Evolve

The purpose of life is to evolve.
To live, adapt, change, grow.
The universe does this through me.
I can work with it or fight against it.
But evolve I will regardless.
 

Free being

I think I have 'free' will
But it is a delusion.
Everything is condtioned.
Unit I stop deciding and start being.
Even that choice is conditioned.
But once made, I am in harmony with the Tao.
There is no will, no free, just being.

Objects of compassion

We are the very objects of compassion,
For we live by the sacrifices of others,
Both known and unknown,
By those who love us and forgive our shortcomings.

-Taitestsu Unno

Amida Haiku

Embraced by the light of Amida
My life that is fragile
As the morning dew
Now lives forever

-Mitsuyo Makinudan

Jinen

Jinen is nature.
"To be made to become so"

Jinen Honi
Everything is just as it is in accord with the Dharma.
Reality just as it is.

New York translation:
"It is what it is."

Jinen: Enlightenment is an unenlightened ordinary man becomes an unenlightened ordinary man.
-Ichitaro

Forgiveness

When one is angry, it is close to impossible to forgive, resentment runs deep. So when one admits to the inability to forgive, one may become more tolerant of one's limitations and more accepting of the other. This open admission might lead to the further realization that one is always being forgiven by other people. I am shown kindness despite my faults and so am forgiven all the time.

-Taitetsu Unno

Respect

We show each other mutual respect
Because each of us is a Buddha.
When I respect the Buddha-Nature in others,
I am doing my part.
When others fail to respect the Buddha-Nature in me,
I have to tell them that they are causing me to suffer.

The Enemy

Human beings are not the enemy.

The enemy is the violence, ignorance, and injustice inside us.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Seeing

What does a child
With his innocent eyes see
That I no longer see?

The mystery of life
All around me.

Anger

We think: "I want to make you suffer,
   because you have made me suffer.
   If I see you suffer, I will feel better."
Take care of your anger and let it end there.
                                                                                        -Thich Nhat Hanh

Anger is not caused by another.
The seed of anger is in me.
I can water the seeds of anger,
Or water the seeds of compassion.
They are my seeds and my water.

When people don't take care of their suffering
It spills out and causes others to suffer.
They don't need punishment, they need compassion.
When you understand the suffering of another,
You can transform your desire to punish
Into a desire to help.

Understanding transforms anger into compassion.
A person who harms me is suffering and angry,
That makes me angry.
But my suffering and anger are no different
from his.


"Anger is diminished when one realizes that
One is a foolish being,
   as the other might also be,
Both within boundless compassion."
                                                                                     -Taitetsu Unno

Choosing and Free Will

"Free will" is an illusion.

All choices are conditioned.
Until you let go of the outcome,
   let go of the need to choose,
   and just BE.

Let your Buddha-Nature decide.
There will be no "choices" to be made.
Life just flows.

When in doubt, wait.
If you can't wait, then act compassionately.
The closer you are to your Buddha-Nature,
   the more spontaneous life is.

Free from the shackles of samskara,
your True  Will is expressed.

Dealing with Emotions

1. Pause. Acknowledge.

2. Feel it fully. Give it room to be.

3. Let it end.

Practice Creating

1. You have to believe it.

2. Don't make it happen, let it happen.

3. Acknowledge when it happens.

Creation

Don't re-create, create.
Don't try to change things to make them right,
just have them BE right.
(Don't re-act, act.)

I create my reality.
I create my future.
I create each moment.
I create this moment. And the next.

Waves

How does the ocean behave differently than a wave?
When you're a wave and you don't know you're also the ocean,
The other waves irritate you and you elbow them out of the way.
When you are the ocen,
You realize that all the wave are you.

-Deepak Chopra

Wonder

How often are we willing to accept that we don't know the answer to something? We'd rather know and be right than live in a state of wonder.

Like Alice, we waste our time trying to get others to make sense. Yet they won't. (Perhaps they are not here just to make me happy.)

-Danield Doen Silaverbuerg,
Wonderland

I am not my pain

I am not in the world.
The world is in me.

Everything I am experiencing
Reflects myself.
I create my own suffering.
I create the good
I create the bad

Suffering is pain that we hold onto.
I am not my pain.

Tao

Don't "Go With The Flow"

BE the Flow.

Finger Pointing at the Mirror

When I judge others
It is like looking into a mirror.
I treat others
The same as I treat myself.
The fault I see in others,
I see in myself.
I cannot change another,
I can only change myself.

Right Action

Sariputra said:
Right Action is to refrain from killing, stealing and adultery,
and to act with compassion 

-Majjhima-nikaya 141

Two Paths to Enlightenment

The Gradual Path (Tibet) Madhyamaka
Gradual cultivation followed by sudden Enlightenment.

The Sudden Path (China) Ch'an
Sudden Enlightenment followed by gradual cultivation.

Infinite

84,000 delusions
84,000 lights
84,000 joys abounding

-Saichi

Deep Hearing

A Shin Buddhist meditates
To develop Deep Hearing
Knowing the True Self
One with the Buddha-Dharma

Release

Recognizing suffering
Only affirms a fear of suffering.
Accepting suffering
Leads to release.