Síðasti fyrirlesturinn sem Shunryu Suzuki-roshi hélt þann 21. ágúst 1971 - 1. hluti

 

Excuse me. [Laughs.] I feel rather stiff. Maybe I worked too hard.

 

Since we have Tassajara and the city zendō, our practice is rather concentrated on city practice or Tassajara practice. But the most important point is to know what is Zen practice, which is not only city practice, but also Tassajara practice, and city zendō practice. Wherever you are, we have Zen way of practice. No matter where you are, you must have proper understanding of our practice.

 

In Shōbōgenzō "Genjo-kōan," Dōgen-zenji says, referring to this point:

 

"When all things are Buddhism, there are birth and death—there are defilement, practice, birth and death, buddhas, and sentient beings. When all things has no self, there is no delusion, no buddha, no sentient beings, no birth, no death. Buddhism originally is beyond the all positivity or negativity, so there are birth and death, defilement and enlightenment, and sentient beings and buddha."

 

This is our fundamental practice. It is better now, I think, for us to follow more original way of Zen practice, which is go beyond Tassajara practice, or city zendō practice, or practice in city life. Wherever you are, this is the fundamental way of practice for us or else we will be too much involved in city practice or monastic practice and we will lose the point of practice, I am afraid.

 

"When all things are Buddhism—all things are Buddhism, there are defilement, practice—defilement, practice, birth and death, buddhas and sentient beings." The point is they are—they are. All things are Buddhism. Whatever you do, that is Buddhism. But there is some danger in your understanding of this kind of statement. "Whatever you do, that is Buddhism." Whatever you do in Tassajara, or in city zendō, or in city life, that is Buddhism. It looks like—it sounds like this: "Whatever we do, it doesn't matter. Anyway [laughs], that is a practice of Buddhism." If it is so, it is not necessary for you to study Buddhism, if whatever you do, that is Buddhism.

 

But actually, what Dōgen-zenji meant is not like that. So there is, maybe, when you understand this statement, "Whatever you do, that is Buddhism," there may be two ways of understanding it. One is, whatever you do [laughs], if you understand, you take this statement literally, from your non-Buddhist understanding. That is one.

 

Another is real Buddhist understanding of this statement. Like in Lotus Sūtra we say "shohō-jisso." Shohō means things we see; jisso is truth, true way it exist—way they exist—real way things exist. So everything exist in the way they exist.

 So usually when we understand, "Whatever you do, that is Buddhism," means even though you do not behave [laughs], even though you do not live the way you should live, it is Buddhism. You know, there is big difference [laughs].

 

 

Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi
Saturday, August 21, 1971
San Francisco

... one with everything

 

 

Did you hear about the Zen Master who goes
up to the hotdog vendor and says, "Make me
one with everything."

 

What happens when we are alive?

 

 In order to answer what happens us when we die, we need to answer another question – what happens when we are alive?

 Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Mahatma Gandhi um hindúismann

 

I believe the Bible, the Koran, and the Zend-Avesta to be as divinely inspired as the Vedas. I believe in the institution of Gurus, but in this age millions must go without a Guru, because it is a rare thing to find a combination of perfect purity and perfect learning. But one need not despair of ever knowing the truth of one's religion, because the fundamentals of Hinduism as of every great religion are unchangeable, and easily understood.

I believe like every Hindu in God and His oneness, in rebirth and salvation. . . . I can no more describe my feeling for Hinduism than for my own wife. She moves me as no other woman in the world can. Not that she has no faults; I daresay she has many more than I see myself. But the feeling of an indissoluble bond is there. Even so I feel for and about Hinduism with all its faults and limitations. Nothing delights me so much as the music of the Gita, or the Ramayana by Tulsidas. When I fancied I was taking my last breath, the Gita was my solace.

Hinduism is not an exclusive religion. In it there is room for the worship of all the prophets of the world.  It is not a missionary religion in the ordinary sense of the term. It has no doubt absorbed many tribes in its fold, but this absorption has been of an evolutionary, imperceptible character. Hinduism tells each man to worship God according to his own faith or dharma, and so lives at peace with all religions.

 

Mahatma Gandhi

Nagarjuna

 

Nagarjuna was concerned with revealing the nonsense of philosophers who tried to explain ultimate reality through dualism by separating the common world from some other, ultimate, reality. If we approach Nagarjuna’s writings simply as a philosophy, we affirm that Zen and Buddhism are nothing more than philosophies — intellectual exercises. They are not. Zen Buddhism is a path to liberation from wrong understanding and suffering. Nagarjuna did not apply his considerable intellect and deep understanding of the nature of things merely to intellectualise about reality. Nagarjuna wrote the Mulamadhyamakakarika to teach us and release us from suffering. He also made it clear that his teachings, and the teachings of the Tathagata, are nothing more than provisional teachings, not some ultimate truth. The truth is to be found in the practice of Buddhism, not in intellectualising or clinging to the teachings.

 

 

Sjá frekar: http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Nagarjuna/zenteachingsofnagarjuna.pdf

The True Path

 

 

on which there is no coming and going."

Just before Ninakawa passed away the Zen master Ikkyu visited him.  „Shall I lead you on?“ Ikkyu asked.

 

Ninakawa replied: „I came here alone and I og alone. What help could you be to me?“

 

Ikkyu answewed: „If you think you really come and go, that is your delusion. Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and going.“

 

 

 

Nýtt hefti af Ganglera komið út - Brot út ræðu Swami Vivekananda

 

Brot úr ræðu sem Swami Vivekananda (1863 - 1902; fyrsti jóginn sem kom til Vesturlanda) hélt á heimsþingi trúarbragða í Chicago árið 1893. Þýtt hefur Halldór Haraldsson.

 

 

,,Ég segi mennina boðna og velkomna, hvern veg sem þeir nálgast mig, af því að vegirnir, sem þeir velja, er þeir koma hvaðanæva, eru mínir vegir." (Bhagavad Gita) Kreddutrúarstefnur, þröngsýni og hið hræðilega afkvæmi þeirra, ofstæki, hafa lengi ríkt á jörðinni. Þau hafa fyllt loftið ofbeldi, skilið jörðina eftir blóði drifna, eyðilagt menningu og skilið heilar þjóðir eftir á vonarvöl. Hefðu þessi djöfullegu öfl ekki leikið lausum hala væri mannlegt samfélag miklu háþróaðra nú en raun ber vitni. En tími þess er kominn; og ég vona innilega að bjallan sem kallaði okkur þennan morgun til þings megi reynast tákn um banahögg alls ofstækis, hvers konar ofsókna, hvort heldur með sverði eða í orði og allrar dómhörku manna á milli og að okkur megi auðnast að vinna að sameiginlegu markmiði."

 

Sjá má ræðuna í heild í nýjasta hefti Ganglera.

 

 

Gerast áskrifandi af Ganglera?:

Tímaritið Gangleri kemur út tvisvar sinnum á ári og er 96 bls. í hvert sinn.
Það hefur komið út samfellt frá árinu 1926.
Póstfang: Pósthólf 1257, 121 Rvík.
Netfang: [e-mail]
Efnisskrá Ganglera frá upphafi ásamt völdum greinum finnast á:
URL: http://www.ismennt.is/not/birgirb/gangleri.html

Sími Ganglera er 896-2070

Það er hlutverk Ganglera að beina athygli manna að nauðsyn þess að taka manninn sem lifandi veru, andlega veru, til jafn samviskusamlegrar rannsóknar og beitt hefur verið við heim efnisins. Því aðeins að það fáist dýpri skilningur á eðli mannsins er þess að vænta að það finnist betri lausn á vandamálum hans.

 

 

 

 

 

Bodhisattvas will have to turn to politics

 

And so, please practice! Please let that be your guide. And I believe that you will find, if your practice matures, that Spirit will reach down and bless your every word and deed, and you will be taken quite beyond yourself, and the Divine will blaze with the light of a thousand suns, and glories upon glories will be given unto you, and you will in every way be home. And then, despite all your excuses and all your objections, you will find the obligation to communicate your vision. And precisely because of that, you and I will find each other. And that will be the real return of Spirit to itself.

 

 

Ken Wilber - Bodhisattvas will have to turn to politics, Interview with Frank Visser, 1995

Happiness

 

You and I have intrinsically the capacity to be happy, to be creative, to be in touch with something that is beyond the clutches of time. Creative happiness is not a gift reserved for the few; and why is it that the vast majority do not know that happiness?

 

 

Krishnamurti

Sincere seekers

 

 

Sincere seekers, by practicing the power of rationality, discrimination, and deep meditation, become extremely detached and watch their lives as if they were witnessing consciousness.

 

 

Paramahansa Hariharananda

 

Sjá: www.kriya.org