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Hi Paul,
I am really not as "up" on the situation in Europe as I should be, and my impression is that troubled groups are really few and far between. However, if you identify some places, I will put you in contact with a couple of people who are familiar (such as Taigu).
Gassho, JALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLEComment
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Being a reactionary type non doing and patience has always been a problem . always a balancing act between that and real action. If we just relax with patience so many more possibilities unfold.
Joyo, sometimes my demons visit in my sleep so I may have to practice sleeping Zen 😊 -)
Sat today_/_
Rich
MUHYO
無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...
https://instagram.com/notmovingmindComment
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The subject of The Middle Way has always had a lot of meaning for me, as well as presented conflict in my practice.
Back when I was first learning of Zen and basics it was the first phrase or idea that really grabbed hold of me and my attention. I think this is due to what I identify as one of my main "struggles" in this life which I see as the social extremes of the world around me. I always seem to be looking for a balance between caring too much about what is going on in the world, usually focusing on the negative since that seems to be what is thrust upon us, and just wanting to shut down and tune it all out.
I feel neither is a healthy or wise option, so I use the concept of the Middle Way to try to refocus my energy on what really matters, and the things I can affect in a positive way.
The pressures and anxiety of the world is still there, and often sneaks its way in, but I try to use what I have learned and make it all just another part of my path down the Middle Way of my practice. I do not know if that is the correct intent of The Middle Way, but it is my interpretation and a sort of guide post for when I need to reset my perspective.
It is not easy.
Gassho~ Hogo
Sat Today.Comment
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It seems to me that our own practice is very much a 'Middle Way' in itself. With 'sitting' itself largely being a monastic practice rather than a lay practice in Japan and the rest of Asia, in some ways we are 'less lay' than, for example, Japanese lay Zen Buddhists might be. At the same time, most of us are clearly not 'home-leavers'... A wonderful balance...
Gassho,
Anshu/Bryson
sat today
PS have been away a bit; trying to catch up to the threads...!
Last edited by Anshu Bryson; 04-06-2015, 07:21 AM.Comment
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Hi All,
For me, it is retreat that makes engagement in the world possible. I don’t think at all of retreat as doing without; I am more than happy to set aside the phone, stop talking, let the choppy waves of movement, thought and action settle to ripples and, sometimes, to glassy stillness. The world often overwhelms me and exhausts me, seems to take all I have and then a little more. Daiyo asks if we should put other’s needs above one’s practice... I really feel I have more to give others when I give myself what I need first. The world will always clamor for attention, and there is no end to the demands and the to-do list. This year I’ve been noticing the difference between what seems urgent and what is important... they are often very different things.
There are really few days that I can’t take 30 minutes -- about 3% of the waking day -- to sit. Without this retreat I get pulled down into the whirlpool. Retreat allows me to find my center of gravity, float instead of splashing around, swim instead of sinking. Retreat can be anything from one fully mindful breath to a week in silent sitting. I have 2 jobs and live in the middle of nowhere, and I’ve never been to a proper sesshin, but I make retreat days, or half-days, at home whenever I can. Learning to set boundaries, and finding that the world will not end if I withdraw for a day or two, allows me to give more fully, more energetically, and more open-heartedly than just rushing endlessly forward, never saying no, always running on empty. This I guess is my middle way, knowing that making space for “my” practice allows me to engage more fully with life: my own issues, and the needs of others. It gives me concentration, calm, ease and a more willing and open heart to bring to situations and people.
Gassho
Lisa
sat today展道 渺寛 Tendō Byōkan
Please take my words with a big grain of salt. I know nothing. Wisdom is only found in our whole-hearted practice together.Comment
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Do I exist or not? Does the Cartesian phrase "I think therefore I am" really expresses my reality, who I truly am?
Or am I a figment of my deluded mind and there is really no solid I, merely a convenient point of view, necessary to manage daily living on this samasaric plane, even if it grows in importance and attachments become crusty, painful misinterpreted entanglements obscuring Reality?
Atman, is Sanskrit for soul, the solid I, something that will transcend death.
Its opposite pole is Anatman, no soul.
One extreme has us worried about saving our immortal soul the other drives us to nihilism. The Middle Way of which Shakyamuni Buddha speaks is a way between these two poles. Buddhists call it emptiness, for lack of a better word.
Suniata, emptiness of self existence is something with no form, taste or any quality we can see or feel with our six senses, but that it's always ready to take on any form, or smell, o color, over and over in a continuum of wonderful awareness, of wondrous Reality.
Uchiyama roshi repeats many times that we should practice the Buddhadharma only for the sake of the Buddhadharma without wanting to achieve anything extra.
Personally, I find tremendous consolation in these word even as I can not grasp this wondrous reality with reason. Ben does us a great service by speaking of it in these simple terms even as many teachers stay away from even mentioning Buddhadharma...too complicated, they say, and I do defer to them. But others say gotta say something.
I was corrected by a teacher recently when I spoke of MY practice. He said no, not YOUR practice, just practice, the I is extra.
Sat2dayLast edited by Ed; 04-06-2015, 01:06 PM."Know that the practice of zazen is the complete path of buddha-dharma and nothing can be compared to it....it is not the practice of one or two buddhas but all the buddha ancestors practice this way."
Dogen zenji in Bendowa
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This is brilliant, thank you for sharing!! I am not an easy going person, at least not naturally. So **my** practice can sometimes become rigid, or I become overly critical of myself, expecting way too much perfection. So today, dropping the my, and just practice, for no other reason. This is exactly what I needed to read today. Many thanks.
Gassho,
Joyo
sat todayComment
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Gassho
Meishin
Sat todayComment
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Joyo, read some ZEN MIND BEGINNER'S MIND of Suzuki-roshi.
I have the discs read by Peter Coyote. I keep them in my car. After literally years of listening to them off and on, I can tell you there is often something new, or something I had never heard before or in the same way.
Zazen is self-criticism but with a soft, detached hand. Expecitng/demanding things from our practice is useless; and yet in consistency of practice, things do happen, just not usually what we expected, but almost certainly what is needed.
"Know that the practice of zazen is the complete path of buddha-dharma and nothing can be compared to it....it is not the practice of one or two buddhas but all the buddha ancestors practice this way."
Dogen zenji in Bendowa
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Yes, the I is extra. Thanks for the reminder.
SAT today_/_
Rich
MUHYO
無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...
https://instagram.com/notmovingmindComment
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Thank you, Ed. I have often listened to this book on youtube. It is wonderful, although somewhat overwhelming as I cannot remember all the good stuff that he says.
I put the teaching you posted by Uchiyama Roshi on my kitchen whiteboard as a good reminder throughout the day.
Gassho,
Joyo
sat todayComment
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Nindo, yes, no nihilism in Buddhism, just an open field of liberation with no form, ready to take on any form.
Glad you pointed that out because it is a stumbling block. Once we hear no soul, we go 'ah no worries, everything goes.'
I was a hippy in the late '60's and early '70's and we did struggle witht the free-love, drop conventions trip.
The more free I thought I was the more crap I was accumulating, both materail and spiritual not to mention mental.
In gratitude,
Ed"Know that the practice of zazen is the complete path of buddha-dharma and nothing can be compared to it....it is not the practice of one or two buddhas but all the buddha ancestors practice this way."
Dogen zenji in Bendowa
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