StrangeMed

Once, a certain nun asked,

“Even lay women practice and study the buddha-dharma. As for nuns, even though we have some faults, I feel there is no reason to say that we go against the buddha-dharma. What do you think?”

Dōgen admonished,

“That is not a correct view. Lay women might attain the Way as a result of practicing the buddha-dharma as they are. However, no monk or nun’ attains it unless he or she has the mind of one who has left home. This is not because the buddha-dharma discriminates between one person and another, but rather because the person doesn’t enter the dharma. There must be a difference in the attitude of lay people and those who have left home. A layman who has the mind of a monk or nun who has left home will be released from samsara. A monk or a nun who has the mind of a lay person has double faults. Their attitudes should be quite different. It is not that it is difficult to do, but to do it completely is difficult. The practice of being released from samsara and attaining the Way seems to be sought by everyone, but those who accomplish it are few. Life-and-death is the Great Matter; impermanence is swift?. Do not let your mind slacken. If you abandon the world, you should abandon it completely. I don’t think that the names provisionally used to distinguish monks and nuns from lay people are at all important.”

“The Buddha’s statement, “If you wish to grasp the meaning of ‘Buddha Nature,’” was His way of saying, “If you want to know the meaning of ‘Buddha Nature’ here and now.” His statement, “Just look at the conditions associated with the moment,” was His way of saying, “Just discern what the conditions at this moment are.” You need to realize that His saying “If you wish to know Buddha Nature” is synonymous with the conditions at the moment. And as to His saying “When the right moment arrives,” the moment has already arrived, so where is there room for doubt? Even if we should have doubts about whether it is the right moment, this is still Buddha Nature coming forth in us. You need to realize that the phrase “when the right moment arrives” means that we should not idle away any moment within a day. His saying “when it arrives” is as if He had said, “It has already come.” When we get all involved with ‘when the time comes’, Buddha Nature does not come before us. Hence, since the time has already come, this is “Buddha Nature manifesting before our very eyes.” In other words, the truth of It is self-evident. In sum, there has not yet been a time when the right moment has not come, nor is there a Buddha Nature which is not Buddha Nature manifesting before our very eyes right now.”

All sentient beings are essentially Buddhas. As with water and ice, there is no ice without water; apart from sentient beings, there are no Buddhas. Not knowing how close the truth is, we seek it far away

what a pity! We are like a one who in the midst of water cries out desperately in thirst. We are like the son of a rich man who wandered away among the poor. The reason we transmigrate through the Six Realms is because we are lost in the darkness of ignorance. Going further and further in the darkness, how can we ever be free from birth-and-death? As for the Mahayana practice of zazen, there are no words to praise it fully. The Six Paramitas, such as giving, maintaining the precepts, and various other good deeds like invoking the Buddha’s name, repentance, and spiritual training, all finally return to the practice of zazen. Even those who have sat zazen only once will see all karma erased. Nowhere will they find evil paths, and the Pure Land will not be far away. If we listen even once with open heart to this truth, then praise it and gladly embrace it, how much more so then, if on reflecting within ourselves we directly realize Self-nature is no-nature. We will have gone far beyond idle speculation. The gate of the oneness of cause and effect is thereby opened, and not-two, not-three, straight ahead runs the Way. Realizing the form of no-form as form, whether going or returning we cannot be any place else. Realizing the thought of no-thought as thought, whether singing or dancing, we are the voice of the Dharma. How vast and wide the unobstructed sky of Samadhi!

Then Bodhisattva Kasyapa said to the Buddha: "O World-Honoured One! To one who eats flesh, we should not give flesh. Why not? I see a great virtue arising out of abstention from eating flesh." The Buddha praised Kasyapa and said: "Well said, well said! You now come to know my mind well. A Bodhisattva who protects Dharma should be thus. O good man! From now on, I do not permit my sravaka disciples to eat meat. When receiving from a danapati a pristine dana [gift] of faith, think that one is eating the flesh of one's own son." Bodhisattva Kasyapa said further to the Buddha: "O World-Honoured One! Why is it that the Tathagata does not allow us to eat meat?" "O good man! “’One who eats meat kills the seed of great compassion."“’

Then Bodhisattva Kasyapa said to the Buddha: "O World-Honoured One! To one who eats flesh, we should not give flesh. Why not? I see a great virtue arising out of abstention from eating flesh." The Buddha praised Kasyapa and said: "Well said, well said! You now come to know my mind well. A Bodhisattva who protects Dharma should be thus. O good man! From now on, I do not permit my sravaka disciples to eat meat. When receiving from a danapati a pristine dana [gift] of faith, think that one is eating the flesh of one's own son." Bodhisattva Kasyapa said further to the Buddha: "O World-Honoured One! Why is it that the Tathagata does not allow us to eat meat?" "O good man! “’One who eats meat kills the seed of great compassion."“’

Kasyapa said again: "Why did you first allow the bhiksus to eat three kinds of pure meat?" "O Kasyapa! These three kinds of pure meat were so instituted following the need of the occasion." Bodhisattva Kasyapa said again to the Buddha: "O World-Honoured One! In what circumstances do you not allow the ten impurities or the nine kinds of what is pure?" The Buddha said to Kasyapa: "This also is permitted by gradual steps following the need of the occasion. This is what applies in the actual segregation from eating meat."

Question: If the mind ceases to be, what will become of its continuity? If there is continuity of mind, how can you explain its final cessation?

Answer: What we speak of as “cessation” is the cessation of the marks of [the deluded] mind only and not the cessation of its essence. It is like the case of the wind which, following the surface of the water, leaves the marks of its movement. If the water should cease to be, then the marks of the wind would be nullified and the wind would have no support [on which to display its movement]. But since the water does not cease to be, the marks of the wind may continue. Because only the wind ceases, the marks of its movement cease accordingly. This is not the cessation of water. So it is with ignorance; on the ground of the essence of Mind there is movement. If the essence of Mind were to cease, then people would be nullified and they would have no support. But since the essence does not cease to be, the mind may continue. Because only stupidity ceases to be, the marks of the [stupidity of the] mind cease accordingly. It is not that the wisdom (i.e., the essence) of Mind ceases.

In my case I follow both Zen and Pure Land, consequently I do both Nembutsu and Zazen. I attend a Soto Zen temple currently.

“This Pure Land teaching is all a matter of comprehending that Amitabha Buddha is precisely our own Buddha Nature, our Mind. If we mistakenly refer to the Buddha as “other”, we would fall into one form of delusive view. If we were to overemphasize our own inherent Buddha, this would be another form of delusive view. Both are wrong. Through our invoking the Buddha-name both at the phenomenal level and at the level of inner truth (noumenon), Amitabha and his retinue of saints appears before us: this is our inherent True Nature becoming manifest. Also, we are born in the Pure Land and see Amitabha and hear his teaching: this is perfecting the body of wisdom of our True Nature. This is not awakening through something other than ourselves. “

It is really interesting how they explore different topics about common places and differences between Chan and Zen. It made me also understand some things about Zazen and Silent Illumination.

“If we actually touch fire, we will certainly be burned, but if we merely say the word fire without actually touching it, we won’t be burned. Likewise, if we only think of the word fire, our heads will not be set ablaze. Therefore, the definition of fire, whose nature is to burn all things, cannot itself be the reality of it.”

Kosho Uchiyama

“After the one thought-moment in which, realizing the transience of birth-and-death in our own flesh, we once genuinely and directly entrust ourselves through saying Namu-amida-butsu, the self is no longer the self. Then, as our hearts are Amida Buddha’s heart, our bodily actions Amida Buddha’s actions, and our words Amida Buddha’s words, the life we are living is Amida Buddha’s life.

This is my favorite statue of Amida Buddha, and it is unique since Amida is depicted in the act of looking back, quite strange considering its standard representation According to the legend behind the statue, in 1082, in Eikandō’s Amida-dō Hall, in the dim hours before dawn on February the fifteenth, a miracle occurred. The monk Eikan (1033–1111) was deep in his daily practice of circumambulating a statue of Amida Buddha while reciting Amida’s name. Eikan believed that by diligently performing this practice—called the nenbutsu—he could achieve rebirth in Amida’s western paradise, where enlightenment was guaranteed. It is recorded that Eikan recited the nenbutsu 60,000 times each day. As he paced around the statue, Eikan saw something that made him freeze on the spot: the wooden statue of Amida gracefully descended from its lotus-shaped dais and began to walk ahead of him, as if leading him toward paradise. As Eikan gaped in amazement, Amida paused. He looked back over its left shoulder, to where Eikan stood dumbstruck. “Eikan, stop dawdling,” said Amida. It is believed that Eikan was so inspired by this vision of Amida urging him forward to the Pure Land that he begged the statue to remain in the same posture in order to inspire others. The “Looking-back Amida” (Mikaeri Amida) has been at Eikandō ever since.

南無阿弥陀仏🙏🏼