The 18th of108 Gates Of Dharma Illumination

[Shokai]

Gate Eighteen
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.

Reflection on inconstancy is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we reflect upon the desires of the triple world.

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:
"People call me Homeless Kodo, but I don't think they particularly intend to disparage me.They say "homeless" probably because I never had a temple or owned a house. Antway, all human beings without exception are in reality homeless. It's a mistake to think we have a solid home."
-The Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo 1 pg 13

Most note worthy replies :
This is a good one. Certainly our practice requires a certain amount of reflection. The key is to make sure that reflection doesn’t turn into obsession and dwelling on what was.

I often think about the need for constancy--in practice, in diet, in exercise, in work, in...-- constancy or consistency is what helps us to meet the inconstant.

Leaf upon the wind

So pretty

But where will it land?

gassho, Shokai
stlah

[Nengyoku]

[Anchi]

[Tairin]

Thank you Shokai


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[aprapti]

[Juki]

Solid ground is a delusion. Beneath the ground there is rock, always slowly shifting and grinding and trembling. And beneath the rock there is fire.

Gassho
Juki
sat today and lah

[Nengyoku]

And beneath the rock there is fire.

Gassho
Juki
sat today and lah

And even this is impermanent, for one day the core of the earth will cool and solidify.
If even the very earth is impermanent, then where to lay the foundations of a home?
Only the three treasures are sturdy ground; and yet, even the Sangha grows and changes, the Dharma grows and changes, the Buddha awakens anew with each moment of enlightenment.

Better to be homeless and awake, than your roof fall in while you sleep.

Gassho,
William
SatLah

[Anchi]

without expectance
even chaos we awaked
finds peace with itself

Gassho