thenatureofmind

Gay Marriage, Why Not?

Zen Buddhism Obama Hossjin-ji Bukkoku-Ji Takuhatsu Alms ...

Takuhatsu

A Basic Buddhism Guide: Buddhism and the God-idea

Do Buddhists believe in a god?

No, we do not. There are several reasons for this. The Buddha, like modern sociologists and psychologists, believed that religious ideas and especially the god idea have their origins in fear. The Buddha says:

Gripped by fear people go to sacred mountains, sacred groves, sacred trees and shrines. Dp. 188

Primitive humans found selves in a dangerous and hostile world, the fear of wild animals, of not being able to find enough food, of injury or disease, and of natural phenomena like thunder, lightning and volcanoes were constantly with them. Finding no security, they created the idea of gods in order to give them comfort in good times, courage in times of danger and consolation when things went wrong. To this day, you will notice that people become more religious at times of crises, you will hear them say that the belief in a god or gods gives them the strength they need to deal with life. You will hear them explain that they believe in a particular god because they prayed in time of need and their prayer was answered. All this seems to support the Buddha's teaching that the god-idea is a response to fear and frustration. The Buddha taught us to try to understand our fears, to lessen our desires and to calmly and courageously accept the things we cannot change. He replaced fear, not with irrational belief but with rational understanding.

A Basic Buddhism Guide: Buddhism and the God-idea.

When There Is One Thing....

"Where there is one thing, it does not move. I don't move either. The flower doesn't move either. Then it becomes clear."

-Joshu Sasaki Roshi

How To Do Zazen

How to do Zazen - Seated Meditation

4 Qualities of Mind that Alleviate Suffering

1. Metta - Loving Kindness
2. Karuna - Compassion
3. Mudita - To feel joy in the joy of others
4. Upekkha - Equanimity

4 Qualities of Mind that Alleviate Suffering

On Not Being Shifted Around by the Winds of Change

If you want to snatch a bit of leisure while you are busy, you ought to find a handle while you are at leisure. If you want to gain some quiet amidst clamor and noise, you ought first master the art of sitting quietly. There is no one who can otherwise avoid being shifted around by circumstances, fluttering at the mercy of things.

Vegetable Roots Discourse Caigentan By Hong Zicheng Tr. by Robert Aiken w/ Daniel W. Y. Kwok

Linji Revisited

Someone asked, "What do you mean by the true Buddha, the true Dharma, and the true Way? Would you be good enough to explain to us?"

The Master [Linji] said, "Buddha—this is the cleanness and purity of the mind. The Dharma—this is the shining brightness of the mind. The Way—this is the pure light that is never obstructed anywhere. The three are in fact one. All are empty names and have no true reality." -Linji Yixuan (Died: c. 866)

-From: The Roaring Stream Ed. by Nelson Foster and Jack Shoemaker

Linji Mows the Lawn

"Those who have fulfilled the ten stages of bodhisattva practice are no better than hired field hands; those who have attained the enlightenment of the fifty-first and fifty-second stages are prisoners shackled and bound; arhats and pratyekabuddhas are so much filth in the latrine; bodhi and nirvana are hitching posts for donkeys."

- Línjì Yìxuán (Died c. 866): Founder of what was later to become the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism

The Knowable

The limits of the knowable
Are unknowable.

- Eihei Dogen