In my post: Principles Against Some Common Fallacies...
1. Buddhism only values 'self-awareness' insofar as it cultivates humility and compassion.
The point here is that 'self-awareness' is not, in Buddhism, a goal in itself. Buddhism is not about de
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There is a passage...
銀碗盛雪 明月藏鷺 類而不斉 混則知處
“A silver bowl full of snow / a white egret hidden in the moonlight / these are not the same / comparing them we can appreciate [our own] place”
This comes from the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, a medieval Chinese
Saigyo and Dogen were both independent Buddhist monks. Saigyo was, perhaps, even more independent than Dogen in that he seems never to have been strongly identified with one sect, although he clearly did have a great respect for Kukai and, therefore,
Read more…The world is perfectly round
though dented here and there.
Each August it picks up shooting stars
appearing from who knows where
My mind was never so perfectly round
triangular nor square
nor have I recently ever been
a whale, giraffe or koala bear.
Evolving
Nangaku & Baso
There is a story about two monks, Nangaku and Baso. Baso has been practising meditation for ten years. Nangaku comes along.
Nangaku: What is the use of meditation?
Baso: To make a Buddha!
Nangaku picks up a tile. He starts to rub the t
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QUESTION: After a good few years of working hard towards personal improvement and continually tripping over myself, I'm struggling to see any real change in my propensity for being foolish. Given the depth of my defectiveness, how realistic is it to
Here are another two poems by Saigyo. During his lifetime, the political situation gradually deteriorated until the most awful civil war broke out between the Taira and the Minamoto factions. Saigyo had himself been a warrior in his youth and had bec
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