An Article is a word placed before a noun to show whether the noun is used in a particular or general sense. There are two articles, a or an and the. A or an is called the indefinite article because it does not point put any particular person... Read more of ARTICLE at Speaking Writing.com

Privacy

Samurai

The World Is In The Making
Our assertion is far from assuming that life is now complete,...

Poetical Intuition And Zen
Since Universal Life or Spirit permeates the universe, the po...

The Application Of The Law Of Causation To Morals
Although it may be needless to state here the law of causatio...

Zen And Nirvana
The beatitude of Zen is Nirvana, not in the Hinayanistic sens...

The Parable Of A Drunkard
Now the question arises, If all human beings are endowed with...

Man Is Good-natured According To Mencius
Oriental scholars, especially the Chinese men of letters, se...

The Great Person And Small Person
For these reasons Zen proposes to call man Buddha-natured or ...

The Development Of The Southern And Of The Northern School Of Zen
After the death of the Fifth Patriarch the venerable Shang Si...

Thing-in-itself Means Thing-knowerless
How, then, did philosophers come to consider reality to be un...

The Characteristics Of Do-gen The Founder Of The Japanese So To Sect
In the meantime seekers after a new truth gradually began to ...

Pessimistic View Of The Ancient Hindus
In addition to this, the new theory of matter has entirely ov...

How To Worship Buddha
The author of Vimalakirtti-nirdeca-sutra well explains our at...

The Theory Of Buddha-nature Adequately Explains The Ethical States Of Man
This theory of Buddha-nature enables us to get an insight int...

Flight Of The Sixth Patriarch
On the following morning the news of what had happened during...

Man Is Both Good-natured And Bad-natured According To Yan Hiung
According to Yang Hiung and his followers, good is no less re...

Zen And The Regent Generals Of The Ho-jo Period
No wonder, then, that the representatives of the Samurai clas...

Enlightened Consciousness Is Not An Intellectual Insight
Enlightened Consciousness is not a bare intellectual insight,...

The Beatitude Of Zen
We are far from denying, as already shown in the foregoing ch...

Decline Of Zen
The blooming prosperity of Zen was over towards the end of th...

The Social State Of Japan When Zen Was Established By Ei-sai And Do-gen
Now we have to observe the condition of the country when Zen ...

True Dhyana

To sit in Meditation is not the only method of practising Zazen. We
practise Dhyana in sitting, in standing, and in walking, says one of
the Japanese Zenists. Lin Tsi (Rin-Zai) also says: To concentrate
one's mind, or to dislike noisy places, and seek only for stillness,
is the characteristic of heterodox Dhyana. It is easy to keep
self-possession in a place of tranquillity, yet it is by no means
easy to keep mind undisturbed amid the bivouac of actual life. It is
true Dhyana that makes our mind sunny while the storms of strife rage
around us. It is true Dhyana that secures the harmony of heart,
while the surges of struggle toss us violently. It is true Dhyana
that makes us bloom and smile, while the winter of life covets us
with frost and snow.

Idle thoughts come and go over unenlightened minds six hundred and
fifty times in a snap of one's fingers, writes an Indian
teacher,[FN#260] and thirteen hundred million times every
twenty-four hours. This might be an exaggeration, yet we cannot but
acknowledge that one idle thought after another ceaselessly bubbles
up in the stream of consciousness. Dhyana is the letting go,
continues the writer--that is to say, the letting go of the thirteen
hundred million of idle thoughts. The very root of these thirteen
hundred million idle thoughts is an illusion about one's self. He is
indeed the poorest creature, even if he be in heaven, who thinks
himself poor. On the contrary, he is an angel who thinks himself
hopeful and happy, even though he be in hell. Pray deliver me,
said a sinner to Sang Tsung (So-san).[FN#261] Who ties you up? was
the reply. You tie yourself up day and night with the fine thread of
idle thoughts, and build a cocoon of environment from which you have
no way of escape. 'There is no rope, yet you imagine yourself
bound.' Who could put fetters on your mind but your mind itself?
Who could chain your will but your own will? Who could blind your
spiritual eyes, unless you yourself shut them up? Who could prevent
you from enjoying moral food, unless you yourself refuse to eat?
There are many, said Sueh Fung (Sep-po) on one occasion, who
starve in spite of their sitting in a large basket full of victuals.
There are many who thirst in spite of seating themselves on the shore
of a sea. Yes, Sir, replied Huen Sha (Gen-sha), there are many
who starve in spite of putting their heads into the basket full of
victuals. There are many who thirst in spite of putting their heads
into the waters of the sea.[FN#262] Who could cheer him up who
abandons himself to self-created misery? Who could save him who
denies his own salvation?

[FN#260] The introduction to Anapana-sutra by Khin San Hwui, who
came to China A.D. 241.

[FN#261] The Third Patriarch.

[FN#262] Hwui Yuen (E-gen).

Next: Let Go Of Your Idle Thoughts
Previous: Zen And Supernatural Power

Report
Privacy

SHARE

BOOKMARK

Viewed 567