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Thread: Live as homeless

  1. #1

    Live as homeless

    How do you think about live as homeless?

    What is homeless?


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  2. #2
    I think that Zen practice teaches us to find our home wherever we are. So in a sense we don't have a particular home, in a traditional sense, are simply homeless, beyond thoughts of home or not home. Of course, much easier to say then do (I'm not good at this). Initially, there is resistance like "Man, I wish I were home." But if we drop that resistance, then the distinctions also fall away.

    Gassho,

    Risho
    -sattoday

    PS. I forgot to write what I meant by "home". I think it means our ideas of what home is... which relates to the three poisons (greed, anger, ignorance) when we try to maintain something that matches our expectations. This is something that I have to do time and time again. We are of course homeless, but my mind just keeps on insisting that this is mine, that is yours, and if you take it from me there will be problems. It's a deep, deep habit, so to quote Lisa from her recent post on the Precept III: Not Taking Life we vow. To right the ship, to look at our compass, when our habit drags us back to our old "home".
    Last edited by Risho; 10-20-2015 at 09:24 PM.

  3. #3
    Hi Mr. K.

    A few years ago I was a homeless. All my belongings fit in 2 bags. It was a very difficult time in my life because I resisted it. I hated to be homeless.

    But after a few days I realized that owning nothing and having anything was liberating. Not having a home was being home for the first time! I was happy for the first time in years!

    This is what my home looked like in a subway station:



    Now I try to keep my life very simple and I only have what I need.

    Home is here. Being homeless is home.

    Gassho,

    Kyonin
    #SatToday
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  4. #4
    You have nothing, you are homeless like a rolling stone.

    SAT today
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  5. #5
    When I read your question I thought of those I see living on the streets. Without food, shelter, sometimes blessed by the compassion of strangers. Most did not get there by choice but by circumstances such as addiction, mental illness, violence. All the refugees in the world are homeless.

    But I quickly suspected that this was a question with a different meaning. After all this is a sangha where people think more widely and deeply. I am often to literal and hold to thoughts with predetermined definitions and absolutes. The world as was explained to me by those around me. When I read Risho's response, and his quote from Lisa, which I had also read, made me begin to see this concept as much larger.

    With that said I still come back to a smaller understanding of a place, a place that we become attached to.. I believe home is where you are, with the ones you care for. To live homeless is to not suffer for not being at a particular place, to not be attached to a "spot" but to find joy with where you are. Because that is what you have in that moment. To quote an old song...."if you are not with the one you love, love the one you are with." I also do not believe it wrong to love a place when you accept the impermeance of that relationship.

    But I do long for home, spent my adult life traveling and it was always good to come home. But it was also good to go.

    Gassho

    Randy
    sit tonight

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Konan View Post
    How do you think about live as homeless?

    What is homeless?


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    Hi,

    I think living homeless sucks.

    I think homeless means not owning your body.

    Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

  7. #7
    Mp
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Jishin View Post
    I think living homeless sucks.
    I have to agree with this. I think it is also important to look at the context when the word "homeless" is used. Living simply and light on the land doesn't mean one should live without a home. I also am with Randy in reference to be literal when it comes to homelessness - being homeless is without a home and I don't feel it is a place to aspire to. Being grateful and accepting of what we have is important both is house and home and everything in between. But this is just my simple two cents.

    Gassho
    Shingen

    #sattoday

  8. #8
    Wow. I am little suprise!

    Every answer is helpful!

    I read book by Sawaki-Roshi,he called Homeless Zen monk.
    And when I leave Antaiji,I will do back packing tour to my home 700km.
    And I want to do Takuhatsu in the same time.

    Because I am just only live as myself.

    This link is very helpful for me.Written in Japanese by Seigaku-san,Zen monk at Germany.
    http://www.higan.net/unsui/2011/09/post-14.html

  9. #9
    Some people are homeless, living in the streets, but are not truly "homeless". Rather, they are caged, prisoners of their addictions, fears, and inability to find peace. Some people sleeping in a warm house with a roof are also caged in the same way.

    But some folks are free and boundless whether in a home or an office, in the streets or wandering in the mountains. They are "homeless" because always at rest, always at home. True Home.

    On your travels, may every step be a total arrival to Home.

    Stay warm and safe, as it will be winter during your walk!

    Gassho, J

    SatToday totally At Home
    Last edited by Jundo; 10-21-2015 at 03:03 PM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  10. #10
    I meet many people from neighbors.UK,France,Germany,Italy,Poland,Turkey,Es tonia,Norway and China,Vetnam,Indnesia,Cambosia and Austraria and Canada,USA,Mexico,Argentina. They change my mind,so I can challenge.


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  11. #11
    HI Konan. When I was young my home disappeared and I was homeless for a time. My father was also homeless, but he was also ill and he died. That kind of Homeless is terrible and no one should have to experience it, if we can help it. Homeless people are individuals, each with a unique story, never a type of person.

    Another kind of Homeless is wonderful. It is the Homeless of being at home in every situation... always at home. That kind of homeless is the practice I learn here.

