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Thread: Emptiness

  1. #1

    Emptiness

    Emptiness.


    There was a time in my life when I had no understanding of Buddhism. I was the outcast in school who didn't attend church very often. When I did attend church it was on personal and business matters. The townspeople talked about how they met god and let Jesus into their hearts. I travelled all around town with my own two feet. Getting lost in nature, going to see my friends, and going for bike rides. Sometimes I'd be so fargone while outdoors I started visualizing 'emptiness'. The path I was on was different, yet the same. I visualized it like this 'force feild' of energy covering the entire world. Another way I imagined it was floating inside the deep end of a swimming pool legs crossed in meditation. Now when I look outdoors I can see the sublime. My mind is calm like a clear river. I relized that their is no physical limitations in the universe. Even when I'm looking up in the sky there is no limit to how high that sky is. The universe is infinite. More sublime is the fact I'm breathing 'air' from the environment we all share to sustain life and procreate. The universe is like this very dense blanket that covers our 'selfs'. In this mindset I don't see 'people', I see 'sentient beings'. In this mindset (if you want to call it that) I can feel warmth inside my heart region which I refer to as 'the beakon'. Today, I found a clip from a martial arts flick called 'Bullet Proof Monk'. In the end the monk talks about how gravity doesn't exist if you believe it doesn't. This is a outrageous belief. I know gravity keeps my centre of balance which is an essential fundamental for all martial arts. Is it ironic the first blissful absorbation I experienced was when I felt there was no gravity? It's called 'innate awareness'. When he talks about 'air' being everywhere, that reminds me about how I discovered 'emptiness' before Buddhism. Now that I taught vipassana to some of my friends I'm hearing complaints about emptiness. They say that it can't be fully put into words. Here is a clip I wanted to share:

    Last edited by Beakon; 03-24-2017 at 06:32 PM.
    "May I be a flashlight to all beings living in life's dreary and despicable basement" - Sean C.T.

  2. #2
    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer Sekishi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
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    Virginia, USA
    Hi Beakon,

    Stories are stories. These brains love to make them.

    Shunyata / emptiness is not a view about "reality". The true well of emptiness is beyond any particular view. When sitting, we just sit. When there is suffering, we offer compassion.

    That is just my particular view though.

    Deep bows,
    Sekishi #sat
    Sekishi | 石志 | He/him | Better with a grain of salt, but best ignored entirely.

  3. #3
    Hello.

    Emptiness? What on earth does that mean?

    Here's a nice way to feel gravity is real. On your rear. Use it for sitting zazen.

    Gassho,

    Kyonin
    SatToday
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  4. #4
    Mp
    Guest
    Hello Beakon,

    What is emptiness?

    From the Heart Sutra ...

    Form is precisely emptiness, emptiness precisely form. Sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness are also like this. O Shariputra, all things are expressions of emptiness ...

    Gassho
    Shingen

    s@today

  5. #5
    I'm with Kyonin; just sit. It'll come to you

    gassho,

    sat today
    合掌,生開
    gassho, Shokai

    仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

    "Open to life in a benevolent way"

    https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/

  6. #6
    Begin by pulling the plug on words.

    My 2 cents.

    Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

  7. #7
    Hmmm. Why's everyone jumping on Beakon? This is lovely .... I don't think they are just intellectual words, but more he is describing poetically what he felt flowing from the heart (if it is just an image or idea, however, that would be a different story) ...

    I visualized it like this 'force feild' of energy covering the entire world. Another way I imagined it was floating inside the deep end of a swimming pool legs crossed in meditation. Now when I look outdoors I can see the sublime. My mind is calm like a clear river. I relized that their is no physical limitations in the universe. Even when I'm looking up in the sky there is no limit to how high that sky is. The universe is infinite. More sublime is the fact I'm breathing 'air' from the environment we all share to sustain life and procreate. The universe is like this very dense blanket that covers our 'selfs'. In this mindset I don't see 'people', I see 'sentient beings'. In this mindset (if you want to call it that) I can feel warmth inside my heart region which I refer to as 'the beakon'.
    Yes, sometimes there is such feelings. But don't get stuck there, and don't assume that such feeling is all there is to emptiness. Emptiness is also the townspeople and the town, you and me, maybe god and jesus, and all things in the world, including gravity. I don't actually think that Zen Masters or Karate Masters can turn off gravity, but do you know that gravity is empty even while still gravity? The heaviest, most seemingly solid mountain is empty. Tripping and, by gravity, falling hard on your butt ... all empty (but empty or not, OUCH!). We say that "emptiness" and every "form" are one beyond one, not two.

    In fact, emptiness is so "empty" that even the name "emptiness" limits this which cannot be limited, so it is just the finger pointing at the moon. It is so intimate to all of us that there is no "viewer" nor "viewed." On the other hand, Master Dogen said that the finger is empty too and so is the moon. Do you know the moon that points as the finger? Moon and finger are not two, and the finger captures the whole moon. There is in fact a viewer and a view, and both are emptiness, all are the moon! I disagree with Sekishi when he says that this is not "reality." It is a vision of "reality" ... a "reality" so real that even the word "reality" must do such an injustice.

