Podcasts about Vimalakirti

Eiryu-ji Zen Center Dharma Talks

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2024 90:25

chan sutra vimalakirti

Shoyoroku Case 48, “Vimalakirti's Gate Of Non-Duality"

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2024 68:10

Dharma talk by Eran Junryu Vardi Roshi of Eiryu-ji Zen Center in Wyckoff, NJ, USA on 6/9/2024.

united states gate dharma nonduality wyckoff zen center vimalakirti

04) Vimalakirti Sutra - 20240601

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2024 97:11

03) Vimalakirti Sutra - 20240525

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2024 97:36

02) Vimalakirti Sutra - 20240518

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2024 96:21

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud

154: Design of Future Zen part 2

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2024 15:04

Continuing with our theme: the importance of independent thought and interdependent action to the future of Zen in America, we must define the design intent of our program in the current context of uncertainty. The accelerating pace of change, including geometrically expanding attractions and distractions in the secular and now digital world, gives our task a certain urgency. As we touched on last time, from Master Dogen's record of live teachings late in his career, Shobogenzo Zuimonki: Even in the secular world, it is said that unity of mind is necessary for the sake of maintaining a household or protecting a castle. If unity is lacking, the house or the castle will eventually fall. Similarly, Honest Abe declared that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” The great unifying principle underlying Zen, then, is this “unity of mind.” But it begs the question of what precisely we mean, by “mind.” Usually our mind – the “monkey mind” anyway – is anything but unified. It may indeed be unified against all comers; or unified in its stubborn clinging to its own opinion; but it is not unified in the sense that I think Master Dogen meant. And it is not the mind characterized by dependent thinking and codependent action, as in “we are of the same mind,” or “like-minded people.” As in the past, the future of Zen comes down to the transmission of this unified mind, which cannot be transmitted directly. Transmission of the method of unifying the mind – which is one meaning implied in the Japanese word sesshin, an intensive, extended retreat – is where we can focus our attention, and plan the design intent of our process around it. In a present and future world increasingly transformed by digital technology and virtual engagement, we may need to rethink the traditional parameter of face-to-face transmission, honored as the most efficacious pedagogy in the history of Zen. However, when we can meet in a virtual room from virtually anywhere in the world, the face-to-face connection becomes one of interfacing video screens. This option was not available in the history of Zen, to belabor the obvious. Objections to an argument that this kind of transaction may suffice to transmit the Dharma include that the perceived teacher-student environment may be colored by such tinkering as phony backgrounds and visual enhancements of lighting and filters, along with stage-setting and costuming designed to play to the camera. In the context of direct Dharma transmission, these amount to additional layers of delusion heaped upon the underlying distortions of conscious perception and conception built into the monkey mind. What is missing in the virtual world is the rest of the story, what transpires behind the screen – the day-in and day-out mutual observation of behaviors and attitudes under less-than-ideal or challenging circumstances – wherein transactional exchanges of personalities and communication in the real-world dynamic of the teacher and student relationship enables “coming to accord” with the teacher's worldview, which is hopefully “Right View.” In Dogen's Jijuyu Zammai – Self-fulfilling Samadhi, he points out the importance of this relationship and its hoped-for outcome: From the first time you meet a master, without engaging in bowing, incense offering, chanting Buddha's name, repentance or reading scripture, you should just wholeheartedly sit, and thus drop away body and mind. Along with establishing the secondary supporting role of Zen's protocols, rituals, and the written record, he goes on to declare that this “dropping off” of body and mind is tantamount to Buddha's insight, and that it completely transforms your world: When even for a moment you express the Buddha's seal by sitting upright in samadhi, the whole phenomenal world becomes the Buddha's seal and the entire sky turns into enlightenment. Later in the same passage he profiles the transition that occurs when the student becomes the master: Those who receive these water-and-fire benefits spread the Buddha's guidance based on original awakening; because of this, all those who live with you and speak with you will obtain endless buddha virtue, and will unroll widely – inside and outside of the entire universe – the endless, unremitting, unthinkable, unnamable buddha-dharma. The