    Gassho
    Daizan

    sat today

  12. #12
    Yugen
    Guest
    I would like to thank you all for this thread. I'm in silent gratitude. Daizan, Mr. K, your posts bring tears to my eyes.

    Deep bows
    Yugen


    sat2day

  13. #13

    Live as homeless

    Do not lose mind.Please do not lose mind. I pray.

    We can live our mind.When we sit and notice about breathing,we notice we are living.

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    Last edited by Kakunen; 10-21-2015 at 11:46 AM.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Konan View Post
    Do not lose mind.Please do not lose mind. I pray.

    We can live our mind.When we sit and notice about breathing,we notice we are living.

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Yes, when we are aware of our life we don't have so much fear and are more in touch with the eternal. When we are unaware it's like we are already dead or in some hell.

    SAT today
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Rich View Post
    Yes, when we are aware of our life we don't have so much fear and are more in touch with the eternal.

    SAT today
    I like this. Kobun Chino Otagawa once said that you must go to "the other side of nothing" to hold hands with the divine (which I interpret as the eternal." For me, to be homeless is to be comfortable on the other side of nothing.

    Gassho,
    Juki

    #sattoday (but only for fifteen minutes so I'll sit thirty later)
    "First you have to give up." Tyler Durden

  16. #16
    Apart from the now greatly decreased mental fits (still happens), I generally find the logic in renunciation. I own little, want only that which keeps me alive and relatively healthy. "worldly" joy is real, you do get a buzz from stuff but it is short lived and the suffering caused by the lack and the disappearance of the joy is real to be replaced with more chasing..When you drop wantings after investigating them as passing impermanent joys that outlive often the impermanent things you have, you basically might end up with about as much as a homeless person. I can fit my life into a mole II military rucksack and am "indoors".

    I'm looking for the point of least resistance after February and am considering making a life of the Appalachian Trail, plenty of need for hands out there for a bit of money, tour guides, might get gigs taking nature shots, whatever it takes for right livelihood to afford the cheapest life possible in the middle way between austerity and indulgence. Some people live in campers and travel and do similar. I don't know how "Buddhist" this is, just my interpretation of buddhist philosophy and my own long standing appreciation of simplicity. This might not be possible for some however, if you have serious commitments this kind of stuff might be off the table.

    SatToday (and still am working to hold "posture" throughout the day)

    Metta,
    Greg

  17. #17
    Joyo
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Konan View Post
    Do not lose mind.Please do not lose mind. I pray.

    We can live our mind.When we sit and notice about breathing,we notice we are living.

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    How true, and we can get away from that ego that is in the mind saying "me, me, me, me" all the time.


    Gassho,
    Joyo
    sat today

    or should I said, we just learn to ignore it, as it's always there.

  18. #18
    Lovely thread. Thank you for starting it, Mr K.

    I would like to offer this verse (the second) from Togme Zangpo's Thirty Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva if I may:

    Attraction to those close to you catches you in its currents;
    Aversion to those who oppose you burns inside;
    Indifference that ignores what needs to be done is a black hole.
    Leave home — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.


    Bernie Glassman has led street retreats which are graced by both those who live a homeless life and those who have somewhere more solid to rest their head. Both groups have reported transformative experiences. Although it would be foolish to think we can replicate the life of a homeless person when we have security to fall back on, it is possible to at least get a taste of that and bear witness to others who experience it on a more lasting basis.


    Gassho
    Kokuu
    #sattoday

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Konan View Post
    How do you think about live as homeless?

    What is homeless?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    I think it depends entirely on the particular person you are talking about. Homeless monk, homeless drug addict and homeless old lady are all very different things!

    satoday

  20. #20
    How do you think about live as homeless?
    What is homeless?
    Sawaki Roshi used to say, "Everyone is naked". I like this saying.
    I think it has the same deep sense as "being homeless" which is
    talked about here.

    Great thread. Thank you Mr. K.

    Gassho,
    Sergey
    just-sat

  21. #21
    I am grateful to my wife for making my home really feel like home. I also know that after I sit, I feel at home wherever I am.

    Gassho,
    Matt
    SatToday

  22. #22
    Home is where you hang your hat up but not your head down.
    Marc Connery
    明岩
    Myo̅ Gan - Bright Cliff

    I put the Monkey in Monkeymind

  23. #23
    Always at peace, always present, never searching. My home is there ☺.

    Gassho,
    Hotetsu

    #SatToday

    Sent from my LGMS345 using Tapatalk
    Forever is so very temporary...

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Daizan View Post
    Another kind of Homeless is wonderful. It is the Homeless of being at home in every situation... always at home. That kind of homeless is the practice I learn here.
    What a powerful answer, Daizan.

    Gassho,
    Daiyo

    #SatToday
    Gassho,Walter

  25. #25
    Like others have said, I think it is highly dependent on our reaction to the situation. I am sure that there are a lot of added obstacles with not owning a house, but if someone's perspective of being 'homeless' is positive, then I am sure that their experience would mirror that!

    It seems that I manage to cause myself suffering in whatever the environment, so I do not know how much of a difference being without a house would make for me!


    Gassho,
    Heion

    #sattoday

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