Wikipedia

Joshua Jonathan

Joined 10 September 2011

Lewis Carroll, song by George Harrison
Hotei (Putai, Budai) - smash the Buddha in the backyard, tear down the fence! [note 1][note 2]
"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."
Leonard Cohen, Anthem
In memory of Aaron Swartz, here at 2009 Boston Wikipedia Meetup. Support Open access and http://pdftribute.net/


Vajrapani, whose appearance as a Yaksha generates "fear in the individual to loosen up his dogmatism". The conviction of being enlightened or otherwise being above common standards is not a criterium for Wikipedia; only reliable sources are so.
The hammer Mjöllnir, the hammer of Thar. The Indian equivalent is the vajra, a symbol of insight.
Compare the "Hammer of Martin of Tours," Catharijne Convent, Utrecht, the Netherlands. Made in 13th century CE; hammer-head ca. 1,000 BCE.
Manjushri, bodhisattva of prajñā, who is said to have created the Kathmandu valley.

"[T]he shattering of the mind of samsara [...] is not necessarily bound up with zazen meditation.”[3]
No-thing, No-I.[note 3][note 4][note 5]
Hotei
Hotei
Odin
Shiva destroying ignorance and effortless knowledge.
Znameniye, "Our Lady of the Sign", depicting the conception of Christ as the timeless Logos in his human emanation. See also Buddha-nature.
Mother Mary and Jesus.
Wooden statue of Quan Âm (Avalokiteśvara, Guanyin) with 1000 eyes and 1000 hands.[note 6]
White Tara statue in a Karma Kagyu dharma centre. Tara represents compassionate action.
Padmasambhava in yab-yum, which represents the primordial union of wisdom and compassion. The male figure is usually linked to compassion and skillful means, while the female partner relates to insight. See also Dzogchen.
It's the mix of ingredients that gives the most extraordinary taste![note 7]


















Intro

edit

Hallo,

My main interest is in Buddhism, but I'm also trying to understand other Indian religions, especially Advaita Vedanta and related traditions of "nondualism".

Contrary to most people interested in spirituality, I don't believe that there exists any "transcendental reality," be it God, Buddha-nature, Brahman or The Truth. Religion is inherent to our cognitive make-up, and triggered and modified by socially constructed practices and institutions. This world and life is the "transcendental reality" we're looking for; all the transcendental rest is constructed by ourselves.

Approaches like social constructionism and Madhyamaka offer an alternative to both essentialism and relativism, showing the innate magic of a world which is not frozen in absolute and timeless truths, but is ever-changing and "ingraspable." Yet, Zen, Dzogchen and Shentong also point to groundless awareness, in which this amazing reality appears.[note 18] But... who or what creates this self-awareness of groundlessness?... "Mind" itself creates this awareness of emptiness, just as it creates the notion of "I." Thus, this luminous, self-aware "nature of mind" is just as empty as this "I"...[note 19] Karuna and agape, "horizontal transcendence," are the accompanying stance in life, which make life meaningfull. It's a magical world!

Additional pages

edit

Subpages

edit

Source-pages

edit

Christ Myth theory

edit

Paul

edit

Tables

edit

Drafts

edit

Maps

edit

Further reading

edit

To do

edit

Drafts

edit

Buddhism

edit

Zen

edit

India

edit

Spirituality

edit

Merger-proposals

edit

Clean-up

edit

Various

edit

Done

edit

Mentorship

edit
edit

LOL

edit
edit
(Zen-)Buddhism
Nondualism
Genetics

Deceased Wikipedians

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^ The Existential Buddhist: "There’s a Zen story about Hotei. When asked "What’s the significance of Zen?" he put his sack down on the ground. When then asked "What’s the actualization of Zen?" he picked his sack back up and walked away. Clever Hotei! The very essence of Zen — letting go and dropping off whatever we’re holding. The very actualization of Zen — drawing water and chopping wood. Hotei lives life at the crosshairs of the Absolute and the Relative. A lot like Hakuin himself."[1]

    The Existential Buddhist: "When Hotei was not busy being all these things, he served double duty as Hakuin’s alter-ego and his Everyman. While Hakuin’s Hotei is a spiritual fellow and sits zazen, he also enjoys the pleasures of secular life. In painting after painting we see him puffing on a pipe (and what comes out of the pipe is not a smoke ring, but the prostitute Otufuko!), flying up in the air as a kite, playing go, riding a colt, playing kickball, and street juggling."[1]

    Osho (not a favorite of mine, so don't get the wrong impressions) has the story this way:
    Putai is said to travel giving candy to poor children, only asking a penny from Zen monks or lay practitioners he meets. One day a monk walks up to him and asks, "What is the meaning of Zen?" Budai drops his bag. "How does one realize Zen?" he continues. Budai then takes up his bag and continues on his way.[2]
  2. ^ See also Google on Hakuin and Hotei
  3. ^ Oxherding pictures no.8. Both Bull and Self Transcended:
    Whip, rope, person, and Ox -
    all merge in No Thing.
    This heaven is so vast,
    no message can stain it.
    How may a snowflake exist
    in a raging fire.
    Here are the footprints of
    the Ancestors.[4]
  4. ^ Moheyan: "When he enters a state of deep contemplation, he looks into his own mind. There being no-mind, he does not engage in thought. If thoughts of discrimination arise, he should become aware of them [...] Whatever thoughts arise, one does not examine [...] He does not examine any dharma whatsoever. If he becomes aware in this way of the arising (of thoughts, he perceives) the absence of self-existence [...] After sitting (in this manner) for a long time, the mind will become tame, and one will realize that his awareness is also discriminating mind [...] Awareness itself is without name or form [...] [T]he awareness and place where it occurs cannot be obtained by any search. There is no way of reflecting on the inconceivable. Not to cling even to this absence of thought is (the immediate access of) the Tathagatas.[5]
  5. ^ Je Tsongkhapa:
    "Whatever depends on causes and conditions
    Is empty of intrinsic reality
    What excellent instruction could there be
    More marvellous than this discovery?"[6]
  6. ^ Sutra van Quanyin:
    Als iemand gered kan worden door een Boeddha of een Bodhisattva,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door een Boeddhistische heilige,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door een monnik of een non,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door een leek,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door een kind,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door een hoog bejaarde,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door de Christelijke Verlosser,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door de Moeder Gods,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door engelen of heiligen,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door de Lijdende Dienaar van Jahweh,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door de Shechinah uit de Joodse mystiek,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door profeten of chaddiks,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door een wijze in de Islam of Soefi,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door een god of godin uit het Hinduïsme,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door een overtuigd atheïst,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door hen die volkomen mislukt zijn,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door de meest verlorenen,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Als iemand gered kan worden door monsters of demonen,
    dan zal Zij die gestalte aannemen.
    Temidden van alle angst en verschrikking
    zal Kuan Yin ons onbevreesdheid schenken.
    Zij is altijd bereid te luisteren naar het roepen om hulp,
    van hoever die roep ook mag komen.
    Haar universele geloften zijn afgelegd vóór alle eeuwen.
    Ze zijn onpeilbaar diep als de oceaan.
    Haar alles verlichtende Licht
    vervult het hele universum.[7]
  7. ^ Rabindranath Tagore: "My heart, awake in this holy land of India; it is a place of pilgrimage for nations to mingle in a confluence of humanity. Nobody knows who urged them yet they came from different lands and merged in a single body – the Aryans, the non-Aryans, the Dravidians, the Chinese, the Scythians, the Huns, the Pathans and the Mughals – all of them like so many separate streams flowing irresistibly to lose at the end of their journeys their individual identities in one vast sea. Now the West has opened up its gates, all are collecting its prized gifts and the same irreversible process of mutual exchange and assimilation is taking place once again in that holy confluence of humanity."[8] See here.
  8. ^ According to Vetter, dhyana may have been the original core practice of the Buddha, which aided the maintenance of mindfulness, and thereby self-restraint.[15] According to Paul Williams, referring to Erich Frauwallner, mindfulness provided the way in early Buddhism to liberation, "constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths."[16][17]
  9. ^ Mulamadhyamaka-karika, chapter 17, verse 1. Translation by Jay Garfield (2005), The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way. Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika, Oxford University Press. See also Advayavada Buddhism, Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamaka-karika, "Karma-phala-pariksha" (The analysis of action and result).
  10. ^ Gen Lamrimpa (2010), How to Realize Emptiness, p.16: "The main thing is not the book; it is to develop a good heart and become a better person trough practice."
  11. ^ See Satya, Sacca and Satyagraha.
  12. ^ Needleman: [...] I was reading a book the other day which spoke of something called "Sat-san".
    Krishnamurti: Do you know what it means?
    Needleman: Association with the wise.
    Krishnamurti: No, with good people.[note 11]
    Needleman: With good people, Ah!
    Krishnamurti: Being good you are wise. Not, being wise you are good.
    Needleman: I understand that.
    Krishnamurti: Because you are good, you are wise.[18]
  13. ^ Source: "FLOW" calendar 2015
  14. ^ Hakuin: "Upon attaining satori, if you continue to devote yourself to your practice single-mindedly, extracting the poison fangs and talons or the Dharma cave, tearing the vicious, life-robbing talismans into shreds, combing through texts of all kinds, Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike, accumulating a great store of Dharma wealth, whipping forward the wheel of the Four Universal Vows, pledging yourself to benefit and save all sentient beings while striving every minute of your life to practice the great Dharma giving, and having nothing—nothing—to do with fame or profit in any shape or form—you will then be a true and legitimate descendent of the Buddha patriarchs. It’s a greater reward than gaining rebirth as a human or a god.
  15. ^ See also Self Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness
  16. ^ Rigpa Wiki: "Nature of mind (Skt. cittatā; Tib. སེམས་ཉིད་, semnyi; Wyl. sems nyid) — defined in the tantras as the inseparable unity of awareness and emptiness, or clarity and emptiness, which is the basis for all the ordinary perceptions, thoughts and emotions of the ordinary mind (སེམས་, sem)."[web 1]
  17. ^ See Dharma Dictionary, thig le nyag gcig
  18. ^ See Karma Lingpa (1326–1386), "Self-Liberation through seeing with naked awareness":[24][note 15]

    With respect to its having a name, the various names that are applied to it are inconceivable (in their numbers).
    Some call it "the nature of the mind"[note 16] or "mind itself."
    Some Tirthikas call it by the name Atman or "the Self."
    The Sravakas call it the doctrine of Anatman or "the absence of a self."
    The Chittamatrins call it by the name Chitta or "the Mind."
    Some call it the Prajnaparamita or "the Perfection of Wisdom."
    Some call it the name Tathagata-garbha or "the embryo of Buddhahood."
    Some call it by the name Mahamudra or "the Great Symbol."
    Some call it by the name "the Unique Sphere."[note 17]
    Some call it by the name Dharmadhatu or "the dimension of Reality."
    Some call it by the name Alaya or "the basis of everything."
    And some simply call it by the name "ordinary awareness."


    Sogyal Rinpoche describes the pointing out instructions given by Patrul Rinpoche to Nyoshul Lungtok:

    Nyoshul Lungtok, who later became one of the greatest Dzogchen masters of recent times, followed his teacher Patrul Rinpoche for about eighteen years. During all that time, they were almost inseparable. Nyoshul Lungtok studied and practiced extremely diligently, and accumulated a wealth of purification, merit, and practice; he was ready to recognize the Rigpa, but had not yet had the final introduction. Then, one famous evening, Patrul Rinpoche gave him the introduction. It happened when they were staying together in one of the hermitages high up in the mountains above Dzogchen Monastery. It was a very beautiful night. The dark blue sky was clear and the stars shone brilliantly. The sound of their solitude was heightened by the distant barking of a dog from the monastery below. Patrul Rinpoche was lying stretched out on the ground, doing a special Dzogchen practice. He called Nyoshul Lungtok over to him, saying: "Did you say you do not know the essence of Mind?" Nyoshul Lungtok guessed from his tone that this was a special moment and nodded expectantly.
    "There's nothing to it really," Patrul Rinpoche said casually, and added, "My son, come and lie down over here: be like your old father." Nyoshul Lungtok stretched out by his side. Then Patrul Rinpoche asked him, "Do you see the stars up there in the sky?"
    "Yes."
    "Do you hear the dogs barking in Dzogchen Monastery?"
    "Yes."
    "Do you hear what I'm saying to you?"
    "Yes."
    "Well, the nature of Dzogchen is this: simply this."
    Nyoshul Lungtok tells us what happened then: "At that instant, I arrived at a certainty of realization from within. I had been liberated from the fetters of 'it is' and 'it is not.' I had realized the primordial wisdom, the naked union of emptiness and intrinsic awareness. I was introduced to this realization by his blessing, as the great Indian master Saraha said: He in whose heart the words of the master have entered, Sees the truth like a treasure in his own palm."[25]
  19. ^ See also I Am a Strange Loop.

References

edit
  1. ^ a b The Existential Buddhist, On Hakuin, Hotei, and Mice
  2. ^ livingworkshop.net, Budai
  3. ^ Jeff Shore, What is a koan? And what do you do with it?, p.14, quoting Mujaku Dōchū
  4. ^ Reverend Eshin, Ten Oxherding Pictures
  5. ^ Gómez (1983), The direct and gradual approaches of Zen master Mahayana, pp 108–109; in Gimello and Gregory 1983 (eds) (1983), Studies in Ch’an and Hua-yen, University of Hawai‘i Press, pp 69–167; cited in Paul Williams (1994), Mahayana Buddhism, p.195-196
  6. ^ Patrick Jennings, Tsongkhapa: In Praise of Relativity; The Essence of Eloquence
  7. ^ Maha Karuna Chan (Ton Lathouwers), Sutra van Quanyin
  8. ^ Rabindranath Tagore, "Bharat Tirtha"
  9. ^ Stephen Knight, The European Scientific Journal Did Not Conclude 9/11 Was A ‘Controlled Demolition’
  10. ^ Promo-text for "The Record Of Linji: A New Translation Of The Linjilu In The Light Of Ten Japanese Zen Commentaries," by Jeffrey L. Broughton with Elise Yoko Watanabe, 臨濟義玄 Linji Yixuan (?–866), terebess
  11. ^ Barry Magrid
  12. ^ Vrij naar Bankei en Hakuin; Hakuin, Idel Talk on a Night Boat (2009), p.94
  13. ^ Buswell, Jr. (1983), The Korean Approach to Zen: The Collected Works of Chinul, p.146
  14. ^ Felicia Dekkers (2024), De leegte als bron, nieuwwij.nl
  15. ^ Vetter, Tilmann (1988), The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism, BRILL
  16. ^ Williams (2000), Buddhist Thought, p.46
  17. ^ Frauwallner, E. (1973), History of Indian Philosophy, trans. V.M. Bedekar, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Two volumes., pp.150 ff
  18. ^ Krishnamurti and Needleman, Conversations with Jacob Needleman
  19. ^ Richard Shankman
  20. ^ Garrison Keillor, Trump voters will not like what happens next, The Washington Post November 9 2016
  21. ^ a b Hakuin, Wild Ivy, tr. Norman Waddell; see Post-satori practice and Hakuin#Final awakening
  22. ^ Micahel S. Allen (2017), Greater Advaita Vedanta: The Case of Nícaldās. International Journal of Hindu Studies (2017), 21
  23. ^ diff
  24. ^ Karma Lingpa 1989, p. 13–14.
  25. ^ The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: Revised and Updated Edition. by Sogyal Rinpoche (Author), Patrick D. Gaffney (Editor), Andrew Harvey (Editor) HarperOne: 1994. ISBN 0-06-250834-2 pg. 160

Web-references

edit
  1. ^ Rigpa Wiki, Nature of Mind

Sources

edit
  • Karma Lingpa (1989), Slef-Liberation through seeing with naked awareness, Station Hill Press
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Joshua_Jonathan&oldid=1254588914"