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Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
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Roshi Jeff Albrizze, PasaDharma.org (free, public Koan Study Group resumes Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, 7:00 pm; The Book of Equanimity, CASE 46: TOKUSAN’S COMPLETION OF STUDY
A wash basin is a basething. Today, it would be as if a master asked one to fetch a roll of toilet paper in answer to a question about the nature of the Great Illuminator.
Vii-ro-cha-na means "one who is like the sun" or "the radiating one." In Chinese Vairocana is called Pe-Ru-Gher-Na or Da-Ze-Zu-Lai ("Great Sun Buddha"), in Japanese, Dainichi Nyorai or Roshana, in Tibetan, Rnam-par-snang-mdzad or Rnam-snang ("Maker of Brilliant Light").
Maha Vairocana ("Great Illuminator") in Hinduism-influenced Mahayana Buddhism is conceived of as the "Supreme Buddha." This is how this deified figure is regarded by many Mahayana Buddhists in Far East Asia, Tibet, Nepal, and Java.
In the devotional Mi-tsung sect of China and the Shingon sect of Japan, Vairocana is the chief object of reverence and is regarded as the source of the entire universe -- a Maha Brahma ("Great Supremo" or powerful creator) figure made completely Buddhist.
Tibetan (manjushri.com)
The characteristic hand gesture displayed throughout these two regions is the mudra of the six elements, with the index finger of the left hand clasped by the five fingers of the right. This pose symbolizes the uniting of the five elements of the material world (earth, water, fire, air, and ether or separating space) with the spiritual (consciousness, prana, ch'i).
The other gesture popular in Vairocana statues is in the Dharma-chakra-mudra ("teaching gesture").
As the supreme Buddha, Vairocana is usually located in the center of mandalas of the five tantric Dhyani Buddhas.
In paintings, Vairocana is colored white to symbolize a pure consciousness.
Vairocana represents either the integration or origin of the Dhyani Buddhas. His wisdom is the Wisdom of the Dharmadhatu ("realm of phenomena"). The Dharmadhatu is the Realm of Truth, in which all things exist as they really are.
Vairocana's wisdom is also referred to as the All-Pervading Wisdom of the Dharmakaya ("Body of the Dharma"), the absolute Buddha nature. Therefore, Vairocana's symbol is the dharmachakra, the "Wheel of the Buddha's Teaching." It denotes the teaching of the Buddha. Its eight spokes represent the Noble Eightfold Path. More
Vairocana in Brief Wikipedia entry edited by Wisdom Quarterly
Vairocana is a celestial buddha often interpreted, in Mahayana texts like the Flower Garland Sutra, as the Bliss Body of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of emptiness. In the conception of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is at the center. His "consort" (a popular Hindu concept about gods) in Tibetan Buddhism is White Tara. (In the Tibetan tradition, there is an affiliated female figure for every one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas.)This glorious figure is not to be confused with Virocana, who appears in the eighth chapter of Hinduism's Chandogya Upanishad as the king of the Titans (asuras). More
PHOTOS: ANGKOR WAT (Cambodia) in its state of preservation is unrivaled. Its mightiness and magnificence bespeak a pomp and luxury surpassing that of a Pharaoh or a Shah Jahan, an impressiveness greater than that of the pyramids, an artistic distinctiveness as fine as that of the Taj Mahal.
PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY When food comes, fill the mouth. When sleep comes, close the eyes. When washing the face, rub the nose. When taking off straw sandals, touch the feet. At such times, if you miss the point, take a light and search hard in the depths of the night. How will you meet this? MAIN CASE Attention! A monk pleaded with Joshu, "Your student has just entered the monastery. Please, master, instruct me." Joshu asked, "Did you finish your rice gruel?" The monk replied, "I have finished eating." Joshu remarked, "Then wash your bowl." APPRECIATORY VERSE When the gruel's finished, have him wash the bowl. Suddenly the mind-ground naturally meets itself. Right then the monastery's guest is replete. Tell me: Is any enlightenment in there or not?
