The thirty-sixth of 108 Gates Of Dharma Illumination

[Shokai]

36) The Thirty-sixth Gate: being without hindrances.

Being without hindrances is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] the mind is free of doubt.(Nishijima/Cross)

Not being hindered is a gate of realizing Dharma; it keeps your mind free from doubt. (Tanahashi)

Gate Gatha:

May we, together with all buddhas;
Be open to all possibilities,
That our minds may be free of doubt.

Reflection Prompts:

1. How does being without hindrance free our minds of doubt?

2. Is keeping an open mind the same as being without hindrance?

3. Care to comment on the Capping Verse?

Capping Verse:

Obstacles are not
Obstacles
They’re just obstacles

gassho, Shokai
stlah

[Tairin]

Thank you Shokai

1. How does being without hindrance free our minds of doubt?

When I read this it raises to my mind the section of the Heart Sutra
No gain - thus Boddhisattvas live this Prajna Paramita with no hindrance of mind - no hindrance therefore no fear

To me it is a kind of trust that the Universe is just Universing and I am part of that. Yes the little self may have all kinds of fears and doubts but the Big self is just Universing along with the rest of the Universe.

2. Is keeping an open mind the same as being without hindrance?

I don’t think so…. At least not according to my answer to #1

3. Care to comment on the Capping Verse?

It is like saying hindrances are not Hindrances, they are just hindrances. The little self sees all sort of obstacles, hindrances, obstructions. The Big self doesn’t see them at all.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[aprapti]

i like this, Tairin

To me it is a kind of trust that the Universe is just Universing and I am part of that. Yes the little self may have all kinds of fears and doubts but the Big self is just Universing along with the rest of the Universe.

aprapti


sat

[Tai Do]

Thank you, Shokai!

1. How does being without hindrance free our minds of doubt?

I not only agree with Tairin, but have also thought of the same Herat Sutra passage. As the Sutra says, we sit and act without attachment or clinging to goals and results, the mind is free from hindrances and fear. Doubt is the twin sibling of fear; without fear, I think, also means without doubt: if there is no goal to achieve, how can we doubt the possibility of achieving it?

2. Is keeping an open mind the same as being without hindrance?

I also think it is not. We can have an open mind and still be full of hindrances, doubts and fears.

3. Care to comment on the Capping Verse?

Tairin said it all!


Gassho,
Tai Do (Mateus)
Satlah

[Guest]

Reflection Prompts:

1. How does being without hindrance free our minds of doubt?

2. Is keeping an open mind the same as being without hindrance?

3. Care to comment on the Capping Verse?

Capping Verse:

Obstacles are not
Obstacles
They’re just obstacles

1. There are many things in life that can cause something that seems like an obstacle. Some of these are external and some of these are internal. However, even the external obstacles can become internal obstacles in the way that we relate to them and thus become hindrances. I do my very best to greet everything in my life as an observation and not as a problem. So how we relate and what we make become the hindrance, not the things in and of themselves.

2. An open mind can let lots of things in but that does not necessarily mean that we do not interact with them in a certain way which may or may not end up being hindrances. A true open mind is one that sees things just as they are and when it creates a difficulty in our lives, we have the choice as seeing them as a hindrance or as an opportunity to relate differently.

3. Obstacles are not obstacles in and of themselves, because we are the ones that make them in to an obstacle. What may be an obstacle for someone, may be an opportunity for others. In the capping verse what is being pointed out is that the things that come and go in our life are just as they are. They do not have as their nature, being an obstacle. We make that with our minds, so really obstacles are just what they are and if we want to call them obstacles then that may be how we refer to them. They are just like thoughts. Thoughts are just mental events which may or may not be true.

Gassho,

Daiman

St

[Shokai]