An awakened zen life is one that expresses right insight through right action. Seeing into true nature of reality is not complete until that reality begins to shape our daily life into one that is less controlled by old, conditioned, selfish habits of greed, anger, hatred and ignorance, and more given over to the selfless living of the oneness of all that is. Right Action is at the heart of Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path of Awakening, for, as He taught, action is the expression of right thought and right meditation. All too often, however, practitioners believe that grasping of truth of Dharma is enough. It is not. Enlightenment isn't fully realised until it is expressedin our lives-until it functions. -Janet Jiryu Abels, Making Zen Your Own
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More often than not, insight or not, it still boils down to
1) Mindfulness
2) Discipline
3) Perserverence/Patience/Forbearance
4) Determination
Plain insight without these just doesn't cut it. No easy way out dudes, back to the mill!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Getting into Zen
Zen is all about taking risks, for in Zen we constantly walk into the unknown.- Janet Jiryu Abels, Making Zen Your Own
And in the darkness, we find light and we find ourselves.
And in the darkness, we find light and we find ourselves.
kuri kaerimasu
(C chases after (B) runs after A)
Kuri Kaerimasu Kuri Kaerimasu
The work Samsara.
What is chasing? What is running?
Seung Sahn's Clear Mary,
the wise racing dog.
She sees through the lie,
runs through the field,
And captures that fake running rabbit!
Who is the rabbit and who is the dog?
Who is A? Who is B? and who is C?
"Do you see it? Do you see it?" the wise one asks.
"Yes, yes," the student answers.
Then what are you going to do about it?
That is the question always; The only worthwhile question. :
How are you going to live your life?
Kuri Kaerimasu Kuri Kaerimasu
The work Samsara.
What is chasing? What is running?
Seung Sahn's Clear Mary,
the wise racing dog.
She sees through the lie,
runs through the field,
And captures that fake running rabbit!
Who is the rabbit and who is the dog?
Who is A? Who is B? and who is C?
"Do you see it? Do you see it?" the wise one asks.
"Yes, yes," the student answers.
Then what are you going to do about it?
That is the question always; The only worthwhile question. :
How are you going to live your life?
Saturday, July 21, 2012
The Unreal You
You, who lives in the virtual realm, in a world of imagination and wonder, when will you make your worlds one and reconcile your life?
Don't you feel that you have always been separate? That the real world is so scary and boring and there is so much more in the imaginative world than the real world? You can do all things in the imaginative world but can never do it in the real world, experience the mental acrobatics, pyrotechnics, words too limited to describe them. You yearn to experience what you see and hear of the virtual imaginative world in the real world, you try to bring the imagination into the real world through literature and art but they are never sufficient expressions.
Yet, such expressions are for the crazy and wild. You who are brought up so traditionally and being entrenched in this societal jail cannot help but live out your life pitifully in the virtual world while being forced to conform to reality here. The ricebowl issue, the societal pressure all pushing you to live out this life in a way you don't want to yet you have to. Do you resign to the fact or do you take the leap? You can never take the leap, you do not dare....
What can you do? You procratinate this life, not wanting to be in the flow yet somehow you know you need to, have to. You try to find a middle way solution to satisfy both paths. To live out this life imaginatively yet making everyone happy. You admire those who take the road less taken but u never can, you don't dare...
Those around you, do they truly know you? You look so different from what you are inside! A meek look ouside but an adventurous free spirit inside. But your curious eyes can never hide it!
You yearn for the adventure of a lifetime but have no idea how to get there. Given the way things are, you just say.. One day.. One day.. That's all you can muster. Never being able to commit!
When are you going to step out of this small frame and be the real you?!!!
Take your life in your hands be the difference! Do not split your life into two! Live realistically here and look around you, there are opportunities abound! Apply your imaginings here; Do not be trapped in the virtual world! A virtual imaginative jail.
Don't you feel that you have always been separate? That the real world is so scary and boring and there is so much more in the imaginative world than the real world? You can do all things in the imaginative world but can never do it in the real world, experience the mental acrobatics, pyrotechnics, words too limited to describe them. You yearn to experience what you see and hear of the virtual imaginative world in the real world, you try to bring the imagination into the real world through literature and art but they are never sufficient expressions.
