From ekp@excite.com Thu Jan 4 15:02:29 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 07:02:29 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] Dharma Message-ID: <32436870.978620549694.JavaMail.imail@prickles> Metta is to be extended towards all beings and all manifestations, yet most of our difficulties lie with people. It is much easier to love birds, dogs, cats and trees than it is to love people. Trees and animals don't answer back, but people do, so this is where our training commences....Sometimes people find they don't feel anything while practicing metta meditation. That is nothing to worry about; thoughts aimed often enough in the right directions eventually produce the feelings. All our sense contacts produce feelings. Thoughts are the sixth sense, and even if we are only thinking metta, eventually the feeling will arise. It is one means of helping us to gain this heart quality, but certainly not the only one. In our daily activities all of us are confronted with other people and often with those whom we would rather avoid. These are our challenges, lessons and tests. If we consider them in that manner we won't be so irritated by these experiences....When we realize that such a confrontation is exactly what we need at that moment in order to overcome resistance and negativity and subsitute metta for those emotions, then we will be grateful for the opportunity. _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Thu Jan 4 14:58:15 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 06:58:15 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <10744293.978620295892.JavaMail.imail@prickles> Bhikkus (Monks), before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisattva, I too, being myself subject to birth, sought what was also subject to birth; being myself subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, I sought what was also subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement. Then I considered thus: 'Why, being myself subject to birth, do I seek what is also subject to birth? Why, being myself subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, do I seek what is also subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement? Suppose that, being myself subject to birth, having understood the danger in what is subject to birth, I seek the unborn supreme security from bondage, Nibbana (Nirvana). Suppose that, being myself subject to aging, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement, having understood the danger in what is subject to birth, I seek the unaging, unailing, deathless, sorrowless, and undefiled supreme victory from bondage, Nibbana.'" Ariyapariyesana Sutta, in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, trans. by Bhikkhu Bodhi -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Thu Jan 4 15:00:22 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 07:00:22 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] Dharma Message-ID: <28588234.978620422919.JavaMail.imail@prickles> There is really no reason to kill our ordinary enemies; death will come to them naturally in the future anyway. Despite this fact there are some soldiers who engage in fearsome battles, willing to fight even though their enemies have superior weapons. They ignore the pains of battle and continue to fight until they are victorious. If there are people who are willing to expend such great effort in order to kill an ordinary enemy then why do we not strive unceasingly to destroy the worst enemy of all: the delusion that is the cause of all of our suffering? To overcome such a powerful foe we must certainly expect to expreience great hardships but is there any need to mention the absolute necessity of attacking this enemy diligently? Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Meaningful to Behold _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Fri Jan 5 14:43:38 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 06:43:38 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <27531728.978705818275.JavaMail.imail@seamore.excite.com> It is noteworthy...that the story of Buddha's spiritual journey climaxes with his enlightenment but does not end there. Even as he was savoring the blissful state that followed his awakening, he was approached (in the traditional account) by a delegation of gods, who begged him to give up his private ecstasy so he could share his awakening with those who still suffered. This encounter and its outcome, however legendary, make the point that spiritual maturity includes the ability to actualize transcendent insight in daily life. The Buddha is said to have wandered across northern India for forty years, tirelessly teaching the dharma. His decision to arise from his seat under the Bo tree and go out into the world can be considered the first step of a socially engaged Buddhism. The Buddha's discourses, which had revolutionary force in the society of his time, include countless passages dealing with "this-worldly" topics such as politics, good government, poverty, crime, war, peace, and ecology. Kenneth Kraft, Inner Peace, World Peace -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Sat Jan 6 15:10:37 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 07:10:37 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <29227396.978793838103.