What school of Buddism are you

Beruthiel

great poem bluewolf

Asiaprod wrote:

Are you building a special place in the house where you can do these things, if not, let her get on with the house, and you design your special space.

it does not even have to be in the house, I have made a wonderful little corner in my garden, with a Japanese maple tree, a stone Buddha, some chimes, a pagoda and lots of flowers. It’s a little paradise and is wonderful to sit out in after a days work.
I cannot call myself a Buddhist but it has a wonderful effect on me

zag

Excellent, Blue. It has a good rythm to it. I like it. I can really relate.

Asiaprod

bluewolf wrote:

I do not whine!!

Guess I must have missread your post:)

bluewolf wrote:

Speaking of which I wouldn't mind some myself, bloody first day of work and I do not like it
er.
</whine> >.>

Asiaprod

bluewolf wrote:

I'll probably edit this blank after a while, ok?

Wow, that is inspiring. I could really relate to that one. You should continue with it. I have a crazy idea for any that are interested, maybe we could all participate in creating this forums own poem. Any in favor?

Asiaprod

Beruthiel wrote:

it does not even have to be in the house, I have made a wonderful little corner in my garden, with a Japanese maple tree, a stone Buddha, some chimes, a pagoda and lots of flowers. Its a little paradise and is wonderful to sit out in after a days work.

That sounds wonderful Beruthiel. That is also one of my dreams to create a place like that outdoors. Nature is so important to us, it is the perfect place to meditate, pray, chant or do what ever each of us do. And one does not need to be a Buddhist to enjoy it, just being a human is quite enough.

I had a wonderful experience of this. My wife and myself drove up to Northern Japan to collect the bones of her Fathers Mother who died when he was 2 years old. We had decided to collect her and place her remains in our family plot with her husband who had also remarried and was buried with his second wife. (By a strange twist of faith, the second wife was also the sister of the original mother and was the only member of her family to be a Buddhist.)

The temple at which she was interred was a very old one built up in the hills. We did all the required stuff and had a real nice talk with the priest in the temple. I asked him if he would mind if I looked around the temple. He was happy to permit this, probably never met a Foreign Buddhist before. I discovered a side passage, and being the cat that I am, could not resist finding out where it went. To my amazement it led on to a canopy covered wooden bridge that led out in to the middle of a small pond surrounded by cliffs and trees. At the end of the walkway was an alter. Talk about a surreal and peaceful place. I could not rest ripping of a little chanting and meditation, you don't get this kind of chance often. I cannot begin to describe the feeling of sitting down and chanting in this place. It felt like I was floating over the pond, Japanese carp swimming around under my feet, completely at peace with nothing but myself and nature spread all around me. Oh, I was so envious of this priest having such a wonderful place to use as his private space. I WILL create a space like this for myself someday. For now, I just drive up into the hills, all of 20 mins, when I need that kind of peace.

Asiaprod

maitri wrote:

I feel that "the teacher" is something inside me (and all people), more that a historical person that I/we can only know through other peoples writings. You might call this thing "inside" Buddhanature.

There is no might about it. The thing inside you is called Your Buddha Nature, but I tend to view the teacher as the person that helps one to awaken to his/her Buddha Nature

(It might also be the same that other people call God or Allah or Real Self or Truth or the Good...) I am, however, very grateful to the historical Buddha and his followers for all that they have contributed to the world and to me personally.

That is very well put, I agree with that sentiment completly

The Buddha inspires me and reminds me of the Buddhanature in myself and all sentient beings.

Then would it not be correct to say that the Buddha is also your teacher?

I also have started wearing a small buddha-necklace.

Haha, I did to for a while too but it was made from brass and kept leaving a hugh black mark. Now it sits by my computer. I now wear a Royal blue Egyptian Ankh, which has nothing to do with the Christian cross, but is actually one of the oldest known fertility symbols. I have a very very strange association with Egypt, I am convinced I lived in Egypt in a previous life, but thats another story for another day.

But when it comes to calling myself a buddhist I still hesitate. It's like my inner voice says: "Wait. Don't rush into anything. Don't force anything. No haste. Just let things happen."

Understood, all I would add though is that things that are left to happen on their own sometimes end up never happening at all. Progress often requires us to take the initiative. But as you said, in your own time.

