Book of equanimity case 5

[Taigu]

'What is the ultimate meaning of the Buddhadharma?'
Seigan replied : 'what does the rice cost in Roryo?'

Most of the time we have an over idealized perception of the path with flying boddhisatvas and great awakening feasts. We are waiting for the Disney-Buddha land show, the cosmic parade, the Barnum Dharma freak show.
Rice, guys. Just food. plain food. Its price. Just that. Nothing less, nothing more.

'Go and wash your bowl.'
'The tree in the garden'.
'A shit stick.'

Answers pointing atthe ordinary mind. Ordinary life, ordinary activity.
The nothing special you should not make special ( that s why mindfulness is nt necessary, no need for a watcher, just do and don t make a spiritual fuss about it)

How not to fall into this smell, this stench of Zen?

How do you get carried away by expectations and dreams?how and to what could you pay more attention?
How can shopping be the unfolding of the Buddhadharma? What do we add or take away to these simple things we do in our life? How not to?

How to live the uncomplicated?


Gassho


Taigu

https://youtu.be/QbsmIDLGONY

[Myoku]

I must admit I already read this chapter last weekend.

The first thing coming to my mind when reading this case was ..."don't intellectualize, just do" which seems to be the message. Coming to this view, I put aside the book and prepared lunch for the family, no longer moving this in my head. But there was still that "watcher", seeing me reading this and then preparing lunch. What really hits me in your comment Taigu, is "...no mindfulness necessary." because if I would have to give someone a one word instruction to buddhism it would be Mindfullness or Awareness. So I went wrong :-D

How to live uncomplicated ? Just do! But to just do one needs to omit adding all kinds of thoughts and drama, to omit it needs awareness until "just doing" has become a habit. No ? Well, I see awareness can be something added, but maybe its not ? I dont know :-D

Gassho
Myoku

[Tb]

'What is the ultimate meaning of the Buddhadharma?'
Seigan replied : 'what does the rice cost in Roryo?'

Most of the time we have an over idealized perception of the path with flying boddhisatvas and great awakening feasts. We are waiting for the Disney-Buddha land show, the cosmic parade, the Barnum Dharma freak show.
Rice, guys. Just food. plain food. Its price. Just that. Nothing less, nothing more.

'Go and wash your bowl.'
'The tree in the garden'.
'A shit stick.'

Answers pointing atthe ordinary mind. Ordinary life, ordinary activity.
The nothing special you should not make special ( that s why mindfulness is nt necessary, no need for a watcher, just do and don t make a spiritual fuss about it)

How not to fall into this smell, this stench of Zen?

How do you get carried away by expectations and dreams?how and to what could you pay more attention?
How can shopping be the unfolding of the Buddhadharma? What do we add or take away to these simple things we do in our life? How not to?

How to live the uncomplicated?


Gassho


Taigu

Hi.

_/\_

Mtfbwy
Fugen

[Rimon]

No mindfulness necessary

Like Myoku, I was struck when reading that mindfulness is not necessary. But yes, that is one of the common tales of Disney-Buddha-Land: the uberbeing that is able to keep awareness 24 hours day, from drinking coffee to farting, nothing scapes his all-mighty awareness.
And I've been so attached to that tale, dreaming of one day to become something like that...

Time to wake up. Time to live the uncomplicated life

Gassho

[andyZ]

'What is the ultimate meaning of the Buddhadharma?'

Being able to post this very message.

[Al]

Watch yourself swing in both directions. Do not become so reverent toward the cracks, the tree outside the window, or the muddy step that you forget to offer reverence to Buddha, to ceremony, and to peace.

[Jiken]

I read this and I found myself trying extremely hard to craft a proper, enlightened zen response. Caught! (this is not my clever response i'm just being honest haha) Now I stop.

Thank you for the teaching

[Myoku]

I read this and I found myself trying extremely hard to craft a proper, enlightened zen response.

Wonderful ...
_()_
Myoku

[Thane]

Hi Taigu

I really enjoyed your remarks about this koan. They were straight to the point. When i first read case 5, i felt a bit stumped by it. Perhaps i was looking for the flying Bodhisattva kind of answer. But no, nothing mystical, just rice, nothing more, nothing less. Ah how my monkey mind can hope for more! Great teaching in this short koan. Thank you.

Gassho

Thane

[Heisoku]

How to live the uncomplicated?

Still practising this..... Zazen helps!

An old man of 105 years was asked the secret of a happy life. His reply was, 'be good'...simple!

[Daisho]

Maybe the guy who came up with the Alcoholics Anonymous slogan "Keep It Simple" was a Buddhist!

[RichardH]

How do you get carried away by expectations and dreams?how and to what could you pay more attention?
How can shopping be the unfolding of the Buddhadharma? What do we add or take away to these simple things we do in our life? How not to?

How to live the uncomplicated?

There is nothing I can do to drop dreams and live uncomplicated.... because anything I do is a contrivance of dropping dreams and living uncomplicated. The stink of simple. All I can do is dream and be complicated, and fall down over and over..... until these bones give up dreams on their own.

Gassho, kojip.

[Heisoku]

No path,no wisdom and no gain.
No gain thus bodhisattvas live this Prajnaparamita with no hindrance of mind.
No hindrance therefore no fear.

Uncomplicated.

[Rich]

water flows
water goes
pay attention

[Jinyo]

I must admit I already read this chapter last weekend.

The first thing coming to my mind when reading this case was ..."don't intellectualize, just do" which seems to be the message. Coming to this view, I put aside the book and prepared lunch for the family, no longer moving this in my head. But there was still that "watcher", seeing me reading this and then preparing lunch. What really hits me in your comment Taigu, is "...no mindfulness necessary." because if I would have to give someone a one word instruction to buddhism it would be Mindfullness or Awareness. So I went wrong :-D

How to live uncomplicated ? Just do! But to just do one needs to omit adding all kinds of thoughts and drama, to omit it needs awareness until "just doing" has become a habit. No ? Well, I see awareness can be something added, but maybe its not ? I dont know :-D

Gassho
Myoku

I don't feel you went 'wrong' Myoku - I see practicing mindfulness (Thich Nhat Hahn makes sense to me) as a way of 'undoing' all that we pick up through life that gets in the way of our natural ability to 'just be'. Perhaps it is a little self conscious at the start but hopefully it becomes more natural over time.

Regarding the koan - asking the ultimate meaning of anything is problematic. 'What is the ultimate meaning of life' or 'what is the ultimate meaning of truth'. We have no secure answers for these questions - and all is relative.

Gassho

Willow