Have you ever questioned yourself if all you think makes of you just another parrot?

[Kyosei]

About if you really understands something
Or all your "understanding" is just you acting as a parrot, quoting ideas and talks and writings from others?

I read somewhere a story about a monk who tore up all his books...I think of it sometimes! (but I like my books soooo much...)

You know. One thing is to know directly; the other is more common, what we are doing always: we always relate to the first way someone told us something for judging reality from then on...

Even to understand Dharma, even to be a little able to see dharma in our day-by-day reality we have to have some ideas, as if someone has to "point" reality for us to see...maybe thats why its called "BuddhaDharma" (we had to have a Buddha to point us the obvious)...BuddhaDharma is BuddhaDharma. And what is "MarcosDharma"? and (say your name is Joe) how about "JoeDharma"? Well, aren't we all Buddhas?!

Maybe something like: "Joe reunited his fellows and said: O brothers and sisters: Careful when you walk barefoot 'cause you can harm your "pinky" on a desk!" Nothing important or great. But good advice!

These "kensho" you have, is it really?! or is it the "kensho" someone told you it would be?

Is this love you think you feel really Love or what someone told you "love" is?

Why should we format reality as a "philosophy", a "religion" or a "way of life"?

Do we "believe" in what we tell people (and in what we tell ourselves)
Or had we experienced it without possibility of contestation?
And...if so, do contestation matters? Are we tranquil with what we (think we) are?
Or are we just trying to fill some of our many holes with "zenny" b******?

But isn't it better just to know by ourselves, without creating any filters based on other ideas to "classify" and see?

Where are our Original knowledge? this one which is treasure from the "Treasure room" where we can "serve ourselves at will" master Dogen mentioned? (here I am quoting... :/ )

I don't really want to look for nothing.

We don't really need to know nothing. And maybe better this way. I guess. Knowing nothing we can see so much more of Nothing.

Sorry to disrupt silence.

[Shugen]

Hello Marcos,

We are all influenced by so many things - things we are not even aware of and never will be aware of. And yet, sometimes when we sit, we will get a taste of something beyond all that. But we can't stay there. The influences are all part of the magic that is life! Don't search for it or you won't find it. But it is there!

Just keep sitting....

Gassho,

Shugen

Sattoday

[Mp]

Hello Marcos,

There is no BuddhaDharma, there is no MarcoDharma, and there is not ShingenDharma ... there is just the Dharma, there is just truth. The truth of the matter is truth is always there, we just need to see it by dropping thoughts of this or that ... is there this or is there that. There are times where we need to learn, to understand, to be guided within our practice and then there is a time to just practice and be with that and whatever arrises.

There is that old saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink". A teacher can lead you to the experience of kensho, but it is you who has to experience it through practice and understanding ... that being said, without a teachers guidance along this path would we not just be lead by our own delusion(s)?

This is my personal experience, so please take it as a grain of salt. To me the Dharma is meaningless unless practiced. Yes we can learn a lot from books, other peoples thoughts and experiences, but until one practices them they mean nothing. I can read all I want about Shikantaza, but unless I do it/practice it, it is just words on paper. Questions are good, they help us along this journey, they do show/help us with what we need to see if we are open to seeing ... so again, we need to know everything and yet nothing at the same time.

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Joyo]

Shingen and Shugen, thank you both for your helpful insight.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Kyotai]

Hello Marcos,

There is no BuddhaDharma, there is no MarcoDharma, and there is not ShingenDharma ... there is just the Dharma, there is just truth. The truth of the matter is truth is always there, we just need to see it by dropping thoughts of this or that ... is there this or is there that. There are times where we need to learn, to understand, to be guided within our practice and then there is a time to just practice and be with that and whatever arrises.

There is that old saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink". A teacher can lead you to the experience of kensho, but it is you who has to experience it through practice and understanding ... that being said, without a teachers guidance along this path would we not just be lead by our own delusion(s)?