    Don't get trapped in fantasies of "energy" or "force fields" or "swimming pools" or "rivers" or "boundless sky" no matter how nice and cozy such sensations feel. Emptiness is as vast as the universe and as small as the smallest particle ... the little feelings and models of your mind do not even begin to cover this any more than an image of "the moon" can capture the truth of the moon itself. "Blissful absorbtions" are a nice and pleasant place to visit but don't want to live there (and they can hook you like any drug). I am glad such help you understand "emptiness", but realize the "emptiness" is all around you right now.

    Gassho, J

    SatToday

    PS - Fun to watch, but don't mistake cheap chopsocky kung fu movies for real martial arts, real zen or real life.

    PPS - Yes, go sit! Would you mind sitting before you post, and noting so?

    http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...ore-Forum-Chat
    Last edited by Jundo; 03-25-2017 at 12:32 PM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  8. #8
    The trouble with describing It is that it's like painting a picture of the Grand Canyon and then sending it to a friend. It's not the same as seeing the Grand Canyon but all the same it's still a beautiful picture. I'm grateful there are compassionate people constantly failing at painting beautiful pictures. No pictures, no painting, no people. Just this. Thanks for the post and for everyone's reply.
    Gassho,
    Hōkō
    #SatToday

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
    法 Dharma
    口 Mouth

  9. #9
    It appears I have failed to express emptiness properly. As expected this is a very difficult topic for discussion, I appreciate the Sangha's encouragement to practice. I have felt very agitated lately, bad habits are returning. Gravity does exist. I've been a science fan my whole life. This post was written in a semantic mindset to share some thoughts on emptiness. The concept of emptiness is hard to capture in words to precisely convey the experience of perceiving emptiness. I've been a martial artist for half of my life. Jundo, you reminded me of what an important teaching I learned in my early years in Buddhist study, that everything even bliss states are temporary. Apart of my post that is even more difficult to describe is the sensation from perceiving emptiness. I fear if I don't feel that sensation of bliss I am not perceiving emptiness correctly.


    Take for example, I work in a chaotic and loud environment, where it's difficult to feel at peace. The customers can be rude, the staff can be dramatic, and there is always a feeling your being watched. My responsibility is to take payments, communicate with the kitchen staff, and serve food to customers. Before work I recite the Heart Sutra as I'm getting ready or doing samu. On the walk to work I get blissfully absorbed in 'emptiness'. My mind tends to wander. I find it difficult to stay focused on one thought at a time. Sometimes I'll hear 'earworms' during this long walk. By the time I arrive at work I feel great. I'm calm, relaxed, and at peace. After dealing with people in this environment I don't feel the same way. Sometimes I feel like flipping people the bird, tearing up, making a fool of myself or leaving without notice. I find reciting any sutra, gatha, very very difficult. Reciting The Heart Sutra or visualizing emptiness gives me this feeling of unlimited faith in oneself, heightened mindfulness and universal love. Seeing as it's difficult to say it in my head during work hours, I can't calm down easily.


    In fact, I quit smoking pot because I wanted to acheive a blissful absorption state again, like there was no other. The drug was like a coping mechanism for dealing with the stress of public relations. Anger is like this feeling that gets stuck in my neck and back area. It gets very painful sometimes so I need to walk away from situations I can't handle. Martial Arts is a way for me to release my anger, to vent, and express my frustrations. I was trained in a hard martial art that focuses on agility and striking. The exercises in the martial art empower me. As a practicing Buddhist I am worried that, I will memorize these emotions that arise during training, and they will turn against me. Like if I am exercising my anger through martial arts it will become stronger.


    Meditating can be the best coping mechanism for dealing with stress. Since I am living with my mother, meditating can be difficult at times. She doesn't seem to show any interest or want to learn anything about meditation. We practiced Qi Gong once. That is the limit of how much we discussed meditation and Buddhism. If I am meditating during wakeful hours she will speak to me, bang loudly on my bedroom door, require my attention, look for me when I'm hiding to meditate. During these meditations I feel very uncomfortable, sensing nervousness and anxiety. I feel like if I don't meditate I'm not being a good Buddhist. My meditation practice is always being disturbed. I feel close to Buddha-Nature when I'm outdoors. I try to visualize emptiness, talk about it, contemplate it as if it were like my own meditation. I started meditating again while being unemployed, living with my mom and while in despair. I have never been able to talk about this sublime experience with anyone from a Buddhist background. Getting around to consistently meditating is challenging so I am attending tomorrows meeting at 7:00a.m. for the first group meditation in a long time.
    "May I be a flashlight to all beings living in life's dreary and despicable basement" - Sean C.T.

