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Thread: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

  1. #1

    SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    .
    Last year I spoke about the little girl that my wife and I have been trying to adopt from China for five years to no avail, caught in red tape and creeping bureaucracy. She is just a name to us, a shadow, an empty child's room that has gathered dust. Our little son always asks for his absent sister, year after year. Now, after much pushing through obstacles, wrangling with regulations, negotiating, simple waiting (there are so many families in like position, and we did not want to push ahead of others, so waited our turn like everyone else), procedures and endless forms, this year's earthquake and adventures, adoption and immigration lawyers and legal fees to fix the tangled legal snafu, there is a good chance (too soon to be sure yet) that she will come to us by the end of this year!!


    If all goes forward (we'll see), 51 year old me is gonna be daddy to a 1 year old! :shock:


    Some things in life are WORTH PROTESTING FOR, SHOUTING FOR, FIGHTING FOR ... WITHOUT VIOLENCE OR ANGER, OF COURSE! Be it a wrong to right, a war to stop, an injustice to prevent, a disease to cure ... it is okay to take to the streets (like those monks in Burma did), fight the good fight ... if peacefully.

    Yet today's passage from the Xin Xin Ming tells us:


    If you wish to see the truth
    then hold no opinions for or against anything.
    To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.
    When the deep meaning of things is not understood
    the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.



    Having no opinions, no for or against ... yet standing up for what's right? Sounds like a great contradiction! These need not be in the least! Opinions with equanimity, pushing forward with no place to get, protest hand-in-hand with total acceptance! RESISTING FREE OF ALL RESISTANCE! Of course, one has to be careful ... for those cluttered boxes of adoption documents in the scene below could stand for the clutter of the mind that can result in trying times! Always know that white, clean, pristine space that holds all that and shines through all!


    Seen with a Buddha's eye ... there is no contradiction at all.



    Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended.

    .
    Last edited by Jundo; 04-26-2016 at 01:06 AM.

  2. #2

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Jundo,

    This is wonderful news that brings a tear to my eye!

    And, yes, you have said these things many times before. And clearly I still need to hear them again and again!

    Thank you for this teaching and all my best hopes for the adoption process.

    Gassho,
    Dosho

  3. #3

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Thank you again Jundo.

    Just two days ago I was chanting metta and inverted a couple of the lines. No harm done. But then it reminded me of the zazenkai a few weeks or so ago where you and Mina had received some news about the adoption. I had a heavy heart and then added you two to my metta. I am so happy to hear things are moving forward for you guys and am so thankful for this teaching.

    Happy & Hopeful,

    Gassho,

    Shawn

    PS - Posted to podcast. Should show up in iTunes shortly.

  4. #4

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Jundo,
    Fingers crossed for you and your family.
    Gassho
    Soen

  5. #5

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Effortless in mind; vigorous in movement.
    ...and Jizo in your heart.
    Gassho,

  6. #6

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo
    ...there is a good chance (too soon to be sure yet) that she will come to us by the end of this year!!
    I will pray that it all works out. Such trying should be rewarded, especially for such a good thing. Sometimes, these things don't work out, and there seems to be no justice in the universe... but then there are other times when things work out so well you could swear something was helping you out. I hope the latter is your case.


    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo
    51 year old me is gonna be daddy to a 1 year old! :shock:
    8) No big deal... 8) My uncle and his wife are about to have a baby, and his youngest is seventeen! Life rolls along... :arrow:

    Very helpful talk for me, thank you and Gassho. I had the best sit in a long time after that.

    Amelia

  7. #7

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    That is great news, Jundo! Never too old to be a parent to a child in need, and certainly not uncommon these days with "Modern Families." Heck, my wife has a brother 25 years her junior!

  8. #8

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Thank you Jundo for this talk. In the beginning of my Zen practice this question of "why bother if everything is already perfect" was really bugging me. It still does sometimes, but not as often. You just get up and do it.

  9. #9

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Those are wonderful news, Jundo! I hope with all my heart that your family grows soon!

    Thank you for this teaching. It really means a lot.

  10. #10

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Good news at last!

    Hope it works out for you & your family!

    Gassho

    Jen

  11. #11

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    You may have said it one hundred times, but I heard it as if for the first time thanks to your sharing your family's struggle with us. Gassho for that and best of luck in -- I hope! -- the home stretch.

  12. #12

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Thank you, Jundo, and congratulations! I hope the rest of it goes smoothly for you (in addition to your looking at it already as going smoothly )

    I look forward to sending her a very welcoming "n? h?o" :mrgreen:

    gassho
    Julia

  13. #13

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    I hope the adoption works out for you and your family so all of you can enjoy a bright, young child.