telling phrase is “all those who live with you.” A compelling question for lay householder Zen practitioners today is, Do we need to actually “live with” a teacher, or within a residential community, in order to apprehend the true Dharma? And if so, how do we go about implementing that design intent, within the practical constraints of maintaining a household, holding down a job, and raising a family? Or do we all have to become monastics? In which case, Zen is just another program for a privileged few. Dogen's effusive celebration of awakening to the truth of Buddhism as received wisdom includes – and is implicitly dependent upon – your relationship with your teacher. In Dogen's narrative, he must be referencing his lived experience with Rujing in China. But it raises the question of exceptions to the general rule, such as the example of Shakyamuni himself, or Huineng, Sixth Patriarch in China. The case that one absolutely must have a teacher cannot be made – any more than it can be proven that one absolutely must practice zazen – in order to experience the insight of Zen. In research circles, we hear phrases such as “participant observation” to define this kind of intimate, all-embracing investigation of another person's world and approach to coping with it. The adage about walking a mile in someone else's shoes captures the difficulty of getting far enough beyond ourselves, to be able to truly understand the worldview of someone else. In the martial, plastic and performing arts and crafts, as well as trades, guilds, and other apprentice-journeyman-master modes of learning, we see parallels to that of the Zen master and student, where the craft is transmitted mainly through nonverbal observation, closely following the approach of the trainer until it becomes second-nature to the novice. But in the complex society that we encounter today, the possibility and potential payoff of living together, in order to effect a transmission of mind-to-mind seems more and more a pipe dream of a past reality that may no longer apply, and in fact may never have been the norm. Garnered from such collections as “The Transmission of the Lamp” from Song dynasty China, anecdotes from the millennia-long history of Zen begin to look like a mixed bag of long-term and short-term encounters and exchanges between masters and students, and master to master, as well as between students. The resultant impression is that handing down the Dharma from generation to generation was largely a matter of monastics living in large and small communities, but also hermits living in isolation, being visited by other monks and nuns on pilgrimage, and occasional lively set-tos with lay people, women in particular. Notable exceptions to the monastic model include influential lay practitioners such as Vimalakirti in Buddha's time, and Layman Pang and others later in China and Japan. A line in the seminal Ch'an poem Hsinhsinming says, “For the unified mind in accord with the Way, all self-centered striving ceases.” The operative phrase here might be “in accord with the Way.” The “Way” being the Tao of Taoism. Which is a catchall phrase for the natural order of things, with which we want to come into harmony. This unified mind is the Original Mind, capital O – capital M – which we rediscover in our meditation, after sitting still enough and upright enough, for long enough. So the central focus of our practice in the personal sphere has not changed, and our marching – or sitting – orders remain the same: hie thee to the cushion. With or without a teacher. Secure in the assurance that when the time is ripe, your teacher will appear. In due time, you may even find yourself in the unenviable position of being regarded as a teacher of Zen. Further on in the Shobogenzo Zuimonki, the great founding Master talks about what it takes to herd the cats: 5 — 17There is a proverb, “Unless you are deaf and dumb, you cannot become the head of a family.” In other words, if you do not listen to the slander of others and do not speak ill of others, you will succeed in your own work. Only a person like this is qualified to be the head of a family. Although this is a worldly proverb, we must apply it to our way of life as monks. How do we practice the Way without being disturbed by the slandering remarks of others, and without reacting to the resentment of others, or speaking of the right or wrong of others? Only those who thoroughly devote even their bones and marrow to the practice can do it. Thank you, Dogen, for your candor and real-world practicality. It certainly resonates with my experience. If we read between the lines, we can see that Dogen's life, and that of his monks, was apparently not always as ideally serene and transcendent as we may prefer to imagine. People are people, and were the same hot mess in 13th century Japan as they are today. Maybe even worse. In the next segment we will continue with past as prologue to present, and present as perhaps prescient for the future of Zen. Your comments and response are, as always, welcome and encouraged. You know where to find me.* * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Shinjin Larry Little

