Where I am/Where am I

[Jundo]

Thus, the Mahayana pointed to something free of all that ... sometimes called "Buddha" (Big "B") ... that was sometimes called "Eternal" or "Timeless" or "the One that holds the whole world" ... but really what they meant to say is that it is "Timeless and Eternal" etc. merely because it is beyond all human judgments of "eternal" or "temporary" "birth and death" "one or many" "here or not here" "big or small" "tom or dick or harry" etc.

Just by a WOWWY coincidence (are there such things?), the Koan I was thinking to post here on this theme is the very Koan that I was going to post on from the Book of Serenity. Everyone, please have a peak ...

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?10925-BOOK-OF-EQUANIMITY-Case-30

[Kyonin]

Hey Will!

It's great to see you here, my friend.

Yes, you are ignorant. So am I and pretty much everyone. And when it comes to stupid, I'm the king.

But it all comes down to sitting so you can admire and dip yourself in the vastness of empty.

Trust me when I say this (taken from our dear friend Dokan): A honest "I don't know" opens the path for liberation.

So... read a lot and rationalize all you want. But at the end, just sit.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Juki]

Thanks to all of you for your teaching and your patience. Feeling a lot better now. I was sitting last night, counting through the 108 beads on a mala (which is not a Zen practice, per se). At that point, I realized that a Buddhist mala is pretty much the same thing as a Catholic rosary, and I think I sprained my hamstring trying to kick myself in my own butt. Doh!

gassho,

william

[Jishin]

I am ignorant and not, stupid and not, all at once, and thats pretty cool!

Gassho, John

[Daijo]

Rumor has it that when the Romans first encountered early Buddhists they found them using mala beads. A word that sounded very much to them like the Roman word for Rose. This is listed a possible source for the catholic rosary beads.

[Rich]

Thanks to all of you for your teaching and your patience. Feeling a lot better now. I was sitting last night, counting through the 108 beads on a mala (which is not a Zen practice, per se). At that point, I realized that a Buddhist mala is pretty much the same thing as a Catholic rosary, and I think I sprained my hamstring trying to kick myself in my own butt. Doh!

gassho,

william

In Korean Zen they repeat a simple chant for each bead. Kwan seum bosal for compassion. Ji Jang Bosal for the recent dead. yes, very similar to saying a rosary.

[Kokuu]

Interesting (to me) article on malas by former Zen monk Clark Strand: http://www.tricycle.com/-practice/worry-beads

[Jundo]

For our newer folks, more about Mala/Prayer beads that came up recently. However, it is really just Buddhist trivia, good for Buddhist game shows. For example:

Q: On which hand is the Mala traditionally properly worn?

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?10500-Malas&p=93058&viewfull=1#post93058

Gassho, J