If everything has Buddha-nature...

[Taigu]

We don t sit in remote places and hermitages anymore, we sit in the midst of this life, embracing people s sufferings and joys, we are in this joyous participation, playing the game with all our energy. Yes illness and fate will have us all AND let s enjoy this, let s fight cancers and diseases, let s work for people out there who are just another form of ourselves. Let s forget ourselves and let the ten thousand things shine forth. Leaping into this, joy , joy, joy ( it is hard sometimes, and it is not meant to be easy anyway).

Gassho

T.

[Jundo]

Ah, Taigu and Eika and Willow and Kyonin say things so beautifully, while my words are so clumsy in this thread ...

We don t sit in remote places and hermitages anymore, we sit in the midst of this life, embracing people s sufferings and joys, we are in this joyous participation, playing the game with all our energy. Yes illness and fate will have us all AND let s enjoy this, let s fight cancers and diseases, let s work for people out there who are just another form of ourselves. Let s forget ourselves and let the ten thousand things shine forth. Leaping into this, joy , joy, joy ( it is hard sometimes, and it is not meant to be easy anyway).

Yes Yes YES!

I feel that the main reason that large scale charity and socially engaged work were not more heavily emphasized in centuries past was because some flavors of Buddhism were focused primarily on freedom by escape from a harsh Samsara world were there was little that anyone could do to improve things on a large scale even if they wished to do so. Now, things are quite different.

I think that most Buddhists of the past certainly would have wanted to do more to fix social ills if they could have, but in feudal, traditional, rigid, military run societies without modern ways, technical means, modern knowledge and understanding, social freedom of action, with violent political forces fighting anyone who protested ... well, there was little that could be done in the face of war, violence, poverty, slavery, social inequality, disease and all the rest.

Now, times have changed: We can be free of Samsara all while fixing Samsara in many ways. We can seek the Pure Land while bringing a bit of the Pure Land here. We can realize Nirvana all while knowing that Samsara and Nirvana are one.

The Buddhists of the past would have done more if they could.

Hi,
I think the foundation of Enkyo's question is the distinction between self and other. When we sit, we sit for all, whether we intend to or not. When we help someone, no matter the scale, we help all.

Eika, you are a music teacher by profession. When you study your piano, are you not helping master those skills that you will pass on to others? Your Practice is for everyone. And the beautiful, harmonious music that you and your students make fills the world with beauty.

Pardon the musical metaphor, but the universe is like One Great Symphony in which all our individual Practice and Playing merges into One. Your Practice, your harmony or discord helps make the Sound of the Whole. Your Practice and Teaching is for all of us.

The more we practice and sit, the more the universe benefits.

If I cut myself while cooking you won't get the blood nor the pain. But I become aware and mindful that there is pain and that there are people having harder times than me.

So I go out and do as much as I can for people.

Granted, no matter how hard I try, I won't end hunger or wars. But just making an old lady smile is enough. Sending help for victims of natural events and knowing that at least they will have a meal, it's enough to keep me going and doing more.

We sit and we get our heads cleared of crap so we can focus on service. We don't sit for our selfish selves. We sit for the universe.

Or at least that's how I see it.

That is how I see it too. Nine Bows.

I feel that the Buddhists of old, even if they knew that it would not then be possible to change society on a large scale, always knew the preciousness of taking loving and helpful action in the situation right at hand ... the smile to an old lady, the single act of charity to one suffering individual ... that the small can often have great effects.

Thank you all for saying it so much better than me.

Gassho, J

[Nengyo]

This was a nice thread to stumble upon before bed time. I can go to sleep with a smile on my face. Right now in my practice, it seems that there is so much to this zen thing that I couldn't explain it in a million years, and yet there is so little to it that it seems very silly when I try.

Much metta to all my fellow crazy wanderers/Bodhisattvas tonight as we roll around in buddha nature

[Yugen]

I am a latecomer to this wonderful discussion, and plenty has been said regarding the notion of Engaged Buddhism - I would like as a lowly novice priest of no rank to hone a jewel of statement made by Enkyo:

Here is the problem: I have been so cocky on this forum in the past. Having an answer to everything. Since of late I am losing my taste for all of that. A question that won't let itself be asked or formulated, has nestled itself in my practice. Decided to drop all of that and start with the right questions but if I can't formulate it how can I answer it?

This, my dear Enkyo, this point, the lack of formulated questions, is the wonderful, agonizing, delicious precipice of our practice. This is the beginning of prajna - not knowing - not knowing which question to ask - and being open to not knowing.

Linji sat for three years under Huangbo's tutelage without once asking him about the Dharma. He sat for three years and never approached Huangbo with a question. The Head Monk finally pressed him to approach Huangbo and ask about the Dharma and Linji's reply was "I don't know what to ask - what should I ask him?" Linji's many doubts became one great doubt, one great question - the fundamental question - or in our Soto Zen, the Great Matter. And all of a sudden all our questions, our worries, our anxieties about the utility bills, our jobs, our ready answers to everything, fall away to expose one great question. Glimpsing the great matter of life and death all of a sudden becomes so clear that we wonder why we spent years tying up our minds so.... but that is our nature as deluded beings.

Welcome to a wonderful new chapter of your practice - the precipice, groundlessness.

Deep bows to you,
Yugen

[MyoHo]

Thank you Taigu, Willow and Yugen for at least considering `why would he ask that kind of question in this thread?"

I know I should just shut up about this but here goes nothing:

Glimpsing the great matter of life and death all of a sudden becomes so clear that we wonder why we spent years tying up our minds so.... but that is our nature as deluded beings.

Yugen, that is precisely it my dear brother. That is precisely it. Deep bow for you patiently looking past my clumsiness and awkward way of putting it. I was just starting to think..... Oh well never mind. Seeing my words are a poor attempt to express something quite wonderful, your words cleared a very nasty fog for me. Thank you

Trying to answer this great question for now in: "How?" feels like a first direction to me.

Not "how do I fix the world?" Come on, everyone knows that that is not the point. Jundo and Taigu just spoke of both light And specks of dust.

Not "How do I fix myself?" That is taking the way backwards.

No, just : HOW? But, like Yugen said that is not the right question either. It can't be expressed! It's like the very precise moment you realize you forgot something. "OH! Wait a minute......"

My exploring or rather presenting that question, seems to have offended many in this thread. How can this be?

Lately my eyes are opening more and more to the suffering in this world. The world is dying again and again and again. So much misery and pain. So much injustice. Beautiful things seem to go first and great people always die too early. Yes, it does make me cry at times. Not a saint, just a sensitive human becoming more sensitive because of sitting.

I go to the hospital sometimes and also serve coffee to old people once a week. My heart fills with pain and helplessness and this very question is there. HOW? WHY? WHAT? FROM WHERE? all compacted into one, into a silent boundless open space that is tight like a rubber band, ready to jump at any time. Well something like that. I'm not a poet.

So again the question: HOW does sitting benefit all others beyond the ever so important little things we can do for each other? Is there more we can do? How does one take this new found space and make it move within the precepts? Or the precepts within this space? HOW?

You mentioned 'teaching someone how to fish'. I'm not sure I understand the meaning of this? Would you feel able to say a bit more. I think there may be some misunderstanding in what you were asking?

Willow: We give a man a fish and that is wonderful but we must keep looking to find a way to alleviate things in a more fundamental way even though we never can cure it all? Asking this already is compassion I think? I vow to save all sentient beings does not mean we pack our bags, go on the road and search for EVERY single one of them? That's hopeless and ridiculous! Trying and aspiring to do so however, to always have this wish and intention is what is in my heart always. Even though there is no real answer, since when can we NOT ask the question?
Saying: "OH well, that's all samsara you know. Can't be helped, sorry about that. Have to go sit now, bye!" For me and I expect all others here can honestly say THAT JUST WON'T DO! So........HOW? The answer most probably is, There is no way. Good, I think you are definitely right, so again.... HOW?

What the heck did I deserve a whack on the head like that for? Yes I question and will continue to do so because I want to bring it in close NOT because I want to reject or ridicule it!

I think I'm going to sit outside that Starbucks soon and let the Buddha take care of Dharma business, outside the view and control of little old deluded me. It's all I can think of anyway.

Thank you all for caring and replying all in your very own way AWESOMENESS!

Gassho

Enkyo

[Jundo]

Hi Enkyo,

Perhaps we need to just embrace life's "How", dance this "How", respect this "How", sit Zazen embodying "How" . . . doing the best we can in any moment of this messy world.

Gassho, J

[Kokuu]

This thread seems to have much in common with the one on way-seeking mind. If every action (sitting, cooking, cleaning) is done with way-seeking mind for the benefit of all beings, what could be missing? Without that inclusion of all beings life and practice can feel quite flat. I understand how the Bodhisattva vow and even the global service days can produce feelings of unworthiness (they do in me anyway) but as Mother Teresa said ' it is not always possible to do great things but we can do small things with great love'.

When Nelson Mandela he was in prison he kept himself in physical and mental shape. When asked what kept him going he said that he knew he was either going to die in there or else his country would need him. His love for his country and its people was there in every single action.

So we sit for all beings, cook for all beings, clean for all beings and sleep for all beings, each little action motivated by great love.

Right now in my practice, it seems that there is so much to this zen thing that I couldn't explain it in a million years, and yet there is so little to it that it seems very silly when I try.

I love this, Catfish! Seems to me that when we do it, it is simple. When we try and understand it, we might as well try and catch the Higgs-Boson with our teeth!

Thank you all for the questions and answers.

Deep bows
Andy

[Taigu]

How does not require a fixed and precise answer. It is what opens the open, make the dynamic compassion possible. Like my Bro says.

Gassho

T.

[Jinyo]

Enkyo - thank you for your heart-felt thoughts. I am actually very moved by what you have written and 'am going to struggle to give an adequate response.

I think I hit the point you're at some months ago and also felt perturbed because I didn't feel my 'question' was fully answered from within my practice or by any specific zen teaching. I am still grappling with this - perhaps will always be grappling with this - because the 'tension' is all part and parcel of being human.

You mentioned 'boundless space' and the 'tight rubber band' of the question. This makes sense to me - to live within this juxtaposition is to be wholy human.

I think it takes time to feel remotely comfortable with such a position. It's discomforting to find that despite our best efforts the pain of acknowledging that the world is full of difficulty and tragedy doesn't ease - it may even get more intense.

But Taigu speaks of joy - and this is also true. I think with this practice the sense of joy also increases.

I now see practice as continual questioning/affirmation/questioning/re-affirmation.

We sit within 'How?' - and we do the best we can to bring our insight into the whole of life.

Sorry if this is rambling,

Gassho

Willow

[Kokuu]

Willow, I think you express it beautifully and I have a similar experience. Sometimes practice seems full and meaningful, sometimes pointless, often somewhere in between.

Living with that open question of 'how?' leaves us open and vulnerable to feeling unworthy and never quite arriving at the place of an answer.

Your last line seems to say it perfectly:

We sit within 'How?' - and we do the best we can to bring our insight into the whole of life.

Thank you
Andy

[Hans]

Hello,

I bow down to all the freshness within these questions and their generous answers within this remarkable thread.

Having considered the Dogen quote:

When Dharma does NOT fill your whole body and mind, you think it is already sufficient.
When Dharma DOES fill your whole body and mind, you understand something is missing.


I feel a dumbed down version like the following still points to an interesting gateway:

When you don't see the ugliness of samsaric existence anymore, because you're either too foolish or too self satisfied, or too blissful, you've probably removed your ability to enact the Mahayana path as a Bodhisattva.

When you see the ugliness of samsaric existence for what it is, warts and all, being pulled and pushed in all directions all the time, your practise might actually benefit sentient beings, because only someone who can truly relate, can help effectively.

Stopping at the ninth ox-herding picture is missing the path completely.

