Peace! Peace! Peace! Ommm Shanti, Shanti, Shanti...Shalom! Asalamualaikum, Peace be with you!
I call out to my self through the voices of others, teachers, gurus, Roshis and Rishis, mentors and guides, the old fisherman and the voice of the computer nerd; they all call out to me to share their take on life and I listen and I watch and I learn and I assimilate and I put to the test, I put it to practice and in the end it all does not really matter as I come to the conclusion of this my final phase of the journey; I am still groping in the dark for answers. Do I hear the calls, do I read the signs, take heed the warnings? The journey has been about this issues of what have I learned and or have to unlearn letting go of that which has become obsolete in my vocabulary of everyday life and move on. Thoughts and ideas, dreams and visions, imaginations and perceptions, these are my tools of expression in sharing and being a part of this realm of existence, the physical external realm of manifestations; I am not these. ...I am transcendent, I am detached from being identified with any form of thought and bodily actions, I am merely the watcher, the witness the observer and I pay attention to these phenomena with bare attention., detached/unattached involvement..wu wei., like plucking the lotus without wetting my fingers...
It is easier said than done, this spiritual act of detachment from the physical world, it takes a whole lot of understanding the nature of consciousness itself and it is no piece of cake. It is a lifelong journey for most and only a handful gets the blessing or Grace to become awakened in one lifetime or within this lifetime before the curtain is drawn. In a manner of speaking living this life is a gamble and those whose learn the ropes and rules of game gets ahead and some gets it into their head and exploit this Grace, this Gift and squander it, enough is never enough...I'm guilty of this as the next man if not more so;Greed! Desire of more and more and never finding the point of satisfaction where enough is more than enough, greed is a very deep rooted karmic illness along with hate and ignorance. I am aware of my weaknesses and my human errors, my transgressions if not for them I would not be where I am at today. I played my fiddle and sang my songs and I ate when hungry and slept when sleepy and otherwise I sit and watch the grass grow, this too is who I am....and breathing in, I know I am breathing in...breathing out, I know that I am breathing out...stop breathing I know I am dead...this too is part of who I am...playing yet another role in my ongoing dream and knowing that it is time to quit...take a break! Go Lay down and take a nap... Ommm Shanti, Shanti, hi.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who was one of the world's most influential Zen masters, spreading messages of mindfulness, compassion and nonviolence, died on Saturday at his home in the Tu Hieu Temple in Hue, Vietnam. He was 95. The death was announced by Plum Village, his organization of monasteries.29 Jan 2022
A prolific author, poet, teacher and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh was exiled from Vietnam after opposing the war in the 1960s and became a leading voice in a movement he called “engaged Buddhism,” the application of Buddhist principles to political and social reform. Thich Nhat Hanh dismissed the idea of death. “Birth and death are only notions,” he wrote in his book “No Death, No Fear.” “They are not real.”
He added: “The Buddha taught that there is no birth; there is no death; there is no coming; there is no going; there is no same; there is no different; there is no permanent self; there is no annihilation. We only think there is.”
And he said: “Do not try to find the solution with your thinking mind. Nonthinking is the secret of success. And that is why the time when we are not working, that time can be very productive, if we know how to focus on the moment.”
I was twice at a Vipassana retreat with the late Rev. Thich Naht Hanh when he visited Green Gulch Farm Zen Community sometime in the 80s. We sat and talked one on one on several occasions and mostly talking about the fate of the Vietnamese refugees who landed along the East Coast of the Malay Peninsula and particularly those camped at the Island of Bidong off the coast of Terengganu.
When I rang the 'Big Bell' while there were over 70 people sitting in meditation inside the meditation hall, Thay decided that I be elected as the 'bell master', during the lecture periods where I kept time of 15 mins and ring the bell so everyone with the focus back to their breath, stops their wandering mind and become present in the moment. It was a form of punishment for ringing the wrong bell at the wrong time during a Vipassan retreat. When I apologized to Thay when having a one on one meeting, he said to not worry too much about what the consequences of my actions would be, but to keep being who I am as I am.
I truly enjoyed the Mindfulness walking trips we often took with the small Vietnamese monk in his saffron robes leading the path from the Green Dragon Zendo area to the Beach at Muir Beach. The sound of flip flops as feet moved over wet muddy path was the only sound that filled the air and one feels like we were truly in Buddha land. His teaching were simple and his insight into spiritual matters reaches far deep into the essence of what is Engaged/Active Buddhism. Thich Naht Hahn embodied the Bodhisatva virtue of the infinite wisdom and compassion, that of Mnajushri and Avalokiteshvara Bodhisatva,Mahasatva, with the ability to deliver his teachings with skillful means of the Bodhisatva Samanthabadra and he has attained the status of a chakravati
In Buddhism, a chakravarti is the secular counterpart of a buddha. The term applies to temporal as well as spiritual kingship and leadership, particularly in Buddhism and Jainism
#thichnahthanh,#buddhism,#bodhisatva,#vaipassana
1 comment:
Fast food open near me
Post a Comment