tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post8251637223235957606..comments2023-04-12T05:38:07.136-07:00Comments on The Dojin Roku: MedicineKoro Kaisanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04519201399219325579noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-69457249794949066122010-10-16T21:16:10.985-07:002010-10-16T21:16:10.985-07:00Micheal dear...
"gate gate paragate parasamg...Micheal dear...<br /><br />"gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha..."<br /><br />It is now mid-October. Even if you are still "temporarily free from stress" you may be experiencing a cold or flu virus, courtesy of the student population you work with. <br /><br />I believe it was Pema Chodron who referred to the Heart Sutra as "The Heart Attack Sutra". Why? Because it was addressed to followers of the living Buddha....many of whom were "blissed out" (& perhaps expecting to be congratulated for this achievement!) <br /><br />Instead the message (via Avalokitesvara) was:<br />"Go Beyond...Go Far Beyond...." <br /><br />Continue your practice. Always. <br /><br />If the form of your practice seems tiresome or unproductive (sitting zazen, writing exhaustive blogs...!) consider other options. <br />A walk in the autumn leaves perhaps.... <br /><br />It's YOUR practice. Just continue on. <br />That's all.<br /><br />I look forward to seeing you very soon!<br /><br />Fondly,<br />KaizenKaizenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16420266034660958472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-76614883952264827972010-10-01T22:00:22.738-07:002010-10-01T22:00:22.738-07:00Pablo, Harry might argue with you there because he...Pablo, Harry might argue with you there because he says I'm not a Buddha - and the starting point of this exchange was that I was temporarily free from stress!<br /><br />I loom forward to Harry's prostrations...Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-57267029877312958172010-10-01T19:15:24.790-07:002010-10-01T19:15:24.790-07:00Michael: "Signing off for the time being. Har...Michael: "Signing off for the time being. Harry thinks I should do more shikantaza, so I'll go warm that cushion..."<br /><br />Does that mean you're feeling stressed again? :D<br /><br />Anyway, I don't see why the act of choosing is incompatible with being free of suffering/stress which, as I understand it, is what a Buddha is.Pablohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00248665795674538042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-62922853247351987622010-10-01T11:43:27.247-07:002010-10-01T11:43:27.247-07:00Harry said, " I think a person actualising th...Harry said, " I think a person actualising the state of buddha is free right within having to make choices otherwise the state of buddha would be completely alien to human beings who have had to, or have to, live in the real world..."<br /><br />I can see how a Buddha could live in the real world as an individual, with attachments neither to self nor to attaining specific outcomes. Throw in people one loves and I'm not sure if that works. Would it be enlightened behaviour to let go of attachment to your child's welfare? Can a Buddha be a good husband? <br /><br />But that's a whole new post - and maybe I've caused enough trouble for now!<br /><br />Signing off for the time being. Harry thinks I should do more shikantaza, so I'll go warm that cushion...Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-3030079030387459072010-10-01T08:53:03.779-07:002010-10-01T08:53:03.779-07:00"...and in the moment of choosing, no matter ...<i>"...and in the moment of choosing, no matter how serene you may try to come across to others, you're not an actualised Buddha. You can make a selfless choice and that selflessness can have been conditioned by the training of shikantaza, but in that moment of choice you're in dualistic either/or samsara so you're not a Buddha."</i><br /><br />Hi Michael,<br /><br />I'm not at all sure that the state of actualising buddha is inhibited by having to make choices. I think a person actualising the state of buddha is free right within having to make choices otherwise the state of buddha would be completely alien to human beings who have had to, or have to, live in the real world as human beings just like us.<br /><br />I hope you realise that I'm only critique-ing your ideas and not a person.<br /><br />When I said a 'realised master' I didn't mean to imply that the person need to be 'fully realised', but that s/he need understand directly (through his/her own efforts) the meaning of zazen/shikantaza. This, as far as I'm concerned, is really what is transmitted and one of the criteria of it is continuous practice even after we have imagined that our work is done.<br /><br />Re 'kind speech': It's hard to find a consensus on this I think as different people have different values and ways of addressing each other in general and in certain situations. For example, I'm quite thick skinned, so I act as everybody else is. However, I think we can actualise buddha within our relative spheres of range and conduct because the conduct of a buddha is not limited by any circumstance, but we have to do it.<br /><br />Long may you throw stuff up here to rock the boat. I'm all for it. <br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-84673139228346926652010-10-01T08:03:04.036-07:002010-10-01T08:03:04.036-07:00Hi Harry,
