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Thread: Quote of the day

  1. #1

    Quote of the day

    "Most of the trouble of the world comes from people trying to get something they do not have but think will make them happy, or trying to get rid of something they think prevents them from being happy. Can we just be content with this situation? Can we appreciate and respect ourselves and the world enough to be as we are?"

    Taigen Dan Leighton, Zen Questions


    (Posted from my iPhone; please excuse any typos or brevity.)
    流文

    I know nothing.

  2. #2
    As you stop interfering, being in the way,As you stop controlling
    As you give up any hope
    It speaks
    Taigu
    Gassho

    David

  3. #3
    Or is it ... Leighton?

    Whatever, I am lossssssssst ( too many "s" , sorry Boss)

    Same good old teaching.



    Please, read this book, Zen questions, a great read and a wonderful ride.

    Gassho


    T.

  4. #4
    Mp
    Guest
    Thanks Kirk ... And as Taigu says, this book is a wonderful ride! Just finished the book for the second time ... The ride is that good.

    Gassho
    Shingen

  5. #5
    "Stop speaking, stop thinking, and there is nothing you cannot understand."

    Hsin-hsin Ming ( ?- 606 )


    Gassho,
    Edward

    "Recognize suffering, remove suffering." - Shakyamuni Buddha when asked, "Uhm . . .what?"

  6. #6
    Mp
    Guest
    Where ever you go, there you are.

    Gassho
    Shingen

  7. #7
    Joyo
    Guest
    well, here's a good one, although I am far from finding Zen while scrubbing the toilet, or cleaning up my dog's crap

    The practice of Zen is to eat, breathe, cook, carry water, and scrub the toilet — to infuse every act of body, speech, and mind — with mindfulness, to illuminate every leaf and pebble, every heap of garbage, every path that leads to our mind's return home.

    ~ Thich Nhat Hanh






  8. #8
    This is all there is. - Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
    Heisoku 平 息
    Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. (Basho)

  9. #9
    Nindo
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by kirkmc View Post
    "Most of the trouble of the world comes from people trying to get something they do not have but think will make them happy, or trying to get rid of something they think prevents them from being happy. Can we just be content with this situation? Can we appreciate and respect ourselves and the world enough to be as we are?"
    Thinking of the people of Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan; people in poverty and oppression all over the world ... what would they say to this quote?
    I don't know what to say or do about the discord, the rub I feel with this quote ... yes it's so true, but .... maybe just sit with metta?

  10. #10
    "Everybody's changing and I don't feel the same." -Keane

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Nindo View Post
    Thinking of the people of Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan; people in poverty and oppression all over the world ... what would they say to this quote?
    I don't know what to say or do about the discord, the rub I feel with this quote
    I wonder too, this is something I have thought about before.

    The quote is marvelous though, I always like quotes.

    Gassho,
    Alex

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Nindo View Post
    "Most of the trouble of the world comes from people trying to get something they do not have but think will make them happy, or trying to get rid of something they think prevents them from being happy. Can we just be content with this situation? Can we appreciate and respect ourselves and the world enough to be as we are?"

    Thinking of the people of Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan; people in poverty and oppression all over the world ... what would they say to this quote?
    I don't know what to say or do about the discord, the rub I feel with this quote ... yes it's so true, but .... maybe just sit with metta?
    Hi Nindo,

    I feel that your confusion comes from a great, great misunderstanding about the quote. It arises perhaps from looking at this as an "either/or" view, without piercing that samsara is enlightenment.

    One can seek, yet be without seeking ... both views AS ONE, NOT TWO. One can want and need, yet be free of want and need ... AT ONCE. One can go and move forward, yet experience that there is no place in need of going or from which one can go. One can totally accept-without-accepting all. One can do a job, step by step, all while knowing that each single step is a complete and fulfilled arrival.

    This is especially true when it comes to our small needs, food, shelter, health care and the like. The Buddha, in all his enlightenment, rose every morning to seek food to fill his bowl, a dry place to sleep to get out of the rains. He sought to preach peace where he found war. He sought advice from a physician when ill, sought the companionship of good friends in the way.

    We can also work to make this world better, to bring food, shelter, health care, peace to all ... even as we realize, Not Two, that there is "nothing in need of change". People, in their own lives can seek and strive ... knowing the Way of Moderation ... simultaneously knowing the Way of No Seeking, No Striving.

