Blog Posts

Thich Nhat Hanh : The Fourteen precepts of Interbeing

12/31/2021

The Fourteen Precepts of Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism  by Thich Nhat Hanh

1. Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory,
or ideology, even Buddhist ones, Buddhist systems of thought
are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.

2. Do not think that the knowledge that you presently possess is
changeless, absolute truth.  Avoid being narrow-minded and
bound to present views.  Learn and practice nonattachement fromviews in order to be open to receive others' viewpoints.  Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge.  Be ready to
learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself
and in the world at all times.

3.  Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever
to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda,
or even education.  However, through compassionate dialogue, help
others renounce fanaticism and narrowness.

4.  Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering.
Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the
world.  Find ways to be with those who are suffering, including personal
contact, visits, images and sounds.  By such means, awaken yourself
and others to the reality of suffering in the world.

5.  Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry.  Do not
take as the aim of your life fame, profit, wealth, or sensual  pleasure.
Live simply and share time, energy and material resources with
those who are in need.

6.  Do not maintain anger or hatred.  Learn to penetrate and transform
them when they are still seeds in your consciousness.  As soon as they
arise, turn your attention to your breath in order to see and understand the
nature of your anger and hatred and the nature of the persons who have
caused your anger and hatred.

7.   Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings.
Practice mindful breathing to come back to what is happening
in the present moment.  Be in touch with what is wondrous,
refreshing, and healing both inside and around you. Plant seeds
of joy, peace and understanding in yourself in order to facilitate the
work of transformation in the depths of your consciousness.

8. Do not utter words that can create discord and can cause the com-
munity to break.  Make every effort to reconcile and resolve all
conflicts, however small.

9. Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to
impress people.  Do not utter words that cause division and
hatred.  Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain.
Do not criticize or condemn things of which you are not sure.
Always speak truthfully and constructively.  Hae the courage to
speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may
threaten your own safety.

10.  Do not use the Buddhist community for personal gain
or profit or transform your community into a political party. A
religious community, however, should take a clear stand against
oppression and injustice and should strive to change the situation
without engaging in partisan conflicts.

11.  Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and
nature.  do not invest in companies that deprive others of their
chance to live.  Select a vocation that helps realize your ideal
of compassion.

12.  Do not kill.  Do not let others kill.  Find whatever means
possible to protect life and prevent war.

13.  Possess nothing that should belong to others.  Respect the
property of others, but prevent others from profiting from human
suffering or the suffering of other species of the Earth.

14.  Do not mistreat your body.  Learn to handle it with respect.
Do not look on your body as only an instrument.  Preserver vital
energies (sexual, breath, spirit) for the realization of the Way.
(For brothers and sisters who are not monks and nuns:)
Sexual expression should not take place without love and a
long-term commitment.  In sexual relationships, be aware of
future suffering that may be caused.  To preserve the happiness
of others, respect the rights and commitments of others.  Be
fully aware of the responsibility of bringing new lives into the world.
Meditate on the world into which you are bringing new beings.

KABOOM : Michael Shohan

12/20/2021

Kaboom

       You can think of it this way: nothing exists, you understand?
I mean not even nothing. Then just like that there's this big kaboom and everything's created: time, space, energy, mass. You name it.
       Okay, now it's much later and you're all tucked in alone in bed. Forget about broken or any crap of that kind. Your heart's been ripped to pieces like by some wild jungle cat.
       You find respite sometimes in sleep, it's true; but the moment you wake - I mean even before you can take a breath - the pain is there, and you're gone.
       That moment, when the feeling's full on you, before you can stop or explain it away. That's what I'm talking about. That's what I want to say. Listen: in that moment what you are feeling is all the pain being felt by everything in the universe.
       How could it be otherwise? That which springs from common seed must know the souls around it.
       You see what I'm saying? I'm saying the size of the feelings we experience is beyond comprehension. I'm saying it's amazing we haven't all spontaneously exploded.
       The chances for birth are slim at best.
       Have a little mercy.

Michael Shohan

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Alone Moon: Morgan Farley

9/30/2021

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Morgan Farley:

I am clearing a space here, where the trees stand back.
I am making a circle so open the moon will fall in love and stroke these grasses with her silver.
I am setting stones in the four directions, stones that have called my name from mountaintops and riverbeds, canyons and mesas.
Here I will stand with my hands empty, mind gaping under the moon.
I know there is another way to live. When I find it, the angels will cry out in rapture, each cell of my body will be a rose, a star.
If something seized my life tonight, if a sudden wind swept through me, changing everything, I would not resist.
I am ready for whatever comes.
But I think it will be something small, an animal, padding out from the shadows, or a word spoken so softly I hear it inside.
It is dark out here, and cold. The moon is stone.
I am alone with my longing.
Nothing is happening but the next breath, and the next is the new life.

