11.23.09

“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” -Shakyamuni Buddha

Weather we recognize it or not, we are each essentially living a spiritual life.

The difference between an ordinary person & an awakened one is that ordinarily people put tremendous energy of body & mind into fighting against their own spirit & the spirit of others, or in some cases they harness the spirit to fight against body & mind…   Whereas an awakened beings are not fighting themselves, they are living in complete harmony with the body, mind & spirit of themselves & others.

Because in the West we have a particular notion of what the “spirit” is, it is important to note that when I mention spirit, I am not referring to a separate  “ghost” self contained solely within the body, rather,  I am referring to an endless river of life, flowing through & made up of all existence.

For an awakened being, with body mind & spirit, they are holistically functional,  holistically harmonious. They are not doing anything special… they have simply discovered the original state… the natural state… This state is no different from walking with the feet or blinking with the eyes. It is our natural truth, our original nature.. the order of harmony. This state does not require being or doing anything in particular, but it does require realization… in other words, waking up to ourselves… When this happens, harmony is actualized.

For the ordinary being,  there is an immense amount of energy being harnessed & applied in this effort of fighting themselves & others. They are in fact very powerful beings continuously exercising this power. If only they can learn to express this same energy in harmony with mind, body & spirit, the search would be over…. they could could be truly happy, truly at peace, they could replenish the World.

All I can do is offer my heart.

The rest is up to you.

-Master DVNT | Sou Fugon

Not exactly sure what “Desiderata” is but I happened upon this & though it was nice & worth sharing… Not denying the negativity but not succumbing to it… Though I will say, one must find a way to embrace all things & not reject them including what is seen as negativity, while in the same breath, not supporting, condoning or fueling such fields of negativity. The key word here is BALANCE. Ultimately universal balance is unchangeable… & yet greater still, there is no balance nor imbalance at all.

Hope this is helpful to people out there!

Thanx to Sir Adam for posting this link!

-Master DVNT

One day a student from Chicago came to the Providence Zen Center and asked Seung Sahn Soen-Sa, “What is Zen?”

Soen-sa held his Zen stick above his head and said, “Do you understand?”

The student said, “I don’t know.”

Soen-sa said, “This don’t know mind is you. Zen is understanding yourself.”

“What do you understand about me? Teach me.”

Soen-sa said, “In a cookie factory, different cookies are baked in the shape of animals, cars, people, and airplanes. They all have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same dough, and they all taste the same.

“In the same way, all things in the universe – the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, rivers, people, and so forth – have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same substance. The universe is organized into pairs of opposites: light and darkness, man and woman, sound and silence, good and bad. But all these opposites are mutual, because they are made from the same substance. Their names and their forms are different, but their substance is the same. Names and forms are made by your thinking. If you are not thinking and have no attachment to name and form, then all substance is one. Your don’t know mind cuts off all thinking. This is your substance. The substance of this Zen stick and your own substance are the same. You are this stick; this stick is you.”

The student said, “Some philosophers say this substance is energy, or mind, or God, or matter. Which is the truth?”

Soen-sa said, “Four blind men went to the zoo and visited the elephant. One blind man touched its side and said, ‘The elephant is like a wall.’ The next blind man touched its trunk and said, ‘The elephant is like a snake.’ The next blind man touched its leg and said, ‘The elephant is like a column.’ The last blind man touched its tail and said, ‘The elephant is like a broom.’ Then the four blind men started to fight, each one believing that his opinion was the right one. Each only understood the part he had touched; none of them understood the whole.

“Substance has no name and no form. Energy, mind, God, and matter are all name and form. Substance is the Absolute. Having name and form is having opposites. So the whole world is like the blind men fighting among themselves. Not understanding yourself is not understanding the truth. That is why there is fighting among ourselves. If all the people in the world understood themselves, they would attain the Absolute. Then the world would be at peace. World peace is Zen.”

The student said, “How can practicing Zen make world peace?”

Soen-sa said, “People desire money, fame, sex, food, and rest. All this desire is thinking. Thinking is suffering. Suffering means no world peace. Not thinking is not suffering. Not suffering means world peace. World peace is the Absolute. The Absolute is I.”

The student said, “How can I understand the Absolute?”

Soen-sa said, “You must first understand yourself.”

“How can I understand myself?”

Soen-sa held up the Zen stick and said, “Do you see this?”

He then quickly hit the table with the stick and said, “Do you hear this? This stick, this sound, your mind – are they the same or different?”

The student said, “The same.”

Soen-sa said, “If you say they are the same, I will hit you thirty times. If you say they are different, I will still hit you thirty times. Why?”

The student was silent.

Soen-sa shouted, “KATZ!!!” Then he said, “Spring comes, the grass grows by itself.”

Text taken from The Kwan Um School of Zen website

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