Good morning Treeleaf,
Like many others, I find buddhism often a difficult way of life to apply. Different teachers have different temperments from even the same schools and subschools. Soto Zen so far is the most nose to the grindstone emphasis on the 'non-frivolous' aspect of right speech I have thusfar encountered. We're encouraged to sit before we even consider posting here and I can only hope, as always, that I remain within enough forgivable grace from far more experienced practioners that my imperfections of practice are reasonably forgived when I do risk typing lest I get a stern 'just sit' or a reminder to stay on topic all while mindful to not be shy or a chatty cathy.
There is a considerable molting process involved in applying the nuances of the eightfold path, ideal I'm assuming that a increasingly correct application of one 'fold' will shed increasingly correct insight and application to the other seven aspects and since the primary mode of interaction is a internet forum, the main mode of eightfold path upholding is right speech. In a real degree I wish there was the 'just shut up and do what the romans/monks do' aspect that is hinted as to what happens in monastaries before one inches into words but that is quite difficult considering the medium.
With this said I'd like to share some thoughts on what I feel a living practice constitutes and hope it isn't too much on the forum. My premise comes from seven years of study and gradual implimentation of buddhism before Treeleaf and brief contact with brick and mortar sanghas when possible and hope this constitutes as a reasonable premise for such a long post.
I don't mention it often but perhaps I should since no one I met so far is a mind reader. I consider my sitting, application, and understanding of buddhism as working theory that I can only evolve if salient critique is provided and reasonable paitence for me to understand.
With that said..
I honestly get the feeling that some buddhists never really make it past reading and meditation for whatever reason, fear of failure, social rejection, lack of applicable understanding or whatever else. I think the handshake paramita that 'touches' interdependence and helps inform the other five paramitas of their development is dana/generosity. I make plenty of mistakes giving, the world is a complex place that buddhist philosophy for me isn't stand alone but informing of whatever local wisdoms and customs of wherever I'm at so I'm at the very least not engaging in those blatantly of the three poisons.
I really don't think giving in whatever sincere way one can think of can be avoided. Giving support, giving help, giving money (if you can afford it), giving whatever. I make mistakes...end up giving time to things that end up caustic without me knowing the outcome but I do learn from the experiences. I hope no one is ever too paralized by fear of failure to try dana like I was sometimes, you will fail sometimes, but preserverence is important when it happens. No one starts out a wise well heeled buddhist master.
Koans are points of contimplation on zen buddhism, Rinzai parables as I understand it and this one I find the most sincere obvious explaination of living buddhism from the Zen world.
This Koan, unlike the otherwise known to be vague ones or outright unimportant by some teachers I think touches living practice the best and offers obvious, salient evidence that Zen Buddhism is a very very lived practice that I hope sheds light on some confusion some may have.
'Publishing the Sutras'
Tetsugen, a devotee of Zen in Japan, decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to be printed with wood blocks in an edition of seven thousand copies, a tremendous undertaking.
Tetsugen began by traveling and collecting donations for this purpose. A few sympathizers would give him a hundred pieces of gold, but most of the time he received only small coins. He thanked each donor with equal gratitude. After ten years Tetsugen had enough money to begin his task.
It happened that at that time the Uji Rive overflowed. Famine followed. Tetsugen took the funds he had collected for the books and spent them to save others from starvation. Then he began again his work of collecting.
Several years afterwards an epidemic spread over the country. Tetsugen again gave away what he had collected, to help his people. For a third time he started his work, and after twenty years his wish was fulfilled. The printing blocks which produced the first edition of sutras can be seen today in the Obaku monastery in Kyoto.
The Japanese tell their children that Tetsugen made three sets of sutras, and that the first two invisible sets surpass even the last.
Metta,
Greg
SatToday
Sent from my ALCATEL ONETOUCH P310A using Tapatalk
Like many others, I find buddhism often a difficult way of life to apply. Different teachers have different temperments from even the same schools and subschools. Soto Zen so far is the most nose to the grindstone emphasis on the 'non-frivolous' aspect of right speech I have thusfar encountered. We're encouraged to sit before we even consider posting here and I can only hope, as always, that I remain within enough forgivable grace from far more experienced practioners that my imperfections of practice are reasonably forgived when I do risk typing lest I get a stern 'just sit' or a reminder to stay on topic all while mindful to not be shy or a chatty cathy.
There is a considerable molting process involved in applying the nuances of the eightfold path, ideal I'm assuming that a increasingly correct application of one 'fold' will shed increasingly correct insight and application to the other seven aspects and since the primary mode of interaction is a internet forum, the main mode of eightfold path upholding is right speech. In a real degree I wish there was the 'just shut up and do what the romans/monks do' aspect that is hinted as to what happens in monastaries before one inches into words but that is quite difficult considering the medium.
With this said I'd like to share some thoughts on what I feel a living practice constitutes and hope it isn't too much on the forum. My premise comes from seven years of study and gradual implimentation of buddhism before Treeleaf and brief contact with brick and mortar sanghas when possible and hope this constitutes as a reasonable premise for such a long post.
I don't mention it often but perhaps I should since no one I met so far is a mind reader. I consider my sitting, application, and understanding of buddhism as working theory that I can only evolve if salient critique is provided and reasonable paitence for me to understand.
With that said..
I honestly get the feeling that some buddhists never really make it past reading and meditation for whatever reason, fear of failure, social rejection, lack of applicable understanding or whatever else. I think the handshake paramita that 'touches' interdependence and helps inform the other five paramitas of their development is dana/generosity. I make plenty of mistakes giving, the world is a complex place that buddhist philosophy for me isn't stand alone but informing of whatever local wisdoms and customs of wherever I'm at so I'm at the very least not engaging in those blatantly of the three poisons.
I really don't think giving in whatever sincere way one can think of can be avoided. Giving support, giving help, giving money (if you can afford it), giving whatever. I make mistakes...end up giving time to things that end up caustic without me knowing the outcome but I do learn from the experiences. I hope no one is ever too paralized by fear of failure to try dana like I was sometimes, you will fail sometimes, but preserverence is important when it happens. No one starts out a wise well heeled buddhist master.
Koans are points of contimplation on zen buddhism, Rinzai parables as I understand it and this one I find the most sincere obvious explaination of living buddhism from the Zen world.
This Koan, unlike the otherwise known to be vague ones or outright unimportant by some teachers I think touches living practice the best and offers obvious, salient evidence that Zen Buddhism is a very very lived practice that I hope sheds light on some confusion some may have.
'Publishing the Sutras'
Tetsugen, a devotee of Zen in Japan, decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to be printed with wood blocks in an edition of seven thousand copies, a tremendous undertaking.
Tetsugen began by traveling and collecting donations for this purpose. A few sympathizers would give him a hundred pieces of gold, but most of the time he received only small coins. He thanked each donor with equal gratitude. After ten years Tetsugen had enough money to begin his task.
It happened that at that time the Uji Rive overflowed. Famine followed. Tetsugen took the funds he had collected for the books and spent them to save others from starvation. Then he began again his work of collecting.
Several years afterwards an epidemic spread over the country. Tetsugen again gave away what he had collected, to help his people. For a third time he started his work, and after twenty years his wish was fulfilled. The printing blocks which produced the first edition of sutras can be seen today in the Obaku monastery in Kyoto.
The Japanese tell their children that Tetsugen made three sets of sutras, and that the first two invisible sets surpass even the last.
Metta,
Greg
SatToday
Sent from my ALCATEL ONETOUCH P310A using Tapatalk
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