Cryptic commentary
Yogi Seven, Roshi Albrizze, Mara Shaeffer, Wisdom Quarterly
Zazen is "just sitting." But mindfulness and clear comprehension (sati-sampajanna) extends to all activities. Just breath, just eat... Not thinking, one is aware. There is no intermediate thought about it, no filtering or distorting. One is aware just of what is. BE HERE NOW. This is it. This is life. This is worth living. What to do? Be. Where to do it? Here. When? Now. Sitting goes to absorption with singleminded concentration (Sanskrit dhyana, Pali jhana, Japanese zen). Therefore, when one is tired, sleep. When one is hungry, eat. (And while eating, just eat). Then wash your bowl. Zen stages of stillness are ecstatic meditative experiences. But to say so destroys the student by setting up expectations. To say that nothing ever happens other than sitting destroys the teacher: Who needs a guru or "Zen Master" if nothing will ever happen? Nevertheless, "After the ecstasy, the laundry." So when you eat, don't forget the dishes.
Banishing a Ghost The wife of a man became very sick. On her deathbed, she said to him, "I love you so much! I don't want to leave you, and I don't want you to betray me. Promise that you will not see any other women once I die, or I will return to haunt you!"
For several months after her death, the husband avoided other women. But then he met someone and fell in love. On the night that they were engaged to be married, the ghost of his former wife appeared. She blamed him for not keeping the promise, and every night thereafter she returned to taunt him. The ghost would remind him of everything that transpired between him and his fiancee that day, even to the point of repeating, word for word, their conversations. It upset him so badly that he could no longer sleep.
Desperate, he sought the advice of a Zen master who lived near the village. "This is a very clever ghost," the master said upon hearing the man's story. "It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every detail of what I say and do. It knows everything!"
The master smiled, "You should admire such a ghost, but I will tell you what to do the next time you see it."
That night the ghost returned. The man responded just as the master had advised: "You are such a wise ghost," the man said. "You know that I can hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one question, I will break off the engagement and remain single for the rest of my life."
"Ask your question," the ghost replied. The man scooped up a handful of beans from a large bag on the floor, "Tell me exactly how many beans there are in my hand."
At that moment the ghost disappeared and never returned.
Commentary
Ghosts are real (lifeslittlemysteries.com).
This story speaks to the way we often let past experiences and subconscious thought patterns crowd out our experience of our present day life.
How do we let thoughts and memories about the past “haunt” us?
When has a self-limiting belief, based on a past relationship, interfered with a current relationship?
Do we have harmful emotional survival patterns subconsciously adopted and, if so, how can mindfulness practice help us see and release them?
How can our Zen practice of being in the moment be related to “counting beans”?
Can this mindfulness help us put painful memories in perspective and loosen our “death grip” of clinging and attachment to how we think things must be?
See the discussion live or participate. PasaDharma has chosen this old Zen story as the group reading for tonight (Thursday, 7:00 pm, Aug. 30, 2012). Roshi Albrizze explains.
When I first read "Banishing a Ghost" about 15 years ago, it didn't make much sense to me. After revisiting it this week, it really opened up for me. The way it spoke to me is that the symbolism of the "ghost wife" is really the way my mind wants to hold on to old stories and conditions as a permanent abiding sense of self. The "handful of beans" symbolizes the present moment and the liberation from the suffering of grasping at thoughts and memories that comes when we commit to being present in the moment, experiencing our everyday activity as the Buddha Way.
Barbara O'Brien (Buddhism.About.com), Special Correspondence to Wisdom Quarterly
The Americans are onto something. If there are Gateless Gates, why not wordless words?
Controversy? I don't see a controversy, although maybe that's because I've been aware for many years that every Zen center and monastery operating with the English language is using a different translation for the Four Vows and the rest of the chanted liturgy as well.
I hadn't realized this was bothering anybody. A big part of the Zen tradition is the understanding that the absolute truth cannot be contained in words and concepts, and so the wording is never perfect.
It's actually interesting to compare various translations to see how different people have struggled to get closer to what is being expressed. No one, however, will ever get it right. I don't see that as a problem; it's just how it is. My current sangha [practice community], which is in the San Francisco Zen Center lineage, chants the Four Vows twice in Japanese and once in English.
The English translation we use is different from the first one I learned, which was the one being used by the Los Angeles Zen Center in the 1980s or so. FYI: The Four Vows Controversy (Zen) Brian Eno, "Sky Saw," from the album Another Green World
The Final Word
Well now that the grande dame of lay American Buddhism has weighed in -- and Richard, Ron, and Don have had their say on behalf of the rebellious ZCLA crowd, a position WQ can cotton to, and Mara is finished researching -- there's nothing left to say. Case closed! Chant in Japanese, and leave it at that. When the words are meaningless, leave them alone. Brian Eno, the famous glam rocker, ambient innovator, and progressive producer for acts like U2, said it best in his abstract song "Sky Saw":
All the clouds turn to words All the words float in sequence No one knows what they mean Everyone just ignores them
Roshi Jeff Albrizze and his wife Amanda have a secret to reveal on or about Doomsday 2012.
What an amazing announcement. Highly impressed doesn't even begin to cover it. Congratulations! I am seriously considering trying to reincarnate this December just so I can have the coolest Hoodoo parents ever! But I guess I'll wait and give some other chap a chance to enter this realm. Looking forward to the baby shower! -Kast
The Zen Center of Los Angeles (ZCLA) has a paper on the four vows comparing different translations, including some of the original language.
Wikipedia also has an excellent article as well on the topic “Bodhisattva vow.”
My final opinion as to what should be chanted has changed every day for the last few days. So I must continue to reflect and research. But I like what I have so far. Zen Master Red Pine made some interesting comments on how he translates his material, when he recently spoke at ZCLA. Combining the meaning with the rhythm and poetry of the words is a big challenge.
"I didn't think we had a choice. I like Jeff's ideas but I want to remain within the Yokoji Zen Mountain Center/ZCLA orthodoxy." -Ron
"For the first vow, I even like this version even more: 'Sentient beings are numberless. I vow to free them.' Free them from my judgments and self righteousness. For desires, do we really want to end our desire for happiness? Or do we want to bring happiness to others? Which desires do we want to want to end and which keep?" -Don
Sisyphus according to Greek legend
"I wasn't aware that all these different centers used different versions of the four vows. Seeing them all (Thank you, Mara!) gives me a different perspective on this issue than I would have had otherwise. AtZCSD we didn't chant any version of the four vows.
"I think of the ZCLA four vows, when I say them, as being sort of an articulation or embodiment of the absurd human condition, in the sense of 'the absurd' being the difference between what one intends (truly, with all one's heart) and what is actually possible. I see them as Sisyphean vows. I'm also used to saying them with the cadence, etc. that we do now and am not all that enthusiastic about having to learn a new way of saying an old, familiar chant.
"But it's fine with me if PasaDharma members who feel strongly about the four vows want to chant a different version of them.
"How about chanting them in Japanese? I'd be fine with that, too. There's something to be said for experiencing the act of chanting (hearing, feeling, forming/creating the sounds, etc.) without being distracted by the content of the chant." -Richard
The Perfect Wording?
As American Buddhists we already change the original words of the Bodhisattva vows from the Zen traditions of China, Japan, and Korea by translating them into modern English. The benefits of understanding -- Martin Luther would agree -- far outweigh what is lost in translation.
Perhaps we should compare translations and find the one that best preserves the meaning of the original wording. That would include their koan/ riddle quality of vowing to attain the apparently unattainable.
Wikipedia has a chart of the original wording used in five languages. ZCLA has notes on the four great vows with the original words and how nine different Zen groups translate them to help us come to a satisfactory interpretation.
1. “Masses [of] creatures, without-bounds, [I/we] vow to save (paramita) [them all].”
