Enlightenment: The Ego, what is it? How to transcend it.

[Guish]

When the mind is at peace,
the world too is at peace.
Nothing real, nothing absent.
Not holding on to reality,
not getting stuck in the void,
you are neither holy nor wise,
just an ordinary fellow
who has completed his work.
~Layman P’ang

[joeecho]

That which searches will always search, it is in its nature, often times not knowing why. There may be found just enough of a tease to drive the search but not enough to stop.

The tangible searches for the intangible but like the invisible, it will never be seen.

[joeecho]

Posted by Guish (here)
When the mind is at peace,
the world too is at peace.
Nothing real, nothing absent.
Not holding on to reality,
not getting stuck in the void,
you are neither holy nor wise,
just an ordinary fellow
who has completed his work.
~Layman P’ang

I can't help but notice the connection between our posts, brother Guish. It's like we were the two depicted sitting on that ledge, if even just for a moment.

[Wind]

[Guish]

[Guish]

I can't help but notice the connection between our posts, brother Guish. It's like we were the two depicted sitting on that ledge, if even just for a moment.

So true. I went into a blissful state reading your post.

[Valley]

Just found this very interesting recently...Anyone heard of him before?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4rVYavSDFUw

[Guish]

Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind become still.
The ten thousand things rise and fall
while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish
and then return to the Source.
Returning to the Source is stillness,
which is the way of Nature.

~Lao Tsu
Tao Te Ching, Verse 16

[joeecho]

I see that I am blind. To see all is to not see at all.

[Guish]

Batsy and Zen. My Perfect combination.

[joeecho]

Posted by Guish (here)
Batsy and Zen. My Perfect combination.

And here I thought I had gotten my meditation right, Batzy. :D

Backatcha

To meditate or not to meditate, that is the question. The answer never heard.

That comic gave me both an inner and outer smile!

I have no ground to stand on, funny how I convince myself 'moment-to-moment' that I do. Funny, still, how the game laughs and cries over me but I also do the same.

If I could transcend the whole thing, the conclusion would have to be one of wonder. And that wonder would be that which brings me back into the game (I had never left, of course).

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU

'They' being the scapegoat, I'm innocent! I also own the Brooklyn Bridge if you're in the market,



If I left my ego, wouldn't it still be a form of I that left?

[joeecho]

[Guish]

~ Become a Lake ~

An aging master grew tired of his apprentice’s complaints. One morning, he sent him to get some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master told him to mix a handful of salt in a glass of water and then drink it.

“How does it taste?” the master asked.
“Bitter,” said the apprentice.

The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”

As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?”

“Fresh,” remarked the apprentice.
“Do you taste the salt?” asked the master.

“No,” said the young man. At this the master sat beside this serious young man, and explained softly:

“The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”

[joeecho]

Posted by Guish (here)

“The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”

What this reminds me of is the phrase: Diffuse the situation.



That is why I see no disrespect when appreciating spiritual humor, as an example. The one thing I can always work on, so to speak, is to see the humor in any given situation I find myself in no matter how sad/ tragic it appears.

[joeecho]

'Who' is enlightened??

[joeecho]

[Guish]

[Guish]

Quiet your mind,
leave human dramas behind.
Connect directly with Nature,
our spiritual mother
and home...

~Tao & Zen

[Clear Light]

Ah, as an adjunct to Bill's thread earlier today, "Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, has passed", here's a little something Zen-like from Tricycle :

CASE #60: Dōgen’s To-Do List

Dōgen Zenji wrote himself a reminder:

To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad
things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away.
No trace of realization remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.

BACKGROUND:

Dōgen Zenji Dōgen Kigen (1200-1253) was the founder of the Soto School of Japanese Zen. Often considered the greatest philosopher of Japanese Buddhism, he was also a man of immense literary gifts. Dōgen’s masterwork Shōbōgenzō (“Treasury of the True Dharma Eye”), from which the present case is taken, is sometimes regarded as a treatise on deep ecology.

COMMENTARY:

Dōgen isn’t deceived when people speak of the Buddha way. He knows it’s the self they’re really talking about. To study the way is another thing entirely.

Go for a walk in the woods, pick up a seashell on the shore—the earth rises to meet your feet, the shell carries itself from the beach in your palm.

We don’t do anything alone, because alone we aren’t anything. Everything together adds up to nothing, and that nothing continues endlessly—eternal, joyous, and free.

VERSE:

Items on Dōgen’s
To-do list: Study the self
To forget the self,
Forget the self, and bring
Myriad beings back to life.

. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .

Now, for what it's worth, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is / was one of the first books I ever read after I first seemingly "awoke" to the true nature of "Reality" back around the years 2003 / 2004

[Guish]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6TGSTOSOvj4

I started the week-end watching this film again. I have been talking about Dogen to trainee on the other thread. I just saw that Joe has retired. Stay blessed Brother.