    Nindo, all it takes is a change of attitude to see the world so, Not Two. Like one, the other ... and that which sweeps away, sweeps in one and other.

    Changing the world, nothing to change (and no one or thing to do or be the changing) AT ONCE!

    Gassho, J

    PS - Besides the hard work, a bit of Metta cannot hurt either.
    Last edited by Jundo; 07-10-2013 at 03:38 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Nindo View Post
    Thinking of the people of Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan; people in poverty and oppression all over the world ... what would they say to this quote?
    I don't know what to say or do about the discord, the rub I feel with this quote ... yes it's so true, but .... maybe just sit with metta?
    <this is not a zen answer. Please defer to Jundo for appropriate zenness>

    I can't answer for everyone, however, many of the people I met in Afghanistan were quite happy and kind. Except in the areas that were currently experiencing heavy fighting, they seemed to go about life as usual. I spent many days in Afghanistan sitting under fruit trees, eating fresh fruit, drinking tea, and watching children play, talking with their fathers about the world. Life is life...even in combat zones, even when sleepy, hungry, and scared. So, I think many Afghanis would enjoy that quote especially as it applies to the farmers, stuck between foreigners (us and the taliban) fighting for power and riches, while they simply wish to happily walk their grazing sheep with their sons early in the morning.

    I say metta for my friends there frequently.
    If I'm already enlightened why the hell is this so hard?

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by catfish View Post
    <this is not a zen answer. Please defer to Jundo for appropriate zenness>

    I can't answer for everyone, however, many of the people I met in Afghanistan were quite happy and kind. Except in the areas that were currently experiencing heavy fighting, they seemed to go about life as usual. I spent many days in Afghanistan sitting under fruit trees, eating fresh fruit, drinking tea, and watching children play, talking with their fathers about the world. Life is life...even in combat zones, even when sleepy, hungry, and scared. So, I think many Afghanis would enjoy that quote especially as it applies to the farmers, stuck between foreigners (us and the taliban) fighting for power and riches, while they simply wish to happily walk their grazing sheep with their sons early in the morning.

    I say metta for my friends there frequently.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Nindo View Post
    Thinking of the people of Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan; people in poverty and oppression all over the world ... what would they say to this quote?
    I don't know what to say or do about the discord, the rub I feel with this quote ... yes it's so true, but .... maybe just sit with metta?
    One doesn't have to look far to find poverty and oppression, just look around in local cities towns, villages, streets and homes. And one doesn't have to be wealthy or comfortable or to be one of the affluent in society to be discontented or disatisfied. Poverty and oppression is both structural and personal and often the way to help towards mitigating both is change one's self. It seems to me by practice, by keeping the precepts and practicing metta and dhana, we help others. Not meaning to preach or seem 'superior' here, just this is the way it seems to me.

    Gassho

    David

  16. #16
    Originally posted by dmorga01;
    One doesn't have to look far to find poverty and oppression, just look around in local cities towns, villages, streets and homes. And one doesn't have to be wealthy or comfortable or to be one of the affluent in society to be discontented or disatisfied. Poverty and oppression is both structural and personal and often the way to help towards mitigating both is change one's self. It seems to me by practice, by keeping the precepts and practicing metta and dhana, we help others. Not meaning to preach or seem 'superior' here, just this is the way it seems to me.
    me too
    合掌,生開
    gassho, Shokai

    仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

    "Open to life in a benevolent way"

    https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/

  17. #17
    Thanks Kirk. A timely reminder for me. This is constant practice for me.

    Gassho,

    Daido

  18. #18
    Nindo
    Guest
    Hi Jundo,

    I didn't say I was confused, and I don't think there is a misunderstanding or wrong attitude. I get all that you are saying.

    The hook in the quote for me is the question "Can we just be content with this situation?". There are people to whom I would never say "Hey ya know, why can't you just be content with this situation?". It wouldn't even be compassionate to say that.

    I wanted to reflect on how we can bear witness when the answer to "Can we just be content" is "No, we cannot".
    But that's probably off track, so apologies to Kirk. And thanks to Nengyo for his perspective.

