Tag Archives: understanding

Update on Blog

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Vajragoni

Just a little update on our blog. The new 4.1 version of WordPress is still in the process of trying to work out some incompatibility issues. For instance, you may be noticing that our “categories” feature keeps appearing and disappearing. Also, our fine library keeps disappearing as well. Our hope is that these issues will work themselves out soon, so we kindly ask for your understanding. Thank-you. read more

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Tathagata’s Womb

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Vajragoni


Carl Van Brunt

(Hakeda)

CHAPTER TWO

The Correction of Evil Attachments

I.THE BIASED VIEWS HELD BY ORDINARY MEN read more

Posted in The Awakening of Faith | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Fragrance of Suchness

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Vajragoni

“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.*”  read more

Posted in Mud and Water: Bassui Zen | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Dark Ch’an

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Vajragoni

As a further sign that Tsung-mi was not totally entrenched in the evaluation of letters and words and their import for the Buddhadharma, Chapt. 8 of the Chan Prolegomenon assures the assiduous Mind-adept that the Total assessment of the Buddhadharma—the great “wordless teaching”—rests in what Broughton identifies as Tsung-mi’s “dark understanding”. The one who is adroit in Unborn Mind Zen recognizes this as Dark Ch’an, which entails forgetting about the exclusive reliance on words by “turning-about” from all images (forms, sensations, thought-material, analyzations, all Eight-Layers of the Body Consciousness) and remaining prior to the created-order of thingness and intuitively resting in Suchness THAT innately and spontaneously acts under all circumstances. In Essence it’s all about resting in the Tao (Unborn) and no-thing else—thus it’s darkness to ordinary modes of perception and a Luminous Actuosity for the awakened Spirit-Mind.  Scholars like Jeffrey Broughton know that in this sense Tsung-mi is speaking in “Chuang-Tzu” mode, or the Tao of the Unborn Mind. read more

Posted in Tsung-mi: An Intimate Study | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Early Formation

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Vajragoni

Early Classical Formation

Tsung-mi’s early life is unique because it did not fit the mold of the typical Ch’an monk. Usually contact within the Buddhist monastic-community happened at an early age, between childhood and the early teen years. Tsung-mi came from an elite family and he began his early non-monastic education as a young child well-into his late teens fervently studying the Chinese Classics; this was a pivotal development because his early formation was firmly rooted in a “Classical vein” which helped to form his stature as a man of the fine-arts, a distinction that empowered his most erudite mode of expression. This was reinforced in his late teens and early twenties by fine-tuning this classical-exposure with a healthy dose of some Buddhist texts. read more

Posted in Tsung-mi: An Intimate Study, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

The Hidden Jewel

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Vajragoni

“O Bhagavat! We have always thought we had attained complete nirvana. We now realize that we were ignorant. Why is this? We should have attained the wisdom of the Tathāgatas. Yet we were satisfied with little wisdom! read more

Posted in The Lotus Sutra | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Sannyasa Darshan-A Treatise on Traditional and Contemporary Sannyasa

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Vajragoni

Look’s like a good read…

The sannyasa tradition should not be confused with any from of organized religion. The concept and aim of sannyasa predates every kind of religion in existence in the world today. Sannyasa is not just an Indian tradition but a universal tradition which represents the original spiritual thoughts of humanity. Prior to the advent and organization of religions such as Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, people had their views about spiritual life. In every culture there have been people who had spiritual experiences and who have thought about spiritual life and values, and along with these thoughts different systems of understanding spirituality arose. read more

Posted in Spirituality, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Understanding

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Vajragoni

Wake-up Sermon, part 3

Whoever knows that the mind is a fiction and devoid of anything real knows that his own mind neither exists nor doesn’t exist. Mortals keep creating the mind, claiming it exists. And Arhats keep negating the mind, claiming it doesn’t exist. But bodhisattvas and Buddhas neither create nor negate the mind. This is what’s meant by the mind that neither exists nor doesn’t exist. The mind that neither exists nor doesn’t exist is called the Middle Way. read more

Posted in The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, Zen | Tagged , , | Leave a comment