Gate Twelve
Read the following, place it in your heart and sleep on it. Then, tomorrow, live it until evening when you can leave a brief comment on what you may have received during the process.
Mindfulness of precepts is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we fulfill all vows.
By “Dharma Gate”, we mean a teaching or practice we can study to gain insights into the deepening our practice. It's a way to integrate our understanding of approaching reality.
The Koan:
"Once Sen no Rikyu* needed a carpenter to drive a nail into an ornamental alcove post in the teahouse. After looking here and there, Rikyu decided on the best spot. The carpenter marked the spot then took a break. Afterward, he couldn't find the tiny mark. He asked Rikyu to search again for the best location. After a while, the teamaster decided on the spot and indicated it to the carpenter, "Right there!" When the carpenter looked carefully, he found it was the very place he had marked the first time.You see there is always a clear aim right in the midst of emptiness- emptiness where nothing is fixed."
-Kodo Sawaki's Discovering the True Self pg 127
* Sen no Rikyu was the father of the Tea Ceremony.
A Most note worthy reply :
We'll stray from the path again and again, but the precepts are the waypoints to get us back on track. .
One must realizeThat the mapIs actual size
gassho,Shokai
stlah
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Originally Posted by Shokai