  10. #10
    Yes a very tricky subject. As was pointed out to me in another thread recently, I sometimes feel that when I am stressed, annoyed, flustered, etc. that I am not being "Zen" enough... not experiencing emptiness enough... and while I am probably right in one aspect (i.e. I need to keep practicing), another perpective is how could any of it not be emptiness? Bliss and lack of bliss are equal manifestations of emptiness. I just love to judge one as "right" and the other "wrong." There certainly can be feelings of relief when one is momentarily awake enough to let go of all the judging and worrying. But to get attached to those feelings will just perpetuate the cycle of suffering, IMHO. Back to the cushion I go, :-p

    Gassho,
    Jakuden
    SatToday (and was free of interruptions, but still felt the anxiety that they might occur at any moment)

  11. #11
    Member Getchi's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Between Sea and Sky, Australia.
    If you can't meditate formally, consider exercising the Paramtas. There is intimate opportunities throughout the day to practice accepting our own shadow too.

    Jundo has some beautiful videos on this in the teaching section, and being gentle is something we can always aim to do :-)

    Be that example you need to see, don't give up and you can't "do it wrong".


    However, I am not a teacher just a friend, really value your time on earth and nothing is wasted


    Gassho,
    Ge off

    Sat today


    /ninebows
    Nothing to do? Why not Sit?

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Jakuden View Post
    Yes a very tricky subject. As was pointed out to me in another thread recently, I sometimes feel that when I am stressed, annoyed, flustered, etc. that I am not being "Zen" enough... not experiencing emptiness enough... and while I am probably right in one aspect (i.e. I need to keep practicing), another perpective is how could any of it not be emptiness? Bliss and lack of bliss are equal manifestations of emptiness. I just love to judge one as "right" and the other "wrong." There certainly can be feelings of relief when one is momentarily awake enough to let go of all the judging and worrying. But to get attached to those feelings will just perpetuate the cycle of suffering, IMHO. Back to the cushion I go, :-p

    Gassho,
    Jakuden
    SatToday (and was free of interruptions, but still felt the anxiety that they might occur at any moment)

    Where I originally trained in Buddhism (back in 2009) our sangha had a saying. We often said 'it's all in the practice' as a substitute for 'the end', 'fin', 'to be continued'. Bonita, our senior, talked about how a young man was trying to sell pot to the neighborhood children in her backyard. The situation did not go over well. She always rehearsed these words, 'it's all in the practice'. It's rubbed off on me even after all these years. I remember once when our sangha had to move to the art district. The members at the boxing gym close by all mistaken us for a cult. That day we were practicing walking meditation Lama Lodro taught us during his visit. The dharma talk was filled with all sorts of interesting topics, but I remember Bonita sitting in the arm chair, breathing in and out. She said 'it's all in the practice'. The next week when we returned to the centre Harold told us he received a complaint about him leading a cult. He lended his business as a space for our meditation centre. His jewlery store is in an old building that rents out business space. Hence the complaints about their being a 'cult' upstairs. We made jokes about it. I can still remember Harold's expression when he laughed it off.


    We were far from a cult as we made regular contact with the university, the karmapa, dharma teachers, even the boyscouts. The boyscouts have a badge they earn for exploring world religions. The dharma teacher there, used the socratic method of teaching children how to understand mindfulness, and critical thinking. The parents who accompanied their boyscouts did not appear amused! After they the sangha recollected they did not look happy as the children did. Bonita asked Gerry, 'do you think the parents were suspicious about the bodhisattva tapestries?'. The important lesson from The Winnipeg Dharma Centre is to laugh at life. My friend Johan used to tell me, 'Sean, you take yourself way to seriously!!! You need to learn to laugh at yourself'.


    My attempts to express 'boundless sky' on camera.

    388058_10151057776365494_627570761_n.jpg

    12374935_10156323260230494_351320483388743716_o.jpg

    920648_10156376883320494_5048247200311142593_o.jpg
    "May I be a flashlight to all beings living in life's dreary and despicable basement" - Sean C.T.

  13. #13


    Thay does the defintion of 'emptiness' justice.
    "May I be a flashlight to all beings living in life's dreary and despicable basement" - Sean C.T.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Beakon View Post
    ... Jundo, you reminded me of what an important teaching I learned in my early years in Buddhist study, that everything even bliss states are temporary. Apart of my post that is even more difficult to describe is the sensation from perceiving emptiness. I fear if I don't feel that sensation of bliss I am not perceiving emptiness correctly.
    In some schools of meditation, Buddhist and otherwise, bliss is cherished. In Shikantaza, we do not chase after, cling to or need bliss sensations. Take em or leave em. One might say that there thus results a kind of subtle Big B Bliss so blissful that one need not even feel blissful. Perhaps a good model for this is to recall that the sun is always shining on both sunny and cloudy days, even when unseen. Our Practice is a profound awareness of this truth, and we know the sun in/behind/right through and as the clouds themselves, not two.

    In traditional Buddhist terms, I sometimes compare Shikantaza to the Fourth Jhana, considered the highest of the Buddhist meditations in many quarters, which is sometimes described as a placing aside of bliss sensations.

