Daily Dharma

I think/feel/perceive/intuit/experience Vipassana as a less complicated, more practical way of staying in touch with the here and now. Vipassana does away with the intellectual and leaves thought alone. With the focus on breath and sensation one doesn't get caught up in the gimmicks of therapies. The passive awareness of an objective mind is critical to the here and now. By sitting daily morning and night the mind becomes purer by nature and "who I am" appears. Down deep all of us are kind loving people who have a lot to give. Life has so much negativity in it, not in and of itself, but it's the energies we are exposed to.

[...from the letter of Rick Smith, written on July 26, 2006 to Jonathon. Republished in Letters from the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars. Available for pre-order]

Daily Dharma

You have it already. You just can't feel it because your mind is making too much noise.

[...from The Power of Now by Ekhart Tolle]

Daily Dharma

And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.

—Friedrich Nietzsche

[...from the May 6^th entry in Transform Your Life: A Year of Awareness Practice by Cheri Huber]

Daily Dharma

Experiencing our emotions fully, without wallowing in them or turning away, allows us to break through the layers of protective armor and connect with the heart. Fully felt, our emotions can clear the path to the deep well of compassionate love that is the essence of our being. From the wider perspective of the witness, the limited sense of "self"—coiled tightly around unwanted emotions—begins to expand. We then see this "self" for what it is: a complex of deeply held beliefs, physical sensations, and distant memories. And we are free to receive all the world.

[...from Saying Yes to Life, Even the Hard Parts by Ezra Bayda, pg. 41]

Daily Dharma

Like milk,
evil deeds do not sour immediately.
Instead, the souring follows the fool
through time,
hidden until it ripens.

Knowledge and fame are the ruination of a fool.
Pride destroys the fool's illumination.
It destroys her wisdom.

A fool wants recognition,
pride for qualities he does not have,
authority over others,
and honor from people
near and far.

"Let people think
things happen because of me.
Let them obey me in all ways
great and small."
These are the thoughts of a fool
whose conceit grows.

The truth is that one path leads to
worldly gain;
another, to enlightenment.
Knowing this, those who are
students of Buddha
train themselves
not to delight so much
in the favors of the world,
but to stay detached.

[...from the Still Point Dhammapada, Chapter 5 - THE FOOL, pgs. 32-33]

Daily Dharma

In this tradition of Buddhist meditation, teachers are referred to as kalyana mitta. This is a word in the Pali language meaning "spiritual friend." The Buddha himself was known as a kalyana mitta, in that out of compassion he pointed the way to liberation.

One of the Buddha's disciples once said to him: "It seems, venerable sir, that half the holy life is having good spiritual friends." Each of us can benefit greatly from having friends who genuinely support our spiritual journey.

[...from the Insight Meditation Workbook, part on audio program by Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein, pg. 7]

Daily Dharma

Mere knowledge of the process of death and practices concerned with it is not sufficient; you must gain familiarity with these over months and years. If now, when the senses are still clear and mindfulness has not degenerated, your mind is not made serviceable to and familiar with the way of virtue, it will be difficult—when dying—for the mind to proceed of its own accord on a strange path. When dying, you may be physically weak from illness and mentally depressed from terrible fear. Therefore it is necessary to become intimate with the practices related to dying. There is no substitute. There is no pill.

[...from Advice on Dying and Living a Better Life by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, pg. 59-60]

Daily Dharma

Obiesance to the Guru Manjushri

I and all beings throughout space and without exception
Go for refuge until the ultimate of enlighenments
To the past, present, and future Buddhas, the Doctrine,
   and the Spiritual Commuinity.
May we be released from the frights of this life, the
   intermediate state, and the next.

May we extract the meaningful essence of this life
   support
Without being distracted by the senseless affairs of this
   life,
Since this good foundation, hard to gain and easy to
   disintegrate,
Presents an opportunity of choice between profit and
   loss, confort and misery.

May we realize that there is no time to waste,
Death being definite but the time of death indefinite.
What has gathered will separate, what has been
   accumulated will be consumed without residue.
At the end of a rising comes descent, The finality of
   birth is death.

May we be relieved from overwhelming suffering due to
   the various causes of death
When in this city of erroneous conceptions of subject
   and object
The illusory body composed of the four impure elements
And consciousness are about to separate

May we be relieved from mistaken appearances of
   non-virtue
When, deceived at the time of need by this body
   sustained so dearly,
The frightful enemies--the lords of death--manifest
And we kill ourselves with the weapons of the three
   poisons of lust, hatred, and bewilderment

May we remember instructions for practice
When doctors forsake us and rites are of no avail,
Friends have given up hope for our life,
And we are left with nothing else to do.

May we have the confidence of joy and delight
When food and wealth accumulated with miserliness are
   left behind
And we separate forever from cherished and longed for
   friends,
Going alone to a perilous situation.

May we generate a powerful mind of virtue
When the elements--earth, water, fire, and wind--
   dissolve in stages
And physical strength is lost, mouth and nose dry and
   pucker,
Warmth withdraws, breaths are gasped, and rattling
   sounds emerge.

