Author Archives: rodriguez.m

Mar 24 – 30

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MORNING TRAVEL
 
Rising early
to begin the journey;
not a sound
from the chickens next door.
 
Beneath the lamp,
I part from the innkeeper;
on the road, my skinny horse
moves through the dark.
 
Slipping on stones
newly frosted,
threading through woods,
we scare up birds roosting.
 
After a bell tolls
far in the mountains,
the colors of daybreak
gradually clear.
 
-Chia Tao, The Clouds Should Know Me By Now

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Mar 26, 8:30am

Friday Mar 29, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds, Chapter 36, “Lotus Vow”.

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #67

“Fu Daishi Concludes His Lecture on the Sutra”

Emperor Liang Wu requested Mahasattva Fu to expound the Diamond Sutra. The Mahasattva then from the high seat, lifted and brought the lectern table down once, and then came down from the seat. Emperor Wu was dumbfounded.

The Official of the Records asked, “Does Your Highness understand yet?”

The Emperor said, “I don’t understand.”

The Official of the Records said, “The Mahasattva has finished expounding the sutra.”

Mar 17 – 23

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Body impermanent like spring mist;
mind insubstantial like empty sky;
thoughts unestablished like breezes in space.
Think about these three points over and over.
 
-Adept Godrakpa, Hermit of Go Cliffs

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Mar 19, 8:30am

Friday Mar 22, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds, Chapter 35, “Early Morning Sunshine”.

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #1, Book of Serenity #2:

“Emperor Wu Asks Bodhidharma”

Emperor Wu of Ryô asked Great Master Bodhidharma:

“What is the highest meaning of the holy reality?”

Bodhidharma replied, “Vast and void, no holiness.”

The emperor said, “Who are you in front of me?”

Bodhidharma said, “I don’t know.”

The emperor did not match him.

Finally, Bodhidharma crossed the Yangtze River and came to the Shôrin Temple. There he  sat for nine years, facing the wall.

Mar 10 – 16

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A monk asked: “What is Buddha?”
Chongshou said: “What is Buddha?”
The monk asked: “What is understanding?”
Chongshou said: “Understanding is not understanding.”
 
-Zen’s Chinese Heritage

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Mar 12, 8:30am

Friday Mar 15, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds, Chapter 34, “Reunion”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #41: “Bodhidharma’s Mind-Pacifying”

Bodhidharma sat facing the wall.

The Second Patriarch stood in the snow.

He cut off his arm and presented it to Bodhidharma, crying, “My mind has no peace as yet! I beg you, master, please pacify my mind!”

“Bring your mind here and I will pacify it for you,” replied Bodhidharma.

“I have searched for my mind, and I cannot take hold of it,” said the Second Patriarch.

“Now your mind is pacified,” said Bodhidharma.

Mumon’s Comment

The broken-toothed old Hindu came so importantly, thousands of miles over the sea.
This was raising waves where there was no wind.
In his last years he induced enlightenment in his disciple, who, to make matters worse, was defective in the six roots.
Why, Shasanro did not know for ideographs.

Mumon’s Verse

Coming east, directly pointing,
You entrusted the Dharma, and trouble arose;
The clamor of the monasteries
Is all because of you.

Mar 3 – 9

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Explaining many profound dharmas is easy,
living them yourself is hard.
 
Adept Godrakpa, Hermit of Go Cliffs

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Mar 5, 8:30am

Friday Mar 8, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds, Chapter 33, “Beauty That Does Not Fade”.

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #3: “The Indian King Invites the Patriarch”

A king of Eastern India invited the twenty-seventh patriarch, Prajna Tara, for a meal.

The king asked, “Why don’t you recite sutras?”

The patriarch said,

“The poor way does not stay in the world of subject when breathing in, and has nothing to do with the world of objects when breathing out. I am always reciting the suchness-sutra in millions and millions of volumes.”

Feb 24 – Mar 2

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What does the spring wind have in mind,
Coming day and night to these groves and gardens?
It never asks who owns the peach and damson trees
But blows away their crimson without a word.

Ch’i-Chi, in The Clouds Should Know Me By Now

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Feb 26, 8:30am

Friday Mar 1, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds, Chapter 32, “The Finger Is Not the Moon”.

