themiddleway’s blog

Originally published at The Middle Way. You can comment here or there.

When we attack someone who wins? Does the winner really win? Attacking is like a mental poison. It creates a short circuit, reinforcing negative behaviour. From an economic point of view, limited resources of time, energy, and money are consumed. On what? So much potential is absorbed in defending an idea. How is this "winning"?

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. The Buddha (thanks Marcus)

What causes us to attack? We shrink into our mind, we cling to Ego, getting trapped and isolated from others. We lose sight of anything different to our mode of thought. We are unable to see any other perspective. Millions have died for arbitrarily drawn lines on maps. Instead of accepting diversity and differences, we are shut down, limited to one view point.

Becoming Free
Ryushin Osho in a dharma talk suggests this: when we get angry, go outside, take a few breaths and look to the stars. Why? When we look to the stars we realise how small we are, and how silly clinging to a single idea or difference is. Every idea, all perspectives, every conversation, is just one dot blinking in the sky. We stand so high and mighty, isolated and trapped, yet the blinking lights in the sky remind us that it's all so meaningless. That the little voice in our head whispering HOW important this idea is, is just that, really little.

By looking to the stars we begin feeling in our bodies the boundlessness of life. We feel the unlimited reality. The stars anchor us to reality, and help us expand. We loosen the grip on our ideas. We begin seeing that differences are just as true, simply from another point of view. With ideas and differences, there's plenty of space for all.
~
Also, Happy Vesak Day to all readers. Vesak Day is the celebration of the Historical Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment, and Death.
(photo)

Originally published at The Middle Way. You can comment here or there.

Often we mistake ideas as reality. As Michael McAlister reminds us, "The map is not the territory". Through a practice such as meditation, when our mind becomes still, ideas become visible. We see outside of them, and their grip loosens. It's at this place that we gain access to reality. There we realise our ideas are just that. Ideas. They are not facts or certainty, just one possible path. When we let go of ideas and concepts, we live in the moment and the world opens.

You have an idea in mind. A specific place, time, or outcome. You can't remember why it came to mind, but it's now your internal plan and your external story. Whenever asked about what's going on, you fall back on this story. It becomes easier and easier to tell. As this happens, you begin investing more into the outcome of this idea turned plan. You begin holding on as tight as possible. Rapidly, it's gone from an idea to part of your story, your identity. With this, unknowingly, your options have gone from unlimited to 1. You now live and work in an unconscious blinker mode. No longer living in the present, but putting off all happiness to complete your idea come identity.

Along the way, opportunities come along, but of course, they are missed or filtered out as 'not the plan'. You're now holding on to this idea so tight that it's become your reality and you see no other way. Out of nowhere, all of a sudden, things start looking shaky, and the plan begins to crack. You begin hurting, feeling like you've been physically wounded.

Sitting on your cushion, as you do daily, gradually you see the limits of the idea, and slowly the pain dissolves. You see that this idea is just an idea, and that you'd mistaken this idea as the be all and end all. So fixed on the destination, you were missing the journey. You begin again, realising all ideas are equal. Your choice of one does not make it special. There's no need to raise it above.

Living in the world, plans are required. Ideas about things are a part of life. The key lies in how we relate to our ideas and plans. The key is planning without attaching to the outcome, remaining open to ideas and change along the way. Just like a tree in the wind, now this way, now that way. If trees were fixed and unable to bend, they would snap and die. It's with the tree's flexibility that it's able to survive.

(photo)

Originally published at The Middle Way. You can comment here or there.

Often we mistake ideas as reality. As Michael McAlister reminds us, "The map is not the territory". Through a practice such as meditation, when our mind becomes still, ideas become visible. We see outside of them, and their grip loosens. It's at this place that we gain access to reality. There we realise our ideas are just that. Ideas. They are not facts or certainty, just one possible path. When we let go of ideas and concepts, we live in the moment and the world opens.

You have an idea in mind. A specific place, time, or outcome. You can't remember why it came to mind, but it's now your internal plan and your external story. Whenever asked about what's going on, you fall back on this story. It becomes easier and easier to tell. As this happens, you begin investing more into the outcome of this idea turned plan. You begin holding on as tight as possible. Rapidly, it's gone from an idea to part of your story, your identity. With this, unknowingly, your options have gone from unlimited to 1. You now live and work in an unconscious blinker mode. No longer living in the present, but putting off all happiness to complete your idea come identity.

Along the way, opportunities come along, but of course, they are missed or filtered out as 'not the plan'. You're now holding on to this idea so tight that it's become your reality and you see no other way. Out of nowhere, all of a sudden, things start looking shaky, and the plan begins to crack. You begin hurting, feeling like you've been physically wounded.

Sitting on your cushion, as you do daily, gradually you see the limits of the idea, and slowly the pain dissolves. You see that this idea is just an idea, and that you'd mistaken this idea as the be all and end all. So fixed on the destination, you were missing the journey. You begin again, realising all ideas are equal. Your choice of one does not make it special. There's no need to raise it above.

