Grass Hut - 13 - "Everything's Included"

[RichardH]

It is hard to say if such an experience is helpful. it is free and that freedom includes the walls. I think the best words I can come up with is self-same. Everything is relative and co-arising, but every thing is self-same. These french fries and bottle of diet coke on the diner table are golden-ness, with tiny salt crystals. It is just like this. it is not a symbol of something else. It represents itself. These are french fries. The Heinz bottle is filled with cheaper ketchup, and vinegar has been added... vinegar tastes like vinegar and that is an expression of everything just right there.

French fry zen I guess.

Gassho

Daizan

sat today

[Jeremy]

.. each thing is intimately connected to every other thing, each thing is an expression of the interdependence of everything else, the whole universe is an expression of each individual thing, and each thing is exactly itself. In other words: everything is interdependent; you are just the universe expressing itself; your actions have infinite impact; and each thing is simply itself, you are you.

Hi Jundo,

Going back to where we started, I just finished reading the article you linked "Emptiness, Identity and Interpenetration in Hua-yen Buddhism" by Atif Khalil

https://www.academia.edu/1349994/Hua_Yen_Buddhism_Emptiness_Identity_Interpenetration_SW_

Thanks for the link - I have to say I loved it. Before reading this, statements such as "the rafter is the building; the building is the rafter", "one can find the entire desert contained in a grain of sand; each moment contains every other moment" sounded like nothing more than the inscrutable utterances of someone who'd been doing too much meditation . Now I at least get what they're talking about intellectually, even if I haven't yet had a taste of this Hua-yen sauce through practice!

Many thanks
Jeremy
Sat Today

[Risho]

Man, it has been crazy -- lots chopping water and carrying wood :P, so I haven't had time to post. But I have been sitting.

I do get glimpses of this. This practice allows me to see that this life is really important, to drop the pettiness, to drop the filtering. What I mean is that when I focus on problems or solutions at work, I have to really focus and filter down on the "problem space". Since I do that so much, life can begin to feel like a task or a series of problems to accomplish. But zen is this utter freedom from that.

Sure we still have to chop the wood, pay the bills, take care of the kids, etc, but each one of those things is really important not to be rushed through... wholeheartedness is a zen word for this and it really fits. From one perspective, this idea of "I am the universe" could be taken down a bad path; I'm the universe so you serve me, but since we are all the universe we are all important. Everyone is important, deserving of love and respect, deserving of food, education, healthcare... not a commodity to be exploited.

I've been thinking about that a lot. Even 2500 years later, this practice is absolutely revolutionary and transformational simply because we are responsible for all of this (from a perspective of course). We are all responsible for each other. I think that is an awesome way to live life. No matter what you do: raking leaves, taking out the garbage, smiling, zazen, you are living a full life.

When we harm others, we are harming ourselves. When we live (and I know I don't always do this; but Buddhism is so hopeful and optimistic, which is one of the reasons I love it) with purpose, practicing the precepts, trying not to harm, when we realize that all of this is also us, also our responsibility to take care of, it's just wonderful and beyond words. It gives me a reason to live frankly. It gives me something to practice and do that I know is worthwhile, something that is needed so desperately in this world. I forgot who said this, but not only is our life an amazing gift; I mean the fact that we are here right now, with this consciousness is simply mind blowing. It's even more spectacular that we have found this practice, this opportunity on how to give, on how to be less harmful. It's a privilege to be able to practice right now.

Gassho,

Risho
-sattoday

[orangedice]

Until now, many times for me compassion is kind of self imposed, like a discipline, because I have a tendency to be always reacting and defending and seeing others as competitors or even enemies. Zazen practice is gradually helping me to let go of those unskillful, negative feelings. And when they are totally gone I believe I will be able to act whith compassion naturally, without having to think and decide.

I feel the same way! Especially when it comes to compassion towards myself. But remembering the interconnectedness of all of us helps with compassion all around. I remember that we are all part of this world together and that helps.

This chapter and Jundo's metaphors have given me a better understanding of this, especially with the explanation that we are "the universe expressing itself." In a way, it reminds me of learning about Christianity when I went to church as a kid--"Jesus is in all of us." As a kid, I didn't understand, but it makes sense now.

Gassho,
June