Dealing with the world of illusion

[johns]

Hello Sangha,

Since we live in this world of material, and there has to be some sort of goals and intentions in order to get along, is a key of living Zen to be aware of the illusion and go along? If I'm setting and working towards goals, is the Zen insight that I am aware of the impermanence and illusionary aspect of it all, and I choose to play along, not getting attached to said goals?

Gassho

John

SatTodayLAH

[Jundo]

Hello Sangha,

Since we live in this world of material, and there has to be some sort of goals and intentions in order to get along, is a key of living Zen to be aware of the illusion and go along? If I'm setting and working towards goals, is the Zen insight that I am aware of the impermanence and illusionary aspect of it all, and I choose to play along, not getting attached to said goals?

Gassho

John

SatTodayLAH

Hmmm. This is our practice. The key part is the living, not the describing.

We realize the Wholeness of Emptiness, something flowing without lack, nothing to attain, a kind of vibrancy without death, a Peace which sweeps in all the broken pieces, Good holding all the good and bad of this world ...

... and then we must live in this world of sometime lack, things to do and attain, fix, sickness and death, peace and war, good and sometimes terrible bad ...

and we must figure out how all are true at once!

Live gently, seek the good, make peace, do not be overly strangled by attachments ... even as one is up to one's next in the chaos ... even as there is no need.

Tricky!

Gassho, Jundo

stlah


PS - John, would you do me a favor? Would you put a human face photo so we can look you in the eye as part of your posts? It helps us keep things more human around here. That would be a GOOD thing to FIX! I also added a "w" to fix the typo in your post title!

[Tom M]

Jundo, when you say "even as there is no need", what do you mean?

Gassho,
Tom

Sat today

[Jundo]

Jundo, when you say "even as there is no need", what do you mean?

Gassho,
Tom

Sat today

We can speak of "two eyes" for encountering this world which, when open together, might be said to be the Wisdom of the "Buddha Eye."

In one way of knowing, there is nothing lacking, nothing to do, the world wholly complete as this world ...

By the other eye, there are problems, much lacking, things to do.

Both true at once, when the world is seen by each eye open together, not one not two.

Thus, we had best "Live gently, seek the good, make peace, do not be overly strangled by attachments ... even as one is up to one's next in the chaos ... even as [from the other eye] there is no need."

If you are interested in this (and I hope you are, because understanding this right to the marrow is one of our main purposes in practicing Zen ), I might very much recommend to you the Talk I presented at our most recent Zazenkai on Master Keizan's "Zazen-Yojinki." The first portion is very much about this ...

TREELEAF PODCAST - ZAZEN - YOJINKI SERIES
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...l=1#post339408

and

March 1-2nd, 2024 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - Keizan's Zazen-Yojinki
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...-Zazen-Yojinki

Gassho, J

stlah

[Tom M]

Thanks Jundo. The 'original face' you mention had been on my mind, from the mumonkan koan 23. I think I know a little of the "nothing lacking" eye. But how to live them both at once? Sometimes I watch the news or something, and anger or sadness take over.

Gassho, Tom
Sat today

[Jundo]

Thanks Jundo. The 'original face' you mention had been on my mind, from the mumonkan koan 23. I think I know a little of the "nothing lacking" eye. But how to live them both at once? Sometimes I watch the news or something, and anger or sadness take over.

Gassho, Tom
Sat today

Yes, good, sadness and even "righteous indignation" (hopefully not uncontrolled, raging anger) should move one, because I believe that you are a concerned, empathetic person moved by the pain and poverty we witness. Good. You care.

This is an aspect of our Shikantaza, and all Zen Practice: How to know the world both ways at once ... division and lack and strife out of one eye, wholeness with nothing lacking and no need to repair out of the other eye ... with both eyes open together the Wisdom and Clarity of a Buddha Eye.

Thus we sit in Shikantaza, thoughts and emotions, anger and sadness come and go ... yet, in the silence and simplicity of Just Sitting, a Light and Stillness shine though.

Thus we get up from the sitting cushion, and try to make this world better ...

Gassho, J

stlah

PS - In case anyone is interested, a very old Talk on the difference between raging anger and "righteous indignation" ... citing that old show that maybe, for some of us, was our first introduction to Zen!

Some folks think that BUDDHISTS ARE MERELY PUSHOVERS. Well, sometimes we are "pushovers" ... allowing events to just push us over without resistance, roll past us, all until we (hopefully) roll back up!

Other times ... like the Dalai Lama in his resistance to China, like the monks of Burma, like Gandhi (okay, not a 'Buddhist' really, but ya get the point), even like "Master Caine" in that old tv show ... we may need to push back, protest, resist, fight a good fight appropriate to the circumstances. Stilll, there is a way to do that, and not do that, and non-do that ... hopefully free of greed, anger and ignorance, free of all resistance even in the resistance. It might be against social injustice, it might be against an illness, it might be about something necessary and right in our own life that deserves standing up for (as well as sitting down on the Zafu for).

HOW WE FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...THE-GOOD-FIGHT