Would you know a Buddha if He Stared you in the Face on the Subway?
Courtesy of Tientai.net
The 32 Signs of the Buddha: The ideal physical characteristics of the Buddha that one visually contemplates and emulates:
1. Thousand-spoked wheel sign on the foot print
2. Level feet
3. Long slender fingers
4. Pliant hands & feet
5. Finely webbed toes & fingers
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Wednesday, December 27, 2006
From community: buddhists @ 2006-12-27T04:04:00
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Tuesday, December 26, 2006
From dharmapodcast: DP 30 Rohatsu - Introduction to Sesshin Practice and King Ashoka
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Time: 35:10 Talk 1:
Recorded December 01, 2006, Upaya Zen Center
In this introductory talk, the teachers give inspiring words about the heart of practice: Kaz Sensei provides background explanation of Rohatsu; Enkyo Roshi gives a talk on concentration meditation, and Roshi Joan provides instruction for meditation, intentionality, and precautions for sesshin.
In this series of talks given by Kazuaki Tanahashi Sensei, Enkyo O'Hara Roshi, and Joan Halifax Roshi, the practice sangha formed by Rohatsu sesshin explores the topic of King Ashoka. King Ashoka was responsible for many atrocities, including the deaths of thousands."
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From movingmountain: Leaves Fest
"Rarely do I pause and get up close to observe patterns, shapes and textures. Now these frost covered leaves, isolated and framed, show their delicate beauty. In each frame dead leaves, with green life there also."
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From movingmountain: Planning a Buddhist Funeral
"Following a request to talk about Buddhist Funerals I took a look around and found this article partly written by a senior priest of our Order. It's a gem in terms of resources and ideas for planning a funeral. That's it for to-day."
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Monday, December 25, 2006
From amberstar: Zencast 84 - The Bodhisattva Path
"Buddha Camp - 3 Feet Up; The Bodisattva Path- Gil Fronsdal Audio Dharma ; Insight Meditation Center ; Gil Fronsdal ; 3 Feet Up ; 3 Feet Up (iTunes)"
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From zencast: Podcast Radar: Urban Dharma Everyday Buddhism Class
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Kusala Bhikshu is podcasting a great new “Everyday Buddhism” class series on his Urban Dharma Podcast.
From jack: Practicing Equanimity
"Recently a couple of incidents underscored that equanimity is a practice rather than an endpoint. Prior to this, I had viewed it as an eventual result of practice — rather than a practice itself.
The first occasion was a mind storm while running."
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The first occasion was a mind storm while running."
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From jack: Introducing Mentor B.
"Mentor B. is a good friend who has kindly agreed that I can include some of our informal conversations as part of this blog. Mentor’s path is Buddhist though other paths were traveled too as part of the search for truth."
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From jack: Mentor B. - Training and Enlightenment
"Jack: Part of the scripture recitation for the weekly meditation at the priory is Dogen’s Rules for Meditation. Dogen is pretty obscure for me in general, so I’m not very surprised when I find that I don’t understand something he writes. One of his statements has always seemed particularly incongruous, though."
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From mahablog: Hank Johnson
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As I’ve said in previous posts, two of the new House Democrats are Buddhists — the first Buddhists ever elected to the U.S. Senate."
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From thebuddhistblog: I've Missed Meditating
"I've missed several days of meditating lately and I've noticed the difference. I've felt more disjointed and anxious then when I meditate daily. I got back to meditating yesterday and today and I'm back on track but it was interesting to notice the change."
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From thebuddhistblog: Thich Nhat Hanh on Aimlessness
"Does the rose have to do something? No, the purpose of a rose is to be a rose. Your purpose is to be yourself."
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Sunday, December 24, 2006
From myzenlife: sit and burn
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Be a light unto the World.
~ Jesus
What is to give light,
must endure burning.
~ Victor Fankel
sit and burn baby, sit and burn."
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Be a light unto the World.
~ Jesus
What is to give light,
must endure burning.
~ Victor Fankel
sit and burn baby, sit and burn."
more...
From myzenlife: qvcm words
" i found these words on my quad venti caramel macchiato (qvcm) this morning (my s-bux has run out of the holiday red cups). they resonated with me so profoundly that i wanted to share them here to see what you thought about them.
oh, and, yes, that’s 4 shots of espresso."
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oh, and, yes, that’s 4 shots of espresso."
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Saturday, December 23, 2006
Tibetan Malas For Less!
I went to e-Sanga today while looking for new blogs to add to the feed. The Google ads at the top were very amusing.
What the hell is a "Buddha Ringtone"? Maybe its silent.
What the hell is a "Buddha Ringtone"? Maybe its silent.
From thebuddhistblog: Enlightenment is Always Present
"Even before we practice it, enlightenment is there. But usually we understand the practice of zazen and enlightenment as two different things: here is practice, like a pair of glasses, and when we use the practice, like putting the glasses on, we see enlightenment. This is the wrong understanding."
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From thebuddhistblog: Meditation Alone is Not Enough
"When we practice sitting and walking meditation in ways that cause our body and mind to suffer, our effort is not Right Diligence and is not based on Right View. Our practice should be intelligent, based on Right Understanding of the teaching. It is not because we practice hard that we can say that we are practicing Right Diligence."
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From 20-30zen: My Real Obstacle
"What is the number one obstacle to my practice?
Lack of time immediately comes to mind.
I would like to examine my "lack of time" issue and see if we can share our thoughts on what is actualy preventing us from sitting Zazen."
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Lack of time immediately comes to mind.
I would like to examine my "lack of time" issue and see if we can share our thoughts on what is actualy preventing us from sitting Zazen."
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From 20-30zen: 20/30 Zen 2.0
"Since 20/30 Zen's inception, I have always wanted to attend one of its meetings. Although I will soon lose my eligibility(yes, I am pushing 40), I have, nevertheless, always hoped for the existence (and survivial) of such a group."
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From 20-30zen: a (very) brief history of 20/30 zen
"awhile back i posted a blog titled "a brief history of 20/30 zen", it accidentally got deleted and i haven't had time to repost. this is a paraphrase of my original post simply designed to give bit of history."
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From 20-30zen: Do you have a spot in your place dedicated for Zazen?
"Where do you sit at home? Corner of the living room? Next to your bed? Is it special and decked out with all kinds of paraphernalia or just a lonesome zafu in the corner with discarded magazines. Take a picture of your sitting space and post it here. I am curious!"
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From 20-30zen: where i sit...and sit...and sit....
"i have an alter on the top shelf of a small bookcase next to my bed. most days i plop my zafu in front of it for zazen, but sometimes i prefer the sunlight in the living room, or the structure of the zendo at ZCLA."
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From 10outof10: Strange Loops in Buddhist Teaching
"The term "Strange Loop" was coined by D Hofstadter in the best-selling book "Gödel, Escher, Bach" and will be the main topic in his forthcoming book "I Am a Strange Loop". A Strange Loop or tangled hierarchy is a hierarchy where, if you go up
the hierarchy, you find yourself back at a lower level."
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the hierarchy, you find yourself back at a lower level."
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10 out of 10: Brouhaha over the "Buddha on the Brain"
The relation between science and religion is always under debate, and this is also the case in the context neuroscience and Buddhist meditation. The Dalai Lama believes (see Wired article ) that Buddhism and science have much in common. Both are investigative traditions that seek to explain reality, albeit in different ways.
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10 out of 10: Beginner's Mind
Two Suzukis went to the West, and brought Zen with them. Daisetz Suzuki is perhaps the better known of the two, he was a prolific writer on Satori and Zen generally.
Shunryu came to the US a little later. In contrast to Daisetz who was from the "sudden" or Rinzai school, Shunryu was from the "gradual" or Soto school, being a spiritual descendant of Dogen Zenji, the master who founded Soto Zen in the 13th century.
When mistaken for the other Suzuki, he would say in his modesty, "No, he's the big Suzuki, I'm the little Suzuki."
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Shunryu came to the US a little later. In contrast to Daisetz who was from the "sudden" or Rinzai school, Shunryu was from the "gradual" or Soto school, being a spiritual descendant of Dogen Zenji, the master who founded Soto Zen in the 13th century.
When mistaken for the other Suzuki, he would say in his modesty, "No, he's the big Suzuki, I'm the little Suzuki."
More...
Sunday, December 17, 2006
daihoji: On Being and Becoming, Sorta
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Most of the time we are not buddhas, but rather, buddha wannabees. We buzz around with our nice thoughts and wonderful words strung together ever so easily, likes colored beads on a string. And then we wash the dishes, watch television, and have an live with our spouses and children.
At Zen Center, we can be the buddhas we think we are, but at home, the clothes come off and a whole other person arises. Is this so?
If we are pretending to be something we imagine to be "Buddhist" then we are not buddhas. On the other hand, if we are annoyed or angry or afraid or lonely, this does not mean we are not "Buddhist" either, and if we are genuinely these things, aware that we are these things, then, in fact we are buddhas.
