Saturday, May 12, 2018

Via Helpful Words

We Need Not be Defined by How we Feel

‘There’s an old koan about a monk who went to his master and said, “I’m a very angry person, and I want you to help me.” The master said, “Show me your anger.” The monk said, “Well, right now I’m not angry. I can’t show it to you.” And the master said, “Then obviously it’s not you, since sometimes it’s not even there.” Who we are has many faces, but these faces are not who we are.’

- Charlotte Joko beck, Everyday Zen.

Via Acharya Buddhadasa / 30 Second Explanation of Buddhism


Let me explain Buddhism in this way:

The universe is God, the divine - called the Dharmakaya in Philosophical Buddhism and personified as Amida Buddha in the Pure Land Tradition.

Everything is part of the universe and so part of God.

Everything is Divine, including ourselves.

Everything has a divine nature, Buddhists call this the Buddha-nature.

This Divine is our true nature and real identity.

We are Buddha, the ego/self is just a character we are role-playing as the Divine Universe expresses itself.

Mindfulness of the Buddha, through the chanting of mantras, is simply Mindfulness of the Divine and our own divine nature, and thus liberation from the illusion of Self.

Namo Amitabhaya 🙏🏻
buddhist buddha buddhism amida pure land amitabha zen zazen theravada tantra taoism tao meditation mindfulmeditation vipasanna advaita pantheism enlightenment esoteric insight paganism pagan wiccan wicca witchcraft witch druid illumination

Via Acharya Buddhadasa

Buddhist Practice

Sila: keep the precepts

Samadhi: practice meditation

Prajna: study the teachings

Via Daily Dharma: Unlikely Teachers

Both our pain and our suffering are truly our path, our teacher. While this understanding doesn’t necessarily entail liking our pain or our suffering, it does liberate us from regarding them as enemies we have to conquer.

—Ezra Bayda, “When It Happens to Us