None of the translations account for the “without-bounds” state referred to in the original vow which is harming the masses. The translation for “save” comes from the word paramita (a "perfection" developed for the sake of becoming a buddha), meaning “to take over to the other shore.” Using the word “serve” for “save” changes the meaning slightly. Serving people is different from saving them. One can serve people in many different ways, and that may lead to saving them from their “without-bounds” state. “Save” seems like a better pick in words for the original paramita, especially when confronting the without-bounds culture we live in today. “I vow to free them” seems almost as good. The ZCLA site suggests the word “enlighten,” which is perhaps the most specific understanding of the word paramita in the Buddhist context and the only thing that is real salvation. “Enlighten” includes the meanings of both “save” and “free” (liberate). This seems to capture that meaning best:
“Numberless beings are without bounds, I vow to enlighten them.”
“Anxiety, hate, and deluded-desires]” refers to the word klesha(s), which are “mental states that cloud the mind and manifest in unwholesome actions (karma).” The three root kleshas are “greed, hate, and delusion” (or “attachment, aversion, and ignorance”), which lead to many other destructive mental states. The words “delusions,” “desires,” “passions,” “obstacles” come close to the original meaning of the word kleshas. Choosing just one of them leaves out a lot, with the remainder being lost in translation. The Diamond Sangha’s choice of wording seems to be the most comprehensive and closest to the original meaning, without resorting to a long list of the different kleshas. The word “sever,” as in “sever ties,” means “to cut off” and fits better with the rhythm of the chant. As much as we would like to “cut off” a particularly troublesome klesha forever, the best we can often hope for is to sever ties to it. It may yet linger waiting for a chance to arise again:
“Though greed, hatred, and ignorance rise endlessly, I vow to sever them.”
3. “Dharma gates beyond-measure [I/we] vow to learn [them all].”
Using the word “practice” for “learn” does not imply any sense of attempted accomplishment. “Penetration” implies a beginning level of understanding. “Understanding” indicates a higher level of development beyond just trying to actually practicing. Isn’t this what we should be aiming for? The Diamond Sangha’s translation captures the koan possibilities of the vow best, since, if the Dharma is literally fathomless, understanding is impossible.
“Though the Dharma is vast and fathomless, I vow to understand it.”
4. “Buddha Way, nothing-higher, [I/we] vow to accomplish [it]”
“Embody” is a great translation for the word “to become, attain, turn into” (bhavana). Spirit (ephemeral intention) becomes flesh (solid materiality). The Diamond Sangha translation catches the koan-like quality best with attaining the unobtainable.” We realize that the vows are unattainable, but we vow to attain them anyway. Does their adding “fully” to the end make it more meaningful? It is hard to be sure. It throws off the rhythm of the chant a little and takes the punch out of “embody.”
“Though Buddha’s way is beyond attainment, I vow to embody it.”
The life of an American Buddhist practicing, or trying to practice, in the West
So what are we left with?
“Though numberless beings are without bounds, I vow to enlighten them.”
“Though greed, hatred, and delusion arise endlessly, I vow to sever them.”
“Though the Dharma is vast and fathomless, I vow to understand it.”
“Though the Buddha’s way is beyond attainment, I vow to embody it.”
What does everyone think? The rhythm and simplicity of the old vows may fall to the wayside, one might appreciate the depth the Diamond Sangha has added with their translations.
In our fundamental or Theravada Buddhist tradition, we have five essential vows in the Five Precepts:
I vow to abstain from killing.
I vow to abstain from stealing.
I vow to abstain from sexual irresponsibility.
I vow to abstain from deceiving.
I vow to abstain from intoxication occasioning heedlessness.
Without our vows, whatever they may be, we join the “masses of creatures without-bounds.” Of course, as with any translation, ultimately the Buddha was right in extolling the virtues of noble silence. The Sufi poet Rumi famously agreed:
“Silence is the language of God -- All else is poor translation.”