    Thanks,
    Jodi

  14. #14

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    As my mum used to say 'Where there's a will, there's a way' and as you say 'without anger'. A great lesson Jundo and we are all willing you your way! ( I think the Chinese call it Yi)
    Heartfelt best wishes for your family.

    Gassho.

  15. #15

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Having no preferences, accepting things as they are. When we see the world as it truly is, compassion arises naturally, and with compassion our action comes out of the requirements of every moment. So even without preferences and opinions we not just keep sitting under the tree. I believe
    _()_
    Peter

  16. #16

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Exciting and OUCH...
    I hope this all works out for you(s)!!
    Your patience in this ongoing waiting has been an inspiration. Thank you for your teaching on this.

    Gassho
    Shohei

  17. #17
    Treeleaf Unsui Shugen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Redding California USA

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Good Luck and Thank You,

    Ron

  18. #18

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Those are wonderful news Jundo.
    We have also started the paperwork to adopt a child -our second one- and considering how slow these processes are I'll become a father again in four or five years, so close to fifty too. We'll have to exchange notes on how to cope with it!

    Deep gassho

    RImon

  19. #19

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Thank you for this! I needed to hear this. Good luck with your hopefully soon to be daughter

    I've been struggling with Ango this year.. I knew I would, I hold my preferences very, very closely. Sometimes not so much. Sometimes practice comes easily, but other times, it is a struggle. On one hand I want to fight for what I want. Then it's easy to pervert this teaching into just laying back and giving up... but it's the clarity of this teaching that's cutting through that saying "adjust to reality and keep pushing on". Easier said than done. Sometimes my ego just wants to sit in a corner and yell if it doesn't get what it wants.

    But the key is to never give up. That's what keeps me coming back. So many people can start, but there are few finishers, not that this ever ends (well while we are living I suppose )

    Gassho,

    Risho

  20. #20

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Keep on going Risho, its all preactice. Seeing the struggle, noticing what we do, why we do what we do, thats all wonderful practice. And just as you say, return to the path, walk with all your fellow treeleafers...
    Gassho
    Peter

  21. #21

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)


  22. #22

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Quote Originally Posted by Risho
    I've been struggling with Ango this year.. I knew I would,
    Struggling right along with you! But as Jundo told me recently, if it isn't a struggle then your Ango goals are too easy

  23. #23

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Thanks guys

  24. #24

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

    Hope everything works out soon Jundo. That room deserves to be filled with the laughter of a child not boxes!!

    Gassho,
    John

  25. #25

    SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    .


    We encounter again the instruction neither to become entangled in circumstances, nor fall into emptiness ... neither remaining in one extreme or the other, finding that which embraces and expresses both.

    But it is not something merely to talk or philosophize about experiencing life this way, like some "ARMCHAIR BUDDHA". Rather, it is to pierce the wholeness of Zazen, carve such into one's bones, bring such to life in this ordinary life.

    Thus, the Xin Xin Ming tells us ...


    The more you talk and think about it,
    the further astray you wander from the truth.
    Stop talking and thinking,
    and there is nothing you will not be able to know.

    To return to the root [of emptiness] is to find the meaning,
    but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
    At the moment of inner enlightenment
    there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
    The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
    we call real only because of our ignorance.



    The passage closes with a simple reminder that finding truth is not a matter of searching for truth. Rather ... dropping opinions, preferences, aversions and attractions ... neither caught in circumstances nor in emptiness, but knowing the wholeness of one as the other ... Truth is found.



    Do not search for the truth;
    only cease to cherish opinions.




    D.T. Suzuki translates and expresses the wordless words of the passage this way:

    Wordiness and intellection –
    The more with them the further astray we go;
    Away therefore with wordiness and intellection,
    And there is no place where we cannot pass freely.
    When we return to the root, we gain the meaning;
    When we pursue external objects, we lose the reason.
    The moment we are enlightened within,
    We go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us.
    Transformations going on in an empty world which confronts us,
    Appear real all because of Ignorance:
    Try not to seek after the true,
    Only cease to cherish opinions.


    Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended

    .
    Last edited by Jundo; 04-26-2016 at 01:15 AM.

  26. #26

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Thankn you Jundo.

    Gassho,

    Matt

  27. #27

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Hi Jundo!

    Couldn't thank you for you teachings on this beautiful Chan classic... more than ever actual and transcending ideas, schools and even Buddhas! :wink:

    Thank you!
    gassho,
    Jinyu

  28. #28

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Love the Yogi Berra line. So we're like takin Yogi in the ancient Indian sage sense, right?
    Gassho, with thanks for the teachings.
    Soen

  29. #29

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Thank you Jundo. And thank you to your wife for her help. Breaks my heart to hear about those school children.

