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

On the beach

Hi.

Looking around standing on the beach by the ocean of suffering you see land.

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

Bookreview: The net of indra

Hi.

Sante Poromaa has been practising Zen since 1983 and teaching full time since 1998. He started practice as a student of Roshi Philip Kapleau, and he later became a student of Kapleau's successor, Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede.

Together with Kanja Odland, he has been instrumental in the creation of a full-time training temple in rural Sweden called Zengården, as well as the growth and development of a network of City Zen Centers in Sweden, Finland and Scotland.

The book, The net of indra, is, more or less, an exploration of the question of whether the concept of rebirth can be incorporated into our modern, scientific worldview.

The book is divided into four parts, he starts off with testimonys, moves on to scientific and Buddhist theory and ends up with “questions”-section at the end.

The questionssection has rebirth as an common red thread, although the questions range from abortion, murder to quantumphysics and rebirth as an Buddhist pillar. I think there could have been more questions asked, as it is such an broad topic, but those asked were cunningly answered.

The theorysections show a sign of great knowledge on the authors behalf. He has gone to great lenghts to make an wide display of all there is to show in the subject, while, at the same time, keep an inquiring, almost critical, mindset to it all. I think now, looking back, this mindset is what made the book so great..

The witnesssection is a caleidoscope of different recounts, both his own and others, mixed with scholarly dissertations. It serves both to recount what people have experienced but also what has been written about the separate “cases” brought forth. These cases range from neardeathexperiences to parapsychology and even his own experiences. The fact that he brings up his own experiences brings another depth to an already almost fathomless sea, and, in hindsight, I would have liked to see that section more elaborated upon, as it is very good in and off itself.

The book The net of indra is an book about rebirth, science and the self.

As such it is an good attempt. It has very good ground to state its views from, and it also implores the reader to inquire everything more. The things you lack, such as an more elaborated survey and other small things, is well counteracted by the fact that it is well put together, well written and implores you to do the questioning yourself, to find out yourself.

Thank you Sante Poromaa for a good book and for your practice.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Caught in tree

Hi.

One day when I was out fishing I saw a man arrive and on the first throw got his lure caught in a tree.

Caught, just high enough and far out over the water so that he couldn't reach it.

He built an small raft, got some long branches and started beating after after it. He couldn't quite reach it, so he went and came back with an longer branch, but it was murky and snapped at the first strike, so he went for the next branch and on it went, until he finally got the lure down, packed everything up and went on home, with out ever having thrown his lure once into the water.

For me, its significant how some live their lives.

You throw the lure, get stuck, work to get it loose, and once its loose give up and go home.

So, here's the hard truth, Shit happen and thats a good fertilizer.

Thats life.

Sometimes shit happens. 

And lest be honest, if nothing ever happened in life, wouldn't it be a bit boring?

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

Bookreview: Buddhist bootcamp

Hi.
 

Just the name of the author says it all, Timber Hawkeye.
This book is an treasure-trove of oneliners packaged as one paged letters for the reader. They are smart, witty and above all piercing like the sight of an hawk.
According to the author it is based on letters sent to people over a period of time, which they might be, some of the writings have that lettery air over them,. The airiness makes it an great book to read out loud in Company of your spouse, or in the Comfort of your favourite chair...
The book is not about Buddhism per se, no lengthy discourse on its history or anything but more on one of the basic tenets of Buddhism, training the mind to see the truth. 
In the book we are given thoughtful texts, which can be read in any order, and practices, which we can use or let go of. All of this gives you a basic starting ground for our own practice, a Buddhist bootcamp if you like.
 

The downside of the book, to me, is that it is sometimes a bit simplistic, almost shallow, and a bit moralistic at other times.  
This book is more of an selfhelp/lifecoachbook than it is an book about Zen/Buddhism. Further, the author talks a lot of what he believes and what he does, and in a sense what you should do, which it should be given that it is excerpts of letters, but it might turn some people off.
Nevertheless the content rings true and i like it so much that I recommend it heartily to anyone who might find benefit in it. 

Thank you for your practice
Mtfbwy
Fugen

"I feel infinite"

Hi.

“ I feel infinite”

-Perks of being a wallflower

Sometimes you get the feeling of being infinite, to contain everything.
The sense that You are the universe, the universe is you, and you know it.
In Buddhism this is a sensation which, in some traditions, has beeen called an “enlightenment experience”, a “Kensho”. It is in a sense, an initial awakening to the true nature of things.

This is nothing special, a lot of people have them all the time and they can come in all manners of magnitude, from big to small, but Trust me when I say, you will know when you have a big one.
Not all realize what it is and miss it, but if you are open to them and realize them for what they are, they will shake the foundations of you. The thing is that not all realize what it is all about. It is a pointer to what the Buddhists call oneness, that you are the universe and the universe are you.
In a sense, that YOU are infinite.

One of the things that the Buddhist scriptures do say, if you look at them, is that we are infinite. Everyone of us.
All the time.
One of the effects of us being infinite all the time, is that there is no time and no infinity, as we are everything and everything is we. This is, maybe, most profoundly stated in the Prajnaparamita sutra, The heart sutra, which says, Emptiness is form, form is emptiness.

 

O/ Sha/ri/pu/tra/, form/ is/ no/ o/ther/ than/ emp/ti/ness/,
Emp/ti/ness/ no/ o/ther/ than/ form/;
Form/ is/ pre/cise/ly/ emp/ti/ness/, emp/ti/ness/ pre/cise/ly/ form/.
Sen/sa/tions/, per/cep/tions/, for/ma/tions/ and/ con/scious/ness/ are/ al/so/ like/ this/.
O/ Sha/ri/pu/tra/, all/ things/ are/ ex/pres/sions/ of/ emp/ti/ness/,

So, now, when you are it, what are you going to do about it?

May the force be with you
Fugen

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy

Fugen