Inherently Enlightened

     “Dogen Zengi says: ‘Consider that nirvana is itself no other than our life.’
     How do we experience this for ourselves? Such experience gives us indestructible strength; it gives us confidence, conviction, and peace. Our life is nothing but this blossom of nondwelling, nonattached nirvana. How can you confirm this for yourself?” 
       Taizan Maezumi. “Appreciate Your Life. The Essence of Zen Practice.” Shambhala, 2001.


     "Both day and night everything we encounter is our life. Because of that, we put our life into everything we encounter. Our life and what is being encountered become one. We exhaust our life force so that our life and encounter might function as they should.
     ... when we throw ourselves into our work, there ceases to be a ‘gap’ or duality between our life force and the ‘thing’ or ‘work’ which is being encountered, so that the opposing meanings of all the ordinary dualistic words – ‘our,’ ‘life,’ or ‘force’ on the one side, and ‘thing’ or ‘work’ on the other – fall away.” 
       Thomas Wright transl. Zen Master Dogen and Kosho Uchiyama Roshi: “How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment.” Shambhala, 2005. 


     “Long ago a monk asked an old master, ‘When hundreds, thousands, or myriads of objects come all at once, what should be done?’
      The master replied, ‘Don’t try to control them.’
      What he means is that in whatever way objects come, do not try to change them. Whatever comes is the buddha-dharma, not objects at all. Do not understand the master’s reply as merely a brilliant admonition, but realize that it is the truth. Even if you try to control what comes, it cannot be controlled.” 
        Eihei Dogen, “Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen.” North Point Press, 1995.
 

     “At the time of his great awakening Dogen was practicing shikantaza, a mode of zazen which involved neither koan nor counting or following the breaths. The very foundation of shikantaza is an unshakable faith that sitting as the Buddha sat, with the mind void of all conceptions, of all beliefs and points of view, is the actualization or unfoldment of the inherently enlightened Bodhi-mind with which all are endowed.” 
       Philip Kapleau “The Three Pillars of Zen.” Anchor Books, 2000.

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Question!

     “The contemplative branches of every religion dwell in the questioning mind. They dig deeper than the words and doctrines into some ineffable place. 
     Most people think that place of questioning, that no man’s land, is unsettling and scary. But in reality, it’s wondrous. Even when it’s difficult or painful, there’s a feeling of appreciation and wonder. In this space, which is bigger than anything we can define or reduce to a doctrine, we appreciate the reality of being alive beyond our various reality-reducing notions of what we think or are told being alive is. 
     When life is an open question, life is appreciation. We still have to deal with whatever problems we have on a practical level, but underneath that there’s life as open question, immense in all directions – Wow, we’re alive! We have been given the gift of this magical, this mysterious, this impossible-to-define life!” 

Norman Fischer - Lion’s Roar, May 2017

awakeningartsacademy.com

 

"But Words (Word-based Thoughts) Get in the Way"

"Sometimes I go about with pity for myself
and all the while Great Winds 
are carrying me across the sky."                   Ojibwe saying

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Everyday Mind's Blindness

     Most of us (sort of) realize that we don't "stop to smell the roses" enough. But who has time for such luxuries? After all, doesn't "everyday mind" insist that we're either a hunter or rabbit, and that it's always rabbit-hunting season?
     No wonder we miss out on so much - a huge chunk of life that doesn't involve survival / mating. Many people, events & things don't even enter our consciousness.

     “… organisms don’t pay much attention to … (things that are) not important in Darwinian terms (spreading genes). … 
     My older brother, after reaching the phase of middle age when women no longer paid much attention to him, said, ‘It isn’t that they think I’m bad looking. They just don’t realize I exist.’ Exactly! As a heterosexual woman walks down a city block, there are tons of things she could focus on, so the first job of her perceptual apparatus is to filter out things that, with the most cursory, even unconscious appraisal, are seen to not merit extended, conscious appraisal. Sadly, that category of things includes my brother …”
     Robert Wright. "Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment." Simon & Schuster, 2017.