Maybe my inner voice is Taoist You never know...).

There is a lot of good stuff in Taoism. Have you ever read the The Tao of Pooh. A wonderful read.

Regards from another Tiger.
(according to Chinese Astrology)

How nice. I am a snake

coffee_cake

Asiaprod wrote:

Guess I must have missread your post:)

Go design some interiors!

Beruthiel

Asiaprod wrote:

Oh, I was so envious of this priest having such a wonderful place to use as his private space..

how lucky he is.
reminds me of that beautiful movie, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring..., where a monk lived on a wonderful lake, by the end of the movie I wanted to live there too!

maitri

Asiaprod wrote:

Then would it not be correct to say that the Buddha is also your teacher?

Actually I think that it would't be wrong to say that all people in the entire world are my teachers.

But I see your point, though.

Asiaprod wrote:

Haha, I did to for a while too but it was made from brass and kept leaving a hugh black mark. Now it sits by my computer. I now wear a Royal blue Egyptian Ankh, which has nothing to do with the Christian cross, but is actually one of the oldest known fertility symbols. I have a very very strange association with Egypt, I am convinced I lived in Egypt in a previous life, but thats another story for another day.

Oh, please tell that story! Please! Please! Please!
(Do you, by the way, think that people you are close to in this life have been important to you in other lives, too? That you for instance have known your wife before?)

Asiaprod wrote:

Understood, all I would add though is that things that are left to happen on their own sometimes end up never happening at all. Progress often requires us to take the initiative. But as you said, in your own time.

I seem to have missed the Tao of the Pooh. Maybe I should have a look at it during vacation. During Easter Vacation all Norwegians read novels about detectives and murderers (Tradition) - but I might try some Winnie the Pooh as well.

Asiaprod wrote:

How nice. I am a snake

Lucky you!
"The Snake is the wise philosopher and stealth personality of the Chinese zodiac. Physically attractive with flawless skin and flawless advice, the Snakes are the sages, psychiatrists and spiritual advisors of the zodiac. Quiet, 'accumulated strength' is the nature of their soul. Those souls born into Snake years are inclined towards the abstract and aesthetic in life. Unusually gifted with deep intuitions, Snakes are uncommonly attractive, and the consummate philosopher and sage. Insight, compassion, subtlety, and discretion are the sum and substance of this 6th sign of the Eastern zodiac." (From Shelly Wu Associates)

The Chinese never wantet to have daughters during the year of the Tiger, because they are stubborn and headstrong and impossible to get rid of.

Regards

M.

Bodhidharma

As per your request here are some of my favourites

Lute

My lute set aside
on the little table,
lazily i meditate
on cherished feelings.
The reason i don't bother
to strum and pluck?
There's a breeze over the strings
and it plays itself.

Po Chu-i (772 - 846)


Earth, river, mountain:
snowfkakes melt in the air:
How could i have doubted?
Where's north?south?east?west?

Dangai (1127 - 1279)

Mountain Dwelling

Things of the past are already long gone
and things to be, distant beyond imagining.
The Tao is just this moment, these words:
plum blossoms fallen;gardenia just opening.

Ch'ing Kung (1352)


A sudden chill -
in our room my dead wife's
comb, underfoot.

Buson (1715 - 1783)


Be soft in your practice. Think if the method as a fine silvery
stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith
in its course. It will go one way, meandering here, trickling
there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow
it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you.

Sheng - yen (b1931)

They dont really attempt to tell you anything. The poems are understood at a more intuitive level. Its more about the feeling you get and the thoughts that they help spring to life.

Asiaprod

Bodhidharma wrote:

They dont really attempt to tell you anything. The poems are understood at a more intuitive level. Its more about the feeling you get and the thoughts that they help spring to life.

Actually, I believe this poem says an awful lot.

I read it as referring to the mind and the process of meditation.

The path followed by the conscious mind during deep meditation (the method) is often likened to a silver stream winding its way through the troubles of life (grooves, the cracks, the crevices). Water, and the action of running water over rocks is very symbolic in Buddhism. This is a really beautiful poem, thanks Bodhidharma; I am printing this one out to hang on the wall. Has an body got any more that they think contain a special meaning.

