apocalyptic buddhism
this only thing
that there is
is NOW
as it is
An Apocalypse (Greek: ἀποκάλυψις apokálypsis; "lifting of the veil" or "revelation") is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted.
Zen and Buddhism
from "Extract(s) from JAPAN AS IT IS published by Gakken Co."
Political and social unrest and the rise of the warrior class in the mid-Heian period gave credence to an apocalyptic Buddhism that laid the foundation for a new Buddhism in the Kamakura period (1185–1333).
This new Buddhism emerged as the Nichiren, Joudo, joudo Shinshuu, and Zen sects--still the leading Buddhist sects--teaching a salvation through grace that was quite different from the intellectual Buddhist philosophy of the Nara-period nobility. These sects taught that simple repetition of 'Namu myou houren gekyou' (I place my faith in the Lotus Sutra) or 'Namu amidabutsu' (I place my faith in Amida Buddha), or meditation in the case of Zen, were sufficient to save one's soul.
With its much broader popular appeal, the new Buddhism spread rapidly, and this was reinforced in the Edo period (1603–1868) by the shogunate's danka system requiring all families to be registered with one of the country's many Buddhist temples. Instituted as an instrument for repressing Christianity, this system also helped the government keep tabs on the people.
Calligraphy: Yamashita_Gen-yu(1832-1934) - "Namu-amida-butsu" @Wikimedia Commons
Kalachakra - Wheel of Time
Kalachakra
कालचक्र Kalachakra (Sanskrit: कालचक्र; IAST: Kālacakra) is a Sanskrit term used in Tantric Buddhism that literally means "time-wheel" or "time-cycles." The spelling Kalacakra is also correct.
Kalachakra refers both to a Tantric deity (Tib. yidam) of Vajrayana Buddhism and to the philosophies and meditation practices contained within the Kalachakra Tantra and its many commentaries. The Kalachakra Tantra is more properly called the Kalachakra Laghutantra, and is said to be an abridged form of an original text, the Kalachakra Mulatantra which is no longer extant. Some Buddhist masters assert that Kalachakra is the most advanced form of Vajrayana practice; it certainly is one of the most complex systems within tantric Buddhism.
The Kalachakra tradition revolves around the concept of time (kāla) and cycles (chakra): from the cycles of the planets, to the cycles of human breathing, it teaches the practice of working with the most subtle energies within one's body on the path to enlightenment.
The Kalachakra deity represents a Buddha and thus omniscience. Since Kalachakra is time and everything is under the influence of time, Kalachakra knows all. Whereas Kalachakri or Kalichakra, his spiritual consort and complement, is aware of everything that is timeless, untimebound or out of the realm of time. In Yab-yum, they are temporality and atemporality conjoined. Similarly, the wheel is without beginning or end.
Dalai Lama audio and video | The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama
"Kalachakra Preliminary Teachings"
Day one of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's three day teaching on Gyalsey Thokme Sangpo's "37 Practices of A Boddhisattva (laklen sodunma)" and Kamalashila's "Stages of Meditation - Middle Volume (gomrim barpa)" given on July 9-11, 2011, that were preliminary teachings to the Kalachakra Empowerment. (www.dalailama.com)
to become a buddha
Shobogenzo
In Japan and the West, the term Shōbōgenzō is most commonly known as referring to the titles of two works composed by Japanese Zen master Dōgen Kigen in the mid-13th century.
正法眼蔵
Shōbōgenzō
whats more: The Ino's Blog: Study Hall - Shobogenzo: (lit. "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye") The term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: (1) It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, (2) it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and (3) it is used in the title of two works by Dogen Kigen... (more @Wikipedia)
道元禅師
Dōgen Zenji (also Dōgen Kigen 道元希玄, or Eihei Dōgen 永平道元, or Koso Joyo Daishi) (19 January 1200 – 22 September 1253) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher born in Kyōto, and the founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan after travelling to China and training under the Chinese Caodong lineage there. Dōgen is known for his extensive writing including the Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma or Shōbōgenzō, a collection of ninety-five fascicles concerning Buddhist practice and enlightenment.
The Ino's Blog: Study Hall - Shobogenzo
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Study Hall - Shobogenzo
There is a simple way to become a buddha: When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no thoughts or worries, you will be called a buddha. Seek nothing else
- 'Birth and Death', 'Shoji'
The Ino's Blog: Study Hall - Shobogenzo
Monday, June 13, 2011
Study Hall - Shobogenzo
In this way, you let go of yourself for the sake of dharma without knowing how many thousands of times you do so. You seek dharma for the sake of yourself without knowing in how many billions of eons you do so. This is the vital activity of following a teacher. This is the activity of practicing yourself and following yourself...
