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

Måltidsvers

Hi.

Swedish rendition of an mealverse.

Svensk version av en en måltidsvers.

Denna mat är resultatet av alla varelsers insatser, 
och är näring för vår praktik. 
Vi erbjuder denna måltid av många dygder och smaker 
till Buddha, Dharma och Sangha, och allt liv i varje sfär av existens. 
Må alla varelser i universum få tillräcklig näring.

May the force be with you
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

The closed fist and the open hand

The closed fist and the open hand

Hands can be used as an teaching.

You can say that the the closed fist holds on to everything, is shut and hides whatever it is holding.
It is also clenched, hard and can hurt others when hitting.

The open hand, on the other hand, is not holding on to anything.
It is ready to give freely, receive, carry and caress.
The open hand is the richness that comes out of the generosity that occurs when we let go.
Not letting go of everything is not the same as in the sense of letting go off all your possesions, running naked into the woods asf but really letting go of everything, what some traditions call an awakening.

These richnesses comes as gifts, both big and small, and they are always in this moment, that is why we call it the present.

The closed fist and the open hand can both be the same hand, so be mindful and pay attention when handing out presents, are the hands closed or open?

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

House of mourning part 1 &2

Hi.

Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not.

-Master Yoda, star wars

For many, a funeral is a day of mourning. Many are sorry for the person in question who is dead and gone, which is understandable, but do not forget to rejoice in life and what that person has done.

In the Bible, pred 7, speaks of the joy of going to a house of mourning.
We gather to celebrate a person's behavior and deeds. We gather to celebrate life.

Funerals, for me, is never a sad event, it is only a step along the way. And like every step of the way, it is an important step. Going to a house of mourning can make you think more on the days you have, and the desire to make the best of them.

The funeral ceremony itself has several purposes, but one of the most important is for those present.
It is an opportunity for reflection and honoring of the dead, each other and life.
When asked what the ceremony would be for, it was, for me, obvious. 
For everyone.
In my take on the ZenBuddhistfuneralceremony, i chose to strip away as much esoteric as possible to put the emphasis on the gathered and the deceased. 
The ritual consists of three parts, the ordination, life history and messages, and leave-taking from the gathered. The ordinations are a standard feature of the Zen Buddhist funeralceremony and is a modified shukke Tokkudo, priest / monk ordination, and contains the same elements as if she were alive, albeit slightly modified. 
The Lifestory makes the person more alive in the ceremony. The leave-taking may look different. Usually it's an individual or several people who go to the coffin and make their own ceremony, whether it is reading a poem or just stand there in silence.  

Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is
a mystery and today is a gift,
which is why it is called the present.
What the caterpillar perceives is the end;
to the butterfly is just the beginning.
Everything that has a beginning has an ending.
Make your peace with that and all will be well
- Master oogway, kung fu panda

In Buddhism we talk about grasping, wanting to hold on to something, but also that everything is in a state of constant change. As master Oogway says in kung fu panda "Everything That has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well."
If you have something, it will disappear and you'll miss it, cause and effect. It's fine, it's part of the process, and if you see that, everything will be well.

In the Christian faith they talk about that the deceased is again with God. In Buddhism, the parallel is that of the the wave returning to the ocean.
Both analogies demonstrate the same, you return to the source, who never left you and is always with you.  In a sense, You turn your face to the face that is always turned towards you. And as much as the face is turned to the you, the face is turned to the deceased, and the deceased's face is turned to you. Always. Although the person may seem gone, he never is. So let us rejoice, for the person is always here.

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