Results 1 to 34 of 34

Thread: Is the Universe Beautiful and Good?

  1. #1

    Is the Universe Beautiful and Good?


    Master Dogen lived in a grim age, filled with war and widespread poverty, illness, personal loss and countless other hardships. Despite all that, Dogen wrote in most lyrical terms of some underlying beauty and benevolence, wholeness and harmony which somehow fills the universe when our hearts are able to perceive. All things and moments, great and small, are Buddha, each a Buddha. He wrote, for example, in Shobogenzo-Hotsu Mujo Shin:

    In the great way of buddha dharma, there are thousands of sutras in one particle, there are countless buddhas in one particle. Both a blade of grass and a tree are the body and mind. Because myriad things are beyond birth, the one mind is beyond birth. Because all things are reality, one particle is reality. Thus, the one mind is all things. All things are the one mind, the entire body. ... Grass, trees, tiles, and pebbles, as well as the four great elements and the five skandhas [which make up us human beings], are all equally inseparable mind, equally marks of reality. The entire world of the ten directions [everywhere], the buddha nature of thusness, is equally things abiding in their conditions. How can there be grass, trees, and so on within the buddha nature of thusness? How can grass, trees, and so on not be buddha nature? All things are neither created nor not created, but are reality. Reality is reality as it is. (Tanahashi)
    Today, we live in a world better in many ways, but in which war and violence still exist, worldwide poverty persists, while illnesses and other hardships sometimes touch all of us. We each lose the people we love sometimes, and our own lives are fragile. This world is sometimes beautiful, yet sometimes ugly things occur. Terrible events, children suffering, injustice and pain.

    Even so, can we assert, as did Dogen, that the universe is yet "beautiful" and "good" beneath it all?

    That the world is a cruel, cruel place seems so obvious, given that so many cruel things occur. Those other religions speak of a "benevolent God," but how could that be so when the world that "He" purportedly made is sometimes filled with such tragedy? When I was young, I came to the conclusion that the universe was neutral at best, simply going about its Big Bang business, cold and uncaring about our small concerns. Our broken hearts and cries are nothing more than collateral damage as the cosmos does its thing, not feeling our sadness, unable to hear those cries.

    But is that truly the only way to see things?

    My heart changed many years ago. Now, for me, this Buddhist Practice opens up a sense that this universe, all of reality, is "Beautiful" and "Good" (big "B" and big "G") ... IF (big "IF") we are discerning and subtle about just what that means. The key lies in our ability to see through and beyond this world of division and conflict, coming and going, birth and death to our other face ... our shared Face (big "F") ... that is beyond all division, beyond all separate pieces and players, thus no two players to conflict. The unbroken Face is present everywhere, both before, during and after the apparent "comings" and "goings," just like the sea which is vast and present though small waves rise and fall upon its surface. The waves are just the waters all along, thus never truly "come" nor "go." So it is for those we love and lose, and our own lives too. They do not go, we do not go, for their longed for face is our own face and all others' faces, our smiles and tears are theirs, all this True Face. There is some wonder and mystery to how we came to be born here, all together, in the middle of time and space, when it seemingly did not have to happen. I sense a Face that is unborn born as all our little faces, seeing with all our eyes, a sea divided for a timeless time as each of us.

    There is an overriding Beauty, Goodness, Wholeness and Harmony to the universe, known in its wonders and its creativity, which is beyond all the small happenings -- yet is precisely who we are. It is so hidden and hard to see in this world of division much of the time, but it is so.

    This is the "great way," the "buddhas" and "sutras" in every particle, the "mind" that is "beyond birth," "Buddha nature," the "reality as it is" of which Dogen speaks above.

    But there is something more: For, since our hands and hearts are the universe, the love and hate, peace or violence, selfishness and generosity in our own hearts and done with our hands manifests beauty and ugliness, etc., in the universe. In other words, when we bring love and peace to the universe, or act with violence and hate, we flavor what the universe becomes. The world is like a canvas where we can paint images of beauty or ugliness by our combined efforts as the community of beings. Dogen thus saw it is as our human duty to act with the graceful dignity and ethics of a Buddha. In his day, he was helpless to end the war, to feed the hungry, to cure the plagues so rampant outside his monastery's walls. Today, we have more power, and need not live behind walls. In modern times, let us work to end the war, feed the hungry, comfort the lonely, cure the disease in the wider one community. In Hotsu Mujo Shin, Dogen spoke of the sacrifice of laypeople in their making offerings to feed monks ...

