Buddhist inspiration thread - Get In Here!

[disastermouse]

*Edited to add a few*

Hey all,

Who are your inspirations in this practice? To whom do you look up, or even sideways on this path?

Me first? (These are not in order of influence)

Siddhartha - I can't believe I left him off the original list. Maybe we Zennies really aren't true Buddhists! /kidding

Taigu - He's got the fire and knows when to 'splain and when to smack ya.

Jundo - I've never seen him fail to answer a question or engage a practitioner unless it was harmful to keep engaging. He's truly tireless and he has helped cure me of 'emptiness poisoning'. He's also been an example of forgiveness and not-holding-a-grudge. Anyone who's been here for awhile knows what I mean and how this has affected me personally.

Stephanie - Our friendship has been immeasurably valuable in my practice!

Dosho - What a transformation I see in Dosho! I think I used to be on his 'least-favorite-persons' list - and even though we probably still rub each other the wrong way - interacting with him has helped me immensely. We used to bother each other, but I now consider him a friend.

All the G+ people! - They've REALLY helped me keep on with the daily sitting, even when they don't show up in my hangout nor I in theirs.

(Peeps I've never met) :

Steve Hagen - His dharma talks are very direct and have helped pull me back to the practice again and again. Although I haven't listened to him recently, he has been instrumental to keeping me on the path.

Adyashanti - I know he's not loved here, but nonetheless, I think he's on to something and he's helped reinvigorate my practice now and again.

Genpo Merzel Roshi - His is a cautionary tale, but inspiring in itself.

I'll add others as I think of them.

Who are your inspirations?

Gassho,

Chet

*Edited to add a few*

[Seizan]

I love this!!!

On Treeleaf:
Taigu, Jundo, Saijun, Fugen. I'm still new, so still meeting people and making connections, but the support on this path tells me I am going the right way (already was, but sometimes the signs can be encouraging.)

In the broader Buddhist community:
HH The 14th Dalai Lama - How can you go wrong? Commentaries on the old texts, a world peace advocate, a man who has faced incredible challenges. Well versed in "comfort food" Buddhism and traditional Buddhism as well.

Tsem Tulku Rinpoche - The Neon Lama! Whenever I am not acting like a bodhisattva I hear him in my mind: "Do not embarrass the Buddha! Shame on you!" His many videos on Youtube very much inspire me to be a better person and a more committed practitioner. He has kept me straight, from such a far distant.

Thich Nhat Hanh - I just LOVE his commentaries on the Sutras. After Jukai I plan on studying his anthology of his sutra writings. I do like, as well, his psychological approaches. He is the first one who drove home the simplicity of just sitting, mindfulness, and how just breathing for a minute can change your outlook on the day and help you act in accordance with your Buddha nature.

In Buddhism in General:
Shakyamuni (of course!) - Need I say more? The man who brought the madness to our lives Of course Buddhism is not the words of the Buddha, it is what is in our hearts and our nature already, but the historical Buddha is a source of so much reflection and guidance for me.

Tsongkhapa - One of the few "old school" Tibetan figures I just feel drawn to. A well known philosopher who is credited with forming the Gelug school. He had a wonderful emphasis on discipline even if you can't agree with the other teachings.

Kwan Yin/Avolokitesvara (in any of her manifestations) - An endless source of compassion for others, a continuous spring of fresh water to drink from, caring for all equally. I feel refreshed when reflecting on her and chanting her mantra, which I usually do in times of extreme happiness (trail rides with my horse, kayaking Lake Jackson, etc.)

Eihei Dogen - "Mystical realist." What a wonderful combination! In the stream, rushing past to the dusty world, my fleeting form casts no reflection. This is when I first felt a connection Taigu, incidentally, via his video about this quote. Simplicity, beauty.

Thank you for this AMAZING thread!

Gassho,
Dani

[pinoybuddhist]

On Treeleaf:

the Treeleaf teachers and unsui
Chet/disastermouse
Actually the whole sangha itself is an inspiration

Others:

Brad Warner
Gudo Nishijima, though I could not make sense of his blog
Charlotte Joko Beck
Shunryu Suzuki
Bernie Glassman and the Zen Peacemakers
Dalai Lama
Dogen
Siddhartha Gautama

Not exactly "Buddhist" but :

Bruce Lee
John Lennon
My late parents
My family

[RichardH]

The Treeleafers who are practicing regularly on G+, and participating in the weekly Zazenkai , live and recorded. It is where the rubber meets the road, and has become indispensable. Thank you for being my Sangha... can't do alone.

