The second of 108 Gates of dharma Illumination

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  • Shokai
    Dharma Transmitted Priest
    • Mar 2009
    • 6399

    The second of 108 Gates of dharma Illumination

    The Second Gate: Pure Mind/Heart

    Pure mind is a gate of Dharma Illumination for (with it) there is no defilement. (Nishijima/Cross)
    Pure heart is a gate of realizing dharma; it is not defiled. (Tanahashi)

    Gate Gatha:
    May we, together with all buddhas;
    Clarify our thoughts,
    That our hearts may become free of defilement.

    Reflection Prompts:

    What do you think of when you think of “defilements”?

    Why do you suppose heart and mind are referred to as one ?

    Capping Verse:
    Sky of purest blue
    Nothing sticks
    Not even the blue


    Gassho, Shokai
    stlah
    合掌,生開
    gassho, Shokai

    仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

    "Open to life in a benevolent way"

    https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/
  • Matt Johnson
    Member
    • Jun 2024
    • 500

    #2
    Some say, “Civilization begins with the distance we place between ourselves and our waste.”

    In rural areas, this idea is reflected in practical terms—codes dictate how far a septic system must be from a well, ensuring clean water for drinking.

    Yet, anyone familiar with farming knows that crops thrive in manure. As I’ve noted before, my experiences with subsistence gardening have shown both the benefits and risks of using raw sewage as fertilizer.

    This underscores an essential truth: the line between what we call pure and impure is not absolute. Manure, considered unclean in one context, becomes the key to growth in another. In the case of waste becoming fertilizer, the distinction is simply a matter of time. Eventually, what was once impure transforms into something that sustains life.

    Just don't rush it or you might get sick...

    _/\_
    sat/ah
    matt

    Comment

    • Houzan
      Member
      • Dec 2022
      • 539

      #3
      Loved the capping verse!

      Defilements are not negative. The just are. Nothing to get rid off, just to be free from, meaning we are free to use them when we want and put down when we need. It is the top down processing, the conceptual overlay of our experience. Great tools, but just tools.

      Gassho, Hōzan
      satlah

      Comment

      • Koriki
        Member
        • Apr 2022
        • 268

        #4
        I see "pure mind" in this as akin to observing without judging, comparing, narrating, etc. A defilement in this case would be adding some evaluation or judgment to an observation. It seems like if you are able to have a pure mind more frequently that you would have less judgments in your heart.

        Gassho,
        Koriki
        s@lah

        Comment

        • ZenJay
          Member
          • Apr 2024
          • 226

          #5
          I agree, with pure mind, all is Buddha and all “defilement” is swept away…

          Heart and mind are one just as all are part of the one beyond “oneness”. “Not even the blue sticks”… there is no division. Thought and emotion, emotion and thought, all intertwined, along with no emotion, and no thought… when realized in pure mind, the heart is purified as well.

          Gassho,
          Jay

          sat/lah today

          Comment

          • Tairin
            Member
            • Feb 2016
            • 2853

            #6
            Things just are. “Defilements” arises in one’s mind only.


            Tairin
            sat today and lah
            泰林 - Tai Rin - Peaceful Woods

            Comment

            • Shokai
              Dharma Transmitted Priest
              • Mar 2009
              • 6399

              #7
              108 Defilements:
               While investigating the number 108 I became curious about these 108 defilements (also called "impure thoughts", "vices" or "evils", or "earthly desires") and wanted to get a list. I found the following items at this page. I put them in alphabetical order, then added definitions (from the Oxford American dictionary) for any words I did not know. Later articles, such as this one quote my text including the added definitions. I provide some other sources in the footnotes section. In the list I found, the 108 items appear to have been translated roughly into English. Note some apparent duplications (for example, "deceit" and "deception"; "disrespect" and "disrespectfulness"). I believe these result from the imperfection of translation from the original language/culture into English. abuse; aggression; ambition; anger; arrogance; baseness; blasphemy; calculation; callousness; capriciousness (unaccountable changes of mood or behavior); censoriousness (being severely critical of others); conceitedness; contempt; cruelty; cursing; debasement; deceit; deception; delusion; derision; desire for fame; dipsomania (alcoholism characterized by intermittent bouts of craving); discord; disrespect; disrespectfulness; dissatisfaction; dogmatism; dominance; eagerness for power; effrontery (insolent or impertinent behavior); egoism; enviousness; envy; excessiveness; faithlessness; falseness; furtiveness; gambling; garrulity (tediously talking about trivial matters); gluttony; greed; greed for money; grudge; hard-heartedness; hatred; haughtiness; high-handedness; hostility; humiliation; hurt; hypocrisy; ignorance; imperiousness (assuming power or authority without justification); imposture (pretending to be someone else in order to deceive); impudence; inattentiveness; indifference; ingratitude; insatiability; insidiousness; intolerance; intransigence (unwilling or refusing to change one's views or to agree about something); irresponsibility; jealousy; know-it-all; lack of comprehension; lecherousness; lying; malignancy; manipulation; masochism; mercilessness; negativity; obsession; obstinacy; obstinacy; oppression; ostentatiousness; pessimism; prejudice; presumption; pretence; pride; prodigality (spending money or using resources freely and recklessly); quarrelsomeness; rage; rapacity (being aggressively greedy or grasping); ridicule; sadism; sarcasm; seducement; self-denial; self-hatred; sexual lust; shamelessness; stinginess; stubbornness; torment; tyranny; unkindness; unruliness; unyielding; vanity; vindictiveness; violence; violent temper; voluptuousness; wrath


              Ten Defilements:
              1. greed (lobha)
              2. hatred (dosa)
              3. delusion (moha)
              4. conceit (māna)
              5. wrong views (micchāditthi)
              6. doubt (vicikicchā)
              7. torpor (thīna)
              8. restlessness (uddhacca)
              9. shamelessness (ahirika)
              10. recklessness (anottappa)[
              Three Defilements:
              https://tricycle.org/magazine/three-defilements/

              There are three defilements in Buddhist psychology that typically translated into English as greed, hate, and delusion. These three defilements are derived from the Buddha’s formulation of the Four Noble Truths. In accord with the Buddha’s teaching and the evidence of my own experience, they comprise the source of most human suffering.
              Last edited by Shokai; Today, 02:27 PM.
              合掌,生開
              gassho, Shokai

              仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

              "Open to life in a benevolent way"

              https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/

              Comment

              • BikeZen
                Member
                • Jan 2024
                • 88

                #8
                Defile . . . https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defile:

                as in to pollute, to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable.

                as in to violate, to treat (a sacred place or object) shamefully or with great disrespect.

                The list of defilements seems to be aligned with actions or behaviours that lead to negative karma and are antithetical with enlightenment or bodhi mind.

                The antonyms purify, clarify, honor and respect would be actions aligned with the precepts and lead to positive karma.

                A heart and mind (i think are the same thing as the heart "muscle" is distinct from the heart "emotional generator" which is from the mind) can be clean or dirty or variations in between based on our actions and our practice, conditions and causes.

                Gassho,
                Bill
                Sat

                Comment

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