This is my personal experience, so please take it as a grain of salt. To me the Dharma is meaningless unless practiced. Yes we can learn a lot from books, other peoples thoughts and experiences, but until one practices them they mean nothing. I can read all I want about Shikantaza, but unless I do it/practice it, it is just words on paper. Questions are good, they help us along this journey, they do show/help us with what we need to see if we are open to seeing ... so again, we need to know everything and yet nothing at the same time.

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

Well said Shingen, thank you.

Gassho, Kyotai
ST

[Jundo]

On this mountain hike, we need some books and teachers to point out a good direction, which ways lead to likely trouble or in circles, what weather to expect and what to pack. After that, all the hiking is up to us. Whether we stay on a solid path, or fall into the mud or off the cliff is all up to us. Whether we get somewhere or wander into a dead end, just what happens.

Now, I don't worry too much if the hiking is an unoriginal act on a well worn trail, whether I follow in the footsteps of others. Every hike, even on a well worn trail, is original to your own eyes. I don't worry that I have received some advice that I follow, because the advice is never more than a compass needle. I do not worry about whether I am having an "authentic" hike, or the "perfect" hike. I don't worry if all the scenery looks like some postcard idea of what I think "Zen" should be like. I do not worry about whether I am knowing the trail directly or indirectly.

In fact, it is authentic when I stop worrying about the authenticity, about "directly" or "indirectly", and simply hike the hike. Then the hike is perfectly just what it is, totally authentically itself, with all its ups and downs and mud puddles. In such away, mountain, hike, hiking and hiker just one.

In fact, all the thoughts about "whether this is authentic" or "what it should be" are precisely what keep it from being so, creating separation.

So, I advise you to just hike your hike along the Buddhist Path.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jishin]

The Hsin-Hsin Ming

The Great Way is not difficult,

for those who have no preferences.

Let go of longing and aversion,

and it reveals itself.



Make the smallest distinction, however,

and you are as far from it as heaven is from earth.

If you want to realize the truth,

then hold no opinions for or against anything.



Like and dislike

is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning (of the Way) is not understood

the intrinsic peace of mind is disturbed.



As vast as infinite space,

it is perfect and lacks nothing.

Indeed, it is due to your grasping and repelling

That you do not see things as they are.



Do not get entangled in things;

Do not get lost in emptiness.

Be still in the oneness of things

and dualism vanishes by itself.



When you try to stop motion to achieve quietude,

the very effort fills you with activity.

As long as you hold on to opposites

you will never know the One Way.



Those who do not understand the Way

will assert or deny the reality of things.

Deny the reality of things, you miss its deeper reality;

Assert the reality of things, you miss the emptiness of all things.



The more you think about it,

the further you are from the truth.

Cease all thinking,

and there is nothing that will not be revealed to you.



To return to the root is to find the essence,

but to pursue appearances is to miss the Source.

The moment you are enlightened,

you go beyond appearances and emptiness.



Changes that seem to occur in the (empty) world,

appear real only because of ignorance.

Do not search for the truth;

only cease to cherish opinions.



Do not hold to dualistic views,

avoid such habits carefully.

If there is even a trace of right and wrong,

the mind is lost in confusion.



Although all dualities arise from the One,

do not cling even to this One.

When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,

everything is without fault.



When things can no longer be faulty, it is as if there are no things.

When the mind can no longer be disturbed, it is as if there is no mind.

When thought-objects vanish, the thinking-subject vanishes.

When the mind vanishes, objects vanish.



The arising of other gives rise to self;

giving rise to self generates other.

Know these seeming two facets

as one Emptiness.



In this Emptiness, the two are indistinguishable

and each contains in itself the whole.

When no discrimination is made between this and that,

how can you prefer one to another?



The Great Way is all-embracing,

not easy, not difficult.

Those who rely on limited views are fearful and irresolute;

the faster they hurry, the slower they go.



Clinging, they go too far,

even an attachment to enlightenment is to go astray.

Just let things be in their own way as they are,

and there is neither coming nor going.



Be in harmony with the Way

and you will be free of disturbances.

Tied by your thoughts, you lose the truth,

become heavy, dull, and unwell.



Not well, the mind is troubled.

Then why cling to or reject anything?