To speak of dharma and practice for others is to hear dharma, to clarify dharma, and to realize dharma, birth after birth. If you have a sincere heart in speaking of dharma to others in this birth, your attaining dharma is easy. Or, if you assist and support others hearing dharma, your study of dharma receives a wholesome effect. You receive the effect in your body and in your mind...
This being so, if you hear a phrase from someone in a far-eastern region, speak it for another in a far-western region. Endeavor in hearing and speaking equally with a single self. Practice and realize an east self and a west self.
Rejoice, hope for, and have the aspiration for bringing buddha ancestors' dharma, the ancestral way, closer to your body and mind. Extend this practice from one hour to one day, then to one year and to one lifetime. Make buddha ancestors' dharma the essential spirit and play with it. This is to live your life meaningfully.
Uplift from 'Self-Realization Samadhi'
('Jisho Zammai')
• see also: whats more: The Ino's Blog: Study Hall - Shobogenzo
"...what you receive with trust is your one verse or your one phrase. Do not try to understand eighty thousand verses or phrases..."
'Face-to-Face Transmission', 'Menju', is a lot of fun; Dogen gets personal, both for himself, and with an ad hominem section in the postscript:
If you do not realize the fruit at this moment, when will you realize it?
If you do not cut off delusion at this moment, when will you cut off delusion?
If you do not become a buddha at this moment, when will you?
If you do not sit as a buddha at this moment, when will you practice as an active buddha?
Diligently examine this in detail...
~ Dōgen Zenji
> whats more: The Ino's Blog: Study Hall - Shobogenzo
Zen Beginner: Reading List
a nice collection with links (SFZC store and Kindle) from "Zen Beginner" - thanks!
"For me, getting involved in Zen practice has involved a lot of reading to help myself get up to speed reasonably quickly. Here's my suggested reading list, in recommended order (which is not necessarily the order I read them in)..."
Suzuki Roshi
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - The Classic. Required reading if you're planning to practice at Zen Center. Seriously, if you're reading this blog and haven't read this stop right now, got get a copy and come back when you're done.
Zen is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki - A collection of short, easily digestible, quotes and anecdotes of Suzuki Roshi. A good one to have handy for idle browsing or if you want a quick something to ponder.
Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki - Not by Suzuki Rosh, but an account of his life and the early years of SFZC. Full of stories that really help to make sense of some of the particularities of life and practice at Zen Center. My favorite is about how the first rule at Tassajara is that brooms should be stored with their bristles up, and every time I've opened a broom closet (which turns out to be a lot) I've found them stored just so.
Not Always So: Practicing the true Spirit of Zen - Another collection of Suzuki Roshi's talks. It's only available in print right now so it might take me a while to get around to finishing.
Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness - Some of Suzuki Roshi's last lectures, discussing the Sandokai which is chanted on a regular basis in services, and particularly during memorials. I'm about half way through so that the first half of the chant is filled with meaning and the second half is still a bit of a mystery.
Reb Anderson
- the most senior teacher at Zen Center and lives at Green Gulch. His two books cover the precepts (which you'll want to read before asking to take the precepts and getting permission to start sewing a Rakusu) as well as a collection of Dharma Talks he's given over the years. - Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisatva Precepts, and Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains: Dharma Talks on Zen Meditation
D.T. Suzuki
- a well regarded Buddhist scholar who wrote some of the first english texts on Zen. He's primarily concerned with Rinzai but these texts are what brought a lot of people to Zen Center in the 60s and 70s so they're helpful in understanding the early history of the lineage and some of the details of practice.
An Introduction to Zen Buddhism | Manual of Zen Buddhism> Zen Beginner: Reading List with links
• see also: The Ino's Blog: Counting To Nine | Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
~ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
stupahead: generosity
Hui-Hai, when asked how one might enter the gate of his school, says, “by means of giving,” literally dana paramita. when asked to clarify he says something startling that might be translated as, “giving means giving up,” or perhaps “giving over,” and adds that all the other practices that make up the Bodhisattva Path are realized through dana. this giving over is what it actually means to be free from suffering in this moment – “naked and free in the midst of the bustling marketplace”. without it even the most diligent practice is just spiritual athleticism and the most meticulous study is empty Zenology. it is what allows us to draw sustenance from the fabric and shape of everyday life and, even at the most difficult of times, find space to turn around.
in any encounter, even the most straightforward, the self-construct stakes out a position because that’s how its works. but, if we pay close attention, it’s easy to see that this act of staking out a position, drawing up categories and making up stories about them is exactly the thing that impoverishes our experience causing us to suffer and bring suffering to others. it’s the source of what the Buddha called “self clinging”. the most intimate request of practice, whether we’re sitting quietly in the Zendo or out wandering around in the World trying not to bump into things, is to relinquish our precious position and move into the very center of the encounter. to stand as close as possible, neither grasping or turning away. this is the essence of dana and, through it, practice is fulfilled.
