dehumanizing, is both violent and ineffectual. It is violent because it is tainted with ill-will, and ineffective because it blocks off communication between parties in conflict and instead of reaching out to and activating the good in the other side. It provokes defensive postures with all the blindness they also bring.</font></p>
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<p><font size="5">Of the three the last may be most serious. As long as we demonize our opponents we will provoke them to withdraw behind defenses and in turn demonize us.</font></p>
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<p><font size="5">Gandhi developed a strategy of political transformation which worked in precise opposition to the above dynamic, which he called satyagraha. It consisted of a combination of a commitment to non-violence with an appeal to what was highest in one's opponent. "I discovered in the earliest stages that pursuit of truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one’s opponent but that he must be weaned from error by patience and compassion....there must be no impatience, no barbarity, no insolence, no undue pressure." (Prabhu and Rao, The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi). </font></p>
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<p><font size="5">Interestingly, Jesus used a similar method. A case in point is the story of Jesus and the tax collector Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10). In this story Jesus is passing through Jericho on the way to Jerusalem, having avoided the town's desire to give him hospitality. A chief tax collector (ie. a wealthy Jewish colloborator with the Romans) runs ahead of Jesus and climbs into a tree to see him. Jesus, seeing Zaccheus, tells him that he will stay at his house. The crowd, up until now in love with the new celebrity preacher, becomes incensed. They would have expected Jesus to upbraid Zaccheus for being of the "1%" and lecture him on how he should quit cooperating with Rome and make restitution to his own people, afflicted with poverty and crushed beneathe the heel of the Romans. But he doesn't do that- instead, recognizing the potential good in Zaccheus, he appeals to that, showing the man honour and going into his house. Zaccheus, moved, in fact does pledge to make restitution to his impoverished people, and of his own free will. </font></p>
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<p><font size="5">As the great African-American mystic Howard Thurman, colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr., pointed out in Jesus and The Disinherited, it is surely a very important fact that when God's messenger arrived he was born as a dirt poor member of an oppressed minority living under colonial domination. As such Jesus made three important choices: 1) between resistance and accomodation he chose resistance; 2) between violence and non-violence he chose non-violence; and 3) rather than hating his enemy and cataloguing their wrongs he preached, "Love your enemy" and catologued his own people's wrongs.</font></p>
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<p><font size="5">This takes courage. When the Roman government is taxing you to death, outlawing your religious freedoms, killing your leaders as political dissidents, and who knows what else, it takes an amazing hutzpah to wander the villages pointing out to your fellow Jews what they need to do to set their own spiritual and moral integrity in order. </font></p>
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<p><font size="5">What most interests me about Jesus and Gandhi's approach is the way it undercuts the us versus them approach on two counts: 1) it disembowels the two-headed beast of self- glorification and demonisation of others, with all the blindness it brings in its wake; and 2) makes room for dialogue through appealing to common humanity. </font></p>
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<p><font size="5">It is so nice to feel one is on the side of angels. Canadian and not American where I come from. A worker and not a boss. With the Palestinians and against the Israelis. A treehugger, not a resource manager. An atheist and not a religious nut. Or vice versa. But people, and life, are endlessly more complicated. Only with a careful, loving understanding can we come to anything like the truth of our common humanity, common needs, common guilt. </font></p>
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<p><font size="5">And why do we need the truth? An old Jewish saying points out that the Hebrew word for truth (אמת) when written in in Hebrew, uses three letters that all have two legs. Falsehood, by contrast (שקר) is written with three letters that each have one leg or sit on a curve. The lesson? Falsehood is a bad foundation; only truth lasts. </font></p>
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<p><font size="5">Matthew Gindin April 2013</font></p>
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<p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-28120977493478613392013-06-19T12:55:00.001-07:002013-06-19T12:59:19.635-07:00Articles On Elephant Journal<p>I've recently published a few articles on Elephant Journal, a grassroots Yoga webzine. The first covered the question, "When Does Yoga Stop Being Yoga?" The second discusses actionless action and violence in the Bhagavad Gita, and the third Ayurvedic Healing and romantic relationships. </p>
