“Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer.” ~ Shunryu Suzuki
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“Zanshin means “the remaining mind” and also “the mind with no remainder.” This is the mind of complete action. It is the moment in kyudo (Zen archery) after releasing the arrow. This is “Om makurasai sowaka” in oryoki practice and drinking the rinse water. In shodo, it is finishing the brush stroke and the hand and brush moving smoothly off the paper. In taking a step, it is the weight rolling smoothly and the next step arising. In breathing in completely, it is this breath. In breathing out completely, it is this breath. In life, it is this life. Zanshin means complete follow through, leaving no trace. It means each thing, completely, as it is. When body, breath, speech and mind are broken from each other and scattered in concept and strategy, then no true action can reveal itself. There is only hesitation, or trying to push oneself past hesitation. This is the mind of hope and fear, which arises because one is trying to live in some other moment, instead of in the moment that arises now. One is comparing, planning, or trying to maintain an illusion of control in the midst of a reality which is completely beyond control”
Anzan Hoshin roshi: Without Hesitation
“Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.” ~Zen proverb
“A zen master’s life is one continuous mistake.”
The comming days I will attend a 3 day Zen Sesshin with Brad Warner in the Pagode Phat Hue Temple (Frankfurt). I have no idea what to expect, I will just go there and Sit down… Updates will follow later.
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| Zen Sesshin |
Links for August 22nd through August 24th:
Now reading: Brad Warner “Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip
Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the
True Dharma”.
Zen teacher and punk bassist Brad Warner had a tough year: He lost his dream job, his mother died, his grandmother died, and his marriage fell apart. In “Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate”, Brad follows the form of his first two books, mixing his real-life adventures with Buddhist philosophy and pop culture examples. He applies the Buddha’s teachings to his own real-life suffering, deconstructing the popular image of the Buddhist Master.
How does a “real” Zen Master deal with death, divorce, job loss, and personal discord? How does he perform the work of trying to help others get over their tough times while going through some pretty heavy pain of his own? How do you sit and meditate while your world crumbles all around you? Warner also explores whether real Buddhism exists in the West, travelling around North America in search of authentic Buddhist practice. ‘While I’ve found shining examples of the Buddha’s way in prisons and at heavy metal shows‘, he writes, ‘I’ve also seen sad perversions of Buddhism in temples and among those supposedly propagating the Way in America. Authentic Buddhism doesn’t always come packaged the way we imagine it should’. This isn’t another esoteric book about the ancient, venerable, and exotic philosophy of Buddhism. It’s a book about what it means to live your life as a real human being. According to Warner, although Zen does not offer the kind of pie-in-the-sky ‘ultimate solutions’ many religions and cults promise, it does provide a real and exceptionally practical way to deal with what life dishes out to all of us. In fact, he says, Zen practice and philosophy provides the only truly rational and realistic way to live a balanced and happy life.
The bassist for the punk band Zero Defects, Brad Warner is a Zen priest, filmmaker, and Japanese monster-movie marketer living in Los Angeles. The author of Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, & the Truth about Reality: Punk Rock Monster Movies & the Truth About Reality and Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death, and Dogen’s Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye, he is also is also the director and producer of Cleveland’s Screaming, a documentary about the Ohio punk scene. He teaches Zen in Santa Monica and writes a monthly column for Suicidegirls.com.
Available at Amazon Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma. You can read an excerpt here.
Now reading: Thank You and Ok!: An American Zen Failure in Japan – David Chadwick.
David Chadwick, a Texas-raised wanderer, college dropout, bumbling social activist, and hobbyhorse musician, began his study under Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 1966. In 1988 Chadwick flew to Japan to begin a four-year period of voluntary exile and remedial Zen education. In Thank You and OK! he recounts his experiences both inside and beyond the monastery walls and offers insightful portraits of the characters he knew in that world—the bickering monks, the patient abbot, the trotting housewives, the ominous insects, the bewildered bureaucrats, and the frustrating English-language students—as they worked inexorably toward initiating him into the mysterious ways of Japan. Whether you’re interested in Japan, Buddhism, or exotic travel writing, this book is great fun.
To learn more about the author, David Chadwick, visit More about David Chadwick
Since German is not an easy language for an Ausländer, I do seldom read German books. But wen I found the new book from Blixa Bargeld on Amazon I had to get and and read it. There is not much I can say about it: it is great and with only 150 pages way, way to short. I really did enjoy the calm narrating style, this, the no rock star bullshit and all the little details makes this book great to read.
Europa kreuzweise: Eine Litanei- Blixa Bargeld
ICH SOLL EINEN TEXT VERFASSEN, ein Buch schreiben, eine Litanei anstimmen. Ich bin nicht katholisch und mir fehlt die passende Erinnerung. Meine Freundin Maria, aus Bayern (katholisch und Literaturwissenschaftlerin), die ich bei solchen Gelegenheiten anrufe, schreibt mir aus Berlin: Was mir an dieser Textsorte am interessantesten erscheint, ist die dialogische Form und vor allem die Möglichkeit, Passagen zu wiederholen bzw. wieder aufzunehmen, der Text also potentiell unendlich ist ganz wichtig ist auch, dass die Litanei ein Text zum HÖREN ist Das müsste sich ja mit mir treffen. In ein paar Tagen werde ich in Europa sein. Ich werde wieder 2Monate überwiegend in einem Bus verbringen. Von Lissabon bis Moskau, Oslo bis Neapel, Europa kreuz und quer. Vielleicht sollte ich Maria auch noch fragen, was ein Exposé ist. Was es genau ist. Ich glaube, ich weiß, worauf es hinausläuft: Pressetext, Waschzettel, Kurzbeschreibung. Also bitte: Auf der Reise durch Europa hat der Sänger, Komponist, was weiß ich was, einen zirkulären Text verfasst, einen Monolog, eine Litanei, eine Idiotennovelle, einen Bildungsroman in der erstbesten Person, eine Gardinenpredigt. Europa kreuzweise. Plus 12 Kochrezepte. Blixa Bargeld
Stimme frißt Feuer – Blixa Bargeld . Nice little booklet with mostly texts, drawings and poems from the beginning of Einstürzende Neubauten. This book brings memories back from all the concerts we went to, squatted houses, days without sleep and all the good conversations we had. A must have for anybody who was around.
Kollaps / bis zum Kollaps
nicht viel Zeit
Kollaps / bis zum Kollaps
nicht viel Zeit
Kollaps / Unsre Irrfahrten
zerstören die Städte
und nächtliches Wandern
macht sie dem Erdboden gleich
Kollaps / alles was ich kriegen kann
Alles in mich rein
Kollaps / süßer Kollaps
bitter und bitter und bitter
bis zum Kollaps
Horden / die neue Goldene Horde
diesmal ohne Dschingis Khan
wir zerstören die Städte
nächtliches Wandern macht uns blind
Kollaps / sei mein Kollaps
Kollaps / nicht viel Zeit / nicht viel Zeit
schlag schneller schrei lauter
leb schneller / bis zum Kollaps nicht viel Zeit
wir sind die neuen Goldenen Horden
diesmal ohne Dschingis Khan
bis zum Kollaps nicht viel Zeit
verbrenn mich reiß mich nieder
bitter / bitter / bitter / bitter
Europa kreuzweise: Eine Litanei- Blixa Bargeld
Stimme frißt Feuer
- Setting Bug Severity and Priority – a knol by Scott Cunningham – note to self: read this.
- Modal overlays beyond the dialog box – Note to self: read this
- Scaling Bumper Sticker: A 1 Billion Page Per Month Facebook RoR App | High Scalability –
- QUOTE: So, I’m going to give up and use tables. –
- Pong Clock –
- Gmail Brings Tasks to the iPhone and Android (For Google Apps Users too!) –
- Zend lead by founders again –
Simplicity is supremely beautiful, yet difficult to obtain.
Found at this great article on Presentationzen.com; Zen, jazz, & creativity: Lessons from the art of jazz.
(Abstract) Initially panned by many critics for its violent content, David Fincher’s Fight Club may seem like the most unlikely film to incorporate the tenants of Zen Buddhism. However, if one looks beyond the surface, issues like fighting against capitalism, saving people from themselves, creating a world-wide equilibrium, and suffering to gain enlightenment are all present in Fight Club. This alone may not be enough to prove an air-tight connection between Zen Buddhism and Fight Club but the film’s characters, structure and storyline can also be linked to key aspects of the Zen Buddhist doctrine. By exploring these multiple connections this paper provides a different, if not completely opposed, view of what could be one of the most controversial and ultimately misunderstood films of the last decade.
- Kodo Sawaki
Kodo Sawaki (1880-1965) is considered by some to be the most important Japanese Zen master of the 20th century. His parents died early and he grew up being adopted by a gambler and an ex-prostitute. When he was 16, he ran away from home to become a monk at Eiheiji, one of the two main temples of Soto Zen. At first unsuccessful, he was finally ordained as a monk and began his Zen studies. Later, he started to give lectures and instructions in the practice of zazen, and during the 1930s he was called as a professor at Komazawa University. At the same time, he also took responsibility for Antaiji, a zazen temple in northern Kyoto. Because of his continuous travels throughout Japan to practice zazen with people everywhere, he began to be called “homeless Kodo.” Sawaki Kodo Roshi died on December 21st, 1965, in Antaiji. He was succeeded by his closest disciple, Kosho Uchiyama, who also collected many of Sawaki’s sayings, which have been published under the title The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo. (source wikipedia)
To you who thinks Buddhism is the greatest idea in human history
Religion isn’t an idea. It’s practice.Dont get lost in thoughts about the buddha-dharma.
Be careful that you don’t handle the buddha-dharma like some canned good which has nothing to do with reality.
Your explanations and your anecdotes are foolish like everything that comes out of your mouth. The expression on your face has already said how it really is.
You can express reality completely freely with words. Yet these words are not in themselves reality. If reality were in the words themselves, we would burn our tongue whenever we said “fire”. And whenever we talked about wine, we would get drunk. In reality, it isn’t so easy.
What isn’t real is useless, no matter what we call it. And no matter how we use theories, we don’t make any progress through them. Words are nothing more than words.
Za-Zen – Taisen Deshimaru-Roshi
Seinfeld and Philosphie (A book about everything and nothing) – William Erwin (Editor)
The Simpsons and Philosphie (The D’oh! of Homer)- William Erwin (Editor)
- Shunryu Suzuki
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind is a book of teachings by the late Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, a compilation of talks given to his satellite Zen center in Los Altos, California. Published in 1970 by Weatherhill, the book does not get caught up in academic idolatry. These are frank and direct transcriptions of Suzukis’ talks recorded by his student Marian Derby. Trudy Dixon and Richard Baker (Baker was Suzuki’s successor) edited the talks by choosing those most relevant, arranging them into chapters. This book has become a spiritual classic, helping readers to steer clear from the trappings of intellectualism.
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking – Malcolm Gladwell and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Differenence – Malcolm Gladwell.
Blink is about the first two seconds of looking–the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of “thin slices” of behavior. The key is to rely on our “adaptive unconscious”–a 24/7 mental valet–that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea.
The Tipping Point: “The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life,” writes Malcolm Gladwell, “is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.” Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell’s The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.
For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a “Connector”: he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere “wasn’t just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston,” he was also a “Maven” who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day–think of how often you’ve received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.
Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the “stickiness” of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger.
at Amazon: Blink and The Tipping Point
died last Friday at age 77. JanWillem vd Wetering is one of my favorite Dutch writers, specially his Zen related books are a great read.
“Doctrines, scriptures, sutras, essays, are not to be regarded as systems to be followed. They merely contribute to understanding. They should be for us a source of stimulation, and nothing more… Adopted, rather than used as a stimulus, they are a hindrance.”
This is a valuable quote from Wei Wu Wei , or Terence James Stannus Gray. Terence James Stannus Gray was an Irish aristocrat who in the Twenties became an Egyptologist and historian, writing books of short plays based on Ancient Egypt and the early history of Ireland.
In 1933 Gray’s interest in the theatre ended and he moved to France, to become Wei Wu Wei and he wrote eight books in his own style of Zen Buddhism.
More about Wei Wu Wei (Terence James Stannus Gray) @ wikipedia and here.
of course is our own mortality. Faced with that question, pretty much everything that isn’t truly important fades away. Steve Jobs of Apple put it best in his Commencement address at Stanford in 2005:
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Found at Zen Habits
- Paul Trynka Iggy Pop’s life has been one of extraordinary highs and terrifying lows. Infamous for his wild ways, he is also a towering figure of the rock scene – hugely influential, charismatic and provocative. Every ‘mad, bad, dangerous to know’ rock star owes a debt to him, and the stories of his shocking behaviour are legendary. But Iggy Pop is also, to a large extent, a construct, the alter ego of the quietly spoken and intriguing Jim Osterberg: the kid voted ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ by his classmates. So what turned this charming, well-mannered, straight-A student into a poster child for rock ‘n’ roll debauchery? Iggy Pop: Open up and Bleed reveals the truth behind the myths. Former MOJO editor Paul Trynka tracked down the star’s friends, family, lovers and fellow musicians, conducting over two hundred and fifty interviews, unearthing countless new stories about Iggy’s rollercoaster life, his music and his often misunderstood friendship with David Bowie. From this impeccable research he creates a fascinating portrait of a man at war with the world and with himself. The book also features dozens of never-before seen photos.
@ Amazon and @ Zweitausendeins (German translation)
Pissing in the gene pole – Henry Rollins
Art to Choke Hearts – Henry Rollins
Feuchtgebiete – Charlotte Roche
by Eckart Wintzen Nice little book about Eckart Wintzen’s management philosophy. More info about Eckart Wintzen here: http://www.extent.nl/.
Verhalen – Jef Geeraerts
The Dharma of Star Wars – Matthew Bortolin:
“If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”
The Dharma of Star Wars brings together the phenomenon of Star Wars with humanity’s profound hunger for the spiritual. Parade magazine recently declared “Jedi Knight” to be the “Best New Religion” and the UK Times reported, “It is George Lucas, rather than St. Luke, who taught today’s twentysomethings much of what they first learnt about right and wrong.” (And perhaps more famously: in a UK census, some 390,000 British citizens declared “Jedi” to be their official religion. Similarly, a census report in in Australia tallied 70,000 as followers of the Star Wars “faith.”) For many, Star Wars was their first taste of religious thought without the dogma and restrictions of organized religion. It awoke in them a certain spirituality that Buddhism, with its emphasis on personal inquiry and self-realization, so fluidly speaks to. The Dharma of Star Wars uses Buddhism and George Lucas’ powerful mythos to illuminate each other in a way that speaks directly to the heart.
More @ google books
@ Amazon
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.
- Shunryu Suzuki
Polis Massa-Beobachtungskuppel – Nacht
Auf dem abgelegenen Asteroiden Polis Massa meditiert Yoda.
YODA: Die Sith aufzuhalten, mir nicht gelungen ist. Noch viel zu lernen, es gibt…
QUI-GON: (Stimme) Geduld. Ihr werdet Zeit haben. Ich hatte keine. Als ich eins mit der Macht wurde, machte ich eine große Entdeckung. Mit meiner Ausbildung wird es Euch gelingen, nach Eurem Willen in die Macht einzugehen. Euer körperliches Selbst wird verblassen, doch Ihr werdet Euer Bewusstsein bewahren. Ihr werdet mächtiger werden als jeder Sith.
YODA: Ewiges Bewusstsein.
QUI-GON: (Stimme) Die Fähigkeit, dem Vergessen zu widerstehen, kann erlangt werden, doch nur für einen selbst. Einem Schamanen der Whills ist es gelungen. Es ist ein Zustand, der durch Mitgefühl zu erreichen ist, nicht durch Gier.
YODA: …eins zu werden mit der Macht und noch Einfluss zu besitzen… eine Macht, größer als jede andere, dies ist.
QUI-GON: (Stimme) Ihr werdet lernen, alles loszulassen. Keine Bindungen, kein Gedanke an euch selbst. Kein körperliches Selbst.
YODA: Ein großer Jedi-Meister seid Ihr geworden, Qui-Gon Jinn. Euer Schüler, ich dankbar werde.
Yoda denkt einen Moment darüber nach, dann betritt Bail Organa den Raum und stört Yodas Meditation.
BAIL ORGANA: Entschuldigt, Meister Yoda. Obi-Wan Kenobi hat Kontakt zu uns aufgenommen.
Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.
– Alan Watts
Alban Berg (1885-1935) – 3 Orchesterstücke op. 6
Anton Webern (1883-1945) – 6 Stücke für Orchester op. 6
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) – 5 Orchesterstücke op. 16
Alban Berg, Anton Webern & Arnold Schoenberg were the principle members of the Second Viennese School. Their music was initially characterized by post-romantic expanded tonality and later, following Schoenberg’s own evolution, a totally-chromatic expressionism without firm tonal centre (often referred to as atonality) and later still Schoenberg’s serial twelve-note technique.
Membership of the ‘School’ is not generally extended to Schoenberg’s many pupils in the USA from 1933, such as John Cage, Leon Kirchner and Gerald Strang, nor to many other composers who, at a greater remove, wrote compositions evocative of the ‘Second Viennese’ style, such as the celebrated Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. By extension, however, certain pupils of Schoenberg’s pupils (such as Berg’s pupil Hans Erich Apostel and Webern’s pupils René Leibowitz, Leopold Spinner and Ludwig Zenk) are usually included in the roll-call.
The existence of a ‘First Viennese School‘ is debatable. The term is often assumed to connote the great Vienna-based masters of the Classical style working in the late 18th and early 19th century, particularly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert.
cool: today arrived my TDI Kiss diver certificate.
- Simon Reynolds.
“Rip It Up and Start Again” is the first book-length exploration of the wildly adventurous music created in the years after punk. Renowned music journalist Simon Reynolds celebrates the futurist spirit of such bands as Joy Division, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, and Devo, which resulted in endless innovations in music, lyrics, performance, and style and continued into the early eighties with the video-savvy synth- pop of groups such as Human League, Depeche Mode, and Soft Cell, whose success coincided with the rise of MTV. Full of insight and anecdote and populated by charismatic characters, “Rip It Up” re-creates the idealism, urgency, and excitement of one of the most important and challenging periods in the history of popular music. Well thats says it all.
- Colin Wilson This work presents the life and work of one of the most influential psychological theorists of modern times. George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff is one of the most enigmatic figures of our time. He attracted legends as easily as disciples. But behind the Gurdjieff myth lies a solid corpus of thought, the importance of which is only now being generally recognized. At its heart was the idea of ‘the war against sleep’, the fact that man, in Colin Wilson’s words, is like ‘a grandfather clock driven by a watch-spring’. This brilliant and much praised examination of a psychologist and teacher of genius has established itself as the most important and accessible account for the general reader of Gurdjieff’s life and work.
At Amazon: G. I. Gurdjieff: The War Against Sleep
- by Rafael Lefort.
Book Description
When The Teachers of Gurdjieff was first published some 25 years ago, it made a very considerable stir. George Gurdjieff was one of the most famous mystics before the war, a teaching master who had many fashionable and influential pupils. He had a striking appearance and manner of teaching, one that was to prove influential. The meaning of his teaching and the sources of it were a puzzle. How did he come by his knowledge? What was to become of it? These were questions that engaged many seekers.
Yet, with the rapidly changing focus of our era in all things, not least spiritual, this is in some real part a book of another time. From the time of Gurdjieff’s operations to the early ’70s, many in the West were discovering, for the first time, the older religious and spiritual traditions of the East. After his death, Gurdjieff’s followers were running groups in “the fourth way”; travelers set out to India, Tibet, Japan, Turkey and other parts east to find their Buddhists, Tibetan Buddhists, Sonoran Shamen, and the rest. Schools began, seekers sought and found, sought again, found again.
Today, everything is available and exposed on the table, and anybody can connect with any technique at any time. And the possibilities are endless, highly intellectual, highly emotional, highly sensual. How many different forms of yoga, zen philosophy are there, and is a lifetime enough to find a proper combination, or is the answer closer at home.
This book offers, among the adventures of the search and the souks of Baghdad and Aleppo, striking and timeless advice to those interested in finding spirituality. Its appeal is far beyond that of one seeker in one era, but offers us information, today, on how to evaluate different forms of teaching, how to study, and even some tantalizing information on the role of Jesus.
Excerpted:
You are scrabbling about in the sand, attracted by pieces of mica to knit together and make a window, not realising that the sand itself is capable of being transformed into the purest glass.–
From The Teachers of Gurdjieff
At Amazon: The Teachers of Gurdjief
A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries – by Noah Levine
Foucault’s Pendulum and The Name of the Rose – by Umberto Eco.
Back from my diving trip. I had a great week in Hurghada and did some verry nice tek dives, with Tekstreme, the Technical diving department from Emperor divers. I am already planning my next trip for the end of this year 1 week Sharm El Sheikh with the same company.
is a form of Mahyna Buddhism notable for its emphasis on praxis and experiential wisdom, particularly as realized in the form of meditation known as zazen, in the attainment of enlightenment as experienced by the Buddha Siddh?rtha Gautama. As such, it de-emphasizes both theoretical knowledge and the study of religious texts in favor of what it terms a “special transmission outside the scriptures” that points to each individual practitioner’s inherent Buddha-nature. Satori (awakening) has always been the goal of every school of Buddhism, but that which distinguished the Zen tradition as it developed in China, Korea, and Japan was a way of life radically different from that of Indian Buddhists.In China social circumstances led to the development of a temple and training-center system in which the abbot and the monks all performed mundane tasks. These included food gardening or farming, carpentry, architecture, housekeeping, administration, and the practice of folk medicine. Consequently, the enlightenment sought in Zen had to stand up well to the demands and potential frustrations of everyday life.
The fundamental Zen practice of zazen, or seated meditation, recalls both the posture in which the Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, and the elements of mindfulness and concentration which are part of the Eightfold Path as taught by the Buddha. All of the Buddha’s fundamental teachings
Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death, and Dogen’s Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye by Brad Warner (author of Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, & the Truth about Reality)
From Publishers Weekly
Warner, a Zen priest, author (Hardcore Zen) and former punk rock bassist, has a very distinctive voice. It may be off-putting to some to think about Buddha and a bunch of Zen masters, including esteemed 13th-century Japanese Zen master Dogen, as dudes riffing on “whiz-bang-with-cheese-on-top-enlightenment.” But for the patient, curious and those for whom Warner’s slash-the-crap style is their cup of green tea, this Zen punk book offers provocation and reward. Warner ambitiously presents something close to textual commentary on a key text by Dogen while teaching on anger, sex, loving-kindness, dependent arising and other familiar Buddhist themes. The topical chapters are tied together by Warner’s narration of a punk band reunion. The author’s knowledge of Japanese from his years of living in Japan adds to his credibility, since it allows him to better explore the nuances of Japanese Zen. Though he might be disappointed to hear it, Warner is probably less provocative than some of the first-generation Asian teachers who transplanted Zen to America. Still, Buddhism has long enjoyed baffling “crazy-wisdom” teachers and paradoxical koans, and Warner’s punk iconoclasm fits in nicely. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
In Sit Down and Shut Up, Brad Warner tackles one of the great works of Zen literature, the Shobogenzo by 13th-century Zen master Dogen. Illuminating Dogen’s enigmatic teachings in plain language, Warner intertwines sharp philosophical musings on sex, evil, anger, meditation, enlightenment, death, God, sin, and happiness with an exploration of the power and pain of the punk rock ethos. Riffing on his triumphant return to Ohio for a reunion concert of Akron punk bands, Brad uncovers the real heart of Zen, in teachings and stories with a sharp smack of truth,.
Buddhism without beliefs- Stephen Batchelor
Do I come here often – Henry Rollins
Finding the Way (TAO) - Montag
Doing it right: Fundamentals of Better Diving – Jablonski
A nameless detective, still mourning the loss of his wife, investigates a mysterious death in a Buddhist temple, but his logical, left-brained crime-solving skills are useless in the intuitive, non-linear world of Zen.
While attempting to question the inhabitants of the temple — Ed, a monk with an attitude and secrets to hide; Jane, a beautiful, mysterious, bald femme fatale; and the Master, an infuriatingly obscure Zen teacher, who does a lot of strange things with oranges
A form of Zen meditation which involves sitting in an asana position (commonly the lotus position) and clearing the mind. The word literally means “sitting meditation”.
If you wish to be realized in Suchness, immediately practice Suchness.
A quiet room is good for zazen. Eat and drink moderately, don’t entangle yourself in delusive relationships. Just leave such things to themselves. Don’t think about good or bad, right or wrong. Don’t give rise to the mind’s common concepts, the judging of thoughts and observations. Don’t sit to become an Awakened One because you can’t fabricate a Buddha out of sitting or lying down.
One day Chuang Tzu and a friend were walking by a river.
“Look at the fish swimming about,” said Chuang Tzu, “They are really enjoying themselves.”
“You are not a fish,” replied the friend, “So you can’t truly know that they are enjoying themselves.”
“You are not me,” said Chuang Tzu. “So how do you know that I do not know that the fish are enjoying themselves?”
Kaizen is a Japanese management strategy, Kaizen roughly translates to “continuous slow improvement.” In the corporate world, it’s an efficiency and defect-proofing system often used on factory floors. But Kaizen emphasizes the well-being of the employee, working smarter, not harder and developing best practices so that workers don’t have to think. As such, Kaizen is an ideal approach to improve one’s personal workflow.
Hagagakure (“In the Shadow of Leaves”‘) is a manual for the samurai classes consisting of a series of short anecdotes and reflections that give both insight and instruction–in the philosophy and code of behavior that foster the true spirit of Bushido–the Way of the Warrior. It is not a book of philosophy as most would understand the word: it is a collection of thoughts and sayings recorded over a period of seven years, and as such covers a wide variety of subjects, often in no particular sequence.
The work represents an attitude far removed from our modern pragmatism and materialism, and posesses an intuitive rather than rational appeal in its assertion that Bushido is a Way of Dying, and that only a samurai retainer prepared and willing to die at any moment can be totally true to his lord. While Hagakure was for many years a secret text known only to the warrior vassals of the Hizen fief to which the author belonged, it later came to be recognized as a classic exposition of samurai thought and came to influence many subsequent generations, including Yukio Mishima.
Bushido: The Way of the Samurai – In eighteenth-century Japan, Tsunetomo Yamamoto created the Hagakure, a document that served as the basis for samurai warrior behavior. Its guiding principles greatly influenced the Japanese ruling class and shaped the underlying character of the Japanese psyche, from businessmen to soldiers.
Bushido is the first English translation of the Hagakure. This work provides a powerful message aimed at the mind and spirit of the samurai warrior. It offers beliefs that are difficult for the Western mind to embrace, yet fascinating in their pursuit of absolute service.
by Henry Rollins. Now this is a true hardcore Zen / Tao / Dharma whatever book. I recommend every seeker on the path to get this book and read it ! Then do a re interpretation of your boring fucked up life and get on clear terms with yourself and stop acting yourself but become you. Every single Paragraf is a kick in the guts, a smack on the face and a spiritual vision.
It is sit down , shut up and read time !
People spend to much time trying to make themselves happy. They never know what its like to feel the sheer, silent weight of existence. They’re too busy running from something that they havent even dealt with. How can they be the master of their own lives without this knowledge
(page 29)
Some info on the side:
Solipsism is first recorded with the Greek presocratic sophist Gorgias (c. 483–375 BC) who is quoted by the Roman sceptic Sextus Empiricus as having stated:
Nothing exists
Even if something exists, nothing can be known about it, and
Even if something could be known about it, knowledge about it can’t be communicated to others
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism
Amazon: Henry Rollins: Solipsist
Experiences of a Zen Student Out on His Ear by Janwillem Van De Wetering.
Synopsis
On one level a collection of unorthodox solutions to classic Zen Buddhist koans or riddles, the eagerly-awaited final volume of van de Wetering’s “Zen” trilogy is just as much an installment of the author’s witty and engaging autobiography. van de Wetering’s comments on the questions philosophy raises are mirrored in his encounters with a wildly varied group of characters beautifully “collaged” as the author says, “from bits and pieces of fellow students and seekers who kindly came my way.” He has discovered the ideal way to produce a work on Zen – and life – that is insightful, humorous and very human.
At Amazon: Afterzen
What is the Way? asked Chao-Chou Nan-Ch’uan. Nan-Ch’uan answered, “Ordinary mind is the Way.”
(by Steve Hagen)
Synopsis
The book “Buddhism Plain and Simple” (by Steve Hagen) shares the fundamental teachings of the Buddha, explains the twelvefold path, and includes Zen stories.
At Amazon: Buddhism Plain and Simple
While I was searching on the Internet for definitions of the word “time” I stumbled upon Four Quartets from T. S. Eliot. It ist one of the most beautiful poems that I know.
And whenever I read it, the words directly touch my heart or something deep inside me. The first time that I have read the words (It must have been 15 years ago):
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point..
I almost hat an feeling of enlightenment or similar religious experience. I used to meditate a lot at that time, the words “Neither here nor there” “I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where. And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.” were my Koans, Mantra’s. And now that I am reading a lot about Zen and Tao at the moment, these word do get an new meaning to me. As if they are new to my mind.
Words move, music moves
Only in time; but that which is only living
Can only die. Words, after speech, reach
Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern,
Can words or music reach
The stillness, as a Chinese jar still
Burnt Norton is a deep meditation on the meaning of time and its relationship with human beings and the Christian meaning of Redemption. (The restoration of man from the bondage of sin to the liberty of the children of God through the satisfactions and merits of Christ. blah blah blah)
At Amazon: T. S. Eliot
Non-Volitional Living – Wei Wu Wei
What am I ? As far as I can understand I am the absence of my presence and the absence of the presence of my absence.
Little is known of the mysterious Wei Wu Wei, and yet his contribution to the body of modern mystical literature is profound. Using examples from the writings of the great sages of Taoism, Zen and Advaita, in a most captivating and erudite original style, a sense of the noumenal presence, which is what everything is before thought, is conveyed to the reader with irreducible clarity and precision.
While much of what is written around the subject of enlightenment and the nature of reality as presented in the esoteric traditions of the East is couched in narrative or dialogue form, Wei Wu Wei goes straight for the jugular, espousing ancient wisdom in a penetrating philosophical language, including nothing superfluous and leaving nothing out. Quoting Huang Po
The nature of the Absolute is neither perceptible nor imperceptible; and with phenomena it is just the same. But to one who has discovered his real nature, how can there be anywhere or anything separate from it?…
…Therefore it is said: ‘The perception of a phenomenon IS the perception of the Universal Nature, since phenomena and Mind are one and the same.
“Nothing is the great mystery. It cannot be described. Words can try to touch it. Zen may be such a word and Tao, Christ, Allah, Buddha, and others. There is a word called ‘God.”
Janwillem van de Wetering in A Glimpse of Nothingness
Janwillem Van de Wetering writes in his great book “The Empty Mirror” about his experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery. He does this in a verry nice, funny self reflecting way. I enjoyed this book so much that I will start reading the sequel (?) book about his Zen experience, A Glimpse of Nothingness, today. I found The Empty Mirror verry inspiring and you get to know much about Zen-Buddhism and a glance at the daily life in a Zen monastery. Funny to read that serene Zen-masters also like to watch baseball on TV, drink and smoke and laugh about stupid jokes like everybody else.
As a Dutch I am verry familiar with his writings, the famous Grijpstra & de Gier Mystery’s, which I always really liked. Probally I will read those again sooner or later.
At Amazon: The Empty Mirror: , A Glimpse of Nothingness