...from Advice on Dying And Living a Better LIfe by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Daily Dharma

Being a buddhist, I accept that nothing lasts, and that impermanence, suffering, and absence of solid reality are the three marks of existence. Saying this is one thing; living it is another. The actual presence of a chronic, disabling, possibly life-threatening disease is a relentless and vivid reminder of death. It wonderfully accelerates your spiritual journey.

[...from On Being Unable to Breathe, an essay by Stephen T. Butterfield in the March 1988 issue of The Sun. Republished in Stubborn Light: A Collection of Writings from the Second Decade of the Sun, pg. 521]

Daily Dharma

Practice is about learning to be kind, but we will never be kind until we truly experience our unkindness.

[...from At Home in the Muddy Water: A Guide to Finding Peace within Everyday Chaos by Ezra Bayda, pg 37]

Daily Dharma

The matter of birth-and-death is a grave one.
Impermanence will be upon us too soon.
Each of us should strive for Enlightenment with diligence.

[...quoted from an article in Still Point, the Dharma Rain Zen Center Newsletter, June 1995]

Daily Dharma

If I am looking for a relationship to make me happy, to give me what I won't give myself, I am almost certainly headed for disapointment.

Why?

If I am unable to do these things for myself, no other person will ever be able to give me enough to ensure I have a lasting sense of well-being. That just does not come from the outside. Only I can truly do that for myself.

[...from Be the Person You Want to Find: Relationship and Self-Discovery by Cheri Huber, pg. 183]

Daily Dharma

In the Lotus Sutra, a bodhisattva named Wondrous Sound was able to speak to each person in his or her own language. For someone who needed the language of music, he used music. For those who understood the language of drugs, he spoke in terms of drugs. Every word the Bodhisattva Wondrous Sound said opened up communication and helped others transform. We can do the same, but it takes determination and skillfulness.

[...from The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh, pg. 90]

Daily Dharma

Wholeheartedly, day and night, a disciple of the Buddha should recite and meditate on the Eight Realizations discovered by the Mahasattvas, the Great Beings.

The First Realization is the awareness that the world is impermanent. All political regimes are subject to fall; all things composed of the four elements are empty and contain the seeds of suffering. Human beings are composed of the five skandhas, aggregates, and are without a separate self. They are always in the process of change - constantly being born and constantly dying. They are empty of self, without sovereignty. The mind is the source of all confusion, and the body is the forest of all impure actions. If we meditate on these facts, we can gradually be released from samsara, the round of birth and death.

The Second Realization is the awareness that more desire brings more suffering. All hardships in daily life arise from greed and desire. Those wiht little desire and ambition are able to relax their bodies and minds, free from entanglement.

The Third Realization is that the human mind is always searching for possessions and never feels fulfilled. This causes impure actions to ever increase. Bodhisattvas however, always remember the principle of having few desires. They live a simple life in peace in order to practice the Way, and consider the realization of perfect understanding as their only career.

The Fourth Realization is the awareness of the extent to which laziness is an obstacle to practice. For this reason, we must practice diligently to destroy the unwholesome mental factors, which mind us, and to conquer the four kinds of Mara, in order to free ourselves from the prisons of the five aggregates and the three worlds.

The Fifth Realization is the awareness that ignorance is the cause of the endless round of birth and death. Therefore, Bodhisattvas always remember to listen and learn in order to develop their understanding and eloquence. This enables them to educate living beings and bring them to the realm of great joy.

The Sixth Realization is the awareness that poverty creates hatred and anger, which creates a vicious cycle of negative thoughts and activity. When practicing generosity, Bodhisattvas consider everyone, friends and enemies alike, as equal. They do not condemn anyone's past wrongdoing, nor do they hate those who are presently causing harm.

The Seventh Realization is that the five categories of desire lead to difficulties. Although we are in this world, we should try not to be caught up in worldly matters. A monk, for example, has in his possession three robes and one bowl. He lives simply in order to practice the Way. His precepts keep him free from attachment to worldly things, and he treats everyone equally and with compassion.

The Eighth Realization is the awareness that the fire of birth and death is raging, causing endless suffering everywhere. We should take the Great Vow to help everyone, to suffer with everyone, and to guide all living beings to the realm of great joy.

[...from The Sutra on the Eight Great Realization of Great Beings, translation and commentary by Thich Nhat Hanh]

Daily Dharma

A Native American grandmother was talking to her grandson about how she felt.

She said, "I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is vengeful, angry, violent. The other wolf is loving and compassionate."

The grandson asked her "Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?"

The grandmother answered, "The one I feed."

[...quoted in Zencast No. 6 - Mindfulness and Peace by Gil Fronsdal (Source Unknown)]

Daily Dharma

All suffering comes from the wish for your own
     happiness.
Perfect Buddhas are born from the thought to help
     others.
Therefore exchange your own happiness
For the suffering of others—
     This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

[...from The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas an oral teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, pg. 42]

Daily Dharma

We set goals that we think will guide us through the course of life. But we forget that our goals are not so much conscious choices as they are aggregates of our innate disposition, our particular conditioning, and ever-changing life circumstances. To think that we can will our destiny is a false prop, the vanity of needing to see ourselves as the agent of change.