    Shikantaza practice is very close to what is referred to as the "Fourth Jhana in the Suttas" ... as opposed to the highly concentrated, hyper-absorbed Visuddhimagga commentary version. The Fourth Jhana in the Pali Suttas was considered the 'summit' of Jhana practice (as the higher Jhana, No. 5 to 8, were not encouraged as a kind of otherworldly 'dead end') and appears to manifest (quoting the sutta descriptions in the book) "an abandoning of pleasure, pain, attractions/aversions, a dropping of both joy and grief", a dropping away of both rapture and bliss states, resulting in a "purity of mindfulness" and "equanimity". Combine this with the fact that, more than a "one pointed mind absorbed into a particular object", there is a "unification of mind" (described as a broader awareness around the object of meditation ... whereby the "mind itself becomes collected and unmoving, but not the objects of awareness, as mindfulness becomes lucid, effortless and unbroken" (See, for examples. pages 82-83 here))http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...l=1#post180600
    Also, being so concerned with bliss states is just some kind of drug.


    Take for example, I work in a chaotic and loud environment, where it's difficult to feel at peace. The customers can be rude, the staff can be dramatic, and there is always a feeling your being watched. My responsibility is to take payments, communicate with the kitchen staff, and serve food to customers. Before work I recite the Heart Sutra as I'm getting ready or doing samu. On the walk to work I get blissfully absorbed in 'emptiness'. My mind tends to wander. I find it difficult to stay focused on one thought at a time.
    Enlightenment is a profound knowing that this is all the clouds too, the sacred and profane not two, and so is the sucky job and all the sentient beings on staff.

    If you run to find this some place away from all that, you are missing what is right in front of the eyes and the eye itself.

    Tis also a Big P Peace so peaceful that one need not even feel peaceful, a Peace at the heart of peace, a Peace at the heart of war.

    During these meditations I feel very uncomfortable, sensing nervousness and anxiety. I feel like if I don't meditate I'm not being a good Buddhist. My meditation practice is always being disturbed. I feel close to Buddha-Nature when I'm outdoors.
    Both feelings of "sublime" and feelings of "disturbed" are in your own head. Don't chase after sublime, don't be disturbed. There is no inside or outside except by your little "self's" measure. One sits to realize so.

    Gassho, J

    SatToday
    Last edited by Jundo; 03-26-2017 at 01:16 PM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  15. #15
    PS - An attempt to dance Emptiness ...

    http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...e-of-Emptiness
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  16. #16

  17. #17
    Beakon, sorry that your mother disturbs you when sitting. Maybe hang a sign outside your 'Meditating. Please do not disturb'
    Just sit and relax. Trust that you don't have to understand anything. Just being present allows joy and ease.

    SAT today

    Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  18. #18
    Mp
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Rich View Post
    Just sit and relax. Trust that you don't have to understand anything. Just being present allows joy and ease.


    Gassho
    Shingen

    s@today

  19. #19
    Hi Beakon (would you mind to sign your non-Beakon name and "sattoday" to your posts? Thank you.)

    Much of our Soto Practice is to find the sacred in the ordinary, the wondrous as the mundane, a certain Big B Beauty and Wholeness that is all this world's daily beauty and ugliness and seeming brokenness. Do not expect the ordinary and mundane to always look "sacred and wondrous", for it is still sacred and wondrous even when not looking so at all. In other words, to want to escape from the restaurant or your mother or the rest of your life into "Bliss" or "Emptiness", like trying to escape into drugs or booze, is just not where freedom resides at all. Buddhism or "emptiness" is not only when you are feeling "Big Sky" or "Blissful", but is even on the cloudiest and rainiest days of life to the Eye of Wisdom and Compassion which can see. Better to find Peace, Wholeness and Equanimity wherever one is at, even if (sorry) it does not and will not always feel very peaceful, whole and calm.

    (That does not mean, by the way, that one should just stay in a bad job nor get out of a bad job, stay home or leave home. If there is a chance to improve your life in some way, good to do so. It just means that, for example, if in the bad job, just do that. If leaving the bad job, just do that. If staying home or leaving home, always know the Big H Home that can never be left! Got what I mean?

    I sometimes describe our attitude toward bad situations in life as like a Zen Monk facing a leaky pipe in the monastery. If you can fix the leak, grab a wrench and fix the leak. If you can't fix the leak because it is in a place you can't reach, just let it drip. In either case, fixing or not, be at one with the drip drip drip. As I said, we find a Big P Peace that is at one with peace and with war ... yet grab a sign and try to stop the war.)

    So, always try to make your life better as you can ... make friends, build a life, become independent ... yet never run towards or away from anything. It is all right here, even as you change it.

    Gassho, Jundo

    SatToday

    PS - I just ran across a nice passage on Zazen by another Soto Zen priest [my boldface],

    We are strongly advised not to insert any kinds of "anticipation", "aim" or "intention" into the practice of zazen. If you bring any goal, however noble it may be, into zazen, this calculating frame of mind will, in a sense, split into two facts: one doing zazen and one who's attending to the goal. This kind of zazen has a crack inside, which prevents the practitioner from hitting the mark of zazen. Dogen's Manual of Zazen said, "Do not try to become Buddha". Therefore, when practicing zazen, we need to let go of all of unnecessary considerations like "I should try to become like this or that in the future". We should only do our best to just sit zazen.