Living in the world, plans are required. Ideas about things are a part of life. The key lies in how we relate to our ideas and plans. The key is planning without attaching to the outcome, remaining open to ideas and change along the way. Just like a tree in the wind, now this way, now that way. If trees were fixed and unable to bend, they would snap and die. It's with the tree's flexibility that it's able to survive.

(photo)

Originally published at The Middle Way. You can comment here or there.

Watch your thoughts: They become your words.
Watch your words: They become your actions.
Watch your actions: They become your habits.
Watch your habits: They become your character.
Watch your character: It becomes your destiny.

(randomly e-mailed to me from Change your Mind, Change the World. A message that needs to be shared.)

EDIT:Originally by Frank Outlaw, Thanks Beth
EDIT:It appears that no one really knows who came up with this. I'm with JD, it's what the message is point to which is most important here.

Originally published at The Middle Way. You can comment here or there.

In some texts, there is talk of ten dimensions, immeasurable kalpas, and Indra's net. What are all these texts talking about? These are all trying to say we are an expression of life. That we are all living. Essentially by being, we are creating. We are the creation, and the creator.

You walk around meeting people, and you begin to feel something. Something stirs in your stomach, causing an emotional response, the so called gut-reaction. When you notice this, you notice something about your situation, something pivotal, something logic can't see.

People. They emit a certain vibe. Some call it energy. You begin feeling, and searching out energy that feels 'nice' to you. You sometimes chat to those with other energies when you feel like you can help change or create their energy. This feeling of energy between all people, with essentially different levels of different values of different conditions, leads us to the current state at this moment called life.

When you feel and see it like this, everything cannot help but seem like the entire universe, indeed the multitude of universes. Every moment contains another, and is infinitely forever unfolding. Indra's net forms all around you, dancing and weaving, displaying flashes of colour called events of life.

Everything, in every moment, then becomes a teaching. A look at how things are. How they connect, beyond the forms of the person, to see that moment, to not bring anything to it, but for you just to see. As these events unfold you begin to feel the path under your feet. You no longer feel lost, you feel found in the nothing-ness.

When we can live life this way, we no longer see good or bad. Happy and Sad lose their power, we see them as values, understanding that they too will soon end, and something else will begin. This isn't done in a sad sense, nor is it a desire to hold on to what's here. It's a simple acceptance of reality. The freedom to enjoy the state as is, regardless of knowing it will not last.

(photo)

Originally published at The Middle Way. You can comment here or there.

There's been a few discussions around the blogsphere about The Real Buddhism and Dharma. TMcG, is a "middle way kinda girl", and is for a "Buddhism more palatable for th(os)e 'raised on' MTV/McDonald's/New Coke".(The Other) Urban Monk, has "no interest in revamping Zen practice for the urban world." Here I add my reply to (The Other) Urban Monk, siding with TMcG, quoting John Stuart Mill, Dogen, and Daido Roshi.

Daido Roshi highlights Dogen's True Dharma Eye. Case 47, speaking of context, "All masters throughout time have always looked to guiding and aiding all living beings. They would set up their shops according to their capacities, and in response to the imperative of time, place, position, and degree.". It's in this sentiment that I find my middle way.

(The Other) Urban Monk mentions not revamping Zen, "It was perfect when the Buddha taught it, it was perfect when Bodhidharma taught it, it was perfect when Dogen taught it, and it's perfect when it's taught today.". What
(The Other) Urban Monk has missed, is that Buddhism/Zen has always followed the rules of time, place, position, and degree.

Buddhism Moves, It's Progressive
The underlying truth is that there no single Buddhism. Dharma is unchanged, but the forms it takes always changes. Buddhism is not stuck in 2500BCE. It has moved many cultures over many periods of time;-

Chinese/Ch'an Buddhism, brought from India by Bodhidharma in the 6th century is different to that from India.
Japanese/Zen Buddhism, brought from China by Dogen in the 12th century is different to that from China.
Tibetan/Vajrayana Buddhism, is totally different to all other 3, but is based in the same core, adapted to the local culture around the 14th century.

If Buddhism were stuck in 2500BC, practices that were relevant for India back then, now, would stop an over 50% of the population from joining. As recent as 1996, there's been questions about ordination of females in the oldest school of Buddhism, Theravadan. The idea of a difference between male and female is a man-made construct(emphasis mine), outside of Dharma, but was relevant in that culture and time.

Modern Day Kannon and Buddhism
Dogen's Kannon fascicle questions us on how Kannon uses her 10,000 hands and eyes. Back in 2500BCE, she would carry scrolls, wear sandals, and use word of mouth. I believe Kannon has stayed relevant. She has not died out, she has progressed through the times. She's on TV, and Radio, She uses the Internet, She has Websites and Podcasts. Kannon drives cars, flies planes, she is truly global and universal. She's more connected now, in the modern, in the current age than she has ever been before.