[...from Saying Yes to Life (Even the Hard Parts) by Ezra Bayda, pg. 79]

Daily Dharma

The organic gardner does not think of throwing away the garbage. She knows that she needs the garbage. She is capable of transforming the garbage into compost, so that the compost can turn into lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, and flowers again.

[...from Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh, pg. 30 on Turning Garbage into Flowers]

Daily Dharma

In Zen, we are invited to see life as a question. We are encouraged to open to the 'don't know' mind and to embrace the insecurity of uncertainty. This does not make us confused; on the contrary it allows us to wonder at life like a child and to find marvels in the most ordinary. This is not an intellectual inquiry, we need to be engaged with the whole of our being. It is said that we have to question with the marrow of our bones and the pores of our body.

[...from Thorson's Principles of Zen by Martine Batchelor, pg. 16-17]

Daily Dharma

The section of the Samyutta-nikaya known as the Sutra of the Turning of the Wheel of the Law recordds the teaching of the Four Noble Truths to the ascetics in Deer Park as follows:

Monks! Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering. To be united with what is hated is suffering. To be parted from what is loved is suffering. Not to obtain what is sought is suffering. In short, attachment to the five aggregates is fuffering. This, then, is the noble truth of suffering.

Monks! It is craving that leads to rebirth, is connected to joy and greed, and continually finds pleasure and delight now here, now there. It is the craving for sensuous desires, the craving for existence, and the craving for nonexistence. This, then, is the noble truth of the cause of suffering.

Monks! Craving can be cast off and destroyed, abandoned and rejected. Release and nonattachment to craving [are possible]. This is the noble truth of the termination of suffering.

Monks! This is the noble truth of the Way to the termination of suffering: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

[...from Essentials of Buddhism: Basic Terminology and Concepts of Buddhist Philosophy and Practice by Kogen Mizuno, page 152.

Daily Dharma

In the strength of your resolve
you will discover true bliss.

[...from the chapter on HEEDFULNESS in the Still Point Dhammapada, page 11]

Daily Dharma

A Loving-Kindness Practice

1. Toward Yourself

May I dwell in the open heart.
May I attend to whatever clouds the heart.
May I be awake in the moment, just as it is.
May the awakened heart be extended to all beings.

2. Toward a Loved One

May you dwell in the open heart.
May your suffering be healed.
May you be awake in this moment, just as it is.
May the awakened heart be extended to all beings.

3. More Rounds Toward Others Close to You

May you dwell in the open heart.
May your suffering be healed.
May you be awake in this moment, just as it is.
May the awakened heart be extended to all beings.

4. Last Round: Toward All Beings

May the hearts of all beings be awakened.
May the suffering of all beings be healed.
May all beings be awake in this moment, just as it is.
May all beings awaken their hearts to one another.

[...from being zen by Ezra Bayda, pages 123-126]

Daily Dharma

We are constantly striving to avoid sickness and death,
Fend off hunger, find some rest, or just get to sleep.
We receive harm from inner and outer obstacles,
And waste our lives in meaningless company.

Thus, our life passes swiftly without any meaning,
And we find it very hard to realize emptiness.
In such a state, where is there a method to reverse
The deluded wanderings of the mind, with which
we are so familiar?

                        - Santideva

[...from Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, pg. 181]

Daily Dharma

Your purity
and
your impurity
depend on you.
Completely.
This is not
someone else's work.

Do not neglect your own spiritual efforts
for the sake of others' welfare,
even when there is need.
Instead, find your own
spiritual path
and then, seeing it clearly,
follow it with earnestness.

[...from Chapter 12 on SELF in The Still Point Dhammapada, page 82]

Daily Dharma

Mercy! It resides in every human soul.

That is why, when you show pity to someone who is suffering, another will show you pity when your day has come to suffer.

If you help someone, believe me another will help you someday because we are all connected to each other, every living thing.

[...from the back cover of Buddha Vol. 8: Jetavana by Osamu Tezuka]

Daily Dharma

I have taught the Dhamma in full, and  if one undertands the meaning of even a stanza of four lines of Dhamma, and is set on living in accordance with it, one may be called widely learned, one who knows Dhamma by heart.

[...the August 11th verse from the Digital Buddha Vacana]

Daily Dharma

Suzuki Roshi had been quite ill. He had been falsely diagnosed with infectious hepatitis and had gone to the hospital for more tests. I went to visit him just as his lunch was served.

He motioned me to come and sit next to him at the edge of the bed. As I crossed the room he mouthed the words "I have cancer." When I sat next to him he leaned over and took a bit of food on his fork and put it into my mouth. "Now we can eat off the same plate again." He said it as if the new diagnosis were some big gift.

