Just Sayin'

[Joyo]

The more I practice the more it just seems to come down to some basics

1. Sit Zazen daily
2. Follow the Precepts to the best of my ability.
3. Chop wood and carry water for the benefit of all sentient beings

Tairin
Sat today

Yes, same with me. =)

And, thank you, Jundo.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today/lah

[Doshin]

Yep them big questions. I am betting our species will not sort it out during our cycle. But its fun to see what arises with it all. No worries from this mountain top, I just want us to be better stewards of this blue planet and all the myriad of other species that we share it with as we continue our big bang expansion into the universe, both known and unknow.

Gassho
Doshin
Stlah

[Kokuu]

Yep them big questions. I am betting our species will not sort it out during our cycle. But its fun to see what arises with it all. No worries from this mountain top, I just want us to be better stewards of this blue planet and all the myriad of other species that we share it with as we continue our big bang expansion into the universe, both known and unknow.

Yes! We may be a temporary, albeit billions of years, blip between expansion and contraction, but what is here is all we have and it would be nice to take care of it.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[Jundo]

Yep them big questions. I am betting our species will not sort it out during our cycle. But its fun to see what arises with it all. No worries from this mountain top, I just want us to be better stewards of this blue planet and all the myriad of other species that we share it with as we continue our big bang expansion into the universe, both known and unknow.

Gassho
Doshin
Stlah

Well, since there are probably a trichiliocosm of other worlds out there with intelligent life, I am sure that at least some of them will survive and "get it right" even if we mess up and get it wrong. And, since they are just us and we are them, at least we have that going for us!

Gassho, J

STLah

PS - Not really joking (or half joking), and reality does seem to take a "shotgun" approach to evolution after all. And I do believe, Mahayana 101, that they are us in other guise.

PPS - The universe which is the garage is looking good, so on to straightening the closets.

PPS - Smarter space aliens or not, I don't mean to suggest that we should not take care of this whole planet earth as our "Home" too. It is our Big Garage.

[Shokai]

I put a door in the rear of the garage that opens into a space where a humongous bamboo grove is growing and needs to be cut back. That's the kind of wood I chop these days. Meanwhile, the garage fends for itself.

gassho, Shokai

stlah

[Doshin]

Jundo, I hear you that maybe somewhere else in the universe it will be gotten right. That is comforting. In my moments of mental anguish about the present mass extinction (and that is a daily distraction for me) that we are experiencing in this present moment I remember that life has survived and flourished 5 times before (at least that is the number our species has calculated) . Albiet it takes millions of years, but it flourishes again and again. Hopefully I am not grasping too much but my practice has always been to work against the dimming of that light that life gives.

Gassho
Doshin
Stlah

[Mp]

I put a door in the rear of the garage that opens into a space where a humongous bamboo grove is growing and needs to be cut back. That's the kind of wood I chop these days. Meanwhile, the garage fends for itself.

gassho, Shokai

stlah

We too have some massive bamboo growing ... in this moment is it, Chop Wood and Drink Water. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Gukan]

I really like this saying "chop wood and carry water". So much in it...

Funnily enough I have a huge privet hedge on both sides of my garden which is constantly in need of cutting back. Man, I hate that hedge.

And, ladies and gentlemen, *that* is my relationship with spiritual practice.

Gassho
Libby
Sat today

[Tairin]

I really like this saying "chop wood and carry water". So much in it...

Funnily enough I have a huge privet hedge on both sides of my garden which is constantly in need of cutting back. Man, I hate that hedge.

And, ladies and gentlemen, *that* is my relationship with spiritual practice.

Gassho
Libby
Sat today

I have a large privet hedge which is effectively a weed. I curse it when it is time to trim it. It takes me better part of 3 hours to do well and it is sharp as knifes. I look like I've been in a cat fight when I am done. Sure looks pretty the rest of the time and it is beautiful green. I have tons of fireflies living in it that come out on a warm summer evening and it is home to a number of birds and crickets.

There's my practice right there.

🙏
Tairin
Sat today and was thankful the privet hedge does not need to be trimmed

[Tai Shi]

I am a Buddhist first, Christian second: that being--I don't believe the world or worlds were created in seven days--I don't believe I was born evil--I don' think this life is a veil of tears, no matter, there are some very bad things even evil, not innate, but evil--albeit, not created by God. I don't believe in demons, but there are explained and unexplained parts/conditions of the human, and animal mind that we can know about, and, therefore there is cause and effect (science, I'm a poet, therefore word science) and science which describes the human and non-human conditions--There the Christian conditions, although having limits as governed by Buddhism, there is sin and redemption (who knows what was in the mind of three, four, five -year-old Hitler, and what went wrong?), there was a Christ who still governs my belief in love thy neighbor as himself, herself (any gender), Christ used archaic descriptions that still (in explanations) indicate He was the Son of God, and this is outside the Buddhist realm, Salvation is possible, and even Plato regard an idea of universal conditions, therefore each one of us through sacrifice if will-power, can attain the good, the true, the beautiful through acceptance of a Higher Power, which is a good, and surpasses human knowledge, through acceptance or " a mediator" to that good in which Good, and God is knowable, the acceptance on non-human sacrifice (destroying Good or God) is wrong, and this ultimate God is knowable, and that Mediator is Jesus (providing ultimate sacrifice) and love is possible, knowable, and a Gift (grace) that the absence of love is either vacuum, or even hate, that the death of Jesus, in that he Loved, all humankind, and Rose in His Followers who are Christians, or other Loving People who supplant vacuum, or hate. Love is more than Good, and requires the belief that one can sacrifice one's own life for another even non human. There you have Tai Shi (calm poetry) view of religion. Some of this does not go to other friends, I just leave that to The Loving Good Shepherd.

Tai Shi
sttoay/lah
Gassho

[Shokai]

As long as we are just saying;

Shingen; be thankful we don't have the kind of bamboo that can grow 15 inches in a night.
Seishin, Eishuu & Meitou; drop water spill wood and a little garlic couldn't hoit.
Doshin, Kokuu; so glad we had this time to solve the Big Questions.
Joyo, Tairin; You're both right, it is as easy as 1,2,3. (Open the Hand of Thought)
Todd, Shugen; I agree
Jundo; Thank you for the thread
Taishi; Once again you managed to lose me but, I think you left out that Jesus was a Buddhist Monk,

gassho, Shokai
stlah

[Mp]

I am a Buddhist first, Christian second

Oh but Tai Shi, you are a Buddhist and a Christian at the time time. There is no separation of yourself, therefor no separation in what you feel in your heart.

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH