8/13 Zen Seeds: Pages 20, 23
Alright folks, sorry for the delay:
'Monks Make Excellent Friends':
This refers to the importance of the Sangha and others on the path - the first part of this passage refers to one of my favorite Buddhist stories wherein Ananda remarks that 'good friends are half of the practice'. The Buddha admonishes him and says that good friends are the whole of the practice, and without them, there can be no path.
In my own life, I have seen the importance of the sangha and teachers to pry me away from delusion - time and again. It will probably continue to happen - so brace yourself, friends!
Also, this is happening when friendship and relationships have come into focus in my own life. After the accident, it was only with the help of friends that I was able to recover. Similarly, my closest friend just got out of jail and has nowhere to sleep nor any job prospects (It's hard to find a job with no address and no reliable phone number or internet access). When he first called me, he only wanted some money to catch up on his storage fees so the storage place didn't toss out his stuff. That was no problem - it was only about $130 or so. At the time, I told him that because I'm at a bit of a financial crisis myself (not working will do that to ya), I could not give him enough money to get his own place, but I told him that if he needed to, he could get a Greyhound and crash at my place and get back on his feet here. Well, it's been three weeks and he's out of options, so I just (literally 20 mins ago) got him a Greyhound ticket from Salt Lake City to here. He has no one else upon which to rely right now, and I'm a bit overjoyed that even with my seriously crimped finances, I can still offer him enough to keep him off the street.
'Follow The Flow of The Stream' (dammit!):
Why to we take obstacles so personally?. It's our self-centered ego that creates them as obstacles in the first place, and then goes on to think we're the only ones who are beset with problems. This may (not) come as a shock to some of you, but I can be a bit of a complainer. My mother is the perfect opposite of this. I was lucky enough to have my mother and sister visit last week. First, the second leg of their incoming flight was cancelled, so they rented a car one way (expensive!), then the car they rented was accidentally double-rented, so they had to start over. Then they got lost trying to get here...but they finally arrived about 8 hours after they were originally going to. The whole time, my mom says, 'It's not the end of the world!'. Then we went for a 3 hour hike to a waterfall, except I forgot to tell them how long the hike was and...um...that they shouldn't wear flip-flops. Once again, my mom just smiled and said, 'It's not the end of the world!'. Lastly, the first leg of their return flight was late so they missed the connecting flight and had to wait about 8 hours for another one. 'It's not the end of the world!'
Seriously. It's not. And even if it is, hey, no more problems are possible after that, right?
Chet
Re: 8/13 Zen Seeds: Pages 20, 23
Excellent friends
As you get older your friendships get fewer but your relationships increase with diversity and depth. I guess we all face attrition of childhood, school and college 'friends' but this allows new faces, backgrounds and cultures to enrich our lives.
I have benefitted much from the kindness of relative strangers and sufferred at the hands of those I considered as friends. But all these experiences have helped me to view all as fellow travellers in this life's journey and to understand that we only need to do what is needed when it is needed to be a compassionate friend.
Follow the flow
Truly, what else can you do?
Re: 8/13 Zen Seeds: Pages 20, 23
Monks Make Excellent Friends
Yes they do, but they can be annoying at times! But that's a good thing! I can have a tendency to just want to go off on my own and sort of make stuff up by myself. Then I find myself falling off a cliff. Relationships are so important in practice because they help us break our delusions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disastermouse
In my own life, I have seen the importance of the sangha and teachers to pry me away from delusion - time and again. It will probably continue to happen - so brace yourself, friends!
Well stated...Pretty much sums up my experience as well.
'Follow The Flow of The Stream'
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Lin
This metaphor is so overused that for me its hard to take it serious, but it is
Agreed but, for me its because I often do not want to take it seriously at times. I really enjoyed the passage....putting into practice takes some effort in non doing.
Gassho,
Jisen/BrianW
Re: 8/13 Zen Seeds: Pages 20, 23
'Monks Make Excellent Friends':
I practiced, sitting on my own, for about a year before I discovered Treeleaf. I think I would have abandoned the practice had I not found support here. The Whole Way indeed.
'Follow The Flow of The Stream':
Maybe it's just getting older, or now being a parent, but I'm starting to realize that obstacles are not obstacles at all. They are not hurdles to leap over so that one can cross the finish line. In fact, there is no finish line. There's just a big moebius loop with nothing but hurdles! Obstacles are life itself. Not that I don't get frustrated constantly by them, but I must remind myself that breaking down a barrier reveals another.