    Gassho,

    Shawn

  30. #30

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    _/_

    Jen

  31. #31

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Hi,

    I just added to the original post another translation by D.T. Suzuki, wordless words that hit the mark:

    Wordiness and intellection –
    The more with them the further astray we go;
    Away therefore with wordiness and intellection,
    And there is no place where we cannot pass freely.
    When we return to the root, we gain the meaning;
    When we pursue external objects, we lose the reason.
    The moment we are enlightened within,
    We go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us.
    Transformations going on in an empty world which confronts us,
    Appear real all because of Ignorance:
    Try not to seek after the true,
    Only cease to cherish opinions.

  32. #32

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Thank you, Sensei.

  33. #33

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Jundo,

    Thank you for this teaching.

    Gassho,
    Dosho

  34. #34

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    ..same emphasis on doing, on practice, just like Dogen, thanks Jundo
    _()_
    Peter

  35. #35

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    No opinions, no attractions, just a simple gassho _/_

  36. #36
    Nindo
    Guest

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    The broken parts of my life, the broken pieces of my heart - when will I stop running and turn towards them?
    Just hurting seems to be so hard, so frightening.
    _/_

  37. #37

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    "only cease to cherish opinions"

    There's maybe nothing more difficult.

    _/_

  38. #38

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Just watched this talk for the first time.

    Cool stuff.

    Like the quote. :lol:

    Someone said, "I was once struck by the idea of lightning."

    I feel like Buddha is kicking my butt right now. Forcing me, if you will, to look deeply into myself
    (something I'd rather not do) and examine my motives and fears (I'd rather have a beer and watch
    a baseball game)...in other words, somehow, this crazy practice of just sitting, just sitting when
    things are good, and just sitting when things are falling apart, this butt-to-solid-ground (or no-ground!)
    practice of shikantaza, is opening my heart (not in a cheesy sense) by making me see how soft
    and weak and vulnerable and strong and courageous and...well, human, it really is.

    For instance, why does it seem like I only post on Treeleaf when I have something to whine about?

    Or I'm afraid?

    Or lonesome?

    Such as the recent panic attacks. I look back over most of my posts and I realize how little I have
    actually been there for others on Treeleaf. And then I look at how little I have been here for people
    right in front of my nose.

    I vow often to relieve the suffering of others. But do I? Or do I add to it?

    Sitting zazen is like being opened by the skilled hands of a surgeon, only I am conscious so I either
    look at what is sick and being cut away or I close my eyes.

    Buddha is a good doctor. Tells the truth. Not afraid to touch a wound. That is, if I'm not afraid
    to let him.

    gassho
    Greg

  39. #39

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Thanks Greg, good analogy; keep sitting
    _/_

  40. #40

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Gassho for this teaching Jundo sensei. I sometimes listen to the talks a few times before I comment. I really love this teaching. I didn't "get" this when I first started practicing Zen. It's funny how the teachings start becoming clearer and clearer over time.

    It is scary to think that a little over 50 years ago, there were megalomaniacs wiping out people.. Hitler, Stalin. Then we dropped multiple bombs on Japan. It's just so scary. It wasn't that long ago.

    Not to get political, but I often think of how our current times remind me of pre-World War II Germany. Money is tight, we need someone to blame. The Muslims or the immigrants. I hope it does not go that way. The US was founded on difference of culture; it gives us a richness. It was also founded on freedom of religion and separation of Church and State, so I hope cooler heads prevail in Washington.

    Speaking of Hiroshima, yesterday I read that our largest nuclear bomb was disarmed, and we are opening an online embassy with Iran. I hope we see peace before my time is up here. I hope one day we can get rid of our weapons.

    So back to this :mrgreen: I simply love this teaching. In my life, in my job in particular, I can have a lot of stress, but it's all about how I look at things. When things are broken, or have problems, I can freak out. I can worry that I'm not good enough, etc. But I've found if I can actually approach things with curiosity then all that other bs in my mind goes away.

    This is a lot like zazen. Some days it's easy to say, "wow my zazen is really crappy today with all these thoughts running through my head". So you can force those thoughts out or get caught in them, or take a view of curiosity of what are those thoughts? Just observe them.. and let them go. Just like some other wise teachers talk about on here :mrgreen: That's very, very powerful, the calm in the storm.

    Gassho,

    Risho

  41. #41

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    hi Cyril;

    I lived in Hiroshima for 5 yrs, embalmed bodies that still showed the effect of the bomb 55 yrs later. In discusiions I would remind the Japanese that I also was a Gembako survivor. I was only eight when it happened but it gave usthe requird trauma to respect nuclear power. And, as for the other, we are all immigrants at one stage or another so, foged abou it !! :lol: We'll survive if we stay mindful.

