The Heart Sutra

[Luciana]

Gassho, Ongen.

L.

st

[Kyonin]

Hi guys,

After now more than 20 years of practice and sitting, I learned that books and definitions can only take you so far. It comes the time that one needs to realize all what's been learned by just letting it all go and sit zazen.

When sitting some times it comes a certain clarity, a feeling, a certainty that you finally understand super complex concepts like emptiness.

Yes, everything is empty and is what is. Everything depends on everything to exist and it all belongs to a Whole bigger than what we can grasp with the monkey mind.

Emptiness is Mu is All is Nothing is Complete is Here is There is No is Yes is US.

And now this cup of coffee is full with emptiness.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Jundo]

Hi guys,

After now more than 20 years of practice and sitting, I learned that books and definitions can only take you so far. It comes the time that one needs to realize all what's been learned by just letting it all go and sit zazen.

When sitting some times it comes a certain clarity, a feeling, a certainty that you finally understand super complex concepts like emptiness.

Yes, everything is empty and is what is. Everything depends on everything to exist and it all belongs to a Whole bigger than what we can grasp with the monkey mind.

Emptiness is Mu is All is Nothing is Complete is Here is There is No is Yes is US.

And now this cup of coffee is full with emptiness.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Anshu Bryson]

Hi guys,

After now more than 20 years of practice and sitting, I learned that books and definitions can only take you so far. It comes the time that one needs to realize all what's been learned by just letting it all go and sit zazen.

When sitting some times it comes a certain clarity, a feeling, a certainty that you finally understand super complex concepts like emptiness.

Yes, everything is empty and is what is. Everything depends on everything to exist and it all belongs to a Whole bigger than what we can grasp with the monkey mind.

Emptiness is Mu is All is Nothing is Complete is Here is There is No is Yes is US.

And now this cup of coffee is full with emptiness.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

Kyonin,

While I understand what you are saying, I can't help but feeling that the call to 'just sit' is often quite dismissive. When we do sit, yes, we should 'just' sit. But we do, after all, spend most of our waking time 'not' sitting. We do live in this 'relative' world, and it is surely important to understand that there is 'the absolute AND the relative', not the absolute WITHOUT the relative.

Our sitting practice is experiential, and so it should be. But, might I suggest that one does not come to an expression such as "Emptiness is Mu is All is Nothing is Complete is Here is There is No is Yes is US" by not having read, by not having thought, by not having discussed the concept of 'Emptiness', the concept of 'Mu', etc...?

So, I take issue with the thought that we can 'just sit' and completely dismiss the intellectual component of life. We talk often of things being 'not one; not two'. Surely this is about recognising that the things we see as 'dual' actually have no independent existence, rather than dismissing or negating one part of the duality in favor of the other...?

I have sat today. And will sit again this evening. But I will also read. Extensively (likely for longer than I will sit).

I know that this is not a 'discussion forum' as such, but, if the answer to all questions is going to be 'just sit', does one simply stop asking the questions...?

Gassho,
Anshu

-sat today-

[Jundo]

So, I take issue with the thought that we can 'just sit' and completely dismiss the intellectual component of life. We talk often of things being 'not one; not two'. Surely this is about recognising that the things we see as 'dual' actually have no independent existence, rather than dismissing or negating one part of the duality in favor of the other...?

That's right too.

The little study and reading on Zen and other Buddhist Teachings, and the words of Teachers old and today, give shape and direction to our Practice. You may know the description of Zen as:

"A special transmission beyond Scriptures,
Not depending on words or letters,
But pointing directly to the Mind,
Seeing into one's true Nature,
And realizing one's own Enlightenment."

This teaching attributed to Master Bodhidharma has an interesting history. Though there were some radicals in interpreting its meaning who truly abandoned all learning, most of the great masters were great Buddhist scholars too (like Dogen, who often strikes me as a walking encyclopedia of Buddhist texts) ... and the fellows who burned their books were usually seasoned teachers who had already read them all! What is vital is that we learn from the words ... but do not take this as an intellectual pursuit and get -caught- by the words.

Zazen without understanding the teachings of the Buddha and Ancestors is like formless clay. Study is necessary to properly mold the vessel being made. Yet, we see in/as/behind/through/with and without the words and letters, so it is called a teaching "beyond words and letters".

It is rather like sailing: There is a time to read a book about sailing, study the maps and the weather reports. But then ... one must just put the reading away, get out on the open water and ... SAIL!

Gassho, J

[Anshu Bryson]

That's right too.

The little study and reading on Zen and other Buddhist Teachings, and the words of Teachers old and today, give shape and direction to our Practice. You may know the description of Zen as:

"A special transmission beyond Scriptures,
Not depending on words or letters,
But pointing directly to the Mind,
Seeing into one's true Nature,
And realizing one's own Enlightenment."