    Know that [laypeople] offering food and drink, clothes, bedding, medicine, monk’s huts, fields, and forests to the three treasures is no other than offering the flesh, skin, bones, and marrow of themselves, their spouses, or their children. By doing so, they are already in the meritorious ocean of the three treasures. They are in one community. As they are in one community, they are with the three treasures. The virtue of the three treasures is actualized in the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of their spouses and children. This is diligent endeavor of the way. ...
    Today, let us offer food and drink, clothes and bedding, housing, medicine and all the rest to all sentient beings, to their spouses and children, all one community. This too is diligent practice of the way, and how we manifest the potential for a beautiful and good world in this Beautiful and Good universe.

    Gassho, J

    stlah

    sorry to run long
    Last edited by Jundo; 09-16-2022 at 11:34 PM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  2. #2
    Thank you, Jundo

    Gassho,
    Washin
    StLah
    Kaidō (皆道) Every Way
    Washin (和信) Harmony Trust
    ----
    I am a novice priest-in-training. Anything that I say must not be considered as teaching
    and should be taken with a 'grain of salt'.

  3. #3
    Thank you

    Gassho,
    koushi
    STLaH
    理道弘志 | Ridō Koushi

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

  4. #4



    aprapti

    sat

    hobo kore dojo / 歩歩是道場 / step, step, there is my place of practice

    Aprāpti (अप्राप्ति) non-attainment

  5. #5

  6. #6
    Thank you, Jundo.


    Gassho,
    Kotei sat/lah today.

    義道 冴庭 / Gidō Kotei.
    Being a novice priest doesn't mean my writing about the Dharma is more substantial than yours. Actually, it might well be the other way round.

  7. #7
    Thank You

  8. #8

    Mateus
    Satlah
    怠努 (Tai Do) - Lazy Effort
    (also known as Mateus )

    禅戒一如 (Zen Kai Ichi Nyo) - Zazen and the Precepts are One!

  9. #9


    Zenkon

  10. #10
    Thank you Jundo


    Tairin
    Sat today and lah

  11. #11
    Hope you are right.
    空道 心志 Kudo Shinshi
    I am just a priest-in-training, any resemblance between what I post and actual teachings is purely coincidental.
    E84I - JAJ

  12. #12
    Thank You


    Sat today

  13. #13
    合掌,生開
    gassho, Shokai

    仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

    "Open to life in a benevolent way"

    https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/

  14. #14
    Thanks jundo I agree. It’s also a very creative universe. In my lifetime the population increased from 2.5 to 8 billion so far

    Sat/lah


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  15. #15

  16. #16


    Gassho, Tomás
    Sat&LaH

  17. #17
    Within the smallest particle exists the largest space.

    Gassho
    Cam AnGyo
    SatLah

  18. #18
    “the waves are just the waters all along.”
    Thank you, Jundo.
    Gassho
    Margaret
    SatLah

  19. #19

    Thank you Jundo

    Markus
    Sat

  20. #20

    Is the Universe Beautiful and Good?

    Is The Universe Beautiful and Good?

    It does not apply.

    Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

  21. #21
    If I become the empty space in the firing home maybe then I can say the universe is good..

    Gassho
    Fâtih
    Sati

  22. #22
    The universe, a vast expanse so grand,
    Is it beautiful, is it good at hand?
    The mind may judge, the senses may see,
    But true understanding is yet to be.

    Zen teaches us to let go of thought,
    To live in the present, to be as we ought.
    To see the universe without judgment or bias,
    Is to find beauty, goodness, and true bliss.

    It's not about having positive views,
    But to see the interconnectedness of all things we choose.
    It's to find peace and harmony in each day,
    And to live life in a mindful, present way.

    The universe is neither good nor bad,
    It simply is, and that is not so sad.
    For in its vastness, we are but a part,
    And in understanding, true beauty starts.

    My 2 shekels.

    Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

  23. #23
    Perhaps, the universe, like everything else, is neither good nor bad, neither happy nor cruel, but rather - the universe just is...

    Gassho

    Zenkon

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Jishin View Post
    The universe, a vast expanse so grand,
    Is it beautiful, is it good at hand?
    The mind may judge, the senses may see,
    But true understanding is yet to be.

    Zen teaches us to let go of thought,
    To live in the present, to be as we ought.
    To see the universe without judgment or bias,
    Is to find beauty, goodness, and true bliss.

    It's not about having positive views,
    But to see the interconnectedness of all things we choose.
    It's to find peace and harmony in each day,
    And to live life in a mindful, present way.

