But, even if we do not take that literally, we can also say that this means just all sentient beings everywhere, throughout all space and time, many of whom are suffering in various ways. Dropping body and mind, we realize that there is no one in need of saving, no one suffering (yes, it is true!). All are emancipated from the start, nothing lacking.
However, don't take that as an excuse not to help those in need of help. There are so many lives out there in need of our assistance. I am in rather a serious mood today, as a few stories in the news regarding children have touched me very much.
_____________________________
When one displays the buddha
mudra with one's whole body and mind, sitting upright in this samadhi even for
a short time, everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra, and
all space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment.Therefore, it
enables buddha-tathagatas to increase the dharma joy of their own original
grounds and renew the adornment of the way of awakening. Simultaneously, all
living beings of the dharma world in the ten directions and six realms become
clear and pure in body and mind, realize great emancipation, and their own
original face appears. At that time, all things together awaken to supreme
enlightenment and utilize the buddha-body, immediately go beyond the culmination
of awakening, and sit upright under the kingly bodhi tree. At the same time,
they turn the incomparable, great dharma wheel and begin expressing ultimate
and unfabricated profound prajna.
From:Talk on the Wholehearted Practice of the Way -
Kosho Uchiyama (with Shohaku Okumura, Taigen Daniel Leighton)
Furthermore, throughout the Dharma worlds in ten
directions, ordinary beings of the three states (the three miserable worlds of hell, hungry ghosts and animals) and the six states (the three miserable worlds plus the worlds of asuras, humans and gods) all become
clear and pure in body and mind at once; they experience the state of great and
their original features appear.From:Bendowa - A Talk about Pursuing the Truth - Nishijima-Cross
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)
"Tathāgata" is a name which can have several meanings and interpretations, including one who has thus gone and one who has thus come, or one who has found the truth. It may also be taken as the one who has gone to suchness or the one who has arrived at suchness
Yet there is no difference there.
And the Dharma-joy of a Tathagata may be thus the joy that is the truth, beyond all thought of mere joy or sadness. It is the joy of tasting one's original ground and state, true home, thereupon to live in such way as the ever-renewing realization of that truth
_____________________________
When one displays the buddha
mudra with one's whole body and mind, sitting upright in this samadhi even for
a short time, everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra, and
all space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment. Therefore, it
enables buddha-tathagatas to increase the dharma joy of their own original
grounds and renew the adornment of the way of awakening. Simultaneously, all
living beings of the dharma world in the ten directions and six realms become
clear and pure in body and mind, realize great emancipation, and their own
original face appears. At that time, all things together awaken to supreme
enlightenment and utilize the buddha-body, immediately go beyond the culmination
of awakening, and sit upright under the kingly bodhi tree. At the same time,
they turn the incomparable, great dharma wheel and begin expressing ultimate
and unfabricated profound prajna.
From:Talk on the Wholehearted Practice of the Way -
Kosho Uchiyama (with Shohaku Okumura, Taigen Daniel Leighton)
[The
practice] thus increases the Dharma-joy that is the original state of the buddha-tathagatas, and renews the
splendor of their realization of the truth.From:Bendowa - A Talk about Pursuing the Truth - Nishijima-Cross
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)
Please join our weekly "Live from Treeleaf" Zazenkai meditation ...
We start with 3 floor prostrations (or deep Gassho), then chant the Heart Sutra in ENGLISH (see below), then sit about 40 minutes of Zazen, then 10 minutes of Kinhin, closing with the chants of the "Verse of Atonement" and "Four Vows".
Please join in, one and all.
But now, Spring is hiding itself, and a cold wet wind is blowing. All things come and go ...
I am reminded of this Koan(Blue Cliff Records 43) ...
A monk asked Master Dongshan, "Cold and heat descend upon us. How can we avoid them?"Dongshan answered, "Why don't you go to the place where there is no cold or heat?"The monk continued, "Where is the place where there is no cold or heat?"3 Dongshan said, "When cold be thoroughly cold; when hot, be hot through and through.
Master Dogen's Capping Verse:
On
your way,
mindless,
hands
swinging
in
the coming of cold, coming of heat.
Drop
through body and mind
and cold and heat.
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)
"Mudra" means a spiritual or powerful gesture, often performed with the whole body. In this case, "Zazen".
Uchiyama Roshi explains ...
"When one displays the buddha mudra with one's whole body and mind" means with one's three kinds of actions: physical, verbal and mental. We sit in full lotus with our body, put our
tongue against the roof of our mouth and keep silent, and mentally we
do not seek to become a buddha but put aside the operation of ourintellect, volition, and consciousness. That "sitting upright in this samadhi even for
a short time, everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra" is really wonderful. When we sit in proper form in samadhi, the whole universe of sitting, the world of zazen, opens.
The great Dogen Scholar, Taigen Dan Leighton, puts it this way ...
[In Bendowa] Simply just sitting is expressed as concentration
on the self in its most delightful wholeness, in total inclusive interconnection
with all of phenomena. Dogen makes remarkably radical claims for this simple experience.
"When one displays the buddha mudra with one's whole body and mind, sitting
upright in this samadhi for even a short time, everything in the entire dharma
world becomes buddha mudra, and all space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment." Proclaiming that when one just sits all of space itself becomes enlightenment
is an inconceivable statement, deeply challenging our usual sense of the nature
of reality, whether we take Dogen's words literally or metaphorically. Dogen places
this activity of just sitting far beyond our usual sense of personal self or agency.
_____________________________
When one displays the buddha
mudra with one's whole body and mind, sitting upright in this samadhi even for
a short time, everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra, and
all space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment. Therefore, it
enables buddha-tathagatas to increase the dharma joy of their own original
grounds and renew the adornment of the way of awakening. Simultaneously, all
living beings of the dharma world in the ten directions and six realms become
clear and pure in body and mind, realize great emancipation, and their own
original face appears. At that time, all things together awaken to supreme
enlightenment and utilize the buddha-body, immediately go beyond the culmination
of awakening, and sit upright under the kingly bodhi tree. At the same time,
they turn the incomparable, great dharma wheel and begin expressing ultimate
and unfabricated profound prajna.
From:Talk on the Wholehearted Practice of the Way -
Kosho Uchiyama (with Shohaku Okumura, Taigen Daniel Leighton)
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)
(BENDOWA XIII)We'll spend a few days with the words of this passage from Bendowa.Here, Master Dogen presents his view that, as you sit Zazen, the stones, grass, trees and stars are sitting Zazen. All the Buddhas and Ancestors sit...
..Almost every day, somebody asks me to judge whether they are making "progress" in their Zen practice ... a practice that's based on dropping all idea of "progress".Yet, there are some ways to know that there's been some "progress",...
..More frequently than ya might think, no kidding ... folks ask me for advice on things like what to do in the stock market? HUH? I think the picture below about captures my surprise! Do they ask their stock broker...
Please join our weekly "Live from Treeleaf" Zazenkai meditation ...We start with 3 floor prostrations (or deep Gassho), then chant the Heart Sutra in ENGLISH (see below), then sit about 40 minutes of Zazen, then 10 minutes of Kinhin,...
(BENDOWA XII)According to Master Dogen's account of his time in China, one morning his teacher Ju-Ching found a monk dozing during Zazen. Dogen heard his teacher scold the sleeping monk, "The practice of zazen is the dropping away of...
Just a simple celebration today of the coming of Spring. Don't feel like talking much today ...It's spring! (remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended) To subscribe to "Treeleaf...
(BENDOWA XI)Master Dogen continues to tell us that "Zazen" ( that's Zen meditation ) is all we need ... enlightenment itself ...And that means we don't need to bother with all that other Buddhist stuff ... like burning incense,...
(BENDOWA X)Today, Master Dogen begins to lay out his case that Zazen (a moment of Zen meditation) is all you need! AND HE WAS RIGHT!If you can come to see an instant of Zazen as complete, the only place...
I was going to just share some happy news with everyone today: I passed my Japanese driver's license test (considered one of the hardest in the world, by the way, and I failed twice! They make it tough to...
[DUE TO A WEAK SIGNAL IN MY PRESENT LOCATION, TODAY'S ZAZENKAI IS PRE-RECORDED. HOWEVER, I WILL BE SITTING AT THE APPOINTED TIME]Please join our weekly "Live from Treeleaf" Zazenkai meditation ...We start with 3 floor prostrations (or deep Gassho),...
.For all the talking we do around here on Zen Practice, the meaning of what's shown in the following picture can never, ever be forgotten ... look closely ... very closely ....Understand?(PS - There is no netcast today)...
Tomorrow, our son Leon has a little graduation ceremony from Kindergarten, and he's about to start 1st grade. It is a day of joy, also mixed with a touch of sadness at passing time.How should we approach such moments...
In this section of Bendowa, Master Dogen recounts the tale of Zen Buddhism's coming from India to China ...Much of the story, we now know, is fictional ... centered on historical characters who (if they lived at all) are composites...
.One might think that, in attaining the realization that he attained in China, Master Dogen would drop all thought of ambition, goals, something he needed to achieve in life. However, as the below section of Bendowa shows, he sure...
Hi,Please join our MARCH MONTHLY 4-hour 'Live from Treeleaf' ZAZENKAI, recorded in "real time" and available at the following link:ZAZENKAI Remember, when we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' and 'then' ... we are sitting all together!Our Zazenkai consists...
.In today's Bendowa, Master Dogen voyages to China (not a simple journey in the 13th century) searching for Truth ...What did he gain while there?Soon after his return he was asked this very question.He responded ... I have come...
There will be no video today for technical reasons (rather stressful!), so I would like to post a little essay I wrote that continues our theme from last week ... on how "Zen teachers" sometimes get out on the wrong...
In today's Bendowa, Master Dogen recounts the story of his travels to China, searching for Truth ...First, his years of study with Rinzai Zen Master Myozen, before heading to China and beginning the Soto Zen path.What is the difference...
The "slogan" of our Sangha is Life is our Temple.I truly believe that, perhaps for the first time in history, it is more fruitful for us to practice and learn Buddhism outside of a monastery than inside. In the...
Well, today's sitting won't be too quiet. In fact, its pretty crazy and noisy.My wife is away for the day, so I am watching our son Leon. But that doesn't mean I can't get a bit of sitting in ...
Jundo Cohen is a Soto Zen Priest and founder and teacher of the Treeleaf Zendo--a Zen sangha (community) located in Tsukuba, Japan. Jundo was ordained in 2002 and subsequently received Dharma Transmission from Master Gudo Wafu Nishijima. He is a member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association and American Zen Teachers Association . His blog, Treeleaf Zen, was designed specifically for Zen practitioners who cannot easily commute to a Zen Center due to health concerns, living in remote areas, or childcare and family needs.
On Treeleaf Zen, Jundo provides Zazen sittings, guided meditation, retreats, discussion, interaction with a teacher, and all other activities of a Zen Buddhist sangha, all fully online. Members now sit in over 20 countries. The focus is Shikantaza "Just Sitting" Zazen, as instructed by the 13th Century Japanese Master, Eihei Dogen.
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