What is the best way of helping other people?

 

Zen mind is not Zen mind. That is, if you are attached to Zen mind, then you have a problem, and your way is very narrow.

Throwing away Zen mind is correct Zen mind.

Only keep the question, "What is the best way of helping other people?"

 

Seung Sahn - Essential Zen

Encourage others

 

A student asked Soen Nakagawa during a meditation retreat, "I am very discouraged. What should I do?"

 

Soen replied, "Encourage others."

 

Essential Zen

Without Fear

 

During the civil wars in feudal Japan, an invading army would quickly sweep into a town and take control. In one particular village, everyone fled just before the army arrived - everyone except the Zen master. Curious about this old fellow, the general went to the temple to see for himself what kind of man this master was. When he wasn't treated with the deference and submissiveness to which he was accustomed, the general burst into anger. "You fool," he shouted as he reached for his sword, "don't you realize you are standing before a man who could run you through without blinking an eye!" But despite the threat, the master seemed unmoved. "And do you realize," the master replied calmly, "that you are standing before a man who can be run through without blinking an eye?"

 

 

 

Eftir zazen þann 26. janúar síðastliðinn hófst fyrsti leshringur af þremur um rit Eihei Dogen (upphafsmanns Soto Zen skólans) BENDOVA "THE WHOLEHEARTED WAY"  .

Umsjón. Helga Jóakims.

 

Sjá betur á: www.zen.is

 

Dharma

 

Betra er hverjum manni að rækja skyldu sína, þótt honum verði hróðursvant, en inna af hendi skylduverk annara manna vel og sómasamlega. Gott er hverjum manni að falla frá, er hann gegnir sínum eigin skyldum. Skylduverk annara eru umkringd hættum.

   Hávamál Indíalands (Bhagavad Gita) 3. kviða, 35. vers

Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now

 

 

Forget the past. The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until man is anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.

 

 

Swami Sri Yukteswar

What is the actual meaning of meditation?

   While asleep, whether you are aware of it or not, you are meditating. Deep sleep and meditation are very similar to each other. Meditation is deep sleep with consciousness, and deep sleep is meditation without consciousness. Meditation is to sleep consciously and the way to tap the source of energy within.

When you go to bed, you will first feel sleepy then there will be a dream and from the dream stage you will enter into sleep and from sleep into deep sleep. In deep sleep there is no consciousness of the world, no consciousness of the environment, no consciousness of the body; you have forgotten everything. Similarly, you are to attain that deep sleep state during your meditation. When thoughts still arrive, your meditation is similar to your dream state and not sleep or deep sleep and therefore it is not real meditation. You should try to attain that deep sleep state, where there is no sense of the world, nothing.

The actual techniques you are practicing are not meditation, they are just techniques to prepare you for meditation. When you sit practicing, it does not mean you have been meditating. You are simply practicing to attain that state.     

 

Paramahansa Prajnanananda – Yoga: Pathway to the Divine

Dagskrá Guðspekifélagsins um helgina

 

Föstudaginn 25. janúar kl. 20.30 Margrét Arnljótsdóttir:

Áhrif hugleiðslu á heilsu, hugsun og heila.

 

Laugardaginn 26. janúar kl.15.30 Guðlaug Ragnarsdóttir:

Umfjöllun um svæðameðferð.

 

 

 

www.gudspekifelagid.is

Change comes from within...

 

The hotdog salesman hands the Zen master a fat hotdog with relish, onions, mustard, the works, and says, "That'll be five dollars." The Zen master hands him a ten, and the hotdog salesman takes his money, and turns to the person behind him and says, "Next?"

The Zen master waits patiently until the hotdog salesman is done serving, then asks him, "What about my change?"

The hotdog salesman replies, "Change comes from within..."

Dagsönn mín

 

Að morgni

heilsa ég þér, Kristur,

á leið minni

til Gautama Búddha,

ég staldra við

hjá Krishna

og heilsa upp á

zenpiltana,

er á daginn líður

drekk ég japanskt te

með honum sköllótta Shinran gamla.

 

Lúinn leita ég þín að kveldi,

Kristur.

Rögnvaldur Finnbogason - Hvað er þá maðurinn? Úr heimi trúarbragðanna.

Listen to your inner voice

 

Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listen to your inner voice.

 

 

Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

 

Tekið úr bókinni: David Chadwick - Crooked Cucumber. The Life and Zen teaching of Shunryu Suzuki.