Gassho, kojip.

[Kyonin]

I have two main inspirations. The Buddha and Treeleaf.

Everything that happens here, every person, our teachers and even the site's code (I'm a nerd, I know).

This is home.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Stephanie]

I am most grateful to John Daido Loori, whom I had the unbelievable good fortune to have as the first Zen teacher I encountered live, in person, as I made my weekly pilgrimage from my post in the cafeteria at Omega Institute to the Sunday Service at ZMM, and then later, during my period of residency at the Monastery. My experiences at Zen Mountain Monastery shaped my life and Zen practice in tremendous ways that time will never erase. The Eight Gates of Zen and the practice format a ZMM are the bedrock and skeleton of my practice. I only had dokusan with Daido Roshi once, and a couple other fleeting encounters, and yet felt such tremendous, inexplicable grief at his passing that I am still shaken by it. No death, even the deaths of family and friends, has hit me so hard. I feel like there is a whole world I have lost access to. He was so brilliant and clear, the practice structure he established so sound, and the way he taught so disciplined and traditional, and yet so fiery. He didn't coddle people or reassure, he kept pumping on those bellows of doubt and poking people out of their hidey-holes. I will always wonder if in a different life, I might not have been able to stay and study more intimately and more at length with him. No other Zen teacher I've met even holds a candle. His heirs are marvelous folks in their own right, and I'm grateful for the encounters with them at ZMM and, later, Fire Lotus Temple in Brooklyn, but it still ain't the same. I am so eternally grateful so many of his talks were captured in audio for posterity. Rarely do I have a road trip unaccompanied by one of his old talks, and that wonderful, inimitable voice, and his way of saying things that snap you out of your bullshit. Nine bows, a hundred bows, ten thousand bows to Daido Roshi, you have inspired and renewed my practice so many times, even after your death.

Every teacher I've worked with since has had some impact on me, but even those with whom I met consistently, over longer periods of time, just haven't had that same impact. That said, every now and then I meet someone who has the fire, who livens up that sense of poetry, magic, and curiosity in me, who reminds me of that energy that brought me to this practice in the first place. And as Daido Roshi knew so well, it ain't got nothing to do with serenity and comfort, being PC and feeling reassured about everything. Though I often lament I have chosen to live somewhere that I don't have regular access to a formal Zen teacher, I am also grateful there are some fabulous teachers nearby that I have the ability to encounter every now and then in daisan. I am so fortunate to have someone as full of poetry and passion to face in daisan as Charles, and someone with as much spirit, clarity, and Rinzai eye for openings and moments that can be gates to awareness as Sandy. Richard's doubt and dedication and years of rigorous practice and Zen experience is a treasure within our own small sangha, as is the dedication of every regular there. Sometimes I feel full of doubt that I do not have a more formal teacher-student relationship in my life, but there is something here I cannot deny, in the small lamp of Dharma my sangha keeps burning for people looking for the Way, week after week, year after year, with such humility and steadfastness.

On the 'Net, I am grateful for the odd ducks that stick their neck out in the comment sections of various blogs to spout their poetic and energetic play of being, like fellow Treeleaf delinquent Harry; I am newly grateful for Dosho Port's blog and to see that not all credentialed Soto teachers in America have given up on the tiger's or wild fox's way; and similarly to Taigu for his patience, humility, and gentleness, as paired with his fiery poetic style.

And, of course, Chet is in his own category in my life and world. Rare is it to meet a true Dharma friend like this, the shape of whose life is so similar to your own and, through sharing that life with you, and always facing toward Dharma even when so awash in desire and confusion, asking questions and pushing you not to believe your own hype, keeps the Way lit for you.

In terms of those never met but through words preserved in text, there are many but none on the level of Chogyam Trungpa, whose life was itself a koan, full of wisdom of too great a depth to dismiss, and yet too raw and flawed to put up on an idealist's pedestal. Those words stand on their own merit, and their ability to cut straight through to the part of you that knows.

[Geika]

There is something about this thread that strikes me as contrived.

