Zen At The Movies
Monday May 4, 2009
In transit, coming back from a retreat, so no netcast today ...Instead, a few jotted words on "Enlightenment", and its various interpretations ... doodlings on a train ...Let me use a "movie theater" parable for the point I wish to...
Filed Under: Buddhism, Dogen, harmful emotions, how to meditate, how to zazen, shikantaza, zazen, zen
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Advertisement
Advertisement
Search This Blog
Subscribe
About Treeleaf Zen
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.
More on Jundo...
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.
More on Jundo...
More on Buddhism
Beliefnet's Buddhist section offers quotes, articles, videos, and daily blog commentary.
I LOVE this, I have passed this on to two dear friends that I consider personal 'gurus.'
Not only do I need to remind myslef that I am a character in this movie, I have to consistently tell myself that I am NOT the director!
Many thanks,
Pamela B.
There is a curious book by Jed McKenna called 'Spiritual Enlightenment - the Damndest Thing'. McKenna presents a very similar analogy of the movie theater as above and it is his modern update of Plato's cave story. These are perfect for the mind to relate to and understand the difference between how we see with the conditioned mind and how an awakened being sees with unconditioned mind. Jundo does it again for me with modern analogies.
Hi Pamela,
Not only do I need to remind myslef that I am a character in this movie, I have to consistently tell myself that I am NOT the director!
This is true, we must accept how the story goes moment by moment, which is not always how we would write it or how we would like. We must drop aversions to what we find distasteful, and attachments to what we find pleasant. Thus, we let the story unwind.
But, ya know, in our perspective too, the audience members are not passive, and the show and its viewers are one. In this unique theatre, as you change you mind, thoughts and emotions ... and your volitional actions ... you can actually redirect and rewrite large portions of the script.
Gassho, J
hi.
i don´t quite understand.
there´s this "movie". and somewhere *outside* of this movie there´s someone who sits and watches this movie and has his popcorn. how did he get out of the movie?
and if he got outside the movie, who reminds himself of eating popcorn and not to get suckered in too much?
and who´s asking this? and who answers?
'Tis all one big show ... the light, you, the screen, scenery and popcorn!
Get on with it! :-) Lights, camera, action!
Oddly enough, I just saw a movie called "Synecdoche, New York"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383028/ which really illustrates this concept...there are millions of people in the world and none of them is an extra. each is the lead in his/her own story.
> False or not, grab some popcorn, fall right into the story,
> go along with the game and savor the show!
In viewing the movie, we find nothing that will tell us its meaning or purpose. So we can/must make our own meaning, we decide what intention to bring to our moment-to-moment lives (our scenes in the movie).
Many different intentions are possible: savor the show; eat drink and be merry; enjoy yourself, it's later than you think. Different intentions bring different results, including more or less suffering for ourselves and others.
Quite possibly, the intention of savoring the show may at times bring less suffering than, say, the intention of amassing wealth or fame. But many/most Buddhist schools offer or advise a different intention. Rather than seeking to get good stuff or nice situations or good feelings for ourselves, we can cultivate the intention of helping others.
This "Bodhisattva" may not be necessary to see through illusion and percieve truth. But what then? What can we DO now? How do we use our perception of truth in ordinary life? Whether or not we cultivate a Bodhisattva intention (helping all beings) makes a profound difference.
"I vow to save all sentient beings from suffering" has a great virtue: it takes infinite time to accomplish, so we never have to worry about achieving our greatest goal, and facing the problem of making a new one.
On the perils of getting what you most want:
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-live-in-this-world.html
On Zen at the movies:
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/08/great-teachings-at-movies.html
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.