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #78: “Bodhisattvas in the Bath”

In ancient times there were 16 bodhisattvas. At the time for monks to bath they followed the custom and entered the bath, and suddenly awoke by the primary cause of water.

All you Virtuous Ones of Zen, how do you make it alive to comprehend them saying, “The wonderful touch proclaims the brilliance and becomes the abode of the Buddha’s children.”

Also, [you] must do eight holes in seven borings to begin to get it.

Feb 17 – 23

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This fundamental consciousness
in itself is nothing at all.
In the voidness of reality
lack of realizer and realized is realized, 
lack of seer and seen is seen,
lack of knower and known is known,
lack of perceiver and perceived is perceived.

Milarepa, Drinking the Mountain Stream

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Feb 19, 8:30am

Friday Feb 22, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 31, “I Will Return in the Spring”.

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #84, Book of Serenity #48 : “The Vimalakirti Sutra’s Non-Duality”

Vimalakirti asked Manjusri,

“What does it mean that the Bodhisattva enters the
Dharma-gate of Not-Two?”

Manjusri said,

“I see it like this: in all phenomena, there are
neither words nor explanations, neither presentations nor knowledge; it is beyond all
questions and answers. That is what I understand with ‘to enter the Dharma-gate of
Not-Two’.”

Then Manjusri asked Vimalakirti,

“All of us have finished giving our explanations. Now you
should give your explanation. What does it mean that the Bodhisattva enters the
Dharma-gate of Not-Two?”

Vimalakirti remained silent.

Feb 10 – 16

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Unless we practice loving feelings toward everyone we meet, day in, day out, we’re missing out on the most joyous part of life. If we can actually open our hearts, there’s no difficulty in being happy. 

Ayya Khema, Be An Island

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Feb 12, 8:30am

Friday Feb 15, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 30, “Bamboo Forest”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #22: “Kashyapa’s Flagpole“

Ananda asked Kashyapa, “The World-honored One gave you the golden robe; did he give you anything else?”

“Ananda!” cried Kashyapa.

“Yes, sir!” answered Ananda.

“Knock down the flagpole at the gate,” said Kashyapa.

Mumon’s Comment:

Tell me—question or answer—which was more intimate?
Many have knit their brows over this;
Elder brother calls, younger brother answers, and they betray the family secret.
They had a special spring, not one of yin and yang.

Feb 3 – 9

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Even a strong wind is empty by nature.
Even a great wave is just ocean iteslf.
Even thick southern clouds are insubstantial as sky.
Even the dense mind is naturally birthless.

Milarepa, Drinking the Mountain Stream

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Feb 5, 8:30am

Friday Feb 8, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 29, “Dependent Co-Arising”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #6: “Buddha Holds Up A Flower“

When Buddha was in Grdhrakuta mountain he turned a flower in his fingers and held in before his listeners. Every one was silent. Only Maha-Kashapa smiled at this revelation, although he tried to control the lines of his face.

Buddha said:

“I have the eye of the true teaching, the heart of Nirvana, the true aspect of non-form, and the ineffable stride of Dharma. It is not expressed by words, but especially transmitted beyond teaching. This teaching I have given to Maha-Kashapa.’

Mumon’s Comment:

    At the turning of a flower
    His diguise was exposed.
    No one is heaven or earth can surpass
    Maha-Kashapa’s wrinkled face.

 

Jan 27 – Feb 2

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When non-action is realized, it is the true nature. There is no other buddha outside of that.

Jamgon Kongtrul, Creation and Completion

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Jan 29, 8:30am

Friday Feb 1, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 28, “Palm Forest”.

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #97, Book of Serenity #58: “‘Getting Despised’ in the Diamond Sutra“

The Diamond Sutra says:

“It is about getting despised by other people. If you are to come into hell because of your sins in your previous life, these sins will be extinguished because you are despised by the people of this world.”

 

Jan 20 – 26

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Thinking of human beings alone is a bit narrow. To consider that all sentient beings in the universe have been our mother at some point in time opens a space of compassion.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama – Imagine All The People

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Jan 22, 8:30am

Friday Jan 25, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 27, “All Dharmas Are On Fire”.

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #67: “The Wisdom in the Kegon Sutra“

The Kegon Sutra says:

“Now I see all living beings everywhere, and I see that each of them possesses the wisdom and virtue of Tathagata. But because of their delusions and attachments, they cannot realize it.”