SIT-A-LONG with Taigu: the sound of a bell

[Taigu]

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In the very begining of Shobogenzo, Dogen quotes a famous poem of Nyojo, his teacher:

My late master, the eternal buddha, says:

Whole body like a mouth, hanging in space;
Not asking if the wind is east, west, south, or north,
For all others equally, it speaks prajñ?.
Chin ten ton ryan chin ten ton.

Free, careless, empty, the bell and the sound cannot be broken in two. Is the bell just a bell? Isn't the bell bigger, much larger? How large, how big is it? And where are you in the picture?

[Myoku]

Is the bell just a bell? Isn't the bell bigger, much larger? How large, how big is it? And where are you in the picture?

Tempting invitations to leave the realm of just here and now. But lets stay for a minute more, with just the computers fan sounding ...

_()_
Myoku

[kirkmc]

Thank you for that. On a related note, I found, in a closet, a Tibetan singing bowl, which I had bought many years ago. I now use it as a bell to ring when I sit. Rather than making it sing - which is very interesting as a sound - I just use the wooden thing and strike it. Given the size of the bowl, the bell sound has a very long and slow decay, and it crossed my mind that this is a wonderful example of impermanence, so I listen to it closely until I can no longer hear it, and see this as a metaphor of letting body and mind drop away.

[Taigu]

You cannot leave the realm of here and now. Just try!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tempting invitations?...Just asking you to pay attention.


Myoku is not deaf.


have a great day

T.

[Daizan]

Can't leave here and now, therefore... paying attention..... not paying attention... either way, just so. No?

This is what always threw a wrench into my neanderthal hinayana mind, this being selectively unselective.

I can only listen this kind of teaching like listening to music, like an impressionistic nudge. :lol:





Gassho , Kojip

[Taigu]

Beyond attention and distraction.



gassho


Taigu

[Omoi Otoshi]

Is the bell just a bell? Isn't the bell bigger, much larger? How large, how big is it? And where are you in the picture?

Yes, just a bell.
Unborn, unreal, pure, aware.
Bell is as good a description as any!
A bell larger than life.
Where am I? Who am I?
The bell is me, all of me. Some day, maybe I will be all of the bell? You got to have high hopes!

I love that poem.
Thank you Taigu,
/Pontus

[willow]

thankyou Taigu.

What is the song of shikantaza?
The sound of a bell, bird song,
the screech of a siren - even
a frightened cry,
dissolving sound
dissolving thinking;
a song falling into emptiness
no questions
no this or that
just is.

Gassho

Willow

[Dosho]

Taigu,

Thank you for this teaching....no mapping, no goal, just this.

Gassho,
Dosho

[Shujin]

Years of staring at weather vanes, only now discrimination begins to fall away.

gassho,
Shujin

[Myoku]

Thank you Taigu,

You cannot leave the realm of here and now. Just try!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha, yes. I meant the mind being with what is, not with its own tv-shows. Though both is
here and now (where else).

Tempting invitations?...Just asking you to pay attention.

Ask me something and my mind gets invited to think about it. Ring the bell and it reminds quite.
No problem either way

_()_
Myoku

[kirkmc]

I'm off to have an MRI in an hour. I'll think of the sound of the bell as I listen to the noise of the MRI machine. (If you've never had one, it's quite impressive.)

Gassho.

[willow]

Hope the MRI went Ok - yes - the sound is horrendously loud!

Did you hear the musical composition that a musician made after having an MRI - it's bound to be on You Tube

Gassho

Willow

[kirkmc]

Yes, it went fine. I'm used to it by now.

I haven't heard such a composition; I'll look for it.

To be honest, the first time I had an MRI, I didn't know what to expect, and when the noise started, I just got into the rhythm, and it really didn't bother me much. As long as you have earplugs or headphones, it's not that bad.

[Jinyu]

Thank you Taigu!

I'm happy to hear the talk ... I couldn't when sitting!

I keep the Chan habit of inviting everyone to write a gatha after each retreat, even the small ones, I allow myself to share mine:

One bright Sound
Bald pearls sitting
thousand miles around
Ah... Original Taste

Have a very nice day,
deep gassho everyone,

Jinyu

[Kyonin]

Our minds are bells. When full and clogged they won't make a sound.

When clear and clean, they would sing beautiful songs.

Thank you Taigu San.

[Omoi Otoshi]

Maybe the bell of our mind was always clean, but in our delusion we painted a picture of a clogged up bell and thought it was real.
The mouth, hanging in space, doesn't care. It just smiles, perfectly clean and free.

