A recent post of Gregor’s, Practice is Life, clicked for me.
...To approach practice with a new understanding, a realization that life and practice must fully encompass one another.Continue reading ‘How Sitting Practice Enhances Life’
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Archive for July, 2007
Great Master Dogen in The Shobogenzo illuminates the use of sounds to see True Nature. He says “’striking unbounded space and hearing It reverberate’, which is Its continuous, wonderful voice before and after the mallet has struck the bell.”
The bell’s ring is a metaphor, to point to our True Nature of “unbounded space”. It opens into an understanding of our sitting practice and its place. It paints the picture allowing us to see what we are sitting for. Using nothing and something at the same time, transcending into non-dualism to shatter concepts about our practice is simply amazing.
(Thanks to Gregor for initially pointing me to this book. Image)
A slight name change, but a continuation of the idea. All things change, no thing is permanent. Some links that have recently caught my attention, and a fantastic video to begin with.
Thich Nhat Hanh – To Touch Life, Come Home to Yourself(below video)
- A discussion on Mantras, Meditation and Malas. Interesting insight into James’ practice.
- How to bring The Peace of Non-Resistance into the now, another great article from TheUrbanMonk.net(Thanks again for the heading mate).
- “Beings are numberless; I vow to awaken with them”, a fantastic paper from theDogen Zen Symposium held at Stanford in 1999.
- Buddhism 101; a free 4 week course delivered by Reverend Heng Sure. There’s something in these teachings for the new and experienced practitioner, or anyone interested in Buddhism at all. These are well delivered, wise words from a very humble and compassion master. Originally taught at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery
“No thing in this world makes us happy”
What do you think about this quote? Do you agree with it, or disagree? Initially I thought this was saying that happiness doesn’t exist. Sitting further back, reading it slower, the quote developed a totally different meaning.
I now understand that happiness is not external, but an internal state; literally a state of mind. That it’s not things or symbols or connections that grant us happiness, it’s how we view and relate to things.
Continue reading ‘Relating to Happiness’
Almost everyone thinks of meditation as something to do sitting on the ground with legs crossed. Tibetans practice this way as do the followers of Zen, Theravada, and Hinduism. But why? It isn’t just due to a shortage of chairs. There are good reasons to sit this way.
Understanding and Love are not two separate things, but just one. To develop understanding, you have to practice looking at all living beings with the eyes of compassion. When you understand, you cannot help but love. And when you love, you naturally act in a way that can relieve the suffering of people.—Thich Nhat Hanh, A beautiful reminder found at the entry to the meditation hall.
Suffering, Buddhism, and Helping others are terms that all go together. Suffering is a core Buddhist teaching, explained by the Gautama Buddha during his experience of enlightenment in The Four Noble Truths. The Bodhisattva’s essence is “to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.” Buddhism is all about the cesation of suffering, and helping others realize this. Continue reading ‘Helping Others out of Suffering’
Everyone wants to be Happy. A new understanding of becoming Happy seems to be taking place. There seems to be a growing awareness that Happiness is a skill, and like any other skill requires work and effort to master. Below are a few methods that utilize daily life activities to help cultivate Happiness:- Continue reading ‘10 Tips for Working Towards Happiness’
