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Hello Tomas...I will only say something very brief about all this...something I hope can inspire you in your practice, especially because in the end IT IS ALL UP TO YOU! (And I am saying all this for personal experience, for I feel I have been going through- and sometimes still am going through- similar "spiritual ramblings" as you do!)
This that follows is one of the basic teachings in this tradition and I also find it may help you a lot (at least this I hope!):
THERE IS NO NEED TO GO ANYWHERE, NO NEED TO GET ANYTHING.
JUST SIT (and if you are moving, then sit within your heart-mind).
GIVE UP THE CHASE AND OPEN WHOLHEARTEDLY UP TO "THIS" (reality in front of you, forever), HERE AND NOW.
MAKE NO MENTAL FABRICATIONS ABOUT "THIS", HERE AND NOW.
"NIRVANA", HERE AND NOW: "THIS" IS ALREADY "IT" (your very practice/state of mind, here and now, makes up "nirvana" and/or "samsara").
BASICALLY (and whatsoever you are dealin with): ALWAYS PRACTICE CONTEMTMENT, LOVING EMBRACE AND APPRECIATION...FOR REAL.
I humbly hope this brief and simple points can really and positively inspre you.
In the end you are already Buddha. Especially when you stop searching for Buddha, but practice being what you already are (call it whatever you like..)
Hugs brother!
Wish you all well...here you have plenty of friends ( I can surely speak for myself!)
Gassho.
Arya.
ST&LAH.法 金
(Dharma)(Metal)
Wisdom Is Compassion & Compassion Is Wisdom.
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Here, by the way, is the Shinto Shrine at Sojiji, the Soto-shu Head Temple in Japan.
It is to Inari, a Shinto god typically depicted as a cunning fox ...
Gassho, J
STLahALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLEComment
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Perhaps the mental image of being part of a certain practice or the attachment to having a certain label is in part the culprit of dissatisfied floundering. Perhaps you can grasp at Buddhism and cling to Zen as you can with anything. All products of the human race have a place and therefore there is value in a variety of engagements... but without clinging.
Kill the Buddha,
Andrew,
Satlah"Priest" here is rude. Not worth the time if you want depth in discussion because past a point he just goes into shut-down mode. No wonder he limits everyone to three sentences and is the most frequent offender of his own rule. Some kind of control thing. Won't be back.Comment
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Ditto
"Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them all." - so I study and learn and believe that Dharma can be even entered through Jesus' heart.
For me personally I chose to stick with Zen because it is only through sitting zazen that I've realised that meditation, Buddhism is not a "spiritual fix" and that following the Way means to open up to the suffering, boredom and all the things we don't want.
"Water in an Old Temple
Leaking from the rock
in an old temple,
water barely trickles –
the voice
of the lingering dharma."
Otagaki Rengetsu
Gassho
SatComment
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No worries,
Zen teachings have at times addressed the tendency for Zen itself to become attachment to form. I think it is fairly common that Buddhism can become "me" and "mine" for people though the unique aspect of the dharma, that isn't found everywhere, is the capacity to critique this construction of the religious ego. I don't literally believe in sin (other than perhaps in the ancient Greek sense of "missing the mark") but I'll say, as a figure of speech: the sins that have taken a spiritual garb are the most intractable.
Gassho,
Andrew,
Satlah"Priest" here is rude. Not worth the time if you want depth in discussion because past a point he just goes into shut-down mode. No wonder he limits everyone to three sentences and is the most frequent offender of his own rule. Some kind of control thing. Won't be back.Comment
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I think we have to be a little careful here about what is considered "attachment to form".Zen teachings have at times addressed the tendency for Zen itself to become attachment to form. I think it is fairly common that Buddhism can become "me" and "mine" for people though the unique aspect of the dharma, that isn't found everywhere, is the capacity to critique this construction of the religious ego. I don't literally believe in sin (other than perhaps in the ancient Greek sense of "missing the mark") but I'll say, as a figure of speech: the sins that have taken a spiritual garb are the most intractable.
For example, if you were in a Karate dōjō, you would be taught forms in a certain way which are almost certainly taught differently in, say, a Kung Fu temple. That does not mean to say that the form taught in either place is right or better, but it is teaching the appropriate form for the place it is taught. This applies to matters such as how to tie a garment and belt likewise even if that is seen as of lesser importance.
Correcting someone on their form would not in my opinion, be attachment, but more teaching the correct form in the correct place.
Here we find freedom through adherence to form although, at the end of the day, anyone is free to either follow what is taught here or not.
Indeed, but to continue the metaphor, when in a Karate dōjō you practice the correct forms for that place, and when in a Kung Fu temple, you so likewise.All products of the human race have a place and therefore there is value in a variety of engagements... but without clinging.
I am not saying that you are doing this, Andrew, but I have seen people respond to being corrected on their form and practice by saying that it is just "attachment to form" and refusal to see beyond the tradition but that seems to me to just be a way of ego defending itself as knowing better rather than seeing it as teaching the correct form for the place it is taught.
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-Last edited by Kokuu; 08-21-2020, 11:04 AM.Comment
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This was on point Jundo, thank you very much for sharing. I am sure I will come back to it.Best just to go to the next shiny thing ... and then the next next thing that may finally have the answer ... unless you stay.
Here's the next thing you should study:
SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: WHAT's NEXT!?!
Gassho, J
STLah
Gassho,
SatComment
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I have a tendency to take a strong interest in just about everything that passes by, and it has gotten me into no small amount of mental trouble. I want to see it all, hear it all, do it all. It has taken me decades to realize that choosing and putting myself into a path to follow (or a career, or a field of study, or an art form, or a physical activity) means I can take a passing interest in other things, but if I want to excel at/dwell in a path, and if I want to find peace for myself, it can't be more than that. I paint and I am learning to paint realistic portraits and figure, because that is what I want to do with my art. I like expressionism, and there is an attraction to learning to do it, but spending time on that does not help me become a better portrait artist. Time I spend on that would be time I am not spending on my chosen path. Sometimes I am frustrated by my chosen path and it seems like I am going nowhere with it. But that is where growth lies, in maintaining consistency through the days when what I am doing is not fun. I am easily distracted by the other things going by, and I now recognize that as my lifelong habit of letting myself get distracted from what I mean to to be doing. For myself, I can glance, but then I need to remember, and turn back in the direction I mean to go.
Gassho,
然芸 Nengei
Sat today. LAH.遜道念芸 Sondō Nengei (he/him)
Please excuse any indication that I am trying to teach anything. I am a priest in training and have no qualifications or credentials to teach Zen practice or the Dharma.Comment
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Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.” – Shunryu Suzuki “Zen Mind, Beginners Mind”
When I first read this phrase I was startled with self recognition. As much as anything this recognition has helped me stop the search and settle into practice.
Tairin
Sat today and lah泰林 - Tai Rin - Peaceful WoodsComment
Do you think that what is happening now with Buddhism and the popularity of mindfulness movement in the West is like "spiritual MMA", a sort of pick and mix?
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