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> Just as the water flows under the ground So those who seek it find it, Without thought, without end, Its effective power all-pervasive, Buddha Knowledge is also like this, Being in all creatures' minds; If any work on it with diligence, They will soon find the light of knowledge. The Flower Ornament Scripture, trans. by Thomas Cleary _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Tue Jan 9 15:24:27 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 07:24:27 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <11835607.979053867062.JavaMail.imail@puffer> Those of us who start on the path to right livelihood find that our lives are more balanced, simple, clear, and focused. We are no longer strung out in a meaningless cycle of material consumptions. The contemporary economy focuses on this cycle of consumption. It doesn't really support our efforts to find meaningful work. Today, work is a means to consume or to pay debt for consumption already indulged in. How may people do you know who really love the work they are doing? How many feel bored and alienated? How many are simply earning the money to spend it on material pleasures? Right livelihood demands that you take responsibility for making your work more meaningful. Good work is dignified. It develops your faculties and serves your community. It is a central human activity. Roger Pritchard, in Claude Whitmyer's Mindfulness and Meaningful Work -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Tue Jan 9 15:25:30 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 07:25:30 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <10631656.979053930903.JavaMail.imail@puffer> Those of us who start on the path to right livelihood find that our lives are more balanced, simple, clear, and focused. We are no longer strung out in a meaningless cycle of material consumptions. The contemporary economy focuses on this cycle of consumption. It doesn't really support our efforts to find meaningful work. Today, work is a means to consume or to pay debt for consumption already indulged in. How may people do you know who really love the work they are doing? How many feel bored and alienated? How many are simply earning the money to spend it on material pleasures? Right livelihood demands that you take responsibility for making your work more meaningful. Good work is dignified. It develops your faculties and serves your community. It is a central human activity. Roger Pritchard, in Claude Whitmyer's Mindfulness and Meaningful Work -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Tue Jan 9 15:33:35 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 07:33:35 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] Dharma Message-ID: <14885168.979054415188.JavaMail.imail@puffer> See everybody as the Buddha. When you are stuck in a traffic jam on the Los Angeles freeway, can you look at all the other drivers, particularly the ones who are weaving in and out of lanes, and see them as the Buddha? In a work situtation, if you have a particularly cantankerous boss who you think is a complete idiot, can you look at that person as the Buddha? As a manager, can you see the person who is working for you as the Buddha? Gerry Shishin Wick Sensei, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Vol. V, #4 _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Thu Jan 11 15:09:02 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 07:09:02 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] whole mess of dharma Message-ID: <10421853.979225742323.JavaMail.imail@puffer> Don't tell me how difficult the Way. The bird's path, winding far, is right before you. Water of the Dokei Gorge, you return to the ocean, I to the mountain. - Hofuku Seikatsu ************************************************* As to the roaming of sages, They move in utter emptiness, Let their minds meander in the great nothingness; They run beyond convention And go through where there is no gateway. They listen to the soundless And look at the formless, They are not constrained by society And not bound to its customs. - Lao-tze ************************************************************ My primordial nature has no liking for the life in the cities. To be free from the noise I built a little thatched cottage far away in the depth of the mountains. Wandering here and there I carry no thought. When spring comes I watch the birds; in summer I bathe in the running stream; in autumn I climb the highest peaks; during the winter I am warming up in the sun. Thus I enjoy the real flavor of the seasons. - Shih t'ao (1641-1717) ******************************************************* Let the sun and the moon revolve by themselves! When I have time I read the sutras, when I am tired I sleep on my straw bed. The meaning of the teaching is profound and vast like the ocean. When I reveal it in my brush-work, its merits are limitless. Should I explain this secret teaching to you the solid mountain, I am afraid, would blow away. - Shih t'ao (1641-1717) ********************************************** South and north, sharing a single mountain gate, above and below, two temples both named T'ien-chu. Dwelling therein is an old dharma master, built tall and skinny like stork or swan. I do not know what practice he engages in, but his green eyes reflect the mountain valleys. Just looking into them makes one feel fresh and pure, as if all one's baneful vexations had been cleansed. - Su Shih (1073) ********************************************************* One minute of sitting, one inch of Buddha. Like lightning all thoughts come and pass. Just once look into your mind-depths: Nothing else has ever been. - Manzan (1649-1709) ****************************************************** Disciples as numerous as grains of sand in the River Ganges, not one has gained enlightenment; they err in seeking it as a path taught by others. To eliminate form and eradicate its traces, make utmost effort and strive diligently to walk in nothingness. - Tung-shan Liang-chieh (807-869) _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Thu Jan 18 15:05:25 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 07:05:25 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <7795868.979830325475.