Practice in daily life

[Jundo]

A caution to everyone on this Forum:

DON'T BE SO SELF-ANALYTICAL, REFLECTIVELY PHILOSOPHICAL, SELF-STORY CREATING! There is a tendency to write beautiful prose, and luscious descriptions of our life, our problems, our personalities and such ... but we risk drowning in a river of words and nice thoughts. Wash it all clean, and leave the analysis, philosophizing and story making behind more.

I think we all can fall into this trap of overthinking. Leave it all on the cushion please, and simplify the mind! See what clarity may result when all is put down. Go Sit!

Gassho, Jundo

[Daiyo]

What is harder for me is that now I believe I have something to try, to experience and find out myself, as the Buddha suggested in the Kalama Sutta.
So I want to tell everybody "Hey!! try this!! it looks really good!!"
But it's as you say, Kyonin, unless the other one is already prepared to open him/herself, most probably we will end up being perceived as fanatics trying to persuade and getting adepts.

That's another of the things that attracted me to buddhism: nobody was compelling me to do so.

BTW, I love this exchange of opinions and experiences.


Gassho,
Walter

[Kyonin]

How I'm bursting to tell people of this way, feeling it can do the world really good, but I can't, as people will simply think I'm nuts.

Hi Danny,

Yes this is very difficult. We can see suffering and we know the Buddha was a very smart guy. He left us with this outstanding diagnosis and a framework to lead our lives, that we want people to know and practice. And maybe make a better world.

But then, we can't go evangelizing everywhere we go. Buddhism is a personal path that has to be discovered by each of us. All stories are different and we all have different motives, so we come to this when we are ready to listen.

But us practitioners have to remain silent, but available to help if needed.

I have lived this again and again recently. Not with Buddhism, but with nutrition. I found a way that works for me that improved my health and made me lose weight. People get curious and ask how I lost weight. I do my best to explain what I did and encourage people to jump in and try it, but when I say that I quit sugar and bread, they just smile and ignore me. Like if I was crazy or ill.

It's frustrating because I live the fattest country in the world!

I remain silent and keep on my personal path.

We can change for the better, but it's only until we are ready.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Myoku]

Thank you everyone,

....I see their suffering, and it hurts me so much.

Thats is a big problem for me too, this is hurting and you cant do much.
Gassho
Myoku

[Tb]

Hi.

Yes, Walter, I've been thinking along these lines too.

First I had thoughts on my own stupidity (of course I had endless chances to encounter the way, I only never opened my eyes).

Lately, I've been thinking about this from a bodhisattva-view (as I imagine it):

How I'm bursting to tell people of this way, feeling it can do the world really good, but I can't, as people will simply think I'm nuts.

Like, there is a right moment when each person is ready to see or listen. Unfortunately.

And even with lowering obvious obstacles for a modern westerner's mind, atheists and scepticists like my friends just don't see the way, even if illuminated like an airfield.
I see their suffering, and it hurts me so much.
Not being able to make people see this way is dukkha, too.

Another opportunity for practice in daily life, I suppose.

Gassho,
Danny

The practice is like rings spreading.
With each new ring the surface it covers expand, while leaving no trace on the water.

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy
Fugen

[Jika]

also how late I did notice this way existed

Yes, Walter, I've been thinking along these lines too.

First I had thoughts on my own stupidity (of course I had endless chances to encounter the way, I only never opened my eyes).

Lately, I've been thinking about this from a bodhisattva-view (as I imagine it):

How I'm bursting to tell people of this way, feeling it can do the world really good, but I can't, as people will simply think I'm nuts.

Like, there is a right moment when each person is ready to see or listen. Unfortunately.

And even with lowering obvious obstacles for a modern westerner's mind, atheists and scepticists like my friends just don't see the way, even if illuminated like an airfield.
I see their suffering, and it hurts me so much.
Not being able to make people see this way is dukkha, too.

Another opportunity for practice in daily life, I suppose.

Gassho,
Danny

[Byokan]

Wonderful thread, wonderful wisdom here, I am grateful

Gassho
Lisa

[Jundo]

Letting this go, letting it all go and just being with what is, right in the present, whether it is shouting mothers, annoying loud neighbours, wild children...this is where practice happens.

This is also where peace and quiet happens ... at least peace and quiet on the inside!

Gassho, J

Hello, so much wonderful, wonderful advice posted here already!! Not much to add, other than I used to have this longing for a peaceful life, where my kids were quiet, at least some of the time. lol!!! Or that I'd have more time for peace and solitude so I could "practice" I've come to realize that this is nothing more than another attachment, a desire. Letting this go, letting it all go and just being with what is, right in the present, whether it is shouting mothers, annoying loud neighbours, wild children...this is where practice happens.

