SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN ...

[Jundo]

Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN ...

I saw this today about Buddhist monks in different countries praying for Japan:

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php ... 86,0,0,1,0

I don't want this to turn into a "what is Buddhism" thread, but passages like these still baffle me:

"'It would be very good if Japanese Buddhists are to recite 'Heart Sutra' on this occasion. Such recitation may not only be helpful for those who have lost their precious lives, but **may also help prevent further disasters in the future**,' he said in a message to the Japanese people. (said by Dalai Lama)"

-Help prevent disaster in the future? How???

"'We have offered special prayers, seeking divine blessing for the safety and security of people from nature fury in Japan,' said Bhante Prayagsheel, a monk."

-Divine blessings? From whom???

Well, it all certainly couldn't hurt. Who knows, it might help. Even if not, it's the thought that counts.

My physicist friend, the fellow advising me, wrote me earlier this week to say that, while he does not believe in God ... he has been praying all week. I have been too. Science seems to have failed, so who know knows what might work.

On the subject of prayer, I frequently experience such "winking at heaven" moments ... as when our son was in the hospital last year ... calling on any resources available, but simultaneously asking nothing and no favors ... but asking anyway ... a prayer to Buddha, to Kannon, to God, to anyone or any ear who might listen. Maybe, yes, asking for a favor ... but, at heart, expressing a willingness to yield to it all whatever happens.

Gassho, J

[Kaishin]

Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN ...

I saw this today about Buddhist monks in different countries praying for Japan:

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php ... 86,0,0,1,0

I don't want this to turn into a "what is Buddhism" thread, but passages like these still baffle me:

"'It would be very good if Japanese Buddhists are to recite 'Heart Sutra' on this occasion. Such recitation may not only be helpful for those who have lost their precious lives, but **may also help prevent further disasters in the future**,' he said in a message to the Japanese people. (said by Dalai Lama)"

-Help prevent disaster in the future? How???

"'We have offered special prayers, seeking divine blessing for the safety and security of people from nature fury in Japan,' said Bhante Prayagsheel, a monk."

-Divine blessings? From whom???

Well, it all certainly couldn't hurt. Who knows, it might help. Even if not, it's the thought that counts.

My physicist friend, the fellow advising me, wrote me earlier this week to say that, while he does not believe in God ... he has been praying all week. I have been too. Science seems to have failed, so who know knows what might work.

On the subject of prayer, I frequently experience such "winking at heaven" moments ... as when our son was in the hospital last year ... calling on any resources available, but simultaneously asking nothing and no favors ... but asking anyway ... a prayer to Buddha, to Kannon, to God, to anyone or any ear who might listen. Maybe, yes, asking for a favor ... but, at heart, expressing a willingness to yield to it all whatever happens.

Gassho, J

I suppose, but... where does it come from? Human nature? Native folk beliefs? The Buddha never taught to "pray to the heavens" or that we could influence natural forces... did he? This is where I get confused. Where does Buddhism stop and other cultural beliefs start. Just seems odd for Buddhist monks to do these things, when in the West it's always been presented in my experience as a very non-theistic, non-"mystical" tradition.

Gassho,
Matt

[Rich]

Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN ...

I suppose, but... where does it come from? Human nature? Native folk beliefs? The Buddha never taught to "pray to the heavens" or that we could influence natural forces... did he? This is where I get confused. Where does Buddhism stop and other cultural beliefs start. Just seems odd for Buddhist monks to do these things, when in the West it's always been presented in my experience as a very non-theistic, non-"mystical" tradition.

Gassho,
Matt

Matt, I think that everything comes from vast emptiness and we don't really know exactly where the mundane and the divine/mystical separate. I view praying as a special form of meditation. As a zen buddhist I practice sitting/walking/standing/lying meditation mostly, but an occasional prayer seems to help in some situations - but that's just me.

'Whatever gets you thru the night is alright' .

[Graceleejenkins]

Re: SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN ...

All worldly things are impermanent ... including you, me and those we love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TsOPjZEF6E[/video]]

(Queen, "Who Wants to Live Forever")
quote]

Amelia, thanks for the youtube link to this song.

The last line of the song was "Who waits for forever, anyway?" We shouldn't as was the point of the song: today is our forever. However, sometimes we all do, thinking when we just get or do one other thing or another, we will be happy or fulfilled then. I enjoyed the song. Gassho, Grace.

[Byokan]

Thank you Jundo

Gassho
Lisa
sat today

[Jundo]

Thank you Jundo

Gassho
Lisa
sat today

Ah yes, that was a three days after the Tsunami, big aftershock right in the middle of the talk. The nuclear meltdown was happening about 100 miles away, and I was getting reading to join the family running south. Seems like ages ago.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jika]

[Onkai]

Thank you, Jundo. A good reminder of impermanence and the need for compassion.

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Gokai]

Thank you Jundo for this teaching.
Gassho

David
Sattoday

[Jundo]

I reworked and reposted this at some Zen places on Facebook, for the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria ...

WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN ... TO GOOD AND BAD PEOPLE

... Yes, some seem to be struck by misfortune more than others of us, yet in truth, we all face our lot. All worldly things are impermanent ... including you, me and those we love. This ordinary world of change, which we Buddhists call "samsara," is sometimes so very hard. Putting aside the cause, whether blind nature, ancient Karma, destiny, deity or something else ... when the earth shakes, the earth just shakes. All are shaken, both the good people and the bad.
.
We, so often, may be brought to despair by all this ugliness.

It is heartbreaking, bleak! ..... it seems hopeless, cruel, unfair.

And yet, in the Buddhist teachings, it is more than just that. The shadow is also light. ...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmericanZenBuddhism/permalink/3531541520410318/

Gassho, J

stlah

[Risho]

Beautiful. Thank you

Risho
-stlah

[Tai Shi]

Jundo, thank you for your teaching, then and now, I have been a member of Treeleaf Zendo since 10-2014, the year my second book came out, and there were several people here who were kind enough to buy a copy. I have crippling arthritis, and in many ways, that book was a coming to terms with pain, and I have never really come to terms with pain. I have told friends and family that when my ticket is punched, or the silent gong rings for me, I will be happy to exit pain, but even so I say, let me see our daughter get her PhD then I will be okay to exit and then there was an untimely brain tumor a year and a half ago, and since then a cancer scare, learning I don't have cancer; then when the other shoe will drop, I may, or may not know it. Jundo speaks of luck, and since 2010, my life has been filled with just such dumb luck, and I'm 71. Nothing guarantees today for me, and maybe not tomorrow. I'm ancient by Dogen's standards I may or may not die sooner or later. NO, I will die. Don't I know it. No Maybe.
Gassho
sat/lah
Tai Shi