Be soft in your practice. Think if the method as a fine silvery
stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith
in its course. It will go one way, meandering here, trickling
there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow
it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you.
Sheng - yen (b1931)

Asiaprod

Maitri wrote:

Oh, please tell that story! Please! Please! Please!

Maitri wrote:

(Do you, by the way, think that people you are close to in this life have been important to you in other lives, too? That you for instance have known your wife before?)

The story, have to think about that one then write. I will try to slip in a murder or two to keep it culturally interesting for you. Oh, loved the snake explanation, I am still purring to myself.

Now the other question is fascinating.
I have never really got into any deep discussion on this issue, but I believe very much that we do time and again come into contact with individuals that we have had special relationships with in previous existences. I would not say that my wife was one of these, but definitely the man who introduced me to Buddhism was. We have a Buddhist term called Kenzoku, which roughly translates as a shared existence. When he has a bad day, I have a bad day. If I think of him, he calls me, and visa versa. I know what he is going to say before he says it, and visa versa. Our likes and dislikes are identical. The same is true to a lesser degree with my mother. For me, Buddhism and nature walk hand in hand. In nature, there are no singularities, I have always believed that the same holds true for us. I am particularly fascinated by the concept behind Aristophanes' speech in Plato's Symposium on the mythical origins of Love. The idea of being a one half part of one entity may have a lot more truth to it than we give credit for. These were very intelligent men, and although it is a humorous dialogue, I do believe there are many elements of truth buried within it. I would be very interested to hear what others have to say on this topic.

maitri

Asiaprod wrote:

The story, have to think about that one then write. I will try to slip in a murder or two to keep it culturally interesting for you.

Just take your time, I look forward to reading it!

Asiaprod wrote:

We have a Buddhist term called Kenzoku, which roughly translates as a shared existence.

I've never heard of Kenzoku before, but I know, to some degree the feeling of shared existence with somebody. If it is purely psychological or if there is something more existencial behind it, I don't know. Maybe both. Yes, I would like to think both...
Actually I sometimes have had the feelig of almost "sharing soul" with one of my family's cats (!). I know it souds weird, but for some reason I feel very much related to her. My mother got her when she (the cat, that is) was only nine months old and very frightened and angry with people. She would attack hands and face with sharp teeth and claws if we tried to touch her or run away if she could. For some reason I fell completely for that angry cat-girl (Holy Birman) and used about a year to make friends with her and "lure" her into liking me as much as I liked her. (Not without some great danger for my poor hands - and face!) No she is a very friedly cosy kind of cat, though reserved against most strangers and still with lots of temperament (and humour, believe it or not.)

Asiaprod wrote:

For me, Buddhism and nature walk hand in hand. In nature, there are no singularities, I have always believed that the same holds true for us.

I love that thought! Hope it's true.

Asiaprod wrote:

I am particularly fascinated by the concept behind Aristophanes speech inPlato's Symposium on the mythical origins of Love. The idea of being a one half part of one entity may have a lot more truth to it than we give credit for.

That's a very fascinating thought. I like that one, too. I think there's great psychological truth in that myth, anyway.
Yes, I think searching for a mate is very much a search for wholeness. And I don't really think (like said in the speech) that such wholeness really is to be found in another human being.
I believe in finding it in oneself, or in unity with the All (wich is the same, I believe).
But just the same I keep searcing for it in fellow human beings, just like everybody else, so maybe I don't really believe in my nice theories. *Sigh* Or it's not that simple. I don't know.

Asiaprod wrote:

These were very intelligent men, and although it is a humorous dialogue, I do believe there are many elements of truth buried within it.

Oh, absolutely! Plato was very intelligent! I didn't know that, actually, before I started attending a course about him (and Aristotle) this winter and had to read what he has written, not only what other people have written about him. It is very challenging. I feel so totally stupid when I try to understand! So dumb. And undisciplined, too. I always want to run away and do something else. (Like I do now ). Thinking hurts! Whine! Whine! Whine! (You see,I am not afraid of whining...)

Nice, nice poems Bodhidharma! Thank You!

Got to work! Or maybe I need to have a coffee and a snack first...


