In my Dharma talk today I suggested that we are now in the fourth age of the Dharma. In the first age of the Dharma Buddha Shakyamuni was still in this world or had recently passed away and people became enlightened by direct encounter with him or wi
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In both turning away and turning toward the element of faith is of crucial importance. Without it the turning does not complete because, panicking inside, we cling on to our old ways. In the case of turning away, one might arrive at th
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Paravritti, turning back, is negation. To turn back or let go is to negate something that was previously considered important.
Western people are often puzzled by the way that Buddhist teachings are often framed in the negative form. W
Read more…“I’m better than these people” “I’ll never be as good as these people” “They’re all cleverer than me” “I must let everybody know that I know important people” “I’ll include in my little speech all the important books and concepts I have read so that
Read more…INSIGHT AND CALM
In the approach known now as Insight Meditation, there are two phases to practise. The first is to calm the mind and the second is “looking into the true nature of things as they are”. In other words, calm is a basis for the developm
Read more…This article is published by Tricycle magazine at
https://tricycle.org/magazine/dogen-and-enlightenment/
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The bodhisattva, having turned back, lives life as a gift, not a trade, in mercy rather than justice.
THE PATH
We have seen how turning back from involvement in the conditioned life of samsara leads one to go forth on one’s spiritual que
Read more…Shan Tao talks about The Three Minds - Sincere mind, Deep Mind and Mind that Transfers Merit for Ojo. Ojo means birth in the presence of Buddha. Because of the Christian association, one might flinch from the idea of being a “born again Buddhist”, b
Read more…Today I did some weeding and also extended the garden path as far as the buried wood mound.
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In the life of Sidhartha Gotama who became Shakyamuni Buddha, there are two great turning points. Both are instances of paravritti, of turning back.
THE FIRST GOING FORTH
The first of these is the occasion of his leaving home. We are to
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There is a famous carving in wood of Amida Tathagata glancing back. This glancing back statue is very famous. The expression on the face of the Buddha as he looks back is both tender and dignified, poised yet concerned.
In the year 1082,
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TEXT
道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。
万物负阴而抱阳，
冲气以為和。
人之所恶，唯孤、寡、不谷，
而王公以為称。
故物或损之而益，
或益之而损。
人之所教，
我亦教之。
强梁者不得其死，
吾将以為教父。
TRANSLATION
Tao give rise to one, one gives rise to two, two gives rise to three, three gives rise to a multitude.
Everyone puts yin behind and embr
Read more…The term paravritti often gets translated by something that sounds rather grand such as a turning around in the seat of consciousness. This kind of translation is not wrong and I have used it myself, but I have to admit that it probably g
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Faith (shraddha) arises in the condition of dukkha, says Buddha in the Nidana Vagga in the Samyuta Nikaya. Dukkha is the circumstance of our being sensitive to living in a world of suffering, a world of birth and death. If we were not sent
Read more…This morning I worked in the forest. I felled a dead tree and gathered wood. Some of this will go for firewood and some will be buried in my next wood-heap garden bed (a small scale version of hugelkultur that I started doing last year and found to b
Read more…DON'T DRIFT INTO DISASTER
This is the first of a series of short essays in which I shall comment on the term paravritti which plays an important role in many Buddhist texts. The word is very close in meaning to “enlightenment”, but with distinctive i
Read more…PRAISE
In the Acchariya-abbhuta Sutta, the monks are discussing how wonderful the Buddha is when he comes into the hall, interrupting their chatter. He asks what they have been talking about and they tell him that they have been discussing his marvel
Read more…SIX VIJÑANA MIND MODEL
One of the ways to understand how conceptions of psychology have changed since the time of the Buddha is by looking at how the model of the mind has elaborated. In the earliest scriptures, the Buddha talks in terms of six vijñan
Zen is
“a special transmission outside the scriptures,
not founded upon words and letters.
pointing directly to the heart,
seeing true nature, become buddha”
教外別傳 jiào wài bié zhuàn
不立文字 bú lì wén zìdo
直指人心 zhí zhĭ rén xīn
見性成佛 jiàn xìng chéng f