[...from To Shine One Corner of the World: Moments wiht Shunryu Suzuki, edited by David Chadwick]

Daily Dharma

And how is one contented? Concerning this, one is satisfied with a robe to protect the body and with food to satisfy the stomach. Having accepted enough, he goes on his way as a bird with wings flies here and there, taking nothing but its wings.

[...from the July 15th entry in the Digital Buddha Vacana, a digital version of the book Buddha Vacana: Sacred Literature of Buddhism.]

Daily Dharma

DEPRESSION: Life's way of keeping our emotions from happening all at once.

Depression can actually be a way of taking care of ourselves. It can be protection, solace, comfort. We can view it like a soft blanket we can wrap up in.

It's no accident that when people get depressed they often go to bed and eat. We attempt to return to a sort of infant state. We reduce the world to a simple sleep and eat state. Get into a warm place; get tummy full of food. We want to be little and taken care of.

This slows us down and gives us time to find the line between denying ourselves and indulging ourselves. It helps us discover what we really need.

[...from The Depression Book by Cheri Huber, pg. 70]

Daily Dharma

One may not be skilled in the habit of other's throughts but at least one can make this resolve: "I will be skilled in the habit of my own thoughts." This is how you should train yourself, and this is how it is done. A woman, a man or a youth fond of self-adornment, examining his reflection in a bright, clear mirror or a bowl of clear water might see a blemish or a pimple and try to remove it. And when he no longer sees it there, he is pleased and satisfied and thinks: "It is an advantage to be clean."

In the same way, one's introspection is most fruitful in good states when one thinks: "Am I usually greedy or hateful, overcome by sloth and torpor, with excited mind or filled with doubt or anger, or am I not? Do I usually live with soiled thoughts, or clean thoughts? With body passionate or not, sluggish or full of energy, uncontrolled or well controlled?"

If on self-examination one finds that he does live with these evil unprofitable states, then he must put forth extra desire, effort, endeavor, exertion, energy, awarenees and attention to abandon them.

And if on self-examination he finds that he does not live with the evil and unprofitable states, he should make an effort to establish those profitable states and further destroy the defilements.

[...from the April 20th entry in the Digital Buddha Vacana, a digital version of the book Buddha Vacana: Sacred Literature of Buddhism. I use the Palm OS version but it is available online and you can download it for other platforms.]

Daily Dharma

Energy arises when one has a clearcut direction. One knows exactly where one is going and keeps at it. But when the mind has no clear concept of what it's actually trying to accomplish other than staying alive physically, not much energy is produced. It's not fascinating or interesting and the subconscious mind knows already that it's a lost cause. Nobody can survive. To use one's strength and direction just for survival is not a fruitful undertaking and real energy will not arise. On the contrary, one feels bogged down and oppressed by it.

The Buddha compared sloth and torpor with being in prison. When one is in prison in a little cell, there's nothing one can do until somebody opens the door. When the mind is beset by lethargy and drowsiness (lethargy is in the body and drowsiness is in the mind) it is imprisoned to the extent that one can only just rouse up enough energy to do the most necessary things.

Most people don't know and don't accept that meditation is a necessity and so the mind easily gives up. One has to be clear about the efficacy of meditation. It's not only necessary to eat, sleep, wash and dress. These are automatic survival techniques, and don't need a lot of energy. They are instinctive. But meditation needs energy and that can only be aroused if one knows the importance of it, if the mind is quite clear that this is what one really must do.

[...from Five Hindrances... the 5th chapter in Being Nobody, Going Nowhere by Ayya Khema, pg. 75]

Daily Dharma

If you do not wait until the end for the knowledge that you will die to sink in, and you realistically assess your situation now, you will not be overwhelmed by superficial, temporary purposes. You will not neglect what matters in the long run. It is better to decide from the very beginning that you will die and investigate what is worthwhile. If you keep in mind how quickly life disappears, you will value your time and do what is valuable.

Everyone tries to remove superficial pain, but there is another class of techniques concerned with removing suffering on a deeper level—aiming at a minimum to diminish suffering in future lives and, beyond that, even to remove all forms of suffering for oneself as well as for all beings. Spiritual practice is of this deeper type.

[...from Advice on Dying and Living a Beter Life by His Holiness the Dalai Lama pg. 51-52]

Daily Dharma

Great Faith might come upon someone suddenly, but generally it grows with practice. At the beginning, it is more like a belief and we feel rather separate from it. But as we continue, we see some changes in ourselves, we stop grasping so much at details, we open to possibilities, and peace and clarity become more familiar. We see ourselves better, we start to have faith in ourselves and the Zen practice.

[...from Thorson's Principles of Zen by Martine Batchelor pg. 13]

Daily Dharma

The Four Great Vows

All beings one body I vow to liberate.
Endless blind passions I vow to uproot.
Dharma gates without number I vow to penetrate.
The Great Way of Buddha I vow to attain.