<p>The fourth and most recent article advocates keeping Kirtan, a communal devotional practice in Hinduism and Sikhism, on a donation basis, or on other words, free to attend. This last article, called "Paying to Pray" has provoked surprising amounts of hostility, as well as some interesting debate and some happy agreement. </p>
<p>All four can be found here:</p>
<p>http://www.elephantjournal.com/?s=matthew+gindin<br>
</p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-25910085760637153472013-04-09T14:54:00.001-07:002013-04-09T14:54:39.812-07:00Pole Dancing Yoginis Raise Questions<p>New piece published on Elephant Journal:</p>
<p> http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/04/is-yoga-still-yoga-if-it-involves-pole-dancing-matthew-gindin/</p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-47264690746969714682012-08-06T07:40:00.001-07:002012-08-06T07:45:25.557-07:00Shila, Samadhi and Prajnya<font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">I recently read about this psychological experiment in Alison Gopnick's excellent book "The Philosophical Baby". In this attention experiment a number of people are told to watch a video of several people throwing a ball back and forth and count the number of times the ball goes from hand to hand. This takes some effort since the people are all weaving around, and as Gopnick says, it is similar to trying to track the movement of the pea in a shell game. At the end of the exercise the viewers are asked if anything strange occured on the field, and they answer no. The video is then played back and they are told, this time, not to count the ball throws. To their amazement they now realize that someone in a gorilla suit walks slowly right through the middle of the field.<br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">The lesson? When we focus our attention on one set of facts we can overlook something very significant happening right before our eyes. This is the case with many of the truths pointed out by the great Yogic religious movements like Vedanta and Buddhism. The truths these religions point to- truths like interbeing, emptiness, impermanence, not-self, the unborn and undying nature of awareness or the featureless plenitude of Being that all phenomena arise from, are right in front of our eyes. We do not notice them because we are too focused on counting ball throws. Sometimes when trying to explain one of these truths to someone I will get the feeling that they think I am playing a mind game or trying to pull a fast one on them. It's kind of like I'm saying, "You didn't see a gorilla just walk through here but one did and you didn't notice." The person will not be impressed until they themselves have seen the gorilla. Nevermind another person, often my own mind reacts that way. "What do you mean I should attend to emptiness or impermanance, can't you see I'm counting ball throws here? Counting ball throws is very important." <br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">That is why both Vedanta and Buddhism have advocated monasticism, of course. It is not out of a morbid fear of sensuality or an obsession with purity, seclusion, or quietness, nor a hatred of women. Normal life consists of an endless sequence of activities which require you to focus on the ball throws. And this counting of ball throws is not a neutral experiment or afternoon's diversion. We feel that everything depends on our counting, and we are driven to track the movements of the ball by fear, greed, ambition, love, envy, anxiety, and anger. But according to the Buddha or Shankara, everything depends on you seeing the gorilla walk by. Once you see it then you will realize that things are not what they seem. Small details of life which seemed peripheral were actually, all the time, containing the secrets of freedom.<br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">The Buddha taught that there are two levels of seclusion: kayaviveka and cittaviveka. Kayaviveka consists in physically withdrawing from involvement in the world, as in monasticism, sesshin, or a retreat. Cittaviveka consists in withdrawing the mind from such involvement. In the Mahasatipatthana Sutta is it described as meditating "having put aside greed and distress with regards to the world". <br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">This activity of putting aside greed and distress is shamatha, calming meditation, known in the Chinese cultural sphere as "stopping" (the "zhi" in zhiguan). This is the stopping which precedes "seeing", and is an essential part of our practice. Before we can see the gorilla of impermanence or selflessness we must stop counting the ball throws.<br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">Although in Zazen practice we do not intentionally cultivate "stopping" we are in fact stoppping when we sit down, assume our posture, and begin letting go of "gaining mind". <br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">In Zazen we do not aim at seeing anything in particular, we simply withdraw from counting the ball throws and cultivate a mind which sees everything. Even should we see a man in a gorilla suit we do not exclaim "a-ha!" but rather are simply aware of the gorilla and keep on watching. The reason for this is that Zazen attempts to sit directly on the feild beyond balls and gorillas, beyond anything in particular. The reason for seeing the gorilla of impermanence is to free our mind from attachment; this is the same reason we want to see not-self or interbeing. Perhaps we should add to this, as Mahayana practitioners, that we also wish to cultivate compassion. <br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">In any case, Zazen, being self-confessedly an embodiment of the teaching which does not rely on teachings (or methods) but points directly to the heart and wakes Buddha, starts by immediately dropping into the non-attachment that is supposed to be the result of the insights that other schools of Buddhism cultivate methodically and gradually.<br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">Reflecting on this I think it is important to realize that although in a sense Zazen is the simplest of all practices, it is also a very advanced one. Truth be told most of us are not ready for it. In my Sangha the teacher, Eihei Peter Levitt, does not in fact teach Shikantaza to beginners, but teaches a kind of shikantaza flavored Anapanasmrti, Mindfulness of Breathing. I think this is pretty common in Zen circles, and was also done by Shunryu Suzuki. This is, of course, a stopping technique. <br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">In my own practice I have found again and again that just sitting Zazen is not enough. I must also cultivate both stopping and seeing, Shen-hui be damned. As well as mindfulness of breathing, mantra, qigong, I must use kayagatasati- mindfulness of the body and its movements throughout the day, mindfulness of eating and drinking, of walking and laying down. I also need to pay attention to and think about my experiences in the light of the Buddha's teachings. I need to attend to dependent origination, to karma and its results, to interbeing, not-self, impermanence, and emptiness. <br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">Why? <br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">I need to because withdrawing my attention from my obsessions and their objects, calming my mind and body, and seeing into those obvious aspects of reality that I relentlesly overlook, reduces my siffering and that of those around me. They are Bodhisattva activities, and they actualize the Buddha's compassionate project here and now.<br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">I have to confess that I occasionally find uncompromisingly suddenist teachings like that of the Linji Lu tiresome, no matter how brilliant or intense a manifestation of awakened insight. The reason is that if I cannot be less iriitable with my wife, if I do not view the people around me with the eyes of compassion; if I do not follow the precepts and consume and act mindfully; then of what concrete, visible here and now (ehipassiko) use is the Buddhadharma?<br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">I have met too many non-dualists who let their bodyminds roll on unconfronted, focused on recognizing the immanent presence of the absolute, on being one with their activities, or on developing the mind beyond right and wrong. These seem to me to be legitimate points in our practice, but where is the caring heart of the Bodhisattva? Where are Dogen Zenji's "three minds" of kindness, parental love, and expansiveness? Where is it for real, here and now, visible to all, rolling the wheel of the Dharma? Where is the cool breeze for the sentient beings sweating in the burning house of samsara?<br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">In making the above argument I realize I am also arguing for the importance of the third factor in the traditional Buddhist triad that includes Stopping and Seeing. In the traditional teaching stopping equates to samadhi, seeing equates to prajnya, and the third factor is shila, or good conduct. The Buddha argued that without good conduct the mind would be too much of a mess to be able to stop, and he also argued that good conduct benefitted other beings, increasing both their long term happiness and wellbeing and our own. He also said it was the greatest of worldy gifts: that of abhayadana, the gift of having nothing to fear from you. <br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">All around us people crave for examples of integrity, of non-hypocricy, or some degree of purity and what one might call "rectitude". I am not suggesting that we abandon cultivating the mind beyond gain, or lose our flexibility and non-dogmatism. The Diamond Sutra should always be in the back of our minds. I am suggesting though that we need to take a hard look at whether we are walking our talk as practitioners of Mahayana Dharma in every detail of our daily lives. The fact that we will constantly fail to a greater or lesser degree is not the issue. As Dogen Zenji famously said. "Practice is one continuous mistake." To whatever degree we succeed we will have reduced our own suffering and the suffering of beings everywhere, and we will have repaid our debt to the Buddha by embodying his teaching in the world.<br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><br></font><br/><br/><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><br></font><br/><br/> <br/><br/><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-83669643042242121072012-08-04T18:50:00.001-07:002012-08-04T19:03:22.350-07:00Create Enlightened Society or Head for the Hills?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildfoxzen/2012/08/create-enlightened-society-or-head-for-the-hills.html">Create Enlightened Society or Head for the Hills?</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-86804837909114097072012-07-11T13:47:00.003-07:002012-07-11T13:49:57.800-07:00On shikantaza: who does this sound like?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Do not misconstrue the past, the present, or the future. The past has not gone, the present does not stay, the future has not come. Tranquilly sitting erect, accepting things as they come, but not being bound, this is indeed what is called emancipation."<br />
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Dogen Zenji, right? The wordplay, the bewildering subversion of normal ideas of time, and the equation of zazen (shikantaza) with emancipation. But it is Mazu Daoyi ( Baso Do'itsu), godfather of the Hongzhou Chan school and grandfather teacher of Linji Xiyun (Rinzai Gigen).<br />
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-from The Record of Linji, tr./ed. Sasaki and Kirchner, p. 172. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-63670361558530693452012-07-09T18:58:00.000-07:002012-07-11T11:45:13.301-07:00Buddhism, Women, and the Culture of Awakening<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.2945446236990392"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.0955584766343236"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Buddha did not just teach Dharma- the theory and practice of Awakening-or establish a sangha- a community of awakened disciples and specialized renunciant community- the Buddha established a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">parisad- </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a culture of awakening (see Pasadika Sutta DN 29). When the Buddha spoke of the culture of awakening he intended to establish, he spoke of it as having four parts- bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, upasakas and upasikas, ie. monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. It’s important to understand that when teachers spoke in ancient India- as in ancient Greece or Israel- they usually used the male pronoun to refer to “everyone”. The fact the Buddha did not do this- that every time he discusses the make-up of his culture of awakening he specifically mentions both men and women in both monastic and lay roles- is of great importance. The Buddha emphatically states that if any of these groups are missing from the culture of awakening it is incomplete, and his gift to the world would not last long. Further the Buddha said that creating a fourfold culture of awakening was not an innovation of his but was a distinctive feature of the teachings of all Buddhas past and future. In other words, establishing a fourfold culture of awakening is an inherent part of the very definition of “Buddha”. A Buddha establishes a culture of awakening, that is his gift to the world (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>sasanam)</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This culture must be, on all levels, inclusive of both men and women for it to fulfill the Buddha’s compassionate intention.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This position of the Buddha’s has been at times overlooked or, worse, covered up and hidden by those who aspired to make men as dominant in the culture of awakening as they were outside of it, or who believed, against the Buddha’s explicit statements to the contrary, that women were incapable of the higher levels of spiritual practice. One story in the Canon is a culprit in this regard: the story in the Vinaya of the fonding of the Nuns order. It presents the Buddha as having established it grudgingly and warning of the grave dangers associated with it. Recently several scholars have critically examined this narrative and different rescensions of it in the surviving Vinayas of differing schools. The consensus is that it is a late, polemical addition to the Vinaya. </span></span></b></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.2945446236990392"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recently Ven Analayo, a Theravadin monk-scholar, after examining the different rescensions of the story and other evidence from the canon, proposed a reconstruction of what was likely to have really happened in the founding of the nuns sangha:</span><a href="http://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/fileadmin/pdf/analayo/Mahapajapati.pdf" style="white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/fileadmin/pdf/analayo/Mahapajapati.pdf</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I retell the story below based on Analayo’s research.