A crow takes flight from her branch. The wind carries her, tumbles her, moves her in the ten directions. Other crows and sparrows and branches come and go, sometimes in the way, sometimes helping along. Always responding to these variations in the field, continuously harmonizing with the wind, the crow finds another branch and settles [...]
Archive for the ‘Life of Buddha’ Category
As the Crow’s Path Goes
Posted in Life of Buddha, Practice, Zen on April 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Diamond Gathas, Summer Break
Posted in Diamond Sutra, Disciples of the Buddha, Korean Buddhism, Life of Buddha, Practice, Red Pine, Verses, Zen on June 10, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Hello! May this post find you at ease or with a friend nearby to help you through. Sometimes sitting, sometimes going to a cheap summer movie. Whatever your poison, whatever your antidote. May you take up your practice with the fierceness and compassion of a Buddha! I am coming close to summer retreat and student [...]
Dharma Talks: Words Can Inspire And They Can Hinder Practice (Part II)
Posted in Conze, Diamond Sutra, Disciples of the Buddha, Korean Buddhism, Life of Buddha, Practice, Pāli Canon, Zen on May 6, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Talks can be inspiring. Words can instruct, urge, encourage, and rouse. Making a concept precise that was once imprecise can be the difference between wrong view and right view. Surely this is all part of practicing the Buddhadharma. So there is room for analytical thinking, analytical discourse, and analytical practice in all of this. In [...]
Dharma Talks: What Are They Good For? (Part I)
Posted in Diamond Sutra, Life of Buddha, Practice, Pāli Canon, Zen on May 4, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Depending on your practice tradition, you probably have encountered a Dharma talk. Maybe during retreat, maybe during a public meditation session or talk on Buddhism, maybe in the kitchen while cleaning up after lunch. What are these Dharma talks good for? How should we approach them, listen to them, feel them? How should someone giving [...]
The End of the Diamond Sutra
Posted in Conze, Diamond Sutra, Disciples of the Buddha, Korean Buddhism, Life of Buddha, Practice, Red Pine, Zen on April 5, 2011 | 1 Comment »
At the end of the Diamond Sutra is a verse. I could say the verse is about the nature of things, or perhaps it is about conditioned existence, or perhaps it is about perception – but all of this would be an attempt to explain it. Although that is part of our task as practitioners [...]
Say It, Don’t Think it
Posted in Conze, Diamond Sutra, Disciples of the Buddha, Korean Buddhism, Life of Buddha, Practice, Zen on March 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Among the many confusing/refreshing/inviting passages in the Diamond Sutra is the following exchange between the Buddha and Subhuti: The Lord asked: What do you think, Subhuti, does it then occur to the Arhat, “by me has Arhatship been attained”? Subhuti: No indeed, O Lord. And why? Because no dharma is called “Arhat.” That is why [...]
Kisāgotami and the Mustard Seed
Posted in Bhikkhu Bodhi, Disciples of the Buddha, Life of Buddha, Order of Nuns, Pāli Canon on February 16, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Gotami grew up in poor circumstances. Her family was impoverished. She was skinny and haggard (kisā) and so took on the name ‘Kisāgotami’. As a result of these circumstances, it was hard for Kisāgotami to find a husband. She felt a deep sense of dejection because of this. One day a rich merchant took Kisāgotami [...]
Angulimāla Encounters the Buddha
Posted in Bhikkhu Bodhi, Disciples of the Buddha, Life of Buddha, Pāli Canon on February 10, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Angulimāla was bent on completing his garland of a thousand fingers. With only one finger left to go, he waited for his next victim. It was around this time that Angulimāla’s mother set out to find him. She suspected that the murderer who wore a finger garland was her son. Out of her deep motherly [...]
Ānanda and the Sewing Circle
Posted in Bhikkhu Bodhi, Disciples of the Buddha, Life of Buddha, Pāli Canon on February 8, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Ānanda excelled in sewing. As a bhikkhu with few possessions, tending to one’s robe was an important skill to have. As the Buddha pointed out, it also showed mutual respect between the Sangha and the laity since it was the lay devotees of the Triple Gem who offered the robes to the bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. [...]
Mahākassapa Encounters the Buddha
Posted in Bhikkhu Bodhi, Disciples of the Buddha, Life of Buddha, Practice, Pāli Canon, Zen on January 31, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The earth trembled and shook. Knowing the meaning of this, the Buddha set out to meet his future disciple. He walked the distance of five miles to greet Mahākassapa on the road, an act of compassion towards the unsuspecting disciple. Sitting down under a banyan tree, the Buddha emitted rays of light so that the [...]