Buddhas are nothing if not authentic in the moment.
Last night I had occasion to feel tremendous hurt, anger, sorrow, humiliation, and compassion, in that order. We attended a service at the synagogue after having supported a local poet at a reading at a local bookstore and having just returned from the mountains. A small group in attendance. None of the people we typically attend with were there. A long time Temple member was leading the service as the rabbi is on sabbatical. This person used the d'var Torah (sermon time) to comment on hospitality. Good. But then she brought up the divisions in the congregation, the rancor at the annual meeting from months ago, and essentially chastised those "new members" who caused such a hurtful stir. My wife and I were two of those members.
So, I sat in the synagogue and heard what she had to say. I decided that rather than react to my hurt, I should open myself as much as I could to her and her point of view. She was hurt by the conflict in the synagogue and hurt creates a kind of personal fundamentalism, as Pema Chogrin beautifully pointed out. When we are hurt, we close ourselves and begin immediately to mount a counter attack to stop the hurt. We blame the person hurting us for our pain.
What this does is close us off even further and we no longer hear the person, nor do we want to. Instead we either want to fight or flee.
Since getting up and leaving in the middle of a person's talk would be rude and very disrespectful, fleeing was not an option.
This offered me an opportunity to practice. And I witnessed my body tense, my reptilian mind emerge, and duck for cover as I swatted it away with my beads which were getting pretty warm in my fingers. I saw and felt her hurt, her anger, and her sense of righteousness. I saw that it was necessary for her to do this. I hope it helped her. I felt great compassion for his often brittle woman who uses her intelligence and vitriol to defend herself.
We came home directly, My Little Honey did not want to stay for the Oneg (a joyous snack party after the service for fear she would "say" something. It was just as well. In the car I drove in silence and processed much of my feelings. At home I entered my zendo, lit a stick of incense and sat on my cushion until it was ash.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
Most of the time we are not buddhas, but rather, buddha wannabees. We buzz around with our nice thoughts and wonderful words strung together ever so easily, likes colored beads on a string. And then we wash the dishes, watch television, and have an live with our spouses and children.
At Zen Center, we can be the buddhas we think we are, but at home, the clothes come off and a whole other person arises. Is this so?
If we are pretending to be something we imagine to be "Buddhist" then we are not buddhas. On the other hand, if we are annoyed or angry or afraid or lonely, this does not mean we are not "Buddhist" either, and if we are genuinely these things, aware that we are these things, then, in fact we are buddhas.
Buddhas are nothing if not authentic in the moment.
Last night I had occasion to feel tremendous hurt, anger, sorrow, humiliation, and compassion, in that order. We attended a service at the synagogue after having supported a local poet at a reading at a local bookstore and having just returned from the mountains. A small group in attendance. None of the people we typically attend with were there. A long time Temple member was leading the service as the rabbi is on sabbatical. This person used the d'var Torah (sermon time) to comment on hospitality. Good. But then she brought up the divisions in the congregation, the rancor at the annual meeting from months ago, and essentially chastised those "new members" who caused such a hurtful stir. My wife and I were two of those members.
So, I sat in the synagogue and heard what she had to say. I decided that rather than react to my hurt, I should open myself as much as I could to her and her point of view. She was hurt by the conflict in the synagogue and hurt creates a kind of personal fundamentalism, as Pema Chogrin beautifully pointed out. When we are hurt, we close ourselves and begin immediately to mount a counter attack to stop the hurt. We blame the person hurting us for our pain.
What this does is close us off even further and we no longer hear the person, nor do we want to. Instead we either want to fight or flee.
Since getting up and leaving in the middle of a person's talk would be rude and very disrespectful, fleeing was not an option.
This offered me an opportunity to practice. And I witnessed my body tense, my reptilian mind emerge, and duck for cover as I swatted it away with my beads which were getting pretty warm in my fingers. I saw and felt her hurt, her anger, and her sense of righteousness. I saw that it was necessary for her to do this. I hope it helped her. I felt great compassion for his often brittle woman who uses her intelligence and vitriol to defend herself.
We came home directly, My Little Honey did not want to stay for the Oneg (a joyous snack party after the service for fear she would "say" something. It was just as well. In the car I drove in silence and processed much of my feelings. At home I entered my zendo, lit a stick of incense and sat on my cushion until it was ash.
Be well.
daihoji: Sounds of Life
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Well, we are in Memphis and have filled ourselves with either Turkey or Tofu Turkey depending...and lots of pumpkin pie with tons of whipped cream and cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes: so predictable, yet so delicious.