[mr.Lou]

Inspired? Inspired to what in this practice? Everyone I have ever known, have known of, or will know inspires me indirectly; yet, no one inspires my practice directly. There is nothing to aspire to in my practice, so how could I be inspired by another?

[Jundo]

Inspired? Inspired to what in this practice? Everyone I have ever known, have known of, or will know inspires me indirectly; yet, no one inspires my practice directly. There is nothing to aspire to in my practice, so how could I be inspired by another?

I would say the same. I am inspired by the people too who may have been the source of pain or troubles in life as much as those who were more positive influences. We should be inspired by the old man and the infant, friends and strangers, the whole phone book, trash cans and mountains. I am especially grateful to Taigu, and to the folks I consider Teachers, official and unofficial. There was Azuma Ikuo Roshi. There is Nishijima Roshi ... there is Doshin Cantor ... and Jiho Sargent.

If this is like one of those "thank you" speeches at the Oscars, time to play the music or we will go on all night!

Thank you for the inspiration of the folks at Treeleaf too, all of you are Teachers.

Gassho, J

[pinoybuddhist]

If this is like one of those "thank you" speeches at the Oscars, time to play the music or we will go on all night!

*drum roll, cymbal crash*


Raf

[Jinyo]

There is something about this thread that strikes me as contrived.

For some reason I feel uncomfortable with this thread too.

[Jinyo]

Inspired? Inspired to what in this practice? Everyone I have ever known, have known of, or will know inspires me indirectly; yet, no one inspires my practice directly. There is nothing to aspire to in my practice, so how could I be inspired by another?

Yes - this is as much as I could say. There is not a single thing/person/experience in this web of interconnectivity that hasn't inspired me in some way. And that includes all the negative as well as the positive.

Gassho

Willow

[Omoi Otoshi]

For some reason I feel uncomfortable with this thread too.

Me too.

/Pontus

[Mp]

For me ... everyone is inspirational, whether it be directly or indirectly. Sometimes, even our enemies can inspire us.

Gassho
Michael

[Seizan]

Hm. Everyone made points, but I don't see why this should be negative/contrived etc. We are all on the path, going where to we already are, but we do have daily experiences and guides and teachers that help us along. Some commented that everyone they meet is an inspiration, which is true, but also there are those people and teachers who make more of an impression on us. I think to say otherwise can be somewhat pretentious.. after all we do meet certain people who give us a fresh perspective, keep us in line, remind us to practice when the opportunity arises. We all have someone we look up to, whether we admit it or not. Whether it is Jundo or Taigu or Dogen or your neighbor or your pet your "enemy" your wife Malala etc. I could be wrong, but I think most of us were not born into Buddhist traditions here. So there was that milestone teacher/event for people not born into a practicing Buddhist family- the thing that showed us "aha! this is where I am and should be."

I found this thread helpful, I enjoyed Stephanie's post and it gave me a few things to look up and I actually ended up learning a great deal on that tangent. I also think that sharing the teachers who have made the most impressions on us gives a great clue as to the inner workings of individual Sangha members. We are all made up of millions of little pieces, and it's the little pieces that we learn about that can help us relate to each other. It's the little steps and teachers and events that led us all to Treeleaf and this tradition.

Sure, we should all relate to each other peacefully and happily at all times without any details being shared. But that doesn't happen. And every person in our lives has the ability to teach us just as much as the next, so everyone we meet should be regarded as teachers and inspiration equally, but in reality I don't think that happens. Look at the "I thought I knew him" and the "Enemies, Confessions" threads. We are all where we should be, we are all Buddhas and all is dharma and all sentient beings teachers, but I think that is maybe only true when we are completely open and receptive. Sometimes life gets away with us and we don't act in accordance with our Buddha nature, sometimes we don't sit when we should, sometimes we form attachments that we need to work at to let go of. Sometimes one person does make more of an impression on us than another, and sometimes sharing that person's insight can help someone else realize an aspect that was already there.

I've noticed that there is some criticism around the forum regarding certain teachers, certain teaching and certain philosophies. That is fine! But it is one example of not everything being equally taken for what it is and equally inspirational (or equally NOT inspirational.)

I also think that maybe inspirational isn't the right word for what we were talking about, maybe more "reinforcement/assurance" since there isn't anything to aspire to. There is always room to learn, right?

Just my reflections at the moment.

Kindly,
Gassho,
Dani