Roshi Jeff Albrizze, Don, Ron, Richard, Pasadharma.org; Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
There are four traditional vows in Zen, a Mahayana Buddhist sect of the Ch'an school as it developed in Japan. They are customarily translated as:
Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them.
Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless; I vow to master them.
The Buddha-Way is unsurpassable; I vow to attain it.
A practitioner at ZCLA (Zen Center of Los Angeles) recently called this translation into question hoping to change it to a new and improved four:
Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to serve them.
Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless; I vow to practice them.
The Buddha way is unsurpassable; I vow to embody it.
Why would anyone tamper with tradition? While Zen Buddhism as practiced in the US is iconoclastic and tends toward rebellion, is it any reason to make this gatha less of a conundrum?
Some Zen Buddhists are recovering fundamentalist Christians. And whenever they hear, "Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them," they can only assume it refers to sex. Population control advocates (who seem to im0plicitly favor mass die offs helped along by government interventions) might be put off by the first vow. And similarly the remaining two vows present their own difficulties.
In thinking about these changes for a few weeks, it seems to me that there are several perspectives about this old Sanskrit hymn (gatha) to sit with.
The old version has always been a bit of a koan, an inscrutable riddle that might lead one to enlightenment when one breaks free or lets go of linear reasoning.
Each vow is impossible to fulfill. Yet, many of us have chanted them daily for many years. They speak of a spiritual intention, a higher aspiration. They are a manifestation of attaining the unobtainable. In this way, "Zen" is bigger than I am, bigger than I can wrap my mind around.
Do we change them now to make them more accessible? Does making them more palatable by using a more devotional translation take away from the spirit intended?
Admittedly, the old translation is a bit cryptic, even clunky. There is a better flow, a clearer connection between the first state mentioned and the vow that flows from it.
Lands and seas [planets and space] are boundless; yet, they are not apart from right here. Things and previous aeons, numerous as the dust, all exist right now. As when one is asked to it face to face, being caught unprepared, one cannot present it. Tell me: Where is the fault?
MAIN CASE
Attention! One day Enkan summoned his attendant and told him, "Go out and fetch the rhinoceros-horn fan." The attendant replied, "The fan is broken." Enkan said, "If the fan is broken, bring me back the rhinoceros." The attendant made no reply.
Later, commenting on this case, Shifuku drew a circle and wrote within it the character for "ox" [True Nature].
APPRECIATORY VERSE
Break the fan and look for the rhinoceros. The word within the circle has prior significance. Who knows the thousand years' darkness of the new moon? It subtly turns into autumn's harvest moon.
Wisdom Quarterly's go-to Zen resource got a surprise late in life -- a pregnancy. The tulku (incarnate lama on the way to being Maitreya the messiah) found its way to the womb of his young wife to become-again. That is how it is with rebirth. But what will s/he become? Isn't it the goal of every American man to mold a son in his image? It's the Mahayana-Judeo-Christian way. The Sky Father did it for his baby "Sun" (Sonny). And astrotheology be darned, the heavenly (Space) Father did it for his Superstar. But it is much funnier when it's a slacker son. That's the way it is with the cartoon saviors of today. Boy meets world in nine (lunar) months. Congratulations!
(IBTimesTV) Young Buddhist novices are usually seen mediating or doing chores for their monastery. However, instead of learning or meditating, these little "monks" played as 37 novices from across the country gathered in Seoul to attend the event at South Korea's biggest Buddhist order "Jogye." The religion with around 10 million followers is about a fifth of South Korea's population. After chanting, the game began, and the kids could not have been happier. A seven year old said he always dreamed of playing soccer. "I prayed to Buddha [actually Amitabha], hoping to play soccer well. And I am happy to score a goal," he said. Seongjin, a monk at Jogye Temple, said the soccer match encapsulated the true meaning of Buddha's birthday: "As we watch novice monks play innocently, we can feel their innocence and happiness as if we feel the heart of [the] Buddha. Also our novices can have fun and their happiness can bring happiness and peace to the world. This is an event where we can share the true meaning of Buddha's birthday," he explained.
