Greatest Hits #4 - The Buddha is a Hoover - Celebrating Treeleaf's 15th

[Shoka]

Back in the heady days of 2012, Jundo reminded us that everything is the Buddha, not just our teachers and sacred images. Dōgen reminds us in Bendōwa that “grasses and trees, fences and walls, tiles and pebbles” all preach the Buddhadharma and everything is part of the One Bright Pearl.

If we use a rock or a flower as a representation of the Buddha, most people will understand that, but what about a modern electrical appliance? Can we see that as the Buddha?

So, for one night only (and, equally, the whole of space and time) our Buddha Rupa in Tsukuba became a vacuum cleaner to demonstrate that there is nothing in this world (and beyond) which is not sacred and nothing which is not totally ordinary.

As one Buddha ancestor (sort of) wrote:
“The Voices of the River Valley, and the Sounds of the Vacuum Cleaner, are the Buddha’s Wide and Long Tongue
The Form of the Mountain, and Curve of the Electric Cable, is nothing more than his Pure Body.”

Is there anything which is not the Buddha? This teaching points the way in Jundo’s own style we have come to know and love!

The original post can be found here:

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?10424-December-15th-2012-Treeleaf-Weekly-Zazenkai

written by Kokuu

Gassho,
Shoka
(she/her)
sat/lah

[Suuko]

Recently, I have been interacting with AI bots and I have noted that their approach to learning and curiosity based on their algorithm makes them sometimes more human than the humans I know. I end up treating AI, robots, my car and everything else as entities with Budha nature and the respect and appreciation I discover consequently is truly amazing.

Gassho,
Sat today,
Guish.

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[Naiko]

Naiko
st lah

[Jundo]

Ah, yes, I understand the original title of this thread ... since Buddha was a vacuum on the altar, thus "Buddha Sucks."

However, I hope you don't mind, some may miss the point, I changed it to "Buddha is a Hoover" (the British term for vacuum cleaner, for our Yankee friends and others). Yes, I also thought about some reference to "the Void."

Please, nobody make the joke about "no attachments."

Gassho, J

STLah

[Risho]

Jundo Roshi - from one punster to another, you are hands down the pun-king

Gassho

Risho
-stlah

[Jundo]

This one may actually take some s'plaining to folks, especially those who are new to Zen Buddhism. It is really quite simple.

A facet of the Zen and many Mahayana teachings is that you are the whole of the universe, I am the whole of the universe, Buddha is the whole of the universe, this and that is the whole of the universe, and yes, even the vacuum cleaner is the whole of the universe. We realize such in our practice as the hard borders of me/you/this/that/hoover soften, or fully drop away, in Zazen.

Thus, as the Buddha is the universe, and the vacuum cleaner is the universe ... Buddha is the vacuum cleaner. (And yes, that also means that you are a vacuum cleaner too! You, as an ordinary person, likely just don't realize that you are a vacuum cleaner, but a Buddha realizes in his enlightenment that he is a vacuum cleaner. Heck, you probably don't realize that you are the Buddha too ... which is why you ain't Buddha. A Buddha realizes that he is you, which is why he is Buddha AND the vacuum cleaner!)

When we bought a new vacuum for the Zendo a couple of years ago, we made this ceremony. It is typical in Japan to put new items on the Altar in thanks.

I also like to make the point sometimes that a sacred "Buddha Statue" on the altar does not need to look like a Buddha Statue. It need not be gold and pretty, but can be anything ... because anything is the universe. A stone, an empty space, a flower, even an ugly thing like a dirty diaper or a violent thing like a gun! (Well, the violent and ugly things disguise Buddha, and separate us from seeing Buddha, but they are Buddha too. Just hidden in the violence and ugliness. Then, a plastic hoover is a beautiful Buddha Statue!)

In any case, the Buddha is like a vacuum cleaner because he "sucks up" all our delusions into emptiness! All the separate "dust" of the world is joined in the wholeness of a single bag.

By the way, not all monks sweep as their spiritual practice ...



Gassho, J

STLah

[Meian]

It's nice to think of wiping the kitchen and washing up after meals as a 'spiritual practice' [emoji4]

Gassho2, meian st lh

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[Tai Shi]

I’m sorry I I only visit Treeleaf when I have sat. So perhaps it was on an off day. Treeleaf anniversary verse and harp can be ever every day. I celebrate the days of harsh times when I was new. I know nothing were it not for Sekishi ever after my friend.
October 3, 2014
Gassho
sat: lah
Tai Shi


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