The truth of suffering

Hi.

One evening by the fire Monkey spoke to the animals:

“The truth of suffering is that neither individual or social problems are only because of external conditions.”

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Leonard Cohen interview

Hi.

"There is a crack in everything, thats where the light get in."

Thank you for your practice and may the force be with you Leonard Cohen.

https://youtu.be/nky_3iwJxic

Mtfbwy

Fugen

A circle of friends

Hi.


A circle of friends is an infinite number of friends with everybody in everybody's corner and all together in a ring.

Mtfbwy
Fugen

kafkaquote

Hi.

Learn to be quiet

You need not do anything.

Remain sitting at your table and listen.

You need not even listen, just wait.

You need not even wait,

just learn to be quiet, still and solitary.

And the world will freely offer itself to you unmasked.

It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

~ Franz Kafka

This is an very good description of Shikantaza, which is just being with everything just as it is. 

One of the main mistakes in speaking of this meditation form is that you have to be seated in a “meditationposture” to do it, but that is not true. 

It is about being here, now, doing whatever in whatever posture, letting the world unravel itself without you tampering with it.

Are you ready for it?

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Nothing really.

Nothing.
This is all i can give you, so use it well.
I will stand beside you and help you.
There is nothing stopping you.
There is nothing you cannot do.
What you do with it is up to you.
I wonder so, what you will do with nothing.

May the force be with you
Fugen

striking bells

Hi.

Why do we strike the bells as we do?

Maybe we strike the bell 3 times for Buddha, Dharma, sangha.

2 times because we walk on the earth on two legs, putting on foot in front of the other.

1 time to remind us that we are all one.

Or maybe we strike the bell because it can.

Maybe.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

The ocean

Hi.

The most important part of understanding “the ocean” is that “the ocean” is not a word.

There are lots of concepts and words.

“Life” is a word, but the experience of it is not.

Something will happen, but not that.

Theres something else going on here besides words.

That thing is one thing, and that thing is you.

In essence, You are the ocean.

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

No spoon

Hi

"-Master, we're playing tags and TAG! You're it.

-No, YOU're it!"

In the movie Matrix we see this exchange:

”Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself. ”



What is real?
How do you define real?
If what you're talking about is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real', in a "scientific sense", is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.
We can get angry or scared from movies and dreams because from the point of view of the brain, it is all 'real'. Your brain can't tell the difference between something imagined and something in the material world. They are both just electric signals.
In fact, if you imagine you are a God, you are.
So, what are you?

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

1 john 3:18

Hi.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

-1 john 3:18

Buddhism is all about action, or if you want, doings.

Put into words, Buddhism is all about verbs.

Not subjects, adjectives, but verbs.

And if you didn't know, verbs is what you get paid for.

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Unbuttoned

Hi.

One of my favourite words is unbuttoned.

A good, storytelling word. 
A word that makes you think.

Unbuttoned.

There are words that really can tell a story.
Unbuttoned is one of them.

“He unbuttoned his jacket and laid back in the chair.”

“She unbuttoned the top button”

Just taste it, Unbuttoned.

Next up we have life...

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Treeleaf 2015 swedish summer retreat

Hi.

The Treeleaf 2015 Swedish summer retreat will be an  6-days retreat right in the heart of the Swedish natural park of Tiveden at Rödjorna retreatcenter.
Welcome!

http://www.retreat-sweden.com/Retreat-Sweden/Zen_Vandra_engels2.html

Mtfbwy
Fugen

The Dark Cave

Hi.

"-Master, they threw a snowball at me!

-And what did you do before that?

-Nothing.

-Sometimes nothing is enough."

The scene with the dark cave in ”Empire strikes back” is a good teaching about life.

As Luke is about to enter he asks "What's in there?" and Yoda replies "Only what you take with you" which leads up to that Luke straps on his weapons. Yoda then tells him he wont need them, but he continues on in with them. In the cave he meets Darth vader, we hear the iconic sound of the lightsaber and realize that Luke has drawn it first.
A short bout continues, where Luke cuts off Darth vaders head, only to see it transform into his own face.

What happens in the dark cave is an reflection of our own doing/being, much like the snowball.

If you do something, something will happen.
A coin has two sides, you can't have one without the other. 
Like newton's third law of physics states: To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.
There is no question about it.

The real question is: are you ready for the reaction?

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Box of chocolates

Hi.

My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

- Forrest Gump

Life is uncertain. 

That is one of the beauties of it. 

What if life were certain?

What if you already knew everything that would happen in it? 

What then?

Also, this uncertainty opens up a million possibilities. 

What you achieve is all up to you.
The possibilities are endless. 

What do YOU do with that?

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy
Fugen

A beautiful, crooked gassho

Hi.

If my gassho is crooked but my heart is open, and intention good, then my gassho is beautiful!

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

A telescope turned inwards

Hi.

Meditation is like an giant telescope turned inwards.
Dharma, as in theory, talks, texts asf, are there to point at what to look for.

Mtfbwy
Fugen

The chirping of the morning bird

The chirping of the morning bird is a special one.

Like the call of the service bell it calls out, breaking the silence.

It calls out in remembrance of things.

Things to come, things past, things present.

All things, comprised into one chirp.

It cannot be shown to any one else, you have to be there yourself in order to realize the magic.

- note from returning from the morning service

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Just open the door

Hi.

Every morning in the monastery there was an morning service at 5.00.

A young man living in the monastery for a while went, every morning, to the morning service. 

Not only did he go there, he went there 20 minutes ahead of time to meditate.

Every morning when he got there, an monk was already sitting there.

After the service on the last day, the young man went up to the monk to thank him for sitting with him every morning. 

The monk replied:

- No problem, I just open the doors.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Loose floortiles

Hi.

Every house should have an loose floortile or squeaky step.

What better reminder of practice is there?

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Just saying thanks.

Even though i'm no authority of any kind, a humble ordained Zen Priest in training, and just an modest fool at best, today i just want to say thanks.

So please read along.

 

Its been a year since my ordination today.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity.

Thank you.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

always fine

Hi.

Even though i'm no authority of any kind, a humble ordained Zen Priest in training, and just an modest fool at best, today i want to talk about fine.

So please read along.

 

There's an story i heard some time ago, and it came up in a conversation today, so i thought i'd write it down.

The student asked the teacher how he was.

The teacher said "fine".

Next day the student asked the teacher how he was again.

The teacher said "fine".

This continued on for a while, with the student asking and the teacher answering "fine".

The student knew how much turmoil there was in the teachers life, he had an wife, a kid and students and... Eventually he asked how it came that the teacher always answered fine.

The teacher answered "You know if the sun is out it is fine, if it is raining its fine. 

If i have an good day its fine, if i have an bad day its fine. 

You can't have an up without an down and both are fine. 

Thats why i'm always fine."

Mtfbwy

Fugen