Strange occurrences in my house

[Bansho]

Re: Strange occurrences in my house

Also, a lot of visions of people seeing Jesus and Mother Mary in tree bark, wall stains and even food (like the famous grilled cheese sandwich) ...



... are the brain's making associations out of random patterns, not unlike a child's seeing a bunny rabbit or dinosaur in the shapes of floating clouds.

Jesus? Hmm, looks more like Jim Morrison to me. Quite obviously it's a message from the other side. 8)

Gassho
Ken

[Jundo]

Re: Strange occurrences in my house

Hi,

I want to apologize to Chris and others here. My original intent to remain skeptical, but open minded, may have crossed over in tone to being a little sarcastic and teasing about such phenomena, which is not right.

That fact is that I am very sensitive to issues regarding Buddhism's association with the supernatural, visions, spirits, reincarnation, ESP, faith healing, fortune telling, New Age philosophies, etc. etc. because, as an "Eastern Philosophy", we are typically lumped together in peoples' minds. Our Zen Practice really should not be placed together with such ideas.

Truly, our practice of Shikantaza is founded on a philosophy that the ordinary is anything but ordinary when seen as such. This life is a miracle without need for miracles beyond it. At least, that was Master Dogen's vision (through the centuries, other teachers such as Master Keizan, in the 3rd generation after Dogen, were quite a bit into the magical and mystical beliefs common in their time ... that is how folks back then often explained a world that, now, we just a little better understand). But in my mind, such beliefs obscure the profound truths and simplicity of our ways.

Perhaps it is because I am a lawyer by training, I am skeptical of many things. While I do not believe that science has all the answers by any means, I do believe that evidence and confirmable testing are at minimum required before we assume a claim to be true. I try to remain open minded, but I am fast to explain away anything that can be explained away, especially if the natural explanation has more supporting it than the supernatural explanation. Sometimes a cloud that looks like Kannon is just a cloud, sometimes light and shadows on a camera lens are just light and shadows. And, for me, the clouds, light and shadows themselves are all the wonder we need. I am totally into the fantastic without need for fantasy.

So, at Treeleaf, I am always going to try to separate what we Practice here from anything that rings of magic and the supernatural and myth. Because we don't need that for what we are about. Our teachings are much more profound ... for we transcend all time and space, see through life and death, and leap over the universe without moving an inch.

And that's enough for me! :wink:

Gassho, Jundo

[Chris_Tomlinson]

Re: Strange occurrences in my house

Right, there probably is a rational explanation for what's going on here and meditation might not have anything to do with it at all. This house is over 100 years old and the aged electrical wiring can cause all sorts of funny stuff to happen. I apologize for the silly thread.

Gassho, Chris

[Eika]

Re: Strange occurrences in my house

Right, there probably is a rational explanation for what's going on here and meditation might not have anything to do with it at all. This house is over 100 years old and the aged electrical wiring can cause all sorts of funny stuff to happen. I apologize for the silly thread.

Gassho, Chris

In spite of progress in science, the world continues to be, for the most part, a mystery. We don't know what or where "dark matter" is, we don't know what causes certain types of cancer, we don't know if there is a God or not, we don't know if the Yeti exists (although I bet he's pretty cool), etc. So, we always live more in the realm of ignorance than earthly knowledge. My advice is to sit back and revel in the fact that you don't know what in the hell is going on around you. Accept reasonable mystery.

Gassho,
Bill

PS--I see no reason for you to apologize. If I were seeing things in my house, I'd probably ask about it too.

[Chris_Tomlinson]

Re: Strange occurrences in my house

Right, there probably is a rational explanation for what's going on here and meditation might not have anything to do with it at all. This house is over 100 years old and the aged electrical wiring can cause all sorts of funny stuff to happen. I apologize for the silly thread.

Gassho, Chris

In spite of progress in science, the world continues to be, for the most part, a mystery. We don't know what or where "dark matter" is, we don't know what causes certain types of cancer, we don't know if there is a God or not, we don't know if the Yeti exists (although I bet he's pretty cool), etc. So, we always live more in the realm of ignorance than earthly knowledge. My advice is to sit back and revel in the fact that you don't know what in the hell is going on around you. Accept reasonable mystery.

Gassho,
Bill

PS--I see no reason for you to apologize. If I were seeing things in my house, I'd probably ask about it too.

I agree, accepting this unexplained phenomena as just unexplained phenomena seems like the best course of action. It's just samsara after all. Thank you for that.

Gassho, Chris

[roky]

Re: Strange occurrences in my house

in the old days before retirement, a lot of folks would ask me whether what they were experiencing was normal, sane, otherworldly, etc. -- in listening to their descriptions, i didn't see much that i was concerned with, but i sure saw a lot of worried people, what modern psychiatry might label "neurotic" -- you know, like you and me, and everyone else -- usually, when the worrying decreased, the person felt a lot better -- so in that sense, we create the suffering by reacting to the object of awareness with rejection, fear, closing off, whether orbs, new job, etc. -- so as long as the stuff that arises in meditation is not pushed away, i believe the suffering is minimal -- in fact, this was the subject of my favorite little book, "the lazy man's guide to enlightenment", by thaddeus golas -- this was a "trip" guide for those, like thaddeus, who were too lazy to sit zazen -- the key phrase:"no resistance"

i'm perfectly willing to accept the existence of the described phenomena -- why not? -- but that's not the real issue -- it's only when you start to attempt to deny the experience, avoid it, hold on to it, i.e., any variations of attachment, that the real suffering starts -- instead, it is such a beautiful thing to see that no matter what it is, it arises, and it passes, if you let it -- my way of letting it is zazen

gassho, bob