Concluding this Lotus Sutra talk

So those teachings were not started by Buddha. Before Buddha there must have been many many Buddhas, limitless, numerous Buddhas. There must have been, in this way this sutra describes reality. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-E as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Stones

As you know, I like stones very much, but especially big ones. Someone came to me the other day with a magnifying glass and said, "Look at those stones." So I looked at them one by one. But to my great astonishment, those small stones were exactly the same as big ones! They were as interesting as big ones, the shapes were different, and some had very good shapes. You could make a beautiful garden with those stones. I was very pleased. I thought, this is what the universe consists of and how everything is going. So, if you cannot accomplish something great, you can work on a very small thing, in a very small scale, and the meaning is not any different at all. This is the nature of our practice and teaching. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-E as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Tibetan Buddhism - art show - politics, religion, violence too

Show at the Rubin - article in New York Review of Books

thanks Jim Richardson

Scales

We say, "You should put something which belongs in a higher place in a higher place, and something which belongs in a lower place in a lower place. Don't mix them up." Our way is very careful in this respect. So our teaching is limitless in both ways. Our teaching is on a great scale, and, at the same time, it is very particular on a small scale. This is the nature of our world. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-E as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Peter Zipser's cremation was yesterday

Post on Peter's cremation at Cuke nonZense blog.

Continuing from yesterday

In short, if we explain Buddhism or Zen Buddhism in this way, that whatever we are doing is a part of that activity, what we are discussing may seem too big, and seem to have nothing to do with our everyday life. But this is not just our understanding. We say, "When we talk about the greatness of the teaching, it will be as great as the universe. But when we talk about it on a small scale, it will penetrate the smallest particle of being imaginable." -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-E as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

If

If you are enlightened, you are one with the whole universe, and the whole universe is telling the truth to the whole universe, to everything, or the whole universe is revealing itself through every being. What is happening is the activity of big, one being, which is called Buddha. This his how we should understand the Lotus Sutra. [DC comment - well, not really a being but for now we'll call it that. ] -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-E as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Turn Turn Turn

To be turned by the Lotus Sutra means to read it literally, or in an intellectual or dualistic way: "I read the Lotus Sutra." To turn it means the Lotus Sutra turns the Lotus Sutra, like the Shingon understanding of the Bodhisattva or Tathagata of the Diamond Sutra giving the teaching to himself. That is how we turn the Lotus Sutra. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-E as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

RIP Peter Zipser

So sad. Peter died in a motorbike accident yesterday. Dear friend of Bali and Dharma Sangha Germany. Going to Singaraja for cremation Monday. Thinking of Evelyn. No words.

It's all #1

Dogen Zenji, referring to this story [see yesterday's post], said to be turned by the sutra, or to turn the sutra, or to be deluded or to be enlightened, are all the First Principle. The Lotus Sutra says there is no difference. That is Dogen Zenji's understanding. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-E as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC