Homeless Kodo's "TO YOU" - Chapters 9, 10 & 11

[Heikyo]

You go swimming every morning in cold water. So what? A goldfish does that all the time.
You’ve quit smoking? Yeah so what? A cat doesn’t smoke either.
However proud you are of how well you run after this and run away from that, it’s nothing more than wandering around in the world of impermanence.

This made me chuckle. These are achievements in the every day world, but they mean nothing to the universe. I think we can all be guilty in having excessive pride in our achievements and measuring them against other people. But at the end of the day we are all one, so what do those achievements actually mean?

Gassho
Paul
sat, LAH

[Nengyoku]

In zazen, the hips are rooted in the Earth, the top of the head pierces the sky.

The first time I sat meditation was with a guided meditation recording.
I remember the instructor saying to be aware of your surroundings. Not just the things in front of you, but to try and expand your awareness to the room around you. The sounds, the smells, the sensations.
And then to try and expand that further, listen to the cars on the street, or birdsong out the window.
And then further, to try and visualize for a moment the whole world as one seamless object, and to feel as though it were part of your awareness.
And then, to go even further, and try to visualize the entire universe. Everything. With nothing left out.

I remember trying to think "What does EVERYTHING look like?" And I couldn't do it. I just pictured myself, sitting in that room, trying to do it.

Now, looking back, maybe that was exactly me picturing everything. Trying to think of the universe just brings me back to me. Like Jundo says, I am just the Universe Nengyoku-ing, and the universe is just me universing.

To me, that's what I think of when I read "The top of the head pierces the sky".

Gassho,
Nengyoku
Sat

[Soka]

When you sit, you’ve got to be one with Truman, Stalin and Mao. One person sits for everyone, everyone sits as one.

A timely one when there are many people I know getting upset about Liz Truss. But it also reminds me of the importance of practicing compassion for those who I disagree with or who do awful things, and recognising that I am not so different to them.

Gassho,
Sōka
sat

[Onrin]

"If you don't have a clear, Buddhist approach to life, it would be better if you kept away from zazen practice."

This could be understood in a few ways I think. Brad Warner's latest book is about the importance of ethics in zen practice, and goes into some possible pitfalls of zazen or meditation practice without also studying and taking Buddhist precepts/ethics to heart.

But I can also see Zazen practice as a gateway to the study of Buddhist ethics, as it was for me.

"Only when you stop thinking'I do zazen' are you doing true zazen. page 61,chapter 11
Self-consciousness is the most persistent distraction from reality.
peace,Paul

[Heiso]

"In zazen, the hips are rooted in the earth, the top of the head pierces the sky"

Beautiful stuff.

Gassho

Heiso

StLah

Sent from my RMX2001 using Tapatalk

[Mokuso]

Chapter 9
“You've got to stand on solid feet, no matter what direction the wind might blow”

If you have no solid ground to stand on or something to support yourself against, sooner or later you will still fall over. Regardless of whether you believe that your way, thought and action is good. Which in and of itself happens sometimes in life anyway. But the case won't be as hard or heavy if you have a firm foundation or something supportive.

Chapter 10
“Eat in order to do zazen, sleep in order to do zazen. This means that eating and sleeping are also part of zazen.”

Zazen is not just sitting. You can do zazen in almost anything you do. Cleaning, walking, when you meet other people in conversation. For me it is being present in what I do. Not rushing in thought and thinking, what should i do next.

Gassho, Mokuso

[Jundo]

Hey Guys,

I will put a catch up week in here this time, so nobody feels that they need to rush ...

~~~~~~~~~



As it is a fairly easy read, and chapters are rather short, consisting mostly of small quotes, we will take a few chapters at a time. This week, Chapters 9, 10 and 11.

The rules of the game are pretty easy: Just mention here, in our discussion, any quotes (none, one or many) that ring your bell and resonate with you, and briefly say why.

That's it!

If you need a version to "cut and paste" a quote, there is one here. However, PLEASE PURCHASE THE ACTUAL BOOK! I ask everyone to use the following only for ease in cutting and pasting a quote or two into this discussion, not for purposes of reading the entire book. Thank you!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13v2mybc4y3kiro9cIny5rnkWOVaVAXf_/view?usp=sharing

What trips your trigger, strikes your fancy, inspires and makes your day? Try to say why it does so for you. (You can also feel free to disagree with Ol' Kodo too, but be prepared to say why!)

Gassho, Jundo

STLah