Sitting With Eyes Open in the Flames of the World
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
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"Dogen's Expensive Record", hahaha
For a first comment here, it’s not very deep. A missed opportunity :)
Ed Gepixel it’s not a talent show, Ed. The dude is just enjoying himself. Lighten up.
I laughed at that myself, it was a good joke. :)
Ironic then people saying Krishnamurti advocates are getting nowhere. Suppose by being nowhere one is everywhere. Did once hear a funny story from Ajahn Brahm on a Buddhist sect that gave away Jana achievement certificates.
While it is said that Bodhidharma practiced zazen facing a “wall,” he was actually facing the back of the hand-carved stone cave he practiced in. Over the course of the day the lighting on the cave-wall transformed, due to the way the sun’s movement changed how its rays passed though the cave’s entryway, altering the shadows and highlights on its roughly-hewn surface. This would also change on a day-by-day basis as the sun shifted over the course of the sessions. What a subtly spectacular study in impermanence it rendered before him!
There's a scene in the film "Circle Of Iron" that always comes to mind when someone talks about Buddha sitting before a wall.
Cord The Seeker: "How long have you been blind?"
The Blind Teacher: "How long have YOU been blind?"
Cord The Seeker: "I'm not blind."
The Blind Teacher: "Am I?"
Cord The Seeker: "Do you answer every question with a question?"
The Blind Teacher: "Do you question every answer?"
Cord The Seeker: "Awe, talking to you is like talking to a wall!"
The Blind Teacher: "Buddha once sat before a wall, and when he arose he was enlightened."
Cord The Seeker: "Do you compare yourself of Buddha?!"
The Blind Teachers: "Hehe, no, only the wall."
"What a subtly spectacular study in impermanence"
What kind of impermanence causes the most suffering?
@@Teller3448 “flowers fall even though we love them;
weeds grow even though we dislike them.”
- Dogan’s ‘Realizing Genjōkōan. translated by Shohaku Okumura
It’s not a matter of what we think is better or worse.
Impermanence is the reality we must face, as we face the wall.
it just amazes me the way these made up stories are accepted without question by the pompous wishing to impress
if there was an historical bodhidharma, his "hermitage" was in reality quite close to a wealthy donor and he must have been a member of the power clique that was executed at heyin
what i find interesting about the "myth" of bodhidharma is his being a blue eyed barbarian, ie more than a hint of the greco-bactrian origins of zen
@@osip7315 In this case, the cave where Bodhidharma practiced is well known. It’s is located on Xiangbi Mountain (Elephant Trunk Mountain) in Qizong Village. The cave is on the cliff of the mountain.
Simply search on: ‘Bodhidharma cave’ & see the pictures for yourself.
There’s also a UA-cam video entitled: ‘Bodhidharma Cave in China Shaolin Temple.’
Loved the thumbnail
Thanks. I had to go through a whole lot of variations before I got it right.
When you described direct Dharma transmission it sounded like a really similar concept to what's believed in Roman Catholic Church about direct priesthood mandate that is derived from Apostles. It is even more interesting after I've recently read about revoking Dharma transmission.
I don't know why I'm writing it, but it has just occurred to me that people tend to follow the same patterns of "managing authentic spiritual guidance", regardless of "religion"...
@Darren... Ok, so I'm just curious, what are you doing in this comment section?
@Darren That sounds interesting, can you talk about the difference between Hindu/Buddhist enlightenment and Christian enlightenment?
I know this is an older video, but if you see this, Brad, I have a question…
What do we do with our eyes during Zazen? I’m not talking about vision, but our our eye’s tendency to fluctuate and not want to stay focused, as well as their tendency to get heavy during the early morning hours. Not necessarily sleepy, but heavy, if that makes sense. Thank you!
Buddha got enlightened under the Bodhi Tree, right? So, how come some zen people say he was facing a wall? And what about his disciples? Where did one find walls in the middle of the jungle?
Yo Dawg how to do lotus sitting position
Best thumbnail ever!
The lotus in the fire symbolism refers to the stability of enlightenment under the worst conditions.
Imagine being surrounded by criminals provoking you in every way while maintaining the true dharma eye.
This is also what is meant by sitting with eyes open (awake) in the flames (ignorance) of the world.
Not an easy attainment requiring years of refinement...this is covered in the 'five ranks' as well.
When two blades cross points,
There's no need to withdraw.
The master swordsman
Is like the lotus blooming in the fire.
Such a man has in and of himself
A heaven-soaring spirit
> Imagine being surrounded by criminals provoking you in every way while maintaining the true dharma eye.
there is no such thing. for an enlightened, there are no criminals, there is only that "Thing"...
@@tanko.reactions176 Peer pressure is a powerful thing. Imagine living on a desert island as the only Buddhist with a hundred other people who worship hideous pagan idols and practice ritual cannibalism. How long would it take you to cave and comply with the herd?
After reading Dogen for the first time I realized besides being a monk he was also a really really good poet.
poem by eihei dogen , translated by b. unger and k. tanahashi
waves recede
not even the wind ties up
a small abandoned boat
the moon is a clear mark of midnight
my reply :
the moon
no mark of midnight
the boatless sea shimmers
the stairway
goes both ways
Thumbnails on point these days
What did brad mean by “consciousness is a dirty word these days”? Not sure I know what he’s talking about.
"Consciousness" is one of those words that has a lot of different definitions. Whenever I use it, I'm not sure which definition listeners might think I mean.
@@HardcoreZen so true! I had an inkling that’s what you meant, just wanted to confirm there wasn’t some weird controversy about it I wasn’t aware of 😂
@@HardcoreZen Which definition do YOU mean?
@@Teller3448 When I say it's a "dirty word" I mean the multiple definitions that make it hard to talk about.
@@HardcoreZen That just makes it an 'ambiguous word'. What is YOUR unambiguous definition?
Time is the fire 🔥 in which we all burn
Ziggy qualifies as a liquid these days, as it seems :)
Flat on your belly in the flames of summer heat
What do you think of people like Suzanne Segal for example (no direct lineage)? (Collision with the Infinite)
What is it that is infinite?
I haven't heard of her.
@@HardcoreZen Easy read, good story. It's her experience of instantaneous awakening wonderfully explained.
@@Teller3448 That which doesn't change.
Full lotus....in JEANS???!!!! What the fuck!!
I was younger, and the jeans were baggy.
Where did you buy your Flintstones T-shirt? They were an integral part of my formation as a middle-class Midwestern child. 😉
I got it online. That one was from Tee Public (or TeePublic, one word). They have lots of interesting T-shirts!
Whats striking about this Dogen passage is how it completely contradicts his notion of practice and enlightenment being identical.
He concedes that there are those 'outside the way' who practice zazen.
But if zazen is identical with enlightenment.
Isn't it therefore 'inside the way'?
I follow your logic. But I think he's talking about something different here. Yes, zazen is enlightenment. But if you add a goal to zazen, you're going to miss it.
One could also say that those who try to "practise" zazen may be missing the mark - if zazen is nothing special, just a state of non-grasping, non-knowing, no-dependance on the need to achieve - these moments can happen to anyone, and may actually be essential for mental health.
@@macdougdoug then there is no zazen.
there is no real goalless zazen.
the moment you "sit" and face the "wall", you have already set intentions and goals, namely to sit, face the wall and "do nothing".
"doing" the nothing is still a doing.
@@HardcoreZen
"Yes, zazen is enlightenment. But if you add a goal to zazen, you're going to miss it."
How can you miss it if you are already practicing it? In any event, that's not what Dogen himself states in the passage. He says those who practice zazen 'outside the way' are 'attached to its taste' and are caught in the 'thorns of false views'.
In that case, practicing zazen is NOT identical to enlightenment....because having false views and attachments is antithetical to enlightenment.
@@macdougdoug Its nothing special until one attains kensho...what Dogen called 'dropping off mind and body'.
I had an interesting experience, just needed to talk about it somewhere. Last night I had a dream where I clearly and viscerally experienced myself as simply a process of cause and effect (or, part of a larger process) with no unique and independent existence of my own. I felt my constructed "self" or ego start to disintegrate. It was somewhat disorienting and frightening, yet it also seemed like it would lead to a better place, but I don't think the process completed before I woke up. In the morning I can kind of remember the experience but mostly feel like my habitual/usual self. I'm wondering (hoping?) if this is a sign of some process working itself out in my subconscious that hasn't come to full fruition yet.
I wonder if it's possible to be enlightened in a dream, and are there any stories about this in Buddhist literature?
"I felt my constructed "self" or ego start to disintegrate."
What is it that 'felt' the ego start to disintegrate?
the hubric wannabes
only wannabe
any real work never
-----------------------
when the brain blinks
it sees
before and after
and now
The clear star that is yesterday is a storyteller without equal.
@@Soundsofanetwork a dream of stars
is neither clarity or obstruction
storyless
points of light
Annaka Harris wrote a fascinating book called “Conscious”, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it (I know she’s Sam Harris’s wife, but I wouldn’t hold it against her😉).
I bought the book a long time ago, but I never finished it. I'll go back to it though.
@@HardcoreZen that would be so awesome 👏
The Burmese Goenka Vipassana method is based on writings in some sutra - and I was definitely told whilst attending their retreat, that if I practised the method wholeheartedly, it would eventually lead to enlightenment.
Satipatthana Sutra, perhaps
Satipatthana Sutta or Mahasatipatthana Sutta which is a slightly longer version. It actually says at the end of the sutta that if you practice the way described in the sutta for seven days you will attain at the very least the state of non return which means you would be reborn in one of the pure abode heavens and from there attain nirvana. Either that or you will attain nirvana directly.
Such assertions: "Success, in reasonable time, is guaranteed, if you follow...[xyz]!" are quite common in exhortative texts across religions and denominations, Chán/Zen included (just randomly check Zen-literature). But, in follow-ups, the "register" also often is abruptly changed, and the guarantee relativized: "However, because of ... [xyz], the time-limit, may be, respectively has to be, prolonged indeterminably!"