No offence taken. I know I'm not an...Hi Harry,<br /><br />No offence taken. I know I'm not an actualised Buddha. But then again, neither is anyone else.<br /><br />These supreme beings - they don't exist. We can all be an actualised Buddha for a finger-snap of a moment if we're practising well in that moment (even me!) but then we're faced with the dualistic choices of human life. To eat now or not to eat now? Either/or. Unavoidable. Choose "eat", choose "not eat", choose both, choose neither - you've still chosen and that choice will have been conditioned by blood sugar levels or family dining schedules or monastery rules or good manners or ascetic intent...and in the moment of choosing, no matter how serene you may try to come across to others, you're not an actualised Buddha. You can make a selfless choice and that selflessness can have been conditioned by the training of shikantaza, but in that moment of choice you're in dualistic either/or samsara so you're not a Buddha.<br /><br />That's why monasteries are so regimented - they reduce the burden of dualistic samsaric choice-making on the part of the trainee. You make one conditioned choice - to obey the rules - then get on with it.<br /><br />Anicca! Actualised Buddhas last for a moment, then have to start again. Human, all too human. And even if you found a Buddha, he's not a Buddha. "Avalokiteshvara, when meditating deeply on Perfection of Wisdom..." - you know the rest.<br /><br />You mention the term "serious practitioner". A serious practitioner (and I include you amongst them) doesn't accept orthodoxy and cry "heresy!" when someone posits a heterodox view. They consider the idea on its own merits as a means to aiding or ailing the human condition. That's all. A serious practitioner follows Gotama's example of putting the search for truth above and beyond everything else, overriding the insecurities that make us grasp for the certainties of a religious faith. When Gotama accepted that bowl of rice pudding, it was far, far worse than posting an unorthodox idea on a blog - it was the rejection of all he and his colleagues had been striving for. Makes me look positively diplomatic.<br /><br />I'm just examining ideas, in public, as that's what blogs are for - a long-distance time-delay group discussion. If I was trying to get followers I'd put on a serious face and say orthodox stuff and try to come across terribly Zen. Instead I experiment with ideas and lay them open for discussion. If anyone feels I'm pissing on their god, they need to sit face-to-face with that feeling and find out where it came from.<br /><br />By all means, continue to provide "honest and direct" responses. Don't tell me a fully realised master wouldn't approve, because I don't believe in them. Tell me you don't approve and you immediately have my attention.<br /><br />All I ask of anyone responding is to try to abide by "Right Speech" - and please, please accept my apologies for when I fail, for I know my own directness sometimes goes too far. <br /><br />What is "Right Speech" in a blog? I believe it means to critique a person kindly - whilst showing their ideas no mercy at all!Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-14592058030729907712010-10-01T02:39:15.494-07:002010-10-01T02:39:15.494-07:00Hi Michael,
Talking about spurious Buddhism and &...Hi Michael,<br /><br />Talking about spurious Buddhism and 'muddying the waters' as you put it earlier: No teacher I have ever heard of has taught shikantaza as a means of temporary stress relief, or as a practice that we should stop when we are not feeling stress. Needless to say that idea would not get a warm reception among other teachers, probably because it challenges some latter day sectarian assumptions but also, and more importantly, because it is not what shikantaza is about at all. I think that is just your own spurious idea arising from a conclusion you are coming to by combining a few ideas from Buddhist traditions together (in the wrong way IMO).<br /><br />Personally I think if you practiced more then you would see more reason to practice. You were sitting for half an hour a day right? Frankly, that's peanuts compared to the amount of practice that buddhist teachers and serious practitioners generally do (regardless of how they feel). I hope your students, or those who practice with you, are not too influenced by this spurious idea.<br /><br />I've met you. You may be feeling stress relief at the moment, but you are not an actualised buddha. Sorry, but your ideas seem to warrant a very honest and direct response.<br /><br />If you feel you are an actualised buddha who no longer needs to practice in times of stress freeness then I suggest that you present this to a realised teacher and see what s/he says... better go to one that doesn't use the stick... ;-)<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-55688611502518445062010-09-30T22:44:36.380-07:002010-09-30T22:44:36.380-07:00Hi Pablo,
Are the fruits of different practices t...Hi Pablo,<br /><br />Are the fruits of different practices the same or different? <br /><br />Well, there's long-term effects and short-term effects. (Apologies - I'm going all Abidhamma again!)We can all of us experiment on ourselves to taste the short-term effects. I suspect it's a little different for each of us, but Zen practice generally tends to make me calm and unattached to outcomes; on the other hand tai chi generally tends to leave me with a more dynamic equilibrium. How is it for you?<br /><br />Long term, you just have to find someone who almost always does the same practice, and has done so diligently for many years, to see the difference. One of my sangha has spent a fair deal of time with the Dalai Lama and reports that his Dzogchen has left him overflowing with metta, but also personally serene, whereas reports I've read of Jain arhat implied she was utterly, utterly serene, but also exhibiting metta. Same stuff, of course, because in many ways the practices are similar, just a different balance in traits owing to a different balance in the practices.<br /><br />As you said, the various practices are not incompatible. Indeed, this is what prompted my initial post, for I see the various practices as various medicines (and, as Hernan said, vitamins). If you've just given blood, quick, eat a lot of pumpkin seeds! If you're about to do sport, eat a Mars bar! If you've a headache, take an aspirin; but if you've just had a whisky, avoid aspirin!<br /><br />My answer to my own question would be that if you're a temporarily unstressed Buddhist, don't do a practice designed to remove stress - no point! That's like taking an aspirin when you don't have a headache! But there are, of course, a huge number of other ongoing maintenance jobs to be done on the human mind and body and greater society, so the time freed up by the lack of shikantaza can be spent to great benefit on tai chi or kendo or shiatsu or spreading the dhamma or visiting a lonely aged aunt.Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-87708423529834523702010-09-30T21:11:54.141-07:002010-09-30T21:11:54.141-07:00book wrongbook wrongShojin Yushihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07382520210888709383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-35902022395353495962010-09-30T21:08:47.288-07:002010-09-30T21:08:47.288-07:00"But by definition, when practising Buddhism ..."But by definition, when practising Buddhism you're trying to do what Buddha taught - and that, in his own words, was stress relief - hence the question about what a temporarily stress-free Buddhist should do."<br /><br />Be a temporarily stress free Buddhist! <br /><br />But by definition, when practicing Buddhism, i am trying to do what the Buddha taught... and, i'm just pretending. When i'm awake i'm no longer practicing Buddhism, just doing what the Buddha taught. <br /><br /> "The fruits of different traditions are not the same." This is not necessarily so. Just as the fruits of the same tradition are not the same. Just look at two alleged Buddhists, or two alleged Buddhist blogger's posts. Sometimes apples grow on grapevines. And if they haven't before, they will soon. <br /><br />Here's another definition stolen from a website, stolen from a book that simply won't do;<br /><br />Zen - <br /><br />"A direct understanding outside of scriptures; apart from tradition, with no dependence on words or letters. Pointing directly to the human mind, seeing into our own true nature and being awakened."Shojin Yushihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07382520210888709383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-77883415161750496362010-09-30T13:32:44.488-07:002010-09-30T13:32:44.488-07:00Michael,
The fruits of Tao and Buddhism (or Gotam...Michael,<br /><br />The fruits of Tao and Buddhism (or Gotama's Buddhism, if you prefer) are different? I understand very little of Tao, but what I've read (and some of the Ch'an/Zen texts I've read which I'm told are very influenced by Taoism) seemed to be compatible with my Buddhist practice. Is there something I misunderstood?Pablohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00248665795674538042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-49930993427528031692010-09-30T08:51:26.094-07:002010-09-30T08:51:26.094-07:00"Know precisely what you're doing and why...<i>"Know precisely what you're doing and why and you increase your chances of getting decent fruit from the karma of your practices."</i><br /><br />Hi Michael,<br /><br />I think we cannot recognise our own mind. We cannot think or percieve our own mind as it already exists everywhere before our intention to think it or understand it or comprehend it or whatever.<br /><br />I mostly practice shikantaza in the Zen tradition that, in latter times, has come to be characterised more as 'Soto Zen'. That doesn't impress me really, but it doesn't bother me as I've more important things to be actually doing. The 'actually doing', and the effect/ non-effect, is the important matter that leaps free of 'Soto Zen', 'Buddhism', 'buddha', 'enlightenment' or whatever I like to think the result might be.<br /><br />The matter of karma and 'fruit' in Buddhist practice is a very subtle one that demands a lot of direct clarification in practice. There are a lot of koan about this and it's what the famous Wild Fox koan is about, as you know. <br /><br />'Is the person of great practice beyond karma?'<br /><br />S/he may be, and s/he will manifest the effects of not being bound by his/her personal karma right within the cause and effect of doing it. At any rate, in terms of clarifying it, it is not a matter of what we think, or aim at, or expect, because not being prone to our habitual conditioning is just not that sort of 'getting it' effort. It's unconditioned effort that is not prone to, or bound by, what we think or want. That's why it may be useful to think of it in the 'not two' terms of effect/non-effect.<br /><br />It's an important point I think as it is the standard throughout Buddhism and is the real, substantial basis of broader Buddhist values such as anatman, renunciation, home leaving, extinction of desires etc etc.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-93783461171458092010-09-30T08:07:37.484-07:002010-09-30T08:07:37.484-07:00Hi Harry,
I'd be the first to say (well, the ...Hi Harry,<br /><br />I'd be the first to say (well, the second, cos you beat me to it) that we're seeking to realise reality. Totally. And as you say, there's so, so many ways to do that - maybe even a unique one for each of us. That's cool. <br /><br />Part of the process of realising reality is trying to understand the mechanism of our minds. Buddha was really into that - all those aggregates and dependent arising and so on. In the same spirit with which he dissected dukkha and its causes, I dissect my practice and its causes - because in both cases, if you want to understand how something really works, you need to find out how it's put together.<br /><br />Ok, it's more Abidhamma than Zen, but I feel it's useful to note, "This practice I'm doing is one that Buddha taught; whereas this one is more Taoist," because the fruits of different traditions are not the same. Know precisely what you're doing and why and you increase your chances of getting decent fruit from the karma of your practices.<br /><br />Of course, behave in such a reductionist way in a Zen community and you run the risk of being lynched for a public display of dualistic thought!Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-39321224185937993262010-09-30T03:04:33.003-07:002010-09-30T03:04:33.003-07:00Actually, I just came across a nice quote as soon ...Actually, I just came across a nice quote as soon as I open the 'Zen Community' blog aggregator page. This sums it up pretty well for me today:<br /><br />“I take refuge in the place for learning the truth, which is every place.“<br />- A Thousand Hands of Compassion<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-1872909263085046532010-09-30T02:39:48.539-07:002010-09-30T02:39:48.539-07:00Hi Michael,
That's fine, if it works for you....Hi Michael,<br /><br />That's fine, if it works for you. But what is the criteria by which we should look at our practice? Some book? Or what you or I think and say? We're living in reality. We are talking about realising reality (albeit from a number of perspectives, you see that it should have some personal end as a criteria, for example). There is a very substantial and obvious criteria right there that we can adopt as a rationale without resorting to the choas of scriptural validation. I don't need a book or scripture to live my life. That may be an inverted way to look at the purpose of Buddhism (I think).<br /><br />Besides, there are countless Buddhist scriptures, commentaries and records. We could likely justify anything we do with some line or other from a Buddhist text. We need a more reliable criteria, a more reliable refuge say. Gautama Buddha gave us criteria (although it has clearly changed a lot in outward form over time), and it was his intention that we make this our standard. If we aren't clear on it we can clarify it directly with a teacher who has.<br /><br />'Buddhism' as you or I imagine it, or as it is written in a book or scripture, is simply not a reliable refuge because for each person, and for each book, there will be a different 'Buddhism'. Thankfully, I think Buddhism is essentially more substantial than this, and this substantial core unites all valid forms of Buddhism regardless of their relative buttons and bows (ceremonies, hierarchies, textual emphasis etc etc etc)<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-11330592088489695202010-09-29T21:48:05.711-07:002010-09-29T21:48:05.711-07:00No, Harry, I have to argue with you here.
I'm...No, Harry, I have to argue with you here.<br /><br />I'm not a fundamentalist (and I'll blow up anyone who says I am!)If I were a Buddhist fundamentalist, I'd be a Theravadin. Whilst their approach isn't for me, you have to respect their clarity. "I'm a Buddhist, Buddha taught X, so I do X." And the texts of what he said are, as far as any ancient texts go, pretty reliable. No mud in their waters.<br /><br />But in the answers above, there's been a hell of a lot of muddying of the waters. My wife's just watched a Tibetan Buddhist ceremony - and she reported that it a lot more to do with Bon and Tibetan culture than it had to do with the philosophy and phsychology propogated by Gotama.<br /><br />Occasionally we need to not just open the window - but open the curtains too! Have a look! What am I doing? And why?<br /><br />"Right speech" is a core element of Buddhism - and lumping together all your practice and calling it Buddhism just isn't honest.Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-7999373092867144652010-09-29T13:33:27.932-07:002010-09-29T13:33:27.932-07:00Somebody open a window in here!
