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  • Jishin
    Member
    • Oct 2012
    • 4821

    #16
    Originally posted by Kyonin
    Thanks for the video, very cool and appropriate.

    JC

    Comment

    • Jishin
      Member
      • Oct 2012
      • 4821

      #17
      Originally posted by disastermouse

      Take your analytic mind and set it on the pure interrogative. Ask intensely who it is that your chatter is talking about - with genuine curiosity and compassion.

      Chet
      Chet,

      I don't really know what is underneath all the chatter. Thus far, I have uncovered the fear of death as the big motivator of who I am. I have a facility with academic acquisition of knowledge, but have a tougher time putting what I learn into action (learn to unlearn?).

      I appreciate your thoughts.

      JC

      Comment

      • Jishin
        Member
        • Oct 2012
        • 4821

        #18
        Originally posted by Taigu
        These words Chet are really spot on.

        JC, don't worry about small and Big mind. Don't try to find more, please. And take care.

        gassho


        Taigu
        Thanks.

        Comment

        • disastermouse

          #19
          Originally posted by John C.
          Chet,

          I don't really know what is underneath all the chatter. Thus far, I have uncovered the fear of death as the big motivator of who I am. I have a facility with academic acquisition of knowledge, but have a tougher time putting what I learn into action (learn to unlearn?).

          I appreciate your thoughts.

          JC
          You have a fear of dying, but you've never really examined what it is that (lives and) dies? This is a common problem.

          Chet

          Comment

          • Jishin
            Member
            • Oct 2012
            • 4821

            #20
            I know that its unknowable. Being ok with it is the problem.

            Comment

            • disastermouse

              #21
              Originally posted by John C.
              I know that its unknowable. Being ok with it is the problem.
              Forget that you know anything. Is it unknowable or merely inexpressible? Who is this? Aren't you curious? Throw it all out and start right here in this moment. As Lin Chi said, "What at this moment is (read: could be) missing?"

              Chet

              Comment

              • Seiryu
                Member
                • Sep 2010
                • 620

                #22
                Allowing oneself to be silent can be very rewarding. To see just how much junk wants to spew out of our mouth when left on its own can be alarming when we take notice of it....
                Humbly,
                清竜 Seiryu

                Comment

                • disastermouse

                  #23
                  Originally posted by Seiryu
                  Allowing oneself to be silent can be very rewarding. To see just how much junk wants to spew out of our mouth when left on its own can be alarming when we take notice of it....
                  "If Control's control is absolute, why does Control feel the need to control?" - William S. Burroughs

                  When I sit most silently (not an experience that happens often, not an experience I chase), right before that - the mind babbles even more nonsense than usual - and I let it. I am not it. And the rushing river sometimes quiets. It doesn't quiet by trying to shut it up, that just pulls me into the game and a mistaken 'I' is born in that moment. That's the wheel of Samsara - chasing yourself through memory and worry and various set-pieces of dream theater. Pushing this way and that, I am lost in a constructed self and have forgotten to just look at what this is.

                  Realizing that I've been hooked, I smile inwardly and release the hook. Over and over. Perfect zazen practice.

                  Perfect life practice. (When I'm forgetful, my sangha helps wake me up).

                  Chet

                  Comment

                  • Jundo
                    Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                    • Apr 2006
                    • 40354

                    #24
                    One comes to that Point of one's Practice where one hears, smells, tastes and fully embodies Silence (Big S) that is/as/shines through-and-through total silence (small s) or the loudest noise, words, gestures or being still. Sometimes we must be very quiet to perceive such, so quiet-still sitting is emphasized. But eventually, such Silence rings through all of life.

                    So, one need not have one's mouth shut to be Silent, and the quietest quiet can be noise to a confused mind.

                    There is a time for talking, time for blah blah, times for silence and leaving words aside. .. and Silence (Big S) speaks all.