01) Vimalakirti Sutra - 20240511

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2024 94:10

Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio

Embracing a Buddhafield

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2023 2:04

Sangharakshita shares a verse full of reverence, joy and insight by Rantakara who praises the Buddha in the Vimalakirti Nirdesa. Excerpted from the talk Building the Buddha Land, 1979, part of the series The Inconceivable Emancipation - Themes from the Vimalakirti Nirdesha. This lecture deals in depth with what a Buddha Land is, how and by whom it comes to be built, and what all of this has to do with us. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! Subscribe using these RSS feeds or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone: donate now! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud

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130: Personal vs Communal

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 4, 2023 20:02

Continuing with our discussion of various turning points in living the Zen life, we will examine the Buddhist tradition of “leaving home” to become a mendicant, with its unexamined but intrinsic root question of what, exactly, we mean by “home.” The monastic ideal of “leaving home” is repeatedly praised by Master Dogen in the ordination ceremony known, in Japanese, as “Shukke Tokudo” — which translates as something like “leaving home, sharing the dharma.” In lay householder practice, we do not literally leave home, of course, other than for the occasional extended retreat, or sesshin. But we interpret the meaning as deeply significant, even to the householder. Our true home turns out to be unrelated to geography, or any of the other relative circumstances of existence.We might also question the reality of home-leaving in the life of monastics, as Master Dogen mentions regarding monks of his time (see Shobogenzo Zuimonki). He suggests that some cannot really relinquish their attachment to family, and all that it entails, for the sake of Zen. But it seems a near-prerequisite in order to “hear the true Dharma,” as he puts it in Dogen's Vow (Eiheikosohotsuganmon).Other monks, who are able to relinquish family and home, are not able to let go of their attachment to their body, and good health. They are not willing to put their life on the line, which is, after all, understandable. In this same poem, he quotes Ch'an Master Lungya: “In this life save the body; it is the fruit of many lives.” I take his point to be that an obsession with living a normal life as the scion of a family lineage, at the expense of Zen practice, is ultimately doomed to failure. As a famous analogy has it, family will not accompany you in death. Like other aspects of your life, including health and wellbeing, they will only go as far as the grave. Aging, sickness and death, the three major marks of existence, according to Buddhism, cannot be avoided in the long run. And Zen takes the long view.But the third and most difficult level of monastic non-attachment pointed out by Dogen Zenji, is clinging to our own ideas and opinions, especially regarding all the above. Even monks who can realize the first two levels have difficulty with this last, unable to relinquish, or even to recognize, their erroneous worldview. The monk who can do this most difficult thing has the best chance of waking up during this lifetime. Highest Level of PracticeThis brings up an interesting point, a seeming contradiction, that Dogen does not go into. Achieving this last bit of letting go — of the “ties that bind” — implies letting go of our viewpoints. Including, most notably, those regarding the prior two levels — forgoing a normal lay life of family and friends, marriage, social status, and so on; and further, forsaking our attachment to our own health and, ultimately, our very life. In other words, if we truly let go of all of our own opinions, this would necessarily include any preconceptions we harbor — such as that the most advanced monk or nun is necessarily detached from family and body. Not necessarily. In Zen, we give up our opinions of all such kinds of attachment. It is, after all, natural to be attached to both the body and our family; the distinction lies in the degree to which we are attached to them. This is the heart of the Middle Way.A clear example of this principle is found in pain. We experience some pain in meditation. But we do not immediately react, doing something to make it stop right now. We sink into it a bit more than we usually would, going beyond our comfort zone. In doing so, we have an opportunity to truly experience the “pain” for what it really is. Thus, we may discover that it is not so bad. Although even if we thought that the more extreme dictates of practice may turn out to be life-threatening, we should not shrink from it, according to Dogen. Nothing ventured, nothing gained on a scalable spectrum. Unless we are ale to set aside our preconception that pain = bad, we cannot learn from the experience. This principle then applies to all of our aversions to testy circumstances in life. Aversion is simply the flip side of attachment. Master Dogen's assessment of the levels of commitment of various monks ends with the rare case of one who is able to sunder ties to family, health and life; and, finally, to one's own worldview. This is the highest and truest form of liberation from the random, but seemingly determinative, causes and conditions of our present human birth. But since the last test entails relinquishment of our personal opinion of “all the above,” this should lead to the conclusion that the life of the lay householder is not all that distinct from that of the mendicant monk or nun, at least in any way that really matters in the context of the Great Matter. It is a case of the well-known “distinction without a difference.” If the circumstances of one's lifestyle are only that — circumstance — then by definition, they are not central to living the Zen life.Following on this reasoning, we might propose that the lay person — who is able to relinquish all such opinions, and “succeed to the wisdom of the buddhas” (see Fukanzazengi) — represents the highest possible level of realization. This may explain why it is, in the history of Buddhism and Zen, that such lay persons as Vimalakirti, Emperor Ashoka, Layman Pang, and countless others, are so admired. In spite of having their plates full, constrained by domestic and even governmental duties, they were able to gain profound insight into the Dharma, without renouncing their ordinary life. Not to mention certain monks who were known to flout the norms of monastic life. Of course, you cannot tell the Zen book by its cover, so it is best to appraise only your own practice, and not to judge others, from outward appearances. Contemporary Lay PracticeContemporary lay practice in America is surely vastly different from what it was, and is, in the countries of origin, today as well as in ancient times. My limited understanding suggests that most lay householders practiced dana — generosity — by