everyday is a good day

[Taigu]

As I was browsing through a few calligraphies of Kodo Sawaki, I bumped into this one:

5b05[1].jpg

Everyday is a good day

A famous statement, thunderous, breaking through our beliefs that tomorrow will be great and yesterday was better, something not for the faint hearted, something for what has courage in us, not for the victim, the abused, the oppressed, the destitute, the jobless soul, the lonely one, the bored, the angry guy, the weeping eye... For all　these guys that we can sometimes be, a statement that says that As it is, raw, complete and intense, it is just good. It is good and we may cry, shout, beg, giggle, kick, strike or fly way...It is bigger than us, bigger than anything we can think of.

Life itself.

Just life.

Life.

Here and now, we have got it all.

gassho


Taigu

[Rich]

Good way to start the day. Thanks.

[RichardH]

Thank you, Taigu.

Gassho, kojip

[Kyonin]

Life is what is.

Thank you, Taigu.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Heisoku]

I heard this also from an unemployed guy, who happened to overhear two student whining about being broke. I always wondered how he came to this. Well since then I have learnt also!
Thank you Taigu. I am still learning this one.

[Jiken]

Gassho Taigu

Daido

[Nindo]

Thank you Taigu.


Once I bought my monthly bus ticket in a convenience store run by an Asian fellow, maybe a Chinese immigrant or Korean. He said the usual "Have a good day" and I said "Every day is a good day" - which made him look at me quizzically and he said "Ah, you know that one..."

And yesterday I went to a jazz performance by Sheila Jordan who is just shy of her 84th birthday, with her bass partner Cameron Brown. They were completely dedicated to the music, in the music. She said all she ever wanted in life was to keep this music alive. Music is also bigger than us.
Music itself.
Just music.
Music.

[Mp]

Beautiful Taigu ... thank you.

Gassho
Michael

[Kyonin]

Taigu,

How do you say that phrase in Japanese?

Thank you!

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Taigu]

Hi Kyonin,

In old Japanese: Nichi nichi kore kojitsu
in modern Japanese: hibi kore kojitsu

here is a lovely vid of Harada roshi tracing the kanji with his brush:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAPuH8fadjw

gassho

(and my Japanese is almost non existent by the way)


Taigu

[pinoybuddhist]

A lovely reminder for the morning. Thank you.



Raf

As I was browsing through a few calligraphies of Kodo Sawaki, I bumped into this one:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]655[/ATTACH]

Everyday is a good day

A famous statement, thunderous, breaking through our beliefs that tomorrow will be great and yesterday was better, something not for the faint hearted, something for what has courage in us, not for the victim, the abused, the oppressed, the destitute, the jobless soul, the lonely one, the bored, the angry guy, the weeping eye... For all　these guys that we can sometimes be, a statement that says that As it is, raw, complete and intense, it is just good. It is good and we may cry, shout, beg, giggle, kick, strike or fly way...It is bigger than us, bigger than anything we can think of.

Life itself.

Just life.

Life.

Here and now, we have got it all.

gassho


Taigu

[Patrick]

Magnifique ! Thank you.

[Yugen]

Taigu
I have begun to revisit Sawaki's words through your posting and they are sustaining me right now, in a difficult time. Thank you Taigu, and to all here.

Gassho
Yugen

[Kyonin]

Thank you, Taigu.

This will be my phrase for the days to come.

Gassho,

Kyonin

Hi Kyonin,

In old Japanese: Nichi nichi kore kojitsu
in modern Japanese: hibi kore kojitsu

here is a lovely vid of Harada roshi tracing the kanji with his brush:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAPuH8fadjw

gassho

(and my Japanese is almost non existent by the way)


Taigu

[Jundo]

Nonin Chowaney from Nebraska Zen Center has a simple, clear comment on this (Nonin, by the way, is a cancer survivor with one lung, a host of other health issues and a heck of a lot of fight) ...

As Taigu reminds us above, "everyday is a good day" is not some simple bumper sticker, but includes the ugly, the sad, even the most terrible of days. Taigu says ...

A famous statement, thunderous, breaking through our beliefs that tomorrow will be great and yesterday was better, something not for the faint hearted, something for what has courage in us, not for the victim, the abused, the oppressed, the destitute, the jobless soul, the lonely one, the bored, the angry guy, the weeping eye... For all　these guys that we can sometimes be, a statement that says that As it is, raw, complete and intense, it is just good. It is good and we may cry, shout, beg, giggle, kick, strike or fly way...It is bigger than us, bigger than anything we can think of.

------------------------


Everyday is a Good Day - by Nonin Chowaney


A couple of years ago, it snowed in Omaha on April 29th. I had wanted to work in the garden that day and when I looked out the window, my heart sank.

Later, I walked downstairs and mentioned that it was snowing to Albert, one of our group. "Yes," he responded, "there's something quite beautiful about these late Spring snowstorms."

Indeed there is, if you can approach them with an open mind; if you approach them with complaint because there'll be no gardening, they can be a real pain.

Lama Govinda writes that, "All suffering arises from attitude. The world is neither good nor bad. It is solely our relationship to it which makes it either one or the other." Snow on April 29th, or any weather condition on any other day, for that matter, is neither good nor bad. Good and bad is a question of mental attitude.

Moment-by-moment, we create the world in the mind. We can look out and create a gloomy, depressing world on any day by the condition of mind we bring to it. A depressed mind can make a bright, sunshiny day black and dreary, and a contented mind can create heaven out of rain and storm.

I am reminded of the old Zen saying, "Every day is a good day." What determines this? The mind that dwells nowhere; the mind that accepts everything. This is nirvana.

Nirvana may be understood as the absence of greed, anger (or aversion), and delusion. In other words, it's a state of mind. If we can approach whatever life brings us with the mind free from greed, aversion, and delusion, or accept things as they are without grasping for more or turning away from what's there, we cultivate the mental state known as nirvana, quiescence, or, heart-mind at peace with what is.

This does not mean passivity. It does not mean that we lay back and not move. What it means is that we start from zero, from acceptance of our lives as they are, and move from there. In that way we are not kept from or hindered in our living by complaining, grousing, or blaming others for the conditions of our lives. Every moment, then, affords us the opportunity to practice awakening, nirvana, enlightenment. When we sit zazen, we cultivate this practice.

The instruction for zazen is to cultivate the mind that abides nowhere, the mind of non-attachment. We are to allow thoughts to come and go, to arise without denial or suppression and to pass away without clinging. Angry thoughts about the boss? Let them come and let them go. Contentment with a lover? Let it come and let it go. I can't garden because it's snowing? Let it come and let it go. This practice does not aim for any particular state of mind; it is in and of itself the awakened state; sometimes it is called "cultivating the natural condition of mind."

Buddha, the awakened one, taught the Way to end human dissatisfaction, and nothing more. He taught that the end to suffering is non-attachment, non-clinging. This is the practice of zazen. Gradually, we are able to also cultivate this practice when standing, walking, or lying down; our life itself is enlightenment.

A mind that can abide anywhere is always content, even when suffering greatly. This is liberation; suffering is gone through. We accept what comes, live it, and move on.

...

... One moment, pain and suffering; the next, joy and relief. This all occurs in the mind; we create the world we live in. We sometimes cannot change the circumstances we live in, but we can always change our attitude. If we can learn to let go, it will change by itself.

As Lama Govinda said, "All suffering arises from attitude. The world is neither good nor bad. It is solely our relationship to it which makes it either one or the other." So, even if it's a bad day, "every day is a good day."

http://www.prairiewindzen.org/everyday_is_a_good_day.html