Rev. Taigu brings to life the 9th of the Ten Oxherding Pictures… “Fabulous weather and great cherry blossoms. Loud and busy street, towers of steel and glass. We are reaching the source, or should we say that we are fully back to where we were originally? Anyway, the bull and the self have disappeared to fully merge with every single thing and being we meet. The ten thousand dharmas, the countless exixtences come forward. Seated in Buddha’s place, we are instantly actualizing Buddha.” (Click thr...
Apr 05, 2010•9 min
For the 8th of the Ten Oxherding Pictures, Rev. Taigu offers this from Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo Genjo-Koan: To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realization remains, and this no trace continues endlessly. “The place where everything is dropped, the action-non action...
Mar 29, 2010•54 sec
Rev. Taigu re-emerges with his next teaching on the Ten Oxherding Pictures. He writes: “Once we drop whip and rope, once we stop manipulating reality, it appears by itself and we understand that we are exactly at the same spot as we were when it all started. The ox has and has not disappeared, it is now perfectly merged with this life as it comes and goes, nothing special to chase or ride anymore, just this very being here and now ringing in all directions. We have given up the search and in thi...
Mar 24, 2010•10 min
Rev. Taigu again takes us for a ride with the next of the Ten Oxherding Pictures. He writes: “Riding the bull home… As one mounts the bull, rides the bull, the world and practice itself are not experienced as obstacles anymore. The bull as an object to grasp, a goal to reach has disappeared. Practice and self are intimate. In this, carefreeness, detachment, joy arise from the silence space of sitting. The boy is not worried anymore about where he should go, where the bull takes him to, what the ...
Mar 15, 2010•9 min
Rev. Taigu again take the reigns to lead us through the next of the Ten Oxherding Pictures. He writes: “Taming the bull is the story of discipline. One has to take the lead and establish a regular and steady practice. That is, at least, the traditional reading of this image. I would like to come forward with something very different: taming the bull can also be giving a specific direction to sitting, having goals and aims, and therefore we loose the original freedom of practice trying to make it...
Mar 09, 2010•6 min
Rev. Taigu continues his series of talks on the Ten Oxherding Pictures. He writes: Getting hold of the tail is the moment were we may think we have got it. The gesture is firm, the grasp strong and the will to tame the ox very much alive. If we stay there, we may think with pride that the journey is over and that our understanding is stronger than anybody else’s. A lot of arrogance coupled with struggle are yet noticeable, the attitude is stiff and the sitting rigid as well as the views, the man...
Mar 02, 2010•6 min
Continuing our glimpse at ... ... catching a glimpse, the watcher (After a lovely year here at Beliefnet.com, our daily "Sit-a-long with Jundo" Zazen netcasts will be moving home on January 1st to SHAMBHALA SUNSPACE, the webpage of the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma magazines, where we will be a daily featured Buddhist blog ... sitting there just as we do here. )
Dec 22, 2009•10 min
catching a glimpse, the watcher (After a lovely year here at Beliefnet.com, our daily "Sit-a-long with Jundo" Zazen netcasts will be moving home on January 1st to SHAMBHALA SUNSPACE, the webpage of the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma magazines, where we will be a daily featured Buddhist blog ... sitting there just as we do here. )
Dec 18, 2009•1 hr 2 min
dancing with shadows ... At the waters edge, under the trees - hoofmarks are numerous. Balmy grasses grow abundantly - can you see them or not? Even if you go deeper and deeper into the mountains, How could his nostrils, well compassing the heavens, hide him at all?
Nov 30, 2009•10 min
The first picture ... The Seeker On his blog, Mike Dosho Port quotes Andy Ferguson's translation of a poem by Sensu Tokujo, one of our Chinese ancestors: Letting down the line ten thousand feet, A single breaking wave makes ten thousand ripples. At night in still water, the cold fish won't bite. An empty boat filled with moonlight returns. The fish is the golden fish and stands for a metaphor of awakening for even dead its eyes are bright and wide open. Just like the bull or the ox. We fish some...
Nov 25, 2009•10 min
Nov 16, 2009•10 min
The Tenth of the Bodhisattva's Ten Virtues is .... Knowledge (Jñāna) ... In Saving All Sentient Beings ... Knowledge Goes a Long Way ...
Nov 10, 2009•10 min
This is an Enso from the great Zen teacher Nantembo who lived a century ago, his temple in Nishinomiya is very close to where I live. It says: Everything fundamentally is perfect roundness in this world. As soon as you are born in this world, your mind is fundamentally perfect roundness.
Nov 09, 2009•10 min
More of the Bodhisattva Virtue of Miraculous, Mystical Powers (bala) In the Tashin tsû (Penetration of Other's Minds) portion of the Shôbôgenzô, the subject is mental telepathy, one of the supernormal powers (abhijñâ) regularly said in Buddhist literature to be accessible to great meditators. Here, Dôgen takes up the famous story of a Zen master's test of the mind-reading powers of an Indian monk claiming such ability. Dogen expresses his doubts about such powers, while seeing the mind of self a...
Sep 22, 2009•10 min
We now come to the Bodhisattva Virtue of .... Miraculous, Mystical Powers (bala) Mahayana sutras and lore refer to a variety of supernatural powers developed through meditation and Buddhist practice, said of aid to the Bodhisattva ... such as the ability to foretell the future, to see the past lives of beings, to read minds, to radiate light and to cause rain ... others too ... There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Taigen Dan Leighton writes ....
Sep 18, 2009•10 min
In keeping with our 100-day Ango Practice Season, we look at the Bodhisattva Virtue of .... Vow and Commitment (pranidhana) The most fundamental Bodhisattva's vows are these four, which we chant daily ... To save all sentient beings, though beings numberless To transform all delusions, though delusions inexhaustible To perceive Reality, though Reality is boundless To attain the Enlightened Way, a Way non-attainable Likewise, 'Ango' is a time of many other vows ... an expression of dedication and...
Sep 04, 2009•1 min
We continue with our series on the Ten Pure Virtues or "Perfections" of a Bodhisattva .... with Skillful Means (Upaya) Historian and Soto Zen Priest Taigen Dan Leighton writes ... Skillful Means, upaya in Sanskrit ... is an essential concept in Mahayana Buddhism. Skillful means, sometimes translated as tactfulness, expedients, or ingenuity, is the practice of applying awakening teaching to the diverse variety of students or practitioners. ... The idea of skillful means became crucial to the adop...
Aug 29, 2009•10 min
Ten Pure Virtues or "Perfections" are fundamental to the Bodhisattva path. Now we come to Wisdom (Prajna Paramita) In Mahayana Buddhism, this means seeing into, piercing ... emptiness ... being, allowing, witnessing and losing ourselves in ... the dance of emptiness ...
Jul 09, 2009•8 min
On Today's "Top Ten" Countdown of the "Pure Virtues of the Bodhisattva" ... ... we come to No. 5 ... Meditation .. Dhyana ... (not to be confused with the 50's song 'Diana' ... Hold me, darling, ho-ho hold me tight Squeeze me baby with-a all your might Oh, please stay by me, Diana Oh, please, Diana Oh, please, Diana Oh, please, Diana) Anyway, we spoke about this just a few days ago, in looking at Master Dogen's 'Bendowa" ... how 'Zazen' may thus appear to be well down the list ... just one of ma...
Jul 01, 2009•10 min
Last time, in our discussion of the Ten Pure Virtues or "Perfections" (Paramitas) of the Bodhisattva path ... we talked about "Patience" ... ... and today we will talk about the Perfection of Effort and Diligence (Virya Paramita). All the perfections go hand-in-hand, each supporting and nurturing the others. Each is part of the Bodhisattva's vow to "Save All Sentient Beings". But "Patience" and "Diligent Effort" have a special bond ... Our way might be called "patience in effort", "stillness in ...
Jun 25, 2009•8 min
Ten Pure Virtues or "Perfections" (Paramitas in Sanskrit) are fundamental to the Bodhisattva path. Today, we will discuss the Perfection of Patience (Kshanti Paramita) If the video does not work today ... please consider it a perfect chance to put this Perfection into Practice!
Jun 23, 2009•10 min
Ten Pure Virtues or "Perfections" (Paramitas in Sanskrit) are fundamental to the Bodhisattva path. Today, we will discuss the Perfection of an ethical life, in keeping with the Precepts (Shila Paramita)
Jun 16, 2009•10 min
Ten Pure Virtues or "Perfections" (Paramitas in Sanskrit) are fundamental to the Bodhisattva path. Today, we will discuss Generosity (Dana Paramita)
Jun 06, 2009•10 min
Over the next few weeks, we'll be looking at several of the famous "Greats" among the Bodhisattvas. The "Greats" include Kannon, Maitreya, Manjusri, Jizo, Samantabhadra and many others. We'll look at a few Buddhas too ... Especially in Mahayana Buddhism, a "Bodhisattva" is an enlightened being, or one bound for enlightenment, who ... motivated by great compassion, and even postponing her own attainment of ultimate Buddhahood ... vows to use her wisdom to aid other human beings to attain liberati...
May 29, 2009•10 min