Regards,


Maitri

Asiaprod

maitri wrote:

I seem to have missed the Tao of the Pooh. Maybe I should have a look at it during vacation. During Easter Vacation all Norwegians read novels about detectives and murderers (Tradition) - but I might try some Winnie the Pooh as well.

Maitri, can you imagine my amazement when on opening my morning paper I found the following:

No Easter Eggs for Norwegians, they only have Murder on their minds.
Rushing off to their mountain cabins for one last ski before the snow melts, Norwegians are also stocking up on thrillers for a national tradition known as "Easter Crime." Sales of crime books jump around 500 percent in the week leading up to Easter, estimates bookshop chain Tanum, while television and radio programmers schedule back-to-back thrillers over the Easter break, which in Norway lasts 5-1/2 days. "People sit inside their cabins, watch crime on television and then read crime books at night," said book reviewer Ane Farsethaas, who prefers 19th century British detective Sherlock Holmes to the modern thrillers most of her compatriots devour. "It's a very Norwegian thing to do," she said. Nobody knows when the Norwegian tradition of crime telling at Easter began, but their warrior ancestors -- the Vikings -- were renowned for raiding trips to the British Isles. On their return the Vikings would settle down with flasks of mead, an alcoholic drink made from honey, and recount tales of murder and pillage to their women and children. This April, Tanum's top 10 bestsellers are all crime novels, headed by Swede Stieg Larsson's new book "Men Who Hate Women." "I think it's something to do with being in your cabin," Lars Slethov a 28-year-old student, said. "You come back from a day's skiing and relax in your cabin by watching crime on television and then reading it later." Log cabins dot Norway's rugged countryside -- covered by forests, mountains and deep fjords -- and are used by Norwegians to escape from the towns at weekends and holidays. The United Nations has rated Norway the best place to live in the world for the last five years. Oil revenues ensure its people are among the richest in the world and they enjoy one of the lowest crime rates. Hanne Roer, 30, was heading off to a library to pick up a handful of crime novels before leaving Oslo for Easter. "I really don't ever normally read crime novels," she said. "It's just at Easter, it's a sort of tradition."

You Norwegians are the talk of my company in Tokyo. They all want to know about the Easter Eggs, do you eat them while reading? What Murder book have you selected?
Oh, re the origins of love question. Write anything that comes into your head, I love to read your posts. They challenge my mind:)

maitri

Thanks a lot for the good words, Asia!
I am practically blushing.

Asiaprod wrote:

Maitri, can you imagine my amazement when on opening my morning paper I found the following:

I was telling you the truth, you see.
Don’t you have Easter Eggs in Japan? Nor in Ireland?
Well, Easter Eggs here in Norway are mostly huge nicely coloured Eggs made of carton and filled with chocolate and marzipan (marzipan, if you don’t know it, is something basically made of sugar and almonds, sometimes coated with chocolate. We eat marzipan for Christmas too, but then it’s shaped as pigs, of course. Christmas pigs. You do that, too?). The Eggs are coloured mostly with pictures of chickens and hares – fertility symbols, you see. During the Middle Ages people would give Easter eggs to their sweethearts, but today it’s mostly something parents give to young children on Easter Evening (Saturday). Easter Eggs might also be ordinary chicken eggs that are painted, but then you don’t get to eat the chocolate, so the carton ones are better. Or you can have both.
The tradition with Easter Eggs is really an old Egyptian one (Egypt again – you see!), I’ve been told.See:
http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=102&category=life


When it comes to “Easter Crime” it was really interesting to read about the old Viking tradition. I didn’t know that.
Though, I have been thinking that old Viking “blood” might have something to do with it. I really wonder how we went from being a society of bloodthirsty revenge-obsessed barbarians (Vikings) to the really quite peaceful society we have today. About a thousand years ago the most normal cause of death in Oslo for a man was being hit in the head with a mallet… How did it stop?

By the way, I didn’t really get myself a regular “Easter Crime" this year, so I’m compensating by watching crime on television instead. I don’t like watching a lot of violence, though, but I like psychological thrillers. The darker the better, I’m afraid… And with a hint of something supernatural, I really love it. Too bad.
I did, however, borrow some books before the library (and practically the whole country… Grr!) closed - one by Vesilin Markovic, and one by Kazuo Ishiguro, maybe you know him since he is Japanese? (I loved “A Pale View of Hills”. Though I didn’t really understand it). But having to read a lot of Plato as well, I find that almost everything is too “heavy” right no, maybe except for the collected work of Asterix.

