A fierce and terrifying band of samurai

A fierce and terrifying band of samurai was riding through the countryside, bringing fear and harm wherever they went. As they approached one particular town, all the monks in the town’s monastery fled, except for the abbot. When the band of warriors entered the monastery, they found the abbot sitting at the front of the shrine room in perfect posture. The fierce leader took out his sword and said, “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know that I’m the sort of person who could run you through with my sword without batting an eye?” The Zen master responded, “And I, sir, am the sort of man who could be run through by a sword without batting an eye.”

– as told by Sylvia Boorstein in Shambhala Sun, vol16, #3, January 2008

may all who journey/ excerpt from John Daido Loori, Roshi

. John Daido Loori, Roshi is the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery. A successor to Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi, Roshi, Daido Roshi trained in rigorous koan Zen and in the subtle teachings of Master Dogen, and is a lineage holder in the Soto and Rinzai schools of Zen.

The Prologue

The empty sky vanishes. Mountains are level with the plains. Above, not a tile to cover the head. Below, not an inch of ground upon which to stand.

The Main Case

The great Master Dogen taught, “From time immemorial the mountains have been the dwelling place of the great sages; wise ones and sages have made the mountains their own chambers, their own body and mind. And through these wise ones and sages the mountains have been actualized. However many great sages and wise ones we suppose have assembled in the mountains, ever since they entered the mountains no one has met a single one of them. There is only the actualization of the life of the mountains; not a single trace of their having entered remains.”

The Capping Verse

When we truly enter the mountains,
birds, bugs, beasts and blossoms
radiate supernatural excellence
and take great delight in our presence.

Master Dogen’s “Mountains and Rivers Sutra” is the heart of the teachings of the Mountains and Rivers Order. Over the years of developing the training here on Tremper Mountain, our way of teaching the dharma has come directly from this text. Dogen is known as an outstanding poet, metaphysician, and one of Japan’s leading spiritual figures. The subject of this chapter—which is part of his masterwork, Shobogenzo: The Tresury of the True Dharma Eye—is nature, the immediate landscape in which we practice. Dogen was a lover of nature. He built his primary monastery, Eiheiji, deep in the mountains, preferring the unspoiled environment of forested hills, crags and roaring streams to the high society of Kyoto. Yet, he was first and foremost a Zen Buddhist master, so the mountains and rivers of Dogen’s writings are not so much the mountains and rivers of poetry, but the mountains and rivers of the true dharma eye, of the realized truth of the universe. In fact, we can say that the “Mountains and Rivers Sutra” is not about mountains and rivers, but that the mountains and rivers themselves are the sutra, the true buddhadharma. …

…

Without fear what would samsara be? pdlyons words & photographs

 

 

 

 

We don’t know anything because we can’t

 

All we can do is label

We can call this a blade of grass

But can we explain what that is?

 

Where does it come From

                                 Rest

                                 Go

Do you KNOW grass?

 

MuffinManZen

If We Could Allow Grief by PD Lyons

In the latest issue of Buddhadharma Quarterly  I read a beautiful article by Joan Sutherland, Roshi titled Here at the End of the World In it she eloquently and effectively explores our social grief and lack of expression and how it is impacting our response or lack of response regarding the environmental situation. Below is my own attempt to express myself regarding grief and gun violence. While I make no comparison to Roshi Sutherland and my own pale writing I felt I must site her influence. Perhaps from here you’ll seek her out? Here is a direct link to her site and the complete article https://joansutherlanddharmaworks.org/Detailed/186.html

Thank you for reading.

pd Lyons

.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If we could allow grief

Our grief to manifest

 

A school room of 7 year olds 

Shot to death

A spring morning

Their families

The responders

The survivors

The shooter

All grief worthy

 

If we could allow this grief

Wouldn’t we be able then to progress?

 

Fear of grief

Shielded with anger

Anger stifles, prevents movement, stagnates into polarity, perpetuation of fear.

 

If we could allow grief

Could we not then allow healing?

 

this courage, is it not worth daring?

 

If We Could Allow Grief by PD Lyons

In the latest issue of Buddhadharma Quarterly  I read a beautiful article by Joan Sutherland, Roshi titled Here at the End of the World In it she eloquently and effectively explores our social grief and lack of expression and how it is impacting our response or lack of response regarding the environmental situation. Below is my own attempt to express myself regarding grief and gun violence. While I make no comparison to Roshi Sutherland and my own pale writing I felt I must site her influence. Perhaps from here you’ll seek her out? Here is a direct link to her site and the complete article https://joansutherlanddharmaworks.org/Detailed/186.html

Thank you for reading.

pd Lyons

.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If we could allow grief

Our grief to manifest

 

A school room of 7 year olds 

Shot to death

A spring morning

Their families

The responders

The survivors

The shooter

All grief worthy

 

If we could allow this grief

Wouldn’t we be able then to progress?

 

Fear of grief

Shielded with anger

Anger stifles, prevents movement, stagnates into polarity, perpetuation of fear.

 

If we could allow grief

Could we not then allow healing?

 

this courage, is it not worth daring?

 

Do you KNOW the grass ? Muffin Man Zen

We Don’t KNOW Anything ‘Cause We Can’t

 

we can label

we can call this        a blade of grass

but can we explain

exactly what it is?

Do you KNOW the grass ?

 

 

true

Have a good look, stop the breath, peel off the skin, and everybody ends up looking the same. No matter how long you live, the result is not altered – Who will not end up a skeleton? – zen master Ikkyu from Zen 24/7 by P.T. Sudo. Harper,2001,SF.

 

may all who journey remember

No one here gets out alive…. – J. Morrison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGHhqV_QhzE

 

 

Courage – a fierce and terrifying band of samurai…

 

 

COURAGE

 

A fierce and terrifying band of samurai was riding through the countryside, bringing fear and harm wherever they went. As they approached one particular town, all the monks in the town’s monastery fled, except for the abbot. When the band of warriors entered the monastery, they found the abbot sitting at the front of the shrine room in perfect posture. The fierce leader took out his sword and said, “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know that I’m the sort of person who could run you through with my sword without batting an eye?” The Zen master responded, “And I, sir, am the sort of man who could be run through by a sword without batting an eye.” – as told by Sylvia Boorstein

 

true

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen

—Francis of Assisi. Quoted in A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom, edited by Whitall N. Perry (Simon & Schuster, 1971)

just joey and buddha

true

 

The First Principle

“You talked about the first principle again, but I still don’t know

what it is,” I said to Suzuki. “I don’t know,” he said, “is the first

principle.” –Shunru Suzuki