BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 54

[Jundo]

Case 53 never ends, yet we turn to Case 54 ... Ungan's Great Compassionate One ...

https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=WTU6AwAAQBAJ&dq=koan+donkey+well&q=ungan%27s+compassionate+one+pillow+hands+eyes#v= snippet&q=ungan's%20compassionate%20one%20pillow%20hands%2 0eyes&f=false

Whenever I offer a talk about Kannon, I like to say that -our- human hands and eyes ... yours and mine ... are the hands and eyes of Kannon. When we act gently, reaching out to help our fellow sentient beings we see in need, our reaching is Kannon's hands brought to life. We bring a drop of Compassion into this world, making Kannon real. (Likewise, when our hands pick up a weapon in anger or clutch with greed, one might say that we embody evil, bringing a drop more ugliness into the world, we make that real).

But perhaps the twist in this Koan regarding "all over the body hands and eyes" and "throughout the body are hands and eyes" touches on another kind of "Compassion" that fills this universe, a kind of "Big C" Compassion which transcends and holds both small human judgments of "compassion and ugliness" and all human doings. It is as the Big "P" Peace I sometimes mention, which holds all worldly human mental categories of "peace" and "war", and all the countless broken pieces of life both round and sharp. It is also something like the Big "G" Gratitude I sometimes mention, both for the events and people in life that we are grateful for and those we are not!

SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: gratitude & Great Gratitude
http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?11275-SIT-A-LONG-with-Jundo-gratitude-Great-Gratitude&highlight=gratitude+grateful

This is a kind of Compassion to rescue the "sentient beings" which rescues the same in part by experiencing that there were never ever any separate "sentient beings" in need of rescue from that start, nothing in need of doing or adding! [scared] As the Preface sings, nothing in the ten directions (everyplace) to call "obstructed", all bright light, the world functioning marvelously. (I am not so crazy about the translators use of "supernatural" here ... and looking at the Chinese Kanji 一切時妙用神通, I would prefer something like "sacred, miraculous powers" although a literal translation is "supernatural". It is much as the appreciatory verse sings, "spring follows the rules ... the moon traverses the sky")

But at the same time, both kinds of Compassion and compassion are necessary in our Buddhist Practice because, dream "sentient beings" or not, there are dream hungry mouths to feed and sick patients to be ministered too. Our doing so should be as natural as reaching for a pillow in our sleep, reaching out to comfort a crying child. Both aspects of Compassion/compassion must be realized and made real in our Practice.

Suggested Question: How can and do we realize these hands and eyes of Kannon?

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Myosha]

"Question: How can and do we realize these hands and eyes of Kannon?"

Wake up.


Gassho
Myosha
sat today

[FaithMoon]

This is a beautiful koan. I have a history with it. At Zen Center of LA, most years a student is selected by the head teacher as head trainee (head monk; shuso), and in 2004 that was me. It involves a year of extra training which culminates in dharma combat with the sangha. About halfway through the year, the head trainee selects a case from the book of equanimity, and in a spectacular ceremony at the end of the training year, the head trainee presents the case and answers questions from the sangha. The case I quickly selected from the at that time xeroxed copy of the book of equanimity was this conversation between dharma brothers about what kanzeon does with her manifold hands and eyes. When I selected it, I wasn't aware, but this case is in a number of koan collections, and Dogen himself wrote a fascicle about it. There are many commentaries written about it by modern and ancient teachers. I have some on my computer but can't figure out how to attach files...an interesting one by Loori you may be able to find if you search.

"Spring follows the rules".

FaithMoon
st

[Mp]

Thank you Jundo ...

Question: How can and do we realize these hands and eyes of Kannon?

Through practice, engagement in the world, and opening our hearts and minds. Seeing the suffering of others is no different then my own suffering - that in the suffering there is no suffering, yet when one suffers, we all suffer.

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Toun]

Thank you Jundo ...

Question: How can and do we realize these hands and eyes of Kannon?

Through practice, engagement in the world, and opening our hearts and minds. Seeing the suffering of others is no different then my own suffering - that in the suffering there is no suffering, yet when one suffers, we all suffer.

