Buddhism Lite

Taking refuge in the sangha means putting your trust in a community of solid members who practice mindfulness together. You do not have to practice intensively—just being in a sangha where people are happy, living deeply the moments of their days, is enough. Each person’s way of sitting, walking, eating, working, and smiling is a source of inspiration; and transformation takes place without effort. If someone who is troubled is placed in a good sangha, just being there is enough to bring about a transformation. I hope communities of practice in the West will organize themselves as families. In Asian sanghas, we address each other as Dharma Brother, Dharma Sister, Dharma Aunt, or Dharma Uncle, and we call our teacher Dharma Father or Dharma Mother. A practice community needs that kind of familial brotherhood to nourish practice.

Thich Nhat Hanh

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{Photography by Wonderlane}

The lovely and amazing performance poet Gabrielle Bouliane performs for the audience at the Austin Poetry Slam.

This would be her last public performance.

Gabrielle was diagnosed with Stage Four Cancer shortly before this video was filmed. Our dear sister fought hard, but she ended her fight January 29, 2010. She was surrounded by family and friends, and her passing was in a very quiet, peaceful room full of love and affection. She was so brave.

Please share this video with everyone you know. I am sure it would tickle her to no end to have this video get as viral as a video can be. Tell the world.

Bunny up!

“It isn’t what
happens to us that
causes us to suffer;
it’s what we say to
ourselves about what happens.”
~Pema Chodron

Congratulations to Taylor.

This video is a great exercise to ponder about the meaning and the quality of the word happiness.

Is happiness a temporary high? If so, that would presuppose that with highs there must be lows.
What if happiness were a peaceful joyous feeling, evenly distributed across your entire life?

What about bliss?

Bliss can be a state of profound spiritual satisfaction, happiness or joy, often associated with religious ideas of the afterlife.

And, what about Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is calm awareness of one’s body functions, feelings, content of consciousness, or consciousness itself. Mindfulness (Pali: sati; Sanskrit: smṛti स्मृति) plays a central role in the teaching of the Buddha where it is affirmed that “correct” or “right” mindfulness (Pali:sammā-sati; Sanskrit samyak-smṛti) is the critical factor in the path to liberation and subsequent enlightenment. It is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path, the practice of which supports analysis resulting in the development of wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñā). The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the foremost early texts dealing with mindfulness. A key innovative teaching of the Buddha was that meditative absorption should be combined with the practice of vipassana.^[1] For more on the concept in early Buddhism, also see sampajañña.

Choice, is surely better then no choice. And each one of us is faced with choices every day. And important choices should always be made with al the relevant and pertinent information at hand.

There are a couple of new dimensions that we should consider when making our choices:

• Quality vs. Quantity
• Short Term vs. Long Term

Nash: In competitive behavior someone always loses.

Charles: Well, my niece knows that, John, and she’s about this high.

Nash: See if I derive an equilibrium where prevalence is a non-singular event where nobody loses, can you imagine the effect that would have on conflict scenarios, arm negotiations…

Charles: When did you last eat?

Nash: …currency exchange?

Charles: When did you last eat? You know, food.

Nash: You have no respect for cognitive reverie, you know that?

Charles: Yes. But pizza – now, pizza I have enormous respect for.

From the movie: A Beautiful Mind.

The circle-triangle-square is Sengai’s picture of the universe. The circle represents the infinite, and the infinite is at the basis of all beings. But the infinite in itself is formless. We humans endowed with senses and intellect demand tangible forms. Hence a triangle. The triangle is the beginning of all forms. Out of it first comes the square. A square is the triangle doubled. This doubling process goes on infinitely and we have the multitudinosity of things, which the Chinese philosopher calls ‘the ten thousand things’, that is, the universe.

The trouble with us linguistically-minded beings is that we take language realistically and forget that language is of no significance whatsoever without time. In truth, language is time and time is language. We thus come to think that there is in the beginning of the world a something which is real and concrete, such as a world of galaxies which though formless and nebulous is yet real and tangible. This is the foundation of the universe on which we now have all kinds of things, infinitely formed and varied. It is thus that time itself begins to be thought of as something concrete and real. A circle turns into a triangle, and then into a square, and finally into infinitely varied and varying figures. In the same way the Biblical account of creation has turned into historical truth in the minds of many. But Zen is very much against such fabrications.

From Wikipedia: Sengai Gibon (仙厓 義梵^?, 1750 – 1837) was a Japanese monk of the Rinzai (臨在宗) sect (one of the ramifications of the Zen branch of Buddhism). He was known for his controversial teachings and writings, as well as for his lighthearted sumi-e paintings. After spending half of his life in Nagata near Yokohama, he secluded himself in Shōfukuji (located in Fukuoka), the first Zen Temple in Japan, where he spent the rest of his life.

Though the Rinzai sect is particularly known for its hard-to-understand teachings, Sengai tried to make them accessible to the public.

One of his famous paintings shows a circle, a square and a triangle. The English translation of the title is “Universe”.

WHAT: Tenzo Kyokun: Instructions for the Tenzo by Eihei Dogen.

WHAT IT IS: Written in the spring of 1237 C.E. for those of coming generations who will practice the Way by Dogen, abbot of Kosho-(Horin-)ji.

WHERE: it is now available as a free download in PDF, EPUB (iPhone, Android, Google Phone etc. . . ), Mobipocket and Amazon.com’s Kindle at FeedBooks.com .

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{Photography by Kanzeon Zen Center}

“Zen Master, I can’t get something. I am suffering so much”

“What can’t you get?”

“I want to get a good girlfriend, but I cannot get one. This is the first thing. I also cannot earn much money: that’s the next suffering. And I cannot get a nice job. That’s the last suffering. When I am sitting in meditation, my mind is only thinking, ‘girlfriend, money, job; girlfriend, money, job; girlfriend, money, job’ Always thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking; coming, going, coming, going. I cannot sit, you know? When doing mantra only my mouth is doing the mantra. But inside, my mind is saying ‘girlfriend, money, job; girlfriend, money, job.’ It never stops! Coming, going. I am suffering so much. This is making it impossible for me to practice meditation. I don’t want to do sitting meditation, because then this thinking just seems to get louder and louder. That is why I am asking for your advice. What shall I do?”

Sometime you cannot give usual Zen-style teaching to someone in this condition. Their mind is attached to some strong desire, but they haven’t yet attained the nature of this desire and the suffering that it makes for them. They will hold their suffering like a treasure. So I answered, “More suffering is necessary.”

From: The compass of Zen By Seung Sahn, Sungsan Tae Sŏnsa, Hyŏnʼgak

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{Photography by John Loo}