8/3 - The Fire of Attention p.31

[Keishin]

fire of attention

Thank you, Jundo!
I very much appreciate the reminder nothing gained, nothing to be gained, nothing lost, nothing to be lost.
The responding adequately to circumstance is a phrasing coming directly from Joko. While she says nothing about inadequate response I think you make an important point.
The sense I had from Joko, not conveyed very clearly, is that just responding to reality is enough/plenty (adequate) as opposed to adding on mental extras (drama etc) to the circumstance/situation-- and then responding to that.

I very much appreciate your direction here--I'm coming to terms with aspects of my physical body--and doing extra stuff, doing unncessary stuff,--stuff that makes a mind muddle of reality-- does seem wasteful (would the term misdirected use be a clearer description?) But even when I don't get to do all that I might want to in one go--I just wait for another time to continue. Or at times I need to completely pass on doing something--that's ok too--it is a response that is 'adequate to the circumstance.' Meaning I can't, so I don't, but it's perfectly fine.

thank you

gassho, keishin

[wills]

I would say that we can NEVER act inadequately to circumstances. How we act is just how we act. Of course, sometimes we act with a mind that is disturbed, angry, suffering, distracted, cluttered, off balance ... and sometimes we act with a mind that is still, centered, calm, peaceful, focused, clear, balanced. While our practice is about that balanced mind, I would certainly hesitate to call any part of life 'inadequate' ... even the parts we think are not adequate.

Things are only adequate/not adequate in our minds. Our small minds try to make them so. Didn't our good friend say...

To study Buddhism is to study the self.
To study the self is to come to know the self.
To come to know the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be at one with all things.

I've found I can substitute "mind" for "self" and this still works. Mind and small self seem synonymous.

I would say the same about our "wasting energy." I would say that our practice is partly a recognition that we --cannot-- "waste" energy (a recognition of "no loss, no gain" ... even, if you will, as we take the train and turn of the lights to conserve energy). But, even while we cannot waste anything in life, there are certainly times when people use a lot of mental energy to create thoughts that tangle up their experience of the world. "Conserving energy" is about getting back to a kind of mental simplicity, I think.

Great example!

Even thinking that we must "burn up" our thoughts and emotions on the Zafu needs to be handled with care, I believe. No part of our life is to be rejected or pushed away ... as such a term as "burn up" maybe implies a little. That is true even as we do, in fact, "burn up" thoughts and emotions on the Zafu.

I view this "burning up" as studying the mind and coming to know the mind creates lots of energy. The energy seems to dissipate as I forget my mind and get glimpses of "be one with all things". Just as they are. When even that just as they are is extra. (The burning analogy works for me just fine.)

[cdshrack]

I've been adrift in samsara for a while, allowing the recent pile of fuel that landed on my fire to burn as it would, and couldn't be bothered to add any more fuel by trying to add to such a lovely discussion.

Interestingly, it was the fires of cross-country skiing in boots that are far too large (as opposed to fires of the zafu) and surrendering to that lack of control which allowed me to surrender control to this newest rapid in the river of life.

Nothing to add, nothing to remove, just wanted to say hello.

cd

[wills]

Somebody once asked me,"Joko, do you think you're ever going to achieve great and final enlightenment?" I replied, "I hope a thought like that would never occur to me."

So to the point of practice. Let the distinctions that keep us separate go. "It's nothing more than parking your car, putting on your clothes, taking a walk." Let the cat in, put food in her bowl, type on keyboard. The jewel is in the present. Right here.

[paige]

Somebody once asked me,"Joko, do you think you're ever going to achieve great and final enlightenment?" I replied, "I hope a thought like that would never occur to me."

I'm glad that Joko said this, and so early in the book too.

One of the concepts people have about the differences between the Soto and Rinzai schools is that Rinzai Zen places more emphasis on kensho and other "peak experiences." But I'm not sure how true that really is.

Master Linji said quite a few very interesting things, but a quote of his that I quite like is

Those content with universal and profound awakening are but fellows carrying cangue and chains. Arhats and Pratyeka-Buddhas are like cesspits. Awakening and Nirvana are like tethering posts for donkeys.

And why is this so? Because, Followers of the Way, you fail to conceive the emptiness of three great world ages; this is the obstacle that blocks you.

Not so the True Man of the Way who goes with the concurrent causes to wipe out his old Karma and lets things follow their own course. He dresses himself as is fitting; when he wants to go, he goes; when he wants to stay, he stays. Not even for the fraction of a moment does he aspire to Buddhahood.

(Irmgard Schloegl's translation because it was the only one I could find online.)

I'm only a Zen student, but I often start to get a little headache right here *points to middle of forehead* when I hear people go on and on about Enlightenment and Jhanas (the 2nd one's a Vipassana thing I think). I'm just guessing, but are Zen teachers even more tired of hearing this over and over?

Edited to add that I don't think that it's wrong to ask a Zen teacher about enlightenment - especially for a beginner. I mean, it's practically the $64,000 Question of Buddhism. But it gets repetitive...

[wills]

paige, what is your understanding of "the emptiness of three great world ages". I've never heard of this before. I lead a sheltered existence,

Tozan's Verses on the Five Ranks is probably the definitive explanation of the process of awakening from a Soto Zen perspective. It sort of correlates with Vipassana's Jhanas. My teacher just finished an exploration of Tozan's Five Ranks where this was the topic of every teisho at most every 3, 5 & 7 day sesshin for a 2 year period. Not so sure I absorbed much from it.

[paige]

paige, what is your understanding of "the emptiness of three great world ages". I've never heard of this before.

Apparently, there are 3 great Ages of Dharma following the death of the Buddha. The first 1000 years are "shobo," the age of true Dharma. Followed by 1000 years of zoho, the age of "reflected" Dharma. The current age is Mappo, 10 000 years of Dharma decline. At the end of which, all the teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha will be forgotten, and his successor Maitreya will descend from the heavens to turn the Dharma wheel again.

According to this argument, the reason that so few people get enlightened or manifest magical powers, etc, is that we live in such degenerate times. The "degenerate age" idea is also part of the appeal of Shin Buddhism, people aren't able to practise the true Dharma anymore, so we're better off chanting the nembutsu to gain rebirth in Amidha's pureland. Because supposedly with each successive age (and parts of an age) it's become much more difficult to achieve awakening in one's lifetime and zazen doesn't work for people anymore.

Or something like that anyway. I can't say I've given the idea much thought - it seems every religion has their version of a lost Golden Age, and argues that the world has since fallen into degenerate times.

[wills]

Apparently, there are 3 great Ages of Dharma following the death of the Buddha. ...

I guess I had heard of this before. I had chalked it up to old mythology and discarded it from my memory bank. Thanks

[paige]

I guess I had heard of this before. I had chalked it up to old mythology and discarded it from my memory bank. Thanks

Well, I had to look up "shobo" and "zoho," but through association with a Jodo Shinshu priest, I hear quite a bit about how we live in the Dharma-ending age of mappo.

Linji's reference to the "emptiness of the 3 world ages" comes in the middle of an exhortation to his students to become more self-reliant instead of

fretting yourselves over the playthings of the old masters

Yeah, I pretty much filed it under mythology as well. I'm not a lapsed Catholic like Harry, but I've heard the "degenerate age" argument from Christians as the reason why God's stopped performing big miracles and talking out loud to people anymore. *shrug*