For reasons I do not understand, or know how to fix, I am not able to make posts to this blog in the way I am familiar with. This one is being posted via email. Hopefully things will normalize over the next few days. Here a photograph while out and about in the forest above the Gutach Valley.
First establish yourself in the Way,
Then teach,
And so defeat sorrow.To straighten the crooked
You must first do a harder thing –
Straighten yourself.You are your only master.
Who else?Subdue yourself,
And discover your master.
For all followers of The Way. ‘Keep on walking on’.
With a free mind, in no debt,
Enjoy what has been given to you.
Let go of the tendency to judge yourself
Above, below, or equal to others.
The Therigatha
Glad to get out for a walk with my long-time monastic walking companion. We set off with the sun shining out of a blue sky with the wind behind us. Striding out we had a brief Dharma debate on the meaning of renunciation and worldy. What exactly do we understand when we use these words in Buddhism? Fairly quickly the conversation moved on to other things.
Anyway more thoughts on the subject will have to wait until tomorrow when I’ll launch into the first of the ‘Ten Decisions’. The first being….Renounce the worldly.
Buddhas know that, within a disciple’s patience and equanimity born from resolute faith, the Ten Decisions will point the Buddhist trainee towards the fruition of Buddhahood….
From Buddhist Writings, Shasta Abbey Press
Feelings of gratitude come and go in response to having been given something. A present, teaching, advice, the extended hand of friend. And as it has come this day, a tea treat delivered by a man with a van; a gift via a courier service on a clear sunny spring day. Moved to tears earlier in the morning, once again realizing that Sangha friendship is a gift well past what might be exchanged.
During formal meals traditionally taken during zen retreats, and at other times too, we recite the names of the Ten Buddhas out of gratitude. The first one is Vairochana Buddha:
The completely pure Buddha,
Vairochana Buddha,
Dharma itself;
Vairochana is associated with/representative of emptiness or Original Body. With clear eyes Vairochana is manifesting everywhere and at all times, a gift well past what is being made manifest in form.
Thank you Sangha Friends for pointing to the pure body of the Buddha. Tomorrow I’ll enjoy tea, scones and jam with a visiting friend.