Homeless Kodo's "TO YOU" - Chapters 21, 22 & 23

[Jundo]

Dear All,

Moving on, although no place to go ...

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 21, 22 and 23.

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

[Onrin]

"The normal state of mind means ceasefire. Without preferences, without animosity, without winning and without losing, without good and evil, without joy and pain - that's everyday mind."

Being ok with everything as it is, just being sad when sad etc... is one thing, and not getting stuck being sad, or annoyed is another side of that constant struggle. I'm thankful that (hopefully) I intellectually understand it but remembering it when needed is something else, difficult, and the reason I keep reading, doing zazen, and otherwise practice remembering to be the everyday mind. I don't think zazen can replace talking with another trusted person as a part of this, at least for myself.

Gassho,
Chris

[Tai Do]

Chapter 21:

Heaven and earth give, air gives, water gives, plants give, animals give, humans give. All things give of themselves to each other. It’s only within this reciprocal giving that we can survive regardless of whether we’re thankful for it or not.

Nobody was granted life due to their personal merit. No one can live just by using their own strength. But nonetheless, we’re all still only concerned with our own
pocketbook.

These two quotes showed me the interconnectedness of all things and how our most cherished things, like life itself, weren't the result of any merit of ours.

Chapter 22:

When you talk about heaven, you squeeze heaven into a frame. True god is the god who has forgotten god; who has even stopped being god.

It kind of not only describes Reality, Emptiness, but also our zazen, when the Self forgets the Self and even stops being the Self.

Even if we say that just practicing zazen is enough, we still have to eat when we’re hungry, and when our money runs out, we’ve got to go begging. But if we’re not
careful, we’ll make a routine out of that. However good what we do is, as soon as it becomes routine, it isn’t any good anymore. We mustn’t hold on to anything. It’s a matter of being free and unhindered.

For someone like me who loves routines and tends to add a lot to them, it becomes easy to let go of good things because they don't mean what they meant anymore and now I am trapped in them. True freedom only comes when the repetitive actions I have or want to do are done mindfully and without holding to any results.


Chapter 23:

Every single day of your life in society is a test, and your whole life long you mustn’t fail. That goes above all for the mind that saves suffering beings.

To be in the Bodhisattva Path is to be teste day after day in our compassion and loving-kindness. And it is so easy to forget it and let the opportunity to help other sentient beings pass without landing a hand.

Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah

[paulashby]

page 123: Losing is awakening. Winning is illusion.

Reflection: Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Homeless Kodo, Peace Pilgrim what a bunch of losers!
They owned no towers, they built no walls to keep people out, they made no billions that winner's claim.
To stick on labels for winners and losers is a game of delusion.
The burglar thinking himself a winner, ran off with even Ryokan's clothes leaving behind a naked Ryokan who would have given
him the glorious moon.
peace,Paul

[Nengyoku]

Stupidity is being preoccupied with your own body. Wisdom is saying, "I am what I am, no matter where things end up.

I like this one a lot.
I've been fairly sick the last week, and this thinking helped me with the worst of it. Whenever I would notice myself resisting the situation I would realize this, that there is no separation between myself and the illness. If I am sick then that just simply is what I am. Just let it be.
So many of our problems could be solved by thinking this way.

Gassho,
Nengyoku
SatLah

[Tairin]

You speak loudly of "reality," but reality is nothing fixed. Everything is impermanent.

There were a couple of quotes on impermanence. This one stood out to me as it takes away the anchor that the concept of reality provides. But what is reality? Hmmmm

Don't squeeze the way of Buddha into any frame.

Like the popular quote about the finger pointing at the moon, this one says to me don’t try to constrain Buddha and put it in a box or in this case a frame.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Mokuso]

"we are constantly deceived by our own body and soul, and we do not even realize it."

This was one of the quotes that stuck with me.

Gassho. Mokuso.

[Heikyo]

These two quotes struck me for their simplicity, highlighting how we are all part of everything, even the most insignificant things.

Every potato, no matter how small, has something to do with you. Every teacup concerns you.

Each place fills heaven and earth; every instant is eternal.

Gassho
Paul
Sat today, LAH

[Shinchi]

From chapter 22:
"Practice isn't something that you can pile up. Don't make it into a tool for anything either. Every aspect of daily life has got to be the practice of buddha.

It isn't good to wolf down your meal in order to practice zazen afterwards. We don't eat in order to work either. Just eat naturally. During your meal, just eat. Eating is practice."

I have definitely been guilty of rushing through things in order to jump into the SSR on time in the past. An important reminder that all of life is practice.

Gassho,
Steve
stlah

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

[Guest]

Simply doing what’s good for nothing isn’t so easy. Practicing it means dropping
off body and mind, body and mind dropped off.

I have a good friend of mine who is a Dharma Teacher in the Shambala tradition (his teacher was Trungpa Rinpoche). He said to me once that meditation is the wisdom of doing nothing and no one wants to do nothing. To that I say, people may certainly find it boring to just sit there. But, I find zazen to be like water, it has no flavor, but it quenches the thirst like no other.

As Kodo says, it is not easy. Many people think it is pointless to just sit there. But, there is such a tremendous freedom that comes out of just sitting with no gaining ideal.

Gassho,

Bill (Daiman)

Sat Today

[Chikyou]

Heaven and earth give, air gives, water gives, plants give, animals give, humans give. All things give of themselves to each other. It’s only within this reciprocal giving that we can survive regardless of whether we’re thankful for it or not.

Beautiful. I really try to remember this daily, and live with gratitude.

You speak loudly of "reality", but reality is nothing fixed. Everything is impermanent.

I'm finding the concept of impermanence more and more comforting these days. As the old saying goes, "this too shall pass".

Gassho,
SatLah
Kelly

[ZenKen]

From Chapter 22

Even if we say that just practising zazen is enough, we still have to eat when we're hungry, and when our money runs out, we've got to go begging. But if we're not careful, we'll make a routine out of that. However good what we do is, as soon as it becomes routine, it isn't any good anymore. We mustn't hold on to anything. It's a matter of being free and unhindered.

The last line of this confused me for a while, and then I realised it meant sincerity. If we chant the meal gatha without thinking, we're not being sincere and the routine of it drains it of 'goodness'. The same with zazen. Instead of sitting because it's time to sit, we sit because that's what needs to be done at this moment. It's not routine; it's doing the next thing that needs doing and choosing to do it - being free and unhindered, not tied down. Choosing to do things instead of 'having' to do them or because it's 'time' to do them.

I found this saying really powerful and it helps to reframe things when I feel like I'm slipping into a routine.

Gassho,
Anna
stlah

[Buyo]

Ch 21 & 22 covers some familiar ground about ‘wanting’ for more stuff, including happiness itself (well, being happy isn’t bad, its being attached to wanting to be happy all the time..). A common modern dilemma that I catch my own thoughts drifting into.
“To practice the way of Buddha means to completely live out this present moment, which is our whole life, here and now.” A fairly fundamental statement, a lot just comes down to this doesn’t it?

Steve
Sat