Daily Dharma

The Basement and the Living Room

Let us use a house to represent our consciousness. We can identify two parts: the basement is the store consciousness and the living area is mind consciousness. Internal formations, like anger, rest in the store consciousness—in the basement—in the form of a seed, until you hear, see, read or think of something that touches your seed of anger. Then it comes up and manifests on the level of you mind consciousness, your living room. It manifests as a zone of energy that makes that atmosphere in your living room heavy and unpleasant. When the energy of anger comes up, we suffer.

Whenever anger manifests, the practitioner immediately invites the energy of mindfulness to manifest also, through the practice of mindful walking and mindful breathing. This way, another zone of energy—the energy of mindfulness—is created. It is so important to learn how to practice walking and breathing mindfully, how to practice cleaning and working mindfully, how to practice mindfulness in our daily life. Then, every time a negative energy manifests, we will know how to generate the energy of mindfulness in order to embrace it and take care of it.

[...from Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Nhat Hanh, pg. 170-171]

Daily Dharma

Think about anger. Everyone experiences a flash of anger welling up in some circumstance or other. But anger can only continue to grow when it's fed by thought. Prajna is the wisdom to notice anger before it becomes a problem, to see clearly why you feel angry and what that feeling of anger really is (and is not). This goes much deeper than just saying, "I'm angry because he called me a panty-waist with carburetor breath." Why does an insult make you angry? Who is the "you" that has been insulted? What is the "you" that can get angry?

[...from Hardcore Zen by Brad Warner, pg. 68]

Daily Dharma

The Maha Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra

The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion from the
deep practice of Prajnaparamita perceived the
emptiness of all five skandas an delivered all
beings from their suffering.

O Sariputra, form is no other than emptiness,
emptiness no other than form.
Form is emptiness, emptiness form.
The same is true of feeling, thought, impulse and
consciousness.

O Sariputra, all dharmas are empty.
They are not born or annihilated.
They are not defiled nor immaculate.
They do not increase nor decrease.
So in emptiness no form, no feeling, no thought, no
impulse, no consciousness.

No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no form,
sound, smell, taste, touch, or objects of mind, no
realm of sight, no realm of consciousness.

No ignorance, nor extinction of ignorance, no old
age and death, nor extinction of them.

No suffering, no cause of suffering, no cease from
suffering, no path to lead out of suffering,
no knowledge, no attainment, no realization, for
there is nothing to attain.

The Bodhisattva holds on to nothing but
Prajnaparamita therefore the mind is clear of any
delusive hindrance.
Without hindrance there is no fear,
away from all perceived views one reaches final nirvana.

All Buddhas of past, present and future through
faith in Prajnaparamita attain to the highest perfect
enlightenment.

Know then the Prajnaparamita is the great
dharani, the radiant peerless mantrum, the utmost
supreme mantrum, which is capable of allaying all
pain.
This is true beyond all doubt.

Proclaim now the highest wisdom, the
Prajnaparamita.

Gate, Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi, Svaha!
Gate, Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi, Svaha!
Gate, Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi, Svaha!

Daily Dharma

The Six Points of Posture

Sitting meditation begins with good posture. Awareness of the six points of posture is a way to be really relaxed and settled in the body. Here are the instructions:

1. Seat: Whether you're sitting on a cushion on th floor or in a chair, the seat should be flat, not tilting to the right or left, or to the back or front.
2. Legs: The legs are crossed comfortably in front of you--or, if you're sitting in a chair, the feet are flat on the floor, with the knees a few inches apart.
3. Torso: The torso (from the head to the seat) is upright, with a strong back and an open front. If sitting in a chair, it's best not to lean back. If you start to slouch, simply sit upright again.
4. Hands: The hands are open, with palms down, resting on the thighs.
5. Eyes: The eyes are open, indicating the attitude of remaining awake and relaxed wiht all that occurs. The eye gaze is slightly downward and directed about four to six feet in front of you.
6. Mouth: The mouth is very slightly open so that the jaw is relaxed and air can move easily through both the mouth and nose. The tip of the tongue can be placed on the roof of the mouth.

Each time you sit down to meditate, check your posture by running through these six points. Anytime you feel distracted, bring your attention back to your body and these six points of posture.

[...from Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings by Pema Chödrön, pg. 15]

Daily Dharma

About a hundred years ago in Korea there was a young woman who was about to be married. In those days marriages were arranged through a go-between. It was the custom that a bride would not know or even see her prospective marriage partner until the day of the ceremony. Hearing that the arrangements had been completed, the woman became quite excited, also very anxious. After all, her marriage would be the most important deciding factor of the rest of her life, and she didn't know exactly what was going to happen. She started thinking: "What will my husband be like? Handsome or ugly? I'd like a handsome man. Will he be kind or will he be inconsiderate? Oh, I so want a kind husband." Then she was also thinking, "I wonder if he'll be stupid or smart? I really would like to have a smart and clever husband. I hate dull men." Then she started to think about her mother-in-law to be.

