Way of the Snowball?

[Jundo]

And I don't know where to put this, so here is as good as any. Just made me smile, I hope it does you'all too.

I guess it's also as a good an answer as any to some hard philosophical questions being asked ...

Japan sets Guinness record for synchronized mascot dancing

This week, 141 “yuru-kyara” [cute and cuddly character mascots] from 25 prefectures across the country gathered in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, to make their mark on history by becoming the largest group of mascots ever to do the same dance together.

HTB, the event organizers, set the goal of gathering characters from all over the country to perform a synchronized dance number to a song called “The Beard Dance” by The Drifters. If, during the 5-minute song, less that 5% of the characters were out of sync or made mistakes, they would get a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Although the “yuru-kyara” earnestly and enthusiastically shook their tiny arms and bulbous bodies to the music, they twice failed meet the requirements. However, 134 mascots put in a flawless performance on the third try and succeeded in setting the record! Congratulatory music played and the characters jumped around hugging each other, completely lost in the moment. Could there be any happier sight on planet Earth than 141 giant cuddly creatures dancing and embracing? We think not.



Maybe each flavor of Buddhism can have it's own mascot! We could have a big cuddly Zafu with a tophat!

[Mp]

Hi Eric - have been drinking Pepsi here for a while. We drink face to face - talk/debate (and do not always agree!) support each other through personal difficulties - and practice Zazen together. This is not a place of only words - like so many forums - it is a Sangha.

Why not post a picture, share a little about yourself, and open your mind to what really happens here.

Gassho

Willow

Nicely put Willow.

Gassho
Shingen

[Jundo]

Maybe each flavor of Buddhism can have it's own mascot!

Okay, so I guess I am not the first with the idea ...

The Ryohoji temple, built in the late 16th century in a Tokyo suburb, erected a colourful manga-inspired sign at its entrance in June and has since seen visitor numbers perk up -- especially young men.
Ryohoji's chief monk, Shoko Nakazato, 45, said he did not think it was inappropriate.
"I'm a manga generation who grew up watching them on television. I have little resistance to manga.... I wanted to tell the people that temples are a fun place to visit," he said.
Ryohoji previously had almost no visitors during the week, but recently up to 30 people, mostly young men, had come every day, Nakazato said.
Adding to the spectacle, Toromi, a singer who drew the manga characters on the temple's sign, was in a red-and-white costume inspired by a goddess worshipped at the temple.
"I'm so happy as unexpectedly many people came," said Toromi, who goes by one name and is a common sight in Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics district that is frequented by computer buffs and fanatics, known in Japanese as "otaku."

She is dressed as Benzaiten, an old Indian goddess mentioned in the Lotus Sutra and often depicted holding a biwa, a traditional Chinese lute, and considered a patron of music and arts.

The Temple is a Nichiren Buddhist temple, the flavor of Buddhism which chants the name of the Lotus Sutra Namu-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō.

[Daijo]

well this has been quite the interesting thread.

deep bow with clasped palms to you all (along with an amused yet awkward smile)

[Eric]

Why not post a picture, share a little about yourself, and open your mind to what really happens here.

Its sometimes said here that 'Zen is about our lives', but I would add a twist to that.

Zen is about the CONTEXT of everyone's life...not about the CONTENT of any specific person's life.

By content I mean a person's activities, possessions, relations, etc.

I believe Jundo referred to the content as "tiny cogs, pointlessly spinning".

Another teacher, the late Dr. David R. Hawkins likened the content to characters in a play...whereas realization is identifying instead with the theatre, the context in which this content takes place. He calibrates the depth of this realization on a logarithmic scale of 0-1000.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vll_nSVAK4

This is why SPACE itself is often used as a symbol of the Mahayana, instead of the lotus flower. The flower and the mud from which it grows are both the content of space...which pervades and is also distinct from both.

Now this doesnt mean that the content will not be altered by a realization of the context. The way you make a sandwich may be quite different after 30 years of relentless zazen...but theres no point in trying to fake it, because the process isnt reversible.

[Eric]

The Dharma is simply the consensus of conceptual explanations of whatever is realized in meditation. And as such it functions somewhat like a very detailed label on a soft drink. One cannot fully understand the label unless one tastes the contents...on the other hand, tasting the contents will not always yield the same conceptual explanations.

Yet, the Taste of All Tastes yields some folks who prefer Pepsi, some Fanta Orange, some Ginger Ale, each a good and thirst quenching taste in its way.

Its not the contents of meditation which taste different for different people...its the conceptual explanation of that taste that varies.

My 'sitting in stillness' posture doesnt know that its supposed to be Buddhist or Hindu or Jain or Taoist...it just is what it is.

When a consensus is created (at a Buddhist council for example) to standardize the Dharma the leaders look for those few points of explanation which are common to the most advanced adepts.

[Jundo]

Energy fields of 70, 431, 540, 1000 ...

Here, we practice 1 to 1000 to a Googolpex as countless. Like many Wisdom Teachers, 30% of Dr. Harkins' "energy fields" sounds like the Wisdom on Silence shared by many Traditions, 30% as his own wacky quackery, 30% somewhere a mix of both.

Eric, I have a strong sense that you are in a Dojo here at Treeleaf that does not fit your needs.

Would you please PM or email me privately so we can discuss if that is the case?

Gassho, Jundo

[Shokai]

Eric;
Just Sit; for Buddha's sake !!

[JohnsonCM]

Its not the contents of meditation which taste different for different people...its the conceptual explanation of that taste that varies.

My 'sitting in stillness' posture doesnt know that its supposed to be Buddhist or Hindu or Jain or Taoist...it just is what it is.

When a consensus is created (at a Buddhist council for example) to standardize the Dharma the leaders look for those few points of explanation which are common to the most advanced adepts.

The only reason your posture doesn't know if it is Buddhist, Jain, Taoist, Aboriginal., native American, Hawaiian., etc is because when we drop all sense of "this " and "that " we begin to relize that sitting is all of the above and wholly Soto Zen at the same time. Buddha speaks with the lips of Paracelsus, and he hears with the hairs of Sitting Bull' s ears.