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Thread: The Zen Master's Dance - 1 - Introduction

  1. #51
    Member KathyW's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2021
    Location
    Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, USA (close to Philadelphia)
    I am not surprised that there was someone else choosing painting! I actually do more drawing than painting, but I do dabble in water colors on occasion. I tried the assignment with drawing, but it just didn't flow as well. I enjoyed reading your post - a bit of a different presentation using the same topic.

    In case you are unaware, there is a Treeleaf Painting and Drawing sub-forum, which I understand is currently inactive, but which is planned to start up after Ango:

    https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/foru...orts%29-CIRCLE

    Gassho,
    Kathy

    Sat, Lah

  2. #52
    Member Seishin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    La Croix-Avranchin, Basse Normandie, France
    Quote Originally Posted by Kotei View Post
    I like that one, Yuki.
    You remind me on the "FOLI" short film from Thomas Roebers and Floris Leeuwenberg about the "Tous les choses, c’est du rythme." of the Malinke (as the chief said in the video). Or as Jundo wrote "the dance that the whole of reality is dancing".
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=lVPLIuBy9CY
    Gassho,
    Kotei sat/lah today.

    I am with to two on this. That little documentary was fascinating and as Yuki says I get the same in the moment experience playing guitar. But rhythm is in every facet of our lives, even sitting on the tractor motor mowing the lawn, the heart beat of the engine pumps out its rhythmic sound.

    Sat


    Seishin

    Sei - Meticulous
    Shin - Heart

  3. #53
    Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago ... experienced reality as a great Heavy Metal festival going on for several days, coming to life in the head banging and moshing of the entire audience and musicians. It is a most special concert, for it is the concert that the whole of reality is playing and listening to, with nothing left out, that you and I are listening, that is listening and grooving as you and me. It is a vibrant, swirling, flowing, merging and emerging unity that Metal maniacs do not actually call “emptiness,” but they could, as the motion and sweep of the music “empties” us of the sense of only being separate beings, and fills and reaffirms us - the audience and the band - as the whole. We, as fans, can’t be sure when or where this music style actually began, or whether it even has a beginning or end. But we can come to see that it is being played now in each step and breath we take, much as the music unfolds and constantly renews with every note or change of rhythm.

    {…} Everything in reality, no matter how old or vast, no matter how unnoticed or small, is part of this experience together. And although we may feel as if we are separate participants—finite guitar heroes on a grand stage spanning all of time and space or the audience fully immersed in a timeless experience that is being created through them—we are also the notes themselves permeating us.

    Gassho,

    Daitetsu

    #sat2day (and listened to the latest Iron Maiden album)
    no thing needs to be added

  4. #54
    Quote Originally Posted by Daitetsu View Post
    Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago ... experienced reality as a great Heavy Metal festival going on for several days, coming to life in the head banging and moshing of the entire audience and musicians. It is a most special concert, for it is the concert that the whole of reality is playing and listening to, with nothing left out, that you and I are listening, that is listening and grooving as you and me. It is a vibrant, swirling, flowing, merging and emerging unity that Metal maniacs do not actually call “emptiness,” but they could, as the motion and sweep of the music “empties” us of the sense of only being separate beings, and fills and reaffirms us - the audience and the band - as the whole. We, as fans, can’t be sure when or where this music style actually began, or whether it even has a beginning or end. But we can come to see that it is being played now in each step and breath we take, much as the music unfolds and constantly renews with every note or change of rhythm.

    {…} Everything in reality, no matter how old or vast, no matter how unnoticed or small, is part of this experience together. And although we may feel as if we are separate participants—finite guitar heroes on a grand stage spanning all of time and space or the audience fully immersed in a timeless experience that is being created through them—we are also the notes themselves permeating us.

    Gassho,

    Daitetsu

    #sat2day (and listened to the latest Iron Maiden album)

    Daitetsu

    I can relate. A couple years back I went to The Hu Concert (Mongolian band) after many decades of having not been to a rock concert. I wasn’t the only Senior head banging

    Doshin
    St

  5. #55
    You and I are the blots and purveyors of ink on the cosmic pages, as is every being and molecule large or infinitesimal, the lands stretching from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, beyond our world into the heavens, traveling back in time to the pin-tip sized matter that gave rise to the Big Bang — and before. Everything in reality, young or ancient, sight seen or unseen, is creating this story together.

    Although we may feel like we're separate authors, only here to write for a short while and later to be forgotten, we are also the universal story writing itself through us. Picture in your mind a reader watching a story being crafted so effortlessly and elegantly that its countless authors seem to vanish in the waterfalls of ink and cavalcade of wet paper: single authors becoming pairs, then groups, words coming together into perfect paragraphs and volumes and line-breaking moment by moment—yet so in tune with each other's pen strokes that, from a distance, individual writers can no longer be seen...

    Gassho,
    Koushi
    STLaH
    Last edited by Koushi; 09-22-2021 at 01:02 AM.
    理道弘志 | Ridō Koushi

    Please take this novice priest-in-training's words with a grain of salt.

  6. #56
    Joining the Dance a bit late, but here is my take:

    Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago ... experienced reality as a great forest growing through time, coming to life throw the visible and invisible acts of animals, plants and fungi. It is a most special forest, for it is the forest that the whole of reality is living, with nothing left out, that you and I are living in, that is living as you and me. It is a vibrant, swirling, flowing, merging and emerging unity that Buddhists sometimes call “emptiness,” as the effort to survive and flourish “empties” us of the sense of only being separate beings, and fills and reaffirms us as the whole. We, as human beings, can’t be sure when or where this forest first immerged, or whether it even has a beginning or end. But we can come to see that it is being lived now in step and breath we take, much as a forest unfolds and constantly renews with every sprouting pine, newborn deer, flowing river or traveling cloud.

    Master Dōgen spoke of practice, putting it all in motion. Where this forest has come from, where it is going, is not as important as the forest that is truly realized—made real—right here, in your next breath and heart beat. The forest is always all around, so just live it, without thought of any other place.

    Gassho, Nikolas
    Sat/Lah

  7. #57
    Treeleaf Unsui Nengei's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Minnesota's Driftless Area
    Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master and unknown trail runner of long ago, experienced reality as an endless single-track through time and space, forming beneath the shoes of all beings as they ran through the mountains and meadows of their lives. It is an incredible trail, so narrow as to be barely enough for one runner, wide enough for all beings to support each other in reaching the next aid station. As the runners pound the trail, hoping to finish that hundred-miler in less than 30 hours, the dust swirls around them, and the water splashes them with each step; and the whole universe is taken in and released with each gasping breath.

    You and I are runners (yes, you are) on this trail, as are all beings and all of existence, and the much-anticipated peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at aid station #5. Although we may think we are running alone, especially after mile 79 when it seems like you will never be warm or comfortable again, we awaken to others sharing our experience, and we pick them up and join with them along the way: one runner becomes a pair, then the pair becomes a group--like a little trail posse helping out the slower runners--and the group becomes a pack, and the pack becomes the mountains and the rivers, all merging so that from a distance, the individual runners can no longer be seen.

    Gassho
    Nengei
    Sat today. LAH.

  8. #58
    "Master Dōgen spoke of practice, putting it all in motion. Where this Tetris block has come from, where it is going, is not as important as the Tetris game that is truly realized—made real—right here, in your next leap and gesture. The Tetris game is always right underfoot, so just play Tetris, without thought of any other place."

    I really have a thing for Tetris.

    Gassho
    Sat, lah
    求道芸化 Kyūdō Geika
    I am just a priest-in-training, please do not take anything I say as a teaching.

  9. #59
    Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago experienced reality as the growing of herbs throughout time, with herbs coming to life in the thoughts and actions of all beings, each thought and action growing a herb, which is part of one whole interconnected herb garden. Each herb is filled with the essence of every other herb that has grown through time and space, and the growth and spread, and eventual senescence of each herb neither adds nor subtracts from the totality of the garden itself, which seems to us as without beginning or end, but just existing in an eternal now, shining with the lush growth of everything that is, was or shall be.

    We are all herbs in the garden, as is every creature large or small, every stone on the beach, air molecule in the sky and stars and planets throughout all galaxies. All things are herbs, whether great herbs, like motherwort, or tiny herbs such as wild thyme, creeping along the side of hill and dale, and each have their place in the great herb garden. Some herbs are long-lived, some are short-lived. All have their place and time, sometimes forming a small separate community of herbs, sometimes as single plants and flowers and all are part of the greater whole of the garden.

    Within this vast garden, it can be hard to differentiate each of the herbs, which appear as a swirling mass of green, growing, flowering and retreating, Each herb expresses completely the whole of the garden, whilst at the same time retaining its own uniqueness and that which differentiates it from the other herbs.

    Each of us is a herb, separate from other herbs, and expressing our herbness just as it is, while also expressing the totality of the garden, just as it is. Our practice is to allow ourselves to be the herb we are, and grow and flower just as we were intended to, but also not to lose sight of the greater reality of the whole garden. All of the herbs, including the Dōgen herb, Keizan herb, and the herb that is you, are full and complete expressions of the whole garden, that spreads fully and completely into the outer edges of the ten directions and three times, with nothing left out.

    Gassho
    Kokuu
    -sattoday/lah-

  10. #60
    Quote Originally Posted by Geika View Post
    "Master Dōgen spoke of practice, putting it all in motion. Where this Tetris block has come from, where it is going, is not as important as the Tetris game that is truly realized—made real—right here, in your next leap and gesture. The Tetris game is always right underfoot, so just play Tetris, without thought of any other place."

    I really have a thing for Tetris.
    Good start. Please expand ...

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  11. #61
    Quote Originally Posted by Kokuu View Post
    Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago experienced reality as the growing of herbs throughout time, with herbs coming to life in the thoughts and actions of all beings, each thought and action growing a herb, which is part of one whole interconnected herb garden. Each herb is filled with the essence of every other herb that has grown through time and space, and the growth and spread, and eventual senescence of each herb neither adds nor subtracts from the totality of the garden itself, which seems to us as without beginning or end, but just existing in an eternal now, shining with the lush growth of everything that is, was or shall be.

    We are all herbs in the garden, as is every creature large or small, every stone on the beach, air molecule in the sky and stars and planets throughout all galaxies. All things are herbs, whether great herbs, like motherwort, or tiny herbs such as wild thyme, creeping along the side of hill and dale, and each have their place in the great herb garden. Some herbs are long-lived, some are short-lived. All have their place and time, sometimes forming a small separate community of herbs, sometimes as single plants and flowers and all are part of the greater whole of the garden.

    Within this vast garden, it can be hard to differentiate each of the herbs, which appear as a swirling mass of green, growing, flowering and retreating, Each herb expresses completely the whole of the garden, whilst at the same time retaining its own uniqueness and that which differentiates it from the other herbs.

    Each of us is a herb, separate from other herbs, and expressing our herbness just as it is, while also expressing the totality of the garden, just as it is. Our practice is to allow ourselves to be the herb we are, and grow and flower just as we were intended to, but also not to lose sight of the greater reality of the whole garden. All of the herbs, including the Dōgen herb, Keizan herb, and the herb that is you, are full and complete expressions of the whole garden, that spreads fully and completely into the outer edges of the ten directions and three times, with nothing left out.
    Excellent. Someone might ask, reading this, what kinds of herbs you be growing. However, we mean the legal kind.

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  12. #62
    "Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago ... experienced reality as a great Tetris game moving through time, coming to life in the thoughts and acts of all beings. It is a most special game of Tetris, for it is the game that the whole of reality is playing, with nothing left out, that you and I are playing, that is playing as you and me. It is a vibrant, swirling, flowing, merging and emerging unity that Buddhists sometimes call “emptiness,” as the motion and sweep of the game of Tetris “empties” us of the sense of only being separate beings, and fills and reaffirms us as the whole. We, as human beings, can’t be sure when or where this game of Tetris began, or whether it even has a beginning or end. But we can come to see that it is being played now in each step and breath we take, much as a game of Tetris unfolds and constantly renews with every turn or leap of its players."

    Gassho
    Sat, lah
    求道芸化 Kyūdō Geika
    I am just a priest-in-training, please do not take anything I say as a teaching.

  13. #63
    Quote Originally Posted by Geika View Post
    "Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago ... experienced reality as a great Tetris game moving through time
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  14. #64
    There are some interesting studies on the Tetris effect, and how it may be able to inhibit trauma response after a traumatic event. The Tetris Buddha.

    Gassho
    Sat, lah
    求道芸化 Kyūdō Geika
    I am just a priest-in-training, please do not take anything I say as a teaching.

  15. #65
    each golfer somehow embodies, depends upon, and also fully expresses every shot by all the other players on the course, past or present. . .

    _______________________________________
    Just got the book, and although i am behind on the group here am looking forward to taking my shots and catching up with the group on the back nine.


    Jundo! Thank you for this book, I have struggled with Shonogenzo and am hopeful your book will help me with grasping it a bit better.

    Gassho,

    Gregory
    -sat-today


    Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk
    Jukai '09 Dharma Name: Shinko 慎重(Prudent Calm)

  16. #66
    Where this dance has come from, where it is going, is not as important as the dance that is truly realized — made real — right here, in your next leap and gesture. The dance is always right underfoot, so just dance, without thought of any other place.

    My rewrite:

    Where we are going, and where we come from both disappear and are made real, here and now in this moment. Taste the intimacy of presence and without seeking or striving, the whole Universe reveals itself.

    Gassho,

    Ippo

    SatLah
    一 法
    (One)(Dharma)

    Everyday is a good day!

  17. #67
    Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago ... experienced reality as a great run, running through the hills of time, coming to life in the thoughts and acts of all beings on the trail. It is a most special run, for it is the run that the whole of reality is running, with nothing left out, that you and I are running, that is running as you and me. It is a vibrant, swirling, flowing, merging and emerging unity that Buddhists sometimes call “emptiness,” as each step of the run “empties” us of the sense of only being separate beings, and fills and reaffirms us as the whole. We, as human beings, can’t be sure when or where this run began, or whether it even has a beginning or end. But we can come to see that it is being run now in each step and breath we take, much as a run unfolds and constantly renews with every turn or step of its runners.

    Gassho
    Ross
    ST
    Last edited by Huichan; 02-01-2022 at 04:27 AM.

  18. #68
    Quote Originally Posted by Ross View Post
    Eihei Dōgen, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago ... experienced reality as a great run, running through the hills of time, coming to life in the thoughts and acts of all beings on the trail. It is a most special run, for it is the run that the whole of reality is running, with nothing left out, that you and I are running, that is running as you and me. It is a vibrant, swirling, flowing, merging and emerging unity that Buddhists sometimes call “emptiness,” as each strp of the run “empties” us of the sense of only being separate beings, and fills and reaffirms us as the whole. We, as human beings, can’t be sure when or where this run began, or whether it even has a beginning or end. But we can come to see that it is being run now in each step and breath we take, much as a run unfolds and constantly renews with every turn or step of its runners.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  19. #69
    What a wonderful thought. I love the image of the dance, but will work on rephrasing it. I look forward to reading the book.

  20. #70
    Just began this book again, the first time I read it was when it came out. I plan on catching up and enjoying the re-read as part of the book club. Thank you Jundo!

    Gassho,

    Bokuchō
    ST/LaH

    Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

  21. #71
    I'm late to this party, and I've just opened this book and I must say, already I am blown away! Thank you for this marvelous teaching.

    Here is my contribution; I chose music, as I have a lifelong love of music (and currently play guitar as well as enjoy singing). I haven't read anyone else's contributions yet.

    "Eihei Dogan, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago, heard the music of the universe that sounds as all events and places, people, things, and spaces. He experienced reality as a great score moving through time, coming to life in the thoughts and acts of all beings. It is a most special score, for it is the song that the whole of reality is singing, with nothing left out, that you and I are singing, that is singing as you and me. It is a vibrant, swirling, flowing, merging and emerging unity that Buddhists sometimes call "emptiness", as the tempo and cadence of the song "empties" us of the sense of only being separate beings, and fills and reaffirms us as a whole. We, as human beings, can't be sure when or where t his song began, or whether it has a beginning or end. But we can come to see that it is being played now in each step and breath we take, much as a score unfolds and constantly renews with every note or beat of its instruments."

    "You and I are players in this orchestra, as is every creature great or small, the mountains and seas, every grain of sand or massive galaxy,
    the atoms that make up the universe and the whole universe itself. Everything in reality, no matter how old or vast, no matter how unnoticed or small, is playing and singing this song together. And although we may feel as if we are separate musicians—finite individuals on a grand stage spanning all of time and space—we are also the song itself playing through us. A universe of players that are being played up in this score that the whole universe is playing. Picture in your mind a spectator witnessing a score so vigorous and vibrant that its countless players seem to vanish in the swirl of motion: single players becoming pairs, then groups, coming together and separating moment by moment, yet so merged as the overall score that, from a distance, individual players can no longer be seen."

    Gassho,
    SatLah
    -Kelly

  22. #72
    Quote Originally Posted by KellyLM View Post
    I'm late to this party, and I've just opened this book and I must say, already I am blown away! Thank you for this marvelous teaching.

    Here is my contribution; I chose music, as I have a lifelong love of music (and currently play guitar as well as enjoy singing). I haven't read anyone else's contributions yet.

    "Eihei Dogan, a Japanese Zen Master of long ago, heard the music of the universe that sounds as all events and places, people, things, and spaces. He experienced reality as a great score moving through time, coming to life in the thoughts and acts of all beings. It is a most special score, for it is the song that the whole of reality is singing, with nothing left out, that you and I are singing, that is singing as you and me. It is a vibrant, swirling, flowing, merging and emerging unity that Buddhists sometimes call "emptiness", as the tempo and cadence of the song "empties" us of the sense of only being separate beings, and fills and reaffirms us as a whole. We, as human beings, can't be sure when or where t his song began, or whether it has a beginning or end. But we can come to see that it is being played now in each step and breath we take, much as a score unfolds and constantly renews with every note or beat of its instruments."

    "You and I are players in this orchestra, as is every creature great or small, the mountains and seas, every grain of sand or massive galaxy,
    the atoms that make up the universe and the whole universe itself. Everything in reality, no matter how old or vast, no matter how unnoticed or small, is playing and singing this song together. And although we may feel as if we are separate musicians—finite individuals on a grand stage spanning all of time and space—we are also the song itself playing through us. A universe of players that are being played up in this score that the whole universe is playing. Picture in your mind a spectator witnessing a score so vigorous and vibrant that its countless players seem to vanish in the swirl of motion: single players becoming pairs, then groups, coming together and separating moment by moment, yet so merged as the overall score that, from a distance, individual players can no longer be seen."

    Gassho,
    SatLah
    -Kelly
    Lovely! Welcome to the party, Kelly!

    Gassho, Jundo
    Stlah
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

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