Ok, I’ll come back to the Origins of Love – thing. I just have to work a little.

Regards,

Maitri.

maitri

Well back to the Plato-discussion and "the origins of love". Here are my thoughts right now on the topic, for all they may be worth:


I think that when Plato speaks about love in the Symposium, he is talking about “romantic love” – even though they say that romantic love was invented in the 19’th century – meaning the “romantic” (which includes the sexual-) attraction between a man and a woman or two of the same sex.. As we have discussed Plato has his own mythological and psychological explanation of this that I think is quite good: We search for wholeness. But somehow we don’t really seem to find that in the romantic relation. Not a lasting feeling of wholeness, anyway.

So what would be a Buddhist explanation of “romantic love”? I am not an expert on this. Not on Buddhism - and not on love either. Alas!

But maybe we could say that at least one of the main origins of typical “romantic love” very often could be… ignorance?

I’ll explain:

1) When we fall in love one of the thrills of (the idea of) being loved in return is that it makes us feel… finally … good enough: “I’m being loved by this angel, or this handsome hunk… which must mean that I am a good and lovable person”. It confirms the self image that we want to have.
But according to Buddhism all self images are false, because they are just images, not truth or reality. And reality is full of changes and impermanence.
And anyway we are “good enough” as we are, even if we’re despised by all the handsome hunks and beautiful angels in the world!
What is important is that we accept ourselves and the reality as it is right now. If we depend on other peoples opinions we are bound to suffer. For peoples opinions may well change. Or they might die from us.

2) Also we very often use falling in love as a way to escape from our own painful feelings, the parts of ourselves that we are not ready to accept. But the escape is – unfortunately – just temporal. Falling in love is nice – it is! – but: it doesn’t remove the roots of suffering, as we tend to hope it will. It gives us a break, but not for long. We cannot build our entire happiness on it.

3)We hope that the close union with another human being might take away that horrible feeling of separation, of the loneliness that we are feeling. (like Plato say, I think)But the feeling of separation is only an illusion itself. We are not separated from each other. On a deep level we are really one with each other and with the world. The notion of being independent and unconditioned separate beings is an illusion. And the idea of becoming whole just by making an exclusive union with one other being, the “us against the world”, is only deepening the illusion and therefore also the feeling of separation over time, I think. (It might feel splendid to begin with, though, I think.)

But thinking – and believing - all this? Why am I, like most people, still searching for “the one”, for a mate, for someone to be intimate with?
Are the Taoists and Aristotle (and also the determinists) right after all then, when they say: "Making couples, finding a mate – it’s not really something we choose. It’s something that just happens. It’s nature - So just give up fighting it!"? I don't know. Do any of you?

This is – maybe – a negative view on romantic love… if someone has something more positive to say about it, I will be very happy!

Maybe I should add one more important thing:
The positive feelings that we experience when we are in love are real. The illusion is that the feelings (that warmth) belong to just one other person. The other person is not the source of those feeling, I believe. The feelings come from our own hearts, from nature itself. (But why in the world is it that they tend to "cling to" special persons?)
They are nice feelings. Real feelings!

And when we explore them – when we really go into the depth of them - it seems to be a tender vulnerable quality to them – a quality that many say are really qualities of the Bodhicitta, the Buddha Nature.
So what do you think - maybe that is true?

And for me personally, a good thing is: When I fall in love, it makes me practice. Oh yes! Because I really, really hate falling in love! It makes me feel so horribly vulnerable. And stupid! And to practice seems to be the only sensible thing I can do to survive... being me.... at such times. I’ve given up trying to escape it (almost…).
There is really no escape.



So, well... these are my thoughts...
No I'll go home and watch a nice "Easter Crime" on television and not think more about love in some while, I hope.


