I'm not quite comfortable with the za-zen, shitting-meditation, but some other features and potentialities of this in-vogue phenomenon in the Western world do bother me somewhat.
I might be worried about the buddhist thought's influence and application in the modern world with it's mandatory science-based worry about the future of our planet. Oftentimes it sounds like an excuse of not taking parts and not acting, as long as "my" peace of mind prevails. This is what the marketized version 'mindfulness' may do to many practitioners, and one's own peace of mind in a turmoiled reality might sound like an immoral escape.
I respect Buddhism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism, like other sincere and evolved religions, and of course cherish it's updated analytic presentation in the SEP.
"Emaho!" is the shortest Dzogchen teaching. The word means "wondrous," "amazing," "farout," "fantastic." It expresses the joy and wonder — amazement, really — of discovering within ourselves and our world the radiant splendor of our innate natural state directly perceived by our own eyes — the great completeness, wholeness, and oneness of all that is. As the fourteenth-century Dzogchen master Longchenpa sang, "Since things are perfect and complete just as they are, beyond good and bad, without adopting and rejecting, one just bursts out laughing!" . . . Emaho! - #LamaSuryaDas
I hope you're well. In February, I spent some time with the website maintenance, and now am back with new content. Starting a new month with another "Moments" collection titled "Phantom Flowers".
While kitsune are usually associated with Shinto and the god Inari, silver and gold foxes (known as ginko and kinko, or gingitsune and kingitsune) are servants of Dakini, a Buddhist goddess.
A mahout and his elephant worship at the Gangaramaya Buddhist temple ahead of the temple's annual Nawam Perahera or street parade where dozens of gaily decorated elephants are escorted by hundreds of traditional drummers and dancers during the parade, in Colombo, Sri Lanka February 23. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte
#Maijishan, meaning “mountain of wheat,” is one of the largest rock-cut Buddhist monasteries in #China. Its name was given by the name of the mountain: Maiji.
This unusual structure was built more than a thousand years ago, in the 400s, with the arrival of #Buddhism in China #AmazingWorld
He who reveres those worthy of reverence,
the Buddhas and their disciples,
who have transcended all obstacles and
passed beyond the reach of sorrow and lamentation
— he who reveres such peaceful and fearless ones,
his merit none can compute by any measure.
~Dhammapada 195-6
I happened across this one the other day, and it strikes me as "Buddhists getting ready for the coming Authoritarianism" https://youtu.be/ngyYDTdjp6A. It wouldn't be anything you haven't already heard, but interesting to see how different communities are getting ready.
Words as "mere expressions." In this passage of the #PaliCanon of #Buddhism (Samyutta Nikaya 1.25), the question is: Does the "Arahant" (who has attained the goal) use the word "I"? The answer is yes, but only conventionally: