I suppose you know that Buda blew up the New York Stock Exchange killing 38 people, and injuring over 400. You gotta know who you are dealing with.
Better
than if there were thousands
of meaningless words is
one
meaningful
word
that on hearing
brings peace.
Better
than if there were thousands
of meaningless verses is
one
meaningful
verse
that on hearing
brings peace.
And better than chanting hundreds
of meaningless verses is
one
Dhamma-saying
that on hearing
brings peace.
dhammapada - viii - thousands - attributed to buddha
http://www.worldprayers.org/
Externally keep yourself away from all relationships, and internally have no pantings in your heart; when your mind is like unto a straight-standing wall, you may enter into the Path. ~Bodhidharma
I suppose he means emotional obsessive type relationships? Personally, I am finding that everything in life is a relationship; how I relate to myself, to others, to the world around me. I was never much one for relationships.. still not I suppose. Though I have found a whole new meaning to relating, and so too to relationship. Moment by moment , breath by breath, I realize I am alive because my world is alive. I am rather awed by that Mystery of Being. That too appears to me to be some sort of relationship; perhaps with Spirit?
Cloud mind is the ebb and flow of conceptual mind, and Sky Mind is the still potential of the-nature of-mind. Clouds arise in the sky, flit across it and decorate it, but do not limit or define the vast empty blueness of the sky. Sky always has the potential for cloud to arise. Cloud is a natural aspect of sky, but sky is not limited by cloud. Sky exists irrespective of cloud, but cloud cannot exist irrespective of sky.
The mind of the past is ungraspable;
the mind of the future is ungraspable;
the mind of the present is ungraspable.
- Diamond Sutra
Was Albert Einstein a Buddhist? I don't think so. Perhaps others who are not Buddhist (such as Albert Einstein) can also have some profound insights? I think you take away from Albert Einstein's own beingness to consider what he says and relate it to something he and his sayings, are not. Buddhism does not have the monopoly on great sayings! ;)
Life is quite ungraspable.
No but he did make remarks about Buddhism being the religion of the future, and buddhism and science both working well together. I didnt say he was a buddhist, I just felt the statement came across very buddhist.
And no, Buddhism doesnt have a monopoly on the sayings. We have great proverbs, from sufis, the chinese and the like. All over the world really.
That's interesting, about Buddhism being the religion of the future. Did he say why he thought so?
Boy between you and Michael today, lol, I was asked to give up the sutra of the Koran on one statement now this? :)
Its cool I got the quotes:
Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spiritual; and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. -- Albert Einstein
If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. -- Albert Einstein
Wow! Maybe he was a closet Buddhist? :D
On life's journey Faith is nourishment,
I have been fascinated by emotional pain for a long time. It is so easy to stop, and yet the hardest thing imaginable.
There is no sudden breakthrough that remains forever-there are only sudden glimpses. But these glimpses encourage us to see more. And so, gradually, we develop the ability to integrate these experiences of unconditioned being into our lives.
But why? No matter how many glimpses we have, we will still die like the great unglimpsed, and probably sooner?
Wisdom and compassion are simply the recognisable human qualities of emptiness and form.
Simple daily practice will gradually enable us to become less stressed, less emotionally churned up by the things that happen to us, and more relaxed about who we are.
The only practice that we should perform - is to be our selves.
Laughter is a gift and causing laughter is an act of kindness. Laughter requires space - space to see the ridiculous in our situations as beginninglessly non-dual beings who create the illusion of duality.
No one else is responsible for how we perceive the world. We accept and reject society’s influences and the influences of our parents and friends on our own terms. We fabricate our own perception, and unless we discontinue the process and de-structure our perception, we will merely continue to be repressed by our personal totalitarian regime.
is it possible there are different types of knowledge
like the knowledge that leads to such an event
and afterwards
knowledge that comes due to the result of such and event ?
does the moon then become full again ? or the sun ?
or is that not zen
ok thanks
maybe its all the same
31. Everything Is Best
When Banzan was walking through a market he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.
"Give me the best piece of meat you have," said the customer.
"Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best."
At these words Banzan became enlightened.
i have lots of questions lots of experiences too
whats the point of zen ?
no point ?
In sitting meditation, we experience emptiness directly as the simultaneous absence of thought and presence of awareness.
When we allow our emotional realm to be as it is, we are freed to experience the texture of life directly. We can side-step the sour orthodoxy of preordained likes, dislikes, and habitual concepts. When we allow our perceptual life to be as it is, we are self-liberated to be as we are.
In Buddhism our confused and neurotic condition is often compared to being asleep-because our relationship with reality is more like being in a dream than being awake. We lack awareness because of our habitual patterns so that we are like confused and unresponsive sleepwalkers.
In Buddhism our confused and neurotic condition is often compared to being asleep-because our relationship with reality is more like being in a dream than being awake. We lack awareness because of our habitual patterns so that we are like confused and unresponsive sleepwalkers.
Tantra acknowledges that pleasure and pain exist. Tantra acknowledges that pleasure and pain are dualistic expressions of the non-dual state. Because of this, Tantra is happening all the time.
The more you try to force thought out, the more of a problem it becomes. The more you disapprove of your own neuroses, the more of a problem they become. The time to disapprove of them is if they are hurting others; and then in the moment. But one does not go into punishing oneself for having them at other times. If one is aware that one has patterns, then one has to say, I need to have some awareness while this pattern is performing. If I punish myself for having the pattern whilst I am having it, then this actually acts as a screen which hides the neurosis – I can be the good person who is disapproving of the bad habit. That means I never get to see this habit, this neurosis, because I am too busy being the person who is disapproving of it. This is actually a way of maintaining the neurosis.
Emptiness is the moment before a situation is born. Emptiness is comprehension. Emptiness is astonishment or wordless wonder. Emptiness is the quality of sensation that is neither one thing nor another. These are all reflections of emptiness.
Well, Emptiness is just that -Emptiness.
Life is like a bag, you have to fill it with something. If you don't fill the bag, then why carry it, then why have a life?
The emptiness Buddhists talk about is not nothingness, but rather the fact that it is us who create a huge amount of causal relations between people and things with and inside our minds. Once you manage to strip your mind and existence of all these causalities (as Don Juan seems to have accomplished) you could see the true state of affairs - emptiness.
Awakened-mind warriors need no territory. Their refuge is the security of insecurity. Their refuge is the territory of intrinsic space, which is self-validating without the requirement of reference points.
Do you want to leave the harassments of this World?
then take a walk out in the minefield - noone will follow you, not even the grossest bastards or any petty tyrants.
In fact more spiritual people should contemplate on the possibility to walk out into the minefield. If not, only as to test one way to freedom, and to finally get out of the armchair philosophy (quotes) :-)
In fact more spiritual people should contemplate on the possibility to walk out into the minefield. If not, only as to test one way to freedom, and to finally get out of the armchair philosophy (quotes) :-)
Guarded and unguarded. Thoughts are things.
Are you trying to challenge something?
Thoughts are things? What else are they?
Let's assume there are ungarded thoughts in your mind that bend you to enagage in poorly considered actions. Are there things in your brain?
I suggest you meditate on these quotes to absorb their original meaning rather than interpreting them in your terms.
Not challenging anything. Reading the quote, agreeing and adding a further perspective.
What I was saying:
Guarded and or unguarded thoughts can be harmful.
Thanks for suggesting what I should meditate on. >:(
Are you trying to challenge something?
Thoughts are things? What else are they?
Many do not realize that we here must die. For those who realize this, quarrels end.
Well, not really. Things we can buy but thoughts not. Things are matter, while thoughts, or ideas is energy.
Energy is a forerunner to matter (and things in a way).
Example:
Today I am going to the grocery, and I start to make a list of all things that I shall buy (energy from my mind to the pen that write my list).
At home I have materialised my list (matter) and bring my groceries in.
It could also be that I think that playing Squash would be a good idea, so I call my Squash partner and we agree on a suitable time to play. When we start to play we manifest my thought of playing. Energy before matter right!
Nice, mental idea.That we may die, I mean.
Because that is exactly what we not do.
Death is only a transformation from one state to another, everyone in this business knows this.
Buddhists seem to have given up
By giving up the ghost
How about a statement flipping the coin
And changing the reality statement
For example Chinese persecution of Tibetan Buddhists
And changing the entire nature of the planets
Existence
Is. Metitating Buddhist gets hit over the head
Whilst head in sand
Loud bang then death
Versus
The nature of reality
The layers if awareness placed in correct alignment
Globally
The active not passive side of infinity
And later merging the two
Is. Death
Because one way ignorance is another ones ignorance
Force is just that
Engaging
It is easy to quit and get hit over the head
And I'm not so sure
If accepting its illusion
Bestowal of power whole
Shall have no influence ?
How's the detachment
Lets see how many of your thoughts are things
From the mind?
Or the invisible becoming visible
Independent origination
Death is scary, isn't it?
I was born at the wrong planet.
it is done
I don't think Buddhism is something that can be taught, by reading. I think it is in your heart or deeply ingrained in your way of life.
If it's not in you, it's just not in you.
If you say you can not do a thing, then you can't.
Remember the Ring of Naguals?
The "Ring of Naguals": was that a group like Toltec Nagual, or is it a CC reference?
Juhani, I'm at reflection point right now.
You and I have been doing this dance for a long time.
I don't have time for it anymore. Last year I was nearly
Murdered. But I lived. I am still here.
I have had so many near death experiences and so many rebirth
That I can not afford to take anything for granted and I can
Not afford to waste energy arguing or discussing
In circles with you.
We can have a conversation if you like. Or we can speak
From another place.
I threw a gemstone in the lake for you.
I don't have time for it anymore.
Yes, I agree with you on the time theory..
I am sitting on the beach in the sand right now feeling the wind on my fave and listening to the waves push the shore.
It is like I see it all the time.
People that have all the time in the World, and even have good health.
While I have nothing of these two things, neither time nor good health ...
Am I sorry because of that? Of course not - I am a warrior about to die.
Well, Tiger-Lily you are young, in chronological terms, but quite old regarding experiences.
211. Therefore hold nothing dear, for separation from the dear is painful. There are no bonds for those who have nothing beloved or unloved.
It is better to listening to a bow that did burst, than to never span a bow.
What do you think Juhani? You ask a lot of questions to everyone.
How about answer some.
Can you break free?
What do you expect from Soma?
Will you ever change your patterns and behaviours?
Assumptions are attachments.
Attachments to past
Attachments to ideas about the future.
Attachments to preconception of others.
Juhani
Wrong. Like thoughts are things. Which they are not. Neither are assumptions attachments.
Well then we have nothing to talk about.
Unconscious attachments are attachments none the less.
Obstinacy is also an attachment.
"Expectations are almost always the result of what in Buddhism is called "wanting mind." This wanting mind is driven by desire, aversion, and anxiety; it creates an illusion of solidity and control in a world that is constantly changing and unfolds independently of how we believe it should. Knowing this, how do you proceed? How can you free yourself from expectations? In mindfulness meditation, the method I teach, you always start with what is true in the present moment. You use discernment to know what is true, but you do not fall into judgment, which is yet another form of expectation and one of the most tyrannical. - See more at: http://dharmawisdom.org/teachings/articles/tyranny-expectations#sthash.t
You are welcome to burst any and all bows and listen in the process. Do you think you can break free while attached to other people?
Your a dickhead
You just created a scenario once again
Because you couldn't drop it
You snooty prick
And the take your own advice your delusional
You are not a Buddhists a hole
Only an arrogant romanticising wannabe
Too self flatulated to
Your nature
And your illusion
Power and
Non attachment
The first a gift you don't even know
The second something you wish to possess
So it eludes you
And blinds you to the first
condition
You think the sayings undo what you have not yet
Undone and it is not so
Wisdom is equal to love, there is no other way to get in tune with the World and the Universe, but love and wisdom.
You know, I read that quote of yours, that everything that you love may hurt you, and/or keep you stuck. I read that 40 years ago, so I can, by my Life experience, simply dismiss it, that is what I do. The whole idea in that "attachment koan" is very left side. It is useful for the spiritual first or second class. While I am in the last ring (the last class that is).
Like Odin said about his Ravens, when they should fly out in the morning across the World, and then report back to this one-eyed Sir.
To understand the following quote from Odin/Oden/Wodan one must know that the pair of Ravens Hugin and Munin was a she and a he. Hugin means "Apt" or "Disposed" while Munin is best translated as "Memory"or "Recollection".
"De hette Hugin och Munin (håg och minne). Varje dag i gryningen sände Oden ut sina korpar att flyga över världen. De lyssnade till allt som sades och flög sedan tillbaka till Oden och viskade i hans öra vad de hade hört."
"Their names were Hugin and Munin. Every day at dawn Odin sent out his ravens to fly across the World. They listened to all that was said and then flew back to whisper in his ear what they had heard."
”Hugin och Munin
flyger var dag
över den mäktiga jorden
Jag är rädd att Hugin inte kommer åter
men min oro är större för Munin”
"Hugin and Munin flies every day across the Mighty Earth
I am afraid that Hugin might not return
but my worries are greater for Munin."
43. Neither mother, father, nor any other relative can do one greater good than one's own well-directed mind.
Wise men do not judge. They seek to understand
~Fingers Pointing Toward the Moon
by Wei Wu Wei
Simply allowing experience to be as it is – is possible for us at any moment. We need only drop preconceptions of who we are, what we want, and how we are going to get it. Allowing experience to be as it is – is simple in theory – but it is not always easy to know where to begin.
Buddhist practice develops kindness and awareness in ourselves, but the path of practice can be a bumpy one-to say the least. As we discover qualities of openness and appreciation, we are also confronted with what we have always been, but have chosen to ignore. We begin to see our territoriality, our aggressiveness, our neediness, our jealousy and our obduracy. We become aware of the sides of ourselves that we find distinctly less "spiritual".
Buddhist practice develops kindness and awareness in ourselves, but the path of practice can be a bumpy one-to say the least. As we discover qualities of openness and appreciation, we are also confronted with what we have always been, but have chosen to ignore. We begin to see our territoriality, our aggressiveness, our neediness, our jealousy and our obduracy. We become aware of the sides of ourselves that we find distinctly less "spiritual".
If you mind is wandering, if your attention is not on what you're doing, if you're hang gliding in your imagination while you drive, that could certainly be very dangerous. Have you ever seen those stickers in the back of cars that say things like "I'd rather be windsurfing"? I think that the Buddhist version could run "I'd rather be precisely where I am".
I have no aggressiveness, no jealousy, som obduracy though because I want to stop the World.
There is no spirituality, there is only Man toward the Universe that made him a new incarnation.
If you mind is wandering, if your attention is not on what you're doing, if you're hang gliding in your imagination while you drive, that could certainly be very dangerous. Have you ever seen those stickers in the back of cars that say things like "I'd rather be windsurfing"? I think that the Buddhist version could run "I'd rather be precisely where I am".That is a great Quote - "I'd rather be precisely where I am"
That is a great Quote - "I'd rather be precisely where I am"
This has been on my mind of recent. I feel this approach is only a doorway to something else. To be dreaming of somewhere else, is off in the wrong direction. To return to where we are, is only to reset. The next step is to merge with the current moment. We have a way of returning to this moment as an isolated observer. Just before we launch off again to another distraction (which are not always distractions - but that another issue).