                    Gassho, Jundo

                    PS - Once Silence is found, it will change much of what and how you choose to say some things or not, and all one's way of living and experiencing the events of life.
                    Last edited by Jundo; 10-31-2012, 10:20 AM.
                    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                    Comment

                    • Omoi Otoshi
                      Member
                      • Dec 2010
                      • 801

                      #25
                      Originally posted by Seiryu
                      Allowing oneself to be silent
                      I think it's important to sometimes allow silence.

                      can be very rewarding
                      The word rewarding always makes me itch a little!
                      I don't think you mean we should expect a reward for shutting up, but I know from personal experience how sneaky these little end-gaining ideas can be.

                      To see just how much junk
                      How can you be sure it's junk? Did anyone tell you it was junk? Could it be that you are overly judgemental towards the words that emerge spontaneously, without first being checked by the ego? Maybe the words that you are most proud of are the most contrived, and the spontaneous and sometimes silly stuff is what is most honest and true? (I don't know, just asking.)

                      wants to spew out of our mouth
                      To me, a natural function of the mouth is to spew out words.

                      when left on its own can be alarming
                      My ego is always alarmed when I leave the body and mind to do its own thing. But it doesn't fight back as strongly as it used to. Maybe because I don't try to fight it to begin with (in analogy with what Chet says).

                      when we take notice of it....
                      Brad recently commented on his blog that thoughts and attention is not the same thing. We don't have to pay attention to our thoughts. When you don't take notice, when you don't control, when you don't check back, when you let go and let Seiryu be Seiryu, let the words spontaneously emerge from the heart, perhaps you are preaching the true Dharma all day long without knowing?

                      Just thinking out loud,
                      It may be complete junk.

                      Gassho
                      Pontus
                      Last edited by Omoi Otoshi; 10-31-2012, 09:38 AM.
                      In a spring outside time, flowers bloom on a withered tree;
                      you ride a jade elephant backwards, chasing the winged dragon-deer;
                      now as you hide far beyond innumerable peaks--
                      the white moon, a cool breeze, the dawn of a fortunate day

                      Comment

                      • Omoi Otoshi
                        Member
                        • Dec 2010
                        • 801

                        #26
                        Originally posted by Jundo
                        So, one need not have one's mouth shut to be Silent, and the quietest quiet can be noise to a confused mind.
                        Alan already touched on the first part, but the second part is just as important. It's very, very true in my experience!

                        Gassho,
                        Pontus
                        In a spring outside time, flowers bloom on a withered tree;
                        you ride a jade elephant backwards, chasing the winged dragon-deer;
                        now as you hide far beyond innumerable peaks--
                        the white moon, a cool breeze, the dawn of a fortunate day

                        Comment

                        • disastermouse

                          #27
                          Does this thread make anyone think of this?


                          Comment

                          • Geika
                            Treeleaf Unsui
                            • Jan 2010
                            • 4984

                            #28
                            Kyonin, thanks for posting that Depeche Mode video. I'm surprised I've never seen it.

                            Chet, you know YTMND as well, huh?
                            求道芸化 Kyūdō Geika
                            I am just a priest-in-training, please do not take anything I say as a teaching.

                            Comment

                            • Seiryu
                              Member
                              • Sep 2010
                              • 620

                              #29
                              Silence is always there, we are just so go at avoiding at, at running away from it.

                              The word rewarding always makes me itch a little!
                              I don't think you mean we should expect a reward for shutting up, but I know from personal experience how sneaky these little end-gaining ideas can be.
                              Why does the word make you itch? Avoiding end-gaining ideas can sneaky-ly become just another reward we are seeking for ourselves...

                              For me, many many junk floats around my mind....but whats junk for me, is priceless gold for someone else...
                              Humbly,
                              清竜 Seiryu

                              Comment

                              • disastermouse

                                #30
                                Originally posted by Seiryu
                                Silence is always there, we are just so go at avoiding at, at running away from it.


                                Why does the word make you itch? Avoiding end-gaining ideas can sneaky-ly become just another reward we are seeking for ourselves...

                                For me, many many junk floats around my mind....but whats junk for me, is priceless gold for someone else...
                                Unhelpful relativism is unhelpful.

                                The rewarding itch is only itchy if you can't see through it. There is no exact language for Zen, and yet Zen activity can be VERY exact. It's strange, no? Keep on your practice and these quibbles will either disappear or become amazing teachers.

                                IMHO.

                                Chet

                                Comment

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