Treasures

[Anton S.]

Hey Folks,

In this thread I´d like to share with you some excerpts of my recent buddhist readings.

Balancing the Five Faculties.

The Five Spiritual Faculties are faith (shraddha), wisdom (prajna), vigour (virya), concentration (samadhi), and mindfulness (smriti).
Faith, representing the emotional and devotional aspect of the spiritual life, must be balanced by wisdom, otherwise it runs riot in religious hysteria, persecution mania, fanaticism, and intolerance.
On the other hand wisdom, which stands for the intellectual – better, cognitive or gnostic – aspect, must be balanced by faith, without which it speedily degenerates into hair-splitting scholasticism.
Vigour, or the active, kinetic aspect of the spiritual life, must be balanced by concentration, representing the introspective, contemplative counter-tendency, without which vigour is either animal high spirits or neurotic restlessness, and concentration itself by vigour, divorced from which concentration is aimless reverie, morbid introspection, or neurotic withdrawal.
Mindfulness, the remaining faculty, being by its very nature incapable of going to extremes – one can’t have too much mindfulness – requires no counterbalancing faculty to hold it in check.
Mindfulness it is, indeed, that keeps faith and wisdom, and vigour and concentration, in a state of equilibrium. ‘Mindfulness is always useful,’ the Buddha once declared.

Quoted from Sangharakshita´s "Essence of Zen". Free full text here: http://sangharakshita.org/online_books.html

Feel welcome to reflect, agree / disagree or just apply

Best regards, Anton.
__________________

[Andy]

Wonderful quote, thanks for sharing!

[Steffen]

Great, thank you very much for sharing, Sifu!

[Damian Kissey]

One transcendental wisdom despite Many spiritual tradition

Thank you Anton for the sharing the Buddhist reading :
it remind's me of Sifu's recent answer regarding Faith and Love in the Catholic religion (QA 2 in http://www.shaolin.org/answers/ans12a/may12-1.html )

Excerpt from QA 2
" There are so many exercises in the Eighteen Lohan Hands and the Eighteen-Lohan Art that can enhance your Catholic belief in a proactive or thematic way.

Two cardinal points in the Catholic belief are faith and love - faith in Jesus' teaching and love for God and all His creatures.


One needs a lot of courage to have faith, and it should not be just blind faith, but faith confirmed with understanding and experience. "Reverse Hanging of Double Hooks" from the Eighteen-Lohan Art is an excellent exercise to generate internal force and mental clarity for the needed courage and understanding.

For example, Jesus teaches that one should be kind to his neighbours. Internal force gives the courage to be kind, which will in turn enable us to experience spiritual joys as taught in the Catholic faith.

"Carrying the Moon" from the Eighteen Lohan Hands is excellent for purification, especially when you have learnt the skills of cosmic shower. After clearing your blockage with cosmic shower generated by "Carrying the Moon", you let the grace of God flow through. Not only will you feel the love of God but also you feel the love for all His creatures,
....."

[Anton S.]

Dear Family,

thank you very much for the positive support.

Dear Damian Sisook!
Somehow I also had Sigung recent Q&A in mind. Thank you very much for bringing it up!

Hao Yun Qi!
Anton

[Irina]

Beautiful quote :-)

Mindfulness!! Yes!!

[Anton S.]

The message of our Buddhist practice is simple and clear: "I am here for you." - Thich Nhat Hanh (Facebook Update)

[Anton S.]

Spirit of Chan practice:

During the twelfth lunar month, on the third evening of the eighth week of the session, after six hours of sitting meditation, the attendant made his rounds, filling up the tea cups. Hsu Yun's hand was burned by spilling boiling water, and his cup fell to the floor. At the sound of the crash, the root of his doubt was instantly severed. He was joyous beyond words at having fulfilled his lifelong ambition. It was as if he had just awakened from a dream, and he observed how the conditions of the past unravel.

Hsu's verse explanation says:

A cup fell to the ground

With a sound clearly heard.

As space was pulverised,

The mad mind came to a stop

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hsu_Yun

[Anton S.]

words of Yamada Mumon Roshi I´ve discovered recently:

Somebody asked me, "Is it useful to practice zazen even for a
layperson?" I replied, "No. since man is an animal. for him to walk is more
normal. However, it is rather unusual for us to see a man who is walking
in the true sense. Aren't many people simply walking from force of habit?
Are they not moving simply by drawing and extending their legs? Though
they seem very busy in their daily lives, how many people are walking
their own ways with a deep investigation into life?"

"At the time of World WarⅡ, I heard a funny story. Somebody saw
many people standing in a queue waiting their turn and thought that there
must be something rare. After a long while he found himself waiting for
somebody's funeral ceremony. If one enters college because others do, or
marries because others do, one's life will not be one's own. To avoid such
an irresponsible way of life, man must stop himself to discover the right
way to advance. To stop and think quietly in such a way is nothing but
zazen."

[Nojski]

Lovely quote Sifu Anton, may we all find the courage to walk our own path.

[Anton S.]

Dear Jon, I´m glad you re enjoying it!

[Anton S.]

another treasure on the interrelation of things (also known as emptiness (of independent identity))

"You love me--it means you love you. You love you--it means you love me." - Thich Nhat Hanh

[Anton S.]

Two recent quotes from Jack Kornfield gave me inspiration:

Love is a blessed mystery. It is like gravity: vast, invisible; the unstoppable force that connects all things...Yet love is very simple.

In understanding lovingkindness, as the Dalai Lama says, "Perhaps it is best to put the emphasis on kindness."

"To let go does not mean to get rid of.
To let go means to let be.
When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own." - Jack Kornfield
(The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace)

[Anton S.]

It isn’t simply seeing our teachers, or even hearing them, that creates a spiritual bond. It’s when we take the teachings we’ve received and bring them into our own experience that an unshakeable connection is formed. The more we practice, the stronger the bond with our teacher becomes - - Mingyur Rinpoche

from an inspiring letter: http://tergar.org/resources/letter-f...ering-retreat/

[Omar]

To let go does not mean to get rid of.
To let go means to let be.:

Wonderfully put.