Regards to all,


Maitri

PS: just a final buddhist story about love:

THE WOMAN AT THE WELL

"ANANDA, the favorite disciple of the Buddha, having been sent by the Lord on a mission, passed by a well near a village, and seeing Pakati, a girl of the Matanga caste, he asked her for water to drink. Pakati said: "O Brahman, I am too humble and mean to give thee water to drink, do not ask any service of me lest thy holiness be contaminated, for I am of low caste." And Ananda replied: "I ask not for caste but for water"; and the Matanga girl's heart leaped joyfully and she gave Ananda to drink.

Ananda thanked her and went away; but she followed him at a distance. Having heard that Ananda was a disciple of Gotama Sakyamuni, the girl repaired to the Blessed One and cried: "O Lord help me, and let me live in the place where Ananda thy disciple dwells, so that I may see him and minister unto him, for I love Ananda." The Blessed One understood the emotions of her heart and he said: "Pakati, thy heart is full of love, but thou understandest not thine own sentiments. It is not Ananda that thou lovest, but his kindness. Accept, then, the kindness thou hast seen him practice unto thee, and in the humility of thy station practice it unto others. Verily there is great merit in the generosity of a king when he is kind to a slave; but there is a greater merit in the slave when he ignores the wrongs which he suffers and cherishes kindness and good-will to all mankind. He will cease to hate his oppressors, and even when powerless to resist their usurpation will with compassion pity their arrogance and supercilious demeanor.

"Blessed art thou, Pakati, for though thou art a Matanga thou wilt be a model for noblemen and noble women. Thou art of low caste, but Brahmans may learn a lesson from thee. Swerve not from the path of justice and righteousness and thou wilt outshine the royal glory of queens on the throne."

(From Agamas)

frobisher

Asiaprod wrote:

I am curious to know and learn of the different sects of Buddhism represented here on the forum.

I will start the ball rolling.

For the last 21 years I have been a practitioner of the Nichiren Shoshu School of Buddhism. It is a descended from Mahayana Buddhism that moved westward out of India to China where it was redefined under the Tiantai (Lotus Sutra) school of Buddhism. It then moved on down through Asia to Korea before finally taking root in Japan in the ancient capital of Nara. Again in the 13th century it was redefined by a Buddhist Monk by the name of Nichiren into its current form. It mainly differs from other schools of Buddhism in that it teaches that their is a form of enlightenment that can be attained in ones current life. This however should not be confused with that final enlightenment. That is, when we shake of all past accumulated Karma to become new born.

Wow, I'm a little taken aback stumbling across this post. I used to practise Nicheren Shoshu buddhism while living abroad. I miss it sometimes. Do you know of people practising it in Dublin? I spoke to some people on the phone years ago but wouldn't mind getting back into it a bit. Any leads?

Asiaprod

frobisher wrote:

Wow, I'm a little taken aback stumbling across this post. I used to practise Nicheren Shoshu buddhism while living abroad. I miss it sometimes. Do you know of people practising it in Dublin? I spoke to some people on the phone years ago but wouldn't mind getting back into it a bit. Any leads?

What a nice surprise, happy to meet you. I will PM contact info to you later today. Where did live abroad? and how long where you practising?

Asiaprod

maitri wrote:

Well back to the Plato-discussion and "the origins of love". Here are my thoughts right now on the topic, for all they may be worth:

Nice. Give me a day or two to comment on this. You have written a lot to muse on.

maitri

Asiaprod wrote:

Give me a day or two to comment on this.

Don't worry. Take your time. And don't forget that Egypt story!

Regards,

Maitri

PS: Please don't feel obliged to comment a lot on what I write, if you don't feel like it. I really love to read what you write, but there should be no sense of obligation in this.

Asiaprod

maitri wrote:

Don't worry. Take your time. And don't forget that Egypt story!

Regards,

Maitri

PS: Please don't feel obliged to comment a lot on what I write, if you don't feel like it. I really love to read what you write, but there should be no sense of obligation in this.

No problem. I love to answer. I learn so much in return when replying to you. It is not an obligation, it is a pleasure. It also keeps me from having to work:)

maitri

Asiaprod wrote:

It also keeps me from having to work:)

Yes, that's so true!

Asiaprod

maitri wrote:

Yes, that's so true!

By the way, nice signature!

maitri

Thanks!
Your is nice, too!