Feeding the Local Devils Trash

Yesterday posted again about trash. I used to think of it as a cosmetic problem but, especially after seeing the documentary Trashed, I realized how insidious the global trash problem is and how there is a continuum from litter to microscopic plastic particles in the oceans and awful chemicals like dioxins.  And no one can say it's a local problem because the world is a big soup which mixes itself constantly.

Gaining Idea

Gaining idea usually limits our meaning of practice. Our practice has limitless meaning in it. So that is why Zen has eternal life in it. And why Zen helps us in its true sense is because it will cut off the root of the problems we have. If you know how to practice zazen, you will know how to cut off your root of suffering-- root of trouble. That is why our practice is valuable. 

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-12-17-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com -  - Excerpt edited by DC

Trash in Indonesia again

There's a tiny piece in the Sanur Weekly that the Buleleng River is clogged with trash. Nothing on the Internet about that but

Here's a piece from the Daily Mail on a trash-clogged river in Java

Inviting Enlightenment

Suzuki is reading from Gakudo-yojin-shu, Section 3, in Reiho Masunaga (Ed. And Trans.), Zen for Daily Living, Tokyo, Shunjusha Publishing, 1964, pp. 56–72. (Dogen's Guidelines for Studying the Way)

Boats and Rafts

Suzuki is reading from Gakudo-yojin-shu, Section 3, in Reiho Masunaga (Ed. And Trans.), Zen for Daily Living, Tokyo, Shunjusha Publishing, 1964, pp. 56–72.(Dogen's Guidelines for Studying the Way)

Aloe Vera

There are many Nyoman here in Bali, male and female like all Bali names as far as I know.

Cannot Escape Zazen

As long as you practice, you cannot, you know-- you have no reason why you should stop practice [laughs]-- why you should give up. There is no reason. We are completely, you know, caught by zazen [laughing]. Completely caught by it. You can stop it one or two days, or one year or two years. Or you may think, “I shall not practice zazen any more as long as I am alive.” But still you cannot get out of it. You are still in zazen. You cannot escape our zazen, and you have no reason to. This is the -- what is zazen. You think you can stop, that's all. But actually you cannot. 

 Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-12-17-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com -  - Excerpt edited by DC

See Eyes of Buddhism - for more along these lines.

Evanescence of Life

When we feel the evanescence of life directly, we will not have any more ego-centered idea. And our practice will be quite pure and strong. And on each moment, we will do our best in our practice. That is the most important point in our way.

 Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-12-17-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Excerpt edited by DC

Indonesia Drug Deaths - tobacco #1 and alcohol #2 for sure

Here's a good brief article on Indonesia drug deaths, published yesterday in the Jakarta Post eight days after Indonesia executed six foreigners for smuggling some drugs in. Some more executions are coming soon. Linked to an article recently on this on cuke.com's saunters - 1-16-15.  Just saw Amanpour CNN interview with Prez Joko Widodo where she asked about the executions and he said that 50 (last time 40) people a day die from narcotics so zero tolerance. She only mentioned that some nations had withdrawn diplomats, no hard questions following up. Fluff. - DC

To be Buddha or to be Boss

We say, although we have Buddha nature, if you do not practice it - in other words if you try to understand it some other way - you will not understand it.

Forget Everything

The best way is to forget everything. Then your mind is calm and your mind always wide enough or clear enough to see things and to feel things as they are without any effort.

This excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture closely follows yesterday's from 66-11-30 and is titled Beyond Consciousness for the edited version in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p. 127. - Excerpt edited by DC

My computer still in hospital.

My computer in hospital so we started this blogger page for new posts. - DC

Establishing our Practice

We should establish our practice where there is no practice or no enlightenment. As long as we practice zazen in the area where there is practice and enlightenment there is no chance to make perfect peace for ourselves. In other words we must firmly believe in our true nature. It is beyond our conscious realm -- conscious experience.

This is not an easy Shunryu Suzuki excerpt to understand. Especially the 2nd sentence. Like he advised, don't stick to what he said. This comes from 66-11-30  - Excerpt edited by DC and is titled Beyond Consciousness for the edited version in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p. 127). When I get my computer back I'll see how these statements were treated in the book. - DC