In Korea at that time the wife went to live with the husband's family. Since life for a woman was bound to family and home, the mother-in-law controlled the new wife's whole life. So she was just as worried about her mother-in-law as about her prospective husband. "What will this women be like? Will she be a tyrant? Will she be mean? Or, will she be kind and generous?" She thought about all this a lot, for months in advance -- thinking and thinking. Then, just the day before the ceremony she had to go to her sister's village for the final fitting of her wedding dress. Korea is quite mountainous; so she had to cross a low pass to get to the village. As she walked, she was thinking about her marriage and since it was close to the wedding day, her mind was reeling. Then, just as she came to the top of the pass and started down towards the village, a tiger jumped out in front of her...... "Grrrrrrrrrhh!!!" That's the end of the story as we know it.

To some, this story is sad because we have expectations. But this woman is not special because we always meet the tiger sooner or later. But to Zen students this story is interesting because one thing appeared very clear. We might say she got "tiger enlightenment." That means "wake up!" At any moment that can happen to us; it doesn't take a tiger. It's very simple.

[...from the Transmission Speech of Zen Master Dae Kwang, published Fall 1996 in Primary Point. a publication of the Kwan Um School of Zen]

Daily Dharma

My greatest attainment is when I'm tired, I sleep;
when I'm hungry, I eat.

— Layman Pang

Daily Dharma

In many talks, the Buddha spoke about the Threefold Training of precepts, concentration, and insight. The practice of the precepts (shila) is the practice of Right Mindfulness. If we don't practice the precepts, we aren't practicing mindfulness. I know some Zen students who think that they can practice meditation without practicing precepts, but that is not correct. The heart of Buddhist meditation is the practice of mindfulness, and mindfulness practice is the practice of the precepts.

When we practice mindfulness, we generate the energy of the Buddha within us and around us, and this is the energy that can save the world. A Buddha is someone who is mindful all day long. We are only part-time Buddhas. We breathe in and use our Buddha eyes to see with the energy of mindfulness. When we listen with our Buddha ears, we are able to restore communication and relieve a lot of suffering. When we put the energy of mindfulness into our hands, our Buddha hands will protect the safety and integrity of those we love.

[...from The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Naht Hanh, pg. 82]

Daily Dharma

There are six traditional activities in which the bodhisattva trains, six ways of compassionate living: generosity, discipline, patience, joyful exertion, meditation, and prajna, unconditional wisdom. Traditionally these are called the paramitas, a Sanskrit word meanint "gone to the other shore." Each one is an activity we can use to take us beyond aversion and attachment, beyond being all caught up in ourselves, beyond our illusion of separateness. Each paramita has the ability to take us beyond our fear of letting go. Through paramita training we learn to be comfortable with uncertainty. Going ot the other shore has a groundless quality, a sense of being caught in the middle, being caught in the in-between state.

It is easy to regard the paramitas as a rigid code of ethics a list of rules. But the warrior-bodhisattva's world is not that simple. The power of these activities is not that they are commandments, but that they challenge our habitual reactions. Paramita training has a way of humbling us and keeping us honest. When we pracdtice generosity we become intimate with our grasping. Practicing the discipline of not causing harm, we see our rigidity and desire to control. Practicing patience helps us train in abiding with th restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at their own speed. In joyful exertion we let go of our prfectionism and connect with the living quality of every moment. Meditation is how we train in coming back to being right here. And the inquiring mind of prajna—seeing things as they are—is the key to this training, because without prajnaparamita, or unconditional bodhichitta, the other five activiies can be used to give us the illusion of gaining ground.

[... from Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings by Pema Chödrön, pg. 129-130]

Daily Dharma

Zen is to make one believe, practice, and realize the principle of without thought, without cultivation. What matters is the direct pointing to the true nature of your mind. Therefore, in the five divisions of the teachings there is also, besides the scriptural teachings, mind-to-mind transmission. Worshipping Buddha statues is nothing more than resorting to an expedient for those who do not understand true nature. However many scriptures you have finished reading over the many years, I think you will not understand through them the way of mind-to-mind transmission.

—Zen Master Toui

[...from Don't Know Mind: The Spirit of Korean Zen by Richard Shrobe, page 13]

Daily Dharma

[1] First, train in the preliminaries.

The preliminaries are also known as the four reminders. In your daily life, try to: (1) Maintain an awareness of the preciousness of human life, (2) Be aware of the reality that life ends; death comes for everyone. (3) Recall that whatever you do, whether virtuous or not, has a result; what goes around comes around. (4) Contemplate that as long as you are too focused on self-importance and too caught up in thinking about how you are good or bad, you will suffer. Obsessing about getting what you want and avoiding what you don't want does not result in happiness.

[...from The Compassion Box by Pema Chodron, lojong card No. 1]

Daily Dharma

There was a man so displeased by the sight of his own shadow and so displeased with his own footsteps that he determined to get rid of both. The method he hit upon was to run away from them. So he got up and ran. But every time he put his foot down there was another step, while his shadow kept up with them without the slightest difficulty. He attributed his failure to the fact that he wasn't running fast enough. So he ran faster and faster, without stopping, until he finally dropped dead. He failed to realize that if he merely stepped into the shade, his shadow would vanish, and if he sat down and stayed still, there would be no more footsteps.
— Chuang Tzu

[...quoted in Loving-kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg on pg. 90]

Daily Dharma

Happiness steadily  increases for the person
who is energetic, heedful,
pure in conduct,
and kind.

