Recent Comments
- Chodpa on The Place where the Primordial Speaks
- Chodpa on The Cuckoo of Presence
- Afzar on Bodhidharma’s teacher, Prajnatara
- Vajragoni on Audiobook is released
- Scott on Audiobook is released
-
Recent Posts
Categories
- A Darkness Visible
- A Docetic Assessment
- A Mystical Odyssey through the Sagathakam
- AI Creations
- Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra
- Akṣhobhya’s Pure Land
- Ālaya-vijñāna
- Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta
- Ariyapariyesanā Sutta
- Ascending the Noble Mountain of Primordial Perfection
- Asceticism
- Ashtavakra Gita in Light of the Unborn
- Audiobook
- Bankei Zen
- Beyond the Ascent
- Beyond the Rainbow Body
- Black Dragon Eye Mandala
- Bodhicitta
- Buddhadharma
- Buddhism’s Black Holes
- Buddhist Anecdotes
- Buddhist Hells
- Buddhist Meditations on the Tarot
- Chuang-Tzu
- Contemporary Musings
- Ḍākiṇī
- Dāsbodh
- Dharmakaya Abbey
- Dharmakaya Stick
- Divine Revelation
- Doctrine of the Void
- Dust Contemplation
- Ekacitta: Advanced Studies in Dark Zen
- Entry into the Dharmadhātu
- Eremitical Dhyani Meditations
- Exploring the Book of Revelation
- Gnostikos
- Hsin Hsin Ming
- Journey to the Center of the Mind
- Karma and Rebirth
- Korean Sŏn
- Kulayarāja Tantra—The Motherly Buddha
- Little Office of Our Lady of the Void
- LSD and Psychedelic Buddhism
- Māṇḍukya Kārikā
- Mañjuśrī Teaches Prajñāpāramitā
- Māra and Satan
- Meister Eckhart
- Mud and Water: Bassui Zen
- Mystagogia
- Nirvana
- Notes from the Iron Stupa
- Nothingness in Nāgārjuna and John of the Cross
- Obscure Religious Cults
- Preparation for the Afterlife
- Primordial Qigong
- Reflections on the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra
- Spirituality
- Springtime with Tozen
- Terma: A Mind Film by Vajragoni
- The Afterglow
- The Awakening of Faith
- The Bhagavad Gita
- The Book of Bodhi
- The Cloud of Unknowing in Light of the Unborn
- The Diamond Sutra
- The Divine Ātman
- The Divine Liturgy of Vajrasattva
- The Doctrine of Awakening
- The Dragon Mind of Zen Tarot
- The Elucidation of Consciousness
- The Experience of No-Self
- The Great Perfection of the Unborn Mind: A Book of Privy Counseling
- The Heart Sutra
- The Hermit's Den
- The Khaggavisāṇa Sutta: A Rhinoceros Horn
- The Lankavatara Sutra
- The Lankavatarian Book of the Dead
- The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā
- The Lotus Sutra
- The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra
- The Naga Chronicles
- The Platform Sutra
- The Ratnagotravibhāgaśāstra
- The School of the Spirit
- The Secret Golden Light of the Unborn
- The Soul
- The Śūrańgama Sūtra
- The Sutra of Primordial Enlightenment
- The Tathāgatagarbhatārā Tantra
- The Udāna
- The Unborn Mind Mythos
- The Unborn Mind Sessions
- The Unborn Odyssey: A Novel
- The Vajrasamādhi Sutra
- The Vimalakirti Sutra
- The Yogasūtras of Patañjali
- The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma
- The Zen Teaching of Instantaneous Awakening
- The Zen Teachings of Huang Po
- Theologia Mystica
- Tozen Teaching
- Tsung-mi: An Intimate Study
- Unborn I Ching
- Unborn Light Reiki
- Uncategorized
- Vasubandhu and the Absolute
- Wisdom from the Masters
- Wordsworth and Zen
- Yoga of the Manomayakāya
- Zen
- Zuowang
Archives
- October 2024
- August 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- June 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- October 2018
- August 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
Meta
Monthly Archives: November 2014
The Mahāyāna-shraddhotpāda-shāstra
We next will be exploring perhaps the most significant document, alongside the Lankavatara Sutra, for adherents of Unborn Mind Zen as well as the best concise-systematic treatment of the Mahayana as a whole. This ‘Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana’ is attributed to the great early Buddhist philosopher and poet, Aśvaghosha:
Posted in The Awakening of Faith
Tagged Aśvaghosha, Awakening of Faith, Bhūtathatā, Fa-tsang, Hakeda, Lankavatarians, Mahayana, shāstra, Suchness, Suzuki, tathagata-garbha
Leave a comment
Who, what are you?
Can you view yourself as one
whom has come to know their own true nature?
One, whom has gone beyond the senses,
whom in the gracious body of the Mind´s true light
transcended any and all views
or the most intense mortal descensions?
One whom stepped into a pure, unborn reality of the Mind
Where YOU, yes, the true YOU…
are
completely, perfectly
and incandescently content,
with that most luminous nature
of your own True Self?
—
If you apply the haze
of existence or non-existence
to it,
the delusion is complete
as a position of Mind is instantaneously born
to affirm something composed.
Your True Mind is positionless,
an absolute reality
beyond the Kingdom of Dreams,
hence the applied concept
of true self,
is like a finger pointing to this luminous Moon
where the sole power of its uncreated nature
shines unimpeded.
If you speak,
before knowing,
and believe to know something, before seeing.
Alas, once more the barrier of ignorance,
remains unbreached.
Posted in Tozen Teaching
Tagged delusion, light, Mind, Tozen, True Mind, True Self, uncreated
2 Comments
Enlightenment Woes
“It is said that when looking at the sayings and teachings of the Buddhas and patriarchs, if you look as one with fresh hatred looks upon an enemy, you will then for the first time be able to understand them. What do you think about this?”
The Fragrance of Suchness
“If you truly want to read the sutras, you first have to awaken the mind that does the reading. All formal readings from the sutras are ultimately destructive. The wonderful dharma of one’s mind does not change through successive eons; it is the essence of all the sutras. If you want to comprehend this essence, you should know that the voices of frogs and worms, the sound of wind and raindrops, all speak the wonderful language of the dharma and that birds in flight, swimming fish, floating clouds, and flowing streams all turn the dharma wheel. When you see the wordless sutra only once, the sutras of all the heavens with their golden words which fill one’s eyes clearly manifest. If you read the sutras with this kind of understanding, you will never be idle throughout endless eons. If you do not have this kind of understanding, you will spend your whole life covering the surface of black beans.*”
Posted in Mud and Water: Bassui Zen
Tagged Dharma, dharma-mind, Mind, Suchness, understanding
3 Comments
This Little Light of Mine
“It is said that when the Little Buddha is imprinted on the void and on the fragrance, one will receive unlimited merit. What does this mean?”
Posted in Mud and Water: Bassui Zen
Tagged Dharma, intelligence, Little Buddha, merit, Nirmanakaya, One Dharma
Leave a comment
The Pure Lands
Bassui had the distinction of empowering others to see beyond their literal notions of the Buddha Pure Lands. However he would not make the attempt if the inquirers were exclusively attached to the phenomenal world and incapable of seeing beyond it. For those who were in earnest, i.e., who could see beyond phenomenal categories with the clear-light of zen, he would engage them with that clear-understanding. The following are extracted portions from his Pure-Land Dialogs.
Posted in Mud and Water: Bassui Zen
Tagged Amida, Buddha Pure Lands, form, Mind, Pure Land, Tathagata, Western Pure Land
1 Comment
Dark Buddha
“It is said that one who practices the Way will remove obstructing demons. If one simply practices zazen and doesn’t chant sacred words from sutras, by what grace will he remove these obstructions?”
Karmic Affinity
Robert Stewart
“Within the teachings it is said that it is easy for one to believe if the karmic relationship with the teacher is right, and it is easy to enter if the karmic connection to the Way is right. Then no matter how hard I practice the kensho road to realization, I could not be expected to reach satori if my past karma were not right. Should I first try to practice a way that would set my karma right?”
Posted in Mud and Water: Bassui Zen
Tagged attainment, Bassui, Buddha Nature, Buddhahood, Karma, karmic affinity
1 Comment
The True Body of the Precepts
Questioner: “If the essence of all the Buddha’s teachings were contained in the practice of looking directly into one’s nature and attaining Buddhahood, wouldn’t that make the formal practice of keeping the precepts meaningless?”
Posted in Mud and Water: Bassui Zen
Tagged bodhipower, Body, Buddhahood, delusion, Precepts, Real Truth Body, True Wisdom Body
Leave a comment