This teaching attributed to Master Bodhidharma has an interesting history. Though there were some radicals in interpreting its meaning who truly abandoned all learning, most of the great masters were great Buddhist scholars too (like Dogen, who often strikes me as a walking encyclopedia of Buddhist texts) ... and the fellows who burned their books were usually seasoned teachers who had already read them all! What is vital is that we learn from the words ... but do not take this as an intellectual pursuit and get -caught- by the words.

Zazen without understanding the teachings of the Buddha and Ancestors is like formless clay. Study is necessary to properly mold the vessel being made. Yet, we see in/as/behind/through/with and without the words and letters, so it is called a teaching "beyond words and letters".

It is rather like sailing: There is a time to read a book about sailing, study the maps and the weather reports. But then ... one must just put the reading away, get out on the open water and ... SAIL!

Gassho, J

Being an avid sailor myself, I appreciate the analogy of putting the book away; one can certainly not 'sail' without getting in the boat! But, similarly, one might drown if alone in that boat with no knowledge of the sails, the rigging, etc...

Not one; not two...


Anshu

-sat today-

[Jika]

That's interesting how different people feel.
I've never felt like drowning in Zazen - maybe that day will come, I'm new.
I only feel threatened up to drowning by books and concepts I don't understand.
Mu is OK, the calligraphy is beautiful.

Gassho,
Danny
#sattoday

[Nindo]

Different words work differently for different people.
There will never be one definitive translation that makes everybody go - "ahhh, now I get it!"

For example, I just didn't understand what was meant by actualizing/ realizing the practice. But "embody" makes sense to me.

Boundlessness does not work for me. If it gets somebody else over a nihilistic or whatever stumbling block, hey, all the benefit to them!

Gassho
Nindo
sattoday

[Kyonin]

Hi Bryson!

Oh I never say don't read. On the contrary! I read all the time, I learn all the time. Yes, you need a very big knowledge background in order to form up your own knowledge. I have never dismissed that fact. I spend a lot of hours of my day reading, researching and writing. It's part of who I am and I reckon I have never came close to zen if it wasn't for that love I have for knowledge.

I am a strong believer that information makes life better because it calms and soothes when the chaos and ignorance could take control.

That said, what I meant is that one must sit still and let all drop to allow the mind the processing time it may need in order to realize complex concepts like silence or time. It's while in deep zazen when I have had the most interesting and profound realizations of things I hadn't been able to understand with my regular thinking mind.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

Kyonin,

While I understand what you are saying, I can't help but feeling that the call to 'just sit' is often quite dismissive. When we do sit, yes, we should 'just' sit. But we do, after all, spend most of our waking time 'not' sitting. We do live in this 'relative' world, and it is surely important to understand that there is 'the absolute AND the relative', not the absolute WITHOUT the relative.

Our sitting practice is experiential, and so it should be. But, might I suggest that one does not come to an expression such as "Emptiness is Mu is All is Nothing is Complete is Here is There is No is Yes is US" by not having read, by not having thought, by not having discussed the concept of 'Emptiness', the concept of 'Mu', etc...?

So, I take issue with the thought that we can 'just sit' and completely dismiss the intellectual component of life. We talk often of things being 'not one; not two'. Surely this is about recognising that the things we see as 'dual' actually have no independent existence, rather than dismissing or negating one part of the duality in favor of the other...?

I have sat today. And will sit again this evening. But I will also read. Extensively (likely for longer than I will sit).

I know that this is not a 'discussion forum' as such, but, if the answer to all questions is going to be 'just sit', does one simply stop asking the questions...?

Gassho,
Anshu

-sat today-

[Jundo]

Hi,

I should have also mentioned that, not only for the Heart Sutra, but for most of the other Chants often heard around hear at our weekly Zazenkai and such, I very highly recommend this wonderful book by Okumura Roshi if you wish details on meaning ...

LIVING BY VOW

Exploring eight of Zen's most essential and universal liturgical texts, Living by Vow is a handbook to walking the Zen path, and Shohaku Okumura guides us like an old friend, speaking clearly and directly of the personal meaning and implications of these chants, generously using his experiences to illustrate their practical significance. A scholar of Buddhist literature, he masterfully uncovers the subtle, intricate web of culture and history that permeate these great texts. Esoteric or challenging terms take on vivid, personal meaning, and old familiar phrases gain new poetic resonance.

http://www.amazon.com/Living-Vow-Practical-Introduction-Essential/dp/1614290105/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Gassho, J

[Anshu Bryson]

Hi,

I should have also mentioned that, not only for the Heart Sutra, but for most of the other Chants often heard around hear at our weekly Zazenkai and such, I very highly recommend this wonderful book by Okumura Roshi if you wish details on meaning ...

LIVING BY VOW

http://www.amazon.com/Living-Vow-Practical-Introduction-Essential/dp/1614290105/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Gassho, J

Also available at Wisdom Publications: http://www.wisdompubs.org/book/living-vow; the e-book bundles have Kindle, epub and PDF files... ;-)

Gassho,
Anshu

-sat today-