We would not even...Somebody open a window in here!<br /><br />We would not even qualify to practice 'what the Buddha taught' to novice monks as we live with our families (and, I suspect, we will continue to). Thankfully, for us home-staying people, things have moved on since what the Buddha MAY have said was written down.<br /><br />At any rate, I'm afraid your textual fundamentalism re Buddhism as 'what the Buddha taught' is thoroughly unconvincing (and I hope you're not as convinced as you sound) as a book/scroll or spoken instructions or values never clarified a single definition on their own; and there has been a couple of thousand years of it being practiced, clarified, verified and transmitted in many diverse ways in many diverse circumstances to diverse people.<br /><br />If Buddhism is really ultimately about what the Buddha taught then it died over 2000 years ago. Maybe it did!...That shouldn't interfere with our own efforts of course. We should clarify it together with a buddha if we're unsure.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-57731588776561070832010-09-29T13:27:43.100-07:002010-09-29T13:27:43.100-07:00"But by definition, when practising Buddhism ..."But by definition, when practising Buddhism you're trying to do what Buddha taught - and that, in his own words, was stress relief - hence the question about what a temporarily stress-free Buddhist should do."<br /><br />Gotama pointed to the definitive end of suffering, that is, Nibbana. If you feel momentarily at ease (as you said in your first post, you knew this favorable situation is not going to last forever), then you haven't found Nibbana yet. Then, keep practising. As Shojin said, no confusion.Pablohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00248665795674538042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-47994129035514356892010-09-29T11:12:25.130-07:002010-09-29T11:12:25.130-07:00Thinking maybe I'd wandered off the path and w...Thinking maybe I'd wandered off the path and was rightfully being slapped by Shojin, I dug deep into sutta. (Being of a Zen nature, this is something I rarely do - but I wanted to check I wasn't talking what I believe Americans call "hogwash".)<br /><br />Now here it is in the Anuradha Sutta, 22.86:<br />"...Both formerly & now, it is only stress that I describe, and the cessation of stress." You can see this translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu at<br />http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.086.than.html .<br /><br />Maybe it's a strange translation of "dukkha"? So I checked out the translator, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, on Wiki. English is his first language and he appears about as qualified on the Pali and Nikaya fronts as one can get.<br /><br />So let's be honest here, even if we don't like what we see. Buddha said, "...Both formerly & now, it is only stress that I describe, and the cessation of stress." <br /><br />Personally, having come to Zen from the Taoist end of the spectrum rather than the mainstream Buddhist end, I suspect I have a lot in common with Shojin's striving for "true vitality", whatever we mean by that. (e.g. Kayaking, a man at one with nature, is a key part of my practice, as is the directing of misplaced chi - but how Buddhist is that?)<br /><br />Buddhism has grown. Gotama himself states that he sought ONLY to describe stress (i.e. its causes) and the cessation of stress. Later on other people (with whom, for what it's worth, I agree) added stuff like the Bodhisattva frame of mind and exceptionally helpful concepts such as sunyata. <br /><br />But by definition, when practising Buddhism you're trying to do what Buddha taught - and that, in his own words, was stress relief - hence the question about what a temporarily stress-free Buddhist should do.Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-74631222460082807202010-09-28T22:06:43.293-07:002010-09-28T22:06:43.293-07:00What precisely is "true vitality"?What precisely is "true vitality"?Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-34259436214098872362010-09-28T11:27:17.351-07:002010-09-28T11:27:17.351-07:00Did the Buddha teach a method of keeping stress ou...Did the Buddha teach a method of keeping stress out of our lives? As a form of medicine, that sounds as watered down as baby aspirin. <br /><br />The conditional world is the conditional world. Circumstances are ever favorable, unfavorable, easy, difficult... circumstantial. If you think you've found a happy hunting ground, look again, it's gone. <br /><br />There is a difference between symptom management and true vitality. Any form of being has leaves and roots and branches. Any adept of any art or practice doesn't stop cultivating their art with some momentary piece of satisfaction. Practicing to alleviate stress or suffering is not what i would recognize as an art. It's more like a band-aid, a way of refining lying to one's self. There is always ever deeper, more profoundly here. Best to keep practicing. <br />If such a practice is engaged in relation to the ups and downs of life's conditions, the effects of the practice as a medicine, will be as profound as temporary pain relief.<br /><br />So, "what should a Buddhist do when life is going well?" There's really no confusion.Shojin Yushihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07382520210888709383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-65557576526821181232010-09-26T19:26:07.595-07:002010-09-26T19:26:07.595-07:00I think that as long as we think of our practice a...I think that as long as we think of our practice as something we do separate from our daily lives, then we will find the need to “take time” to practice. Practice is not just meditation; practice is constantly awakening and living by the eight fold path. We do not follow the eightfold path as something we do separate from our daily lives. Taking breakfast to our wives or spending time with our children is not something we do outside of practice, it is what we continue to do as practice. Taking time to meditate is just like taking time to eat or taking time to sleep. When our practice becomes totally incorporated into our lives, so that each breath is understood as practice, then nothing more is needed.<br /><br />P.S. Willow bark is better medicine than apple bark. However, apple bark made into a tea can help with hyperacidity and heartburn.Koro Kaisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04519201399219325579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-88389688526512736302010-09-25T22:58:51.553-07:002010-09-25T22:58:51.553-07:00Pablo, I think you've hit the nail on the head...Pablo, I think you've hit the nail on the head. What is practice?<br /><br />Hernan, I think you too have hit the nail on the head. Medicines and vitamins!<br /><br />When I "should" be sitting zazen before I go to work, if instead I'm taking my wife breakfast in bed or finding the time to show my son I value him, I'm taking my vitamins. If, in Harry's terms, I'm spending the time being rather less Mahayana, it shows I ended my course of antibiotics before the disease was cured.<br /><br />Hey, David, don't worry about writing long posts - reading them is part of our practice!Michael Pockleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374336639577795927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-76746389548626456712010-09-25T19:34:35.796-07:002010-09-25T19:34:35.796-07:00Hi Michael, and everyone.
I have three answers fo...Hi Michael, and everyone.<br /><br />I have three answers for your question:<br /><br />1) When you are ill, you take medicines. Some people, mistakenly, stop taking their medicines once the symptoms are gone, but that doesn't end the causes. The doctor (here, the Buddha) asks us to take the medicine until the causes (i.e. tanha/craving) are gone, or else the medicine will be of no use.<br /><br />So, are we gonna be good patients? :)<br /><br />2) As I heard Dosho Port say once, "dukkha is like having a wheel with the spoke misplaced: it can still turn, but you can tell there's something wrong". My life is quite pleasant: my studies go well, I have an incredible girlfriend, my family loves me, my friends don't let me down...certainly, I can't complain. But does that mean there is no stress/dukkha? No. Everytime someone says something I don't like, everytime I finish an ice-cream, everytime the weather is colder than I'd like, there's that feeling there, saying "I don't like this, I don't want things to be like this, I want things to change!". There you go, dukkha. The wheel still needs to be repaired; therefore, I still need to practice.<br /><br />3) Practice is both a blessing and a refuge, but...who said practice is just limited to sitting on your cushion? Who says chewing the bark of your apple trees is not practice? If you want, everything is practice. Sitting is just one manifestation of the path, one that makes you comfortable and see things differently, but it's not the only one. If you feel you don't want to sit for a while, and instead want to enjoy chewing the bark of your apple trees, then do it! Experiment, see where that takes you: does it make you happier? or doesn't it? do you feel it okay not to meditate? don't you want to use your good times to train and be better prepared for the bad ones? It's all up to you to decide.<br /><br /><br />For me, the work is not done, the task is not ended, there is still much to do in this world. So, as my karate teacher said last Monday when asked how to master our katas: TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN.Pablohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00248665795674538042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452212375265023297.post-33251633833867403582010-09-25T11:42:31.474-07:002010-09-25T11:42:31.474-07:00Hi Michael,
Taking medicines when you are not sic...Hi Michael,<br /><br />Taking medicines when you are not sick could have nasty effects, but taking vitamins help to keep us healthy.Doshinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14443151189420417785noreply@blogger.com