Yet, such expressions are for the crazy and wild. You who are brought up so traditionally and being entrenched in this societal jail cannot help but live out your life pitifully in the virtual world while being forced to conform to reality here. The ricebowl issue, the societal pressure all pushing you to live out this life in a way you don't want to yet you have to. Do you resign to the fact or do you take the leap? You can never take the leap, you do not dare....
What can you do? You procratinate this life, not wanting to be in the flow yet somehow you know you need to, have to. You try to find a middle way solution to satisfy both paths. To live out this life imaginatively yet making everyone happy. You admire those who take the road less taken but u never can, you don't dare...
Those around you, do they truly know you? You look so different from what you are inside! A meek look ouside but an adventurous free spirit inside. But your curious eyes can never hide it!
You yearn for the adventure of a lifetime but have no idea how to get there. Given the way things are, you just say.. One day.. One day.. That's all you can muster. Never being able to commit!
When are you going to step out of this small frame and be the real you?!!!
Take your life in your hands be the difference! Do not split your life into two! Live realistically here and look around you, there are opportunities abound! Apply your imaginings here; Do not be trapped in the virtual world! A virtual imaginative jail.
Illusive Enjoyment
What's enjoyment? What's suffering? What's joy and what's sadness? Is it inside or outside? Are you inside or outside it? Why aren't they solid, tangible? They seem so unreal yet manifest themselves clearly as real yet when you try to find it, you can't! When you try to find where your sadness is coming from, you can't. When you try to stop it, you can't. You can't stem the sadness in your mind/heart. You can only live with it, and let it come, stay and go while still having to function normally.
When people say enjoy, what do they enjoy? Were they simply lost in the activity? But if it is enjoyment, why do people feel tired after that? If it feels good, why do people feel drained after that? Is that what enjoyment is? After the activity is ended, when you say you enjoyed that, at that time, where has the enjoyment gone? It's gone, not there anymore..so then where is enjoyment? Only in your memory. Then what is this memory, it is illusive, unreal, constantly evolving and changing yet we depend on it to live our lives. Such ephemeral things...as life.
With this enjoyment, now gone, we chase after the next experience that will give us this enjoyment, this mental and emotional ecstasy, yet getting it and always inevitably losing it. Then what is the use of getting it? Some people get drowned in this experience, always chasing and chasing, their whole lives only so. Truly, is this the way to live one's lives?? Chasing after all the experiences yet not one leaving a permanant mark in you? Yet you chase the next one without thinking, only feeling, wanting to quench that thirst! This thirst, it's always the same, every experience, it can only bring you so far.. Don't you realise that?? It's futile.
Maybe with age one comes to see it. Then stopping in your steps, you get this choice of the next experience or not. If not, what are you going to do with your life? This ephemeral life, like drawing with your finger on water. Creating the most beautiful drawing on water you possibly can.
When people say enjoy, what do they enjoy? Were they simply lost in the activity? But if it is enjoyment, why do people feel tired after that? If it feels good, why do people feel drained after that? Is that what enjoyment is? After the activity is ended, when you say you enjoyed that, at that time, where has the enjoyment gone? It's gone, not there anymore..so then where is enjoyment? Only in your memory. Then what is this memory, it is illusive, unreal, constantly evolving and changing yet we depend on it to live our lives. Such ephemeral things...as life.
With this enjoyment, now gone, we chase after the next experience that will give us this enjoyment, this mental and emotional ecstasy, yet getting it and always inevitably losing it. Then what is the use of getting it? Some people get drowned in this experience, always chasing and chasing, their whole lives only so. Truly, is this the way to live one's lives?? Chasing after all the experiences yet not one leaving a permanant mark in you? Yet you chase the next one without thinking, only feeling, wanting to quench that thirst! This thirst, it's always the same, every experience, it can only bring you so far.. Don't you realise that?? It's futile.
Maybe with age one comes to see it. Then stopping in your steps, you get this choice of the next experience or not. If not, what are you going to do with your life? This ephemeral life, like drawing with your finger on water. Creating the most beautiful drawing on water you possibly can.
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