Escaping Dogma and Rituals
If Buddhism were to stop being relevant, if it's no longer questioned, it risks becoming nothing but rights and rituals. It risks falling into forms and dogma. Quoting John Stuart Mill;

the doctrine itself will be in danger of being lost, or enfeebled, and deprived of its vital effect on the character and conduct; the dogma becoming a mere formal profession, inefficacious for good, but cumbering the ground, and preventing the growth of any real and heartfelt conviction, from reason or personal experience.

I see there can be no fixed or Real Buddhism, as like life, it's constantly changing. It's the acknowledgement of this constant change that is required to keep the Dharma sustained. It's the moving with time, place, position, and degree. It's using the modern hands of Kannon that not only allow us to keep the Dharma sustained, but allow us, in this time with these tools, for the first time ever, to allow the Dharma to reach an audience previously unavailable to the rest of time. We are in a position to turn the Dharma Wheel, not only sustaining it, but allowing it to grow and flourish into the world again.

(photo)

Originally published at The Middle Way. You can comment here or there.

In some texts, there is talk of ten dimensions, immeasurable kalpas, and Indra's net. What are all these texts talking about? These are all trying to say we are an expression of life. That we are all living. Essentially by being, we are creating. We are the creation, and the creator.

You walk around meeting people, and you begin to feel something. Something stirs in your stomach, causing an emotional response, the so called gut-reaction. When you notice this, you notice something about your situation, something pivotal, something logic can't see.

People. They emit a certain vibe. Some call it energy. You begin feeling, and searching out energy that feels 'nice' to you. You sometimes chat to those with other energies when you feel like you can help change or create their energy. This feeling of energy between all people, with essentially different levels of different values of different conditions, leads us to the current state at this moment called life.

When you feel and see it like this, everything cannot help but seem like the entire universe, indeed the multitude of universes. Every moment contains another, and is infinitely forever unfolding. Indra's net forms all around you, dancing and weaving, displaying flashes of colour called events of life.

Everything, in every moment, then becomes a teaching. A look at how things are. How they connect, beyond the forms of the person, to see that moment, to not bring anything to it, but for you just to see. As these events unfold you begin to feel the path under your feet. You no longer feel lost, you feel found in the nothing-ness.

When we can live life this way, we no longer see good or bad. Happy and Sad lose their power, we see them as values, understanding that they too will soon end, and something else will begin. This isn't done in a sad sense, nor is it a desire to hold on to what's here. It's a simple acceptance of reality. The freedom to enjoy the state as is, regardless of knowing it will not last.

(photo)

Originally published at The Middle Way. You can comment here or there.

In some texts, there is talk of ten dimensions, immeasurable kalpas, and Indra's net. What are all these texts talking about? These are all trying to say we are an expression of life. That we are all living. Essentially by being, we are creating. We are the creation, and the creator.

You walk around meeting people, and you begin to feel something. Something stirs in your stomach, causing an emotional response, the so called gut-reaction. When you notice this, you notice something about your situation, something pivotal, something logic can't see.

People. They emit a certain vibe. Some call it energy. You begin feeling, and searching out energy that feels 'nice' to you. You sometimes chat to those with other energies when you feel like you can help change or create their energy. This feeling of energy between all people, with essentially different levels of different values of different conditions, leads us to the current state at this moment called life.

When you feel and see it like this, everything cannot help but seem like the entire universe, indeed the multitude of universes. Every moment contains another, and is infinitely forever unfolding. Indra's net forms all around you, dancing and weaving, displaying flashes of colour called events of life.

Everything, in every moment, then becomes a teaching. A look at how things are. How they connect, beyond the forms of the person, to see that moment, to not bring anything to it, but for you just to see. As these events unfold you begin to feel the path under your feet. You no longer feel lost, you feel found in the nothing-ness.

When we can live life this way, we no longer see good or bad. Happy and Sad lose their power, we see them as values, understanding that they too will soon end, and something else will begin. This isn't done in a sad sense, nor is it a desire to hold on to what's here. It's a simple acceptance of reality. The freedom to enjoy the state as is, regardless of knowing it will not last.

(photo)

Originally published at The Middle Way. You can comment here or there.

I would like your help. I would like to tap into each of your personal experiences, your wisdom. In a few weeks I will be presentation a talk on Meditation to a room full of smart people who most probably haven't thought about meditating before. I would like your help with what questions should I be trying to answer? What questions, did you have before/when you started meditating?

I want to make this presentation as meaningful and personal as possible to the widest possible audience. This means getting as many beginner's minds as possible on the case, and again, this is why I would like your help. Please leave a comment with anything you think I should talk about, or any questions that you think deserve to be answered. Gassho.

(If you live in Sydney, please come along! For those not in Sydney, once presented, I'll put the video+presentation online for you to see how you helped, and perhaps, general interest ;))(photo)