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For more details on why the garudhammas (rules subjugating bhikkhunis) cannot date from the foundation of the bhikkhuni sangha by the Buddha: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/dhammadharini/web/non-historicity-of-the-eight-garudhammas?hl=en&pli=1)" style="white-space: normal;">http://groups.google.com/group/dhammadharini/web/non-historicity-of-the-eight-garudhammas?hl=en&pli=1)</a></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.2945446236990392"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The Story<u style="color: #000099; font-weight: normal;"><br /></u></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thus have I heard:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> At one time the Buddha was dwelling in Kapilavatthu, in the Nigrodha park, in the territory of his own clan, the Shakyas. At that time his foster mother Mahapajapati Gotami, visited the Buddha. After bowing to him with her head at his feet she sat down and asked him if women could attain the four stages of awakening as men could. The Buddha affirmed that they could, as he had on other occasions. Mahapajapati then made a bold request which would be the first step in completing the Buddha’s vision for his culture of awakening. She requested that women be allowed to go forward as homeless wanderers like men were, leaving behind home and family and living a contemplative life in the jungles and forests. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gotami must have been very disappointed with the Buddha’s answer. The Buddha told her not to make that request. “Shave your head like the bhikkhus, wear ochre robes, and live at home as a celibate renunciant.”, he told her according to one version of the story. Home was a more protected environment. The jungle was a dangerous place for women wandererers. The Jains would also come to accept women as homeless sadhus in their community. In their rules of discipline, the famously nonviolent Jains state that whenever women stay in an overnight dwelling without lockable doors they are to station their stoutest member by the entrance with a big stick to fend off intruders with sexual assault on their minds. The women of the jungle were not protected by association with the male holders of power- and were therefore easy prey for predators.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mahapajapati returned home and did as the Buddha asked. A few weeks later she returned again to where he was dwelling for the rains retreat, this time with shaven head and ochre robes as the Buddha had suggested, and repeated her request, but was again turned away. Mahapajapati returned home and began to gather around her like-minded women, who she instructed to shave their hair and don monastic robes like hers.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After the end of the rains retreat when the Buddha once again took to the road Gotami followed with her band of holy women. They caught up to the sangha in Nadika (or perhaps Vesali). The Buddha, seeing the number of women who had taken up the renunciant life with Gotami and braved the hardships of the road, was put at ease about their readiness to enter the homeless life and complete the parisad. The women had shown that despite mostly being ladies of the Shakyan royal court, they could handle the rigours of the homeless life, and that they now had enough numbers to assure eachothers safety. This time the Buddha granted Gotami`s request.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Buddha`s decision was not without risk and controversy. Early records show that some of the monks worried that the laity upon whom they depended for their survival would lose faith in the holiness of a sangha that included women. Some laypeople distrusted supposed renunciant communities which were inclusive of women, suspecting the community of licentiousness and perversity. Some monks believed that admitting women would corrupt the purity of the community and shorten the lifespan of the Buddha`s teachings in the world. The Buddha must have known of these fears, yet he acted to create a community of female monastics anyway. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before the Buddha’s passing away he famously refused to appoint a succesor or to freeze the Sangha in the form he created, disavowing any sense of ownership of the parisad or the monastic sangha. Since the Buddha’s time the men of the parisad have had a mixed track record with regards to maintaining the Buddha’s inclusivity of women and affirmation of their potential. Within a few centuries of the Buddha’s death the female monastics had been put under eight “grave decrees” subjugating them to the Bhikkhu sangha, and their inclusion within the community of the homeless was seen as a danger to the Buddhist mission which needed to be guarded against and kept under male monastic control. A sutta was composed stating that although women could attain arahantship, they could not be samma-sambuddhas, or awakened religious founders- they could not be creators of a culture of awakening- a future goal some practitioners aspired to (to be reborn at a time when the Dhamma had disappeared and rediscover and re-establish it). This was solely a male perogative. This strange assertion, largely dealing with the realm of theory- since Buddhism had been founded on earth at that time, as now, there will be no need for another samma-sambuddha until it dies out again- this assertion seems to serve no purpose but revenge. </span></span></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More reassuringly, some great Buddhist masters did not fail to attain a Buddha’s vision of women’s potential and rights. Dogen Zenji (1200-1253), the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, wrote that those monks who refuse to pay homage to a nun even if she has aquired the Dharma “do not understand the dharma” and “are like animals far removed from the Buddhas and ancestors”. “What is there about a male intrinsically to esteem?”, he asked. “The female is no different from the male, so both female and male aquire the dharma without distinction.” Furthermore he argued, “If you detest women because they are objects of sexual desire, should you not also detest men, who are likewise objects of sexual desire?”