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“They blame those who remain silent, they blame those who speak much, they blame those who speak in moderation. There is none in the world who is not blamed.”
Buddha https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/25652/platitudes
"If you aspire to Buddha, lose the Buddha. If you aspire to the Way, lose the Way. If you aspire to be the master, lose the master..
You just need to have correct insight into the way things are"
Thay, Zen Battles
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Now that all thoughts have subsided
off I go, deep into the woods,
and pick me
a handful of shepherd's purse.
Just like the stream
meandering through mossy crevices
I, too, hushed
become utterly clear.
If you give up a little you’ll get a little peace,
If you give up a lot you’ll get a lot of peace,
If you give up everything you’ll get complete peace.
Ajahn Chah
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I’ve come across that quote before with “let go” instead of “give up”.
@Kerome said:
I’ve come across that quote before with “let go” instead of “give up”.
Yes! I just heard it quoted by a monk who was using it in the context of giving up sensual pleasure as a layperson.
But I have also heard "let go" used as well.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
But how you do it is another matter... I mean what is supposed to happen when you give up sensual pleasure? The body is by its very nature quite sensual, how do you give that up?
@Kerome said:
But how you do it is another matter... I mean what is supposed to happen when you give up sensual pleasure? The body is by its very nature quite sensual, how do you give that up?
Start with the eight precepts and go from there.....
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
You stop to point at the moon in the sky,
but the finger's blind unless the moon is shining.
One moon, one careless finger pointing --
are these two things or one?
The question is a pointer guiding
a novice from ignorance thick as fog.
Look deeper. The mystery calls and calls:
No moon, no finger -- nothing there at all.
The foremost station of the great vehicle
and the marks of the continual arisings of the hearts*
are the great mysteries of all Buddhas.
The Ford-Weavers* know them not.
I now disclose and express them.
With oneness of heart, you should listen carefully.
In transcending the one-hundred-and-sixty [wicked] hearts,
there arises a vast extensive merit
and, with its nature always steadfast,
the arising of Gnosis* is known.
Unbounded like empty space
and unblighted eternally,
the many phenomena cannot move it.
At the root, it is fundamentally signless.
For boundless wisdom attained
and the utmost consummate Gnosis* manifest,
cultivating the activities of worshipful reverence
precedes this first arousal of the heart.
[...]
Furthermore, there is the performance
of the many other fortunate deeds
such as recitation of the scriptures, circumambulation,
being seated in solitude, and likewise,
that the body and the heart might be made calm and pure
and, moved by pity, act for the salvation of self and other.
The nature of the heart, like this, is alien to all corruption
when the body, as it should, sits at peace.
[...]
The gnostic heart* is alien to all things,
meaning the aggregates, the elements, the fields,
the grasper, and what is grasped.
The phenomena are selfless and the mind is likewise,
at their root, fundamentally unarisen,
like the great void of self-nature.
Like the Arhats, the Buddhas, the Lords,
the Bodhisatvas, rouse the gnostic heart
towards the throne of Gnosis,*
may I too, like this, wake the gnostic heart.
(Mahāvairocanābhisaṁbodhisūtra, Parivarta 1 & 2, T848.2a15 & 46b23 & 47a, The Sūtra of Mahāvairocana's Manifestation of Gnosis*, "The Entrance into the Gateway of the True Word* and the Abodes of the Heart," followed by "The Augmentation and Defence of the Practices of Purity;" excerpts.)
Precisely because it is unborn, imperishable and independent,
the intrinsic nature of existents is also called ʻselfʼ.
Because it is of one form and undifferentiated,
it is one, even when differentiated by existents.
Because it is the nature of all dharmas, it is all-pervasive;
and also, because it is imperishable, it is eternal.
Because it is unarisen, it is unborn,
therefore, it is devoid of old age and death.
And because it is devoid of destruction,
it is indestructible.
Because it is excellent,
it is considered the ʻhighestʼ.
It is neither form, sound, smell and so forth,
nor is it earth, fire, water or wind.
Nor is it space, moon, sun etc.,
nor is it characterized by mind or knowledge.
Because it is the intrinsic nature, it is every entity,
and because it is indestructible, it is not every entity.
Since defilements do not arise in it,
it is pure, and utterly quiescent.
Expressed through the superimposition of imagination,
in essence it is inexpressible.
Because it is inexpressible in every respect,
it is called ‘unmanifestʼ.
(Venerable Bhāvaviveka, Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā, "Vedāntatattvaniścayaparivarta," The Heart of the Middle Way, "Chapter on the Assertion of the Principle of Suchness,"* translated by Olle Qvarnström, *rendering not from Qvarnström)
This is why I like Ajahn Brahm - too many Theravadan teachers focus on the negative side of the practice but AB always focuses on the positive! Quite brilliant.
I think it's possibly because he understands the Western mind.
"It's all right not to be perfect. It's all right to make mistakes. Can you feel how easy it feels, how all that tension and stress disappears when you allow yourself to make mistakes?
The trouble is we tend to amplify the mistakes and forget the successes, which creates so much of a burden of guilt and heaviness. So instead we can turn to our successes, the good things we have done in our life; we could call it the Buddha nature within us.
If you turn to that, it grows; whereas if you turn to the mistakes, they grow. If you dwell on any thought in the mind, any train of thought, it grows and grows, doesn't it?
So we turn our hearts around and dwell upon the positive in ourselves, the purity, the goodness, the source of that unconditional love - that which wants to help, to sacrifice even our own comfort for the sake of another being. This is the way we can regard our inner being, our heart.
Forgiving its faults, we dwell upon its nobility, its purity, its kindness. We can do the same with other people, we can dwell upon their goodness and watch it grow"
I’m beginning to see, as you said, that Ajahn Brahm is the real deal.
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“ If people want to talk a lot about theory that’s their business. But no matter how much it’s debated, the practice always comes down to this single point right here. When something arises, it arises right here. Whether a lot or a little, it originates right here. When it ceases, the cessation is right here. Where else? The Buddha called this point the “Knowing.” When it knows the way things are accurately, in line with the truth, we’ll understand the meaning of mind.”
— Ajahn Chah
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Craving not to experience something, craving to be at peace, craving not to be distracted and agitated – it’s all craving. It’s all a red-hot chunk of iron.”
As you feel the breath come and go, let the other waves of experience—sensations and sounds, feelings and thoughts—rise and fall like waves of the ocean around the breath. You are the witness of the breath, and you are the witness of all that rises and falls around the breath. Rest in awareness. Know the waves as they arise and as they pass away.
You will notice after a few breaths that one or more of the waves becomes so strong that it carries attention from the breath. When a strong wave arises, let go of attention on the breath and receive this wave with the same spacious witnessing that you’ve given to the breath and body itself.
—Jack Kornfield, Guided Meditations for Difficult Times
Get out of the construction business! Stop building bridges across the raging waters of samsaric existence, attempting to reach the “far shore,” nirvana. Better to simply relax, at ease and carefree, in total naturalness, and just go with the primordial flow, however it occurs and happens. And remember this: whether or not you go with the flow, it always goes with you.
“It’s easy to do things for yourself but it’s much harder to do things for other people”
Richmond Football Club mantra 2019
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
With every in breath I bring calm to my body,
With every out breath I smile to the world.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Why is it necessary to train? Because the heart is totally encrusted with and plastered over with defilements. That’s what a heart is like that has not yet been transformed through the training. It’s unreliable, so don’t believe it. It’s not yet virtuous. How can we trust a heart that lacks purity and clarity? Therefore the Buddha warned us not to put our trust in a defiled heart.”
— Ajahn Chah
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“So I’ve told you a few brief stories about how I practised. I didn’t have a lot of knowledge. I didn’t study much. What I did study was this heart and mind of mine, and I learned in a natural way through experimentation, trial and error. When I liked something, then I examined what was going on and where it would lead. Inevitably, it would drag me to some distant suffering. My practice was to observe myself. As understanding and insight deepened, gradually I came to know myself.
Practise with unflinching dedication! If you want to practise Dhamma, then please try not to think too much.“
Ajahn Chah has this way of talking about himself and his own practice with so much clarity and no hint of egotism. It’s amazing. Something really shines through his words, even in translation. It must have been on another level for the Thai people who heard him.
The sensitive, mindful heart perceives value and worth in all things. It does not rely upon drama or intensity to feel awake and alive, but draws upon receptivity, stillness, and a present moment wholeheartedness.
—Christina Feldman, “Brief Teachings”
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“With an image of liberation as the goal the wise abandon darkness
and cherish light,
leave petty security behind
and seek freedom from attachment.
To pursue such release is difficult and rare, yet the wise will seek it,
detaching themselves from obstructions,
purifying heart and mind.”
— Dhammapada
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited March 2020
“In the beginning stages of Dhamma practice, physical seclusion is of vital importance. When you live alone in isolation you will recall the words of Venerable Sariputta: “Physical seclusion is a cause and condition for the arising of mental seclusion, states of profound samadhi free from external sense contact. This seclusion of the mind is in turn a cause and condition for seclusion from mental defilements, enlightenment.” And yet some people still say that seclusion is not important: “If your heart is peaceful, it doesn’t matter where you are.” It’s true, but in the beginning stages we should remember that physical seclusion in a suitable environment comes first.”
I’m very much enjoying this series @Kerome. Keep ’em coming!
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited March 2020
“Practicing generosity is giving up, letting go. Listening to teachings is for the purpose of gaining knowledge to give up and let go, to uproot clinging to what is good and to what is bad. At first we meditate to become aware of the wrong and the bad. When we recognize that, we give it up and we practice what is good. Then, when some good is achieved, don’t get attached to that good. Remain halfway in the good, or above the good – don’t dwell under the good. If we are under the good then the good pushes us around, and we become slaves to it. We become the slaves, and it forces us to create all sorts of kamma and demerit. It can lead us into anything, and the result will be the same kind of unhappiness and unfortunate circumstances we found ourselves in before.“
— Ajahn Chah
I’m currently reading the collected dhamma talks of Ajahn Chah, which are freely available as a single downloadable pdf. I’m also really enjoying it, there are some real gems in there.
The entire teaching of Buddhism can be summed up in this way:
Nothing is worth holding on to.
If you let go of everything,
Objects
Concepts
Teachers
Buddha
Self
Senses
Memories
Life
Death
Freedom
Let go and all suffering will cease. The world will appear in its pristine self-existing nature, and you will experience the freedom of the Buddha.
Jack Kornfield
Modern Buddhist Masters: (Living Buddhist Masters)
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Death is the ultimate letting go. Are you ready to give up your house, your partner, your children, your work, your friends, your possessions, your body? Everything you have ever known you will leave behind...”
I think it means letting go in the mental clinging sense... not physically getting rid of stuff...
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“When it comes to taking precepts, for example, a monk will proclaim the precepts and the lay people will vow to undertake them. Don’t misunderstand what is going on. The truth is that morality is not something that can be given. It can’t really be requested or received from someone. We can’t give it to someone else. In our vernacular we hear people say, “The venerable monk gave the precepts” and “we received the precepts.” We talk like this here in the countryside and so it has become our habitual way of understanding. If we think like this, that we come to receive precepts from the monks on the lunar observance days and that if the monks won’t give precepts then we don’t have morality, that is only a tradition of delusion that we have inherited from our ancestors.”
— Ajahn Chah
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“Some people are alive but don’t know themselves at all. They think, “What’s the big deal about what I do now; I can’t know what is going to happen when I die.” They don’t think about the new seeds they are creating for the future. They only see the old fruit. They fixate on present experience, not realizing that if there is fruit it must have come from a seed, and that within the fruit we have now are the seeds of future fruit.”
How great is the great gnosis of the great sage?
Undefiled, unstained, unbound,
of gods and men, of elephants and horses,
equally of these he is the trainer and the teacher.
The zephyrs of the path he has all-permeated with aromas.
He has permeated them with the perfumes of righteousness.
Serene in wisdom, calm in feeling, with the mind in a yoga of stillness,
with the will submerged, with consciousness gone, with heart tranquil,
he is perpetually free from the dreams of deluded thoughts,
of the aggregates, of the constituents, and of the fields,
as this, his body, neither exists nor does not exist,
and is neither cause nor condition, is neither self nor other,
is neither square nor round, is neither short nor long,
neither appears nor disappears, neither arises nor ceases,
and is neither created nor uncreated, is neither induced nor produced,
neither moves nor bends, neither stills nor slows,
neither proceeds nor retrogrades, is neither guarded nor endangered,
neither is nor is not, neither gains nor loses,
is neither this nor that, neither departs nor comes,
is neither blue nor yellow, is neither red nor white,
is neither saffron nor purple, and is neither white nor many-coloured,
and springs forth from ethics, concentration, wisdom, unbinding, insight,
and manifests in three luminosities, in six powers, in the stages of the path,
and emanates loving-kindness, ten masteries, and fearlessness.
Arising because of the fortunate merit of living beings,
he appears, sixteen feet high, shining, amethyst and gold,
upright and brilliant, gleaming with powerful luminescence,
with the crescent moon as his ūrṇā, with the sun as his halo,
with curled hair as tangles of deep sapphire,
with uṣṇīṣa atop the sturdy head as agate,
with clear eyes as pure polished bronze,
with vision seeing above and seeing below,
with brows and lashes long and blue and bright,
with mouth fair and jaw square and cheeks flat,
with lips and tongue and gums crimson red
as vermillion and cinnabar blossoms,
with white teeth, with forty-two, with jade that is snow,
with a wide forehead, with a long nose, with a forbearing countenance,
with his breast painted with the swastika, with the chest of a lion,
with soft hands, with feet marked, both with one thousand spokes,
with arms and palms marked by lines, embracing all here and there,
from shoulder to wrist with long arms, with fingers straight and slim,
with silken skin and hair curling to the right,
with ankles and knees discreet, with sex sheathed like a horse,
with slim musculature, with sturdy bones, with the legs of a deer,
radiant frontwards and back, immaculate, utterly pure,
unstained by unclean waters, unspoilt by blemish of dirt,
in thirty-two marks all perfectly so, in eighty-four marks witnessed thus.
Yet, truly, he is neither marked nor unmarked in appearance,
because apart from marks and beyond the scope of vision,
with unmarked marks, his body is marked,
with the marked bodies of living beings identically marked.
He causes living beings to rejoice and revere,
to worship with the heart, to respect and honour, to persevere,
because he has banished selfishness and vanity,
and he has transmuted a corpse into a wondrous form.
We all, the eighty-thousand throng of many,
entirely, without exception, with oneness of intent and gesture,
bow together in worship and homage to the Arhat
who has ended proliferation, ended attachment,
ended ideology, ended discourse, ended consciousness,
ended thought, ended mind, and ended will,
who instructs elephants, who trains horses,
to the sage unrivalled in liberation.
We bow and take refuge in the Dharmakāya, in the Rūpakāya,
in the aggregation of ethics, concentration, wisdom, unbinding, and insight.
We bow and take refuge in the wondrous pillar of marks.
We bow and take refuge in the inconceivable.
(Anantanirdeśasūtra 1 Puṇyakavihāraparivarta Dharmakāyagāthā T276.384c20, Sutra of the Inconceivable Exegesis, Chapter 1: on the Abodes of Virtue, "Hymn to the Dharmakāya")
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
From the hurricane and the great whale’s sounding to the fall of a dry leaf and the gnat’s flight, all they do is done within the balance of the whole. But we, in so far as we have power over the world and over one another, we must learn to do what the leaf and the whale and the wind do of their own nature. We must learn to keep the balance. Having intelligence, we must not act in ignorance. Having choice, we must not act without responsibility.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore
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JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
“When the body is born it doesn’t belong to anyone. It’s like our meditation hall. After it’s built spiders come to stay in it. Lizards come to stay in it. All sorts of insects and crawling things come to stay in it. Snakes may come to live in it. Anything may come to live in it. It’s not only our hall; it’s everything’s hall.
These bodies are the same. They aren’t ours. People come to stay in and depend on them. Illness, pain and aging come to reside in them and we are merely residing along with them. When these bodies reach the end of pain and illness, and finally break up and die, that is not us dying. So don’t hold on to any of this. Instead, you have to contemplate the matter and then your grasping will gradually be exhausted. When you see correctly, wrong understanding will stop.”
— Ajahn Chah
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
@Kerome said:
“When the body is born it doesn’t belong to anyone. It’s like our meditation hall. After it’s built spiders come to stay in it. Lizards come to stay in it. All sorts of insects and crawling things come to stay in it. Snakes may come to live in it. Anything may come to live in it. It’s not only our hall; it’s everything’s hall.
These bodies are the same. They aren’t ours. People come to stay in and depend on them. Illness, pain and aging come to reside in them and we are merely residing along with them. When these bodies reach the end of pain and illness, and finally break up and die, that is not us dying. So don’t hold on to any of this. Instead, you have to contemplate the matter and then your grasping will gradually be exhausted. When you see correctly, wrong understanding will stop.”
— Ajahn Chah
Great response for those New-Agers who 'Stand like a tree' and announce 'My Body is a Temple'...
I sometimes wonder if they actually know what they mean by that!
New-Agers who 'Stand like a tree' and announce 'My Body is a Temple'...
Not sure who the new-Agers are but 'standing like a tree' is called Zhan Zhuang
and has been practiced for 1000's of years.
Also not sure if the 'My Body is a temple' comment is also a critical remark against Taoist goals of Immortality or if there actually is some new age bunch of wankers out there with no ties to Taoism at all...
Taoism and Buddhism actually have the exact same goal, just with different terms to describe them and different paths to reach them.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
New-Agers who 'Stand like a tree' and announce 'My Body is a Temple'...
Not sure who the new-Agers are but 'standing like a tree' is called Zhan Zhuang
and has been practiced for 1000's of years.
Yes, I used to teach Qi Gong and Zham Zhong (as I learnt to phonetically spell it - I'm sure the way you have written it is equally 'correct'...) As a Passive Martial Arts tutor, while living in France... But I have also in my time, met many a wannabe happy-hippy type who were very full on 'wow, Man, cool' kinda stuff... those blessed people are the ones I had in mind...
Also not sure if the 'My Body is a temple' comment is also a critical remark against Taoist goals of Immortality or if there actually is some new age bunch of wankers out there with no ties to Taoism at all...
Absolutely not a critical remark at all... but again, very much the Mantra adopted by those who lie in a field talking to daisies but then suddenly recoil in fear and horror when a cow comes over to investigate... The very same New Age bunch of ...'silly people' you mention, in fact...
Taoism and Buddhism actually have the exact same goal, just with different terms to describe them and different paths to reach them.
Indeed, and you must surely know that in that context, I have nothing but the deepest respect...
Comments
Ever grows the glory of one who is energetic, mindful and pure in conduct, discerning and self controlled, righteous and heedful.
Dhammapada 2.24
“They blame those who remain silent, they blame those who speak much, they blame those who speak in moderation. There is none in the world who is not blamed.”
Buddha
https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/25652/platitudes
"If you aspire to Buddha, lose the Buddha. If you aspire to the Way, lose the Way. If you aspire to be the master, lose the master..
You just need to have correct insight into the way things are"
Thay, Zen Battles
Now that all thoughts have subsided
off I go, deep into the woods,
and pick me
a handful of shepherd's purse.
Just like the stream
meandering through mossy crevices
I, too, hushed
become utterly clear.
— Ryokan
If you give up a little you’ll get a little peace,
If you give up a lot you’ll get a lot of peace,
If you give up everything you’ll get complete peace.
Ajahn Chah
I’ve come across that quote before with “let go” instead of “give up”.
Yes! I just heard it quoted by a monk who was using it in the context of giving up sensual pleasure as a layperson.
But I have also heard "let go" used as well.
But how you do it is another matter... I mean what is supposed to happen when you give up sensual pleasure? The body is by its very nature quite sensual, how do you give that up?
Start with the eight precepts and go from there.....
You stop to point at the moon in the sky,
but the finger's blind unless the moon is shining.
One moon, one careless finger pointing --
are these two things or one?
The question is a pointer guiding
a novice from ignorance thick as fog.
Look deeper. The mystery calls and calls:
No moon, no finger -- nothing there at all.
— Ryokan
The bad news: there is no key to happiness.
The good news: it isn't locked.
—Ajahn Brahm
^^ Now, I like that... ^^
—Jack Kornfield, “Theravada Vipassana Practice”
[...]
[...]
(Mahāvairocanābhisaṁbodhisūtra, Parivarta 1 & 2, T848.2a15 & 46b23 & 47a, The Sūtra of Mahāvairocana's Manifestation of Gnosis*, "The Entrance into the Gateway of the True Word* and the Abodes of the Heart," followed by "The Augmentation and Defence of the Practices of Purity;" excerpts.)
*Heart(s) = cittam/cittāni = 心
Ford-Weavers = tīrthikāḥ = 外道
Gnosis = bodhiḥ = 菩提
Utmost consummate Gnosis = anuttarāsamyaksaṁbodhiḥ = 阿耨多羅三藐三菩提
Gnostic heart = bodhicittam = 菩提心
Throne of Gnosis = bodhimaṇḍaḥ = 菩提場
Manifestation of Gnosis = abhisaṁbodhiḥ = 成佛神變
True Word = mantraḥ = 真言
Sometimes I'm not sure if it's better to leave in a bunch of Sanskrit/Chinese jargon or try to put everything in English...
(Venerable Bhāvaviveka, Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā, "Vedāntatattvaniścayaparivarta," The Heart of the Middle Way, "Chapter on the Assertion of the Principle of Suchness,"* translated by Olle Qvarnström, *rendering not from Qvarnström)
This is why I like Ajahn Brahm - too many Theravadan teachers focus on the negative side of the practice but AB always focuses on the positive! Quite brilliant.
I think it's possibly because he understands the Western mind.
"It's all right not to be perfect. It's all right to make mistakes. Can you feel how easy it feels, how all that tension and stress disappears when you allow yourself to make mistakes?
The trouble is we tend to amplify the mistakes and forget the successes, which creates so much of a burden of guilt and heaviness. So instead we can turn to our successes, the good things we have done in our life; we could call it the Buddha nature within us.
If you turn to that, it grows; whereas if you turn to the mistakes, they grow. If you dwell on any thought in the mind, any train of thought, it grows and grows, doesn't it?
So we turn our hearts around and dwell upon the positive in ourselves, the purity, the goodness, the source of that unconditional love - that which wants to help, to sacrifice even our own comfort for the sake of another being. This is the way we can regard our inner being, our heart.
Forgiving its faults, we dwell upon its nobility, its purity, its kindness. We can do the same with other people, we can dwell upon their goodness and watch it grow"
Amazing quotation @Bunks. It’s so true 🙏
I’m beginning to see, as you said, that Ajahn Brahm is the real deal.
“ If people want to talk a lot about theory that’s their business. But no matter how much it’s debated, the practice always comes down to this single point right here. When something arises, it arises right here. Whether a lot or a little, it originates right here. When it ceases, the cessation is right here. Where else? The Buddha called this point the “Knowing.” When it knows the way things are accurately, in line with the truth, we’ll understand the meaning of mind.”
— Ajahn Chah
“Craving not to experience something, craving to be at peace, craving not to be distracted and agitated – it’s all craving. It’s all a red-hot chunk of iron.”
— Ajahn Chah
As you feel the breath come and go, let the other waves of experience—sensations and sounds, feelings and thoughts—rise and fall like waves of the ocean around the breath. You are the witness of the breath, and you are the witness of all that rises and falls around the breath. Rest in awareness. Know the waves as they arise and as they pass away.
You will notice after a few breaths that one or more of the waves becomes so strong that it carries attention from the breath. When a strong wave arises, let go of attention on the breath and receive this wave with the same spacious witnessing that you’ve given to the breath and body itself.
—Jack Kornfield, Guided Meditations for Difficult Times
~ Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
He who practices my teaching best, reveres me most - The Buddha
The entire world is in flames,
The entire world is going up in smoke,
The entire world is burning,
The entire world is vibrating.
But that which does not vibrate or burn,
Which is experienced by the Noble Ones,
Where death has no entry—
In that my mind delights.
Samyutta Nikaya 1.168
“It’s easy to do things for yourself but it’s much harder to do things for other people”
Richmond Football Club mantra 2019
With every in breath I bring calm to my body,
With every out breath I smile to the world.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
“Why is it necessary to train? Because the heart is totally encrusted with and plastered over with defilements. That’s what a heart is like that has not yet been transformed through the training. It’s unreliable, so don’t believe it. It’s not yet virtuous. How can we trust a heart that lacks purity and clarity? Therefore the Buddha warned us not to put our trust in a defiled heart.”
— Ajahn Chah
“So I’ve told you a few brief stories about how I practised. I didn’t have a lot of knowledge. I didn’t study much. What I did study was this heart and mind of mine, and I learned in a natural way through experimentation, trial and error. When I liked something, then I examined what was going on and where it would lead. Inevitably, it would drag me to some distant suffering. My practice was to observe myself. As understanding and insight deepened, gradually I came to know myself.
Practise with unflinching dedication! If you want to practise Dhamma, then please try not to think too much.“
— Ajahn Chah
Nice @Kerome
Ajahn Chah has this way of talking about himself and his own practice with so much clarity and no hint of egotism. It’s amazing. Something really shines through his words, even in translation. It must have been on another level for the Thai people who heard him.
—Christina Feldman, “Brief Teachings”
“With an image of liberation as the goal the wise abandon darkness
and cherish light,
leave petty security behind
and seek freedom from attachment.
To pursue such release is difficult and rare, yet the wise will seek it,
detaching themselves from obstructions,
purifying heart and mind.”
— Dhammapada
“In the beginning stages of Dhamma practice, physical seclusion is of vital importance. When you live alone in isolation you will recall the words of Venerable Sariputta: “Physical seclusion is a cause and condition for the arising of mental seclusion, states of profound samadhi free from external sense contact. This seclusion of the mind is in turn a cause and condition for seclusion from mental defilements, enlightenment.” And yet some people still say that seclusion is not important: “If your heart is peaceful, it doesn’t matter where you are.” It’s true, but in the beginning stages we should remember that physical seclusion in a suitable environment comes first.”