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August 01st, 2021

8/1/2021

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Lao Tsu #44 Hua Hu Ching: Foolish

7/23/2021

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Forty-Four

This is the nature of the unenlightened mind:
The sense organs, which are limited in scope and    ability, randomly gather information.
This partial information is arranged into judgements,
    which are based on previous judgements,
    which are usually based on someone else’s foolish
     ideas.
These false concepts and ideas are then stored in a
   highly selective memory system.

Distortion upon distortion: the mental energy flows
   constantly through contorted and inappropriate
   channels, and the more one uses the mind, the more
   confused one becomes.

To eliminate the vexation of the mind, it doesn’t help
   to do something; this only reinforces the mind’s
   mechanics.
Dissolving the mind is instead a matter of not-doing:
Simply avoid becoming attached to what you see and
   think.
Relinquish the notion that you are separated from the
   all-knowing mind of the universe.
Then you can recover your original pure insight and
   see through all illusions.
Knowing nothing, you will be aware of everything.

Remember: because clarity and enlightenment are
   within your own nature, they are regained without
   moving an inch.

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Lao Tsu #38 Hua Hu Ching

7/22/2021

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Thirty-Eight

Why scurry about looking for the truth?
It vibrates in every thing and every not-thing, right off
   the tip of your nose.
Can you be still and see it in the mountain? the pine
   tree? yourself?

Don’t imagine that you’ll discover it by accumulating
   more knowledge.
Knowledge creates doubt, and doubt makes you
   ravenous for more knowledge.
You can’t get full eating this way.
The wise person dines on something more subtle:
He eats the understanding that the named was born
   from the unnamed, that all being flows from non-
   being, that the describable world emanates from an
   indescribable source.
He finds this subtle truth inside his own self, and
   becomes completely content.

So who can be still and watch the chess game of the
   world?
The foolish are always making impulsive moves, but
   the wise know that victory and defeat are decided by
   something more subtle.
They see that something perfect exists before any move
   is made.

This subtle perfection deteriorates when artificial
   actions are taken, so be content not to disturb the
   peace.
Remain quiet.
Discover the harmony in your own being.
Embrace it.

If you can do this, you will gain everything, and the
   world will become healthy again.
If you can’t, you will be lost in the shadows forever.

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Licing From a Non-Dual Perspective; Matthew Flickstein

7/21/2021

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Living from A Non-Dual Perspective
By Matthew Flickstein

Everything that arises, disappears; whatever is born, dies. Nothing escapes the cycle of birth and death. It is important for us to directly and experientially realize that there is never a point in time when something “exists” and is not in the process of becoming something other than it was just a moment before. All suffering comes from attachment – trying to hold on to that which is perpetually changing – and all attachment comes from delusion. We need to learn to live in the clarity and space of non-attachment, neither grasping nor pushing anything away. The key is to just be present with what arises from moment to moment, without holding or resisting. At the same time, it is essential not to fall into the trap of denying the relative existence of our psychophysical organism and the world of experience it presents.

Compassion is the willingness to play in the field of dreams even though you are awake. Approach life with joy, enthusiasm, love, and an open heart. Take delight in the manifestations of life: It is all a play of consciousness, and it is really all play. If something appears serious or burdensome – even death – then we are lost in delusion. The “field of dreams” is this world of the senses with all its myriad forms. Being awake is the direct knowing that there is no one who suffers, no one who is born, and on one who dies. It is the five aggregates that are born and die. Who we are has never been born and never dies.

In actuality, there is no one who is expressing compassion to anyone else. It is all part of the play. The world is our mirror. There is only consciousness rising and falling along with its objects; it is all selfless. Whatever we see as being real is a projection of our own mind. It is where our mind is stuck or identified with the illusion.

Nothing exists – not even nothing. Existence and non-existence are both concepts. Not holding anywhere is freedom beyond measure.

We must die to each moment and allow life to express itself through and as us. Our lives may not turn out the way in which the ego has imagined, but when we surrender to the truth of what is, we will find freedom beyond measure as surely as the river finds its way to the sea. When we move beyond the dualistic world, there is a rebirth into the deathless. We finally come home to a place that we have really never left.

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The Practice of Recollection :

7/16/2021

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/qkt2n161scbuan8/THE%20PRACTICE%20OF%20RECOLLECTION.pdf?dl=0

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In This Passing Moment Harada Roshi

7/16/2021

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In this passing moment karma ripens  and all things come to be.
I vow to choose what is:
If there is cost, I choose to pay.
If there is need, I choose to give.
If there is pain, I choose to feel.
If there is sorrow, I choose to grieve.
When burning -- I choose heat.
When calm -- I choose peace.
When starving -- I choose hunger.
When happy -- I choose joy.
Whom I encounter, I choose to meet.
What I shoulder, I choose to bear.
When it is my death, I choose to die.
Where this takes me, I choose to go.
Being with what is -- I respond to what is.
This life is as real as a dream;
the one who knows it can not be found;
and, truth is not a thing -- Therefore I vow
to choose THIS dharma entrance gate!
May all Buddhas and Wise Ones
help me live this vow.

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