In Zen Buddhism there are so many wonderful teachers and writers that you could spend the rest of your life reading their original books and their translations of the ancient writers. Plus, we have the current teachers and writers taking a particular point of view or sutra or teaching and creating a blog or a book or a lecture from the information. I, of course, happen to be one of them.
Today I begin my new workbook on the world of “peace” as envisioned in my head. The current world is creating peace, love, hatred and fear at an amazingly fast pace due to the internet and social media. Regardless of where others may stand, I stand for peace and love.
Dharmachari Abhaya writes in the preface of Sangharakshite: A Guide to the Buddhist Path, these words:
A fact that is often glossed over in books on Buddhism is that there are two basic modes of conditionality, not just one: two ways in which we can act, one unskillful, the other skillful. The first is known as the circular or, in Sangharakshita’s term, ‘reactive’ mode. This is the mode in which we operate for much of the time, and it is the cause of all our suffering. But there is also a spiral or ‘creative mode,’ in which we can make spiritual progress experience ever-expanding states of happiness and bliss.[1]
For me bliss is the kissing cousin of peace! I’ve never heard anyone say after a meditation where they went in to samadhi… I felt such anger or hatred or fear! No, they haven’t, but they sure do say I felt peaceful, alive, happy, joyous, content, and as many positive descriptive adjectives as you can think of.
It is not easy in America today to live a peaceful life. With what is going on in our politics, wars around the world, poverty and prejudice in America increasing daily and I could go on. It could make you mad, sad, or revengeful and thus not at PEACE! So how do we handle this? By balancing our lives with Buddhist principles, meditation, and mindfulness. By living the teaching, not just by teaching it or reading about it.
Dharmachari Abhaya goes on:
…one should approach Buddhism with one’s total being. One should not just try to feel and not understand, nor just try to understand and not feel. One should not always look within and never look without, nor, on the other hand, always look without, never pausing to look within, there is a time and place for all these things. If possible, we should try to do all of these things all the time. As we ascend higher and higher in our spiritual development, we shall tend more and more to think and feel, act and not act, simultaneously. It sounds impossible, but that is only because of the limitations of our present way of thinking.[2]
What way are you thinking? Will it bring you to a peaceful life and world or bring you to a world of anxiety, hatred, and fear? It’s all up to you. You shape your world by your thoughts, words, and actions…what shape is your personal world in? Love filled or Hate filled…or somewhere in between?
[1] Sangharakshita, (1990). Windhorse Publications: Birmingham, England. page 11
[2] Ibid. page 22
[3] The picture is the logo from an interfaith organization in Fort Lauderdale, FL to which I belonged they have merged with another organization JAM & All where I am a board member. Check out their Facebook page at JAM and All Interfaith.
We feed our mind with many things and what we feed it with can determine who we are, how we treat others, and what will manifest in our lives. Words can be sweet like the taste of a ripe apple in Spring or sour like a pickle that has been soaked in brine for many weeks or months. But it is always up to us which we will eat and which we will share with others. And how we share it…
Haiku for you all to enjoy from one of our Zen students studying “behind the fence.”
There are so many kinds of meditation from the simple Zen method of clearing your mind and counting your breath 1 on the in breath and 2 on the out breath. Then there is the wonderful description by Frances W. Foulks in her iconic book Effectual Prayer where she writes: “To meditate on a subject is to give it attentive, earnest thought with the idea of having all its meaning revealed; that is, all the meaning that one is capable of receiving at the time (page 65).”
The preface of this book is incredible as it reads like he wrote it just yesterday. Although this book was published in 1970 it holds so many wonderful truths about Zen and life I know you will be blessed by your time spent with it.
For thirty years no guests came by;
The Secret to a More Fulfilling Life! Part 1: Introduction Thoughts are Things!
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I saw a wonderful book on my bookshelf by Kazuaki Tanahashi e
ntitled Zen Chants, Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. It made me think of all the affirmations, vows, and chants that I use on a regular basis and how powerful and fulfilling my life has become by using them. Thus, the theme of the new blog series and workbook!
Each chapter will provide you with all you need to know about affirmations, vows, and chants and how– when used consistently and persistently– they can change your life for the better. We will work with some created by others and learn how to create our own.
Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich wrote: Truly, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that…(page 19).[1] Thoughts and things have weight and measure. That’s crazy you say! Yet true it is. Much research has been done on the mind and the affect that our thoughts have on our body.
One of the initial simple studies done was to place some college students (all men at the time) on a seesaw. The participant balanced himself on it, so his body was flat and stable. Then they asked him to think of a very difficult math problem and try to work it out in his mind. Oddly enough the seesaw began to move lower and lower on the end where his head was. Next, they asked him to see himself running in a race with a friend and guess what? The seesaw began to move lower and lower at the end by his feet!
Thus, thoughts have weight and measure! So, when you affirm that you can not do something for sure you can’t! But with time, effort, and persistence and these techniques you will be able to do most anything! I’m not saying you can jump over a mountain or a hill in one leap like Superman and Superwoman, but you can hike to the top that’s for sure.
And so, people have written chants, poems, prayers, affirmations, and songs to help lift us up, to help us think positive, and to help us create a more fulfilling life.
Here are some words of wisdom to start off on our adventure from Yongjia Xuanjiao’s Song of Realizing the Way (page 78).
Thus, with your mind you can encounter the infinite world and create a reality filled with all the good you desire for yourself and others! As Captain Jean-Luc Picard said in Star Trek: Make it so!
[1] Hill, N. (1960) Think and Grow Rich. Fawcett World Library: Greenwich, Conn
[2] Tanahashi, K. (2015) Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. Shambhala: Boston and London
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