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> There is a sign outside a casino in Las Vegas that says, "You must be present to win." The same is true in meditation. If we want to see the nature of our lives, we must actually be present, aware, awake. Developing samadhi [concentration] is much like polishing a lens. If we are looking to see the cells and workings of the body with a lens that has not been ground sufficiently, we will not see clearly. In order to penetrate the nature of the mind and body, we must collect and concentrate our resources and observe with a steady, silent mind. This is exactly what the Buddha did: he sat, concentrated his mind, and looked withing. To become a yogi, an explorer of the heart and mind, we must develop this capacity as well. Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Thu Jan 18 15:10:24 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 07:10:24 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <31414391.979830624719.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> to subscribe to dailydharma listserve, go to: http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dailydharma ********************************************************* With regard to the Four Noble Truths we have four functions to perform: The First Noble Truth is Dukkha, the nature of life, its suffering, its sorrows and joys, its imperfection and unsatisfactoriness, its impermanence and insubstantiality. With regard to this, our function is to understand it as a fact, clearly and completely. The Second Noble Truth is the Origin of Dukkha, which is desire, "thirst," accompanied by all other passions, defilements and impurities. A mere understanding of this fact is not sufficient. Here our function is to discard it, to eliminate, to destroy and eradicate it. The Third Noble Truth is the Cessation of Dukkha, Nirvana, the Absolute Truth, the Ultimate Reality. Here our function is to realize it. The Fourth Noble Truth is the Path leading to the realization of Nirvana. A mere knowledge of the Path, however complete, will not do. In this case, our function is to follow it and keep to it. Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Sat Jan 20 17:50:28 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 09:50:28 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma quote Message-ID: <26896245.980013028837.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> The artist's dilemma and the meditator's are, in a deep sense, equivalent. Both are repeatedly willing to confront an unknown and to risk a response that they cannot predict or control. Both are disciplined in skills that allow them to remain focused on their task and to express their response in a way that will illuminate the dilemma they share with others. And both are liable to similar outcomes. The artist's work is prone to be derivative, a variation on the style of a great master or established school. The meditator's response might tend to be dogmatic, a variation on the words of a hallowed tradition or revered teacher. There is nothing wrong with such responses. But we recognize their secondary nature, their failure to reach the peaks of primary imaginative creation. Great Art and Great Dharma both give rise to something that has never quite been imagined before. Artist and meditator alike ultimately aspire to an original creative act. Stephen Batchelor, Tricycle, The Buddhist Review Vol. IV, #2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Sat Jan 20 18:53:09 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 10:53:09 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <4505488.980016789540.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> I've always loved friends of the Way Always held them dear Meeting a stranger with silent springs Greeting a guest talking zen Talking about mysteries on a moonlit night Searching for truth until dawn When the tracks of our inventions disappear And we see who we really are - Cold Mountain _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Sat Jan 20 18:58:38 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 10:58:38 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] more dharma Message-ID: <8845055.980017118309.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> If you want to know the realm of buddhahood, you must make your mind as clear as empty space. Leave false thinking and all grasping far behind, causing your mind to be unobstructed wherever it may turn. The realm of buddhahood is not some external world where there is a formal "Buddha." It's the realm of the wisdom of a self-awakened sage. - Zen Master Ta-hui (1088-1163 _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Sun Jan 21 10:27:21 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 02:27:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] sunday dharma Message-ID: <20383265.980072841459.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> Central to the Buddha's teaching is the doctrine of anatman: "not-self." This does not deny that the notion of an "I" works in the everyday world. In fact, we need a solid, stable ego to function in society. However, "I" is not real in an ultimate sense. It is a "name": a fictional construct that bears no correspondence to what is really the case. Because of this disjunction all kinds of problems ensue. Once our minds have constructed the notion of "I," it becomes our central regerence point. We attach to it and identify with it totally. We attempt to advance what appears to be its interests, to defend it against real or apparent threats and menaces. And we look for ego-affirmation at every turn: Confirmation that we exist and are valued. The Gordian Knot of proccupations arising from all this absorbs us exclusively, at times to the point of obsession. This is, however, a narrow and constricted way of being. though we cannot see it when caught in the convolutions of ego, there is something in us that is larger and deeper: a wholly other way of being. John Snelling, Elements of Buddhism -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Mon Jan 22 06:10:22 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 22:10:22 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <6855447.980143822743.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> The way we define and delimit the self is arbitrary. We can place it between our ears and have it looking out from our eyes. or we can widen it to include the air we breate, or at other moments we can cast its boundaries fartheer to include the oxygen-giving trees and plankton, our external lungs, and beyond them the web of life in which they are sustained. Joanna Macy, World As Lover, World As Self _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Tue Jan 23 07:57:54 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 23:57:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dharma Message-ID: <17539206.980236674280.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> The Buddha described what we call "self" as a collection of agregates - elements of mind and body - that function interdependently, creating the appearance of woman or man. We then identify with that image or appearance, taking it to be "I" or "mine," imagining it to have some inherent self-existeenece. For example, we get up in the morning, look in the mirror, recognize the reflection, and think, "Yes, that's me again." We then add all kinds of concepts to this sense of self: I'm a woman or man, I'm a certain age, I'm a happy or unhappy person - the list goes on and on. When we examine our experience, though, we see that there is not some core being to whom experience refers; rather it is simply "empty phenomena rolling on." It is "empty" in the sense that there is no one behind the arising and changing phenomena to whom they happen. A rainbow is a good example of this. We go outside after a rainstorm and feel that moment of delight if a rainbow appears in the sky. Mostly, we simply enjoy the sight without investigating the real nature of what is happening. But when we look more deeply, it becomes clear that there is no "thing" called "rainbow" apart from the particular conditions of air and moisture and light. Each one of us is like that rainbow - an appearance, a magical display, arising out our various elements of mind and body. Joseph Goldstein, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Vol. VI, #3 _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Wed Jan 24 07:58:54 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 23:58:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] daily dharma Message-ID: <33455599.980323134540.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> "Let not a person revive the past Or on the future build his hopes; For the past has been left behind And the future has not been reached. Instead with insight let him see Each presently arisen state; Let him know that and be sure of it, Invincibly, unshakeably. Today the effort must be made; Tomorrow Death may come, who knows? No bargain with Mortality Can keep him and his hordes away. But one who dwells thus ardently, Relentlessly, by day, by night - It is he, the Peaceful Sage has said, Who has one fortunate attachment." Lomasakangiyabhaddekaratta Sutta, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha , trans. by Bhikkhu Bodhi _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Thu Jan 25 07:53:06 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 23:53:06 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] Daily Dharma Message-ID: <8293671.980409186704.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> Those who seek liberation for themselves alone cannot become fully enlightened. Though it may be said that one who is not already liberated cannot liberate others, the very process of forgetting oneself to help others is itself liberating. Therefore those who seek to benefit themselves alone actually harm themselves by doing so, while those who help others also help themselves by doing so. Muso Kokushi, Dream Conversations _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Fri Jan 26 07:46:52 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 23:46:52 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] lengthy dharma Message-ID: <8166428.980495212584.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> Zazen just lets people illumine the mind and rest easy in their fundamental endowment. This is called showing the original face and revealing the scenery of the basic ground. Mind and body drop off, detached whether sitting or lying down. Therefore we do not think of good or bad, and can transcend the ordinary and the holy, pass beyond all conception of illusion and enlightenment, leave the bounds of sentient beings and buddhas entirely. So, putting a stop to all concerns, casting off all attachments, not doing anything at all, the six senses inactive - who is this, whose name has never been known, cannot be considered body, cannot be considered mind? When you try to think of it, thought vanishes; when you try to speak of it, words come to an end. Like an idiot, like an ignoramus, high as a mountain, deep as an ocean, not showing the peak or the invisible depths - shining without thinking, the source is clear in silent explanation. Occupying sky and earth, one's whole body alone is manifest; a person of immeasurable greatness - like one who has died utterly, whose eyes are not clouded by anything, whose feet are not supported by anything - where is there any dust? What is a barrier? The clear water never had front or back, space will never have inside or out. Crystal clear and naturally radiant before form and void are separated, how can object and knowledge exist? This has always been with us, but it has never had a name. The third patriarch, a great teacher, temporarily called it mind; the venerable Nagarjuna provisionally called it body - seeing the essence and form of the enlightened, manifesting the bodies of all buddhas, this, symbolized by the full moon, has neither lack nor excess. It is this mind which is enlightened itself; the light of one's own mind flashes through the past and shines through the present. The mind is like the ocean water, the body is like the waves. As there are no waves without water and no water without waves, water and waves are not separate, motion and stillness are not different. Now Zazen is going right into the ocean of enlightenment, thus manifesting the body of all buddhas. The innate inconceivably clear mind is suddenly revealed and the original light finally shines everywhere. Those who wish to illumine the mind should give up various mixed-up knowledge and interpretation, cast away both conventional and buddhist principles, cut off all delusive sentiments, and manifest the one truly real mind - the clouds of illusion clear up, the mind moon shines anew. The Buddha said, "Learning and thinking are like being outside the door; sitting in meditation is returning home to sit in peace." How true this is! While learning and thinking, views have not stopped and the mind is still stuck - that is why it is like being outside the door. But in this sitting meditation, Zazen, everything is at rest, and you penetrate everywhere - thus it is like returning home to sit in peace. An ancient said, "When confusion ceases, tranquility comes; when tranquility comes, wisdom appears, and when wisdom appears, reality is seen." Keizan Jokan (1264-1325) - taken from Timeless Spring - A Soto Zen Anthology; edited and translated by Thomas Cleary (out of print) _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Sat Jan 27 09:46:41 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2001 01:46:41 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] Daily Dharma Message-ID: <1352003.980588801604.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> Those who seek liberation for themselves alone cannot become fully enlightened. Though it may be said that one who is not already liberated cannot liberate others, the very process of forgetting oneself to help others is itself liberating. Therefore those who seek to benefit themselves alone actually harm themselves by doing so, while those who help others also help themselves by doing so. Muso Kokushi, Dream Conversations _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Sun Jan 28 10:46:19 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 02:46:19 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] Daily Dharma Message-ID: <27679121.980678779385.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> For one who wants to directly experience this path, the normal mind is the path. What is meant by the "normal mind?" It is the mind that is free from construction and production, right and wrong, clinging and rejection, ordinary and saint. It is your everyday walking, standing, sitting and lying down, your personal encounters and contacts with things, which are all entirely just this path. - Ma-tsu Tao-I (720-814) _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Mon Jan 29 08:15:30 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 00:15:30 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dailydharma Message-ID: <2466587.980756130532.JavaMail.imail@roary.excite.com> With the power of a pause, true change can emerge. Otherwise we continue the karmic domino path of life. And first we must see clearly where we are now and where we may end up if we neglect to steer our way. "If you want to become a sage, you have to love the way of the sages" in the beginning - and then you must live the actions of the sages. And for us that is our koan, a koan of action from stillness. A life of Flow, one of the most beautiful things, and one of the rarest. A human life like a mountain stream… to move lightly and easily with life and yet to remain deep and silent inwardly is to live a life of Flow. Each moment of our lives we stand at a crossroads: we can reduce the profound to the mundane, or we can intuit the continuous and vital mystery through which we move. - Journeys on Mind Mountain _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Tue Jan 30 08:03:17 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 00:03:17 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dailydharma Message-ID: <21695636.980841797682.JavaMail.imail@puffer> The Buddha identified karma as volitional activity. That is, each volition in the mind is like a seed with tremendous potential. In the same way that the smallest acorn contains the potential of a great oak tree, so too each of our willed actions contains the seeds of karmic results. The particular result depends on the qualities of mind associated with each volition. Greed, hatred, and delusion are unwholesome qualities that produce fruits of suffering; generosity, love, and wisdom are wholesome factors that bear fruits of happiness. Joseph Goldstein, Insight Meditation _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ From ekp@excite.com Wed Jan 31 08:03:18 2001 From: ekp@excite.com (ike) Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 00:03:18 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Dailydharma] dailydharma Message-ID: <6945737.980928198526.JavaMail.imail@puffer> The Great Way is obvious to all my friends. They point it out quite readily on request, sometimes without request. Their words are painful because they threaten my character. I have to choose between the Great Way and me. an easy choice on paper - a hard one in fact. Robert Aitken, Encouraging Words _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/