Everything in this world is constantly moving ...

The following is taken from a dharma talk given by Jakusho Kwong-roshi on Feb. 18, 2011 during the Winter Ango sesshin at the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center

There are two teachings I want to talk about in reference to Dogen’s writing, Kuge; the first is the Heart Sutra, and the other is impermanency. This is from the late Maezumi-roshi’s Commentary 5 in his book ‘The Way of Everyday Life.’ He’s talking about the Three Dharma Marks of Existence and he begins by stating that basically everything is impermanent. There is nothing that does not change. No one can refute that. Everything is changing. “On the physiological level, the cells within our entire body, every seven years, are replaced.” After the sickness I had recently I felt like something had thoroughly changed in me from head to toe. Even if we try not to let it happen, it still does. This morning there was a little sunshine, now it’s raining. Last night there was a beautiful clear moon at two o’clock in the morning. He writes: “relationships among people – I like you, I don’t like you – even in a Zen community, you might not say these things but you own them” – it’s your feeling or emotion, and you can’t put it out there; you have to work with it – day to day, our moods change.

 

 

 

 

The second mark of existence is when impermanency takes the form of uncertainty or insecurity. Because you don’t know what’s going to happen, there’s nothing you can rely on and this is what brings people to practice, when they sense something is missing. Everything they’ve gone to school for, everything they’ve said or tried has resulted in still more searching, and that’s what leads people to Zen. It’s what originally led me to Zen. “Intrinsically impermanence is the nature of things. Because nothing at all is permanent, there’s no individual self that has independent existence.” meaning that it lasts forever. Because there’s no self, there’s no ego. What we have is just an idea of ego. Everything is impermanent, consequently everything is empty. This is the natural second step of impermanency. There’s no independent self nature that lasts forever.

 

 

From impermanency, or nothing fixed in the universe, the second mark is psychological uncertainty, and the third is no ego or no self. Impermanency, no-self, Nirvana. That’s it. ‘Flowers in the sky’ is another principle of impermanency – because flowers can’t exist outside of impermanency. We value their beauty because of their short life. That’s why we appreciate them. Flowers in the sky refers to the principle of impermanency and also that all existence is not real. Everything in front of you is not real, because you’ve named it. And because you’ve named it, you’ve divided yourself from it. As children grow up, they are originally in one-ness, but they can’t help it because as they grow up they begin objectifying. (Of course, that’s very wearing on the parents!) (laughter). But it’s also natural that the child acquires names for things, and develops that sense of subject and object. It can’t be helped. That’s human life. But children lose that sense of oneness. Yet it’s always there, and to find it again, to rediremains with you.

 

 

 

 

In his writing on Kuge, Katagiri-roshi says, “The emptiness behind all this is a wondrous being.” And this leads us to the Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra states no eyes no ears - nothing is real. I was reading Shohaku Okumura’s commentary on Dogen’s Genjo Koan and in one section he says that everything is prajna. Everything we do is prajna. This is quite remarkable. I think Zen is the only tradition that emphasizes this. Zen in the arts, Zen in athletics, Zen in movement – this is a big point for us and we should use it. Zen emphasizes practice. Wherever you are, whatever you do, is prajna and practice. This is life-giving. This is restoration of your own Buddhahood. When you struggle, sometimes over little things, all you have to do is pause and feel. Feel the paper in your hands. Feel your utensils. Feel your tools. Feel the oryoki bowl. You can do these things. Work practice is no different than life itself. Prajna is right in front of you. That’s samsara and nirvana. You then have to transcend both of them. You can’t attach to either side.

 

 

 

So in the Heart Sutra, Avalokiteshvara clearly saw that form is emptiness and emptiness is form. When we read that, shiki soku ze ku, ku soku ze shiki, it means exactly that. But still this is dualistic. This is not the Heart Sutra’s conclusion. Soku ze refers to identity, or being identical. It can also mean as-it-is, or just like this. What it’s saying is that form is no other than emptiness, emptiness is no other than form. So, Katagiri says that soku has three meanings to it: one, it unifies two things. For instance, in kinhin, we’re trying to make individual movement become one. It’s hard to achieve, because some people have difficulty with spatial relationships; you think you’re close but actually you’re ten feet behind because maybe you are lost in your thoughts. That’s the first soku. The second is unifying two objects and becoming one with them. Again, it could be like milk and water – when you mix the two they become one. It’s also like your hand – there’s the back and there’s the palm. But it’s still one hand. Or like a piece of paper. A front sheet and a back face. The Sandokai also mentions the dark and the light. One can’t be found without the other. The third one is me and whatever is there – no gap. Subject and Object have disappeared. In this case, both sides are included. That side, this side. What it comes down to is that there are no sides. In the Sandokai it also says that in the dark all words become one. Or, cause and effect (karma) must return to the great reality. The great mystery. There’s no two; but we’ve made a separation. Now we have to come back. We have to restore ourselves and come back, and the middle way is to go beyond even that one.

 

 

 

 

There was a Christian priest in this area, and someone asked him a question, and he said, “I always return to one.” I wrote him a letter and asked, “Where does the one return to?” He never answered (laughter). But isn't that something? There are no sides. And because there are no sides this miraculous world appears – this world of prajna appears.

 

 

 

Bodhidharma wanted to transmit the dharma to one of his successors. There were four disciples – three men and one woman. One by one they had to reveal their practice and what they had inherited. The first one came up and Bodhidharma said, “You’ve got my skin.” The second one, the woman, came up and he said to her, “You’ve got my flesh.” After the third one spoke, he said “You’ve got my bone.” Then the fourth one, Eka, stood up with no words, walked – zazen sitting, zazen walking, zazen standing, zazen bowing and Bodhidharma said, “You’ve got my marrow.” He was the one who became the Second Ancestor. The first time I heard that story I thought ‘he must have had the best answer’ but really, they’re all the same. All the people are valued. So our conditioned mind works that way, because we’re trained to think this is the best and that’s the worst. So this is the higher teaching of the Heart Sutra. Form is form, emptiness is emptiness. There is no more form and emptiness. Because when we say form, emptiness is included already; in fact, we don’t even have to say it. It’s just there. And emptiness is just emptiness. The conclusion of the Heart Sutra – free from dualities, liberated from samsara and nirvana, free from like and dislike.

 

 

 

 

Coming back to Kuge: this is Katagiri’s talk at a teachers gathering. “In Buddhism, in general, ‘flowers in the sky’ means the principle of impermanency. That all existence is not real. In our ancestor’s teaching, true emptiness is a wondrous being. Since flowers bloom in the sky, or emptiness, they are not flowers. Since they are the sky, or emptiness, with flowers, it is not the sky or emptiness. It goes beyond this and that.” You can’t say what it is. Being, non-being. “The principle of impermanency means there’s no particular thing which causes all things to exist forever. It means that all existence is unreal. All exists, but all things are not real. And also, ‘flowers in the sky’ states the principle that true emptiness is a wondrous being.” He talks about this example: “We can see this incense burner on the altar, but it is not real. But our consciousness says that the burner exists completely in the previous moment and in the following moment. Consciously or unconsciously, we believe this – the burner exists - but it doesn’t exist; it exists as unreal. It’s pretty hard to understand this. If we understand emptiness, we immediately grasp emptiness. ‘Oh I understand emptiness.’ But if you grasp emptiness, it is already not emptiness – because you grasped it. So what you grasp, in your hand, in your mind, in your head, is not real emptiness. It’s the idea of emptiness. Real emptiness is a profound and refined state of existence, which causes all sentient beings to be restored.” Restored, meaning we are dynamically alive. Thank you.

Umsókn um að fá kennslustundir Yogananda/SRF sendar heim

 

The Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons are unique among Paramahansa Yogananda’s published writings in that they give his step-by-step instructions in the yoga techniques of meditation, concentration, and energization that he taught, including Kriya Yoga.  

The goal of these simple yet highly effective yoga techniques is to teach you to deal directly with energy and consciousness enabling you to recharge your body with energy, to awaken the mind's unlimited power, and to experience a deepening awareness of the Divine in your life.   

The Lessons were compiled under Paramahansa Yogananda’s direction from his writings and the many classes and lectures he gave. In addition to his comprehensive instructions in meditation, the Lessons offer practical guidance for every aspect of spiritual living — how to live joyfully and successfully amidst the unceasing challenges and opportunities in this world of change.

Each lesson is 6–8 pages in length, and is meant to be studied for one week. The entire course of Lessons lasts about 3½ years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sjá betur hér:  http://www.yogananda-srf.org/tmp/meditation.aspx?id=132#.U1zzYFV_uSo 

The strangest thing is that people and nations fight in name of God

The strangest thing is that people and nations fight in name of God to establish their supremacy. Where is God? It is like a fan, air conditioner, radio, TV and heaters fight for their supremacy and forget their source (electricity).

 

Yogi Shanti Desai  

 

http://www.yogishantidesai.com 

Life is a gift ...

The transformation of Society

Is it not, therefore, an obvious fact that what I am in my relationship to another creates society and that, without radically transforming myself, there can be no transformation of the essential function of society? When we look to a system for the transformation of society, we are merely evading the question, because a system cannot transform man; man always transforms the system, which history shows. Until I, in my relationship to you, understand myself I am the cause of chaos, misery, destruction, fear, brutality. Understanding myself is not a matter of time; I can understand myself at this very moment.

 

Krishnamurti

Sesshin verður haldið í Skálholti dagana 14. til 18. maí

Sesshin verður haldið í Skálholti dagana  14. til 18. maí.
Við áætlum að koma í Skálholt í eftirmiðdaginn þ. 14. líkt og verið hefur og ljúka sesshin um miðjan dag sunnudaginn 18. maí.
Verð er kr. 30.000.- en kr. 24.000 fyrir þá sem greiða mánaðargjöld.

Allir iðkendur Nátthaga  eru hvattir til að taka þátt í sesshin og þeim sem hafa nýlega byrjað að iðka zen er bent á að þeir þurfa að koma í byrjun Sesshin og geta með því tekið þátt  einn eða fleiri daga.

 

 www.zen.is 

What is Sesshin?

Sesshin is an extended meditation that includes sitting meditation, walking meditation, chanting, oryoki (a formal, meditative way of eating), Dharma talks by the sesshin leader and a meditative work period. Also included during specified times throughout the sesshin, are opportunities for Dokusan (private meeting with the sesshin leader). Dharma Field hosts two-day, three-day and five-day sesshins.

Sesshin literally means “collecting the mind.” During sesshin, or at any time in our daily lives, turning our full attention to the activity of the moment is to collect the mind. This means when it’s time to eat, just eat, and when it’s time to sit, just sit. Usually when we do a given activity, our attention is elsewhere. The quiet environment and simplified schedule of sesshin is conducive to mindfulness and concentration.

Sesshin is an opportunity to cultivate concentration and awareness. It is an opportunity to step back and slow down from our usual busy lives, to engage with full attention, whatever it is that we are doing.

Ishtar - Easter - Páskar?

Hugleiðslu- og friðarmiðstöðin - Hlédrög og námskeið á næstunni

Hugleiðslu-og friðarmiðstöðin 

 

Hlédrög og námskeið á næstunni: 

 

Meðalfellsvatn í apríl: Choden kemur í apríl og ætlar að halda 3-4 daga 

námskeið með okkur um „Insight“ (innsýn) dagana 16.-19.apríl (hættum 

upp úr hádegi á laugardeginum). Kostnaður 22000 kr. Námskeiðið er ætlað þeim sem eitthvað hafa hugleitt áður. 

Skráning á [e-mail] eða í símum 6639907 og 6639917. 

 

Þetta er þriðji og síðasti hluti „trilogiunnar“(þríleiksins) Mindfulness, (núvitund) „Compassion“ (kærleika) og „Insight“ (innsýn) sem „Mindfulness Association“ í Bretlandi hefur verið að kenna hjá sér og lofað sínum kennurum að koma með efnið til okkar. Búið er að íslenska fyrstu tvo hlutana: Núvitundarbæklinginn og Kærleikshandbókina. Nú er komið 

að þriðja hlutanum „Insight“ eða innsýn. Choden sem hefur áður komið og kennt okkur ætlar að taka það efni fyrir og svo kemur sjálfur Rob Nairn sem er upphafsmaður „Mindfulness Association“ og verður með 5 daga hlédrag í ágúst (12.-16.) um þetta sama efni þar sem hann kafar enn dýpra. Vonandi getum við svo þýtt efnið sem fyrst á íslensku. 

 

Hlédrag með Rob Nairn 12.-16. Ágúst: Kafað enn dýpra í „Insight“ (innsýn). 

Staðsetning er ekki komin enn, verið er að finna hentugt húsnæði á landsbyggðinni. 

Kostnaður 40000 kr. (getum vonandi haldið okkur við það). Húsnæði, kennsla og fullt fæði innifalið. Námskeiðið er ætlað þeim sem eitthvað hafa hugleitt áður.

Skráning á 

[e-mail] eða í símum 6639907 og 6639917. 

 

Lífspekifélagið um helgina - Þróun lífsins, þróun mannsins, innri gerð mannsins, líf og dauði, önnur tilverustig, karma og enduholdgun

11. apríl, föstudagur kl. 20:00. Þróun lífsins, þróun mannsins. Innri gerð mannsins.

12. apríl, laugardagur kl. 15:30. Líf og dauði. Önnur tilverustig. Karma og enduholdgun.

 

www.lifspekifelagid.is