Once we reset to the current moment and location, we then have the option to merge with it, and not just attempt to remain attentive. Sports people know about this merging, because it is where we allow the world inside us, and us inside the world - when it works, we enter the zone of amazing empowerment. A sports-person knows when their game is off. And when they are merged into incredible capacity.
This is not just being present, it is an active relationship with the world as it presents to us now. Probably the only experience many of us have of this is when listening to music in a fully engaged way.
3. Is That So?
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning her parents discovered she was with child. This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin. In great anger the parents went to the master.
'Is that so?' was all he would say.
After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the little one needed. A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth - that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again. Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was, 'Is that so?'
The other side doesn't care very much. It is happy to sit and watch the world pass by, in whatever struggling situation I find myself in. That is the underlying principle, to which I agree with Hakuin. I'm really just filling in time until my life comes to an end.
In our practice of kindness it is valuable not to speculate concerning the motivation of others. Voicing one’s personal criticisms of what we imagine to be the motivation of other individuals is merely the expression of subjectivity.
In our practice of kindness it is valuable not to speculate concerning the motivation of others. Voicing one’s personal criticisms of what we imagine to be the motivation of other individuals is merely the expression of subjectivity.
Do you believe this?
Do you believe this?
I would like an answer to this.
It would be difficult to know the motivation of another. It's almost requires being able to read their mind. Intent can be very difficult to know. We get the outside action, but we may not know the motivation. Correct?
I think you're trying to get my motivation. Agree? In actuality I'm just commenting on the quote you posted. And commenting on what it means. Nothing to do with you whatsoever. Course you'll have to take my word for it. But it is true we cannot always know another person's motivation or intent. We can only see the outside outcome.
I asked if you believed in it. You posted it so I wondered if you supported it. You brought up imagine. The most important part of the quote is compassion.
Can you man up and actually tell me why you asked if I believed the quote?
How you behave and react towards many people here is in direct conflict to this quote you posted. Your words, your actions.
Sorry, Ellen. I know it was your question. I butted my nose in here.
If person is stuck in patterns and hell-bent to go from bad to worse, compassion gains a different meaning.
No, it's not. Compassion does not mean pity and crying together.
If person is stuck in patterns and hell-bent to go from bad to worse, compassion gains a different meaning.
No, it's not. Compassion does not mean pity and crying together.
If person is stuck in patterns and hell-bent to go from bad to worse, compassion gains a different meaning.
In addition the beginning of the quote says "In our practice of kindness." kindness. Compassion. We meditate on these things. I once had a friend who was suffering badly. Its like I saw him on a train track with a train coming. I would try to push him off the track. But he did not see the train. He only felt me pushing. We sometimes must know our limitations in such situations. Sometimes we must step back regardless to what we see.
So you are trying to persuade me that I am getting things wrong. You suggest I do, I say I am not.
Now what?
This was not tag teaming. Nor was it intended as such. Ellen asked a good question
Does Juhani believe what he said in the quote
And I wondered too.
Most of this discussion has been between Juhani
And Ellen.
The whole path is contrary to the actions you would exhibit when you attack Lori in Soma.
You may not have noticed Juhani's attacks of me in the past few days. Maybe that's because you expect him to squish me and he hasn't.
I'm kind of perplexed here.
I don't think I've done anything that would deserve getting squashed. Ellen either.
I honestly wish there was more open communication here
And less explaining and justifying. It makes me tiredn
We also have to acknowledge each other, respect that others have their own Way and style.
If you feel another is straying from the Way, then it's a personal matter, and we are obligated to share our concerns, that is honest communication. But when that person responds, accepts or rejects the criticism, then the deeper relationship of personal healing has to occur.
We can never be so arrogant as to assume we know what is always best for another. Once they have acknowledged our concerns, then it is their responsibility to reflect.
One cannot 'enact' without affecting everything and, at the same time, being affected by everything. Pattern affects pattern, creating further pattern. Pattern evolves out of chaos and becomes chaos again. Pattern and randomness dance together.
