Pensee de la semaine - July 11, 2022

 

Pensée de la semaine

En finir avec la souffrance — pas seulement en soignant ses symptômes mais en éradiquant sa cause première —, c'est précisément ce à quoi vise l'enseignement du Bouddha. [...] Il faut d'abord réaliser que la vraie cause de la souffrance ne se trouve pas à l'extérieur de soi, mais à l'intérieur. [...] C'est pourquoi la véritable pratique spirituelle consiste à s'occuper de son propre esprit. L'esprit est très puissant, il peut créer le bonheur comme le malheur, le paradis comme l'enfer. Si, à l'aide du Dharma, vous parvenez à éradiquer vos poisons intérieurs, rien d'extérieur ne pourra plus vous affecter négativement, mais tant que ces poisons resteront mêlés à votre esprit, vous ne trouverez nulle part au monde le bonheur que vous désirez.

Nyoshul Khen Rinpoché, enseignement oral donné à Paro, au Bhoutan, en 1987, traduit par l'auteur.

NYOSHUL KHEN RINPOCHE (1932-1999)

Traveler, there are no paths. Paths are made by walking. - Australian Aboriginal saying

Dharma Talk: Old Age, Sickness and Death by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei

Dharma Talk: Old Age, Sickness and Death by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei:

"In the Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha was asked, “What is meant by a worldly object of enjoyment?” The Buddha responded:

It’s that which can be touched, attracted by, wiped off, handled, tasted. It is that which makes one get attached to an external world and then enter into dualism on account of a wrong view and appear again in the skandhas, where owing to the procreative force of desire there arise all kinds of disasters, such as birth, age, disease, death, sorrow, object of worldly enjoyment.

So when I encounter something, because of that “wrong view” I feel that it’s outside of myself, it’s not me. In that duality, “I” appears again in the skandhas, through the aggregates. I appear once again, I reappear, and am recreated. Then, because of the natural tendency of desires to reproduce themselves, there arise all kinds of “disasters.”"

Take eating for example. Many times we eat even though we’re not hungry. It’s just a way of filling the senses, of feeding ourselves on something, anything. Even though it’s not really food that we’re hungry for, it’s something we can put our hands on, though at some point it doesn’t feel good anymore. So we eat and eat until we start getting sick, but we keep eating. It begins to hurt, and there’s a kind of craziness to it all, and we may ask, “Do I really need to do this anymore?” Yet sometimes even as we are asking, we keep eating. It’s hard to put down the fork.

Dogen says that only when we are free of desire, only when we let go of that discriminating way of being, only when we do not hate life, death, sickness, and old age will we be able to enter the mind of Buddha. But we can’t just ignore these things. That’s not what nondiscrimination is. Ignoring it is exceedingly discriminating. The Buddha says, “What is meant by the attainment of Dharma is when the truth of our self-mind is understood and when the nature of the emptiness of things and persons is seen into. Then automatically, discrimination ceases to assert itself.”

'via Blog this'

Dharma Discourse: Where Is the Barrier by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei

Dharma Discourse: Where Is the Barrier by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei: 

"..... Yuanwu says, "Since people of these times do not understand, they frantically search outside themselves." He's speaking from more than a thousand years ago, and so we see that in this regard, not much has changed. In fact, I wonder if the frantic pace of our searching beyond ourselves hasn't, in fact, become much greater. We're so inundated with images from movies and advertising that show us a happiness, a love, a life that appears to be so much more than our own. Everywhere we turn—television, radio, the internet— we encounter pundits, experts and other confident people who seem to know so much and express their great certainty about all kinds of things."

'via Blog this'

Fwd: The Equality of Praise and Blame - Tricycle Daily Dharma, December 28, 2012

The Result | Tricycle

The Result | Tricycle

First installment of an online retreat. The blog posts in response to this first installment are well WORTH reading. One discussion compares the judging 'ego mentality' to the 'Enlightened Attitude'.  An awareness of this practice of purification which is taking place as we work at being in the moment.

Chick? Yes...right here.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by the founder of San Francisco Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, is one of the undisputed classics of American Buddhism. First published in 1970, the book's simple approach and plainspoken language have made it timeless.

From Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind, p 81:

Right attitude: To Polish a Tile

...

Zuikan was a Zen Master who always used to address himself. “Zuikan?” he would call. And then he would answer “Yes!” “Zuikan?” “Yes!” Of course he was living all alone in his small zendo, and of course he knew who he was, but sometimes he lost himself. And whenever he lost himself, he would address himself, “Zuikan?” “Yes!” 



If we are like a frog, we are always ourselves. But even a frog sometimes loses himself, and he makes a sour face. And if something comes along, he will snap at it and eat it. So I think a frog is always addressing himself, and I think you should do that also. Even in zazen you will lose yourself. When you become sleepy, or when your mind begins to wander about, you lose yourself. When your legs become painful – “Why are my legs so painful?” – you lose yourself. Because you lose yourself your problem will be a problem for you. If you do not lose yourself, even though you have difficulty, there is actually no problem whatsoever. You just sit in the midst of the problem; when you are part of the problem, or when the problem is part of you, there is no problem,, because you are the problem itself. The problem is you yourself. If this is so, there is no problem.



Norman Fischer comment:



This practice is literal, and really useful. Call out to yourself, out loud. And then answer yourself. Although Zuikan did this practice in the presence of others sometimes, probably we would want to do it when we are alone. “Norman?” “Yes!” “Be awake, be aware, don’t goof off.” “OK!” If you do this, with sincerity, getting over your self-consciousness about it, I think you will find it a valuable practice. It really will cut through your dreamy self-knotting mind and bring you back home to your life.



So try this for a few days. It would be great to have some reports about what you experience when you do.



What Suzuki Roshi means about problems becoming you and therefore not being problems, is a little counter-intuitive, but in actual life really true. A “problem” is outside of you, it is not you, it is exactly some external thing getting in your way. You are over here, your object of desire is over there, and the problem interposes itself between you and your object of desire causing frustration. Even if the object of desire is something internal, like compassion, and the problem say, your selfishness, is also seems to be internal, the truth is, you think of it as external, as something not you. If I can return to where I am (“Norman?” “Yes!”), and feel the problem for what it is – not an external obstacle, but an experience, my experience, my life – then even though I may still have a problem to take care of, I no longer view it as a “problem.” It is just my life. Just something to take care of.

About Zoketsu Norman Fischer:

Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a poet and Zen Buddhist priest. For many years he has taught at the San Francisco Zen Center, the oldest and largest of the new Buddhist organizations in the West, where he served as Co-abbot from 1995-2000. He is presently a Senior Dharma Teacher there as well as the founder and spiritual director of the Everyday Zen Foundation, an organization dedicated to adapting Zen Buddhist teachings to Western culture.