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The Case: A Monk asked Yunmen, “When not producing a single thought, is there any fault or not?”
Yunmen said, “Mount Sumeru.”
The Verse: Not producing a single thought—Mount Sumeru;
Yunmen’s gift of teaching is not stingy in intent.
If you come with acceptance, he imparts with both hands;
If you go on doubting, it’s so high you can’t get a hold.
The blue ocean is wide,
The white clouds are peaceful;
Don’t put so much as the tip of a hair in there.
A phony cock crow can hardly fool me—
I still won’t agree to let you pass through the gate in confusion.
Continue reading ‘Yunmen’s “Sumeru”’
Often we mistake ideas as reality. As Michael McAlister reminds us, “The map is not the territory”. Through a practice such as meditation, when our mind becomes still, ideas become visible. We see outside of them, and their grip loosens. It’s at this place that we gain access to reality. There we realise our ideas are just that. Ideas. They are not facts or certainty, just one possible path. When we let go of ideas and concepts, we live in the moment and the world opens.
Continue reading ‘Working with Ideas and Reality’
It’s time to connect with the eSangha. Time to join and give thanks to those who have recently inspired me in some way.
Continue reading ‘eSangha #13’
In some texts, there is talk of ten dimensions, immeasurable kalpas, and Indra’s net. What are all these texts talking about? These are all trying to say we are an expression of life. That we are all living. Essentially by being, we are creating. We are the creation, and the creator.
Continue reading ‘Multi Faceted Universe, Life’
I would like your help. I would like to tap into each of your personal experiences, your wisdom. In a few weeks I will be presentation a talk on Meditation to a room full of smart people who most probably haven’t thought about meditating before. I would like your help with what questions should I be trying to answer? What questions, did you have before/when you started meditating?
Continue reading ‘Reader Help:Your Meditation Questions’
At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World. Wonderfully written by Wendy Johnson, a 30+ year monastic and head gardener from Green Gulch Farm Zen Centre. Wendy encourages us to enter the world of our physical and mental gardens.
Thich Nhat Hanh is quoted saying “Too many people distinguish between the inner work of our mind and the world outside. But these worlds are not separate. They belong to the same reality.” This reality is a non-repeating universe, “fresh and new every day”, as Wendy says.
Continue reading ‘Book Review:Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate’
Most of life is spent transacting or exchanging. We trade our time and skills for money. We trade that money for goods and services. This style of exchange is also deep in our Ego and interactions with people. When communicating, we often engage in pushing or pulling, missing the real.
Continue reading ‘Projecting, Reacting, Reflecting, Oh My!’
Over the past week or so, a new feature’s been launched, there’s been an update to the Meditation Timers, and for now, an Editor’s stepped on board. After the jump, embedded, is also one of my favourite Watt’s clips looking at the two kinds of people, Prickles and Goo, and the middle way of reality. Continue reading ‘Site Updates’
