Have you ever wondered if Buddha got it wrong?

Culture overvalues signs and symbols. Learn to experience your world directly, not through representations.
Source unknown

SAT today

Wonderfully said Rich, thank you! =)

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

Have you ever wondered if Buddha got it wrong?

Direct apprehension without the intermediate step of logical thinking or discourse

My brothers say it far better than I can

Deep bows
Yugen


sat2day

[Rich]

Culture overvalues signs and symbols. Learn to experience your world directly, not through representations.
Source unknown

SAT today

[Rich]

The further one goes, the less one knows.
Tao teh Ching

[Jishin]

Hello all,

The question, “does a dog have Buddha nature?


Colin

No.

Gassho, Jishin

#SatToday

[chankin]

Hello all,

The question, “does a dog have Buddha nature? “is interesting
If Buddha nature is defined as “awareness”, I think the answer is “yes”.
On the other hand , animals are less likely to be as tyrannised by thinking as untrained minds are. In that respect they have a head start over humans who are. My cat seems to be far happier than my wife! You might be interested in this explanation of happiness and its relevance to Zen.
1/ We have problems to solve and appetites to satisfy and the tool we use to do that is our intellect – (conscious mental activity - CMA). CMA is the collection accumulation recall and association of data and the direction of action. It is the entire panoply of actions accessible to our awareness.)

2/ Consider a single appetite or problem isolated from all others. Once that appetite is satisfied or problem solved, we (ideally) abstain from further efforts to satisfy it - we abstain from further CMA regarding it. CMA has fulfilled it essential role.
3/ Simultaneously, once an appetite is satisfied or a problem is solved we feel a degree of fulfilment, contentment and peace-of-mind – that kind of happiness (Bliss).
4/ So: there is a direct relationship between the degree of happiness we feel and a reduction in the level of CMA we have employed in satisfying that appetite.
5/ Extrapolating this last statement to its extreme case, it follows that we will experience perfect happiness when we abstain from all conscious mental activity.



This is the psychology of the common human goal – peace-of-mind – happiness.
It applies to all creatures with our sort of central nervous system – and that includes dogs. That is the understanding Zen uses when it advises us to let all our thoughts drift away in meditation. The untrained mind cannot stop thinking. Nor, in some reports, does it want to, preferring to administer itself an electric shock rather that abstain from CMA! It suffers from the tyranny of CMA – dukkha. Eventually Zazen gives us the opportunity to allow that torrent of random and habitual CMA that normally underpins every moment of our life to burn itself out, leaving behind an undercurrent of profound peace-of-mind. Dogs (and cats) who have a head start on us in that they haven’t got the intellectual equipment to permit such tyranny, may be able to access more profound bliss than the untrained human mind can.

Colin

[Koushi]

It's interesting to me that the causes of negativity, violence, suffering, and anxiety all stem from the same core place: Our thoughts, and our attachments to them.

For example, in living with panic and anxiety most of my life, I've come to find that it's not the panic that causes me the most suffering -- instead, it's the attachment to the thoughts that brings about the most pain. When I sit and let the thoughts come and go, the physical sensations come and go, the panic itself is over in minutes; however, were I to latch on, add fear to my fear, the episode could last hours.

We are all subject to an almost endless sea of clouds in our sky. Through zazen, we learn to let go, become mindful of the thoughts, the split-second reactions, the illogical thinking patterns. Though we may not look as peaceful as a cat in a garden, through effort and diligence, we can change the world.

Or not.

Gassho,
Jesse | SatToday

[Andrea1974]

Hi Shiloh. I often ask myself the same question and always end up thinking that humans have nothing that can be considered "superior" compared to less evolved animals. If anything, our bigger brains have inflated us with a bigger ego and have created bigger problems (e.g. crusades, countless wars, genocides, you name it). Size doesn't always matter, I guess...ah! From a statistical point of view it is extremely likely that other life-forms with a much bigger brain/intelligence than ours exist in distant planets. I wonder if a "superior" intelligence may produce a better or a worse society than the one we currently have. If the moon were populated with four-legged-juicy-chickens we (as humans) would have no problem invading their territory and wipe out their entire population for the sake of opening a new KFC-type of restaurant chain. However, is aliens came to "visit" us with similar intentions we would automatically label them as evil...why? Thinking to much...sitting to little

[Myosha]

Hello,

Every thing IS Buddha nature.

(Except dogs.)

j/k

No, really.

Not!

Actually . . . MU!

. . . or not.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Ankai]

...does a dog have Buddha nature?

[shiloh24601]

I wanted to thank you all for your wonderful responses and teachings. Having people like you close by gives me a glimmer of hope for the world <3

[Doshin]

Thanks to all of you who have posted here. It is heartening in dark times. Peace.

randy

sat tonight

Hi shiloh,

There is a lot of ugly things going on all the time. It has always have been like that since we humans began walking and developing greed. And also we can't forget we live in a connected world that hungers for terrible news to keep us coming for more. Media lives off from spreading ugliness!

Then, you can't forget that there are amazing beautiful things in the universe. Just look around you. You are surrounded by miracles! You have eyes to see, knowledge to read these words, hands to manipulate a computer and work. And that's the key. Work to better all that surrounds you.

Whenever ugliness begins to take control of the world around me, I sit to let thought go and accept things as they are. And then I work for my family, for my friends, for my community. I let go of my fears and disgust to focus on the needs of people and animals near to me.

A couple of hours later I'm happy, knowing that there are millions like me working to push humanity forward. Those are the people that will never make it into the night's news.

And that's way more powerful than any bad news out there.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

Thank you for this teaching, Kyonin. A simple, yet very practical way to live, helping those around us, and not giving the bad news all our energy.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Kyonin]

Hi shiloh,

There is a lot of ugly things going on all the time. It has always have been like that since we humans began walking and developing greed. And also we can't forget we live in a connected world that hungers for terrible news to keep us coming for more. Media lives off from spreading ugliness!

Then, you can't forget that there are amazing beautiful things in the universe. Just look around you. You are surrounded by miracles! You have eyes to see, knowledge to read these words, hands to manipulate a computer and work. And that's the key. Work to better all that surrounds you.

Whenever ugliness begins to take control of the world around me, I sit to let thought go and accept things as they are. And then I work for my family, for my friends, for my community. I let go of my fears and disgust to focus on the needs of people and animals near to me.

A couple of hours later I'm happy, knowing that there are millions like me working to push humanity forward. Those are the people that will never make it into the night's news.

And that's way more powerful than any bad news out there.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Rich]

Yea, remove that flag from public property. There are many private places where they can honor their ancestors. In some ways for 150 years some have acted like they didn't lose the war. Who gets to fly their flag after defeat?

I spent a lot of time in SC and never witnessed any racism or hatred so this was pretty shocking.

SAT today