Persevere.
With your sustained effort,
earnestness,
discipline,
and self-control,
you will make for yourself an island
which no flood can destroy.

[... from Chapter 2 on Heedfulness in The Still Point Dhammapada: Living the Buddha's Essential Teachings by Geri Larkin, pg. 10-11]

Daily Dharma

When we get angry, we suffer. If you really understand that, you also will be able to understand that when the other person is angry, it means that she is suffering. When someone insults you or behaves violently towards you, you have to be intelligent enough to see that the person suffers from his own violence and anger. But we tend to forget. We think that we are the only one that suffers, and the other person is our oppressor. This is enough to make anger arise, and to strengthen our desire to punish. We want to punish the other person because we suffer. Then, we have anger in us; we have violence in us, just as they do. When we see that our suffering and anger are no different from their suffering and anger, we will behave more compassionately. So understanding the other is understanding yourself, and understanding yourself is understanding the other person. Everything must begin with you.

[...from Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Naht Hanh, pg. 126-127]

Daily Dharma

When all we think about is sex, insanity rules. Greed has won, delusion has won, and Mara owns us. None of us are immune. We all have fantasies. It's when they drive the rest of our existence that we are in trouble...

Spiritual practice has the capacity to pull us out of the mire. Buddha's advice was blunt: "Pull the arrow out." Just pull the arrow of desire out, no questions asked, no pondering. If part of what you are feeling for someone or something is true compassion or loving kindness, that will still be there when desire is calmed, and a love free of attachment will start to grow. This is the love that we all really want to give and receive. It is what some call unconditional love.

[...from Stumbling Toward Enlightenment by Geri Larkin, pg. 171-172]

Daily Dharma

Those who have not developed this mind, which is recondite and contains the whole sum of dharmas, wander the compass in vain trying to attain happiness and destroy suffering.

Therefore I should manage and guard my mind well. If I let go of the vow to guard my mind, what will become of my many other vows?

In the same way that someone in the midst of a rough crowd guards a wound with great care, so in the midst of bad company should one always guard the wound that is the mind.

[...from Chapter V of The Bodhicaryavatara by Santideva, v. 17-19]

Daily Dharma

The house we live in is our body. It doesn't matter how many times we move from town to country, from apartment to home, from home to a room or even from one country to another. We take this body with us until it completely deteriorates, decays and is a heap of bones and then only dust. Until that happens, we carry it along with us wherever we move. it's this house we need to make a little more spacious and at ease.

[... from Chapter 2 "Meditation Affects Our Lives" in Being Nobody, Going Nowhere by Ayya Khema, pg. 19]

Daily Dharma

Indeed, it is due to our grasping and rejecting
that we do not know the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in ideas or feelings of emptiness.
Be serene and at one with things
and erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

When you try to stop activity to attain quietude,
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain attached to one extreme or another
you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the Single Way
cannot be free in either activity or quietude,
in assertion or denial.

[... from the HSIN-HSIN MING, Verses on the Faith-Mind by Seng-ts'an Third Zen Patriarch, pg. 6-7]

Daily Dharma

Don't ponder. You don't need to figure everything out. Discursive thinking won't free you from the trap. In meditation, the mind is purified naturally by mindfulness, by wordless bare attention. Habitual deliberation is not necessary to eliminate those things that are keeping you in bondage. All that is necessary is a clear, nonconceptual perception of what they are and how they work. That alone is sufficient to dissolve them. Concepts and reasoning just get in the way. Don't think. See.

[...from the 4th Chapter of Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, pg. 41-42]

Daily Dharma

To have right understanding means to view the world exactly as it presents itself to the eye. That means seeing without imposing any preconceived notions upon what you see. There's often the temptation to categorize things too quickly, and to miss what's actually there. Buddhism challenges its students to experience everything with a clear, objective mind-so they may view people and events as they actually are.

[...from Zen: A Personal Journal, pg. 3]

Daily Dharma

Learning to meditate would not be so difficult if one didn’t need to exist in the world at the same time.

—Dzongsar

[...from Chapter 1 of an Online excerpt of Calm amid Chaos: An Executive Guide to Reducing Stress Through Meditation.]

Daily Dharma

Taking refuge in the Enlightened One (Buddha), the teaching (Dhamma), and the community of enlightened disciples (Sangha) has a deep significance. A refugue is a shelter, a safe place. There are very few safe places in this world. In fact, to find a totally safe shelter anywhere in worldly life is impossible. Physical shelters burn down, get demolished, disappear. Buddha-Dhamma-Sangha is not a physical shelter but a spiritual one, a haven protected from the storm. On the ocean the storms, winds, and waves make progress difficult. When a ship finally reaches the shelter of a harbor, where the water is calm, it can come to anchor. This is what i means to take refuge in Buddha-Dhamma-Sangha.

