“All beings by nature are Buddha”, Hakuin Zenji reminds us, “apart from beings, no Buddha”. Without this body, this form, there is no Buddha. So we take our seat for zazen, be it zafu, bench or chair, “belly forwards, buttocks back”. We relax our shoulders, centre ourselves and focus on the breath. Now there is little for the nervous system
This koan is taken from a Chinese sutra published around AD300 and has a fairytale quality. “Long ago, in the land of Teno Tathagata, which is not in our galaxy, a conference was held and many buddhas gathered to attend. Because this conference was for buddhas, bodhisattvas were not qualilfied to participate. Just as the conference finished, and all the
Before Ma-tsu became a teacher, he was training at Nan-yueh’s monastery, one of several hundred monks lost in the crowd. A senior monk noticed how diligent he was and mentioned him to Nan-yueh, who found him alone in the zendo and asked, ‘What is your purpose in doing zazen?’ When Ma-tsu replied, “I seek to become a Buddha’, Nan-yueh picked up
The bodhisattva ideal, where one forgets the self and helps others, isemphasized in Mahayana Buddhism. But bodhisattvas are not just powerful symbolic figures,they are ordinary people who dedicate themselves to the wellbeing of others, to the environment, peace, to social justice. People like you and me. In this talk, Gilly honours three contemporary bodhisattvas and their journey to realisation: the
Bodhidharma faced the wall. The Second Ancestor stood in the snow, cut off his armand said, ‘Your disciple’s mind has no peace as yet. I beg you, Master, please put it to rest.’ Mumonkan Case 41: Bodhidharma Pacifies the Mind The words, life and control, cancel each other out – life is just this! Moment by moment, beyond our control and
Multitudinous messages coming in from marketers and politicians intensify the sense that thefuture’s uncertain and potentially disastrous, that thoughweare all right, it’s the “other” or “others”who are the problem. Our anxiety grows. Our minds already overflow with habits, preconceptionsand prejudices, with ideas about self and other, ideas that have me here, and you over there, eachof us separate and fearful
Waking at daybreak, my sisters and I, dancing with delight, would run to the Christmas tree and tear open our presents. It was the pinnacle of our year – the tinsel and the fake holly – the nativity play at school, the Christmas carols we sang to our neighbours with all those words about joy, goodwill, peace and generosity. The
There are koan stories that obliquely look at blame, shame, getting it wrong, embarrassment and a host of other possible difficulties that every human being, perfectly imperfect, experiences every single day, that reveal how a Zen person is with this stuff. Does a Zen person blush with shame? Quake with anxiety? Flutter with insecurity? If not, why not? Gillian Coote, roshi looks into a couple
Huang-po, instructing the community, said:‘All of you people are gobblers of dregs; if you go on travelling around this way, where will you meet Today? Don’t you know there is no Zen teacher?’ This is the last teisho of sesshin. Later tomorrow when we go forth in the world, the treasure of sesshin is here. We vow to meet Today. In the
In his ‘Song of Realising the Way’, Yungchia says: It speaks in silence In speech you hear its silence The Great Way has opened and there are no obstacles. It’s difficult to practise listening unless our minds become quiet and our thoughts aren’t clamouring for attention, or for expression in speech. We practise noticing thoughts and returning to the count