/Pontus

[Daizan]

I like the space metaphor. "Mind" is like the pristine indestructible absence that is space itself. It remains unstained and undisturbed, untouched even, by the life that completely fills it, whether it is the presence of a butterfly, or a bomb. Perfect absence is perfect presence, perfect presence is perfect absence. Maybe this is what the sixth patriarch means by " Where can dust alight?".

[Omoi Otoshi]

Yes, I like the space metaphor too. And I like your choice of words, especially what you write about the presence completely filling it.

Speaking of wind bells and space, when thinking about Karma, I once got an image in my head, of myriad little bells hanging in space, each swinging their own way, each playing their own tune. Every kind of being, each singing their own song. Some are people, playing creatively, not at all like the steady humming of the mountain. Among these some play beautiful, harmonious melodies, while others seem out of balance, sounding discordant and broken. When one bell plays a particularly discordant or beautiful sound, the ones around it are affected by it, vibrating slightly differently, changing their melodies. What these individual bells didn't know was that, as One, they were playing one perfect, ever changing symphony, pervading all of space.

/Pontus

[Daizan]

Yes, I like the space metaphor too. And I like your choice of words, completely fills it.

Speaking of wind bells and space, when thinking about Karma, I once got an image in my head, of myriad little bells hanging in space, each swinging their own way, each playing their own tune. Every kind of being, each singing their own song. Some are people, playing creatively, not at all like the steady humming of the mountain. Among these some play beautiful, harmonious melodies, while others seem out of balance, sounding discordant and broken. When one bell plays a particularly discordant or beautiful sound, the ones around it are affected by it, vibrating slightly differently, changing their melodies. What these individual bells didn't know was that, as One, they were playing one perfect, ever changing symphony, pervading all of space.

/Pontus

That's funny, as you were posting I just edited it from "whatever complete fills it" to "the life that completely fills it" same diff maybe. Yes, Space is such a direct image.



ed. I also can't spend too much time with this kind of metaphor before it turns into concrete!

[Omoi Otoshi]

That's funny, as you were posting I just edited it from "whatever complete fills it" to "the life that completely fills it" same diff maybe. Yes, Space is such a direct image.

Ha ha! Yes and I edited to the presence completely filling it! Same, same, but different! :lol:

[Dokan]

Thank you Sensei.

Gassho,

Dokan

PS - up on podcast.

[Shohei]

Gassho
Shohei

[Bids]

Deep thanks.
Deep bow.
Nadi

[Risho]

Can't leave here and now, therefore... paying attention..... not paying attention... either way, just so. No?

This is what always threw a wrench into my neanderthal hinayana mind, this being selectively unselective.

I can only listen this kind of teaching like listening to music, like an impressionistic nudge. :lol:





Gassho , Kojip

We shouldn't look down upon Hinayana should we?

[Daizan]

Can't leave here and now, therefore... paying attention..... not paying attention... either way, just so. No?

This is what always threw a wrench into my neanderthal hinayana mind, this being selectively unselective.

I can only listen this kind of teaching like listening to music, like an impressionistic nudge. :lol:





Gassho , Kojip

We shouldn't look down upon Hinayana should we?

If by Hinayana you mean Theravada, no. I''ve known some pretty hinayana Zen people, and some pretty mahayana Theravadins, and for the record, one of the most inspiring, chastening, and encouraging human being I have ever met is Ajahn Sumedho (now retired from the public) who is loved in our home. One of the most moving and special moments for me and my wife was taking our boy to meet Ajahns Sumedho and Viradhammo, who had blessed him as a newborn. The little guy practiced his bows with me beforehand.

So......

By hinayana I mean my small mind, my either-or mind, my mind that can only see equanimity in terms of settled waters, not in-and-as wild waters. That's all I mean. Gassho, Kojip.

[Risho]

Thank you; apologies if I sounded provocative.

[Daizan]

You made an important point, and I was not clear. Gassho.

[Ray]

Thanks taigu for such. Deep teaching.

Everybody had such deep replies and most went over my head due to my limited understanding.

I can,t wait to listen to the sound of the meditation bell filling the room.

Gassho

Ray

[Shogen]

Taigu,
Your wishes for a wonderful practice are appreciated. Gassho, Shogen

This a bell ringing; a bell ringing this.

[mark]

Thank-you, Teacher. This was pure, and will remain with me in practice/life.

I bow.

m

[Myozan Kodo]

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[Rich]

Inspired by crows cracking and taigu talking. Thanks.

[Heisoku]

Sunday morning.
Just sitting in my room, ringing
With a crow cawing and the toilet flushing.

Thank you Taigu.