    ... The point is to sit zazen, not to do it aiming at certain "benefits or results." If zazen is thoroughly zazen, that is all. Zazen is so completed in itself that it does not need anything else. ...

    But a strange thing happens here. When you just sit zazen without doing anything to do with "benefits/results", the unlimited and immeasurable "benefits/results" are naturally given to you beyond your expectation. Therefore if we say that zazen has some benefits and results, they are not what we attain as the results for which we seek with our will and intention but what is given to us unexpectedly. That is why we can not take credit for them as if they were the results of our own efforts.

    Let us assume that we hear or see the sentence, "If you practice zazen, you will get X results". Examples of X might be "enlightenment", "peaceful mind", "freedom", "calmness", "compassion and love", etc. Hearing this kind of formulation people who think that they lack "X" within themselves will imagine that X must resemble their mental image of X and so they start practicing zazen very hard in order to get closer to their ideal. There may be a lot of people like this. However, as I have argued so far, this type of zazen practice is misdirected. It can not be called zazen. And this X, what is guaranteed as the benefits/results of zazen, will never ever be attained.

    Let me explain this by using one example. Here is a man who feels he is always irritated and short-tempered. He is suffering from this trait and wishing, by all means, to become a person whose mind is always calm and peace. One day he hears from someone that he can attain calmness by zazen. He thinks, "This is a good news. I might be able to change myself by this method". He, then, immediately starts practicing zazen. He tries to find out what he imagines is the peaceful mind in his zazen. And by accumulating the benefits of zazen little by little, he also expects to increase the degree of imagined calmness in his mind.

    Do you think that he will succeed in becoming a calm and peaceful man? I do not think if he keeps practicing zazen this way. The peaceful mind which he pictured to his mind as an ideal is nothing but a kind of photographic negative or projection of the very same irritated mind which disturbs him. He does not really understand what the peaceful mind is like. Therefore, each and every effort he makes to attain peace contains subtle irritation, which sneaks into his practice. The fact that he can not accept his irritated mind as it is, is by itself the manifestation of his deepseated irritation. Even if he feels that he is becoming calmer a little bit, it only implies that his irritation is becoming subtler and better at disguising itself. Then his irritation will simply become deeper and deeper part of him.

    If this is the case, how do we avoid this pitfall in our practice? First, we should temporarily stop looking at ourselves through words, concepts and judgements such as, "I am always irritated and short-tempered. It is not good". And then we should set aside the impulse to change ourselves as we wish. In fact, to sit proper zazen is not to try to calm down his irritated mind and forcefully create the peaceful mind but to put oneself in the state of completely setting aside all over personal agendas. When this is accomplished, we can directly see the reality of ourselves; the reality of our irritation in our body, speech and mind. This is not the fabricated self grasped by thoughts but the real and true self.

    It is possible for us to "see deeply the reality of irritation as it is" only when zazen is being practiced as zazen. This seeing enables the irritation to transform itself into true peace. There is no peace outside the irritation. They are not separate.

    I used the case of irritation as an example of how the transformation is brought about by seeing it as it is. Roughly speaking, I think the deep transformation as the result of zazen happens in the same way.

    Issho Fujita - Polishing A Tile
    Last edited by Jundo; 03-27-2017 at 05:45 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  20. #20
    Thanks 🏵 🙏 for Issho

    SAT today

    Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    Much of our Soto Practice is to find the sacred in the ordinary, the wondrous as the mundane, a certain Big B Beauty and Wholeness that is all this world's daily beauty and ugliness and seeming brokenness. Do not expect the ordinary and mundane to always look "sacred and wondrous", for it is still sacred and wondrous even when not looking so at all. In other words, to want to escape from the restaurant or your mother or the rest of your life into "Bliss" or "Emptiness", like trying to escape into drugs or booze, is just not where freedom resides at all. Buddhism or "emptiness" is not only when you are feeling "Big Sky" or "Blissful", but is even on the cloudiest and rainiest days of life to the Eye of Wisdom and Compassion which can see. Better to find Peace, Wholeness and Equanimity wherever one is at, even if (sorry) it does not and will not always feel very peaceful, whole and calm.
    Thank you for this teaching, Jundo.

    Gassho,

    Kyonin
    SatToday
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    Hi Beakon (would you mind to sign your non-Beakon name and "sattoday" to your posts? Thank you.)

    Much of our Soto Practice is to find the sacred in the ordinary, the wondrous as the mundane, a certain Big B Beauty and Wholeness that is all this world's daily beauty and ugliness and seeming brokenness. Do not expect the ordinary and mundane to always look "sacred and wondrous", for it is still sacred and wondrous even when not looking so at all. In other words, to want to escape from the restaurant or your mother or the rest of your life into "Bliss" or "Emptiness", like trying to escape into drugs or booze, is just not where freedom resides at all. Buddhism or "emptiness" is not only when you are feeling "Big Sky" or "Blissful", but is even on the cloudiest and rainiest days of life to the Eye of Wisdom and Compassion which can see. Better to find Peace, Wholeness and Equanimity wherever one is at, even if (sorry) it does not and will not always feel very peaceful, whole and calm.

