Zen Anybody

[Joe Mc]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

QUOTE 964 EXCERPT: Of course, and Jesus also reportedly said: "I (form) and the Father (formless) are one and the same". Truth is Truth though often expressed in different ways.

Yes indeed, no separation.

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[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 967 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by ImthatIm

The wannabe will tell you they are the real deal.
The real will let you figure it out.

I am still in love with that excerpt from your post, and am still reflecting on its wisdom.

[Joe Mc]

A few thoughts I had this morning and after a dream I had just before I awoke.

It is the small things that sharpen our mind. A fallen leaf. Looking after and watching out for the those
who are frail or those who are vulnerable. Accompanying children on their journey through the stages of life.
Taking part in a transcendental act such as a song, or a joke, something beyond our ordinary day positioning.
(Everybody here on the Spiritual forums should be good at this lol !) All these things are like tools that help us
lead back to an eternal restful place.

"One day Nangaku visited Baso's hut. Baso stood and greeted him. Nangaku asked,
"What have you been doing recently?" Baso replied, "I've done nothing but sit in zazen." Then Nangaku asked,
"Why do you continually sit in zazen?" Baso answered, "I sit in zazen in order to become a Buddha." Nangaku
picked up a tile he found by the side of Baso’s hut and started to polish it. Baso watched what he was doing
and asked "Master, what are you doing?" Nangaku answered, "I'm polishing this tile." Baso asked
"Why are you polishing the tile?" Nangaku answered,"To make a mirror." Baso said, "How can you make
a mirror by polishing a tile?" And Nangaku replied,
"How can you become Buddha by doing zazen?"

A very subtle point is being communicated in this story you would agree. It is not an admonition to give up Zazen
or any other spiritual practice but an admonition to walk through the door of your own life and realise and
recognise your own Buddha nature. Lofty stuff indeed. Thanks. :)

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[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 973 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by Joe Mc

"How can you become Buddha by doing zazen?"
A very subtle point is being communicated in this story you would agree. It is not an admonition to give up Zazen
or any other spiritual practice but an admonition to walk through the door of your own life and realise and
recognise your own Buddha nature.

Nice !

*
The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness; only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest. Bruce Lee
*
It sounds Zen but it may not be.Does it matter?The true benefit is finding that stillness.

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

QUOTE 967 EXCERPT:
I am still in love with that excerpt from your post, and am still reflecting on its wisdom.

Hope you are well with the recent weather.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by ImthatIm

Hope you are well with the recent weather.

Hurricane Ida devastated parts of NYC with extensive flooding ...but my section in Brooklyn was virtually untouched. People in nearby neighborhoods however were hard hit in many cases.

There was one video posted online of a subway station in NYC where the exit stairwell literally looked like a mini waterfall.

I meditated throughout the storm, felt safe, and was safe.

Thanks for the kind thoughts.

[BigJohn]

Glad the storm did not touch you.

[Joe Mc]

A realisation dawning the other day made me write this Zen like poem about this imaginary self we find ourselves sometimes hauling around with us.

There was always a chance you
Would meet yourself along the way
What a surprise
Placing upper Case and Lower Case
Upon this One, upon this ‘I’ is really what
Matters for some
It is not the sheer Cliff face
Drop of the son of a gun realisation
That you have so skilfully
Managed to avoid yourself for
All these years
Managed to call yourself part
Of the crowd
Or hide below a respectable
Banner whilst blaming the poor
For example
Or hide in a Maastricht Square
Waving a little flag
Listening to some idiot’s violin
These affectations are possible
We all know that
Aha ! Here he comes out of
Doorway on the left
A man looking alot like himself;
fairly unbemused.

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[Joe Mc]

“When you paint Spring, do not paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots, but just paint Spring. To paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots is to paint willows,
plums, peaches, or apricots - it is not yet painting Spring.”

― Eihei Dogen

What a suberb allusion. Now that Autumn has come ..something is always giving way inside ourselves, something wishing to die, something wishing to be reborn.
The blessed stillness of Autumn is like no other, catch it if you can.
Oh Dogen is talking about Spring !!!! lol. ..:)

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