Special reading - eight types of enlightenment

[Jishin]

Hi,

You got enlightened. Now what?

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Kokuu]

You got enlightened. Now what?

Chop wood, carry water.

[Jishin]

Sounds good to me.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Mp]

Chop wood, carry water.

Yuppers ... Chop wood, carry water before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water after enlightenment. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Kokuu]

Yuppers ... Chop wood, carry water before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water after enlightenment. =)

This may be why we attract so many Canadians!

[Mp]

This may be why we attract so many Canadians!

You got that right ...eh!!! LOL=)

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Shokai]

Although we do have a few spots where you look a little silly carrying your water bucket, eh

gassho, shokai

stlah

[Jishin]

IMG_0117.JPGIMG_0284.JPG

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jundo]

There is no "enlightenment." Nobody to be enlightened either.

But if there was no realization and being enlightened, then what would be the point of Buddhist Practice and our being here? Turn of the lights, let's all go home. (A Koan)

Master Dogen's vision is "Practice-Enlightenment." A sample from my new book, whose manuscript I am just finishing ...

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It is said in the Soto tradition that Dogen [while still a young Tendai monk] became possessed of a great question regarding a core doctrine of the Tendai school: if, as it is taught there, all human beings are endowed with Buddha Nature and already possessed of enlightenment by birth, what need is there for any of us to nonetheless seek enlightenment by engaging in spiritual practice? This question arises in the Tendai concept of “Original Enlightenment,” which asserts that all sentient beings are already enlightened by original nature and, thus, any idea of working toward and achieving enlightenment by pursuing practices is flawed. It is this question which, it is said, caused Dogen to leave Mt. Hiei and seek other Teachers. From his later writings, we know that Dogen eventually came to the conclusion that, although we are originally “without flaw,” just as he had learned, we must nonetheless engage in ongoing Practice and polishing to constantly let that inherent flawlessness shine through. This became the cornerstone of Dogen’s emphasis on “Practice-Enlightenment” and “Continuous Practice.” ...



Zazen is not only about when we are seated on the sitting cushion. Dogen spoke of “Practice-Enlightenment” or “Continuous Practice,” which manifests enlightenment again and again. The meaning is very simple: the jewel of our Buddha Nature is always shining and flawless, but we must constantly polish it through our present actions free of excess desire, anger, divided thinking, and like mental states that cloud the mind and manifest unwholesomeness, in order to manifest that shine. The world is always just the world, but if we choose to fill it and our life with dissatisfaction, anger, jealousy, resentments, and like pollutants, then this world and life take on those tints. On the other hand, if we bring gentleness and peace into our hearts, then our life is colored with those thoughts and the world becomes a bit nicer. It is up to us in each thought, word, and action we take in life in each moment. We bring Buddha to life, here and now, in the way we live here and now.


Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Tairin]

The world is always just the world, but if we choose to fill it and our life with dissatisfaction, anger, jealousy, resentments, and like pollutants, then this world and life take on those tints. On the other hand, if we bring gentleness and peace into our hearts, then our life is colored with those thoughts and the world becomes a bit nicer. It is up to us in each thought, word, and action we take in life in each moment. We bring Buddha to life, here and now, in the way we live here and now.

Thank you for this. I came mostly to this same conclusion today while walking home for work. For reasons I don’t understand I’ve been in a bit of a mental funk for the past week. There’s no reason for it. As I was walking home I was stewing about stuff and I was finding myself getting angry. As I felt the anger rising I said to myself “I don’t want to feel this way any more, I want to be happy”. It was at that point that I realized the tint (to use Jundo’s word above) that anger was putting on my view of the day. I paused in my steps, looked around and tried to see the beauty of the world around me.


Tairin
Sat today & LAH

[Tai Shi]

I left sitting, wondering if there was a Buddha. I had been searching for Buddha since summer 1971 when I began to read Herman Hesse. These readings brought me to Allen Watts and a book The Gospel According to Zen. There was the famaous Zen Mind, Beginner Mind, and I own a copy dating from 1975, so came lots of reading, but no practice. In 2011, or so, I began simple practices bassed on the few things I knew, then people questioned me on Facebook, and I began searching in earnest when I found Treeleaf Zendo. So, Jundo is this another history? Lately I've looked to teachings from childhood, but only I could make the choice to sit, sitting so the important teachings of my mother and father are not incompatible with Shikantaza, just sitting, in stillness of morning. Thus, my childhood memories intersect with breath I pass on to my daughter, that my father has passed on to me. For me, Buddha is breath sitting, and childhood simplicity.

Tai Shi
st today/lah
Gassho

[Jundo]

For me, Buddha is breath sitting, and childhood simplicity.

[Hōkan]

The Google Site from the first post is missing. Any other sources for the document?

Sat

[Kaishin]

I searched a bit in vain (hopefully Jundo still has a copy stashed somewhere...), but did incidentally discover that the same author has published a translation of Genjokoan along with quite a bit of background material--there's a video interview with the author about it here as well. Not sure if it's of worth here:

https://www.windhorsepublications.com/product/the-dark-side-of-the-mirror-forgetting-the-self-in-dogens-genjo-koan-paperback/

-satToday

[Jundo]

I searched a bit in vain (hopefully Jundo still has a copy stashed somewhere...), but did incidentally discover that the same author has published a translation of Genjokoan along with quite a bit of background material--there's a video interview with the author about it here as well. Not sure if it's of worth here:

https://www.windhorsepublications.com/product/the-dark-side-of-the-mirror-forgetting-the-self-in-dogens-genjo-koan-paperback/

-satToday

I cannot recommend his book on Genjo Koan at all. Few books that I say that about. It is truly a quite tangled and very personal take by the author, coming from a Pure Land perspective that, I think, really obscures what Dogen was about there.

As to the old link to the top document, it should be fixed now. Here it is. If you have trouble to view and download, please let me know.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KGIENWKnsej4U1aNdB936FDeiVTTZLBm/view?usp=sharing

Gassho, Jundo

STLah