tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post6652630588495739555..comments2023-04-12T05:38:07.136-07:00Comments on The Dojin Roku: We Choose Our SufferingKoro Kaisanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04519201399219325579noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-41482704429411166592010-01-28T00:43:33.207-08:002010-01-28T00:43:33.207-08:00Yes - it's aversion to suffering that makes su...Yes - it's aversion to suffering that makes suffering unpleasant. <br /><br />I drank some whisky last night. (Cask strength Laphroaig, if you're into that sort of thing.) It was the finest taste sensation I've had in over a decade, but today I'm a little slow and dehydrated. Accept being slow and dehydrated, and life today is cool, to add to a fine yesterday evening. Long for bounce and aqueous cells and the whole scene changes.Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-53636993804870344242010-01-27T08:50:15.571-08:002010-01-27T08:50:15.571-08:00If we choose to feel our suffering, it no longer f...If we choose to feel our suffering, it no longer feels like suffering. All rivers lead to the ocean.Shojin Yushihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07382520210888709383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-50033022454042034222010-01-27T08:37:38.451-08:002010-01-27T08:37:38.451-08:00Hi Pablo,
Yes, it seems that there are other ways...Hi Pablo,<br /><br />Yes, it seems that there are other ways of knowing what the right and appropriate thing to do is in any given situation, not just on the basis of our thinking/values, but on a more intuitive level. I think we do this very often, that we just naturally do the right thing a lot, but it's so natural that we don't really notice it... of course, speaking for myself, I mess up too, but, nobody's perfect for very long.<br /><br />An old Zen Master described the function of the Bodhisattva of compassion like this:<br /><br />"S/He is like a person in the night reaching back with a hand to grope for a pillow."<br /><br />At the same time I think Buddhist practice can inform our thinking and our values and, perhaps, allign them with a more realistic basis, but, yes, what we actually do need never be restricted by what we think.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-36630496515549040702010-01-27T08:24:01.923-08:002010-01-27T08:24:01.923-08:00Hi Harry,
Of course, you are right. I don't c...Hi Harry,<br /><br />Of course, you are right. I don't consider myself a nihilist (not a ruthless killing one, anyway), but I don't know any other way of expressing how I feel about these things: there is no good, there is no bad. It seems that good and bad are only names, there's just the action and its consequence. But I don't know. I really don't know. So I just try to live moment by moment, and feel every choice I do (so that I can "feel" or "see" my karma, if that makes any sense), and that is all right for the moment.Pablohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00248665795674538042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-54097737061520388972010-01-27T07:21:14.720-08:002010-01-27T07:21:14.720-08:00"There is no evil, there is no good. It's..."There is no evil, there is no good. It's just us who divide the world in two, to simplify things."<br /><br />Hi Pablo,<br /><br />In Zen it is certainly true that there are many instances of teachings which seem to challenge our conventional understanding of things and the values with which we see the world.<br /><br />But, it is never the intention to negate the objective fact that there are actions which are really substantially wrong in that they cause ourselves or others to really suffer.<br /><br />Certainly there are many instances where Zen has been misunderstood and adopted as a type of nihilism, for example, there was the 'Samurai Zen' which was reinvented prior to World War II which considered that, if you killed people on the battlefield with a pure mind/intention, you would not be culpable for the act and that it was actually a type of upaya or 'skillful means' and that you would be 'doing the Buddha's work'... It may be that killing to save lives is the right thing to do in a particular situation, but clearly the idea that 'causing others to suffer is only wrong if we think it is wrong' is a recipe for chaos and psychotic behavoir.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-65965211811082034922010-01-27T03:25:17.379-08:002010-01-27T03:25:17.379-08:00When we choose life we inevitably choose illness, ...When we choose life we inevitably choose illness, old age and death.<br /><br />Every action has its consequences. That's the principle of karma. But is suffering inevitably attached to this choices? Isn't suffering a matter of perception, in the end? <br /><br />Thinking about the "lesser of two evils" is thinking in black and white, dually, like you zennies like to say :P. There is no evil, there is no good. It's just us who divide the world in two, to simplify things. <br /><br />Freedom comes from the realization that suffering is not an obligation, but a choice, and that we can get out of it.<br /><br />Thanks for the post.Pablohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00248665795674538042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-69963324756311720712010-01-27T02:35:46.386-08:002010-01-27T02:35:46.386-08:00This matter of choice, or 'free will', has...This matter of choice, or 'free will', has interested me for some time.<br /><br />I think a lot of what we do, a lot of what we consider 'free will', from the perspective of Buddhist practice, is actually not that 'free' at all.<br /><br />What freedom is there in habitually following our ingrained modes of response and behavoir?<br /><br />If we don't recognise that we do this, can it even be said that we are free to do it (in that there's effectively no choice)?<br /><br />Thanks for this interesting post,<br /><br />Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-64772420469733944932010-01-27T00:24:07.555-08:002010-01-27T00:24:07.555-08:00Kaishin: With the hundred grass tips in the busy m...Kaishin: <i>With the hundred grass tips in the busy marketplace graciously share yourself</i> is not a matter of being hermit or not.<br /><br />Zen teacher, philosopher and founder of the FAS Society, Sinichi Hisamatsu, put all koans into this:<br /><br />Whatever you do will not do. What do you do?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-4295166598304827612010-01-26T22:27:39.749-08:002010-01-26T22:27:39.749-08:00A hermit can pretty much avoid suffering: the comp...A hermit can pretty much avoid suffering: the complexity of regulating one person's desires is just about possible. Choose to live in society, or have a family, and there are too many desires to control.<br /><br />In that situation the only solution is to let go of the desire not to suffer.Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.com