One of the conceptual mistakes pattern-addicts make, when they seek to construct extreme dots together to validate their desire for pattern, is to ascribe the pattern to a human group-agent. Why a group I don't know, because it is certainly more attractive than a single-agent. Nonetheless, the mistake is to leave out of the 'influence dot-construct' the aspect of chaos and general contextual chance. The desire to seek ulterior motive, over-valuates the power of any agent, and under-valuates the constant dance partner of randomness.
This why the attempt of all hidden agenda social groups to manipulate in their self-interest has always finally come undone. Not just because of its imbalanced strategy, but mainly due to the power of randomness flooding at the gates. "The best laid plans of mice and men..."
If we cannot laugh at ourselves – we cannot laugh with others or cause others to laugh. Laughter is a gift – and causing laughter is an act of kindness. i]
Alas, so few are capable of laughing with the universe at ourselves.
I seldom laugh at my self, though it may happen :), I laugh just because a situation is worth a laugh.
But to be honest, my laughs is seldom a straight out laugh, it is usually only a silent chuckle.
Well Jahn, it is absolutely critical to laugh out loud - a really good belly laugh!
To laugh with the universe, means to laugh at ourselves - that is the final joke.
A silent chuckle is not enough, unless you are at death's door:
I realize that with my chuckles I was out wrong in this thread about laughs.
It is ultimately critical to laugh at ourselves. To see our life and posturing, our status, standing and personal value as one gigantic ego-joke. This is reserved for those who know, but can be practised any time by everyone. Ultimately, nothing matters. The last laugh is on us, no matter who we are.
Truly, we are all clowns in a circus!
Spontaneity is the empty clarity that totally accepts the patterns that are perceived without being conditioned by them.
Cowardice is the belief or faith in the possibility of survival – of the body, or of some aspect of existence to which we adhere. It is also a lack of appreciation for oneself which comes from a lack of appreciation for others – and a lack of appreciation for the wider context of being human. When the need to survive takes precedence over appreciation – cowardice is born.
You could try another approach—but be warned it is far more threatening: Always put the possibility of joy before the need to be safe.
As this is not your own words, I suppose, what is the source? The reference ...
If your practice of shi-nè (letting go of addiction to thought) facilitates the experience of emptiness, it will also facilitate the capacity to grin at your own chaos—and if you can grin at your own chaos, then you will have authentic pervasive compassion for the chaos of existence. You will discover your innate goodness and that will naturally pervade the world. Primordial goodness is that which grins at the illusions of the dualistic predicament—so sit and learn to smile.
Ah, but therein lies the danger. "without being conditioned" is precisely what our fellow humans don't like. In fact, they will go to great lengths to extract any such person from their collective. if you want to work with others in this world, there is no other option than to obscure your unconditioned soul. Spontaneity treads on people's precious toes - in many countries you can die for such liberties.
The correct response is much more difficult. You have to have achieved spontaneity through shedding conditioned beliefs and behaviours, but then you have to conceal the freedom of your light, and tiptoe through the identities of those around you - striving to find the cracks through which that light can glimmer.
The only practice that we should perform - is to be our selves. We are perfect the way we are. And we have full integretity, toward teachers and gurus, popes and the rest, that claim that we are not perfect today, as we stand and speak.
That does not mean that we not look for improvement and growth, we are, but that will be with our tail high and on our conditions. Long gone is the Days of the wip and the carrot.
Having a good heart goes further than anything in terms of empathising with the nondual state. Intellectual elaborations are not important. Kindness is something you feel – a warmth and expansiveness which flows from our growing openness. Kindness is our contact, our strongest link with the nondual state. So much for law and order. The essence of Buddhism is similar to anarchism. Not anarchy in the distorted popular sense in which the word is understood—in the sense of dog-eat-dog-chaos—but anarchism in terms of ‘no external government’. Anarchism is the naturally manifesting inner government of awareness – unconditioned, present, direct and utterly responsible.