[...from Be an Island: The Buddhist Practice of Inner Peace by Ayya Khema, pg. 3 ]

Daily Dharma

The reality is that there is no solution to work's inherent chaos and messiness. Work by its very nature will always be uncertain. The good news is that work's messiness and uncertainty need not be distressing. They may in fact, be just what we are asking for.

[...from Chapter 4, Work is a Mess, in Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos by Michael Carroll, pg. 48]

Daily Dharma

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life I am committed to cultivating compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.

[...The First Mindfulness Training from For a Future to be Possible: Commentaries on the Five Mindfulness Trainings by Thich Naht Hanh, et. al... pg. 3]

Daily Dharma

The wise give up
their attachments to everything.
Unshaken by craving,
they are calm with feelings
of both pleasure and pain.

Unjust means are never used
by the wise
to obtain success,
children, wealth, or land.
In fact, unjust means are never used—
even for the sake of others

[... from Chapter 6, THE WISE, in The Still Point Dhammapada by Geri Larkin, pg. 38-39]

Daily Dharma

One of the surprise gifts of loneliness is the gift of time. Time gives us a chance to deepen our spiritual work. We actually have a half hour to pray or meditate or read scriptures. In the ensuing calmness, we can ask ourselves what needs doing so we won't feel lonely. What can we do that isn't dependent on a partner agreeing with our decision? We can volunteer, make new friends, write a poem or song. When we combine clarity about our values with spiritual work, it is difficult to be lonely. Once the women in Buddha's time began to devote themselves to spiritual work, they didn't speak of loneliness again. There was no room for it.

In days filled with chores related to Still Point, a Zen Buddhist Temple located in the heart of Detroit, I can't imagine being lonely. Instead, I crave quiet time where I can simply sit in meditation, feeling its deep grounding and sweet energy. While I'm pleased to have company when I do, I'm as happy being alone. I expect that you'll find the same truth. The more you nurture who you really are, the less you'll need other people. Instead, you'll enjoy and cherish them when they are with you and enjoy the quiet of aloneness when they are not.

...from Chapter Eight The Gift of Bone-Deep Loneliness in Love Dharma: Relationship Wisdom from Enlightened Buddhist Women by P'arang Geri Larkin

Daily Dharma

The mantra of Junje bodhisattva:

Namu Sadanam Samyak Samotda Guchinam Danyata Om Ja Rye Ju Rye Junje Sabaha Burim (three times)

Now that I vow to recite the great Junje Mantra faithfully and to retain great Bodhi-mind, I am confident that I shall be directed to practice through samadhi and wisdom and see the brightness, to do charitable and pious acts, to attain victorious fortunes, and to attain Buddhahood with the people of this world.

The ten great vows:

• I will always stay far from the three evil ways.
• I will quickly cut off desire, anger, and ignorance.
• I will always listen to Buddha, dharma, and sangha.
• I will diligently cultivate precepts, meditation, and cognition.
• I will constantly cultivate Buddha’s teaching.
• I will never abandon the enlightenment-mind.
• I will always be reborn under favorable conditions.
• I will quickly see Buddha-nature.
• I will project myself throughout the universe.
• I will freely save all beings.

...quoted from the Translation of the Thousand Eyes and Hands Sutra in the Kwan Um School of Zen Chant Book

Daily Dharma

Chanting meditation means keeping a not-moving mind and perceiving the sound of your own voice. Perceiving your voice means perceiving your true self or true nature. Then you and the sound are never separate, which means that you and the whole universe are never separate. Thus, to perceive our true nature is to perceive universal substance. With regular chanting, our sense of being centered gets stronger and stronger. When we are strongly centered, we can control our feelings, and thus our condition and situation.

...quoted from the Kwan Um School of Zen Chanting with English Translations and Temple Rules

Daily Dharma

Whoever was greedy and is now free from greed,whoever was hating and is now free from hating whoever was grudging and is now free from grudging, whoever was hypocritical and is now free from hypocrisy, whoever was spiteful and is now free from spite, whoever was jealous and is now free from jealousy, whoever was mean and is now free from meanness, whoever was untrustworthy and is now free from untrustworthiness, whoever was cunning and is now free from cunning, whoever had evil desires and is now free from evil desires, whoever had wrong views and is now free from wrong views—

Thus, I say, one follows the practice worthy of recluses, one getting rid of the same things that stain recluses, the faults and defects of recluses, things that lead to sorrow, rebirth in a bad place

One sees oneself purified of evil unskillful things and freed from them. Then gladness arises, from gladness comes joy, because of joy the body is tranquil, with a tranquil body one is happy, and the mind of one who is happy is concentrated.

One abides with a mind filled with love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, suffusing the first, second, third and fourth quarters of the world. One abides suffusing the whole world— upwards, downwards, across, everywhere— with a mind filled with love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equinimity, abundant, unbounded, without hatred or ill-will.

...quoted from the November 28th entry in the daily Digital Buddha Vacana (freeware for the Palm OS)

Daily Dharma

Meditation is not easy. It takes time and it takes energy. It also takes gr