12/17 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Basiasita

Life is a never ending jewel ...passed on and on ...

In reading tales like this, it might be helpful to envision the classic image of waves and the sea ... each sentient being much like waves rolling up tall and fading away, old wave rolling into new, old waves seemingly gone and new wave born ... yet each wholly the sea all along ... every wave, those of the past and present, each just the present then and the present now ... one wave giving birth to its successors, yet really one long rolling on and on and on ... no clear border where one ends and the next begins ... all just the whirling twirling living sea rolling on ...

Something like that.

Or, one might think of leaves on a tree ... leaves coming and going, but each leaf just the tree all along ... each leaf seemingly separate and independent, but each just the tree through and through ... each just connected to the branching others, each just a single expression of the tree, each wholly the tree itself and never truly independent ... each leaf never truly leaving ... leaves come and go but the tree remains season upon season ...

... treeleaves (like you and me. Yes, that is the origin of this place's name).

Whether one believes in a literal one-to-one rebirth or not, almost all Buddhists can agree on some image of constant, all-interbeingly, inter-happening rebirth as the above, "birth and death" just one way to look at events, not the whole picture.

Cook from 137
Hixon from 124

Hiyas
Firstly the idea of a tree, leave, bark, branches, broken, gnarled, healthy and strong, roots deep and wide - or exposed and withering all are the tree. This imagery has helped me immensely and yet we must even relinquish that imagery realize it all.

Basiasita's grip opens releasing the jewel. Grasping, even the 3 jewels is still causing delusion and separation. believing in something other than this. These treasures cannot be defiled nor do they require guarding as they are all pervading, all encompassing. Each finger must relax its grip, the hand allow the movement the body-mind to drop the tension and so on... all unique parts of the entire being, the whole universe.

Gassho
Shohei

"Buddhas are essentially unawakened and sentinent beings are essentially undeluded" Why, asks Hixon, and yes, this simple mind here needs to let this sink deeply into my non-thinking zazen this morning.
_()_
Peter

No gems in hand, but my son was born with his thumb in his mouth. I wonder if this could be thought of in buddhism as delusion? To suck the thumb=delusion, to suck the nipple=reality. To the baby nipple and thumb are indistinguishable. But he would soon starve it he didn't "awaken" to the reality of the nipple.
I especially liked the part about Mahamudra being the universal shikantaza.

From Hixon:
Mahamudra dawns only when one lets go every precious treasure, both from this conventional world and from the Dharma realms, only when one melts away and lets go every responsibility, no matter how sacred."
"Guarding it means refusing to hold on to it."

From Keizan:
There is nothing that is born and dies. It is just renewing heads and changing faces in accordance with times and conditions."

I remember as a kid staring at waves in a lake trying to follow just one on its journey to the shore, but I always ended up confused by the fact that the water in the wave appeared to stand still as the wave itself moved. If you've ever watched waves closely you're familiar with this illusion. It took Buddhism to teach me that wave and water are not one, not two. We are all but waves in the ocean, merely changing heads and faces according to the tides. So by letting go of your precious identity and merging with the ocean you guard the Dharma by passing it on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jundo

Life is a never ending jewel ...passed on and on ...

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shohei

Basiasita's grip opens releasing the jewel. Grasping, even the 3 jewels is still causing delusion and separation. believing in something other than this. These treasures cannot be defiled nor do they require guarding as they are all pervading, all encompassing. Each finger must relax its grip, the hand allow the movement the body-mind to drop the tension and so on... all unique parts of the entire being, the whole universe.

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And the nature of this jewel is "original Mind Light" and attempting to grasp is, of course, fruitless.

In terms of the issue of a literal interpretation of rebirth one can never be certain one way or the other. I find it more beneficial to frame the issue as Jundo has stated above:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jundo

In reading tales like this, it might be helpful to envision the classic image of waves and the sea ... each sentient being much like waves rolling up tall and fading away, old wave rolling into new, old waves seemingly gone and new wave born ... yet each wholly the sea all along ... every wave, those of the past and present, each just the present then and the present now ... one wave giving birth to its successors, yet really one long rolling on and on and on ... no clear border where one ends and the next begins ... all just the whirling twirling living sea rolling on ...

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Or a passage I just by chance turned to on Christmas day, as it was in one of the books I received for a present. Katagiri Roshi states:

Quote:

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By making your body and mind calm, you can go deeply into the human world and touch your life profoundly. Then you can feel what is eternal, not in an intellectual or philosophical way, but in a practical and realistic way

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Gassho,
Jisen/BrianW

If ever the teaching of non-attachment was profoundly displayed it was when Basiasita let go one of the most exalted teachings. Basiasita opened his hand and released prajnaparamita and thus became mahamudra. gassho zak