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Reading and Practice

     “… Buddhist practice … emphasizes the realization of  ‘nondwelling mind’: a mind that does not identify with any particular forms, including thought-forms such as ideologies, whether religious or secular.”
       David R. Loy. “A New Buddhist Path. Enlightenment, Evolution and Ethics in the Modern World.” Wisdom Publications, 2015.

      It's remarkable how easily the Buddha's (and other sages') wisdom teachings can be misinterpreted to fit the relatively early stage of consciousness of those who handed down the teachings orally & by transcription. Literal dogmatic interpretation of such writings is clearly problematic. In the Buddhist and other meditative traditions, meditation practice acts as a corrective to help us gain direct experiential knowledge.

     “Wisdom is what this practice is about. It is the elusive and hard-earned quality of mind we so desperately try to achieve. When found, it will become the compass that shows the way as we try to penetrate and understand the three mind-defiling elements of greed, aversion, and delusion. The antidote to delusion is wisdom, and the byproduct of wisdom is happiness, not the sensory happiness that we spend most of our lives chasing but genuine wisdom happiness that comes from the insight, information, and knowledge gained by continually being aware. The wisdom that must be present in the mind when meditating should at its most basic level be:
     1) the information you will receive from reading or listening to dhamma-related topics.
     2) The wisdom that comes from curiosity and interest must also be present. This investigative faculty of mind is necessary for developing further wisdom.
     3) Experiential wisdom arises out of a mindfulness practice that has both (1 & 2 above) firmly in place.” 

       Sayadaw U Tejaniya. “Where Awareness Becomes Natural. A Guide to Cultivating Mindfulness in Daily Life.” Shambhala, 2016.

Our True Nature?

     Many of us get impatient, frustrated & angry with the tiresome imperfections of daily living. We dearly want the "death-by-a-thousand-cuts" aspects of life to be over & done with, so we can finally be the way we're meant to be, enjoying an ideal, pleasant existence. 
     BUT we forget that such aversion to real life, and grasping for some theoretical ideal is the basic cause of suffering. 
     How does life change when we effortlessly shift from our "ordinary mind" - the stressed-out "hurt inner child" operating system, and into our wise, loving operating system? The answer can only be experienced directly for ourselves.
       Loch Kelly. “Shift into Freedom. The Science and Practice of Open-hearted Awareness.” Sounds True, 2015.


     "First things, first. Our coming together is first and foremost to recognize our fundamental nature and realize the ground of being. The only true freedom is to be That, fully in the world. The embodiment of this realization is an extraordinary ordinariness – an expression of seamless wisdom and love. Often there is still a thread that says the ‘me’ is going to get it; the ‘me’ is going to wake up. And it just isn’t true. It actually wakes up out of the ‘me’." 
       Sharon Landrith  https://www.sharon-landrith.com/about/

      “The teachings we need most are those that will actually strengthen and inspire our practice. It is all very well to receive teachings as high as the sky, but the sky is not that easy to grasp. Start with practices which you can truly assimilate – developing determination to be free of ordinary concerns, nurturing love and compassion – and as you gain stability in your practice you will eventually be able to master all the higher teachings.” 
       Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

“If I create from the heart, 
nearly everything works … 
if from the head, 
almost nothing.” 
       Marc Chagall

Silence, Stillness and Identity

     “Silence is the basis and the background of everything. We are an expression of this primordial silence and stillness. But the habits of our mind overlay this simple truth and keep us from experiencing ourselves as a full-spectrum human being. 
     … we awaken to our true nature and experience the deep nourishment that comes with this realization. As we recognize and embody our true nature, our conditioning naturally dissolves and we see that when we rest in silence we can move into anything in life, including chaos and sorrow, with a sense of ease and well-being. 
     … we learn that deep inquiry is not something the mind does, but the process of love perceiving its own nature through your physical form.” 

        Sharon Landrith      https://www.sharon-landrith.com/about/

Cheryl Braganza       "The Healing Cloak"     picturetrail.com/cherylbraganza