The First of the 108 Gates Of Dharma Illumination

[Shokai]

Gate One
Once again, This time around we will review the Gates by reading the following, placing it in your heart and sleeping on it. Then, tomorrow, live and practice it until evening when you leave a brief comment as to how it affected you.

Right belief is a gate of Dharma-illumination; for [with it] the steadfast mind is not broken.

By “Dharma Gate”, we mean a teaching or practice we can study and explore to gain insights that deepen our practice. It's a way to integrate our understanding of approaching reality; one method is to research and study koans such as:

"One day a monk asked Master Hogen, I have heard that in your teachings you say that from the fundamental, which does not stay, all things and mental phenomena are established.. What is this fundamental that does not stay? Master Hogen said: Form appears from something not physical, and name arises from that which cannot be named."

-Master Dogen's Shinji Shobogenzo / Nishijima 3-55

Can you relate this to Gate #1
One poetic response to this question was:

Finding right belief
Is as elusive
As the bits of my broken mind.

Gassho, Shokai

[Koriki]

"...name arises from that which cannot be named."

I appreciate this part of the koan as, to me, it reminds me of the hinderance that our need to label everything becomes. Eventually, that name embodies the characteristics of all other things that are labeled the same and we end up not experiencing that thing as it really is.

Gassho,
Koriki

s@lah

[Jishin]

The First of the 108 Gates Of Dharma Illumination



Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

[Kaitan]

name arises from that which cannot be named

This reminds me the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching: what can be named is not the true Tao

Gassho

stlah, Bernal

[Doshin]

I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name, It felt good to be out of the rain, In the desert you can’t remember your name…by America

The koan brought that memory to the surface for me

Happy Holidays

Doshin
Stlah

[Tai Do]

Thank you, Shokai, for bringing bringing us the Gates – I wait all year for them.

The Dharma is always encountered but rarely perceived. In bringing right belief to our day, we are able to have a glimpse of the nameless in the ten thousand named things.
Gassho,
Tai Do
Satlah

[Tairin]

Thank you Shokai

For me part of Right Belief involves refreshing and reenergizing my practice when doubts arise and I start to revert back to a view assessing my goals and purpose for following this path.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Seikan]

Thank you for leading this practice once again Shokai.

Right out of the gate (pun intended), Right Belief challenges us to put our faith/trust in that which can not be broken so that we ourselves do not lose our way. But what is it that we can rely on that will never lead us astray?


trust in the unknown
for the known
is unknowable


Gassho,
Seikan

-stlah-

[Nengei]

This koan reminds me of the Abhidharma, with conditioned and unconditioned dharmas. That which is timeless yet evanescent, coming together to create form that only seems to never change. Right belief comes and is maintained with practice and study, with the awareness that even what seems most fundamental and unchanging is fleeting.

Gassho,
Nengei
Sat today. LAH.

[Shokai]

Koriki, Jishin, Bernal,Doshin ( and, the horse said,' It's Larry, dammit !! ), Taido, Tairin, Seikan and Nengei; Thank you for all the good stuff. Looks like it could be an awesome run this year.

gassho, Shokai
stlah

[Do Mi]

Thank you, Shokei!

For me, right beliefs comes only from the unknown.

Gassho,

Do Misat and lah

[Shokai]

[Shonin Risa Bear]

Before every gate, there is a frog sitting motionless on a lily pad. The frog is not mistaken.

gassho
ds sat toady

[Chikyou]

"Right belief" immediately calls to my mind the Precepts, and the Four Vows: avoiding delision and separation.

As for the koan...form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form.

Gassho,
SatLah
Kelly