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bankei Kotaku (1622-1693), the great Rinzai Zen master, was once asked by a woman disciple how she could attain realization, obstructed as she was by her female body. Bankei replied: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I can tell you something about this matter of women's Buddha Mind. I understand that women feel very distressed hearing it said that they can't become Buddhas. But it simply isn't so! How is there any difference between men and women? Men are the Buddha Body, and women are the Buddha Body too.” (Haskell, Peter. Unborn Zen)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In our time some Mahayana lineages have preserved the lineage of bhikkhunis and some haven't, or never even received it, as in the case of Tibet. In the Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese worlds there are full female monastics. In the Theravadin world the lineage was lost, and since the rules stipulate that only a bhikkuni can ordain a bhikkuni, there had been no movements to re-instate it until recently, when a number of women who wanted to be bhikkunis and bhikkus who support them conspired to restart the lineage by having Mahayana bhikshunis ordain them. This move has proven to be controversial, but is coming to be more and more accepted. A number of major Buddhist teachers support the principle, including HH the Dalai Lama, HH the Karmapa, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Bhikkhu Bodhi. The new Bhikkunis have gained significant support in the West and in Sri Lanka and India, and so far less so in Burma and Thailand. </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most recently a renegade bhikkhu in the western Thai Forest Sangha, Ajahn Brahmavamso, broke with his fellows, who had created an interim type of Nun (<i>shiladhara</i>) in their monasteries and were awaiting the go ahead from the Thai Hierarchy to ordain full bhikkunis. His fellows included Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Sucitto and Ajahn Passano. He ordained some bhikkunis, but unfortunately his behaviour around the incident, which was apparently both hostile and deceptive to his former monastic comrades, as well as sensationalistic, has probably set back the general acceptance of ordaining bhikkunis in Thailand by a few more years. Nevertheless the over-all historical movement is clear, and it is only a matter of time before there are full bhikkunis throughout the Theravadin world again. Then there will be the issue of new rules for our day and age to sort out......</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-28925380834858343882012-07-08T08:15:00.000-07:002012-07-08T08:16:13.966-07:00Practice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"To be alive, that is a practice."<br />
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-Thich Nhat Hanh, Talk in Ireland (Online) 2012.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247960756733051908.post-61635486555593376632012-07-06T09:07:00.002-07:002012-07-06T09:09:10.013-07:00Sekito's Grass Thatch Hut<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; white-space: pre;"> Sekito Kisen (700-790)</span><br />
<pre><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
Soanka:
A Song About My Grass-Thatch Hut
Here, where nothing is worth anything,
I've set up a grass-thatched hut.
After eating,
I just stretch out for a nap.
As soon as it was built,
weeds were already growing back.
Now I've been here awhile
its covered in vines.
So the one in this hut just lives on,
unstuck,
not inside, out, in between.
The places where usual folk live,
I don't.
What they want,
I don't.
This tiny hut holds the total world,
an old man and
the radiance of forms and their nature,
all in ten feet square.
Bodhisattvas of the Vast Path
know about this but
the mediocre and marginal wonder,
"Isn't such a place too fragile to live in?"
Fragile or not,
the true master dwells here
where there is no
south or north, east or west.
Just sitting here,
it can't be surpassed:
below the green pines
a lit window.
Palaces and towers
of jade and vermillion
can't compare.
Just sitting,
my head covered,
all things rest.
So this mountain monk
has no understanding at all,
just lives on
without struggling to get loose.
Not going to
set out seats
and wait for guests.
Turning the light
to shine within,
turn it around again.
Vast,
unthinkable,
you can't face it
or turn away from it.
The root of it.
Meet the Awakened Ancestors,
become intimate with the teachings,
lash grass into thatch for a hut
and don't tire so easily.
Let it go,
release,
and your life of a hundred years
vanishes.
Open your hands.
Walk around.
Innocence.
The swarm of words,
and little stories
are just to loosen you
from where you are stuck.
If you want to know
the one in the hermitage
who never dies,
you can't avoid this skin-bag
right here. </span></pre>
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<pre><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-translation by Anzan Hosshin</span></pre>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05328859349949882579noreply@blogger.com0