    (That does not mean, by the way, that one should just stay in a bad job nor get out of a bad job, stay home or leave home. If there is a chance to improve your life in some way, good to do so. It just means that, for example, if in the bad job, just do that. If leaving the bad job, just do that. If staying home or leaving home, always know the Big H Home that can never be left! Got what I mean?

    I sometimes describe our attitude toward bad situations in life as like a Zen Monk facing a leaky pipe in the monastery. If you can fix the leak, grab a wrench and fix the leak. If you can't fix the leak because it is in a place you can't reach, just let it drip. In either case, fixing or not, be at one with the drip drip drip. As I said, we find a Big P Peace that is at one with peace and with war ... yet grab a sign and try to stop the war.)

    So, always try to make your life better as you can ... make friends, build a life, become independent ... yet never run towards or away from anything. It is all right here, even as you change it.

    Gassho, Jundo

    SatToday

    PS - I just ran across a nice passage on Zazen by another Soto Zen priest [my boldface],

    Thank you, Jundo. That was helpful. Familiar feelings I have are social anxieties, neurosis, irritation, insecurities, rumination, worries and regrets. I try to trust in 'the process' of talking to people. In the beginning of yesterdays coffee house I was nervous in the beginning of the conversation with Tree Leaf members. I sat with it, as I went along with the practice, the nervousness went away and I moved into pleasant feelings. I know that I can't 'delete' nervousness from my conciousness. This process is very normal for me, so I hope I'm not the only one. Even after the conversation I had to go out to the bush to shoot a scene for a movie. My character had to behave like he was being chased by a seriel killer. Even though I was behaving like I am about to be killed by a raving psychopath, I remained restless out of character. My mood overall was cheerful and enthusiastic. le

    When I wake up in the morning mindfulness is very low. During the first moments of wakefulness I'll begin ruminating about love, money, work, health, and so on. Usually getting out of bed is painful. My body is soar and fatiqued from walking everywhere in town to find work. I seem to attach myself to duties, planning, precautions, contacts, insecurities, offensive things people said, setting new goals, or preventing bad things from happening. I'm very indesiive about what thought train to follow. It might root itsel from the fact nothing every works out for me like a meditating practice does in my mothers house. It's all happening in one day. I don't like getting stuck in that pattern where each morning first minutes have this feeling of unpleasantness to it. I like meditation because it helps me go beyond these thought patterns to see them as they are. Like being a witness to the ego. I admire the soto zen way of seeing the beauty in all things, like a first kiss or moving away from home for the first time. What seems difficult is being mindful of this way of life. It's all in the practice, right? It's like how do I start letting go without attaching myself to bliss so I can see the true nature of reality?

    Confession, I hate it when people use the word 'reality' in a negative connotation like it's done them no favours. I'm lucky to have a place to live in these 'hard times' to stop and think about life. I try to practice 'samu' as an exercise for the next best thing. Like looking up the 'right button' to press on the cash register. Being present with a customer who is obviously demonstrating irratability with the customer service. Some small things, like people laughing at my mistakes, or tapping the counter is very hard to be present with. I can't help but react to it because I don't feel good enough to handle it. I now know that I can get over it like a baby being born from the mothers womb feels uncomfortable being delivered into the universe.

    About bliss states being a kind of drug, things like facebook and music can be very addictive for me. I cannot think clearly being attached to having social connections, music being a constant source of ego-gratification, or having a netflix marathon. Even then I'm attached to keeping things quiet all the time.

    PS - I am still trying to figure out Tree Leaf's tech. I'd like to attend the morning sits with the sangha to get back on track with meditating. The 'Do Not Disturb' sign outside my bedroom goes unheaded. My attempts to talk about 'boundaries' are not acknowledged with seriousness. I am currently a member of the tree leaf google + sangha. Do I need a Google + invitation with a link to the hangouts to join a group meditation everyday? I am trying to figure out how to do the 'Sat Today' signature. There is an article on how to do it. It did not work for me on this end. Thank you.

    Gassho
    "May I be a flashlight to all beings living in life's dreary and despicable basement" - Sean C.T.

  23. #23
    Mp
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Beakon View Post
    PS - I am still trying to figure out Tree Leaf's tech. I'd like to attend the morning sits with the sangha to get back on track with meditating. The 'Do Not Disturb' sign outside my bedroom goes unheaded. My attempts to talk about 'boundaries' are not acknowledged with seriousness. I am currently a member of the tree leaf google + sangha. Do I need a Google + invitation with a link to the hangouts to join a group meditation everyday? I am trying to figure out how to do the 'Sat Today' signature. There is an article on how to do it. It did not work for me on this end. Thank you.
    Hey Beakon,

    As for sittings ... if you are apart of the Treeleaf Google+, then you will be notified on some of the sittings, like the weekly and monthly zazenkais. However, some folks have their own sittings throughout the week and you are more then welcome to sit with them too. Just send the person to whom you would like to sit with a PM, as they may have a Google+ group they add their sitters too ... I know I do, as I don't want to send it to the whole Sangha, only to the people who have asked to sit with me ... this way we can be compassionate to their Inboxes. =)