It is good to be with family, though I wish all of us could be together. In a very real sense, though, we are. With every breath we take we are human beings alive in a world we deeply share with each other. Our thankfulness should not end with yesterday's sundown, but should spread out throughout the universe with our every action.
So, today we take a walk, smell the cool autumn air, and feel each step with very excited baby sounds piercing our ears.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
Well, we are in Memphis and have filled ourselves with either Turkey or Tofu Turkey depending...and lots of pumpkin pie with tons of whipped cream and cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes: so predictable, yet so delicious.
It is good to be with family, though I wish all of us could be together. In a very real sense, though, we are. With every breath we take we are human beings alive in a world we deeply share with each other. Our thankfulness should not end with yesterday's sundown, but should spread out throughout the universe with our every action.
So, today we take a walk, smell the cool autumn air, and feel each step with very excited baby sounds piercing our ears.
Be well.
daihoji: Some Little Things
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
There it is, the morning sun rising. My goodness how bright! I sat alone in the Zendo this morning. I actually cherish those times when I am alone there. (Please don't take this to mean you shouldn't come!) It is so still, so quiet, save the chirps of sundry birds outside. In such lovely stillness one can reside, yet we each should know that such moments are but brief respites that assist us to navigate clearly through a day.
In the morning we leave for Memphis. I look forward to seeing Dragon Tate, the grandson. I wish we could see Olivia, our little Florida pumpkin,the littlest granddaughter or Sami, our Teenage grand daughter, and our array of children who seem scattered like so many seeds. Maybe in the months to come.
Life is like that. We open our eyes and there it is. We do what is there for us to do, we float along and let the rest drop away. When we get all caught up in the woulda-shoulda mind trap, we sink. No sinking allowed.
In the meantime we love and that's a very good thing. We love our neighbors and our friends. We love our partners. We love the air we breathe and the food we eat and all the good things that make our lives what they are. Its important to be mindful of these things.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
There it is, the morning sun rising. My goodness how bright! I sat alone in the Zendo this morning. I actually cherish those times when I am alone there. (Please don't take this to mean you shouldn't come!) It is so still, so quiet, save the chirps of sundry birds outside. In such lovely stillness one can reside, yet we each should know that such moments are but brief respites that assist us to navigate clearly through a day.
In the morning we leave for Memphis. I look forward to seeing Dragon Tate, the grandson. I wish we could see Olivia, our little Florida pumpkin,the littlest granddaughter or Sami, our Teenage grand daughter, and our array of children who seem scattered like so many seeds. Maybe in the months to come.
Life is like that. We open our eyes and there it is. We do what is there for us to do, we float along and let the rest drop away. When we get all caught up in the woulda-shoulda mind trap, we sink. No sinking allowed.
In the meantime we love and that's a very good thing. We love our neighbors and our friends. We love our partners. We love the air we breathe and the food we eat and all the good things that make our lives what they are. Its important to be mindful of these things.
Be well.
daihoji: Matsuoka
With palms together,
Good Afternoon All,
It is nearly the end of morning. We have been busy around the homestead. Zen Center was a delight this morning and yesterday we had a full house once again! Our Board meeting went well as we reviewed the bi-laws approached one step closer to 501c3 status.
Our Zen Center clearly has grown and matured since we began some 5 or 6 years ago in a small room in my home. We have our own facility, we are offering a full range of zazen, as well as children friendly services. I am personally delighted about the numbers of regular sitters and the group of this forum and its membership. Yet, we are still small and, I hope, homey. Such a good hing.
Today is a very special day. We honor Matsuoka-roshi today. For those of you who do not know, Rev. Dr. Soyu Matsuoka-roshi is my Dharma grandfather. He established several zen Centers in the US in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. Atlanta, Chicago, Long Beach, and through my Teacher, Las Cruces and Cloudcroft. Little is known about him, as he never published a book (although there is one in process). He was born and died in the same month, November. There is a picture of him on our website at http://www.daihoji.org/ as well as http://www.zencenteroflascruces.org/
Without his effort, courage, and willingness to come to America from Sojiji, we would not be gathered here together in person or online. Nine bows to him.
Be well.
Good Afternoon All,
It is nearly the end of morning. We have been busy around the homestead. Zen Center was a delight this morning and yesterday we had a full house once again! Our Board meeting went well as we reviewed the bi-laws approached one step closer to 501c3 status.
Our Zen Center clearly has grown and matured since we began some 5 or 6 years ago in a small room in my home. We have our own facility, we are offering a full range of zazen, as well as children friendly services. I am personally delighted about the numbers of regular sitters and the group of this forum and its membership. Yet, we are still small and, I hope, homey. Such a good hing.
