Gate Eighty-two
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 balanced state is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we attain undistracted samādhi.
Right Balanced State : being in harmony and properly aligned with all dharmas and the universe.
By “Dharma Gate”, We mean 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:
"According to Theravadin monk and scholar, Bhikkhu Bodhi, the word upekkha in the past has been mistranslated as "indifference," which has caused many in the West to believe, mistakenly, that Buddhists are supposed to be detached and unconcerned with other beings. What it really means is to not be ruled by passions, desires, likes, and dislikes.
The Bhikkhu continues, "It is evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of mind, a state of inner equipoise that cannot be upset by gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being ofone's fellow human beings." We can also look to the life of the Buddha for guidance. After his enlightenment, he certainly did not live in a state of indifference. Instead, he spent 45 years actively teaching the dharma to others.
The Buddha taught that we are constantly being pulled in one direction or another by things or conditions we either want or hope to avoid. These include praise and blame, pleasure and pain, success and failure, gain and loss. The wise person, the Buddha said, accepts all without approval or disapproval. This forms the core of the " The Middle Way that forms the core of Buddhist practice. "
Originally Posted by Nengei: "My mind recently has been seeing a vision of practice as a sphere or bearing following a light scratch of a spiral as it spins out from a center point. The bearing only stays in the groove if it is allowed to proceed without any pushing in any direction; otherwise, it moves out of the pathway easily. But then it can be allowed to settle right back into the groove, and keep moving toward it's never-approaching destination."
Originally Posted by Seikan: "With this gate, my mind keeps returning to an image of a spinning toy top. For some reason, that seems to represent the kind of balance that we’re practicing. The universe is in perpetual motion, yet there is a calm stillness at the center of it all. Residing in that stillness, we can see the whole world more clearly."
合掌 仁道 生開 - gassho, Jindo 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 balanced state is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we attain undistracted samādhi.
Right Balanced State : being in harmony and properly aligned with all dharmas and the universe.
By “Dharma Gate”, We mean 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:
"According to Theravadin monk and scholar, Bhikkhu Bodhi, the word upekkha in the past has been mistranslated as "indifference," which has caused many in the West to believe, mistakenly, that Buddhists are supposed to be detached and unconcerned with other beings. What it really means is to not be ruled by passions, desires, likes, and dislikes.
The Bhikkhu continues, "It is evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of mind, a state of inner equipoise that cannot be upset by gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being ofone's fellow human beings." We can also look to the life of the Buddha for guidance. After his enlightenment, he certainly did not live in a state of indifference. Instead, he spent 45 years actively teaching the dharma to others.
The Buddha taught that we are constantly being pulled in one direction or another by things or conditions we either want or hope to avoid. These include praise and blame, pleasure and pain, success and failure, gain and loss. The wise person, the Buddha said, accepts all without approval or disapproval. This forms the core of the " The Middle Way that forms the core of Buddhist practice. "
-Barbara O'Brien's Learning Religions; link here
Most note worthy replies :
Originally Posted by Nengei: "My mind recently has been seeing a vision of practice as a sphere or bearing following a light scratch of a spiral as it spins out from a center point. The bearing only stays in the groove if it is allowed to proceed without any pushing in any direction; otherwise, it moves out of the pathway easily. But then it can be allowed to settle right back into the groove, and keep moving toward it's never-approaching destination."
Balance is attained
With ease
If you know all Dharma is contained in this:
Refrain from taking life.
Originally Posted by Seikan: "With this gate, my mind keeps returning to an image of a spinning toy top. For some reason, that seems to represent the kind of balance that we’re practicing. The universe is in perpetual motion, yet there is a calm stillness at the center of it all. Residing in that stillness, we can see the whole world more clearly."
Stillness in motion
The practice
Of a spinning top
合掌 仁道 生開 - gassho, Jindo Shokai
stlah
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