Sign of the Times: Meditate to Happiness
ABC News | Health
interesting mainstream American TV -
commercial advertising caution
Meditation 101: Tips for Beginners
By EDWARD LOVETT
July 28, 2011
Little by little, meditation is shedding its image as a strange spiritual discipline practiced by monks and ascetics in Asia. Gwyneth Paltrow meditates. Rivers Cuomo, lead singer of the rock band Weezer, meditates. David Lynch -- his movies are strange, but he is strangely normal -- meditates. Meditation has helped recent military veterans deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Beyond celebrities and the military, there's science. A growing body of research shows that meditation has a discernible effect on the brain that promotes various types of health and well-being...
peace action
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Socially engaged Buddhism is a dharma practice that flows from the understanding of the complete yet complicated interdependence of all life. It is the practice of the bodhisattva vow to save all beings. It is to know that the liberation of ourselves and the liberation of others are inseparable. It is to transform ourselves as we transform all our relationships and our larger society. It is work at times from the inside out and at times from the outside in, depending on the needs and conditions. It is is to see the world through the eye of the Dharma and to respond emphatically and actively with compassion.- Donald Rothberg and Hozan Alan Senauke, Turning Wheel Magazine/Summer-Fall - 2008
Wholehearted Connection
Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a community of primarily dharma practitioners established to support socially engaged efforts of visionaries of compassionate social justice and dharma-based organizations for social change.
Mutual Liberation
Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a leader in socially engaged Buddhism, cultivating peace through sharing with others decades of experience, providing donors who value peacemaking to other organizations, and educating the public with dharma-centered views of social justice. We are here to assist in implementing projects that work toward ending suffering in the world.
A Voice for Change
Buddhist Peace Fellowship makes an effort to speak without anger and opposition for those who have been silenced by war, poverty, environmental disaster, genocide, and youth whose lives have been impacted by violence.
CYMD 2008 was organized by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Tampa Bay. Each year we bring together the various traditions of Buddhists from around Tampa Bay to share their insights, teachings, and practices with the general public.
Thich Nhat Hanh: What Is Engaged Buddhism?
see also: whats more: Ram Dass interviews Thicht Nhat Hanh (1995)
One of the best known and most respected Zen masters in the world today, poet, and peace and human rights activist, Thich Nhat Hanh has led an extraordinary life. Born in central Vietnam in 1926 he joined the monkshood at the age of sixteen. The Vietnam War confronted the monasteries with the question of whether to adhere to the contemplative life and remain meditating in the monasteries, or to help the villagers suffering under bombings and other devastation of the war. Nhat Hanh was one of those who chose to do both, helping to found the 'engaged Buddhism' movement. His life has since been dedicated to the work of inner transformation for the benefit of individuals and society.
A World Without Armies
"Advocating Practical Steps Towards a Lasting Peace"
From a series of workshops and a traveling exhibition featuring artwork from school children in Nepal, Poland, Germany, Italy, Costa Rica, the United States, and other countries.
What we must learn is how to deal with that conflict without resorting to violence. At this beginning of the twenty-first century, we are being called upon to face the needs of humanity, in all its tragic urgency. And we must, at the same time, face up to the requirements of the species: this century shall be peaceful or shall not be at all.
— Rodrigo Carazo, President of Costa Rica, 1978-1982
A World Without Armies - Imagine a world without war
"We will bring forth clear and positive messages on demilitarization based on rigorous studies, political experiences, and individual witness and testimony."
A Letter to Participants of the Global Alliance Conference
August 2009
Dear Colleagues of Peace,
Greetings from the U.S. chapter of A World Without Armies! We deeply appreciate your work for peace in the world and peace with the earth. Together with three other organizations, we co-sponsored the First Conference of Women for the Abolition of Armies in Central America by 2020, which was held at the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture and the Universidad de Cooperacion Internacional in San José in 2007. In order to achieve our common goal, our next step is to develop academic studies on the demilitarization potential of every nation. We need to understand the positive elements, challenges, and obstacles for reducing and abolishing military forces in each nation. We need to develop strategies and build concrete processes. It would be effective if people and organizations that are committed to do the work were all connected and collaborating domestically and internationally. We want to see a surge of a movement for demilitarization worldwide.
Your ideas, suggestions, and action reports on demilitarization would be valuable to all those who are concerned. We would like to learn from you, collaborate with you, and share our experience with you. Also, we would like to post some of the communications and photographs from you on our website, www.aworldwithoutarmies.org. Please write to us and we will write to you.
With best wishes,
Kazuaki Tanahashi, Director (see below)
Edie Hartshorne, Co-director
Catherine Margerin, Representative to the Global Alliance Conference
METHODS
• We organize and sponsor peace and reconciliation programs around the world.
• We fund scholars in political science, peace studies, and related fields who are undertaking research on the demilitarization potential of nations.
• We promote Courageous Conversations--friendly and non-polarized discussions that explore the need and steps for creating a world without war.
• We host the Costa Rica Initiative--a women’s initiative for A Central America Without Armies.
• PROJECTS IN PROGRESS SINCE 2002
Gallery: Imagining Peace: International Children's Art Project
A series of workshops and a traveling exhibition featuring artwork from school children in Nepal, Poland, Germany, Italy, Costa Rica, the United States, and other countries.
Kazuaki Tanahashi
Kazuaki Tanahashi, Director of A World Without Armies, born and trained in Japan and active in the United States since 1977, has had solo exhibitions of his calligraphic paintings internationally. He has taught East Asian calligraphy at eight international conferences of calligraphy and lettering arts. Also a peace and environmental worker for decades, he is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science.
The Zen Peacemakers
A Force for Socially Engaged Buddhism
Inspiring | Teaching | Doing
"When you realize the wholeness and interdependence of life, you have to take care of everyone, and to do that, you have to work with every ingredient of life." - Zen Master Bernie Glassman, Founder
The mission of the Zen Peacemakers is to alleviate suffering by:
• developing holistic social service projects that help individuals, families
and communities;
• promoting and supporting Socially Engaged Buddhism throughout the West; and
• inspiring and training a new generation in this way of service as Zen practice.
About Zen Peacemakers blog
Discussions on articles from Bearing Witness, the free monthly online newsletter of Western Socially Engaged Buddhism
Commentary on Socially Engaged Buddhism
Writings of Zen Peacemakers founder Bernie Glassman, including previously unreleased material
Up-to-date news from the Zen Peacemakers Mother House in Montague, MA including:
Montague Farm Zen House
Zen House Residence Program
Montague Farm Zendo and Shared Stewardship Circle
First major Symposium for Western Socially Engaged Buddhism
GlobaLove Think Tank: theft
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Right Side: Balancing Pride
this is from my son's blog - The Right Side - check it out! he makes me proud :)
i love how he has learned to approach life, and share it -
"I pushed my bed against the wall so I never wake up on the wrong side"
You’ve heard it before and know it’s true: life is all about balance. It’s just like surfing. Sometimes the waves are knocking you down and sometimes you’re shredding them with grace and style. Every aspect of our lives needs to be in balance and it takes constant practice and awareness to reach a happy level of equilibrium.
There’s one particular aspect that this applies to twofold: Pride.
First, there’s the sense of outward pride you have with yourself and other people. And I think the golden rule in this sense is to “check your ego at the door”. Humility is a virtue and one that should be practiced by all. It doesn’t matter how much money you make or how popular you are, you’re just as much a human being as every other person on this planet so don’t ever act like you’re better than anyone else. Always stay modest and humble because no one likes the company of a cocky person.
Second, there’s your inner pride, your self-confidence. I think that it’s good be aware of the areas of your life that need improvement because that allows for you to set goals and take steps towards reaching your full potential. But too much attention on your shortfalls can be very unhealthy and cause damage to your self-esteem. We can’t always focus on what we’re not happy with. There needs to be balance. We must also recognize the greatness within ourselves and take pride in knowing that we are amazing people with lots of wonderful qualities.
I think the key to finding balance in this area of our lives is to stay outwardly humble and inwardly proud. Practice modesty and humility in your interactions with others but also make sure to take the time to appreciate and acknowledge yourself for your accomplishments and character. Check your ego at the door then give yourself a pat on the back.
see also
• Master of the Shakuhachi & about Zen & Buddhism
• Dharma Wheel & About Dharma
• Buddha artwork
tag on facebook | buddha artwork by rc
• more buddhist art
Bhumisparsha Mudrā update | Life of Zen
Dharma Wheel & About Dharma
tara 8790 (more)
Vajrapani 100514
Diamond Sutra
buddha cave
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