— Ajahn Chah
I’m very much enjoying this series @Kerome. Keep ’em coming!
“Practicing generosity is giving up, letting go. Listening to teachings is for the purpose of gaining knowledge to give up and let go, to uproot clinging to what is good and to what is bad. At first we meditate to become aware of the wrong and the bad. When we recognize that, we give it up and we practice what is good. Then, when some good is achieved, don’t get attached to that good. Remain halfway in the good, or above the good – don’t dwell under the good. If we are under the good then the good pushes us around, and we become slaves to it. We become the slaves, and it forces us to create all sorts of kamma and demerit. It can lead us into anything, and the result will be the same kind of unhappiness and unfortunate circumstances we found ourselves in before.“
— Ajahn Chah
I’m currently reading the collected dhamma talks of Ajahn Chah, which are freely available as a single downloadable pdf. I’m also really enjoying it, there are some real gems in there.
The entire teaching of Buddhism can be summed up in this way:
Nothing is worth holding on to.
If you let go of everything,
Objects
Concepts
Teachers
Buddha
Self
Senses
Memories
Life
Death
Freedom
Let go and all suffering will cease. The world will appear in its pristine self-existing nature, and you will experience the freedom of the Buddha.
Jack Kornfield
Modern Buddhist Masters: (Living Buddhist Masters)
“Death is the ultimate letting go. Are you ready to give up your house, your partner, your children, your work, your friends, your possessions, your body? Everything you have ever known you will leave behind...”
— ... um... me
I think it means letting go in the mental clinging sense... not physically getting rid of stuff...
“When it comes to taking precepts, for example, a monk will proclaim the precepts and the lay people will vow to undertake them. Don’t misunderstand what is going on. The truth is that morality is not something that can be given. It can’t really be requested or received from someone. We can’t give it to someone else. In our vernacular we hear people say, “The venerable monk gave the precepts” and “we received the precepts.” We talk like this here in the countryside and so it has become our habitual way of understanding. If we think like this, that we come to receive precepts from the monks on the lunar observance days and that if the monks won’t give precepts then we don’t have morality, that is only a tradition of delusion that we have inherited from our ancestors.”
— Ajahn Chah
“Some people are alive but don’t know themselves at all. They think, “What’s the big deal about what I do now; I can’t know what is going to happen when I die.” They don’t think about the new seeds they are creating for the future. They only see the old fruit. They fixate on present experience, not realizing that if there is fruit it must have come from a seed, and that within the fruit we have now are the seeds of future fruit.”
— Ajahn Chah
How great is the great gnosis of the great sage?
Undefiled, unstained, unbound,
of gods and men, of elephants and horses,
equally of these he is the trainer and the teacher.
The zephyrs of the path he has all-permeated with aromas.
He has permeated them with the perfumes of righteousness.
Serene in wisdom, calm in feeling, with the mind in a yoga of stillness,
with the will submerged, with consciousness gone, with heart tranquil,
he is perpetually free from the dreams of deluded thoughts,
of the aggregates, of the constituents, and of the fields,
as this, his body, neither exists nor does not exist,
and is neither cause nor condition, is neither self nor other,
is neither square nor round, is neither short nor long,
neither appears nor disappears, neither arises nor ceases,
and is neither created nor uncreated, is neither induced nor produced,
neither moves nor bends, neither stills nor slows,
neither proceeds nor retrogrades, is neither guarded nor endangered,
neither is nor is not, neither gains nor loses,
is neither this nor that, neither departs nor comes,
is neither blue nor yellow, is neither red nor white,
is neither saffron nor purple, and is neither white nor many-coloured,
and springs forth from ethics, concentration, wisdom, unbinding, insight,
and manifests in three luminosities, in six powers, in the stages of the path,
and emanates loving-kindness, ten masteries, and fearlessness.
Arising because of the fortunate merit of living beings,
he appears, sixteen feet high, shining, amethyst and gold,
upright and brilliant, gleaming with powerful luminescence,
with the crescent moon as his ūrṇā, with the sun as his halo,
with curled hair as tangles of deep sapphire,
with uṣṇīṣa atop the sturdy head as agate,
with clear eyes as pure polished bronze,
with vision seeing above and seeing below,
with brows and lashes long and blue and bright,
with mouth fair and jaw square and cheeks flat,
with lips and tongue and gums crimson red
as vermillion and cinnabar blossoms,
with white teeth, with forty-two, with jade that is snow,
with a wide forehead, with a long nose, with a forbearing countenance,
with his breast painted with the swastika, with the chest of a lion,
with soft hands, with feet marked, both with one thousand spokes,
with arms and palms marked by lines, embracing all here and there,
from shoulder to wrist with long arms, with fingers straight and slim,
with silken skin and hair curling to the right,
with ankles and knees discreet, with sex sheathed like a horse,
with slim musculature, with sturdy bones, with the legs of a deer,
radiant frontwards and back, immaculate, utterly pure,
unstained by unclean waters, unspoilt by blemish of dirt,
in thirty-two marks all perfectly so, in eighty-four marks witnessed thus.
Yet, truly, he is neither marked nor unmarked in appearance,
because apart from marks and beyond the scope of vision,
with unmarked marks, his body is marked,
with the marked bodies of living beings identically marked.
He causes living beings to rejoice and revere,
to worship with the heart, to respect and honour, to persevere,
because he has banished selfishness and vanity,
and he has transmuted a corpse into a wondrous form.
We all, the eighty-thousand throng of many,
entirely, without exception, with oneness of intent and gesture,
bow together in worship and homage to the Arhat
who has ended proliferation, ended attachment,
ended ideology, ended discourse, ended consciousness,
ended thought, ended mind, and ended will,
who instructs elephants, who trains horses,
to the sage unrivalled in liberation.
We bow and take refuge in the Dharmakāya, in the Rūpakāya,
in the aggregation of ethics, concentration, wisdom, unbinding, and insight.
We bow and take refuge in the wondrous pillar of marks.
We bow and take refuge in the inconceivable.
(Anantanirdeśasūtra 1 Puṇyakavihāraparivarta Dharmakāyagāthā T276.384c20, Sutra of the Inconceivable Exegesis, Chapter 1: on the Abodes of Virtue, "Hymn to the Dharmakāya")
Now, that's some 'quote'....!
From the hurricane and the great whale’s sounding to the fall of a dry leaf and the gnat’s flight, all they do is done within the balance of the whole. But we, in so far as we have power over the world and over one another, we must learn to do what the leaf and the whale and the wind do of their own nature. We must learn to keep the balance. Having intelligence, we must not act in ignorance. Having choice, we must not act without responsibility.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore
“When the body is born it doesn’t belong to anyone. It’s like our meditation hall. After it’s built spiders come to stay in it. Lizards come to stay in it. All sorts of insects and crawling things come to stay in it. Snakes may come to live in it. Anything may come to live in it. It’s not only our hall; it’s everything’s hall.
These bodies are the same. They aren’t ours. People come to stay in and depend on them. Illness, pain and aging come to reside in them and we are merely residing along with them. When these bodies reach the end of pain and illness, and finally break up and die, that is not us dying. So don’t hold on to any of this. Instead, you have to contemplate the matter and then your grasping will gradually be exhausted. When you see correctly, wrong understanding will stop.”
— Ajahn Chah
Great response for those New-Agers who 'Stand like a tree' and announce 'My Body is a Temple'...
I sometimes wonder if they actually know what they mean by that!
If anyone owns our bodies it's our parents right?
But then their parents own their bodies?
What a conundrum.....
I can't resist ice cream so ice cream owns my body I guess
@federica
Not sure who the new-Agers are but 'standing like a tree' is called Zhan Zhuang
and has been practiced for 1000's of years.
Also not sure if the 'My Body is a temple' comment is also a critical remark against Taoist goals of Immortality or if there actually is some new age bunch of wankers out there with no ties to Taoism at all...
Taoism and Buddhism actually have the exact same goal, just with different terms to describe them and different paths to reach them.
Yes, I used to teach Qi Gong and Zham Zhong (as I learnt to phonetically spell it - I'm sure the way you have written it is equally 'correct'...) As a Passive Martial Arts tutor, while living in France... But I have also in my time, met many a wannabe happy-hippy type who were very full on 'wow, Man, cool' kinda stuff... those blessed people are the ones I had in mind...
Absolutely not a critical remark at all... but again, very much the Mantra adopted by those who lie in a field talking to daisies but then suddenly recoil in fear and horror when a cow comes over to investigate... The very same New Age bunch of ...'silly people' you mention, in fact...
Indeed, and you must surely know that in that context, I have nothing but the deepest respect...
You taught Qigong and Zhan Zhuang... you just keep getting cooler every day don't you. :-)
Booyah....!
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