    Gassho,
    Nindo

  19. #19
    Hi Nindo,

    I know what you want to say.
    I was in a situation lately in which just listening was the best thing to do.
    Saying something like the above can appear like downplaying another person's worries or not taking them seriously. Sometimes even an "everything will be alright" can appear like a slap in the face for some people.

    It depends on the context: which people, which situation, how they feel at the moment.
    Of course I fully agree with what Jundo says, but telling this to others can be inappropriate sometimes and should be said at a different time after the dust has settled.

    In the past there were some situations in which people were irritated, because I stayed calm and didn't panic. Just trying to keep a cool head can appear like a lack of caring to some folks...

    Anyway, all is good.

    Gassho,

    Timo


    PS: Thanks for the quote, Kirk, I love it - btw, the Greek philosopher Epicurus said something similar as well.
    no thing needs to be added

  20. #20
    “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
    Blaise Pascal, Pensées

    Always grasping, grasping, grasping!
    Thanks,
    Kaishin (開心, Open Heart)
    Please take this layman's words with a grain of salt.

  21. #21
    All composed things are like a dream,

    a phantom, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning.

    That is how to meditate on them,

    that is how to observe them.
    Buddha


    Gassho,
    Edward
    "Recognize suffering, remove suffering." - Shakyamuni Buddha when asked, "Uhm . . .what?"

  22. #22
    But if you learn to look at your consciousness as a sort of fever, personal and private, in which you are enclosed like a chick in its shell, out of this very

    attitude will come the crisis which will break the shell.

    ~Nisargadatta Maharaj
    and neither are they otherwise.


  23. #23
    “Each moment of zazen is equally wholeness of practice, equally wholeness of realization. This is not only practice while sitting, it is like a hammer striking emptiness: before and after, its exquisite peal permeates everywhere. How can it be limited to this moment?”


  24. #24
    Kyotai
    Guest
    Thank you

    Gassho

    Shawn

  25. #25

  26. #26
    Hi All,

    It's Independence Day here in the US. Wish it was Interdependence Day but I guess that is every day. As a true patriot I will be making red white and blue jello. Anyway, here's a quote I like:

    “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. “ ~Erma Bombeck

    Gassho
    Lisa

  27. #27
    Joyo
    Guest
    Be a light unto yourself---Buddha

    Gassho,
    Joyo

  28. #28
    "To rest your mind in the mudra means to let the mudra doing you, forming you, forgetting you. Some folks think it means that we put the attention there during sitting, yes and no, it means much more than that. Just go there by yourself, and forget yourself in there. The Dai Butsu of Kamakura you like so much is just a blossom coming out of your very eyes."
    -Taigu

  29. #29
    "If you’re looking for something that is all around, and always here, the way to find it is to realize it’s here and to stop looking. Isn’t that what our shikantaza is? If you have a treasure in hand, the way to realize it is to open the hand."


    -Jundo Cohen

    (Treeleaf 2014 Rohatsu Retreat, Day 1 Dharma talk)

  30. #30
    "If you’re looking for something that is all around, and always here, the way to find it is to realize it’s here and to stop looking. Isn’t that what our shikantaza is? If you have a treasure in hand, the way to realize it is to open the hand."

  31. #31
    " The clear blue sky does not obstruct the floating clouds." Uchiyama

  32. #32
    "If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?" -Dogen

    Gassho,
    Heion

  33. #33
    Some words about peace:

    "Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience."
    - Thomas Merton

    "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."
    - Martin Luther King, Jr.

    "While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart."
    - Francis of Assisi

    "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love."
    - Francis of Assisi

    Gassho
    Lisa
    sat today
    Last edited by Byokan; 12-18-2014 at 06:34 PM.

  34. #34
    Thank you Lisa


    _|sat2day|_

  35. #35
    "Do not be concerned with who is wise and who is stupid. Do not discriminate the sharp from the dull. To practice wholeheartedly is the true endeavor of the way. Practice-realization is not defiled with specialness; it is a matter for every day.”
    Dogen

  36. #36
    first snowfall one,

    two, three, four, five, six people

    _____


    1821


    .初雪や一二三四五六人 hatsu yuki ya ichi ni san yon go roku hito


    Merry Christmas!


    http://haikuguy.com/issa/new.html
    "Recognize suffering, remove suffering." - Shakyamuni Buddha when asked, "Uhm . . .what?"

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