6/27 Magnanimous mind, p 127

[Alberto]

My mind ain't that magnanimous and does discriminate a lot, so I've got to recommend Uchiyama's "How to cook your life" for a better, deeper discussion of the three minds.
But back to the reality here and now: "whatever happens, there is nothing outside of living out self that is only self. This is what is called magnanimous mind, the attitude that never discriminates". This ties into a previous discussion. What is important is a non-discriminating attitude, as opposed to non-discriminating thinking. Discriminating thinking ("considering the recent wheather changes, today we will follow protocol B instead of protocol A to confirm the safety of the airplane before taking off"; "this shoes are different amongst themselves, where is the right match?") is neutral in itself, and is a useful function until discriminating attitude shows up ("man, we better follow protocol B cause if the damn plane crashes I will loose my job and then what am I gonna do?"; " I'm gonna look really stupid with mismatched shoes"). Directly or indirectly, it seems that discriminating attitude is always about ME ME ME. But when you realize that everything is part of ME, then the discriminating attitude looses all sense.

What do you think?

[John]

It's the old koan about picking and choosing, isn't it?

Faith in Mind
by Sengtsan, third Chinese patriarch
Translated by Richard B. Clarke

"The Great Way is not difficult for those who are unattached to preferences. (emphasis mine). When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. 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......"

http://www.furnacemountain.org/faith.html (http://http://www.furnacemountain.org/faith.html)

What I get out of this is that it is ok to have preferences so long as you don't cling to them. We might want things to be a certain way but when they aren't we just shrug and move on. The more we practice the easier this is to do.....I hope :)

Gassho,
John

[Alberto]

What I get out of this is that it is ok to have preferences so long as you don't cling to them. We might want things to be a certain way but when they aren't we just shrug and move on.

That's the way I understand it too. Completely shunning preferences is not possible as far as I can tell. Preferences are part of our human/animal condition. Just like with thoughts, I guess the key is to let go. Shrug and move on, like you said.

Gassho

[Tb]

What I get out of this is that it is ok to have preferences so long as you don't cling to them. We might want things to be a certain way but when they aren't we just shrug and move on. The more we practice the easier this is to do.....I hope :)



Quite so.
I'll write more "when "I" get home".
Easier with the book...

May the force be with you
Tb

[Janice]

John wrote
It's the old koan about picking and choosing, isn't it?

Yes, John and I thought of you and this koan that you introduced me to some months ago as I read the bottom of page 129! What a practice -- just to remind myself regularly to let go of picking and choosing what must or must not be present in order for me to be at ease.


As I read page 128 about how the cup and page 129 about knowing just an aspect of the thing that appears before you, I was also reminded of something another friend said to me once: in the case of a couple (a partnership), there isn't just one relationship. People may talk of "our relationship" as if it is a singular thing. But each person's experience is different. So how can it be just one relationship?

Regards,
Janice

[John]

What a practice -- just to remind myself regularly to let go of picking and choosing what must or must not be present in order for me to be at ease.




Yes Janice. It's easy for me to quote these old teachings, but it's the work of a lifetime trying to practice them. :( I find bits of this poem keep turning up in my reading. The whole poem - 'Hsin Hsin Ming' attributed to Seng ts'an in the 7th century seems to deal with duality in various forms and is worth studying. I hope to do that soon. There are lots of translations on the web - here are two of them:

http://terebess.hu/english/hsin3.html (http://http://terebess.hu/english/hsin3.html)

http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/ ... ation.html (http://http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/HsinHsinMingTranslation.html)

Gassho,
John

[Tb]

Hi.

Right! on to quotations... ;)

There is nothing outside of living out self that is only self. (p129) That means all is one to you. 8)

The past has already gone by and doesn't exist, and the future hasn't come yet, so it doesnt exist.(p.130)
Where does that leave the present?... :twisted:

I like the daishin part on p127 and 128. short and concise

On page 128 he talks about a cup, but remember - there is no spoon (cup)!
And that a cup is just a hole with something surronding it.

May the force be with you
Tb

[lindabeekeeper]

What I get out of this is that it is ok to have preferences so long as you don't cling to them. We might want things to be a certain way but when they aren't we just shrug and move on. The more we practice the easier this is to do.....I hope :)

Hi all, I agree with all that has been said so far, but I thing that magnanimous mind goes father than not clinging to preferences. I think it also means to be fully with the things that you dislike or even find horrific. It is so easy to shut down in the face of aggression or violence or death. I know I often shut down and say nothing when someone behaves aggressively or says something racist. But perhaps if I could really be present in the situation, I could find something helpful or appropriate to say or do. I don't know...perhaps that is too idealistic.

Anyway, as John says, the more we practice, the easier it is to do.

Gassho,

Linda

[John]

Yes Linda. Also, I noticed when I looked up the definition of the word 'magnanimous' the word "resentment" kept coming up as its opposite, i.e. acting in a noble forgiving way without showing resentment. Resentment seems to be a kind of longer term attitude that we develop against things not going the way we want them to. It's an attitude I slip into sometimes, unfortunately, but I'm working on it :)

Gassho,
John

[Bansho]

Hi,


What it means to concretely live and work as a bodhisattva, waking up to universal self - this is the question Dogen Zenji addresses in the Regulations for Eihei Monastery. This book was considered so indispensable by the followers of Dogen that they carried it with them wherever they went. When living in a monastery they constantly reread it as a guide to their activities. I believe that it is a truly incomparable religious text that gives practical guidance regarding how to put zazen into practice in our daily lives.

I remember reading once that Sawaki Roshi actually valued the Eihei Shingi even more so than the Shobogenzo, due to the former's stronger emphasis on concrete practice in our daily lives.

Gassho
Ken