Best Of
Re: Buddhist quotes
"Generations of peoples, primarily in Asia, have maintained that the historical Buddha, Gautama, invented zazen, and so was an Absolute God in zazen.
The truth is, of course, zazen was not born of, nor created by the historical Buddha; Buddha was born of the unfathomable depths of zazen.
We too may be born from the same place, as countless buddhas have in the past. We are all absolute perfection in zazen, infinite perfection — the transcendence of ourselves; the transcendence of the practice; the transcendence of all things.
Zazen is and was the mother of Buddha. We should confirm this with our own direct experience."
~ Hōgen Yamahata
Re: Why I’m not keen on the bodhisattva vow
I formally took the Bodhisattva vow yesterday at an Avolekitesvara Empowerment ceremony. The way I see it, and the way our teacher explained it is that we are planting the seed now and it may take place this lifetime or in future lifetimes. But for me personally, I will strive to be a better human and Buddhist starting yesterday. I will carry the awareness at the foremost of my being to the best of my ability. Will I screw up? Sure. But I will keep striving.
That's just my take on it anyway.
Re: An experience of ‘who am I?’
"You can not catch hold of it, nor can you get rid of it...In not being able to get it, you get it....When you speak it's silent-When you're silent it speaks."
~Chan Poem~
Shoshin1
Re: Understanding the do'er?
There is a do'er which I identify with as self but that do'er is just a part or a system among a bunch of parts and systems that is the body-mind complex. What the do'er does is a result of cause and effect. Parts and systems causing and effecting.
From my own perspective, I would advise sitting with this for a bit.
When someone mentions a "doer" I like to throw in a reminder to practice pausing between stimuli and reaction so we see the difference between responding solely through conditioned response and acting mindfully. Eventually, that pause may get smaller and smaller and abandoned like the raft to the other shore.
The fifth of the Five Remembrances is that my actions are my only true possessions and are the ground upon which I stand. A fatalist view would seem to fly in the face of Buddhist practice.