supporting the monks and nuns of the local orders with offerings of food and material support, including currency and other forms of fungible goods such as metals and fabrics. The community was apparently engaged in other, interactive ways as well. Young children would be sent to the temples and monasteries for training, which probably amounted to finishing schools, including some study of Buddhism. The early monasteries of the East probably evolved into the institutions of higher learning, universities, as they did in the Middle East and in the West, in Europe, for example. But the actual practice of Zen meditation, specifically, was probably not widespread, even in China and Japan. It was, and is, primarily the purview of the monastics Today, however — I think perhaps especially in North and South America, as well as in Western Europe — lay practitioners generally equate Zen practice with meditation. Particularly in the USA, we tend to be do-it-yourselfers. We are not satisfied with second-hand information, and look to direct experience as having its own value, in most everything we do. Thus, Zen training is closely related to apprentice modes of professional training, as in a craft or guild. A novice becomes an apprentice to a master; and eventually a journeyman; finally certified as a master herself. But we must be careful about this idea of becoming a “Zen Master.” We do not master Zen — Zen master us. But only if we allow it. As Master Dogen reminds us in the Genjokoan excerpt from Bendowa, meaning “a talk about the Way,” the first fascicle from his master compilation, Shobogenzo: When buddhas are truly buddhas they do not necessarily notice that they are buddhas. If spiritual awakening is simply awakening to reality, it would not necessarily include taking on a new self-identity as a “buddha.” It might, however, include seeing oneself, as well as others, in a somewhat different light. “Your body and mind, as well as the body and mind of others, drop away” as Dogen assures us in the same teaching. Living the Zen Life TodayWhile we may admire, and hope to emulate, the life of a monk or nun, I believe we in America do not have enough grounding in the reality of that choice, nor in the cultures of the countries of origin, in which Buddhism and Zen originally arose. The choices we have today, in terms of maintaining Zen practice in the midst of life, are surely very different from those of ancient India, for example. Joining the Order meant leaving behind the conventional trappings of society, including family name and caste position, wealth, and so on, though some of Buddha's top disciples seem to have been his blood relatives. The original Order at first included men only, but even during Buddha's lifetime, it expanded to include women. From what I have gathered, any adult from any level of the caste system of the time could join, as long as they were willing to forego the privilege and provenance of their upbringing. This, it seems to me, had to do with renouncing the self, in the conventional sense.This tradition is what Master Dogen, some 1300 years later, referred to as “leaving home,” in laudatory language. Today, we join the community, or Sangha — and can even become ordained as a priest — without literally leaving home in the obvious, outer sense of the phrase. However, when we undergo Shukke Tokudo, lay ordination as a novice priest, the implication is that we leave our ostensible home, in order to find our true home, in universal homelessness.Our True Home: HomelessnessThis homelessness is considered the original, or natural, way of being, and has nothing to do with where we were born, or where we currently dwell, in the geographic sense. Circumstances of our birth, as well as our growing up, our livelihood, and our eventual death, are just that: circumstantial. They are not central to our being, though they may play an inordinate role in shaping our worldview; and, indeed, whether or not we are ever even exposed to the Dharma.This human birth is considered rare in Buddhism, though with nine billion and counting (when I originally wrote this, it was seven billion), it may appear to be so common as to threaten the very survival of the species. By comparison to other life forms, such as insects, we are not even close to predominance on the planet, as measured in biomass. But the disproportionate effect that we as human beings have on the environment amounts to a crisis. We may want to broaden our scope from considerations of our own, personal mortality, to embrace the possibility of extinction of the entire species. There is no greater form of homelessness than to become extinct. ASZC & STO as Collaborative Community Each month, during our Second Sunday Sangha lunch and dialog at ASZC, we discuss issues of how we as individuals can join in the efforts of promoting true community, without compromising our own personal lives as householders and lay Zen people. Matsuoka Roshi predicted, and I concur, that the rebirth of Zen would be seen in America, and that its propagation would be primarily in the form of lay householder practice. He would often remark that “Zen is always contemporary.” That is, we don't have to try too hard to make it contemporary.We have just passed the sixth year anniversary of what might be considered one of the all-time great failures of community, that seen in Charlottesville, Virginia. It recalled to mind the greatest international example of decline of community in Germany, Italy, and later, Japan, which led to WWII. But Charlottesville is only a blip on the screen of the ongoing series of catastrophes, both natural and human, that have plagued the human community since the beginning of recorded history. The latest being the hell on Earth that is Ukraine, courtesy of the Putin regime in Russia. Any serious student of history is not at all surprised by the daily atrocities that we witness on the news. This is human nature in full flower. It is why we aspire to buddha-nature, instead.Now we are in the throes of adolescence, in the growth of the Zen community in America. That there is a lot of confusion wreaked upon this process is to be expected, owing both to quirks of contemporary Western society, and the persistence of myths surrounding the origins of Zen practice in the seminal communities in India, China, Korea, Japan, and the far East. Most of the confusion arises, I think, from the supposed contrasts and apparent contradictions between traditional monastic, and contemporary lay householder, lifestyles. So, as if we need one more thing to worry about, we do not want to become attached to the propagation of Zen as yet another preconceived project in its own right. We are privileged to be exposed to the Dharma, in the most humble sense of the term, and not merely by dint of circumstances of our birth, the source of most social privilege. Let us not miss this opportunity to join with the Zen community, and to serve its members in true collaboration. It is well within our enlightened self-interest to do so.* * * Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Shinjin Larry Little