    At the top of the forum you will see the "Calendar" link ... which is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...GmRaNGoGw/edit. Have a look and maybe there is someone on there that might be in the same time zone. I hope this helps. =)

    Gassho
    Shingen

    s@today

  24. #24
    I feel your pain, Beakon, I can't meditate uninterrupted in my house either unless no one is home (rare) or they are all asleep (also rare). That's why many days my zazen is in my car before work. If it's nice weather I will get out of my car and sit on a bench at a nearby office building complex or shopping plaza, which are usually quiet at that hour of the morning. I play Shingen's heart sutra and other chants in my headphones (links are somewhere here on Treeleaf, does anyone know where?) and set the Insight Timer app. I discovered years ago that sneaking off somewhere to sit before work reduces my anxiety and stress at work, too.

    Gassho,
    Jakuden
    SatToday

  25. #25
    Mp
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Jakuden View Post
    I play Shingen's heart sutra and other chants in my headphones (links are somewhere here on Treeleaf, does anyone know where?)
    Hey Jakuden,

    Are these the ones you are talking about? =)

    Quote Originally Posted by Shingen View Post
    Ok here are some mp3 files of some chants. I did the Heart Sutra (both with and without bell and mokugyo), the Verse of Atonement (both with and without bell), and the Four Vows (both with and without bell). I have also made them available for download if you choose, so you can listen on your iPod of the like.

    Let me know if you have any questions or any troubles with the files. =)

    Zazenkai Chants

    The Heart Sutra
    Voice only: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7J...ew?usp=sharing
    With Bell & Mokugyo: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7J...ew?usp=sharing

    The Verse of Atonement
    Voice only: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7J...ew?usp=sharing
    With bell: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7J...ew?usp=sharing

    The Four Vows
    Voice only: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7J...ew?usp=sharing
    With bells: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7J...ew?usp=sharing

    The Whole Folder
    Folder Access: https://drive.google.com/folderview?...mM&usp=sharing
    Gassho
    Shingen

    s@today

  26. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Shingen View Post
    Hey Jakuden,

    Are these the ones you are talking about? =)



    Gassho
    Shingen

    s@today
    Yep those are them. Them's the ones. They are those? (Just trying to annoy all the English degrees on here) Thanks!

    Gassho
    Jakuden
    SatToday

  27. #27
    Mp
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Jakuden View Post
    Yep those are them. Them's the ones. They are those? (Just trying to annoy all the English degrees on here) Thanks!

    Gassho
    Jakuden
    SatToday
    Themas be da ones! =) (looks like Bodhi was playing with the keyboard again) LOL

    Gassho
    Shingen

    s@today

  28. #28
    Look at the garden we've grown on this thread. This is quite impressive considering we all put a collaberative effort into understanding a very difficult piece of Buddhist terminology. I will do tenglon for you, Jakuden. Hey, I learned a new psychological fact today. Building relationships is healthier than exercise. Good thing I'm building zen habits on leadership. Trust building exercises, ethical desicion making, giving speeches, character building, keys to motivation, and all that jazz. Even reading 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' has caused a small change in my home life. These are valuable and markettable zen habits to carry around. If you think about it, if you talk to a new person a day, that is three hundred and sixty five repetitions a year. The social muscle gets flexed more often than the ligaments and muscle fibers. If we all did that we'd be healthier than the average athlete. The dinosaurs were some of the strongest beings to walk the planet earth. Human ingenuity is constantly transforming our society. If only more people opened a psychology textbook instead of trying to walk all over eachother in this competitive chaotic world we'd all be better off.
    "May I be a flashlight to all beings living in life's dreary and despicable basement" - Sean C.T.

  29. #29
    I agree. Be l

    Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  30. #30
    Less competitive .

    SAT today

    Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  31. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Beakon View Post
    Anger is like this feeling that gets stuck in my neck and back area. It gets very painful sometimes so I need to walk away from situations I can't handle. Martial Arts is a way for me to release my anger, to vent, and express my frustrations. I was trained in a hard martial art that focuses on agility and striking. The exercises in the martial art empower me. As a practicing Buddhist I am worried that, I will memorize these emotions that arise during training, and they will turn against me. Like if I am exercising my anger through martial arts it will become stronger.
    Hi Beakon,
    I have found in many cases this is true.
    Training as a means of venting ager, ends up being more a means of rehearsing anger.
    I find it is best to not train while you're angry. Try to find something that calms you down before you train; by either taking your mind off of what is angering you, or helps you see more clearly that it is really nothing to be so angry about. Sitting, or weaving thread, or vegetable gardening or drawing are some of my favourites, but everyone is different.
    Also purely from the view point of whatever your chosen art, training whilst angry will increase the chances of incorrect form, which can inturn lead to injury. (And the only silver lining if this happens is that it does drive home the point that being angry hurts nobody more than yourself.) Focus on your breath and posture, the timing and co-ordination of your arms and legs/ hands and feet.

