The 31st of 108 Gates Of Dharma Illumination

[Shokai]

Gate Thirty-one
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.

To work for living beings is a gate of Dharma illumination; for we do not blame others.

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.

Koan:
" If Buddha were just a buddha for himself somewhere over there, then that wouldn't have anything to do with being a buddha. Buddha is a buddha precisely because he stands in relation to all suffering beings."

-To You, Zen Sayings of Kodo Sawaki, pg 180

Most note worthy replies :
If we always work for the benefit of others, our own small “self” drops away. With no “self” to direct blame to another “self”, how can blame take root?

Blame feeds on the self,

Drop the self

And blame becomes love.

合掌 仁道 生開 - gassho, Jindo Shokai

[Nengyoku]

[aprapti]

[Tairin]

Thank you Shokai


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Juki]

This resonates with me, as I read it right after feeding my cats, cleaning their litter boxes and petting them after I woke up this morning. A kind word and a gentle hand come so naturally. It isn't hard to carry that wisdom through the day.

Gassho
Juki
sat today and lah

[Shokai]

[Nengyoku]

A buddha supports suffering beings
Offering shelter from the rain
A dry pine in autumn storms.

Gassho,
Nengyoku
Sat

[Anchi]