If you wish to move in the One Way,

do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.



Indeed, to accept them fully

is identical with true Enlightenment.

The wise attaches to no goals,

but the foolish fetter themselves.



There is but one Dharma, not many.

Distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.

Using mind to stir up the mind

is the original mistake.



Peaceful and troubled derive from thinking;

Enlightenment has no likes or dislikes.

All dualities come from

ignorant inference.



They are like unto dreams or flowers in the air,

the foolish try to grasp them.

Gain and loss, right and wrong,

abandon all such thoughts at once.



If the eye never sleeps,

all dreams will naturally cease.

If the mind makes no discriminations,

all things are as they are, of One-essence.



To understand the mystery of this One-essence

is to be released from all entanglements.

When all things are seen without differentiation,

you return to the origin and remain what you are.



Consider the movement in stillness and the stationary in motion,

both movement and rest disappear.

When such dualities cease to exist

even Oneness itself cannot exist.



This ultimate state

is not bound by rules and descriptions.

For the Realized mind, at one with the Way,

all doing ceases.



Doubts and irresolutions vanish

and the Truth is confirmed in you.

With a single stroke you are freed from bondage;

nothing clings to you and you hold onto nothing.



All is void, clear, and self-illuminating,

with no need to exert the mind.

Here thinking, feeling, knowledge, and imagination

are of no value.



In this world of “as it really is”

there is neither self nor other.

To swiftly accord with that,

only express nonduality.



In this nonduality nothing is separate,

nothing is excluded.

The enlightened of all times and places

have personally realized this truth.



The Truth is beyond time and space,

one instant is eternity.

Not here, not there but

everywhere always right before your eyes.



Infinitely large and infinitely small,

no difference, for definitions have vanished

and no boundaries can be discerned.

So too with “existence” and “non-existence.”



Don’t waste time in arguments and discussion,

attempting to grasp the ungraspable.

One thing and everything

move among and intermingle without distinction.



To live in this Realization

is to not worry about perfection or non-perfection.

To put your trust in the Way is to live without separation,

and in this nonduality you are one with the Way.



Words! Words!

The Way is beyond language,

Words never could, can not now, and never will describe the Way.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

I particularly like the first and last stanza.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jyukatsu]

Thank you Jishin, this has been, for a long time, my favorite text.
Gassho,
Marina
sat today

[Myosha]

Ditto


Gassho
Myosha
sat today

[Shokai]

Thanks Jishin, I had forgotten this poem

gassho,

sat Today

[Mp]

Thank you Jishin.

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Jakuden]

We sure do like our words, don't we. Thanks Jishin!
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RichardH]

This, from the beginning, has been life and death to me, so, no, I have never mistaken parroting or taking on ideas for first hand experience. As far as "Kensho" goes, I don't really think about it.

Thank you for the question

Gassho
Daizan

sat today

[FaithMoon]

Marco, this is how a teacher can help...to let you know if your words are "just another parrot" (dead words). The question is always: what is your expression of the dharma?

Faith-Moon
st

[Jakuden]

I came across a section of "Realizing Genjokoan" by Shohaku Okumura, that seems to answer this question. It goes: "...Human thought has existed only a fraction as long as the earth and sun. Although we usually place great importance on what we think, our thinking cannot change the vast reality of all beings. We may think we are the most important elements of this life, but in reality we are all just tiny parts of the universe. Each one of us is a collection of causes and conditions, products of the coevolution of life and the earth." He goes on to describe how he is a product of having grown up in Japan, and how as humans we take so many years to grow and develop and are products of all that support and care. Then he says, "Each of us is connected to all past, present, and future beings in the entire universe. This is not a mysterious truth that can only be attained through some special spiritual intuition, trance, or other extraordinary mental condition. This is a very simple, plain reality we can understand rationally, yet we lose sight of it because we cling to words and concepts, separating ourselves from reality with discriminating thoughts."

I think that says it very well... of course we are products of our surroundings, but that does not change the non-debatable fact that we are still a part of a whole, continuing from inconceivably long ago to infinitely far in the future. There's nothing to look for, because there we are

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday