do jhana

Las piedras de Angulimala

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000+01:00

A pesar de morar en la paz, el cuerpo en el cuerpo, la mente concentrada y todo lo externo abandonado, hay una serie de trenes de pensamiento que surgen una y otra vez.

Es como que vienen de muy lejos y llevan mucho tiempo surcando las mismas vías. Tienen tanta inercia que no se pueden parar con una exhalación y una inhalación. Son tan antiguos y astutos que si cierras una vía concentrandote en el cuerpo, encuentran otra por la que entrar.

Por muy sincero que sea tu esfuerzo, son más listos que tú.

Entonces se me ocurre que tal vez sea mejor dejarles agotar su inercia.

Aquí, sentado tantas horas seguidas, tengo tiempo de escuchar los coches que pasan. A lo lejos, un avión. No se me ocurre detener los coches, ni mucho menos el avión; no cierro los oídos para no escuchar esos sonidos. Vienen y van.

Y, lo mismo que se hace con un coche o un avión, se puede hacer con un tren.

...de pensamiento.

Es toda una lección de humildad. Un duro golpe para mi orgullo. Porque me va tan bien con el trabajo intenso con la respiración que pienso que aquí y ahora, por medio de ese esfuerzo, voy a acabar con las causas del nacimiento y la muerte.

Pero hay que estar dispuesto a perder. De eso va el paso 16: Relinquishment, letting go: renuncia, abandono, dejar de aferrarse...

Y Hongzhi "stay with this just as this, stay with that just as that".

Karma es acción. Es intención. Karma es tomar la responsabilidad de nuestras acciones, la posibilidad de crear en cada momento las circunstancias para acabar con el sufrimiento. Pero hay también un resultado de las acciones pasadas y seguro que en el pasado hemos realizado acciones irresponsables. Por eso es normal que, como a Angulimala, nos tiren piedras.

A veces desde un avión; a veces desde un tren.

Última de las notas del retiro de invierno 2011.

Jugar y regocijarse en samadhi

2012-01-02T07:30:00.000+01:00

Hongzhi es la expresión poética de anapanasati.

No inclinar la mente hacia nada es una ilusión. Incluso si no se inclina "hacia nada" uno la inclina hacia eso llamado "nada".

Es como decir "la verdad no se puede expresar en palabras". Luego lo expresado no es verdad. ¡Para qué perder el tiempo en decirlo!

La mente que se inclina hacia algo es más maleable, flexible y más susceptible de soltar sus ataduras. La mente que repetidamente trabaja sobre un tema o temas es clara, tiene más confianza en sí misma y, por consiguiente, menos miedo a dar el salto.

Anapanasati es un entrenamiento gradual. Practicado con persistencia, cada paso incluye todos los demás; los 16 son solo un ejemplo de las innumerables posibilidades. Todos ellos, contenidos en una exhalación y una inhalación (en una respiración) son el retorno a la fuente, el cultivo del campo ilimitado, el completo y radical abandono del condicionamiento, jugar y regocijarse en samadhi.

Zen es dhyana, jhana, meditación. La escuela zen es la escuela de la meditación. No empieza en China, ni mucho menos con el Buda. No es propiedad de los portadores del falso linaje y no depende de los autodenominados guardianes del dharma, la tradición y la ortodoxia.

Zen empieza y termina allí donde hay un individuo sincero entragado a la práctica, sentado en un cojín, en una silla, de pie, tumbado, caminando...

La transmisión se realiza de exhalación a inhalación, de inhalación a exhalación.

El no logro es el logro de la paz, el abandono del condicionamiento, el fin del miedo.

El vacío y el no-yo son dos demonios que te atan a la selva de ideas y opiniones y te hacen depender de un maestro.

Y el maestro eres tú cuando escuchas, te empapas de humildad y sabes reirte de los fallos que cometiste, los que cometes y los que cometerás en el futuro.

Zen es jhana. Do Zen, do jhana.

Notas del 3º día de retiro de invierno de 2011.

No sé

2012-01-01T12:23:00.001+01:00

Busco el qué, el cómo y el porqué pero la verdad es que no sé y es sólo ahí que las puertas empiezan a abrirse.

En vez de lamentarse por no poder pasar por ellas uno se queda en silencio, sin ir a ninguna parte. Cuando ya no queda el querer cruzar puede pasar algo.

Pero la verdad es que no sé.

Cuando quiero explicarlo solo no sé.

Es como el rabo del toro.

En 2011 estuve de retiro del 23 al 28 de diciembre. Extractos de las notas que escribí en ese tiempo tienen la etiqueta retiro 2011.

Rapture will pass

2011-12-23T08:14:00.000+01:00

Running, swimming, kayaking, can be a very good way of experimenting with rapture. Passed the first point of resistance, that voice asking you to stop, one gets into a rhythm a just goes on. Something happens with the body, both during and after the exercise. I have experimented it as "pine trees growing from my nose" or "heart is the sun, heaven is the end of my head" or just as a body dissolving into nothingness as a dying flame.

These feelings are very intense. They fill one with joy, worries and fears fade out, miss their power, one gains confidence in oneself, energy to carry on daily life.

It is the same with the practice of the breath. At least very similar.

One gains a sense of joy in the practice; a motivation to carry on, resources and patience for when one encounters obstacles on the way.

With practice one can create this sensations with no effort, while sitting in a bus, on a break at work, walking...

But this rapture will pass.

It's not the end of the path. It's a part of the process of creation, using intention.

The wind has been blowing here for two weeks. No way to get out in kayak. The swimming pool is being renovated. No way to swim. The cat destroyed your meditation cushion.

What do you do?

Do not rely on those who say rapture is dangerous neither on those who say it is necessary.

Find out for yourself.

'I am no longer afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality (MN36)

Rapture

2011-12-14T19:29:00.000+01:00

Meditation practice, as any other thing, moves like waves in the ocean. Sometimes is so difficult to get settled, to rest, to observe, to concentrate. This is not a particular problem that happens only to a few, it is an issue every practitioner has to deal with more than once.

But nothing remains the same, and out of despair and frustration, with a good dose of perseverance and ingenuity, one can find the spot again, turn the light within, go really deep in that seemingly trivial activity that is the breath.

And then sleeping legs are not an issue; or they don't sleep anymore. An hour passes in five minutes, and breathing is not just air coming in and out of the lungs anymore.

There is rapture, a physical sensation covering the whole body, sometimes at the skin level, sometimes deep into the bones, sometimes there is no clear separation between body and space, a wave of pleasure flowing in and out, up and down, left to right in the body. And with rapture, there is joy, easily turned into (or manifested in) friendliness or forgiveness or calm or deep peace. And always confidence, alertness, joy in the practice, motivation. Getting up or remain sitting is not to question.

Yet we get up, walk, prepare breakfast, take the bus, walk in the wind and the practice goes on. There is a kind of distance with things and events, both inner and outer. Equanimity but not indifference.

There is a kind of involvement in the world. Otherwise, rapture could not appear but in sitting meditation. But it does, when walking early in the morning to school, steps on water; or listening to a 5/4 tune, the freaky bass of Red Hot Chili Peppers, the all encompassing voice of Agnes Obel; or sleeping in the bus and being awaken by the winter sun breaking through the clouds; or standing in the kitchen, cleaning, washing...

Anytime.

Not breaking with the world, but being eaten by it.

Rapture is when your teeth fall down, flowers grow up from your throat and your heart melts like a snowflake in the fire. No turning back.

It starts with and in and out breath. It never ends. Nor is it the end.

Disenchanted yes, but...

2011-11-28T13:13:00.001+01:00

It's true, I don't want to be associated to any Buddhist groups. "Religion" is a word I stopped using long ago (in my Facebook profile I've written "not religious" as my religious views and "kayak & meditation" as my favorite sports). Whenever I find a Zen Buddhist, I lower my eyes and walk in the opposite direction.

It is the religion, the organization, the church, the authority, the orthodoxy that are at the root of my rejection. But also the "teacher", the misuse of dana (generosity), the adds in magazine like Tricycle...

And yet, it's not like I'm going around feeling nausea every time I meet these conditions. It's a posture that forces me to set the question mark at the very root of anything, that leaves nothing to hold on, that makes an island of myself...

It allows me to test, prove, make mistakes, start again, not rely in others, not imitate, not to force myself to understand things in a certain way, as when we hammer emptiness or not-self doctrines in our heads until we see them as the orthodoxy wants us to see them.

The practice gets for real when we are ready to face ourselves in solitude. It is a raft we build with pieces of wood we find here and there, not a 5-stars ferry boat that makes us forget where we came from and where we're going.

Back on track

2011-11-25T13:37:00.001+01:00

We've had some quite days here in the West of Denmark, no wind, no rain, so autumn could find its place, show its color, get really cold. The wind is back, howling at will in this flat landscape.

I was reading some of my old posts the other day. Then I found myself talking about the blog in different situations and contexts and, when looking for a place to "investigate things", I couldn't find a better place than this.

Again.

What I want to investigate is basically disenchantment. How in the course of these 16 years of practice, specially since my "return" to zen it has grown to a point of feeling almost disgust when I hear the words roshi, zen, mindfulness, free Tibet, and many others. I want to investigate and share where this disenchantment has its root and where it's taking me. I would also like to share what my role as an ordained member of the Order of the Boundless Way is, as it is a question people usually ask me.

Buddhism, in its many forms, has been adapting to the times and cultures that have adopted it. I have been unable to adapt to any of the forms it has taken in our time and I have stopped worrying about it.

Zeal in the practice has grown together with the disenchantment. Never have I been so clear as to what path I have to follow, never have I've been so confident in myself and the practice, never my practice has been more solid.

And please, remember, do jhana is not my name but an action. Do, to do, English, a verb, you know better than me. Jhana, Pali, related to fire, a small steady flame, meditation, concentration, practice.

Does a cow have buddha nature?

2011-03-09T19:39:00.000+01:00

I've played many times with this koan; I always thought of a dog-cow trying to resolve its life long koan; also I've observed how easily we reveal our dog-nature in working with koans, being zen, looking and finding the teacher.

This is Koro Kaisan Miles on Joshu's koan on dogs having buddha nature:

A classic example of how the humor of Zen has been lost is in Joshu’s Mu koan. The Japanese have made this a very serious koan; What did Joshu really mean? What is the deep meaning of Mu? Did Joshu contradict the Buddha? Think deeply on Mu, only then can you understand this very deep koan, ect. ect…

But at the right time and place the humor was obvious. The word Mu is what makes this confusing to the Japanese. In Chinese it is Wu and mimics the sound a dog makes.

So it really goes like this:

A monk asked Chao Chou: "Does a dog have Buddha Nature?"

Joshu barked back: "Wu!"

With the Japanese word Mu this would have been better understood if the koan read:

A monk asked Joshu: "Does a cow have Buddha Nature?"

Joshu bellowed: "Muuu!"

Hongzhi en la estantería

2011-03-06T20:17:00.000+01:00

Cuando el encuentro con Hongzhi se iba difuminando en mi memoria solidifiqué su recuerdo y fui amoldando a él mi experiencia.

Así, en los últimos meses mi práctica de meditación consistía en amoldarme a mi recuerdo de Hongzhi, en recrear esa memoria.

Esto acurre en otros contextos también. Uno encuentra un maestro y acomoda su experiencia a él; uno escucha y es encantado por las enseñanzas del no-yo y fuerza su experiencia a percibir el no-yo; uno llega a la conclusión de que la verdad última es azul y acaba viéndolo todo del azul más puro.

Para vivir en soledad, para actualizar eso que no depende ni se compara, uno tiene que dejar de forzarse en azul, en no-yo, en maestro, en Hongzhi...

Así, en dinámica quietud, un copo de nieve cae en un horno, Hongzhi se queda la estantería y la ballena respira agua.

What is Zen?

2011-02-27T09:08:00.000+01:00

A hairdresser's in Torrevieja, a bar in Madrid, a night-club in Copenhaguen with a philosophy, a special mattress, an MP3 player, gymnastics for middle-class women, a special tecnique to help you develop your company's productivity, a religion you and I can fight for...

A f*** word... sorry, a z*** word.

zen it!

¿Qué es el zen?

2011-02-26T09:03:00.002+01:00

Una peluquería en Torrevieja, un bar en Madrid, un night-club en Copenague con una filosofía, un colchón especial, un reproductor de MP3, una serie de ejercicios para mujeres de clase media, una técnica especial para mejorar la productividad de tu empresa, una religión por la que tú y yo nos podemos pelear...

una palabrota.

¡me cago en zen!

Enseñar zen es una profesión

2011-02-25T08:58:00.002+01:00

Hay gente por ahí que dice que enseñar zen es una profesión. Llevan hábitos negros y rakusus de colores, sonríen siempre que hay una cámara a la vista y siempre están dispuestos a aceptar una donación. Te seducen con el vacío y la doctrina del no-yo y, lo peor de todo, con transmisiones e iluminación.

Bien, ya sabes donde NO está mi camino; ya sabes dónde NO me encontrarás.

Buena suerte

Zen teaching is a profession

2011-02-24T08:58:00.000+01:00

There's people out there claiming that "Zen teaching is a profession". They wear black robes and colorful rakusus, they smile everytime there is a camera and are always ready to accept a donation. They will seduce you with emptiness and egolessness and, worst of all, with transmission and enlightenment.

Well, now you know what my path is NOT; now you know where you won't find me.

Good luck

Palabras

2011-02-09T21:37:00.000+01:00

Me siento a escribir y, en cuanto hago click en "New Post" se me resbalan las palabras.

¿Será que el zen se queda sin nombre?

Y si quiero la médula, imitando como un loro a monsieur Huike, ¿para qué quiero un blog?

Se están juntando nubes en el cielo.

El agua sigue fluyendo, sigue su camino sin importarle tu pena.

A qué esperas, ¡bébela!

El evangelio ZEN de Thomas

2011-02-03T20:01:00.000+01:00

A veces son los gansos, a veces son las olas o un viento descarriado.
A veces es una hoja o, como aquella vez en el sur, un limón verde.
A veces es la pata de una silla o apagar la luz o la aceitera junto al fogón.
Otras veces es sentarse, sólido como una roca y el espacio es sin límites, la mente es sin límites, no queda nada.

Recuerdo mis primeros tiempos con el zen poseído por los escritos de Suzuki y sus ecos. Ahí, como tantos otros, construí una imagen del zen a la vez que creía deconstruir la imagen de mí mismo.
Tuve suerte de encontrarme con Thomas Cleary, cuya construcción se acercaba terriblemente a lo que es deconstruir en realidad. Más suerte tuve aún cuando me fui a Jiko An, cuna del zen alpujarreño, donde se me confirmó que el despertar no depende de dogmas, ni de escuelas, ni de tradiciones.
Sin embargo quise experimentar lo "auténtico", the real thing y me fui a Japón donde al final tuve que reconocer que el zen samurai no era para mí. En última instancia me quedé sin casa porque la ortodoxia me echó a los caminos y anduve solo y desvalido (¡pobre!) tantos años hasta que, cansado, encontré refugio en los suttas y en Thanissaro.
Ahora, después de tantos años, vuelvo a los caminos sin formas, esta vez no me echa nadie porque ya no tienen fuerza ni poder y vago sin rumbo por un campo ilimitado. A veces solo, a veces acompañado, a veces paro en un refugio a pasar la noche o en una posada a tomar un té, un vino y a echarme unas risas.
Luego, solo de nuevo, contemplando la luna, recuerdo con nostalgia aquellas construcciones de antaño, castillos de arena, y me quedo con el viejo Thomas y sus traducciones. El evangelio ZEN de Thomas Cleary, podríamos llamarle :D
Lo que él no escribe, me lo dicen los gansos, las olas, el viento descarriado, una hoja, un limón verde, una sólida sentada.

On the word Zen

2011-01-23T08:16:00.000+01:00

This is from the book Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China, by Bill Porter

Whenever I say Zen, people are always correcting me: “It’s Ch’an/Chan (the Wade-Giles and Pin-Yin romanizations of the word)”. They say, “Zen is the Japanese form of Ch’an. Chinese Ch’an is different from Japanese Zen”. That’s one way of looking at Zen, as a cultural phenomenon. But Chinese Ch’an, Japanese Zen, and Korean Son all point to the same moon of the mind. And there aren’t two kinds of mind.

The reason I like to point with Zen, as opposed to Ch’an, is that I love a good Z. Also, zen was how people pronounced this word back when Zen began (the reconstruction preferred by linguists is dzian). And the people who live in the Kan River watershed of Kiangsi Province, where zen became Zen, still pronounce it that way. The pronunciation used at court changed when the Manchus invaded China in the seventeenth century and established the Ch’ing dynasty and their own pronunciation as the arbiter of proper usage. But down in Zenland, it’s still Zen. Besides, Zen isn’t Chinese or Japanese anymore. It belongs to anyone willing to see their nature and become a buddha, anyone who lives the life of no-mind and laughs in this outrageous times.

Månetyr

2011-01-20T22:26:00.001+01:00

Sidder i tavshed og bader i månestråler.

Spiser luft (ånder ind og ud) som man spiser is, en kage, sand, et menneskelår, et kranium.

Fuldmånen fylder munden. Den er en tyr, den løber mod vinduet, går igennem, glass og mursten over det hele.

Månetyren er kommet gennem vinduet, kigger rundt med røde øjne, spytter ild.

Men halen kan ikke komme igennem.

Hvem er din lærer?

Månetyren brøler MU!

Men halen kommer ikke igennem.

Månen i værelset. Måneløs himmel. Vi drikker te, tyren og jeg, spiser hale.

Den kommer ikke igennem.

Students today can’t get anywhere. What ails you? Lack of faith in yourself is what ails you. If you lack faith in yourself, you’ll keep on tumbling along, following in bewilderment after all kinds of circumstances and being taken by them through transformation after transformation without ever attaining freedom.
Linji

Los gansos, las pinzas

2011-01-17T12:46:00.001+01:00

Tendiendo la ropa, me acompañan los eternos pajaritos. Es un tranquilo día de invierno, el sol bajo se mete por la nariz, la nieve se ha ido, solo quedan charcos enormes con el fondo helado, tentadores para los niños, trampas de madres.

Tendiendo tranquilo, con la sonrisa de saber que la ropa no se va a secar nunca. Nunca. Y otra vez pasan los gansos volando y todo está vivo, tan vivo. Las pinzas están vivas, la ropa baila en la brisa, la hierba está triste y húmeda.

Los gansos, los gansos.

Uno de los momentos más fascinantes de la vida de Gotama es cuando descubre el camino al despertar. Ha estado tantos años siguiendo a este maestro, a este otro o mortificandose hasta lo inimaginable y llega un momento en que tiene que reconocer que nada de esto le ha llevado más cerca del despertar. Entonces recuerda un momento de su infancia en el que estaba sentado bajo un árbol y un poco sin quererlo, se encontró tranquilo, feliz y sintiendo cierto placer en el cuerpo. Es curioso verle dudar; después de tantos años de asceta le cuesta reconocer que una meditación en la que hay placer físico pueda ser el camino. Además, ¿qué van a decir todos esos sabios ancianos que llevan décadas practicando austeridades y afirmando que es el camino?

Sin embargo, llega a la conclusión de que el placer generado durante la meditación no depende de nada externo y que en sí no es peligroso. Y así descubre la correcta meditación.

Algunos dicen que ahí Gotama definió el primer aspecto del noble sendero pero yo lo dudo, puesto que ya llevaba años practicando la correcta atención, el correcto esfuerzo y llevaba una estricta disciplina ética.

Sea como fuere, el redescubrimiento de una práctica de meditación acompañada de bienestar, felicidad e incluso placer corporal fue la base que le permitió liberarse de las cadenas que le ataban al samsara, encontrar la felicidad que todos buscamos en algo que no depende de otros ni atenta contra otros y describir ese proceso de liberación en la enseñanza de las 4 nobles verdades.

Por eso encontramos en los suttas la contínua exhortación: id a una habitación vacía o al pie de un árbol y practicad meditación. No perdáis el tiempo.

Gotama's search. The Buddha's last words

2011-01-16T12:26:00.001+01:00

DN 16. Maha-parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha

Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!

This was the last word of the Tathagata.

© accesstoinsight.org Terms of use: You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. For additional information about this license, see the FAQ.

Gotama's search. Who's your Master

2011-01-15T12:22:00.000+01:00

DN 16. Maha-parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha

It may be, Ananda, that to some among you the thought will come: 'Ended is the word of the Master; we have a Master no longer.' But it should not, Ananda, be so considered. For that which I have proclaimed and made known as the Dhamma and the Discipline, that shall be your Master when I am gone.

Gotama's search. Refuge

2011-01-14T12:17:00.001+01:00

DN 16. Maha-parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha

What more does the community of bhikkhus expect from me, Ananda? I have set forth the Dhamma without making any distinction of esoteric and exoteric doctrine; there is nothing, Ananda, with regard to the teachings that the Tathagata holds to the last with the closed fist of a teacher who keeps some things back. Whosoever may think that it is he who should lead the community of bhikkhus, or that the community depends upon him, it is such a one that would have to give last instructions respecting them. But, Ananda, the Tathagata has no such idea as that it is he who should lead the community of bhikkhus, or that the community depends upon him. So what instructions should he have to give respecting the community of bhikkhus?

Now I am frail, Ananda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year, and my life is spent. Even as an old cart, Ananda, is held together with much difficulty, so the body of the Tathagata is kept going only with supports. It is, Ananda, only when the Tathagata, disregarding external objects, with the cessation of certain feelings, attains to and abides in the signless concentration of mind, that his body is more comfortable.

Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.

Those bhikkhus of mine, Ananda, who now or after I am gone, abide as an island unto themselves, as a refuge unto themselves, seeking no other refuge; having the Dhamma as their island and refuge, seeking no other refuge: it is they who will become the highest, if they have the desire to learn.

Gotama's search. An analysis on the Path

2011-01-13T12:08:00.013+01:00

SN 45.8 An Analysis of the Path

The Blessed One said, "Now what, monks, is the Noble Eightfold Path? Right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

Right view

And what, monks, is right view? Knowledge with regard to stress, knowledge with regard to the origination of stress, knowledge with regard to the stopping of stress, knowledge with regard to the way of practice leading to the stopping of stress: This, monks, is called right view.

Right resolve

And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve.

Right speech

And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, abstaining from divisive speech, abstaining from abusive speech, abstaining from idle chatter: This, monks, is called right speech.

Right action

And what, monks, is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity: This, monks, is called right action.

Right livelihood

And what, monks, is right livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with right livelihood: This, monks, is called right livelihood.

Right effort

And what, monks, is right effort? (i) There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen. (ii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen. (iii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen. (iv) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, & culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen: This, monks, is called right effort.

Right mindfulness

And what, monks, is right mindfulness? (i) There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world. (ii) He remains focused on feelings in & of themselves — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world. (iii) He remains focused on the mind in & of itself — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world. (iv) He remains focused on mental qualities in & of themselves — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world. This, monks, is called right mindfulness.

Right concentration

And what, monks, is right concentration? (i) There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful (mental) qualities — enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. (ii) With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters & remains in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. (iii) With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.' (iv) With the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — he enters & remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. This, monks, is called right concentration."

Gotama's search. The Discourse to the five ascetics

2011-01-12T12:04:00.002+01:00

SN 56.11. Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion

There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful.

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: the craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving.

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of stress.' Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This noble truth of stress is to be comprehended.' Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before:' This noble truth of stress has been comprehended.'

Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the origination of stress'... 'This noble truth of the origination of stress is to be abandoned' ... 'This noble truth of the origination of stress has been abandoned.'

Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the cessation of stress'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress is to be directly experienced'... 'This noble truth of the cessation of stress has been directly experienced.'

Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before: 'This is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress'... 'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress is to be developed'... 'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress has been developed.'

And, monks, as long as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was not pure, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras, & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & priests, its royalty & commonfolk. But as soon as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was truly pure, then I did claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & priests, its royalty & commonfolk. Knowledge & vision arose in me: 'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.'

That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the group of five monks delighted at his words.

Gotama's search. The teaching: detachment and meditation

2011-01-11T11:54:00.001+01:00

MN 26. Ariyapariyesana Sutta: The Noble Search

Monks, there are these five strings of sensuality. Which five? Forms cognizable via the eye — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Sounds cognizable via the ear — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Aromas cognizable via the nose — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Tastes cognizable via the tongue — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Tactile sensations cognizable via the body — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. These are the five strings of sensuality.

And any priests or contemplatives tied to these five strings of sensuality — infatuated with them, having totally fallen for them, consuming them without seeing their drawbacks or discerning the escape from them — should be known as having met with misfortune, having met with ruin; Mara can do with them as he will. Just as if a wild deer were to lie bound on a heap of snares: it should be known as having met with misfortune, having met with ruin; the hunter can do with it as he will. When the hunter comes, it won't get away as it would like. In the same way, any priests or contemplatives tied to these five strings of sensuality — infatuated with them, having totally fallen for them, consuming them without seeing their drawbacks or discerning the escape from them — should be known as having met with misfortune, having met with ruin; Mara can do with them as he will.

But any priests or contemplatives not tied to these five strings of sensuality — uninfatuated with them, having not totally fallen for them, consuming them seeing their drawbacks and discerning the escape from them — should be known as not having met with misfortune, not having met with ruin; Mara cannot do with them as he will. Just as if a wild deer were to lie unbound on a heap of snares: it should be known as not having met with misfortune, not having met with ruin; the hunter cannot do with it as he will. When the hunter comes, it will get away as it would like. In the same way, any priests or contemplatives not tied to these five strings of sensuality — uninfatuated with them, having not totally fallen for them, consuming them seeing their drawbacks and discerning the escape from them — should be known as not having met with misfortune, not having met with ruin; Mara cannot do with them as he will.

Suppose that a wild deer is living in wilderness glen. Carefree it walks, carefree it stands, carefree it sits, carefree it lies down. Why is that? Because it has gone beyond the hunter's range. In the same way, a monk — quite withdrawn from sensual pleasures, withdrawn from unskillful qualities — enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. This monk is said to have blinded Mara. Trackless, he has destroyed Mara's vision and has become invisible to the Evil One.

Then again the monk, with the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, enters & remains in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of composure, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. This monk is said to have blinded Mara. Trackless, he has destroyed Mara's vision and has become invisible to the Evil One.

Then again the monk, with the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.' This monk is said to have blinded Mara. Trackless, he has destroyed Mara's vision and has become invisible to the Evil One.

Then again the monk, with the abandoning of pleasure & stress — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — enters & remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither-pleasure-nor-pain. This monk is said to have blinded Mara. Trackless, he has destroyed Mara's vision and has become invisible to the Evil One.

Then again the monk, with the complete transcending of perceptions of [physical] form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, [perceiving,] 'Infinite space,' enters & remains in the dimension of the infinitude of space. This monk is said to have blinded Mara. Trackless, he has destroyed Mara's vision and has become invisible to the Evil One.

Then again the monk, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of space, [perceiving,] 'Infinite consciousness,' enters & remains in the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness. This monk is said to have blinded Mara. Trackless, he has destroyed Mara's vision and has become invisible to the Evil One.

Then again the monk, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, [perceiving,] 'There is nothing,' enters & remains in the dimension of nothingness. This monk is said to have blinded Mara. Trackless, he has destroyed Mara's vision and has become invisible to the Evil One.

Then again the monk, with the complete transcending of the dimension of nothingness, enters & remains in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. This monk is said to have blinded Mara. Trackless, he has destroyed Mara's vision and has become invisible to the Evil One.

Then again the monk, with the complete transcending of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, enters & remains in the cessation of perception & feeling. And, having seen [that] with discernment, his mental fermentations are completely ended. This monk is said to have blinded Mara. Trackless, he has destroyed Mara's vision and has become invisible to the Evil One. Having crossed over, he is unattached in the world. Carefree he walks, carefree he stands, carefree he sits, carefree he lies down. Why is that? Because he has gone beyond the Evil One's range.

Cleaning up the pictures of the past

2011-01-06T10:09:00.000+01:00

Transmission is a means of legitimation. It seems there were groups in early Buddhism that defined themselves as “descendants” of Sariputta, Mogallana or Ananda. The Kashmir meditation teachers also had their own genealogy tree. In China this suited very well with the cult to the ancestors.

The fact is that the lineage of ancestors was built backwards. The 1st “Record of the Lamp” was written by successors of Shen Hsiu, who by then lived in the capitals and were favored in the Court around the 8th century. They called their school “East Mountain Teaching” alluding to the mountain where Daoxin and Hongren had their monastery.

They were clear about these names. Further backwards they didn’t were so clear. They played with some names until they found Bodhidharma and Huike. Sengcan came later, out of nowhere. The texts attributed to these “ancestors” were also produced around this time. Moving backwards to India, the lineage chart is a mess, with anachronisms and other impossibilities.

Later on Shenhui came into scene and through a messianic campaign installed Huineng as the legitimate successor of Hongren and revived the debate about sudden vs. gradual realization by inventing the terms Southern and Northern Schools. Shenhui was even endorsed with the title of 7th patriarch by the new emperor.

Years past, many Chan schools came to be, all of them wanting to legitimize themselves through writing their own lineage charts, claiming ascendancy from Huineng. It was actually a monk of the Ox Head School who wrote the 1st version of the Platform Sutra.

Zongmi (around the 9th century) wrote a very concise description of some of the schools of his time. He was in the lineage of Heze Shenhui and criticized the teachings of Mazu.

Study into the history of Chan reveals how the concept of transmission evolved with time and how Chan/Zen Buddhism developed its own self identity. This is quite remarkable in a school of practice that teaches how to get through the illusions of the self, how to see the worlds we build as a dream.

Transmission is a Chinese invention. The Buddha clearly stated in the Mahaparinibbana sutta that he would not appoint any successor. The story of Buddha lifting a flower and transmitting the robe and bowl to Mahakassyapa is a Chinese invention. The person of Bodhidharma has evolved with time, attributing to him more features with the passing of centuries. Written texts (Platform sutra, The Record of Linji, The Transmission of the Lamp stories, the encounter dialogs... to name a few) underwent a process of edition and polishing in order to shape this self identity. Our image of the “Golden Age of Zen” in the Tang Dinasty was actually made up in the Song (from 10th to 13th century).

But why all this talk about Chan history. What is it good for? In what way it benefits our practice?

It is right that there is an element in Zen that cannot be located in time or place.

The past mind cannot be grasped, the present mind cannot be grasped, the future mind cannot be grasped

This is our main practice. Our main practice is to awaken and reveal the illusion we build in that we call ourselves. Watching the history and formation of Chan Buddhism reveals us the same: how an identity is built up, in this case the Zen identity; how it has no substance; how it is feed of self interest and will to perpetuate itself; how it freezes in tradition and resist change; and how the fear of change creates judgments, defensiveness and aggression to what is alien. Seeing through this can help us in revealing our self expectations, images and the dream of zen (how we want it to be) we self build.

It can help us to become more independent, develop self confidence, keep alive the flame of wisdom and get free from the traps of our self.

If you don’t want to go into this, it’s all right. After all, everything is empty. But then remember it the next time you hear the story of Buddha lifting the flower, when you react against threats to your lineage, when you think of every actor in the drama of Zen as a being, a person in time and place: they are all empty.

That there is no more Zen that the one we imported from Japan; that this is how Zen always has been: that’s all empty too.

Sit down and get rid of your ego (as it is usually said); get rid of of the ego of your teacher too (that’s the most dangerous of all egos at all); get rid of the ego of your school and your tradition.

Sitting there (or standing up, walking, running, sweeping, writing, reading...) where are you?

You are taught to kill the Buddhas, kill the patriarchs.

Are you willing to kill Zen?

ZBOHY Mission statement

2010-12-30T20:57:00.003+01:00

The Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun (ZBOHY) is an international clerical order consisting of individual practitioners, sanghas and practice centers throughout the western world.

The Mission of ZBOHY is:

To make the study and practice of Zen Buddhism accessible to the West through approaches that remain in keeping with the classical lineage tradition as translated into terms and concepts that are readily understood within the context of our native societies;
To be available to all people interested in the teachings and practice of Zen, and to provide an international online resource center for the study and promotion of Zen Buddhist teachings;

The charter of our order directs the following mandates:

To sustain an international clerical order dedicated to the dissemination of the practices and teachings of Zen Buddhism;
To offer the benefit of an international Zen sangha to isolated groups and solitary practitioners;
To hold no bias toward any particular cultural expression of Buddhism;
To embrace varied and multiple approaches to practice and teachings according to the needs of the individual or group;
To assure equal access and provide clerical services to all people regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, previous religious background, or personal history;
To abstain from political and other discussions and debates that do not serve the Dharma;
To abstain from conflict with and among other individuals and groups

Clerical Members of ZBOHY are encouraged to:

Continually review and renew their commitment to Zen practice and their understanding of the Dharma;
Abstain from promoting Zen as a specific ethnic tradition;
Establish sustainable sanghas that directly serve people in their local communities;
Provide Dharma teaching sessions, meditation instruction and/or retreats for all wishing to learn and experience Zen;
Promote the Zen teachings of the founders of our tradition and lineage.

In Summary:

Members of our order understand that the practice and study of Zen is a personal pursuit of both the individual and individual sanghas.
While our lineage began in China, it is not the intention of ZBOHY to demand strict conformity of practice, or to import Chinese or Asian cultural Zen practices to the west.
It is our goal to present both classical and contemporary Zen teachings, methods, and principles in the Western idiom as a guide to those wending their own way along the Path.

Mierda sin alma y sin yo

2010-12-21T12:07:00.000+01:00

Se me había olvidado el Hermano Hoja y, por descuidado, se me cayó su mierda encima.

Volví a visitarle sin avisar y su mate me devolvió al silencio.

Si tuviera que defenderme, si tuviera algo que defender, le pediría por favor que no escribiese más, que borrara su blog de la faz de internet.

En lugar de eso, le doy las gracias y, con respeto, me inclino.

Gassho, Hermano Hoja.

Gotama's search. Teaching the five ascetics

2010-12-21T11:45:00.003+01:00

MN 26. Ariyapariyesana Sutta: The Noble Search

Then the thought occurred to me, 'To whom should I teach the Dhamma first?

Then, wandering by stages, I arrived at Varanasi, at the Deer Park in Isipatana, to where the group of five monks were staying.

...I was able to convince them. I would teach two monks while three went for alms, and we six lived off what the three brought back from their alms round. Then I would teach three monks while two went for alms, and we six lived off what the two brought back from their alms round. Then the group of five monks — thus exhorted, thus instructed by me — being subject themselves to birth, aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, seeing the drawbacks of birth, aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, seeking the birth-less, aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, unexcelled rest from the yoke, Unbinding, they reached the birth-less, aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, unexcelled rest from the yoke: Unbinding. Knowledge & vision arose in them: 'Unprovoked is our release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.'

Gotama's Search. Considers not to teach

2010-12-21T11:42:00.001+01:00

MN 26. Ariyapariyesana Sutta: The Noble Search

Then the thought occurred to me, 'This Dhamma that I have attained is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, peaceful, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. But this generation delights in attachment, is excited by attachment, enjoys attachment. And if I were to teach the Dhamma and others would not understand me, that would be tiresome for me, troublesome for me.'

As I reflected thus, my mind inclined to dwelling at ease, not to teaching the Dhamma.

Then Brahma Sahampati, having known with his own awareness the line of thinking in my awareness, thought: 'The world is lost! The world is destroyed! The mind of the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Rightly Self-awakened One inclines to dwelling at ease, not to teaching the Dhamma!'

...[he] said to me: 'Lord, let the Blessed One teach the Dhamma! Let the One-Well-Gone teach the Dhamma! There are beings with little dust in their eyes who are falling away because they do not hear the Dhamma. There will be those who will understand the Dhamma.'

Then, having understood Brahma's invitation, out of compassion for beings, I surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One. As I did so, I saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace & danger in the other world. Just as in a pond of blue or red or white lotuses, some lotuses — born & growing in the water — might flourish while immersed in the water, without rising up from the water; some might stand at an even level with the water; while some might rise up from the water and stand without being smeared by the water — so too, surveying the world with the eye of an Awakened One, I saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace & danger in the other world.

Then Brahma Sahampati, thinking, 'The Blessed One has given his consent to teach the Dhamma,' bowed down to me and, circling me on the right, disappeared right there.

Gotama's Search. Complete awakening

2010-12-21T11:39:00.001+01:00

MN 26. Ariyapariyesana Sutta: The Noble Search

Then, monks, being subject myself to birth, seeing the drawbacks of birth... aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, seeking the aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, unexcelled rest from the yoke, Unbinding, I reached the aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, unexcelled rest from the yoke: Unbinding. Knowledge & vision arose in me: 'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.'

Luna sin respeto

2010-12-21T11:27:00.000+01:00

Esta mañana tomé un baño de luna. Sentado en silencio a las 5.30, la luna entraba sin respeto por la ventana. Afuera, la nieve reflejaba toda esta luz silenciosa, dentro y fuera de plata, sereno, frío, congelado.

Mañana me voy de retiro, desaparezco, me voy y me llevo conmigo mi bastón y el cojín.

No me voy de vacío, sin embargo. Me llevo el MN119, el DN1, y pienso también recitar dos suttas en pali, el Dhammacakka y el Maha Vibhanga. A Hongzhi no hace falta nombrarlo.

Quiero escribir también. Siempre he dicho que lo de escribir sale del silencio y que de eso no tengo mucho en mi vida cotidiana. Tal vez haya un espacio en el que pueda escribir algo concreto y no divagaciones sin sentido acerca del brillo de la luna y la dureza del hielo. Igual, no tengas muchas espectativas.

Hace un sol hermoso ahora, -14ºC; la luna sufrió un eclipse esta mañana pero ni de ella ni del eclipse queda nada.

Hvid ensomhed

2010-12-18T23:54:00.001+01:00

Jeg har malet hele dagen: pensler, hvidt, Ojos de Brujo, Valravn, mad-rester, vand.

Alt er hvidt. Og koldt, uden for tiden. Jeg maler, mere hvidt og nu lukker jeg øjnene og ser hvidt, hvidt, hvidt.

Just as if a man were sitting covered from head to foot with a white cloth so that there would be no part of his body to which the white cloth did not extend. MN 119

Jeg er alene hjem, som en forberedelse for den kommende retreat, går i ensomhed fra onsdag til tirsdag.

Stadigvæk bliver spurgt, om jeg vil lære.

Men jeg blev ikke lærer, da jeg blev ordineret. Min lærer gjorde mig ikke til lærer, han gjorde mig til elev. Uden elev, er jeg ikke lærer; og med elev, er jeg også elev.

Jeg er ikke lærer; jeg mediterer, praktiserer buddhisme uden mysticisme, uden traditioner, uden ritualer.

Snart kommer retreaten, hvid ensomhed; tid til at være elev og møde mesteren, der, hvor man ikke venter det.

Luftsten

2010-12-15T14:30:00.000+01:00

Nogle bygger en hytte for at praktisere meditation. En hytte, en zendo, et kloster... man følger nogle regler og det er rart at være der. Måske er det ikke nødvendigt, med sådan en hytte, men det støtter ens praksis.

Andre bygger en hytte ved at praktisere meditation. Ind- og udånding er sten, der samles op. De bor i næsen.

Hytten bliver ødelagt i løbet af et kort øjeblik. Man bygger den op igen og igen. Ind- og undånding, man kaster op sten.

På et tidspunkt er hytten bygget og den kan ikke nedlægges.

Udefra kan man ikke se noget. Inden i, er den bundløs.

Ukrudt på loftet.

Måske er det ikke nødvendigt at bygge sådan en hytte. Men nu den er bygget, kom og se om du kan flytte den.

Respirando piedras

2010-12-15T14:08:00.000+01:00

A veces construimos una cabaña para practicar meditación. No es que sea necesario, pero lo hacemos y estamos a gusto en ella. A veces creamos unas formas y seguimos una etiqueta para movernos por la casa. Tampoco es que sea necesario pero lo hacemos.

Cuando practicamos meditación, a veces, también construímos una casa. Cada inhalación y cada exhalación son piedras. Entran y salen por la nariz.

La cabaña es construida y derruida en un momento. Volvemos al trabajo una y otra vez. Respirando, vomitando piedras por los ojos.

Al final la cabaña misma encuentra sus cimientos y entonces nada puede derribarla, ni siquiera sacudirla.

Desde fuera no se nota, como si fuera invisible. Por dentro no tiene límites.

Están creciendo plantas en el techo.

A lo mejor no es necesario construir esta cabaña pero, ahora que ya está aquí, a ver si puedes derribarla.

Gotama's search: A new path

2010-12-13T14:29:00.000+01:00

MN 36. Maha-Saccaka Sutta: The Longer Discourse to Saccaka

I thought: 'Whatever priests or contemplatives in the past have felt painful, racking, piercing feelings due to their striving, this is the utmost. None have been greater than this. Whatever priests or contemplatives in the future will feel painful, racking, piercing feelings due to their striving, this is the utmost. None will be greater than this. Whatever priests or contemplatives in the present are feeling painful, racking, piercing feelings due to their striving, this is the utmost. None is greater than this. But with this racking practice of austerities I haven't attained any superior human state, any distinction in knowledge or vision worthy of the noble ones. Could there be another path to Awakening?'

I thought: 'I recall once, when my father the Sakyan was working, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, then — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful mental qualities — I entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. Could that be the path to Awakening?' Then following on that memory came the realization: 'That is the path to Awakening.' I thought: 'So why am I afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities?' I thought: 'I am no longer afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities, but that pleasure is not easy to achieve with a body so extremely emaciated. Suppose I were to take some solid food: some rice & porridge.' So I took some solid food: some rice & porridge. Now five monks had been attending on me, thinking, 'If Gotama, our contemplative, achieves some higher state, he will tell us.' But when they saw me taking some solid food — some rice & porridge — they were disgusted and left me, thinking, 'Gotama the contemplative is living luxuriously. He has abandoned his exertion and is backsliding into abundance.'

Meditation

So when I had taken solid food and regained strength, then — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful mental qualities, I entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation.

With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, I entered & remained in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance.

With the fading of rapture I remained equanimous, mindful, & alert, and sensed pleasure with the body. I entered & remained in the third jhana, of which the noble ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.'

With the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — I entered & remained in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain.

First knowledge

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two...five, ten...fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus I remembered my manifold past lives in their modes & details.

This was the first knowledge I attained in the first watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.

Second knowledge

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: 'These beings — who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, & mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings — who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech & mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.' Thus — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.

This was the second knowledge I attained in the second watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.

Third knowledge and liberation

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations. I discerned, as it was actually present, that 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the way leading to the cessation of stress... These are fermentations... This is the origination of fermentations... This is the cessation of fermentations... This is the way leading to the cessation of fermentations.' My heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, was released from the fermentation of sensuality, released from the fermentation of becoming, released from the fermentation of ignorance. With release, there was the knowledge, 'Released.' I discerned that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'

This was the third knowledge I attained in the third watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.

Jeg, mig og migselv

2010-12-12T08:14:00.000+01:00

Problemet med egoet er ikke, om der findes eller ikke findes, om det er virkeligt eller en ilusion.

Det drejer sig ikke, om det er eller ikke er, men om hvor du stiller det henne. Problemet opstår, når du stiller det noget sted.

Egoet i kroppen, i sindet, i emotionerne, i hukommelsen, i ønskerne. Egoet (eller selvet, hvis det sidste lyder pænere i dine ører) i universet, i det uendeligt, i gud. Egoet i fodbold, i kajakken, i musikken.

Egoet i buddhismen, eller i zen.

Sæt egoet intet sted.

Tør du?

Yo, mí, mío

2010-12-12T08:07:00.000+01:00

El problema con el yo no es si existe o no existe, si es real o ilusorio, si es pequeño o es grande, si es sabio o ignorante.

En general, no se trata de si es o no es sino, más bien, de dónde lo pones. El problema aparece cuando lo pones en algún sitio.

El yo en el cuerpo, en la mente, en las emociones, en los recuerdos, en los deseos. El yo en el fútbol, el yo en el kajak, el yo en la música, el yo en el sexo.

El yo en el budismo. El yo en el zen.

El yo en la iluminación, el yo en el nirvana, el yo en el no-yo.

El yo en el todo, el yo en la nada, el yo en todos los seres.

No pongas el yo en ninguna parte. No lo afirmes, no lo niegues; no lo hagas más pequeño, ni más grande, ni infinito, ni insondable.

No lo pongas en ningún sitio.

No te ocupes de él, ni de si es o no es.

Gotama's search: More austerities

2010-12-11T10:23:00.000+01:00

MN 36. Maha-Saccaka Sutta: The Longer Discourse to Saccaka

I thought: 'Suppose that I, clenching my teeth and pressing my tongue against the roof of my mouth, were to beat down, constrain, & crush my mind with my awareness.' So, clenching my teeth and pressing my tongue against the roof of my mouth, I beat down, constrained, & crushed by mind with my awareness. Just as a strong man, seizing a weaker man by the head or the throat or the shoulders, would beat him down, constrain, & crush him, in the same way I beat down, constrained, & crushed my mind with my awareness. As I did so, sweat poured from my armpits. And although tireless persistence was aroused in me, and unmuddled mindfulness established, my body was aroused & uncalm because of the painful exertion. But the painful feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain.

I thought: 'Suppose I were to become absorbed in the trance of non-breathing.' So I stopped the in-breaths & out-breaths in my nose & mouth. As I did so, there was a loud roaring of winds coming out my earholes, just like the loud roar of winds coming out of a smith's bellows... So I stopped the in-breaths & out-breaths in my nose & mouth & ears. As I did so, extreme forces sliced through my head, just as if a strong man were slicing my head open with a sharp sword... Extreme pains arose in my head, just as if a strong man were tightening a turban made of tough leather straps around my head... Extreme forces carved up my stomach cavity, just as if a butcher or his apprentice were to carve up the stomach cavity of an ox... There was an extreme burning in my body, just as if two strong men, grabbing a weaker man by the arms, were to roast & broil him over a pit of hot embers. And although tireless persistence was aroused in me, and unmuddled mindfulness established, my body was aroused & uncalm because of the painful exertion. But the painful feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain.

Devas, on seeing me, said, 'Gotama the contemplative is dead.' Other devas said, 'He isn't dead, he's dying.' Others said, 'He's neither dead nor dying, he's an arahant, for this is the way arahants live.'

I thought: 'Suppose I were to practice going altogether without food.' Then devas came to me and said, 'Dear sir, please don't practice going altogether without food. If you go altogether without food, we'll infuse divine nourishment in through your pores, and you will survive on that.' I thought, 'If I were to claim to be completely fasting while these devas are infusing divine nourishment in through my pores, I would be lying.' So I dismissed them, saying, 'Enough.

I thought: 'Suppose I were to take only a little food at a time, only a handful at a time of bean soup, lentil soup, vetch soup, or pea soup.' So I took only a little food at a time, only a handful at a time of bean soup, lentil soup, vetch soup, or pea soup. My body became extremely emaciated. Simply from my eating so little, my limbs became like the jointed segments of vine stems or bamboo stems... My backside became like a camel's hoof... My spine stood out like a string of beads... My ribs jutted out like the jutting rafters of an old, run-down barn... The gleam of my eyes appeared to be sunk deep in my eye sockets like the gleam of water deep in a well... My scalp shriveled & withered like a green bitter gourd, shriveled & withered in the heat & the wind... The skin of my belly became so stuck to my spine that when I thought of touching my belly, I grabbed hold of my spine as well; and when I thought of touching my spine, I grabbed hold of the skin of my belly as well... If I urinated or defecated, I fell over on my face right there... Simply from my eating so little, if I tried to ease my body by rubbing my limbs with my hands, the hair — rotted at its roots — fell from my body as I rubbed, simply from eating so little.

People on seeing me would say, 'Gotama the contemplative is black.' Other people would say, 'Gotama the contemplative isn't black, he's brown.' Others would say, 'Gotama the contemplative is neither black nor brown, he's golden-skinned.' So much had the clear, bright color of my skin deteriorated, simply from eating so little.

©accesstoinsight.org Terms of use: You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. For additional information about this license, see the FAQ.

Gotama's Search: Austerities

2010-12-10T10:29:00.000+01:00

MN 12. Maha-sihanada Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Lion's Roar

I recall having lived a holy life possessing four factors. I have practiced asceticism — the extreme of asceticism; I have practiced coarseness — the extreme of coarseness; I have practiced scrupulousness — the extreme of scrupulousness; I have practiced seclusion — the extreme of seclusion.

Such was my asceticism, Sariputta, that I went naked, rejecting conventions, licking my hands, not coming when asked, not stopping when asked; I did not accept food brought or food specially made or an invitation to a meal; I received nothing from a pot, from a bowl, across a threshold, across a stick, across a pestle, from two eating together, from a pregnant woman, from a woman giving suck, from a woman lying with a man, from where food was advertised to be distributed, from where a dog was waiting, from where flies were buzzing; I accepted no fish or meat, I drank no liquor, wine or fermented brew. I kept to one house, to one morsel; I kept to two houses, to two morsels;... I kept to seven houses, to seven morsels. I lived on one saucerful a day, on two saucerfuls a day... on seven saucerfuls a day; I took food once a day, once every two days... once every seven days, and so on up to once every fortnight; I dwelt pursuing the practice of taking food at stated intervals. I was an eater of greens or millet or wild rice or hide-parings or moss or ricebran or rice-scum or sesamum flour or grass or cowdung. I lived on forest roots and fruits, I fed on fallen fruits. I clothed myself in hemp, in hemp-mixed cloth, in shrouds, in refuse rags, in tree bark, in antelope hide, in strips of antelope hide, in kusa-grass fabric, in bark fabric, in wood-shavings fabric, in head-hair wool, in animal wool, in owls' wings. I was one who pulled out hair and beard, pursuing the practice of pulling out hair and beard. I was one who stood continuously, rejecting seats. I was one who squatted continuously, devoted to maintaining the squatting position. I was one who used a mattress of spikes; I made a mattress of spikes my bed. I dwelt pursuing the practice of bathing in water three times daily including the evening. Thus in such a variety of ways I dwelt pursuing the practice of tormenting and mortifying the body. Such was my asceticism.

Such was my coarseness, Sariputta, that just as the bole of a tinduka tree, accumulating over the years, cakes and flakes off, so too, dust and dirt, accumulating over the years, caked off my body and flaked off. It never occurred to me: 'Oh, let me rub this dust and dirt off with my hand, or let another rub this dust and dirt off with his hand' — it never occurred to me thus. Such was my coarseness.

Such was my scrupulousness, Sariputta, that I was always mindful in stepping forwards and stepping backwards. I was full of pity even for (the beings in) a drop of water thus: 'Let me not hurt the tiny creatures in the crevices of the ground.' Such was my scrupulousness.

Such was my seclusion, Sariputta, that [79] I would plunge into some forest and dwell there. And when I saw a cowherd or a shepherd or someone gathering grass or sticks, or a woodsman, I would flee from grove to grove, from thicket to thicket, from hollow to hollow, from hillock to hillock. Why was that? So that they should not see me or I see them. Just as a forest-bred deer, on seeing human beings, flees from grove to grove, from thicket to thicket, from hollow to hollow, from hillock to hillock, so too, when I saw a cowherd or a shepherd... Such was my seclusion.

I would go on all fours to the cow-pens when the cattle had gone out and the cowherd had left them, and I would feed on the dung of the young suckling calves. As long as my own excrement and urine lasted, I fed on my own excrement and urine. Such was my great distortion in feeding.

I would plunge into some awe-inspiring grove and dwell there — a grove so awe-inspiring that normally it would make a man's hair stand up if he were not free from lust. When those cold wintry nights came during the 'eight-days interval of frost,' I would dwell by night in the open and by day in the grove.[18] In the last month of the hot season I would dwell by day in the open and by night in the grove.

I would make my bed in a charnel ground with the bones of the dead for a pillow. And cowherd boys came up and spat on me, urinated on me, threw dirt at me, and poked sticks into my ears. Yet I do not recall that I ever aroused an evil mind (of hate) against them. Such was my abiding in equanimity.

©accesstoinsight.org Terms of use: You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. For additional information about this license, see the FAQ.

Gotama's search: Leaving home

2010-12-09T10:31:00.000+01:00

Living at the palace

MN 75. Magandidya Sutta (par.10)

Formerly when I lived the home life, I enjoyed myself, provided and endowed with the five cords of sensual pleasure. I had three palaces, one for the rainy season, one for the winter, and one for the summer. I lived in the rains' placace for the four months of the rainy season, enjoying myself with musicians, none of whom were men, and I did not go down to the lower palace

On a later occasion, having understood as they actually are the origin, the disappearance, the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of sensual pleasures, I abandoned craving for sensual pleasures, I removed fever for sensual pleasures, and I abide without thirst, with a mind inwardly at peace.

First teachers

MN26. Ariyapariyesana Sutta: The Noble Search

I, too, monks, before my Awakening, when I was an unawakened bodhisatta, being subject myself to birth, aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement I sought [happiness in] what was likewise subject to birth, aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement. The thought occurred to me, 'Why do I, being subject myself to birth, aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, seek what is likewise subject to these? What if I, seeing the drawbacks of birth, aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, were to seek the unborn, the aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, unexcelled rest from the yoke: Unbinding?

So, at a later time, while still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessings of youth in the first stage of life — and while my parents, unwilling, were crying with tears streaming down their faces — I shaved off my hair & beard, put on the ochre robe and went forth from the home life into homelessness.

Having thus gone forth in search of what might be skillful, seeking the unexcelled state of sublime peace, I went to Alara Kalama and, on arrival, said to him: 'Friend Kalama, I want to practice in this doctrine & discipline

...he declared the dimension of nothingness.

In this way did Alara Kalama, my teacher, place me, his pupil, on the same level with himself and pay me great honor. But the thought occurred to me, 'This Dhamma leads not to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to Awakening, nor to Unbinding, but only to reappearance in the dimension of nothingness.' So, dissatisfied with that Dhamma, I left.

In search of what might be skillful, seeking the unexcelled state of sublime peace, I went to Uddaka Ramaputta and, on arrival, said to him: 'Friend Uddaka, I want to practice in this doctrine & discipline.

...Uddaka declared the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.

In this way did Uddaka Ramaputta, my companion in the holy life, place me in the position of teacher and pay me great honor. But the thought occurred to me, 'This Dhamma leads not to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to Awakening, nor to Unbinding, but only to reappearance in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.' So, dissatisfied with that Dhamma, I left.

In search of what might be skillful, seeking the unexcelled state of sublime peace, I wandered by stages in the Magadhan country and came to the military town of Uruvela. There I saw some delightful countryside, with an inspiring forest grove, a clear-flowing river with fine, delightful banks, and villages for alms-going on all sides. The thought occurred to me: 'How delightful is this countryside, with its inspiring forest grove, clear-flowing river with fine, delightful banks, and villages for alms-going on all sides. This is just right for the striving of a clansman intent on striving.' So I sat down right there, thinking, 'This is just right for striving.

©accesstoinsight.org Terms of use: You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. For additional information about this license, see the FAQ.

About Mazu and transmission in early Chan

2010-12-08T10:21:00.000+01:00

Quotations from the book The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism by Jinhua Jia

Mazu was well versed in Buddhist scriptures. In the six sermons and four dialogues that are original or relatively datable, he cited more thatn fifteen sutras and sastras thirty-five times. He followed the eraly Chan tradition to claim Bodhidharma's transmission of the Lankatavatara Sutra. He used mainly this sutra and the Awakening of Faith, as well as toher tathagatha-garbha textes such as the Srimala Sutra, the Ratnagotravibhaga and even the Vajrasamadhi, to construct the doctrinal framework of the Hongzhou lineage and introduce some new themes and practices in the Chan movement. This new themes and practices marked a new phase of Chan development - middle Chan or the beginning of "classical" Chan.

p. 67

The construction of a Chan genealogy can be traced back to the end of the seventh century, as seen in Faru's (638-689) biography written in 689. During the eight century, almost all Chan schools, the Northern [descendants of Shenxiu], the Heze [descendants of Shenhui], the Baotang, the Niutou and the Hongzhou, participated in the project of creating and perfecting their legendary history in order to establish the identity of their tradition and to progress from marginal to orthodox. Mazu's disciples followed their predesessors in completing the genealogy and used the Baolin zhuan to produce an official version that was to be repeated in all the later "transmission of the lamp" histories. Yet this final version differs markedly from previous ones in two features.

The first is the change in what was being transmitted by the patriarchs. In the two Northern-schools histories [...], the dharma-treasure being transmitted was the Lankavatara-sutra.[...], the successors of the Eastern Mountain teaching [i.e. Northern School] actually claimed it for two strong reasons: (1) All the Buddhist schools that arouse in the Sui and early Tang legitimated their teachings by appealing to a scripture or scriptural corpus. The Chan school would also have done so in order to achieve the aura of legitimacy, especially after Shenxiu and his confreres and disciples entered the capital cities where scriptural studies had been dominant. As Faure indicates, the desire to legitimize Chan practice by scriptural traditition constituted one of the main differences between early and later Chan. (2) In the texts attributed to the Chan patriarchs, from Bodhidharma to Shenxiu, the impact of the tathagata-garbha theory, one of the major themes of the Lankavatara-sutra, is obvious and central. [...] Then, in the genealogies presented in Shenhui's discourses and the Platform Sutra, the scripture being transmitted became the Diamond Sutra, and in addition to the sutra were Bodhidharma's robe and even the Platform Sutra itself.
In the Baolin zhuan, [...] what was being transmitted throughout was only the dharma-eye -the penetrating insight/mind/enlightenment of the Buddha and patriarchs, which was expressed by the mind-verses. [...] The transmission that "transmits nothing" implies a polemical claim: the Chan movement was a special transmission of the Buddha's mind/enlightenment, a transmission that did not rely on scriptures

Note 1: the Baolin zhuan was completed in 801
Note 2: brackets are mine.

pp 86-87

Sælen

2010-12-07T22:15:00.000+01:00

Jeg var ude og se, om der var is på åen, så jeg kunne tage en kajaktur en af dagene. Der var ikke is. Der var en sæl lidt oppe ad åen. Jeg blev stille, vidste den ville komme nærmere, hvis jeg ikke bevægede mig. Jeg så den dykke nogle gange indtil den forsvandt et stykke tid under vandet.

Den dukkede op lige ved siden af mig. Den pustede ud, vi kiggede til hinanden. Jeg var glad, den var forskrækket og dykkede ned med det samme.

Jeg dykker også ned, når jeg sidder. Sælen tager en dyb indånding, inden den dykker. Jeg trækker vejr først, når jeg er under vandet.

Forskrækket og måske også lidt fornærmet sælen går til dybden, hvor den føler sig trygt omringet at vand og bølger og mørket.

Forskrækket er jeg også nogle gange, inden jeg går til dybden. Ind- og udånding er vandet og bølger og mørket og lyset. Så trygt, så trygt, så dybt og stille.

Jeg blev stående med kolde fødder, bare for at se om sælen ville komme op igen. Den gjorde det, længere oppe, stædig nysgerrig, og kom til mig igen, tættere og tættere, gemte sig under vandet, når afstanden var for kort.

Den gik ned en sidste gang, meget tæt på mig. Jeg var tilfreds og gik tilbage til bilen. Da den dykkede op igen, ville jeg ikke være der. Jeg var hellere ikke før.

Sælen kom op igen, selv om jeg ikke så det. Jeg har bestemt, jeg ikke kommer op igen, dykker hele tiden, trækker vejr under vandet.

Tør du?

Fugle spor

2010-12-07T21:53:00.000+01:00

Jeg kigger tit på fugle. Når jeg er hjemme, eller når jeg går en tur, eller når jeg sejler en tur i min kajak. Når man kigger så tit på fugle, ender man altid med at se dem skide. De store flotte svaner kan altså skide stort!

Buddhismen er som en fugl. Kigger man meget på det, ender man med at se det skide. De største og flotteste "buddhismer" kan alstå skide stort!

Jeg kiggede på mig selv i dag, var fugl, var buddhist, sked stort.

Det, jeg sked, var mig selv som lærer. Det var klart og det bliver klart: jeg er ikke en lærer. Ah, jeg følte mig så lettet! Og de kæmpe fugle kan nu hvile i fred.

Buddhismen er som fugle. Begge to har vinger, flyver, finder deres sted midt i luften, hvor der ikke er højre eller venstre, op eller ned, her eller der. Har du prøvet at finde fuglenes spor? Det er det samme, vi skal følge, når vi praktiserer buddhisme.

Jeg er ikke en lærer og jeg kan flyve alene. Men jeg kan også dele en flyvetur.

Det er så romantisk, at skide sammen i luften!

Otro día sin montañas

2010-12-05T22:22:00.000+01:00

La nieve se lo comió todo hoy, paseando perdido y, a la vez, tan cerca. Solo, con mis niñas, con amigos... solo.

Un mala en mi muñeca. Mantras sin decirle a nadie.

La niebla tan espesa, cubre la llamada del ganso y el vuelo del cisne. Gansos, cisnes, gansos, gaviotas despistadas y un solitario halcón. Todos mostrando cómo ha de ser el sendero, el cielo mostrando dónde está el límite.

Y luego sentado, le muestro a los pájaros donde está el límite; y al cielo, cómo es el sendero

es/no-es

2010-12-05T21:41:00.000+01:00

Llevo ya unos años leyendo mucho sobre la formación del budismo chan, sobre todo en sus primeros estadios. Hoy por hoy, ya puedo ir construyendo una imagen de lo que es el chan sin tener que apoyarme en los relatos tradicionales ni mucho menos en la ortodoxia.

A menudo me he visto tentado a hacer un estudio serio de estos temas para tener argumentos y poder mostrar una imagen "más cercana a la realidad" del budismo chan. Sin embargo, mi estudio se queda siempre en una lectura amena, suficientemente útil para no creerme el relato típico, para no depender de "palabras y letras" (en este caso las de la tradición), para liberarme del sentimiento de culpa por estar haciendo algo contrario a ésta.

El caso es que, aparte de vagas referencias aquí y allá, este blog no se va a centrar en esto. A menudo me da la impresión de que siempre estamos intentando definir qué es el zen, qué es el budismo, para luego practicarlo, bien volviendo a la "enseñanza original" o criticando a los que no practican como uno mismo o promoviendo una completa renovación. Esto es, jugando con el es/no-es, como poniendo límites a esa tierra sin límites (al campo vacío) y decidiendo quedarse ahí, defendiendo/atacando a cualquiera que amenace nuestro ilusorio territorio.

Leer estos libros me ha ayudado sobre todo a desvelar esas fronteras ilusorias. No estoy interesado en crear nuevas, ni mucho menos en definir el chan, el zen, el budismo. Por una serie de circunstancias ocurre que practico chan, practico zen, practico budismo pero si esto te ofende o escandaliza de cualquier modo, por favor, quédate con los nombres, te regalo el zen, el chan, el budismo y te los doy con gozo.

Practicar meditación es precisamente liberarse de esos límites, es descubrir la mente abierta y sin miedos, capaz de responder a las cambiantes circunstancias sin buscar refugio en lo que otros han dicho, en lo que otros han delimitado o en lo que otros han decidido. Practicar meditación es precisamente liberarse de todo este condicionamiento es un sano y sabio saber estar en relación con uno mismo, en soledad y en compañia, en relación con todo y todos, en un presente siempre cambiante.

Así que si quieres el zen, es para ti. Si quieres el budismo, es para ti.

Hay algo, sin embargo, que no me puedes quitar. Si lo quieres, no te separes de ese saco de huesos, aquí y ahora.

Nyt dharmanavn

2010-12-02T11:22:00.000+01:00

Det er nu lidt over en måned, siden jeg blev ordineret. Min lærer gave mig navnet 大伩印照, som udtales på japansk Daishin Insho. The Order of the Boundless Mind er meget glad for den japanske kultur, selv om skolen er amerikansk, derfor navnet på japansk. Alligevel er dette "japanisering" ikke et krav, derfor er der plads til "hjemløse" som mig. På samme tid blev jeg ordineret i The Order of Hsu Yun, en meget spændende organitation som har sine rodder i den kinesiske chan Buddhisme. 印照, Insho bliver derfor til Yinzhao på kinesisk og det er mit dharmanavn indenfor denne skole.

Da jeg kom tilbage til Danmark, bestemte jeg for at bruge Yinzhao som dharmanavn. Det var en måde at tage afstand fra den japansk-baseret zenbuddhisme og på samme tid, at få lidt mere anerkendelse: Hsu Yun er trods alt en verdensdækkende organisation, hvis afstamning kan spores til den berømte Hsu Yun og hele Linji-skole, mens Boundless Mind er en ny skole skabt i USA for nogle år siden (og vi ved, hvor "forkert" og "problemfyld" at skabe noget nyt i den zen-verden er).

Men så huskede jeg, at jeg ikke havde rejst til USA for at få anerkendelse, men for at møde nogle dejlige mennesker som blev mine dharmavenner. Hele fidussen med at praktisere Dharmaen er præcist at blive uafhængig og fri for disse trang, bl.a. trang for anerkendelse. Så Daishin, Insho, Yinzhao... whatever.

Sidste weekend fik jeg så mit dharmanavn tilbage på en meget dansk måde: ved at hygge i familien. Jeg havde besøg af svigerfamilien, jeg fortalte om mine oplevelser i ordinationen og blev spurgt hvad Daishin betyder. Jeg svarede på mit bedste dansk, men blev alligevel misforstået og lige der, fik jeg mit nye dharmanavn: Storetå!

Great Faith

2010-12-01T14:31:00.000+01:00

When my teacher gave me my dharma name, Daishin I wondered why, being so pragmatic and focused on what I can feel and "touch". Later, reading a book by John McRae, I got strucked by this:

As is well known, in Buddhism faith is not an emotional commitment or outpouring of devotion, but rather an unswerving conviction, a total absence of even the slightest doubt about the nature of reality as described by the Buddhist teachings. The Chinese character for faith, 信, connotes the acceptance of or reliance on something. In this case it is the complete acceptance of the existence of the Buddha Nature within the veil of illusions, or even the decision to rely on the existence of that Buddha Nature as the guiding principle of all one's actions.

The adoption of this "profound faith" in the existence of the Buddha Nature marks the initiation of the uniquely Chan type of religious practice [...]

[...] faith leads on to abide in a state described as "frozen", "fixed", "unwavering", and "without discrimination, serene and inactive.

John R. McRae: The Northern Chan School and the Formation of Early Chan Buddhism (p112)

My "theravada" friends that have some problems with this "Buddha Nature" can try to think on the 3rd Noble Truth and see what happens.

Outline of the Buddha's Awakening and basic teachings

2010-12-01T11:57:00.000+01:00

Living at the palace

Leaving home, first teachers

The Bodhisatta's austerities

More austerities

Abandoning austerities. Taking a new path

Complete awakening

Considers not to teach

Teaching the five ascetics

The teaching: detachment and meditation

The Discourse to the five ascetics

An analysis on the Path

The Buddha's last days

The Buddha's lasts words

Sources

Living at the palace
back to top

MN 75 (par.10)

Leaving home, first teachers back to top

MN 26

...he declared the dimension of nothingness.

...Uddaka declared the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.

The Bodhisatta's Austerities
back to top

MN 12 (from par.44)

More austerities
back to top

MN 36

Abandoning austerities. Taking a new path
back to top

MN36

Meditation

First knowledge

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two...five, ten...fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus I remembered my manifold past lives in their modes & details.

Second knowledge

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: 'These beings — who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, & mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings — who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech & mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.' Thus — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.

Third knowledge and liberation

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations. I discerned, as it was actually present, that 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the way leading to the cessation of stress... These are fermentations... This is the origination of fermentations... This is the cessation of fermentations... This is the way leading to the cessation of fermentations.' My heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, was released from the fermentation of sensuality, released from the fermentation of becoming, released from the fermentation of ignorance. With release, there was the knowledge, 'Released.' I discerned that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'

Complete awakening
back to top

MN 26

Considers not to teach
back to top

MN 26

As I reflected thus, my mind inclined to dwelling at ease, not to teaching the Dhamma.

Then Brahma Sahampati, thinking, 'The Blessed One has given his consent to teach the Dhamma,' bowed down to me and, circling me on the right, disappeared right there.

Teaching the five ascetics
back to top

MN 26

Then the thought occurred to me, 'To whom should I teach the Dhamma first?

Then, wandering by stages, I arrived at Varanasi, at the Deer Park in Isipatana, to where the group of five monks were staying.

The teaching: detachment and meditation
back to top

MN 26

The Discourse to the five ascetics
back to top

SN 56.11

And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving.

That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the group of five monks delighted at his words.

An analysis on the Path back to top

SN 45.8

The Blessed One said, "Now what, monks, is the Noble Eightfold Path? Right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve.

And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, abstaining from divisive speech, abstaining from abusive speech, abstaining from idle chatter: This, monks, is called right speech.

And what, monks, is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity: This, monks, is called right action.

The Buddha's last days back to top

DN 16

Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.

The Master

The Buddha's lasts words back to top

DN 16

Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!

This was the last word of the Tathagata.

Sources

MN 75. Magandidya Sutta.

MN26. Ariyapariyesana Sutta: The Noble Search

MN 36. Maha-Saccaka Sutta: The Longer Discourse to Saccaka

MN 12. Maha-sihanada Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Lion's Roar

SN 45.8 An Analysis of the Path

SN 56.11. Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion

DN 16. Maha-parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha

All suttas from accesstoinsight.org except MN75 from mahindarama.com

All suttas translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu except DN 16 by Sister Vajira and Francis Story and MN 75, translator unknown.

Suttas from accesstoinsight.org © Terms of use: You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. For additional information about this license, see the FAQ.

Om

2010-11-24T19:12:00.000+01:00

Chan templer og klostre blev bygget på bjerge. De fik bjergets navn, lige som abbaden og hermiterne, der boede der.
Denne chan sted har ikke bjerg, derfor Wu Shan. Forfatteren har hverken bjerg, eller tempel men han praktiserer Chan Buddhisme med en stor tro i at vi kan vågne op til vores oprindelig ansigt
I disse indlæg kan du læse om de masker, han finder på sin vej

Du kan også finde mig på Dojin Roku (engelsk), Bosque Theravada (spansk) or Tendai Forum (dansk).

Lad mig minde dig med respekt: liv & død er yderst vigtige. Tiden løber & chancen er tabt. Hver eneste af os burde lave en indsats for at vågne op. Vågn op! Vær opmærksom. Spild ikke dit liv.

Acerca de

2010-11-23T13:05:00.000+01:00

Los templos y monasterios chan se construían escondidos en las montañas. Normalmente recibían el nombre de la montaña, al igual que los abades y los poetas hermitaños que se escondían en ellas.

Este sitio chan no tiene montaña, wu shan. El autor tampoco tiene montaña ni templo pero practica el budismo chan y tiene gran fe en que podemos despertar a nuestro rostro original. En este blog puedes leer sobre las máscaras que encuentra en su camino.

Puedes encontrarme en el Dojin Roku (inglés), en Bosque Theravada (español) o en el Foro Tendai (danés).

Permíteme recordarte con respeto que la vida y la muerte son de suprema importancia. El tiempo pasa con rapidez y perdemos la ocasión. Cada uno de nosotros debería esforzarse por despertar. ¡DESPIERTA! Presta atención. No desperdicies tu vida.

About

2010-11-23T12:53:00.000+01:00

Chan temples and monasteries were usually built in mountains. They would be called after the mountain they were built on. So it was with the abbots, as well as hermit poets and so on that went to these mountains.

This Chan place has no mountain, therefore wu shan. The writer has neither mountain, nor temple but he practices Chan Buddhism with great faith in that we can awake to our original face.

In these posts you can read about the masks he encounters on his path.

If you want, you can also find me at the Dojin Roku (in English), Bosque Theravada (in Spanish) or Tendai Forum (in Danish)

Let me respectfully remind you: life & death are of supreme importance. Time passes by swiftly & opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. AWAKEN! Take heed. Do not squander your life

Sommerhi

2010-06-26T16:43:00.001+02:00

Der har ikke været så meget aktivitet i bloggen i den sidste tid. Flere ting har været på spil.

Dojhana blev skabt i en transitionsperiode, fra da jeg først begyndte at sætte spørgsmåltegn ved noget theravada principper og var på vej til en udefineret praksis. Nu er den periode ved at være slut og er ved at begynde en anden, hvor praksis er blevet befriet af (måske) 90% af den buddhisktiske kulturelle og traditionelle baggrund, men på samme tid indenfor Boundless Mind Zens meget fleksible og bredde rammer.
Dojhana var også i gang med at skabe sig en identitet. Folk begyndte at kalde mig ved det navn (også fordi der findes ikke noget andet navn i bloggen). For at være klart, do er engelsk og jhana er pali. Frit oversat betyder det: se, der var en post i endnu en anden buddhistisk blog. Hvem står bag er fulstændigt irrelevant. Kan du bruge det, der står, rigtigt godt; kan du ikke, hvad laver du så og spilder din tid ved computeren, når du kunne være siddende på en pude og meditere?
Der har været rigtig hårdt i den buddhistisk online verden i Danmark på de sidste måneder. For at være lidt mere konkret i Buddhistisk Forum hvor tingene udviklede sig i den mest kedelige retning: dialogen blev begræset, censureret, og personlige angreber fandt sted på kryds og tværs. Folk har efterlad forummet, bland andre mig selv. Jeg er meget glad for at have taget den beslutning. Med tiden dog, konflikten vil blive glemt eller begravet, nye folk vil komme til forummet og vil tro, at der ikke er mere buddhisme end det, der presenteres der (efter min mening snæver, stram og begrænset, på trods at nogle forsøger at balancere den). I en tid tænkte at jeg også kunne balancere det her fra bloggen, men har indset, at jeg gider faktisk ikke at tage kampen op, og være inblandet i en evig konflikt.
Jeg har været meget travlt i min daglig dag med web-scripting og min kajak-aktiviteter. Hverdagen er den bedste tempel og praksis-miljø. Bloggen er bare en måde at udtrykke sig på.
Min praksis har også været gennem en tørke-periode. Tørt, hårdt og dejligt, som at padle 30km i modvind i en ubehagelig kajak og man tror, at man ikke kan mere. En del af at stille spørgsmål er at være i stand til at være uden at finde et svar, uden at vide, hvor man skal hen og hvad man skal lave. Det er kun der, muligheder (og lys) springer fra.

Jeg slutter med en anmodning: do jhana, meget mere produktiv end at skrive indlæg ;)

¡A jhanear!

2010-05-05T22:05:00.001+02:00

La expresión es de un amigo de BT: menos hablar y más jhanear.

Con el paso del tiempo, este blog ha ido adquiriendo una identidad. Algunos amigos me llaman Dojhana, lo cual me hace un poco de gracia. Pero claro, tampoco digo en ningún sitio cuál es mi nombre de todos los días.

El caso es que do jhana no es un nombre, sino una actividad. Do es inglés, significa hacer con numerosos matices. Jhana es pali y significa meditación (y ya está, no voy a disertar sobre estos términos). Así que el título de este blog es una exhortación a algo que me gustaría que hicieras, todo el rato, sentado, caminando, de pie, tumbado... y cuando en un post se dice "Escrito por dojhana", la mejor manera de entender esto es: "No importa un carajo quién ha escrito esto; si te vale bien, si no pues nada; y de todas formas, por favor, vete a meditar".

Vete a meditar, digo, no a contar respiraciones o a mirarte el ombligo o a entrar en trance o aceptar incondicionalmente todo lo que ocurre o a convencerte a ti mismo/a de que con estar atento ya estás meditando o de que no tienes yo o de que estás iluminado desde el principio mismo o de que tienes que estar sentado x tiempo o de que necesitas un maestro que te dé caña o postraciones, o un grupo o qué sé yo.

No te pido que hagas estas cosas, sino que te vayas a meditar. Sólo (aunque no te vayas al monte) y desnudo (aunque lleves ropa).

Vete a meditar; no te lances a escribir un comentario para preguntarme que es eso que yo llamo meditar. Siéntate y descubre.

No preguntes si es mejor meditar con los ojos cerrados o abiertos. Sientate y prueba.

No preguntes qué postura es mejor, o qué hacer si uno no se puede sentar en loto completo o en medio loto o en cuarto de loto o en octavo de loto.

Déjate al magga, al buda y al anatma fuera, como te dejas los zapatos; quítate el dhukkha, el tanha y el nibbana como si fueran granos en la espalda.

Menos hablar (y menos escribir) y más meditar

2010-04-15T08:59:00.004+02:00

Sitting is now a habit. Getting up at five is not an extraordinary thing; I just have to.

I can see my lack of heedfulness in the inconstancy of this blog. After the initial 1 year testing period, I decided to keep it on, just to make the effort of putting in words what cannot be put in words, of coming out and not taking the risk of build my own little world and close windows and doors, of taking the chance to be wrong.

But I lack the constancy.

I've also said to myself that I should take (a more formal) walking meditation as part of my practice but in the mornings I just jump out of the bed and into the cushion and in the evenings I don't really want to risk meeting others and engaging in a typical formal dialog.

And yet is like trading this path is the only thing I can think of doing: whenever I have the chance to walk, mind naturally come together as birds return to their tree in the evening and there is that air coming and going, not inside or outside; or I kneel down to turn on the washing machine and the task is done in simplicity and with that silence that fills everthing.

"You should be a monastic", has my wife said. And it's true that I miss the silence and the environment of such a place. But I wouldn't enter any organization: monasticism is frozen in its own history, politics and economics; there is no guarantee that I'd be less worried in such a place than where I am right now. Besides since I left Jiko An in 1997 I was determined to practice the Dharma "in the middle of the market place".

Since then I have been a homeless buddhist.

Sangamaji's body remains sitting in the lotus posture. His head on the ground, still with the same expression of serenity that the Buddha praised. His son leaves the place with a sword in his hand.

And so I'll keep my practice. With patience and... constancy?

I'll breath in focusing on inconstancy
I'll breath out focusing on inconstancy

How to enter the zendo

2010-03-31T22:23:00.000+02:00

It is said one should enter the zendo with his/her right foot. I entered with open hands and a shy smile.

I was well treated, English manners and a warmth that knows nothing about nationalities.

There was more zen in preparing to enter the meditation room than while meditation (and not because there was little zen here).

I've seen bodhisattvas climbing up the ladder to awakening and liberation. I've seen a real hero performing his duty, a living teaching, a real teacher of the wish for awakening.

But I won't tell you with which foot he entered the zendo.

Regulation, rules, norms... whith which foot do you enter the zendo?

---

Written in the train from Copenhagen to Herning after visiting Kidlington Zendo in Oxford. With thanks and respect.

Gassho

The Dharma of clouds and swans

2010-03-23T19:58:00.001+01:00

Utter emptiness has no image, upright independence does not rely on anything.

Hongzhi's empty field is the closest words can get to silence. If silence is found in the sound of wind in the trees, or the sound of waves and stones, it can also be found in the Dharma of this great ancestor.

Listening to this Dharma, abiding in this silence, taking the backward step and returning to the source, no image is found, no shade, no reflection.

Sitting upright, breathing in and out, not relying on anything, not rejecting anything, driving is also meditation. Driving and playing in samadhi, no more shadows of complaining for not having time to meditate.

Right there, discerning and penetrating the dharma of clouds, there's no need of anything else.

Just expand and illuminate the original truth unconcerned by external conditions.

And then again, flying swans actualize the teachings, so nothing is left ignored.

Silencio

2010-03-18T20:52:00.000+01:00

Las palabras que salen de las palabras son ruido.

Luego está el silencio.

Por una parte el silencio callado, que no dice nada, como el de un muerto.

Por otra el silencio que habla y se escucha, como el de la poesía, las piedras, el agua que cae o la muerte.

Una manera de regresar a ese silencio y dejar que hable es retornando a nuestra práctica, dejando de buscar palabras, dejando de buscar respuestas.

Las palabras que salen de las palabras llenan la taza.

Las palabras que salen del silencio la vacían.

Y así podemos tomar té.

Cleaning up

2010-03-14T15:44:00.001+01:00

Years ago it was so easy for me just to disappear! I could have everything in my backpack. I would leave without saying good bye.

Or destroy my notebooks, pictures and blogs.

Going "minimalist" just to try something before dojhana gets cleared, to try to remember why I write here in the first place.

I've been sick all this week. First, waiting it to pass; then going into misery, losing the things I hold on to, feeling naked, weak, not capable... going deep into that cave, in my fever and pain, more and more into misery. Less and less capable.

Clearly seeing this, right away, deciding that misery is not a place to stay in. And leaving.

And knowing that you can not catch me, no matter how you try.

You won't.

Bodhi is fundamentally without any tree;

the bright mirror is also not a stand.

Fundamentally there is not a single thing—

Where could any dust be attracted?

Samvega

2010-03-03T20:12:00.002+01:00

All day with this sensation of disenchantment. Things not working, people not responding, unskillful reactions... all affirming the truths of the Buddha's teaching.

First, this sensations provoked sadness and alienation; then a sense of urgency for finding a way out of this absurdness; then a strange calm and silence.

I'm cooking, the radio is on. I look out of the window and remain there, half empty of thoughts, reflecting on the empty, senseless life we live and all of a sudden, the window is alive, the shelves beside it is alive, the wall is alive, the aroma of the food is alive and the sound of the gas-heater is alive; emptiness returning into form, form dettached from emptiness and form and mind and everything.

A still awareness of things, life goes on and does not wait and a profound confidence in the path that lies ahead and here under my feet.

The same feeling when years ago I lost a bus: "you can not catch me; you won't catch me, whatever it happens".

Unremitting energy is aroused in me.
---

Samvega was what the young Prince Siddhartha felt on his first exposure to aging, illness, and death (...): the oppressive sense of shock, dismay, and alienation that come with realizing the futility and meaninglessness of life as it's normally lived; a chastening sense of our own complacency and foolishness in having let ourselves live so blindly; and an anxious sense of urgency in trying to find a way out of the meaningless cycle.

Affirming the truths of the heart, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Tienes que decir algo

2010-03-02T09:05:00.002+01:00

Se dice que la mejor respuesta es el silencio.

Llevado por este dicho destruí mis cuadernos, borré mis primeros blogs, desaparecí de foros, etc. Pero primero escribí en cuadernos, comencé blogs y me apunté a foros.

El peligro del silencio es que uno se mete muy fácilmente en su propia burbuja, se hace un mundo y, si no hay nada ni nadie para ponerlo a prueba, se puede terminar creyendo que uno vive en un océano de paz o incluso que ha alcanzado el nibbana.

El peligro de tener que decir algo es que uno termina viviendo para el diálogo o para la discusión en el foro o para la próxima entrada en el blog.

¿Qué hacer?

Pregunta útil si no se envía a nadie. Si uno no se lanza inmediata y desesperadamente a buscar una respuesta. La respuesta está en la pregunta, decía alguien.

Permaneciendo con la pregunta o con el "tienes que decir algo" se crea un silencio y del silencio sale un "algo".

Siempre.

Dos días buscando algo que decir (o decirlo de alguna manera) y me doy cuenta de que no tengo nada que decir, que estoy vacío y que he perdido todo contacto con la fuente. Que estoy ocupado, muy ocupado y que no tengo tiempo. Pero igual tengo que decirlo; es mi trabajo. Y estoy en la piscina, sentado en las gradas mientras mi hija nada, me da el sol de la tarde y me quedo amodorrado, a punto de dormirme, con la misma sensación de que no tengo nada que decir. Luego abro los ojos y miro por los ventanales.

Pasan dos cisnes volando bajo, sus sombras reflejadas en el fiordo helado. No tengo nada que decir. Se dice a sí mismo. Queda expresado en ese mismo instante (y no tiene nada que ver con cisnes, atardeceres, fiordos, poesía, ni nada).

Al darse cuenta de los cisnes, uno se da cuenta también de que la puerta está abierta todo el rato, que solo hay que cruzarla. Así, "estoy ocupado" y "no tengo tiempo" pierden su peso y se vuelven ligeros y sin sustancia, sin poder y uno tiene energía y motivación para seguir con el trabajo en medio del trabajo y las ocupaciones.

La sombra de un cisne, una urraca, el interruptor de la luz y una lista de tareas, todos son mi cojín de meditación.

Hvilket både vil du tage?

2010-02-27T21:17:00.002+01:00

Det siges, at man burde undersøge bådene, vælge én og så stige om bord og krydse til den anden bredde.
Det siges, at man ikke kan have hver fod i en båd.
Der er mange buddhismer, men til sidst skal man tage én og følge den til enden.
Nu er det med buddhisme det samme som med os: ingen fat kerne; ingen evig identitet; forandring; tomhed.
Skolerne er ikke i dag det samme som 50 år, 100 år, 200 år, 2000 år tilbage.
Så, hvilket både vil du tage?
Kig på disse mestre: Thich Nhat Hanh er munk i den vietnamisisk thien (zen) tradition, men han hviler stille og roligt på mange af de ældste suttaer og agamaer.
Toni Packer var den første af Philip Kapleaus arvinger, men hun syntes, noget ikke var på plads og endte med at tage afstand fra alt form for tradition, endda ordet zen.
Stephen Batchelor var tibetansk monk i nogle år, så koreansk zen munk og i dag er han gift, har undervist i buddhisme i mere end 30 år og er representant for sekulær buddhisme.
Gil Fronsdal er både vipassana og zen lærer i USA.
Hvilket både tog disse mennesker?
Desuden er at "krydse til den anden bredde" ikke en charter rejse. Skolerne og traditionerne er ikke både. Nogle er lidt mere som en pølsevogn, som flytter derhen, hvor der kan sælges noget. Andre har bygget en flot skib, hvor man kan følge sig sikker. Men de kan ikke gøre andet end sejle ud og vise dig hvalene. Og endnu andre står der og peger på det sted, hvor du kan samle grene og blade, så du selv kan bygge dig en tømmerflåde.
Og det er faktisk, hvad Buddhaen siger med den berømte sammenligning. Du kan selv læse det på MN22.
Først må man lære at tage fat på læren, på den rigtige måde, så den ikke bider en selv. Så må man bygge sig en tømmerflåde med disse lære og krydse floden med egne hænder og fødder. Er man nået derhenne, skal man af med tømmerflåden, for hvad skal du med den nu, når du har krydset?
Så spørgsmålet er ikke så meget om hvilket båd du vil tage, men hvordan bygger du dig en tømmerflåde?
Det er en sammenligning. Vi kan lege med den, strække den ud, modellerer den. Men ikke for meget, for så glemmer vi at den er kun en sammenligning.
"Det andet" er noget helt andet.

Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests

Shitou Xiqian (Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage)

At blogge som praksis

2010-02-24T22:48:00.001+01:00

Silent and serene, forgetting words, bright clarity appears before you.

Med hvert ord bliver min kop fyldt, mens jeg tror, den er tømt. Jeg burde holde min mund, for ikke at blive indblandet i unødvendige diskussioner; jeg burde huske at, afslappet og tavs, klarheden dukker op.

Jeg glemmer ord og tankerne fodres ikke længere. De gøer og truer, som sultne hunde, men mister efterhånden deres magt og trækker sig tilbage til et mørkt hjørne eller samler sig som harmløse skyer omkring et bjerg.

Only silence is the supreme speech, only illumination the universal response

Skal man så gå sammen med hundene til det mørke hjørne og sige ikke noget? Er stilhed bare manglende ord?

Altid det, med at spørge, hvad man skal lave; altid det med at gynge fra det ene svar til det andet. Vi glemmer, eller kender slet ikke til Hisamatsu's koan: Whatever you do will not do, what do you do? Måske vil vi ikke høre om det, såsom så mange andre ting?

Responding without falling into achievement, speaking without involving listeners

Og så sker det, at en sky er faldet fra himlen, eller at hunden gøer og en, der kommer forbi, tage et billede og ligger det her på nettet.

Kan du se det?

The ten thousand forms majestically glisten and expound the dharma
All objects certify it, every one in dialog.
Dialoguing and certifying, they respond appropriately to each other

Fik du billedet?

At kigge op og ikke se himlen
At kigge ned og ikke se jorden

Qué es X

2010-02-16T21:40:00.002+01:00

He estado escuchando unas charlas en los últimos días. Entre ellas unas de Stephen Batchelor, una de ellas titulada A secular view of Buddhism, en donde pide a los oyentes que le digan qué es X. Es una buena manera de ver en acción esa tendencia a "construir mundos" que tenemos, o a ajustar el mundo a nuestros deseos, preferencias y carencias.

¿Qué es X?

Cualquiera que en el pasado, en el presente o en el futuro alcanza la budeidad, lo hace despertando completamente a X.
Mientras que mi conocimiento y mi visión no fueron totalmente claros sobre X, no afirmé haber despertado completamente en este mundo...

Con la cabeza fría, sigo caminando sobre un mundo helado, puntos de vista fijos, tan fijos como el hielo del fiordo y, sin embargo tan calientes.

De vez en cuando algo maravilloso se cuela por mi desencanto y me sorprende y me abofetea y me dice que aún tengo mucho por aprender.

Por ejemplo, a escuchar el eco de la campana del templo resonando en el valle, tan difícil con estas ventanas de doble cristal que lo aíslan todo y más difícil aún cuando aquí no hay valle.

O me encuentro con un desconocido maestro zen soto del s. XVI que, maravilla, es un experto en anapanasati y, mejor aún, en guiarte hasta la misma puerta.

O una joya para el despertar:

Mirar arriba y nunca ver el cielo
Mirar abajo y nunca ver la tierra

Alt det, jeg ved og mener

2010-02-01T12:21:00.001+01:00

Så meget praksis i e-dialog, fora, blogs, osv. gør mig til en alt-vidende individ. Jeg siger mere og mere indtil jeg mister kontrollen over for det, jeg skriver. Så sidder jeg på en gren, kigger på mit billede reflekteret på fjorden og tror, at jeg kan nå månen, som kun spejler sig på vandet.

Jeg falder, jeg drukner og muligvis andre falder i vandet med mig.

Pinligt!

Jeg bliver nødt til at tjekke hele min praksis igen.

Holder min mund.

Jeg kigger på fjorden eller kigger ind ad; det er det samme.

Kommer igen tilbage en gang i marts og fortæller, hvordan det går.

Den bedste blog man kunne læse, dukker op, når man sidder stille og man ånder ind, ånder ud.

Isen knækker, benene ryster.

Isen knækker, benene ryster ikke.

Samme is, samme ben.

Hvad er anderledes?

---
Link til billedet

Glat som smør, solid som sten

2010-01-28T22:27:00.000+01:00

Ind- og udånding først glat som smør, bagefter solid som sten. Først hviler, synker, giver slip, bagefter fastholder, gør hårdt, klart...

Emotioner og følelser mister magten, det er ikke nødvendigt at tilføje noget.

En krop sidder, musklerne sidder, blod, knogler, celler sidder og ånder ind, ånder ud.

Så husker man. Først husker man, hvordan sati har også noget at gøre med at huske, at holde noget i sindet. Så man husker at holde åndedrættet i sindet, man husker hvorfor og til hvad. Man bliver motiveret, man genererer energi.

Og lige pludselig går man ved siden af Hongzhi, dynamisk og livlig, ikke til at holde fast på noget som helst sted og bliver og leger der for at se, hvordan det er.

Forskelle og ligheder forsvinder. Ikke nødvendigt med sammenligninger.

Jeg siger dig, jeg kommer ikke tilbage... (og pas på isen, det er glat).

Vagando por diversas tradiciones

2010-01-27T14:56:00.000+01:00

Estas notas del primer semestre de 2006 muestran el período de transición de Zen/Krishnamurti al Buddha-Dhamma, pasando por el vedanta. Me hace gracia leerme con ese estilo "Krishnamurti". Un día cerré sus libros y no los volví a abrir más (creo que el año pasado me aventuré a hojear alguno de los que aún quedan en mi biblioteca; doné muchos a la biblioteca de Murcia).

En el periodo que pasé en Murcia de 2005 a 2006 tuve muchos problemas de espalda. Estuve probando innumerables posturas para sentarme/tumbarme y caminar para meditar. Llegué incliso a plantearme abandonar esta práctica. Pasado el período de iniciación theravada con Bhikkhu Bodhi y Bhante Bodhidhamma, empecé a investigar la respiración de la mano de Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Fue ahí que descubrí el gusto por sentarme a meditar, el placer físico de la postura y la práctica y en poco tiempo estaba sentándome de 60 a 90 minutos todas las noches.

He aquí esas notas:

Murcia, 25.02.2006

...En estos días la paz llega. Uno desearía notar un cambio sustancial en la personalidad. Con la llegada de la paz, la comprensión, la serenidad, el fin del tren de pensamientos... pero uno no es mejor ni peor: hay paz, que llega de ningún sitio; hay tren de pensamiento, pasado, futuro, hay un reaccionar a eventos exteriores pero tales sucesos no obstruyen la paz. Están ahí igual que las estrellas, la hierba, el viento o las piedras.

Esta paz es como una primera bendición. No es el final del camino sino el estar en el camino sin principio, ni fin...

Murcia, 04.03.2006

El viento se nos llevó a la playa y ya nos trajo de vuelta. Nos amenaza con llevarnos muy lejos, tan fuerte aúlla, así que nos refugiamos en casa. Alva en sus juguetes y yo, si puedo, bajo la manta, a disfrutar de la siesta española.

Meditación de la lectura, me asomo al infinito sin palabras a través de la palabra escrita, a pesar de lo que digan algunos sabios. Así, me sumerjo en el Atman sin rostro del Adavhut o veo el rostro sin rostro del Brahman en el Bhagavad Gita.

Luego se hace el silencio y me quedo en paz, tan a menudo últimamente.

Murcia, 06.06.2006

Hoy es martes. Hizo calor. Estas últimas horas llenas de buda, sutta, peace, peace, paz... Uno puede llenarse de compasión y emitir su luz en las 10 direcciones. Entonces los conductores ya no son tan terribles, ni el vecino es tan ruidoso y mis niñas brillan como rubíes. Luego se puede llamar a la alegría y a la felicidad y vienen de la mano de la inhalación y la exhalación. Qué maravilla.

Entonces uno piensa que anapanasati no tiene porqué ser un método gradual que se realiza en un largo período de tiempo, sino en una inclusión de uno en todos y todos en uno, cada tema de meditación puede ser trabajado en solitario o en grupo o todos a la vez...

En secreto y de forma muy particular he tomado refugio en las tres joyas, Buda, Dhamma y Sangha. Es un proyecto unir práctica y estudio y espero penetrar el misterio de anapanasati, las 4 nobles verdades, comprender el sufrimiento y el fin del sufrimiento.

Que mi deseo se haga realidad.

Moving on

2010-01-21T14:04:00.001+01:00

I moved to my new house, practising meditation among boxes, in violet rooms, more than ever feeling homeless (funny, when I just bought a house!) and deepening into driving meditation (2&1/2 hours a day in a car, I'd rather use the time in something).

In turbulents times is good having an anchor in the breathing. No time and no space to stupid distractions, considerations and ponderations: just stay where you are!

Snow and ice is still all around. Yesterday when I came home I went to the fiord for a walk. It's white all around, walking in nothingness and cold and wind, didn't want to go back. Then the ice rumbled and I felt small.

Keep the good practice.

Tag mig ikke alvorligt

2010-01-15T11:09:00.000+01:00

Glæd dig! Jeg har ingen autoritet. Jeg skriver ikke dette, for at du skal gøre det ene eller det andet. Jeg er ikke en genfødt lama, ingen har overført noget til mig, har ikke en japansk, kinesisk eller pali navn. Jeg har aldrig gået på universitetet (undtaget da jeg skulle hente min kone).

Jeg har kun mediteret i 15 år. I forskellige traditioner, alle mere eller mindre relateret til buddhisme. Jeg har været i ensomhed mange gange, med frygt som den bedste lærer og tavshed som den bedste tale. Jeg har været i mørket. Jeg har set Murcias blinkende lygter fra La Cresta del Gallo og bagefter hørt uhyret komme ud fra mørket og æde mig, så intet blev tilbage.

Jeg har kun være buddhist i 5 år, da jeg bestemte på at tage "hele pakken", tage tilflugt (noget, som jeg aldrig formelt har lavet), recitere og chante og bukke og holde de buddhistiske højtider. Jeg kalder mig selv buddhist af praktiske grunde; hvis du vil have ordet, giver jeg dig det. Jeg er ligeglad, for jeg har jo min træning og den vej, ingen kan tage fra mig.

Nu reciterer jeg ikke, heller ikke chanter eller bukker eller holder de buddhistiske højtider. Ingen ceremonier her. Livet er i forvejen fuldt nok med traditioner og ritualer.

Så tag mig venligst ikke alvorligt. Det er ikke sandhedens ord, de her. De er heller ikke "hvad det er". De er mere som vinden på vestkysten, eller regnen. De er der bare. Som snot i næsen, eller noget i halsen, eller en bums.

Jeg praktiserer bare, træner, og en gang i mellem er jeg nødt eller har lyst til at spytte ord, og bloggen her er et rigtigt godt sted, fordi der er ikke censur (jo, der er: det er mig, der bestemmer, hvad der bliver skrevet her).

Hvad sidder du og laver her? Gå bare derhen, sid stille eller gå i tavshed, do jhana!

Jeg får for resten et dharma navn på et tidspunkt. Faktisk får jeg to, en på kinesisk og en på japansk. Det siger min lærer.

Men det ændrer jo ikke noget. Regn er regn, snot er snot og du kunne sætte spørgsmåltegn ved alt form for autoritet, hvis du vil kigge ind i spejlet.

En buddha går på den frosne fjord.

Lyden af sne.

Viejos cuadernos

2010-01-14T21:57:00.000+01:00

Desde que empecé mi andadura por el Camino siempre he escrito. Recuerdo montones de cuadernos llenos de notas, que solía escribir después de meditar. Casi no recuerdo qué escribía pero tengo la sensación física de escribir pausadamente y con letra pequeña cuando el tema era sereno o contemplativo y de cómo mi escritura se hacía grande y acelerada, intensa y dinámica cuando aparecía algunas de esas "revelaciones" que, por entonces, buscaba.

Destruí la mayoría de esos cuadernos. Luego seguí escribiendo y seguí destruyendo, incluso cuando empecé a experimentar con blogs y hacerme público. El primer blog, por cierto, me puso en contacto con Dhammajose y la primera versión de Bosque Theravada.

Bien, he pensado publicar alguna de esas notas de antaño, las que se han salvado.

Aquí va la primera.

Pradosegar, Ávila 13.02.06

Mientras preparaba mis cosas escuchaba a Gempo Sensei hablar sobre Big Mind. Hubo momentos en los que parecía que se rompía la carcasa...

Me di una panzada de coche. En la Mancha, sitios hermosos, sin casas, sin gente, sin tiempo, donde la mente podía moverse en el espacio-tiempo sin encontrar un principio, ni un final, encontrando así su situación original.

Al llegar a Gredos se hizo de noche, así que no vi mucho. Al llegar a la casa y pasear no vi pero escuché y respiré. Miraba a la luna y me peinaban las estrellas. Este es el sitio. ¿Qué será de él mañana, cuando salga el sol y yo de la cama?

Ahora es la hora de Krishnamurti.

Pradosegar, Ávila 14.02.06

El pueblo es otro mundo. Me miran como si fuera un extraterrestre. A las 11.30 salí a la montaña, seguí el camino y, cuando el camino se acabó, seguí al perro, Buli. Subí a una cima y luego a otra y descansé en las rocas, tan vivas, troles dormidos.

Comí y dormí al sol, mi cara está roja.

Mi cuerpo trabajó, mis piernas trabajaron. ¡Qué maravilla de piernas! ¡Qué trabajo tan espléndido!

Júbilo y gozo todo el día. Hablaba con Buli como se habla con una persona.

Miré a la Serreta y le dije "Mañana te subo, mañana toco y me bebo tu nieve".

CIK me llamaron, me invitan al silencio el sábado. Conduciré 200km para verlos.

Pradosegar, Ávila 15.02.06

Hace un viento terrible, más frío que ayer. Igual me dio el sol.

Estuve esperando al panadero. Buli impaciente por subir al monte. Así que al final salimos a las 11.30 y regresamos a las 16.00. Hoy llegué al límite de mis fuerzas, peleándome con la nieve. La subida fue dura; luego la nieve helada me hacía resbalar o se rompía y me hundía hasta la rodilla. Hacía frío y venían las nubes. Busqué una bajada suave llena de rocas enormes. Vimos un cerbatillo.

Al llegar a casa tomé un café, una siesta, una ducha y me senté a meditar.

De eso sigo sin encontrar una sola palabra. Estoy en paz, muy vivo, muy lleno, muy vacío. Mi viejo amigo el zen... hay una fuente pura, es mía. Lo otro, el dolor, el conflicto, el hábito, los pensamientos, son ego, no son yo.

Muchas palabras, poco es dicho.

De todas maneras estoy en ello. Sin un principio, sin un final, sin un antes, sin un después.

Hermoso.

¡Qué viento!

La foto es de Casa de El Cerro, el lugar en el que me alojé. El perro se llama Buli.

Isen smelter

2010-01-04T14:57:00.000+01:00

Vi gik en tur i går på fjorden. Det var stille, koldt og lyset skiftede hele tid i takt med solen og skyggernes leg. Det var ikke nødvendigt at sige smuk eller noget andet. Det hele snakkede for sig selv.

Vi gik langt ind, stille og roligt, uden at snakke. Måske kunne vi have nået til Hvide Sande? Men vi stoppede der, hvor isen begyndte at folde sig som bølger. Frosne bølger.

Jeg blev stående der, alene og lyttede. Kulden susede gennem næsen. Der var en kraft der. Jeg hørte en brag i det fjerne, uhyret, der rømmer sig i sovn, en trussel, en advarsel. Jeg holdt vejret, ventede på mere. Intet.

På vej tilbage så jeg en revne og reflekterede om, hvordan sindet kan fryse ligesom fjorden: det finder et sted, hvor det er behageligt og der ligger det sig til at sov. Det vil ikke ændres, det vil ikke forstyrres, det vil ikke trues. Og så kan man kalde og råbe og skrige og sparke, isen er stærk og den vil ikke ændres. Man kan ikke komme videre, det er umuligt.

Man står der og fryser. Der er intet at gøre. Man tager hjem.

Men forandring er uundgåelig. Før eller senere vil isen revne, vil gå i stykker og vil opløses. Det samme vil sker med sindet: alt det, vi sætter ind, alt det, vi holder fast til, vil forandre sig, vil blive gammel, vil gå til opløsning. Jo mere modstand vi gør, jo mere smertefuld det vil blive.

En buddha ved fjorden tænder ilden.

Isen smelter

Ilden slukkes

og tændes aldrig mere.

Undskyld!

2010-01-01T23:17:00.000+01:00

Jeg har boet i Danmark i 9 år. Jeg har prøvet før at blogge på dansk. Dette er mit andet forsøg.

På forhånd siger jeg undskyld for alle de stave- og grammatiskefejl jeg vil lave, når jeg prøver at skrive om buddhisme. For at gøre dette, burde jeg også sige undskyld, men jeg gider ikke.

Hvis du kan lide, hvad jeg skriver, eller hvis du tror på det, er det dit problem. Hvis du ikke gør, er det også dit problem.

Jeg håber, du har en god praksis og bliver god til problemløsning.

Jeg har praktiseret meditation siden ca 1995. Jeg er (erklareret) buddhist siden ca 2006.

Jeg tager udgangspunkt i palisuttaerne (gå og kig ind i www.accesstoinsight.org, hvis du ikke ved, hvad det er) og de gamle kinesiske chan (på japansk, zen) lærer. Mit hovedpraksis er anapanasati (meditation med åndedrættet) og mozhao chan (silent illumination meditation). Formelt træner jeg under Koro Kaisan Miles og håber på, at blive ordineret indenfor the boundless mind zen school. Men altså, formelt er det heller ikke så meget (men det kommer jeg til at skrive en dag om her, måske).

Jeg bor på Vestjylland. Det er flad, det blæser.

Det er smukt.

Der går en buddha ved fjorden.

Skovgaarde, 26.12.09

2009-12-31T15:56:00.000+01:00

Notas del retiro, 4º día

Mi abuela está en coma irreversible y yo como chocolate.

Hoy amaneció despejado así que salí a dar un paseo antes de lo habitual. Estuve largo rato andando por la playa, sentándome sobre las piedras, escuchando.

Al regresar a la casa hacía un sol tan espléndido que abrí puertas y ventanas y me senté en la terraza a tomar un té. Fue entonces cuando vino Maja a contarme que la abuela estaba mala y que ya no iba a salir de donde se había metido.

Hablé un rato con mis padres que estaban en calma y decidí seguir con el retiro.

Hay una historia zen que cuenta esto: Un monje es invitado a dar una bendición a una familia. El monje, después de ofrecer incineso en el altar, dice: "Que se muera el abuelo; que se muera el padre; que se muera el hijo"

Al preguntarle qué hay de bendición en ese triple deseo de muerte, el monje responde: "Todos vamos a morir, ¿no es este el orden más deseable?"

La abuela iba a cumplir 90 el día de Reyes. Estaba fresca como una rosa hasta que ayer le dio un derrame cerebral.

Mientras a mí se me acerca la muerte, he limpiado un poco la cocina y la chimenea. Mañana es mi último día aquí y tengo que dejar todo preparado para irme a las 8.30.

A la sombra de la muerte observaba el paisaje, siempre cambiante. Vacas subiendo y bajando la colina de Jernhatten, un halcón posado sobre la señal de tráfico, un gato de caza, las nubes jugando con la luz y el mar, a lo lejos, inmenso.

Ahí mismo y en cada instante, la duda y la ausencia de duda; la ira y la ausencia de ira; la pena y la ausencia de pena. En un abrir y cerrar de ojos está la una y no está la otra, está la otra y no está la una. Sin hacer nada, independiente de pensamiento y obra.

El campo de ilimitado vacío es lo que existe desde el principio mismo.

dice Hongzhi.

La suprema vacuidad no tiene forma. La correcta independencia no se apoya en nada,

añade.
Pero, ¿cómo?, insisto.

Limpio de pensamiento, silenciosamente sentado, dirígete al centro del círculo de maravillas. Así es cómo debes penetrar y estudiar,

responde.

---
La abuela murió ese mismo día. Me lo dijeron a la vuelta a casa. Pensando en ella, lo único que recuerdo es su vitalidad y su sonrisa y cómo bromeaba sobre la muerte: "Cuando me muera me voy a pegar una panzá de llorar" decía.

Skovgaarde, 25.12.09

2009-12-31T15:35:00.000+01:00

Notas del retiro, 3er día

Me alegro de no ser un monje y llevar esas telitas tan finas. Ha llovido constantemente desde esta mañana. La lluvia se está llevando los últimos restos de nieve. Todo vuelve a ese tono verde y gris de siempre.

En mi paseo hoy vi a la grulla. Me gustó, tan grande y majestuosa en sus movimientos. Pero yo no le gusté a ella. Probablemente no sea muy majestuoso envuelto en capas y capas de ropa impermeable y anti-viento y luchando contra el viento para dar un paso.

En el otro paseo, el de dentro, ya ha pasado el entusiasmo inicial. Todas las memorias, pensamientos habituales, proyectos y fantasías se agolpan en mi cabeza por hacerse un hueco en este silencio.

Lo otro sigue ahí, siempre está ahí y, como ayer, basta el crujido de una puerta, un evento no controlado, cualquier cosa no deliberada, para que salte a mis ojos como un huracán.

Luego, queriendo atraparlo, se me escapa como cuando quieres coger agua con los dedos.

Retiro
Escuchando la lluvia
Duermo la siesta

Skovgaarde, 24.12.09

2009-12-31T15:34:00.000+01:00

Notas del retiro, 2º día

Mañana

La casa se está calentando pero mis pies todavía están fríos.

Ya llevo despierto 3 horas; empiezo a ver las formas del paisaje. Está blanco y gris y marrón, todo con un tono azulado.

Jernhatten, el Sombrero de Hierro, está ahí afuera, descansando en sí mismo. Aparte de eso, nada más.

Toda la mañana escuchando un diálogo entre el frigo y un ratón.

La práctica de jhana es el camino de la pureza de la atención y la ecuanimidad. Deberíamos dirigirnos hacia ellas. Intentar definir exactamente en que jhana se está no es dar en el blanco.

Sencillamente jhanea; sé diligente.

Sengcan lo expresa así de bonito:

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised.

No hay horario en este retiro. Me levanto a las 5.00, me siento durante una hora y el resto se hace por sí mismo: meditación caminando, más meditación sentada; desayuno; más sentada; hacer las tareas domésticas; más sentada, más caminando; cuidar del fuego; pasear...

Todo es la práctica.

Voy a salir pronto. A ver si el viento me puede quitar el sombrero de mis botas.

Tarde

Es la 1.00 y la luz ya se está yendo.

Curiosamente no hacía viento en lo alto del sombrero así que se quedó todo el rato bajo mis pies. Seguí las huellas del perro y de la gaviota y me encontré con un puñado de ovejas tontas, una liebre y un faisán.

Vi a un perro y me acordé de Zhaozhou: ¿tiene un perro naturaleza búdica?

Ahí tienes un claro ejemplo: 1º te inventas un término y luego andas preguntando si los perros lo tienen. No me extraña que Zhaozhou dijera "MU!" a ver si así te atragantabas con la naturaleza búdica y ya no perdías más el tiempo en especulaciones inútiles.

Ya en casa, silencio. Un retiro no es un retiro sin silencio.

Skovgaarde, 23.12.09

2009-12-30T18:22:00.000+01:00

Notas del retiro. Primer día.

El largo viaje ha sido una especie de preparativo. Al llegar he estado viendo la casa, guardando la comida, preparando la cama y el sitio donde me voy a sentar los próximos 3 días.

Hace frío aunque la estufa de leña hace lo que puede. Huele a humo y a incienso.

Me senté buscanco, encontrando y perdiendo el sitio. Reposando y abriendo la mente, deleitándome en este silencio. Silencio de humo, de tictac, de crujido de estufa, de viento y de algún esporádico coche.

Silencio.

Leo a Hongzhi, que me acompaña en mi retiro junto a las 10 figuras del pastoreo del buey.

La mente primordial trasciende el condicionamiento, el dharma primordial no habla. Pero los budas y patriarcas no se detienen aquí.

Y continúa diciendo que hay diálogo y que se genera energía. Cuando llegues al silencio habla; cuando hables, guarda silencio.

Dinámica quietud.

Siéntate en meditación y corta por completo las causas y el condicionamiento y el lenguaje de los tres tiempos. Llegado aquí no puedes apegarte ni a una mota de polvo.

Desde el principio esta es la única tarea de la antigua casa.

Back from retreat

2009-12-29T18:36:00.000+01:00

...and thrown out into daily life.

Wonderful days with no structure at all and yet keeping the discipline. Settling into silent illumination. Watching what is working with the mind and working with the body and bodily sensations. Deepening into Sengcan, doing jhana.

Away from orthodoxy, self-confident.

Silence, silence, silence. Silence is the work. A retreat without silence is not retreat.

There was a ghost but I put his name away and didn't think of him anymore.

I wrote many notes in Spanish. I'll be posting them here as soon as they're translated.

Grandma passed away. Her laugh remains. I said goodbye and reflected on death.

Fin de retiro

2009-12-29T17:42:00.000+01:00

Regresé al mundo de un golpe: murió mi abuela, casi 90 años, de golpe y sin avisar (también sin dolor y sin largas penas, como ella quería); un viaje en bus de 4 horas; compartir el baño con 6 personas más y esto:

La vida, la muerte, el mundo no esperan. Quieren tu respuesta ya.

Para eso es el retiro, no vivir en el mundo y dar la respuesta apropiada; no para huir de él.

He pasado 3 días y medio muy intensos. He encontrado mi propio ritmo, algo con lo que ya empecé a experimentar en los retiros pasados, relajado pero sin timar a la disciplina. He trabajado mucho con una meditación basada en la iluminación silenciosa de Hongzhi, muy chan/zen, muy mental (al contrario que la meditación con anapanasati, basada más en las sensaciones corporales) y queriendo profundizar en estas diferencias (trabajo con la mente vs. trabajo con el cuerpo).

También he tenido tiempo de contemplar la muerte: la noticia de la muerte de mi abuela me la dieron en el último día completo de mi retiro.

Los maestros que me acompañaron han sido Hongzhi y Sengcan (el autor del Clásico de la Fe en la Mente). También he tomado muchas notas que espero ir publicando sucesivamente en el blog y fotos de mis paseos bajo nieve, lluvia y sol.

Dos cosas a destacar. La primera, el valor de la generosidad. Este retiro ha sido posible solo gracias a la generosidad de un montón de personas, ninguna de ellas budista: he sido conducido a la casa, que alguien me ha prestado y he comido básicamente alimentos que me han dado (vegetarianos y sin vino esta vez, así que que no haya nadie que se pueda ofender).

La segunda es que para profundizar realmente, para romper las cadenas, sería necesario un retiro mucho más largo, por lo menos tres meses, mejor un año, mejor tres. El condicionamiento tiene unas raíces tan profundas que no se eliminan en tres ni en diez días. Este tipo de retiro es muy bueno para asentar una práctica continua en el día a día cotidiano pero volver al "mundo real" significa volver a la vieja rutina y a los viejos hábitos sin cambiar nada a un nivel profundo.

Dicho esto, es importante no caer en la fantasía de "si tuviera más tiempo" porque esta es otra de esas pautas que nos mantienen en el "samsara", la 2ª verdad noble, la sed de ser y/o de no-ser. De lo menos que podemos darnos cuenta en un periodo intensivo de meditación es esto, que el desear una situación diferente en la que estamos no es otra cosa que perpetuar nuestra ignorancia.

La única situación diferente deseable es la de la total liberación de nuestro condicionamiento. El trabajo para lograr esto no se encuentra ni en otro lugar ni en otro tiempo, sino aquí y ahora. Así que manos a la obra.

11 meses

2009-12-22T21:08:00.000+01:00

No exactamente. Comencé la versión española de dojhana a mediados de año. Pero dojhana nació en enero y me había propuesto escribir durante por lo menos un año sin borrar el blog.

Lo he conseguido, aunque no ha sido fácil. Muchas veces me planteo dejar de escribir, abandonando así un mundo o, por lo menos, una ocupación más. Sin embargo, muchas veces abandonar es más una actividad mental que física y si borrara el blog, sé que tarde o temprano empezaría otro, dando así más vueltas a esta rueda de noria a la que estoy atado como un burro.

Así que dojhana se queda (aquí se llama blogbudista) y mi proyecto para el próximo año es escribir por lo menos una vez a mes, contar cómo va la práctica y dejar impresas otras reflexiones del camino.

Mañana me voy de retiro hasta el 27, si la nieve y la carretera me permite llegar hasta la casita dónde voy a estar.

En cuanto al blog en inglés, estoy todavía pensando en escribir posts en danés también. Hace tiempo que quiero escribir también en este idioma pero no tengo el nivel para darle un blog a él solito.

Las tres penúltimas entradas han sido para indicar lo importante que me parece el proceso de búsqueda del maestro Gotama y ver si alguien aquí puede aplicarlo a su propia práctica. Muy importante me parecen, por ejemplo, el hecho que se echó a la calle sin preguntar a nadie, que buscó por sí mismo y que encontró por sí mismo.

Se dice que una de las cosas que se ganan con la práctica es confianza en uno mismo. A veces me parece que esto es lo que más nos falta y que andamos desesperados por encontrar a alguien que nos diga lo que tenemos que hacer; de éstos no faltan y después de decirte lo que tienes que hacer siempre añaden una laaaaarga lista de lo que no tienes que hacer recordandote siempre que tú no sabes, que tienes mucho que aprender, que tú no puedes solo.

Bien, pues aplícate el cuento del Buda y descubre por tí mismo si puedes o no puedes. A fin de cuentas esto es un asunto de libertad, no de dependencia.

¿Quién se atreve?

Claro que no es un camino de rosas, que no es fácil, que te puedes quedar "colgao" por el camino. Pues recuerda que el Buda casi se muere por tonto y por orgulloso, practicando todas esas austeridades hasta ver a dónde podía llegar.

¿Hasta dónde puedes llegar?

Inhala, exhala.

No hay límites.

Eleven months

2009-12-13T22:45:00.000+01:00

December. Christmas retreat approaching, my daughter is already used to it: be happy, waiting the many presents and accepting her father retreating from the world in such a time. This year I'll spent only 3 or 4 days on retreat. I'm busy doing samu at my new house (well, it is because it's not new that I'm busy with it).

I begun this blog saying I was cutting off with Theravada. I made shortly after a good friendship with the founder of the Boundless Mind Zen School (BMZ) which we've maintained until now. I did also a 100-day practice period with the respected Soto Zen teacher Dosho Port, not because he was Zen, Soto, but because he was open to investigation and inquiry (qualities that I miss in the Buddhist orthodoxy in general). After summer, I choose not to follow him through another practice period (maybe because he was Soto?).

All in all my insatisfaction with the established Buddhism has been increasing through this year. Also with Danish Buddhism: Theravada buddhists in this country seem only interested in the immigrants, and do nothing to integrate with the Danish (or western) population; the Mahayana schools I'm more in contact with seem only interested in defining what Buddhism is (in their terms) insisting tirelessness in how important it is to have a teacher (themselves, by the way) to the point of being tired of hearing it all the time.

I'm happy to have found the people of BMZ, where one can question, follow his/her own way, be a wanderer (a homeless if one should wish) and yet have a center, a meeting place, have a cup of tea, and then keep on wandering.

Remember that the important thing is not what Buddhism is or should be, nor even being a Buddhist or how to become one. The important thing is the practice (including reading, talking and questioning).

After these eleven months I'm going to retreat with the intention of cleaning up the known and leaving no-thing and no-one. One would say kill the Buddha (I will also kill the Buddhist) and again and again, start from scratch.

Don't be heedless. Don't later fall into regret.

Más allá del cuerpo

2009-11-23T21:46:00.000+01:00

Transcendiendo las sensaciones corporales agradables

Concentrado en la mente

Siguiendo anapanasati sin seguirlo

Sin seguir a nadie

Caminando solo

Beyond the body

2009-11-23T21:29:00.000+01:00

Going beyond pleasant bodily feelings

Breathing in and out aware of the mind

Not following anapanasati

Following no one

Wondering alone

Notas sobre la noble búsqueda de Siddhatta Gotama (III)

2009-11-17T13:39:00.000+01:00

Gotama descubrió que ni el asceticismo ni los estados de concentración sin forma le llevarían a Nibbana.

Gotama descubrió cómo superar el miedo y el pavor y cómo dividir los pensamientos en beneficiosos y perjudiciales, descartando los últimos y mateniendo los primeros al menos mientras que éstos no cansaran el cuerpo y tensaran la mente.

Gotama descubrió que entrar en el mismo estado en el que había permanecido cuando era joven, separado de los deseos sensoriales y de estados mentales perjudiciales e inmerso en rapto y felicidad, era el camino al despertar

Así que en la hermosa arboleda en Uruvela, practicando la atención en la inhalación y la exhalación, entró y permaneció en ese estado de aislamiento, acompañado de pensamiento aplicado y sostenido.

Poco a poco el pensamiento aplicado y sostenido fue aquietado quedando solo el rapto y la felicidad nacidos de la concentración. Tenía confianza en sí mismo y su mente estaba unificada. Entonces el rapto se diluyó y Gotama entró y permaneció en ecuanimidad, plenamente despierto y atento, sintiendo placer en el cuerpo. Finalmente, abandonando placer y dolor, pena y alegría moró en pura atención y presencia nacidas de la ecuanimidad.

Así fue su mente concentrada, purificada, llevada a la impertubabilidad. Dirigió su mente al recuerdo de sus vidas pasadas y luego entendió cómo los seres renacen de acuerdo a sus acciones. Finalmente llegó al conocimiento de la destrucción de las impurezas: "Esto es el sufrimiento, esto es el origen del sufrimiento, esto es el cese del sufrimiento, esto es el camino que lleva al cese del sufrimiento".

Y vio y supo que su mente había sido liberada.

---

Fuentes: Majjhima Nikaya, suttas 4, 36 and Samyutta Nikaya, sutta 54.8 (traducciones de Bhikkhu Bodhi y Thanissaro Bhikkhu)

Notes on Gotama's Noble Search (III)

2009-11-17T13:10:00.002+01:00

Gotama had found out that asceticism would not lead to Nibbana neither would do formless states of concentration.

Gotama had found how to subdue fear and dread and to divide thoughts in skillful and unskillful discarding the unskillful ones and maintaining the skillful ones as long as these wouldn't tire the body and strained the mind.

Moreover he had found out that entering and abiding in a estate of seclusion from sensual pleasures and unwholesome estates, where there was rapture and happiness, as he had been when he was younger, was the path to awakening.

There in Uruvela, in the beautiful grove, praticing awareness of the in and out breathing he enter and remained in that estate of seclusion accompanied by applied and sustained thought.

Gradually this applied and sustained thought was quieten, but there remained rapture and happiness born of concentration. He was self-confident an possessed of singleness of mind. Then rapture faded also away and he abided in equanimity, mindful and fully aware, feeling pleasure in the body and, finally, abandoning pleasure and pain and joy and grief he abided in pure mindfulness due to equanimity.

There was his mind concentrated, purified, bright and attained to imperturbability. He directed this mind to the recollection of his past lives. He then understood how beings pass on according to their actions and finally to the knowledge of the destruction of the taints: 'This is suffering, this is the origin of suffering, this is the cessation of suffering and this is the path leading to the cessation of suffering'.

And he knew and saw that his mind was liberated.

From Majjhima Nikaya, suttas 4, 36 and SN 54.8 (used translations by Bhikkhu Bodhi and Thanissaro Bhikkhu)

Notes on Gotama's Noble Search (II)

2009-11-17T10:34:00.002+01:00

Fear and dread

Gotama decided to be alone and took deep into the forest. He realized that being alone is dangerous and can turn a man mad but with purified conduct in body, speech and mind the fear and dread that turns someone mad can be overcome.

So he went to the forest and other places that inspire fear and waited for it. If fear and dread came while he was sitting, he remained sitting; if it came when he was standing or walking or lying down he remained in the same position until fear and dread dissapeared.

In this way he arouse energy and established mindfulness with his body being tranquil and his mind concentrated and unified.

Two kinds of thought

On another occasion decided to divide thoughts in two classes: on one side thoughts of sensual desire, thoughts of ill will and thoughts of cruelty and on the other side thoughts of renunciation, thoughts of non-ill will and thoughts of non-cruelty.

Then if thoughts of sensual desire, ill will or cruelty appeared in his mind he reflected that such thoughts would lead to the affliction of others and/or himself and away from Nibbana. And so reflecting, these thoughts subsided in him.

If thoughts of renunciation, non-ill will or non-cruetly appeared in his mind he reflected that such thoughts would not lead to affliction, they aided wisdom and leaded to Nibbana.

Such thoughts were not a cause of fear. However excessive thinking could tire the body and in a tired body mind is strained and far from concentration so he steadied his mind, brought it to singleness and concentrated it.

In this way too he arouse energy and established mindfulness with his body being tranquil and his mind concentrated and unified

Uruvela

And wandering he arrived to Uruvela to a beautiful grove with a clear-flowing river and a nearby village for begging for food. He thought that it was a good place for striving.

From Majjhima Nikaya, suttas 4, 19, 26 (used translations by Bhikkhu Bodhi and Thanissaro Bhikkhu)

Notas sobre la noble búsqueda de Siddhatta Gotama (II)

2009-10-26T21:44:00.000+01:00

Miedo y pavor

Gotama decidió quedarse solo y se fue al bosque, a lo más profundo de la selva. Ahora bien, estar solo en lo más profundo de la selva es peligroso y puede fácilmente llevar a la locura. Él, viendo su conducta corporal, verbal y mental purificadas, encontró consuelo en la vida en la selva, deseoso de superar el miedo y pavor que conducen a la locura.

Así que se fue al bosque o a un cementerio o a otros lugares que inspiraran terror, en medio de la noche y esperó al miedo. Si éste venía mientras él estaba sentado, permanecía así hasta que desaparecía; si venía estando de pie, caminando o tumbado, permanecía en la misma posición, sin moverse, hasta que el miedo fue subyugado.

Obtuvo así una incansable energía y permanecía atento y alerta sin cesar; su cuerpo estaba sereno y en calma y su mente concentrada y unificada.

Dos clases de pensamiento

En otra ocasión decidió dividir sus pensamientos en dos grupos: por una parte pensamientos relacionados con deseos sensoriales, pensamientos malevolentes y pensamientos crueles; por otra parte, pensamientos de renuncia, pensamientos benevolentes y pensamientos compasivos.

Y estando así, diligente, ardiente y resuelto, viendo aparecer en su mente pensamientos de deseo, de malevolencia o de crueldad reflexionó que tales pensamientos llevaban a la aflicción propia y/o la de otros, que obstaculizaban la sabiduría y que llevaban lejos del Nibbana. En esta reflexión, tales pensamientos remitían.

Si veía aparecer en su mente pensamientos de renuncia, benevolentes o compasivos, reflexionaba que no llevaban a la aflicción, sino que ayudaban a la aparición de la sabiduría y que acercaban al Nibbana y que tales pensamientos se podían quedar en la mente sin que hubiera nada que temer.

Sin embargo vio también que pensar en exceso podía cansar el cuerpo, que en un cuerpo cansado la mente se tensa y que una mente tensa no puede concentrarse. Así que tranquilizó, aquietó, unificó y concentró su mente para limpiarla.

De esta manera obtuvo también una incansable energía y permanecía atento y alerta sin cesar; su cuerpo estaba sereno y en calma y su mente concentrada y unificada.

Uruvela

En su continua marcha llegó hasta Uruvela y allí vio un hermosa arboleda cerca de un río de aguas claras y un pueblo cercano en el que mendigar comida y pensó que era un buen sitio para practicar con esfuerzo.
---
Fuentes: Majjhima Nikaya, suttas 4, 19 ,26 (traducciones al inglés por Bhikkhu Bodhi y Thanissaro Bhikkhu)

Notas sobre la noble búsqueda de Siddhatta Gotama (I)

2009-10-15T17:20:00.000+02:00

A Siddhatta Gotama no le faltaba de nada. Buscaba la satisfacción en cosas que estaban sujetas al nacimiento, la vejez, la enfermedad, la muerte, la pena y la corrupción. Pero estando él mismo sujeto a estas cosas se afeitó la barba y el cabello, aún joven, abandonó a su madre y a su padre y se fue a buscar lo que no está sujeto al nacimiento, a la vejez, a la enfermedad, a la muerte, a la pena, la liberación de todas la ataduras, el Nibbana.

Se puso el manto amarillo. No pidió permiso a nadie ni buscó refugio en nada o nadie.

Se encontró con dos maestros que le enseñaron a entrar y permanecer en la esfera de la nada y en la esfera de ni-percepción-ni-no-percepción. Pero, viendo que esto no le llevaría al Nibbana, se fue.

Así empezó su periodo de ascetismo: iba desnudo, despreciando las convenciones; o se arrancaba el pelo de la cabeza y la barba; o permanecía de pie continuamente; o se acostaba en un colchón de clavos; o se alimentaba de caca de vaca.

Apretó sus dientes hasta que el sudor corría por su cuerpo y quedó exhausto por el doloroso esfuerzo. Practicó la contención de la respiración y de nuevo quedó exhausto por el doloroso esfuerzo. Dejó de comer, quedando consumido, poniendose de color negro o marrón, sus huesos marcandose a través de la fina piel, calléndose sobre sus propias heces.

Estaba orgulloso de sus austeridades; estaba seguro de que nadie podía soportar el dolor que él había soportado.

Aún así no obtuvo ningún conocimiento o visión digna de los nobles.

Así que, estando allí solo, se preguntó: '¿Podría haber otro camino al despertar?' Y se acordó que una vez, siendo aún joven, estaba sentado a la sombra de un árbol, aislado de los placeres sensoriales y de estados mentales perjudiciales y entró y permaneció en el primer jhana, que está acompañando de pensamiento aplicado y sostenido, con rapto y placer nacidos del aislamiento.

Se preguntó a sí mismo: '¿Podría este ser el camino al despertar?' Y después de este recuerdo vino la realización: 'Este es el camino al despertar'. Pensó 'Entonces, ¿por qué tengo miedo de este placer que no tiene nada que ver con la sensualidad ni con estados mentales perjudiciales?' Y ahí mismo dejó de tener miedo.

Luego reconoció que obtener este placer era muy difícil con un cuerpo tan débil, así que comió algo para ganar fuerzas y los cinco ascetas que estaban con él le dejaron.

---

Fuentes: Majjhima Nikaya, suttas 26, 12, 36 (traducciones al inglés por Bhikkhu Bodhi y Thanissaro Bhikkhu)

Notes on Gotama's noble search (I)

2009-10-06T22:32:00.004+02:00

Siddhatta Gotama lived in luxury, not lacking anything. He looked for satisfaction and fulfillment in things subject to birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow and defilement. But being himself subject to these things he shaved his beard and hair, still young, leaving mother and father with tearful faces and he left seeking the unageing, unailing, deathless, sorrowless and undefiled security from bondage, Nibbana.

He put on the yellow robe. He didn't ask anybody for permission or refuge.

He visited two teachers and learned from them to enter and abide in the realm of nothingness and in the realm of neither perception nor non-perception. Then, seeing that this would not lead him to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana, he left.

Then he undertook the path of austerities: he went naked, rejecting conventions; or he pulled out hair and beard; or stood continuously; or used a mattress of spikes; or fed on the dong of young calves; and so on.

He clenched his teeth until sweat ran from his armpits and he was exhausted by the painful striving. He practice breathingless meditation, stopping in- and out-breaths and he was exhausted by the painful striving. He stopped eating, consuming himself, turning black or brown in color, bones exposed through the thin skin, falling over his own urine and feces, hair falling off by itself.

He took pride in his austerities; he was sure nobody had endured what he did, nobody had experienced the painful feelings as he did.

And yet he did not attain any distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones.

And there, alone, he asked himself: 'Could there be another path to awakening?' Then he recalled once, being young, he was sitting in the shade of a tree, he was secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states and entered upon and remained in the first jhana, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion.

And then he asked himself again: 'Could that be the path to wakening?' Then following on that memory came the realization: 'That is the path to Awakening.' He thought: 'So why am I afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities?' He thought: 'I am no longer afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities'.

He realised that to attain that pleasure was very difficult with a body so weak so he ate some food to regain his strength and the five recluses that were with him practicing austerities left him.

---

From Majjhima Nikaya, suttas 26, 12, 36 (used translations by Bhikkhu Bodhi and Thanissaro Bhikkhu)

Picture (click here)

Coches, grajos, logros

2009-10-02T09:46:00.000+02:00

Llevando a las chicas en el coche esta mañana, me regocijaba en mis logros. El hilo de la respiración todavía vibrando en todo mi cuerpo, el gris de las nubes todavía chillando y los grajos volando por delante de mí, dejando sus plumas en mis ojos, uno de ellos saliendo de mi boca. Maravillosa energía y una confianza en mí mismo indestructible, calma y quietud a 100km/h, paz hasta el punto de la irritabilidad.

Esta energía es tan fuerte que se puede llevar por delante a cualquiera. Es la misma que me permite estar de pie junto al mar en un día de viento, flirteando con las olas sin ceder a sus encantos, o subir al monte y ver el mundo pequeño y no saltar al vacío.

Entonces tengo una decisión que tomar. Puedo callar y no hablar jamás, hacer que mi hija se calle para no estropear esta calma y este flujo de energía; puedo gritarle al mundo que vive en la ignorancia y visitar los foros budistas para decirle a todos que están equivocados; regocijarme en mi estado de gracia y hacerlo mío, mío y solo mío; cerrar la puerta y permanecer aquí para siempre y no volver jamás, jamás.

O también puedo recordar que el camino a cultivar tiene tres factores y entonces puedo usar esa energía para practicar sila. Con lo fácil que es sentarse cada noche y cada mañana y regocijarse en la respiración y lo difícil que es no levantar la voz, no tener un pensamiento cruel, no mentir. Puedo también recordar que cualquier estado mental es temporal, que cualquier experiencia está condenada a la impermanencia y que, cuando pienso en permanecer y no volver, en realidad me estoy engañando a mí mismo, engañando a los demás y sembrando las causas del sufrimiento.

El camino es óctuple y es para ser cultivado. La recta concentración tiene a los otros factores como causas y requisitos. De la beatitud a la arrogancia nos separa una brizna de hierba.

Hay que ser diligentes.

Enchanted

2009-09-17T07:54:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I said I was going to the gym at 14.00. It took me half an hour to get away from the computer. At 14.30 I looked out of the window and thought I didn't want to go and train, I felt like dumb, heavy and with lack of energy. I manage to leave however and, lucky for me, I got out of the enchantment habits have over oneself. Five minutes after picking up the bike I was wide awake, fighting against the wind, happy for being under the sun and the body saying thanks for the motion.

It's incredible to see how we fall again and again into habits, take a train of conduct and don't want to look around.

The same has happened with meditation. I was sitting in that undefined state of no cultivation, constant letting go, not-doing and, without notice, I had fallen into the dark cave. Coming back to breath meditation has been like picking up the bike and start riding with the wind: immediate body well-being, peace inside, calm and space to investigate mental and physical events. Rediscovering the meaning of bhavana, the word Master Gotama used for meditation, which actually means cultivation, development and thus cultivating serenity and calm and, from there, investigation and clear discernment (yes, ignoring deliberately the widespread notion of samatha vs vipassana as two different meditation methods).

The other factor that pushed me into muddiness was the overdose of critical readings regarding buddhism and chan/zen. No doubt, doubt had found a place in my mind to the point of darkening whatever movement or inclination I had towards the dhamma/dharma. For this I've been working with metta meditation, which has left me in peace with the world, with the enviroment, with books, and with myself.

Metta meditation without forgetting the other 3 meditations of the Brahma Viharas and anapanasati, as taught by the Buddha in the Anapanasati Sutta, are my temporal means in coming back to a more active meditation and engagement in the world and in realizing the end of the world.

If you want to know how it feels to break the enchantment away, press play:

Cultivando

2009-09-16T13:04:00.000+02:00

No he subido ninguna foto nueva a ordenador desde que vine de Islandia. El paisaje aquí en casa es muy distinto del de la foto pero la soledad que se siente ahí arriba es muy parecida a la que llevo conmigo en estos días.

Varias veces se me ocurren cosas que podría escribir en el blog, pero cuando me siento a hacerlo muchas se han olvidado. Por ejemplo, al segundo día de retomar la práctica de anapanasati me di un paseo en bici, luego fui dos horas en kajak y volví a casa en bici, dejándome las vísceras en el camino, derramando lágrimas invisibles de puro éxtasis, mis orejas tocando los confines del universo y Pat Metheny levantando la bici del asfalto, como si fuera ET.

Me acordé también de cultivar, o desarrollar, la palabra que usaba el maestro Gotama para lo que nosotros llamamos meditación. Y cultivando, retomé anapanasati, inhalando y exhalando, calmando el cuerpo hasta su disolución, cultivando la serenidad sin miedo y, luego, cultivando buenos deseos (o amor incondicional como lo llaman otros) en las diez direcciones, para quedarme en paz con el mundo y acabar con el conflicto y la duda que anidan en mi corazón.

En las dos prácticas se pueden apreciar los frutos de manera casi inmediata, aunque luego haya que refinarlos, por supuesto, hasta el infinito.

El caso es que no sé nada y cada vez que creo que tengo una conclusión o que he llegado a alguna parte, me encuentro con que tengo que desechar la conclusión y abandonar el lugar porque, aunque esté casado y lleve una vida en el hogar, en la práctica no tengo casa, ni refugio aparte de la inhalación, la exhalación y alguna que otra enseñanza que pueda usar en el momento.

Tomando refugio en la respiración

2009-09-04T20:47:00.000+02:00

Y es que el solo sentarse de Dogen me estaba dejando perdido, así que me refugié en la inhalación y la exhalación y fue como volver a casa después de un largo viaje. Establecí una base sólida, el cuerpo se hizo transparente, la sentada, cómoda y naturalmente desemboqué como un río en la iluminación silenciosa del maestro Hongzhi.

Así que dejé todo lo que tenía entre manos y volví a sentarme en soledad a explorar esa respiración y el link que se hizo entre esta experiencia y la que tuve hace un año y medio durante mi retiro de invierno. Es ahí dónde me quedo, cultivando el campo vacío, en completo silencio, solo.

No hay conflicto entre Hongzhi y Ajahn Chah ni entre Dogen y Thanissaro. Fuera de escuelas e instituciones, volviendo a dentro.

A trabajar.

Back to the breathing

2009-09-04T20:35:00.002+02:00

Just sitting was getting so dry and "goal-less" that I felt completely loss. I then took refuge in the breath and it was like coming home. Resting in the in- and outbreaths, solid sitting, I was carried naturally to the Silent Illumination of Master Hongzhi, resting and contemplating there and establishing a link with a very intense past experience almost forgotten.

I'm back to the hermitage, back to loneliness, back to exploring alone, in silence, in my busy everyday life.

No conflict between Hongzhi and Ajahn Chah, between Dogen and Thanissaro.

I start from scratch once again, no roof over my head, leaving home and security without leaving anybody.

Una tradición fuera de las escrituras

2009-08-21T22:26:00.003+02:00

Leyendo a Dogen en Enlightenment Unfolds.

Su maestro en China le dijo cómo cultivar la mente en medio de las actividades ordinarias; después de una larga lista de "noes", Rujing dice

Ilumina la mente con antiguas enseñanzas y lee sutras que contengan la enseñanza completa.

Luego dice que te laves los pies y que no tengas tigres, ni elefantes, ni cerdos...

A Dogen también le interesaba mucho discernir cuáles eran las verdaderas enseñanzas del Buddha de manera parecida a cómo se hace hoy. Después de estudiar el estilo y la estructura de sutras como el Surangama o el sutra de La Completa Iluminación los juzga como "similares a la enseñanza de los maestros herejes de tiempos del Buda" y su maestro Rujing añade que "algunos sospechan que este sutra fue escrito en un periodo posterior".

Otras citas de maestro (Rujing) a alumno (Dogen):

No deberías ignorar causa y efecto... una comprensión superficial del vacío ignora causa y efecto e invita a la calamidad.

Una de las prácticas esenciales para el entrenamiento en la sala de los monjes es la de caminar despacio... solo unos pocos conocen esta práctica... coordina los pasos con la respiración.

Dogen:

El ancho camino de los budas y ancestros no se puede encerrar en un espacio pequeño. ¿Cómo podemos limitarlo a algo tan pequeño como "La escuela Zen"?

Y Rujing responde:

"La escuela Zen" es un falso término que unos idiotas calvos usan..."

Y por último:

- Estudiar Zen es desprenderse del cuerpo y de la mente.
- ¿Qué es este desprenderse del cuerpo y de la mente?
- Zazen. Cuando solamente estás sentado, eres libre de los 5 deseos sensuales y de los 5 obstáculos.
- Estos 5 deseos y 5 obstáculos, ¿son los mismos de los que hablan los de la escuela de los sutras? ¿Significa eso que somos practicantes de Mahayana y de Hinayana?
- Los descendientes de los ancestros no deberían excluir las enseñanzas de ninguno de los dos vehículos. Si los estudiantes ignoran las enseñanzas sagradas del Tathagata, ¿cómo se van a convertir en descendientes de los ancestros del Buda?

Así que hoy me tomé un té con Dogen y Gotama, dos amigos míos, entre árboles de hoja oscura, viento desparramado y niñas traviesas; luego hablé con un amigo, sin té, de que sabiduría, concentración y ética son tres puntos que forman un triángulo que forma una rueda, la del Noble Sendero, que te lleva derechito allí donde uno sacia su sed.

Y no hay más té.

53 pages

2009-08-17T21:53:00.003+02:00

Back to normal life, I've realized I can't keep the reading rythm I had during holidays. I've decided to focus on Dogen and in the bodhisattva precepts, so I'm reading Kaz Tanahashi's Enlightenment Unfolds and Reb Anderson's Being Upright. When I reach a point of resistance towards the Mahayana teachings I pick up a little book by Bernard Faure, Unmasking Buddhism, to help in "killing the buddha".

Bernard Faure is one of those scholars who critizice Chan, Zen and Buddhism in general. These scholars help us in not taking for granted what we receive as teachings and, in some way, keep the flame of inquiry alive. He can be very critical at times, too much I'd say. I'd placed him as an outsider, one who observes, writes but doesn't get involved. Others, like Steven Heine or John McRae, I'd say they are insiders, practitioners in one way or other, but not taking everything as granted.

I began reading Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism by Dale S. Wright, another name I'd put in the insider's box (you can take all these boxes and clasifications and threw them out of the window). I've only read 53 pages; I had to stop for the shake of PHP, HTML and other web-programming languages but what it's a long time since words have acted upon me as they have done in this book.

Here are some impressions:

The first one, that Buddhism is not what you think; so stop thinking about buddhism.
A note about "dependent origination": in theravada this is more seen as a chain, lineal, with a clear beginning and end, where in mahayana (also in this book) is explained as a net, with no origin and no end.
The most beautiful about this dependent origination is that it applies also to Huang Po, so we no longer have a man that lived in that century and wrote this text but a very complicated network of people and events in constant relation which extends through time. Yes, what applies to Huang Po can also be applied to Gotama (still prefer this name to the bombastic Shakyamuni), to Buddhism, to Chan, Zen and to everything you want to fix in a definition and fight for in internet forums and other places.
Writing and reading is not wrong, neither is thinking, something zen has an issue with. Second chapter reads READING: the practice of insight, and explains why and how Zen attacked monks and schools who depended "words and letters". I've been enjoying the lecture as it was a Dharma talk, fully engaged in body and mind or as washing dishes, taking care of the garden or doing walking meditation.
"This too shall pass": whatever it is that Wright points to, don't stop there. It's also a knot in this endless net.

Too long a post; I did it again, sorry.

Comments welcome, also from buddhas, frogs and ants.

Bosque Theravada

2009-08-12T14:58:00.000+02:00

Debido a mi "conversión" al Zen entre otras cosas, decidí abandonar la moderación del foro de Bosque Theravada. Escribí una carta a los moderadores y la respuesta de cada uno de ellos me hizo patente lo valioso que es tener amigos en el dhamma.

Bosque Theravada es un sitio dedicado al budismo theravada, especialmente a la tradición del bosque de Ajahn Chah. Varios de sus miembros están contribuyendo con traducciones al español de artículos de maestros de esta tradición, así como de suttas y otros textos del Tipitaka, de manera que se está convirtiendo en una página indispensable para el estudio del budismo en español, una especie de Access to Insight en español.

El foro es abierto, ameno y variado y es un buen apoyo en la práctica (abierto si se tiene en cuenta que es un foro theravada de la tradición del bosque y, si se leen las reglas del foro, es mucho más fácil encontrar un hueco).

Para todos los miembros de BT: ojalá encontréis la paz del nibbana en esta vida (y vengáis a contarlo). Gracias por estar ahí.

Os sigo ;)

PS: Ajahn Brahm hacía chistes con el pequeño/gran vehículo. Decía que, en estos días, el pequeño vehículo era mucho mejor porque no emitía tanto CO2 como el grande.

Pequeño o grande, nos vemos en la corriente.

Nirodha

2009-08-11T20:28:00.000+02:00

De vuelta a la rutina, uno se siente cómodo. Muchas horas al volante, es bueno haberse sentado antes.

Hoy me senté con la tercera noble verdad. Más bien me senté con sentarme y ella vino al cabo de un rato, en medio de una sólidad presencia.

El cese de la sed; la sed por los placeres sensoriales, la sed de ser, la sed de no ser.

Cese.

¿Qué queda después? ¿Con qué mente te levantas al final de la sentada?

Sigue la práctica.

Radical shikantaza

2009-08-09T21:37:00.005+02:00

Shikantaza is usually translated as just sitting. I was pointing at that just sitting that is not like the just sitting waiting for the bus, neither the just sitting of someone just sitting on the WC who's having problems in doing what one usually does when sitting on the WC. Just sitting, "radical" in the sense of "casting off body and mind" and then "casting off cast off"; or not going right, not going left, neither remaining where one is; or when silent illumination is not a dark cave of stagnant waters and is quietness dynamically still; or, when a friend of yours says "let go" and you actually let go. Isn't it radical?

End of holidays

2009-08-09T00:03:00.002+02:00

I'm back to college and all the other things in my everyday life. I've taking enough pictures in Iceland of flowers and rocks to put in this blog for a very loooong time. There's a lot going on, a kind of a process of conversion taking place in the last weeks. More into zen, less of a eternal comparison between this and that, leaving behind old frames of reference and picking new ones. Going into zen fully and taking commitments. Almost could say that I'm being converted to "Dogenism" if that word existed. To avoid Zen-intoxication, however, I keep close to the poignant books almost no zen-practitioner wish to read. Currently Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism by Dale Wright (I may come with some comments later; or not). Also working with the precepts and shikantaza (nor the mild neither the samurai, but the radical one). And trying to write shorter so eventual readers have more time for other things than sitting in front of a computer screen. Good practice.

Sobre este blog y el autor

2009-08-08T23:49:00.000+02:00

Las palabras y las definiciones están vacías, dicen.

En su día escribí una entrada explicando el porqué de este blog y contando un poco sobre el autor pero ahora necesito hacer unos ajustes.

Supongo que no será la última versión del "Acerca de":

El nombre del autor del blog es David, meditando desde 1995 en un contexto básicamente zen; budista desde 2005, devorando cualquier cosa de Thanissaro Bhikkhu y aprendiendo a leer los suttas, frecuentando foros en español y en danés y creando blogs que más tarde serían borrados; atacado por la espalda en su retiro solitario de estilo theravada durante las navidades del 2006 por el (hace tiempo muerto) maestro Chan de la escuela Caodong, Hongzhi Zhengjue y su Iluminación Silenciosa; participando en los proyectos de internet de Dosho Port en la blogosfera, facebook y otros medios virtuales; en estrecho contacto con Koro Kaisan Miles y su Boundless Mind Zen School.

Y eso es todo hasta el próximo cambio.

Buena práctica, buena realización.

About this blog and the blogger

2009-08-08T23:17:00.004+02:00

It is said that words and definitions are empty . I wrote a post to explain the why of this blog and tell a little about the blogger but I now need to make some adjustments. I guess this won't be the last version of the "about": The blogger's name is David, meditating since 1995 in a zen frame; buddhist since 2005, devouring anything by Thanissaro Bhikkhu and learning to read the suttas, frequenting buddhist forums in Spanish and Danish and creating blogs that later would be deleted; assalted in his Christmas solitary theravada-style retreat of 2006 by (the long time dead) Master Hongzhi Zhengjue and his Silent Illumination Chan of the Caodong school; participating in Dosho Port's internet projects in the blogsphere, facebook and other virtual media and in close contact (by email) with Koro Kaisan Miles and his Boundless Mind Zen School. That's it until the next change. Stay tuned. If you want to know about the title of this blog, just click on the first link above in this post. Good practice, good realization.

do jhana

Las piedras de Angulimala

Jugar y regocijarse en samadhi

No sé

Rapture will pass

Rapture

Disenchanted yes, but...

Back on track

Does a cow have buddha nature?

Hongzhi en la estantería

What is Zen?

¿Qué es el zen?

Enseñar zen es una profesión

Zen teaching is a profession

Palabras

El evangelio ZEN de Thomas

On the word Zen

Månetyr

Los gansos, las pinzas

Gotama's search. The Buddha's last words

Gotama's search. Who's your Master

Gotama's search. Refuge

Gotama's search. An analysis on the Path

Gotama's search. The Discourse to the five ascetics

Gotama's search. The teaching: detachment and meditation

Cleaning up the pictures of the past

ZBOHY Mission statement

Mierda sin alma y sin yo

Gotama's search. Teaching the five ascetics

Gotama's Search. Considers not to teach

Gotama's Search. Complete awakening

Luna sin respeto

Hvid ensomhed

Luftsten

Respirando piedras

Gotama's search: A new path

Jeg, mig og migselv

Yo, mí, mío

Gotama's search: More austerities

Gotama's Search: Austerities

Gotama's search: Leaving home

Living at the palace

First teachers

About Mazu and transmission in early Chan

Sælen

Fugle spor

Otro día sin montañas

es/no-es

Nyt dharmanavn

Great Faith

Outline of the Buddha's Awakening and basic teachings

Contents

MN 75 (par.10)

MN 26

MN 12 (from par.44)

MN 36

MN36

Meditation

First knowledge

Second knowledge

Third knowledge and liberation

MN 26

MN 26

MN 26

MN 26

SN 56.11

SN 45.8

DN 16

The Master

DN 16

Om

Acerca de

About

Sommerhi

¡A jhanear!

How to enter the zendo

The Dharma of clouds and swans

Silencio

Cleaning up

Samvega