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

Shingen

Wonderful! There is really nothing that I can add on to this. gassho1

Deep bows
Gassho,
Mike

Sat2day

[TyZa]

Thank you Jundo ...

Question: How can and do we realize these hands and eyes of Kannon?

Through practice, engagement in the world, and opening our hearts and minds. Seeing the suffering of others is no different then my own suffering - that in the suffering there is no suffering, yet when one suffers, we all suffer.

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

That's my take. Awakening we can see the cries throughout our body.

Gassho,
Tyler

SatToday

[Eishuu]

I like the balance of wisdom/awareness and action that the many hands with eyes on implies. To truly help others I think does take awareness and good judgement before one acts.

Gassho
Lucy
Sat today

[Geika]

I think it just takes listening to others and to our intentions. It is very easy to trick yourself into acting selfishly without even realizing it.

Gassho, sat today

[Jakuden]

I think it just takes listening to others and to our intentions. It is very easy to trick yourself into acting selfishly without even realizing it.

Gassho, sat today

That's so true!
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ongen]

Be aware and honest about oneself, love, give, take a breath when the mind narrows.
Gassho
Ongen

Sat TOday

[Roland]

Case 53 never ends, yet we turn to Case 54 ... Ungan's Great Compassionate One ...

https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=WTU6AwAAQBAJ&dq=koan+donkey+well&q=ungan%27s+compassionate+one+pillow+hands+eyes#v= snippet&q=ungan's%20compassionate%20one%20pillow%20hands%2 0eyes&f=false

Whenever I offer a talk about Kannon, I like to say that -our- human hands and eyes ... yours and mine ... are the hands and eyes of Kannon. When we act gently, reaching out to help our fellow sentient beings we see in need, our reaching is Kannon's hands brought to life. We bring a drop of Compassion into this world, making Kannon real. (Likewise, when our hands pick up a weapon in anger or clutch with greed, one might say that we embody evil, bringing a drop more ugliness into the world, we make that real).

But perhaps the twist in this Koan regarding "all over the body hands and eyes" and "throughout the body are hands and eyes" touches on another kind of "Compassion" that fills this universe, a kind of "Big C" Compassion which transcends and holds both small human judgments of "compassion and ugliness" and all human doings. It is as the Big "P" Peace I sometimes mention, which holds all worldly human mental categories of "peace" and "war", and all the countless broken pieces of life both round and sharp. It is also something like the Big "G" Gratitude I sometimes mention, both for the events and people in life that we are grateful for and those we are not!

SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: gratitude & Great Gratitude
http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?11275-SIT-A-LONG-with-Jundo-gratitude-Great-Gratitude&highlight=gratitude+grateful

This is a kind of Compassion to rescue the "sentient beings" which rescues the same in part by experiencing that there were never ever any separate "sentient beings" in need of rescue from that start, nothing in need of doing or adding! [scared] As the Preface sings, nothing in the ten directions (everyplace) to call "obstructed", all bright light, the world functioning marvelously. (I am not so crazy about the translators use of "supernatural" here ... and looking at the Chinese Kanji 一切時妙用神通, I would prefer something like "sacred, miraculous powers" although a literal translation is "supernatural". It is much as the appreciatory verse sings, "spring follows the rules ... the moon traverses the sky")

But at the same time, both kinds of Compassion and compassion are necessary in our Buddhist Practice because, dream "sentient beings" or not, there are dream hungry mouths to feed and sick patients to be ministered too. Our doing so should be as natural as reaching for a pillow in our sleep, reaching out to comfort a crying child. Both aspects of Compassion/compassion must be realized and made real in our Practice.

Suggested Question: How can and do we realize these hands and eyes of Kannon?

Gassho, J

SatToday


I struggle with this notion of 'dream sentient beings'. Yes, sometimes I feel a softening of boundaries, but I'm scared to consider Others as not-separate or 'dream beings', because that opens the doors not only to altruism but also to nihilism. There are many shades of grey between believing in permanent, immutable substances on the one extreme and 'there are no separate sentient beings' on the other extreme.