    Thich Nhat Hanh speaks about the flaws in venting your anger in this way. I will try and find the link and post it.


    Gassho

    Patrick
    Sat today
    Last edited by Kenshou; 03-29-2017 at 01:42 AM.

  32. #32


    I find this entire talk amazing, but at about 6minutes 35 seconds he speaks of venting anger and why it does not work, and provides really helpful alternatives to venting anger.

    Gassho
    Patrick

    sat today

  33. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by Paddy View Post
    Hi Beakon,
    I have found in many cases this is true.
    Training as a means of venting ager, ends up being more a means of rehearsing anger.
    I find it is best to not train while you're angry. Try to find something that calms you down before you train; by either taking your mind off of what is angering you, or helps you see more clearly that it is really nothing to be so angry about. Sitting, or weaving thread, or vegetable gardening or drawing are some of my favourites, but everyone is different.
    Also purely from the view point of whatever your chosen art, training whilst angry will increase the chances of incorrect form, which can inturn lead to injury. (And the only silver lining if this happens is that it does drive home the point that being angry hurts nobody more than yourself.) Focus on your breath and posture, the timing and co-ordination of your arms and legs/ hands and feet.

    Thich Nhat Hanh speaks about the flaws in venting your anger in this way. I will try and find the link and post it.


    Gassho

    Patrick
    Sat today
    Thank you, Patrick. Yes, when I train in martial arts it arouses this feeling of rage. It feels fun coming from a belief that exercising will release stress. I noticed that my temperment can grow when exercising these negative mindstates in training. That's why these das I'm leaning more towards training in softer martial arts.
    "May I be a flashlight to all beings living in life's dreary and despicable basement" - Sean C.T.

  34. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by Jakuden View Post
    Yep those are them. Them's the ones. They are those? (Just trying to annoy all the English degrees on here) Thanks!

    Gassho
    Jakuden
    SatToday
    Emptiness

    One has (not) to earn
    a Ph.D. to learn that
    language has no rules.
    Still, we are heard.

    Gassho,
    Michael
    Assc. Prof of Anglish

    SatToday

  35. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by Beakon View Post
    Thank you, Patrick. Yes, when I train in martial arts it arouses this feeling of rage. It feels fun coming from a belief that exercising will release stress. I noticed that my temperment can grow when exercising these negative mindstates in training. That's why these das I'm leaning more towards training in softer martial arts.
    This Practice should help make one gentle. Being gentle aids this Practice.

    Gassho, J

    SatToday
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  36. #36
    There is for me a great sorrow at my anger as my feelings regrets, my true and deep remorse, deep caring, I am the victim of my own anger, and I cannot always come to my family who I wish to love. I cannot be mindful of the true love of my family. The time of my family is gone, and more of the Sangha and I want the love of my little family. My daughter is gone and as my good friend Tom has said, she will always be here, part of me turning to my wife who I love and the wrong practice of correcting my daughter, and now the time is gone to be corrected. Mindfully, without anger, ignorance, and greed, to be correcting, fatherhood, partner as husband, it is never too late, so to write to my daughter mindfully, and be her dad even at 65. After this entry writing to my daughter in Iowa City where we visited this last weekend. As we went to Iowa City, visiting my 81-year-old aunt, now making connections with daughter,

    Tai Shi
    std
    Gassho
    Peaceful Poet, Tai Shi. Ubasoku; calm, supportive, limited to positive 優婆塞 台 婆

  37. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by Tai Shi View Post
    There is for me a great sorrow at my anger as my feelings regrets, my true and deep remorse, deep caring, I am the victim of my own anger, and I cannot always come to my family who I wish to love. I cannot be mindful of the true love of my family. The time of my family is gone, and more of the Sangha and I want the love of my little family. My daughter is gone and as my good friend Tom has said, she will always be here, part of me turning to my wife who I love and the wrong practice of correcting my daughter, and now the time is gone to be corrected. Mindfully, without anger, ignorance, and greed, to be correcting, fatherhood, partner as husband, it is never too late, so to write to my daughter mindfully, and be her dad even at 65. After this entry writing to my daughter in Iowa City where we visited this last weekend. As we went to Iowa City, visiting my 81-year-old aunt, now making connections with daughter,

    Tai Shi
    std
    Gassho

    I feel there is an inkling for a poem coming on. What you said has helped me reflect on my relationship with my father.
    "May I be a flashlight to all beings living in life's dreary and despicable basement" - Sean C.T.

  38. #38
    Aren't we all Associate Professors of Anguish.
    thanks,
    Gassho,
    Tom
    Sattoday

  39. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    This Practice should help make one gentle. Being gentle aids this Practice.

    Gassho, J

    SatToday
    Yes, open to receiving. So it's a letting go of aggression and trying to get it. Even in martial arts when you absorb a strike you gain an advantage to neutralize an opponent.

    SAT today

    Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  40. #40
    Mp
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    This Practice should help make one gentle. Being gentle aids this Practice.
    Simple and beautiful expression! =)

    Gassho
    Shingen

    s@today

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