    _/_

  42. #42

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (VI) - Armchair Buddha

    Yes you are absolutely right!

    What is Gembako?

  43. #43

    SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (IX) - A-IS-FOR-APPLE



    A fruity talk returning to this passage of the XIN XIN MING ... a fundamental view of most Eastern religions in one way or another, as basic as "A is for Apple" ... really quite simple though the mind resists to see ...


    When no discriminating thoughts arise, the old mind ceases to exist.
    When thought objects vanish, the thinking-subject vanishes,
    as when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.
    Things are objects because of the subject;
    the subject is such because of things (object).
    Understand the relativity of these two
    and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.
    In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable
    and each contains in itself the whole world.
    If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine
    you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.



    ... a description of the subject/object divisions created by the discriminating, divisive thoughts of the mind ... separating its own little 'self' from a perceived 'not the self', this from that ... creating a subject in relation to 'not self' objects, and objects in relation to subject. The mind is like a knife, slicing and dicing the unbroken wholeness of a juicy apple into countless pieces ... one of which you perceive as "you" standing in contrast to "not you" in the mind's eye

    Halt the process of dividing, and Wholeness is again perceived. Cease all judgments and categorizations, and frictions cease, scars heal. The apple is restored, pristine.

    As well, every bit contains and expresses the whole too, much like every bite of an apple contains the sweetness of the apple.

    How much clearer can such be laid out? An apple ripe for the plucking!


    (and when life hands ya lemons ... make lemonade!) :wink:


    Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended

    Last edited by Jundo; 04-26-2016 at 01:20 AM.

  44. #44

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (IX) - A-IS-FOR-APPLE

    Oh wonderful, my favorite mantra....Yum!

    So then when we eat the apple, we become the apple, we are the apple, we partake of appleness and not only experience appleness but also become what appleness is. Is the apple sweet just sitting there, or when it is being eaten. As I experience apple, do I become sweet, apple itself. What a fortunate example and wonderful autumn experiment.

    This past week, I was at my Abbey which has an apple orchard. I was wandering the Abbey grounds and walked through the orchard. Most of the trees had already been picked for the seasons produce to make dried apples, apple sauce, apple butter and such. A few rather withered apples remained on the trees for the migrating birds to peck at. Then I saw one lone, whole round apple that had been missed, just within reach of a wandering monk. I picked it, washed it and ate it while I enjoyed the brisk air carrying the scent of burning leaves, the maples bright red over the hill.....Yum!

    Gassho,

    Seishin Kyrill

  45. #45

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (IX) - A-IS-FOR-APPLE

    I have a new favorite talk.

    Thanks Jundo.

    Now, for some apple pie :shock:

    gassho
    Greg

  46. #46

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (IX) - A-IS-FOR-APPLE

    Jundo,

    Thank you for this teaching.

    But, now I must go...for some reason I'm hungry.

    Gassho,
    Dosho

  47. #47

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (IX) - A-IS-FOR-APPLE

    _/_ :wink:

  48. #48

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (IX) - A-IS-FOR-APPLE

    Quote Originally Posted by Kyrillos
    Oh wonderful, my favorite mantra....Yum!

    So then when we eat the apple, we become the apple, we are the apple, we partake of appleness and not only experience appleness but also become what appleness is. Is the apple sweet just sitting there, or when it is being eaten. As I experience apple, do I become sweet, apple itself. What a fortunate example and wonderful autumn experiment.

    This past week, I was at my Abbey which has an apple orchard. I was wandering the Abbey grounds and walked through the orchard. Most of the trees had already been picked for the seasons produce to make dried apples, apple sauce, apple butter and such. A few rather withered apples remained on the trees for the migrating birds to peck at. Then I saw one lone, whole round apple that had been missed, just within reach of a wandering monk. I picked it, washed it and ate it while I enjoyed the brisk air carrying the scent of burning leaves, the maples bright red over the hill.....Yum!

    Gassho,

    Seishin Kyrill
    Brother Seishin Kyrill

    When you set your mind to the written word you create such beautiful poetry. Something as simple as a stroll through the orchard on an autum day shows the universe displaying a thing of beauty. Thank you so much. Yum indeed Gassho Shogen.

  49. #49

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (IX) - A-IS-FOR-APPLE

    Jundo
    Thank you for sparing no expense on props for this teaching. I love apples and eat a lot of them. So from now on when I eat one this teaching will be with me. Gassho Shogen

  50. #50

    Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (IX) - A-IS-FOR-APPLE

    I will from now on use the term "the Big Apple" instead of the "Dharmakaya"!
    Gassho

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