Stillness

[Jundo]

Yet, when Andrea breaks a leg he is the one crying, while Andy and Clark feels just fine How is it possible that I cannot clearly find a self while there are obviously (well...maybe it is not that obvious) differences between individuals and there respective experiences? I have been tempted to assume that that "stillness", that "awareness", that "observer" that I was describing before is indeed my real self.

There is another old Zen Koan ... When Andrea catches a cold, Andy sneezes!

Of course, in our ordinary view of life, when Andrea catches cold, that does not cause Andy to sneeze on the other side of the world.

Yet one encounters views in our Way whereby Andrea is just Andrea and there is no Andy ... Andy is Andy and there is no Andrea ... Andrea is precisely Andy and all the mountains and stars and empty space as well ... each star is precisely Andrea and Andy. Thus, when Andy catches cold the stars and mountains and empty space sneeze! All is empty space, all is the mountain.

There is also a Viewless so Whole and Flowing that one has no need for separate names like Andy, Andrea, Mountains, Stars and Space. Who is there to catch cold? Yet, the Flowing Wholeness needs to flow as Andy and Mountains, Stars and Space and you too. You, right now as you are, are just so. Ahhhhchoooo!

So, which is the so-called "Real You"?

Why ALL OF SUCH, OF COURSE! Don't think it is only some quiet peace still place where Andy and Andrea are washed away.

You are the "Real You" now ... although your own fears and delusions, greed and anger and other divisive thoughts, judgments, aversions and attractions, make you feel somehow inadequate or lacking or "less than real".

Your screwed up, confused, angry greedy self is Buddha, you Real Self right now. Just hard to realize when one is screwed up, confused angry and greedy!

Gassho, J

PS - Pancakes were delicious.

[Mp]

Hui Ko asked Bodhidharma to accept him as a disciple, but was refused. Hui Ko waited outside the door in a snowy day. After a long time, the snow was so heavy that it came up to the waist of Hui Ko. Bodhidharma saw that he was really sincere in the pursuit of the Buddhist way. Then he asked Hui Ko, "What have you come for?"

"My mind is not pacified. Please help me in pacifying my mind." Hui Ko replied.

"Bring me your mind, and I'll pacify it for you" shouted Bodhidharma.

"But I cannot find my mind." Hui Ko said.

"I have pacified your mind for you already!" said Bodhidharma.

Wonderful, thank you Jundo. =)

Gassho
Shingen

PS ... glad you enjoyed the pancakes, always a great treat! =)

[Jishin]

There is another old Zen Koan ... When Andrea catches a cold, Andy sneezes!

.

Love this. 😄

Gassho
Jishin

[Jinyo]

'Take great care of your Original Self.'

Taigu - thank you



Willow

[alan.r]

So hard for us to realize that this is Buddha, that is Buddha, quiet is Buddha, noise is Buddha, coming is Buddha, going is Buddha, thoughts are Buddha, absence of thoughts are Buddha, peace is Buddha, anger is Buddha, stillness is Buddha, movement is Buddha, alive is Buddha, dead is Buddha. Buddha is not simply silence and stillness. We simply sit because, in the day to day clutter and confusion of our minds, a space for a bit of silence and stillness may help us better realize such fact when we drop all the cutter and confusion for a time. But the point is not that the silence and stillness of sitting is "where its at", because our way is to "non-find" (because always present in the bones even though rarely seen) a Silence and Stillness (Big "S") that --is-- and always has been the clutter and silence and peace and chaos and confusion and stillness. Both peace and anger are Buddha, but anger blinds us to such fact because so divisive! As well, peace can hide Buddha too if we think that is the only place Buddha is to be found.

Many thanks for this. Gassho

[Ishin]

Hi all

Just wanted to say this was a very helpful thread, pancakes, French frogs, Andrea's cold, and mine. Achoooo!
Gassho
C

[Andrea1974]

Thank you Jundo and Taigu...awesome comments!!! BTW, I have decided to replaced the word "awareness" with "great pumpkin" in my vocabulary

>How about don't call it, and just Flow Whole As The Whole Flowing

Beautifully said Jundo. It reminds me of...

“The mystique of rock climbing is climbing; you get to the top of a rock glad it’s over but really wish it would go on forever. The justification of climbing is climbing, like the justification of poetry is writing; you don’t conquer anything except things in yourself…. The act of writing justifies poetry. Climbing is the same: recognizing that you are a flow. The purpose of the flow is to keep on flowing, not looking for a peak or utopia but staying in the flow. It is not a moving up but a continuous flowing; you move up to keep the flow going. There is no possible reason for climbing except the climbing itself; it is a self-communication.”

― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow

[Daitetsu]

Hi Andrea,

Yet, when Andrea breaks a leg he is the one crying, while Andy and Clark feels just fine How is it possible that I cannot clearly find a self while there are obviously (well...maybe it is not that obvious) differences between individuals and there respective experiences?

When you cut off one of your fingers, does your foot hurt?

Gassho,

Daitetsu

[LucardieC]

It is the moment you are in.
Stillness is the appreciation of that moment
Breathe it, live it, enjoy it, let go of it.

Deepest bows,
Chelsea

[Tiwala]

Just chop water and carry wood.