Hearing about a woman: there is every sign of cancer. She is choosing not to see a doctor: it’s her choice.
Hear about a man: there was a diagnosis of senile dementia. He chose to stop eating: he died soon afterwards.
Nothing much to say: except there is no absolute right or wrong here. And Great Compassion manifests in all conditions: no matter what.
Monks re-pointing the brickwork on a chimney called down to me. There is a great view from up here, make a great picture. By the time I had changed into trousers and fetched my camera the mist and rain had closed in and the view was almost obscured. Coming down off the roof, carefully, I then went for a walk on the bottom road. The valley was grey and the world appeared flat. The camera saw it differently.
A monk of our Order wrote an article for our in-house Journal about Training in the Grey World of Doubt and Despair which Lions Gate Buddhist Priory has reproduced. (I see a part 2 of the article but no part 1 unfortunately). I hope what is said will inspire you, as it has a number of people.
You might be wondering how it is that the Buddhist monks in Burma are able to participate in anti government protests. Here is how.
On Sept. 18, monks in Mogok, upper Burma, gathered together at the Aungchanthar Monastery to decide whether or not to overturn their alms bowls: to declare a formal boycott of the country’s military regime, together with the rest of the Buddhist order — the Sangha — in response to a brutal attack on a group of their peers early in the month.
A chap who had been coming here regularly wrote an email to me today letting me know that:
Zen training is not for me and I have arranged to go to an ashram in India, travelling on the 23rd Oct. And further on in the email he wrote: I am not a religious man and prefer a practical hands on, spiritual approach. Something like, try everything deeply, until something fits deeply.
Here is part of my reply:
I find it interesting that you say I am not a religious man and prefer a hands on practical, spiritual approach. You know, I might have said that! I probably did say that on my application for my first introductory retreat, way back when. So what is the difference, (between being a religious man and a spiritually orientated one)? Is it to do with difficulties around so called organized religion? When I think about it we are, of all the schools of Buddhism, known for our ‘hands on practical approach’. Yes, and we certainly are organized too, however from where I sit life would be a shambles without it! Now the ‘religion’ part I can see how you might be struggling. Nothing is an obstacle in the end of course…
So for all the people who will be in flight soon, including my correspondent, here is a short scripture which I recite silently when taking off and landing:
Invocation for the Removal of Disasters
Adoration to all the Buddhas.
Adoration to the limitless teaching.
Peace! Speak! Blaze Up! Open!
To the glorious, peaceful One
For Whom there is no disaster,
Hail! Hail! Hail!
Zen is a Religion Thanks to RB for quoting Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennet on the subject of religion.
Remind us of what is important
Link lay and monastic training
Spiritual encouragement
Inspiration
Teaching
This is what one reader came up with when asked about what she saw as being offered here. My purpose in asking was to get a sense of the balance of articles and where it would be good to make adjustments.
What is not mentioned in the list is links to films. Here’s one to be going along with. The Year of the Dog it shows promises. Maybe a candidate for a Dharmaflix review. It’s a film about what it means to devote yourself to something other than your fears and desires, to shed that hard, durable shell called selfishness. It is, rather remarkably, an inquiry into empathy as a state of grace. And if that sounds too rarefied for laughs, rest assured, it’s also about a stone-cold beautiful freak.
Thanks Angie for the feed-back and Mike in Edmonton for the link to the film.
I look at that list above and think, Yep, that’s what this blog offers me! Thanks folks, all of you, for your kind support and encouragement to keep on writing.