Gassho

Roland

#SatToday

[Jundo]

I struggle with this notion of 'dream sentient beings'. Yes, sometimes I feel a softening of boundaries, but I'm scared to consider Others as not-separate or 'dream beings', because that opens the doors not only to altruism but also to nihilism.y

It is not nihilism. Something wondrous is present, filled with meaning.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Roland]

It is not nihilism. Something wondrous is present, filled with meaning.

Gassho, J

SatToday

I must admit 'dream sentient beings' has a poetic ring to it. I'll sit about it. Thank you Jundo.

Gassho

Roland

#SatToday

[Onkai]

gassho1

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Jishin]

Suggested Question: How can and do we realize these hands and eyes of Kannon?


My wife went to Dallas this past Wednesday to visit my brother in law and niece and nephew. I could not go because of work. While there my son was baptized. I'm very happy for him. It means a lot to him and my family. He is only 10 and stood up on his own in church when the call to baptism was made.

They will be back from Dallas today and I need to make sure I do a reasonable job in cleaning dog poo and pee inside the house. My son usually does this but I should do it today.

I don't like to eat alone but will have to today. Maybe I will have Mexican food for breakfast. It's my favorite and family gets tired of it because of me.

But, before anything happens today, will sit the usual 30 minutes.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Meishin]

As Jishin points out, there's no need to search for extraordinary ways to act with compassion. Every moment one is touched by opportunities. What I often miss is that the opportunity right in front of me is IT. Just need to wake up. Or only reach in the dark for the pillow.

Gassho
Meishin
sat today

[Tairin]

As Jishin points out, there's no need to search for extraordinary ways to act with compassion. Every moment one is touched by opportunities. What I often miss is that the opportunity right in front of me is IT. Just need to wake up. Or only reach in the dark for the pillow.

It is a fantastic lesson and one that I endeavor to follow daily. Thank you for the reminder Meishin and Jishin.

Gassho
Warren
Sat today

[Shurin]

The man reaches for his pillow in the night because he is the one suffering in that moment and the way to alleviate that suffering is by grabbing the pillow. We can realize the hands of compassion when we are able to compassionately respond without thinking when the need arises. I think this happens when the idea of a self and other becomes blurred.

Gassho,
Shurin
Sat today.

[Risho]

This has got to be one of the core questions of Zen practice - there are no hindrances except for the limitations that I place on myself, the separation I put in place in my mind. So those separations are both real to me, but ultimately not real.

I'm not going to lie, this is easy to state. But this is the crux of my practice; it's something that I will work with until I die, I'm certain. Sitting, we meet these hindrances, observe them and they fall away. But there is countless karma, baggage that needs to be worked through.

This morning I woke up to the news that a gay club in Orlando, my sister city, was the victim of the worst mass killing in US history by a gunman. One of our closest friends is a DJ at gay clubs. So we usually go every weekend to dance and hang out. I would never imagine something like this happening, which is what I guess terrorists count on.

This is when freedom is hard. This is when Buddhism is hard. This is when it's difficult to show gratitude or compassion to people who we don't think deserve it. But if we separate those that we feel undeserving, if we portion off a segment of our community and put them in camps or monitor them and let that fear control us, if we start grouping "those people" vs. "our people", I think it makes things a lot worse. Fear turns good people into monsters.

Obviously people like this need to be brought to justice for the safety of our community, but there is a fine line between that and revenge killing or hatred. We have to keep ourselves in check constantly with this. Hell, I get furious when people cut me off in traffic. The war always starts and stops in our hearts.

It is our choice to be Avalokitesvara or Mara; it's a constant effort, but that struggle is so needed right now. This practice is so needed right now so that hopefully we learn to love and respect each other as one, large, beautiful and different family.

Metta to all.

Gassho,

Risho
-sattoday

[Myosha]

Metta to all.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[AlanLa]

This one is timely. Orlando, as Risho mentions, is a horror. I have no direct connection to that horror, but it hurts me just the same. Times of great tragedy require great reaching out. To reach out is to act, to hug someone, to take some sort of compassionate action, to get off the damn cushion (or stop praying) and go out in the community and Do Something. To feel bad for others is worthless. To wish well upon the misfortunate is crap. Go out and make your metta real, not just a damn chant. At a minimum, share the pain. But better is to clean to the dog poo.

It's not about finding your own damn pillow; it's about giving someone who needs it a pillow.