Today is a very special day. We honor Matsuoka-roshi today. For those of you who do not know, Rev. Dr. Soyu Matsuoka-roshi is my Dharma grandfather. He established several zen Centers in the US in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. Atlanta, Chicago, Long Beach, and through my Teacher, Las Cruces and Cloudcroft. Little is known about him, as he never published a book (although there is one in process). He was born and died in the same month, November. There is a picture of him on our website at http://www.daihoji.org/ as well as http://www.zencenteroflascruces.org/
Without his effort, courage, and willingness to come to America from Sojiji, we would not be gathered here together in person or online. Nine bows to him.
Be well.
daihoji: Of an Afternoon
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
This morning was a wonder. Tate woke with a serious hunger! Screeching until he had breakfast. The Zoo was too much for him, I guess, and he went to sleep last night hard and fast. At the Zoo earlier in the day, I had walked enough and sat down near the Pandas to finish reading a book I thoughtfully tucked in my shirt.
It was a wonderful experience to sit and witness the families, the excitement of the children, and the sounds of wildlife. Pema Chodron's book on peace in times of war is a very good effort at teaching us to be present in the face of danger. I closed it and sat on the forward edge of my seat outside under some trees.
A man noticed me sitting there and asked if I were meditating. I smiled and said, "I am." He replied that he was "Chillin'" as well, as he sorted the chairs and otherwise cleaned the area. He was Black and a hard worker; I am White and hardly work at all. He had a heavy gold cross around his neck, I had a string of 108 beads running through my fingers. He was Zen in motion, I was Zen in stillness, we both shared the moment together.
Life is like that.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
This morning was a wonder. Tate woke with a serious hunger! Screeching until he had breakfast. The Zoo was too much for him, I guess, and he went to sleep last night hard and fast. At the Zoo earlier in the day, I had walked enough and sat down near the Pandas to finish reading a book I thoughtfully tucked in my shirt.
It was a wonderful experience to sit and witness the families, the excitement of the children, and the sounds of wildlife. Pema Chodron's book on peace in times of war is a very good effort at teaching us to be present in the face of danger. I closed it and sat on the forward edge of my seat outside under some trees.
A man noticed me sitting there and asked if I were meditating. I smiled and said, "I am." He replied that he was "Chillin'" as well, as he sorted the chairs and otherwise cleaned the area. He was Black and a hard worker; I am White and hardly work at all. He had a heavy gold cross around his neck, I had a string of 108 beads running through my fingers. He was Zen in motion, I was Zen in stillness, we both shared the moment together.
Life is like that.
Be well.
zenunbound: Humans are perfect, but could use improvement
This from the conclusion of an article titled “Why Do People Behave Nicely?” and subtitled ‘No one may ever know unless social psychologists shake off their fascination with jerks’ by Ethan Watters in the December, 2005, issue of Discover magazine:
11/25 Update: Dr. Krueger tells us "I am positive that I read it somewhere. My best bet is that it was in one of Alan Watts's book."
While BuddhaWatch hasn't found the quote, we did find sentiments of Watts's that line up with the quote in his book Still Mind, pages ~45-48.
[Says Joachim Krueger, associate professor of psychology at Brown and co-author of a 2004 brain-science journal article titled “Toward a Balanced Social Psychology”], “I think the next wave of research will take us to a place of greater balance and acceptance. If we come to a more realistic and accurate self-understanding, we may be better able to forgive ourselves and others.”Though it may not matter, BuddhaWatch is trying to hunt down the Zen master and the exact text of the quote Krueger cites.
Of course, nothing will stop us from categorizing behavior as right, wrong, good or evil. But understanding behavior and judging it are two different tasks; the first is scientific, the second is not. When it comes to understanding, it might be more fruitful to approach ourselves with wonderment instead of disappointment.
“I watch my kids,” Krueger says, “and even when they are doing something that annoys me, I’m thinking that they are acting just the way they should, as the highly evolved mammal that they are. There is a Zen master who said something like ‘Humans are perfect, but they could use a little improvement.’ To the Aristotelian mind, that would be a contradiction; it would be gibberish. To me, it has great appeal.
11/25 Update: Dr. Krueger tells us "I am positive that I read it somewhere. My best bet is that it was in one of Alan Watts's book."
While BuddhaWatch hasn't found the quote, we did find sentiments of Watts's that line up with the quote in his book Still Mind, pages ~45-48.
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