    The universe is neither good nor bad,
    It simply is, and that is not so sad.
    For in its vastness, we are but a part,
    And in understanding, true beauty starts.

    My 2 shekels.

    Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH


    Tokan - satlah

  25. #25
    I read this thread from the bottom back to the top. Something, it seems to me, that is important to recall, even more so something to live and breathe and, when you do, it seems so obvious. Thanks for the teaching Jundo.

    Gassho, Tokan

    satlah
    Last edited by Tokan; 01-18-2023 at 08:34 PM.

  26. #26
    The Universe is what it is. I am glad to be part of it.

    Doshin
    St

  27. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Doshin View Post
    The Universe is what it is. I am glad to be part of it.

    Doshin
    St
    Me too Doshin!

    I quite like holding that paradox that the universe it what it is, but also that the perception that 'the universe it what it is' is only possible because of my individual self' comprehending it. That old chestnut of 'does the universe exist if there is no-one to perceive it' .

    Gassho with deep bows

    Tokan, satlah

  28. #28
    I listened to an episode of the famous "RadioLab" podcast, which was deeply interesting.

    Of course, as method, what they did here is maybe totally unreliable (to say the least ... just a mathematician doing off the cuff calculations on the back of an envelope using numbers that are way way open to debate and quite fuzzy.) Still, if true, the results were lovely.

    SPOILER AT BOTTOM OF THIS POST (skip if you don't want to know):

    The Middle of Everything Ever

    ... What is the most average size thing, if you take into account everything in the universe. So, along with mathematician Steven Strogatz, we decided to see if we could sit down and, in a friendly throwdown of guesstimates and quick calculations, rough out an answer.

    https://radiolab.org/episodes/middle-everything-ever
    Gassho, J

    stlah




    SPOILER: Between Plank length on the small end, and the total size of the known universe on the big end ... is about the exact size of the cell structures which are basic to all life on earth, which also by chance turned out the be the SAME number between the biggest known sun and smallest known particle. It is literally a "needle in a 'to the power of x10s' haystack" result, given the powers of 10 numbers involved on both ends of the equation. There may be biological reasons why the cell has to be in the "Goldilocks Zone" in that range between too big and too small, where its physical properties and functions would not work out, e.g., a bigger cell could not maintain its cell walls and fluid dynamics, etc.
    Last edited by Jundo; 01-19-2023 at 02:23 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  29. #29

  30. #30
    Treeleaf Unsui Onki's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Location
    London Ontario Canada
    Thank you for this, Jundo

    Gasshō,

    Onki

    Sat today

  31. #31
    paulashby
    Guest
    The Universe, Life, Being, Non-Being,This....a gift with many labels applied.
    Thank you Jundo for a reminder of the gift.
    Gassho, Paul Ashby satlah

  32. #32
    Spiritdove
    Guest
    We get a lot of tornadoes here in Oklahoma and each year you read how some religious person goes on about it "God's wrath or will" . I always think of it as no tornado is doing it out of anger or hate nor is there a God up in the sky spinning its finger while destroying homes and lives. Mother Nature is us and we it. We are doing the climate change. Our home is our planet and just like my own house it reflects how I am inside me. I rather see the world reflect peace and harmony but nature is neither cruel or is it loving. But we as humans give that idea of good or bad due to the mind saying 'this is good or this is bad" I find it better to say if I am good its because its good for everyone and if I am good to the planet it helps it to remain able to be my home. It seems like nihilism to think there is no meaning to this world which there is none and I like that because I can give it one . As we all give meaning to each other as we are all family in this one "Uni" verse "Song"... If you hurt another your only hurting yourself. I do remind myself of that. Maybe nature evolved to see itself in order to see its own beauty but its also evolved to hurt itself if we let that disease continue. I am a drop in a bucket. I will do my best to spread empathy ,compassion and caring because just like a smile you give someone that person may or may not receive it but also it may actually cause there day to change and they smile back. who knows. I have always been in non dual thinking even before I began reading about buddhism or even the Tao. It made sense . When things work they make sense. No faith or belief needed.. Why need belief if its true?

    Marj "Spiritdove"
    Sat Today

  33. #33
    Spiritdove
    Guest
    I love that!

    Marj "Spiritdove"
    Sat today

  34. #34
    It's a great life.

    Seiko
    stlah
    Gandō Seiko
    頑道清光
    (Stubborn Way of Pure Light)

    My street name is 'Al'.

    Any words I write here are merely the thoughts of an apprentice priest, just my opinions, that's all.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •