Category Archives: Teachings

Information, Teachings

Monasticism and the Environment

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Gethsemani III / Monasticism and the Environment. All of the talks given at this gathering mentioned a few days ago can be downloaded as MP3 files. The following is a small part taken from the statement issued at the end of the conference.

We renew our commitment to the sacredness of the earth, relating to it as a community, not a commodity.

A monk from our Order gave a presentation titled, Monasticism vis-à-vis the consumer society: The Monastic Instinct to Revere, to Conserve, To Be Content with Little, and to Share.

Gassho to Urban Dharma for posting the material so briskly.

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Teachings

The Buddha’s Influence

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Within these Precepts dwell the Buddhas, enfolding all things within their unparalleled wisdom: There is no distinction between subject and object for any who dwell herein.

All things, earth, trees, wooden posts, bricks and stones, become Buddhas once this refuge is taken. From these Precepts come forth such a wind and fire that all are driven into enlightenment when the flames are fanned by the Buddha’s influence: this is the merit of non-action and non-seeking; the awakening to True Wisdom.
Shushogi: What is Truly Meant by Training and Enlightenment – Zen Master Dogen.

Last week when I was on the bus traveling up to Shasta Abbey from the Bay Area I listened to the Shushogi sung by the monks at Throssel on my small mp3 player. The above quote is very familiar since, as a novice, I read it every day along with the Kyojukaimon – (Giving and Receiving the Precepts.) From time to time I’d ponder about what the Buddha’s influence actually is, eventually such thoughts faded away. My monastic colleague has just said, You have to be willing not to need to define what the influence is.

Now I’d ask what isn’t the Buddha’s influence?

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Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Learning from Painful Experience

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A small girl of five was playing on some boulders during a walk in the wilderness. One came loose under her. She and the bolder rolled down a hill. When she and the 100 pound boulder came to a stop it was on top of her. The emergency services came quickly and she was set free.

The girl is now at home in a full body caste. She will be laying supine for six weeks, at least. Soon after the accident a family friend instructed her on breathing techniques to help her deal with the pain. Oh! she responded confidently, as soon as the boulder was on top of me I knew I couldn’t fight pain!

That’s a realization many take years, of painful experience, to come to. And many more years to practice that understanding.

Hang in there Miranda and remember what you know.

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Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Memorial Day

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Everyday is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been, and look at what can be.

Class motto of the graduating class at Columbine High School, Colorado. A number of students from this class were killed April 20th 1999 in the Columbine High School massacre.

“I was really touched with what the students chose as their class motto. Pretty amazing for seventeen and eighteen year olds.” Thanks to Jack for bringing this massive tragedy into the light.

It is Memorial Day here in the US. We held a ceremony in which we remembered those killed in wars, we sang scriptures and invocations and offered merit.

Let us remember those killed at Columbine, in peace time.

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Photo/Poem Series, Teachings

Topsy-Turvy Views

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“We live in the world and we live in the sky,
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Just as the Lotus is not wetted by the water that surrounds it,
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Pure and beyond the world
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is the Mind of the trainee, oh holy Buddha we take Refuge in Thee”

I’ve replaced the as if with, and in the first line of this blessing verse which is sometimes used at the end of ceremonies. Such verses are a statement of spiritual certainty. This one points to the non-dual nature of existence and our functioning within it. The sky, symbolic of that which is without bound, is not separate from the world of work and activity.

What is the cause of topsy-turvy views?

Pictures taken in and around Edmonton Alberta, known as Wide Sky Country. All in all I’d call it Wide Heart Country.

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