Gassho,


Hans Chudo Mongen

[RichardH]

When Dharma does NOT fill your whole body and mind, you think it is already sufficient.
When Dharma DOES fill your whole body and mind, you understand something is missing.

Here is some riffing... maybe off the mark, maybe on mark? I don't know, but a muscle somewhere has stopped clenching.

There is nothing left to hold back. Because there is nothing left to hold back, I have lost my eternal life and belong to the world 100%. A shimmer of instability , a reaching arc of lightening, it is my only life. Something has unmixed, and now I just live and die. In truly living and dying there is joy.

just riffing...just playing. Gassho Daizan

[Ishin]

I can see What Jundo, Taigu, and Willow have said about the embracing of HOW? But perhaps a more practical answer can be considered too. So HOW do we help by just sitting?

He who saves himself saves the world- Author Unknown

When we take back our original nature, by which sitting is a method to do so, then we can bring that self which is non self out into the world. Our mere presence, our witness of original nature, our being balanced even in the face of all hell breaking around us, in my mind is very inspiring to others. What or who is that that even motivates you to have this need to have this practice BE a benefit to others? Is it the small self or the big self that is having a voice there? How did you rediscover that self? Which self is it that serves coffee in hospitals? Which presence is there in the hospital serving others?

To me sitting helps me encourage that original self to emerge, again,, and again and again. Then I am more inspired to participate in constructive ways than merely personal gain or pleasure. The small self diminishes to serve the larger self.

So maybe the answer to the question HOW? is another question.. WHO?

Gassho C

[Shokai]

Perhaps it is just the conditioning that takes place. Last night I had a dream that allowed me to spontaneously respond to a situation that arose earlier this morning; creating a positive spin to the rest of the day. When one sits shikantaza, they are slowly/naturally brought closer to the universal Mind. Had it not been for my practice of zazen I may have just said (in response to the situation), "How am I supposed to act now?" Whereas, I was able to see where I fit in. Zazen eventually allows us to better harmonize with our environment. Even if that is the only effect, you've made the world a better place to be.

So, now the question is WHY! Why that dream? and Why last night?

gassho,

[Jundo]

Dogen and some other wonderful Teachers had a way to make interrogatives ... Why? How? Who? ... into AFFIRMATIONS! ... WHY! HOW! WHO! ...

A monk asked Master Kaku of Roya,
"If the essential state is pure and clear, then why do mountains, rivers and the
great earth arise?"

Kaku said,
"If the essential state is pure and clear, then why do mountains, rivers and the
great earth arise!"

Dogen often wrote using interrogatives such as "What," "How," "Why" as declarations of the "Great Matter" the "Inconceivable" or "the Ultimate Mystery". Suzuki Roshi commented this ...

Dogen-zenji found out a very good Chinese word to express this kind of truth. In Chinese-the Chinese word [is] inmo-or I don't know-know this-how they pronounce it. But inmo has two meaning. One is positive meaning: "suchness," you know. The other is the interrogative meaning: "What is it?" [Laughs.] What-what is inmo? How is inmo? You know, what is it when geese [laughs] came? Horsemaster asked Hyakujo, "What is it?" That "what," you know, what is inmo. Inmo is interrogative, and it is affirmative too.

This is very convenient word to express the reality. Everything is one side-in one sense it is suchness. On the other hand, it is not-it is something in-it is something which we cannot grasp. For an instance, you know, here is beautiful flower, you know. You think here is beautiful flower, but that beautiful flower is always changing [laughs]. You cannot grasp it, even while you are watching the changes. So you think you see it, but actually you didn't see the flower itself which is changing.

So everything is in one side something which is-which cannot be grasped, so "What?" The-on the other hand, you know, even for a while it is there in that way. And so it is-everything is suchness, and everything is ingraspable-cannot be grasped. So it is "What?" So inmo-the word inmo has two meaning, and Dogen-zenji found out this is very convenient word to express the reality.

http://suzukiroshi.sfzc.org/archives/index.cgi/671204V.html?seemore=y

Gassho, J