PozLotus 9x6's blog: "Thoughts and Quotes"

We Walk, We Eat I remember a short conversation between the Buddha and a philosopher of his time. I have heard that Buddhism is a doctrine of enlightenment. What is your method? What do you practice every day? We walk, we eat, we wash ourselves, we sit down. What is so special about that? Everyone walks, eats, washes and sits down... Sir, when we walk, we are aware that we are walking; when we eat we are aware that we are eating.... When others walk, eat, wash, or sit down, they are generally not aware of what they are doing. - Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Keys

Not-Self Central to the Buddha's teaching is the doctrine of anatman: "not-self." This does not deny that the notion of an "I" works in the everyday world. In fact, we need a solid, stable ego to function in society. However, "I" is not real in an ultimate sense. It is a "name": a fictional construct that bears no correspondence to what is really the case. Because of this disjunction all kinds of problems ensue. Once our minds have constructed the notion of "I," it becomes our central reference point. We attach to it and identify with it totally. We attempt to advance what appears to be its interests, to defend it against real or apparent threats and menaces. And we look for ego-affirmation at every turn: confirmation that we exist and are valued. The Gordian Knot of preoccupations arising from all this absorbs us exclusively, at times to the point of obsession. This is, however, a narrow and constricted way of being. Though we cannot see it when caught in the convolutions of ego, there is something in us that is larger and deeper: a wholly other way of being. - John Snelling, Elements of Buddhism from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

Great Art and Great Dharma The artist's dilemma and the meditator's are, in a deep sense, equivalent. Both are repeatedly willing to confront an unknown and to risk a response that they cannot predict or control. Both are disciplined in skills that allow them to remain focused on their task and to express their response in a way that will illuminate the dilemma they share with others. And both are liable to similar outcomes. The artist's work is prone to be derivative, a variation on the style of a great master or established school. The meditator's response might tend to be dogmatic, a variation on the words of a hallowed tradition or revered teacher. There is nothing wrong with such responses. But we recognize their secondary nature, their failure to reach the peaks of primary imaginative creation. Great Art and Great Dharma both give rise to something that has never quite been imagined before. Artist and meditator alike ultimately aspire to an original act. --Stephen Batchelor, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Vol. IV, 2 from Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith

Here is an analogy that I like to use when thinking about The Universe (God, Being, All That Is...): I like to think of the elm tree. A fully mature elm tree has millions of leaves (they can be over 100 feet tall!). When you think of it, a tree is like a little universe, with all its component parts... There are many parts to a tree: The roots which go deep into the earth to provide moisture and nutrients for the tree as well as stability and foundation. The trunk which is the conduit for all the moisture and food and which provides support for all the branches. The branches which extend upward and outward and support all the leaves as well as providing a connection to the trunk and therefore the roots. The leaves which, arguably, are the most important part of The Tree, provide a mechanism, through photosyntesis, for food production. They provide respiration by exhanging carbon dioxide and oxygen. They open and close their pores to retain or release moisture in response to the moisture level in the soil far below. Let's say that The Tree decides to give The Leaves awareness of themselves and of the rest of The Tree of Which They are A Part.... At first, The Leaves are joyful and excited because they are aware of this Magnificent Thing Of Which They are A Part.... they are so happy to be A Part Of this Great Thing Which Is so much greater than any one of them or even of the sum of all of them together. One day, one of The Leaves on a lower branch starts to think. "I and all my friends on the lower branches are much larger than the leaves on the upper branches... it seems we are doing more work than they are." A sense of unease began to grow. Then, on another day, the same leaf began to think, "I bet those leaves up above have a much better view than I do." Then he decided that he was doing most of the work and had a crappy view on top of it! He became resentful and his Awareness of The Tree began to fade... he eventually felt separate and apart... Then, later, he was looking around and noticed, below him, that there were DEAD LEAVES on the ground. He thought, "I do all the work, I have a crappy view and then I am going to die?!" He decided he had a terrible life. The Awareness of The Tree had gone away. He had forgotten about his Connection to the other Leaves and to The Tree. He also forgot that The Life within him is not from him or of him. It is from and of The Tree... forgetting these things, he failed to realize that, when a leaf dies, The Life that was in it does not die... it simply returns to its Source. The Life that was in the leaf recedes back into The Tree to become another leaf. Life does not die... It simply returns to Its Source. This does not mean that I can act in an unconcious manner because, since I am Connected to All That Is, anything I do affects me as well as others.... Neither thought nor action leave their source. Forgiveness is key. I must remember the principles of forgiveness and forgive all things; accept all things. I need do nothing...

Blocked The river flows rapidly down the mountain, and then all of a sudden it gets blocked with big boulders and a lot of trees. The water can't go any farther, even though it has tremendous force and forward energy. It just gets blocked there. That's what happens with us, too; we get blocked like that. Letting go at the end of the out-breath, letting the thoughts go, is like moving one of those boulders away so that the water can keep flowing, so that our energy and our life force can keep evolving and going forward. We don't, out of fear of the unknown, have to put up these blocks, these dams, that basically say no to life and to feeling life. - Pema Chodron, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Vol. I, #1 from Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith

Are you crying for yourself or for another? When you lose someone you love you shed tears – are your tears for yourself or for the one who is dead? Are you crying for yourself or for another? Have you ever cried for another? Have you ever cried for your son who was killed on the battlefield? You have cried, but do those tears come out of self-pity or have you cried because a human being has been killed? J. Krishnamurti Freedom from the Known p. 83 © 1969 by Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Limited