Gassho,
Joyo

[Daiyo]

Thanks Alan.

Gassho,
Walter.

[Jundo]

Ah, this is it. You're doing it, practicing. You're getting to know yourself. That's amazing. It's not that you're flawed that should be the insight here, but that you are recognizing that you're judging (seeing yourself as flawed) and comparing (yourself to others you meet) and worrying (that you didn't know this way existed). This is wonderful work! This is the practice - to see what we're really doing! Living with kids and having challenges with work, that stuff is our practice. Worrying that we don't have enough time to practice properly, that is our practice. Wondering if we're doing as well as others, that is our practice. Be with these things while you sit and just let them be. These things/thoughts/feelings happen to all of us. Just be with them and let them be there and when you open up to your flaws, you'll see them sink away; you'll just feel completely and wholly that you shouldn't be hard on yourself, that you are part of everyone and everyone is a part of you, and we're wholly completely flawed at once together and flawed together completely whole.

Gassho

Yes, lovely.

And thus, nonetheless, we work on fixing those flawless flaws as best we can!

Gassho, J

[alan.r]

One of the things that has been going round my head these days is that as I practice and meet other people, I discover how flawed I am, how many things I have to work out, how short of time I am, maybe also how late I did notice this way existed.
Living with kids, facing everyday challenges at work, at home, etc. leaves me short of time to partcipate as much as I would wish.

Some days it encourages me to double efforts, other days it brings me down.


Gassho,
Walter.

Ah, this is it. You're doing it, practicing. You're getting to know yourself. That's amazing. It's not that you're flawed that should be the insight here, but that you are recognizing that you're judging (seeing yourself as flawed) and comparing (yourself to others you meet) and worrying (that you didn't know this way existed). This is wonderful work! This is the practice - to see what we're really doing! Living with kids and having challenges with work, that stuff is our practice. Worrying that we don't have enough time to practice properly, that is our practice. Wondering if we're doing as well as others, that is our practice. Be with these things while you sit and just let them be. These things/thoughts/feelings happen to all of us. Just be with them and let them be there and when you open up to your flaws, you'll see them sink away; you'll just feel completely and wholly that you shouldn't be hard on yourself, that you are part of everyone and everyone is a part of you, and we're wholly completely flawed at once together and flawed together completely whole.

Gassho

[Daiyo]

Thanks, Jundo.
I'll keep shoveling the snow.


Gassho,
Walter

[Jundo]

One of the things that has been going round my head these days is that as I practice and meet other people, I discover how flawed I am, how many things I have to work out, how short of time I am, maybe also how late I did notice this way existed.
Living with kids, facing everyday challenges at work, at home, etc. leaves me short of time to partcipate as much as I would wish.

Some days it encourages me to double efforts, other days it brings me down.

Yes, we are all flawed. Human beings are flawed, and we do our best to climb Buddha Mountain to the peak of finally becoming Flawless Buddhas free of all human failings. Our job is to mend the flaws, fix our faults, wipe the dust. We often stumble and fall. It may take many many many lives.

And, yes, there is never a flaw ... all is Buddha Mountain Peak arrived at TOTALLY with each step, and we are each all Buddha from the start! Nothing to mend, nothing to fix, no place for dust to gather. No place or way to fall. One is totally Liberated from the startless start, and such happens right in the instant of each step-by-stepless-step.

Which is the True Perspective? YES!

This is one of the lessons of Ango and of Jukai, where our Practice is always imperfect yet we try our best ... and such is thus Perfect Practice. It is a lesson of sewing, where we sew with diligence and care, trying not to make a mistake ... yet mistakes will happen, which we fix when we can ... and so there is never a perfectly sewn or completed Rakusu ... the very Realization of which is also and immediately Perfect and Complete Rakusu, the sewing of which is without beginning or middle or end!

We always Practice with life distractions ... and if you were in a monastery deep in the mountains, or a hermit living in a hut, you would still have countless distractions both within and without. Our Practice is to find the Undistracted Non-Obstructed Freedom that is right at the heart of "distractions" and "obstacles". Are these "distractions" and "obstacles" as much within you as out? If we did not have "distractions" and "obstacles" to practice with, we would have no "practice" ... we would, frankly, have no need for "Buddhism" or "Zen" at all!

Gassho, J

[Shugen]

Hello all,

Relax! If you spend too much time worrying how it "should" be, you'll make yourself crazy! (At least that's been my experience so far). One of the great things about this path is that it has 10,000 entrances. Come as you are, you'll be welcomed! "One minute sitting, One minute Buddha"

(And, I know, easier said than done)

Gassho,

Shugen