The Seventy-eighth Gate:
Read the following, place it in your heart and sleep on it. Then, tomorrow, live it until evening when you can leave a brief comment on what you may have received during the process.
Right action is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] there is no karma and no retribution.
A “Dharma Gate” is a teaching or practice that can lead to spiritual growth: some kind of positive outcome in terms of our practice. A way to approach the truth.
Koan:
Action is probably the most visible part of our Buddhist persona. It’s how we judge and are judged on our Buddhistness. Are we vegetarians? Can we support the death penalty? What happens if, as a child, we stole a chocolate treat at the drug store? Will we need to wait another 10 kalpas to drink the nectar of liberation, because of a one night stand we had in our twenties? We’ll be challenged by others and we will challenge ourselves on how well we emulate the model. But really, can we possibly live true to Buddha’s rule book?
Most note worthy replies:
Through Right Action
We avoid doing harm
And try to only do good
Though I walk on water
the surface tension holds,
as I tread lightly.
Walking on firm ground
We sink not
And leave no footprints
gassho, Shokai
stlah
Read the following, place it in your heart and sleep on it. Then, tomorrow, live it until evening when you can leave a brief comment on what you may have received during the process.
Right action is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] there is no karma and no retribution.
A “Dharma Gate” is a teaching or practice that can lead to spiritual growth: some kind of positive outcome in terms of our practice. A way to approach the truth.
Koan:
Action is probably the most visible part of our Buddhist persona. It’s how we judge and are judged on our Buddhistness. Are we vegetarians? Can we support the death penalty? What happens if, as a child, we stole a chocolate treat at the drug store? Will we need to wait another 10 kalpas to drink the nectar of liberation, because of a one night stand we had in our twenties? We’ll be challenged by others and we will challenge ourselves on how well we emulate the model. But really, can we possibly live true to Buddha’s rule book?
Most note worthy replies:
Through Right Action
We avoid doing harm
And try to only do good
Though I walk on water
the surface tension holds,
as I tread lightly.
Walking on firm ground
We sink not
And leave no footprints
gassho, Shokai
stlah
)
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