The Skilful Means of Vimalakirti

Free Buddhist Audio

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2023 55:46

What is a Pure Land? And how do you create one? What is the true meaning of the Buddhas skilful means. With characteristic aplomb Padmavajra unpacks the esoteric teachings of one of Buddhism's greatest Sutras. This talk was given at London Buddhist Centre, 2015. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting!Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe using these RSS feeds or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favorite podcast service! Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone: donate now! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud

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Zen Koans about Vimalakirti's Silence

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2023 49:09

ADZG 1089 ADZG Monday Night Dharma Talk by Taigen Dan Leighton

silence zen koans vimalakirti

The Goddess of Freedom in the Vimalakirti Sutra

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Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2023 70:57

ADZG 1084 ADZG Sunday Morning Dharma Talk by Dale Wright

The Consolation of the Invalid: Vimalakirti's sickbed

consolation invalid vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 11, 2023 48:10

ADZG 1083 ADZG Monday Night Dharma Talk by Douglas Floyd

Vimalakirti's skillful Liberative Techniques

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2023 44:06

ADZG 1081 ADZG Monday Night Dharma Talk by Taigen Dan Leighton

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Vimalakirti Intro: Buddha Fields and Awakening Practice in the world

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Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2023 61:24

ADZG 1080 ADZG Sunday Morning Dharma Talk by Taigen Dan Leighton

My Everything and Beyond | Chasing Echoes

Go(o)d Mornings with CurlyNikki

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2023 8:13

If you find yourself appreciating a moment of Zen today,a moment of solitude, go beyond it. You're not just enjoying the silence of a canceled meeting, or a meeting that ended early (you got 5 minutes back!). You're not just enjoying the silence of your household. You're enjoying His Presence. So there's no need to chase the echoes. And the recognition of that will echo throughout your entire storyline. It will shift your day. It has shifted that body, that space it appears to be in. Notice... (t)here's a different pitch, now. A higher tone. A more harmonious rhythm. Did you catch It?That same room PLUS the consciousness of Love. OR, the consciousness of Love minus 'you', minus 'room'. Just Him, being everything, and beyond. I Love you, Niknikki@curlynikki.com Please help me keep the show ad free + Get Merch!▶▶https://www.patreon.com/goodmornings________________________________Today's Quotes:"...my everything and beyond."-Leon Bridges, Beyond"God is everywhere and in everything but can only be revealed by love."-@annapurna_alisa_sydell"May this time alone reveal to you how precious your peace is so that you never go chasing after anything that disrupts it."-Palak ranaSifting through the noise of our world to find the signal in the static."-Carrie G @carriegustafsonglass "Echoes are produced by songs, music, and weeping. But the song that is heard does not exist. Know that all phenomena are like that."-Buddha, King of Samadhis Sutra 9.23"It's crazy how the presence of God can completely change your mood and attitude in an instant. One worship song, one whispered prayer, one scripture verse can take you from the absolute worst mindset to a place of such peace and joy. There's nothing like the presence of God."- @daily_bibleverses via IG "Enter the silence of solitude. Its vibration will speak to you with the voice of God"-Yogananda "You should see form like a man blind from birth, hear sounds as if they were echoes, smell scents as if they were like wind, experience tastes without any discrimination, touch tangible objects without there being in gnosis any contact, and know things with the consciousness of an illusory creature. That which is without a state of being self and a state of being other does not burn. And what does not burn will not be extinguished."-Vimalakirti, The Noble Mahayâna Sütra "The Teaching of Vimalakirti", 3.12; translated by Robert ThurmanYou are worthy. You are the light that keeps you safe and protects you.You are the love that understands and accepts you. It's all within you.It always has been.It always will be.-IG @saralandonlifeSupport the show

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Adept Practitioners in the World: Vimalakirti, Tosui, Ryokan

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Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2023 55:01

ADZG 1074 ADZG Sunday Morning Dharma Talk by Taigen Dan Leighton

Dave Cuomo - Beyond You (Vimalakirti - The Thrilling Conclusion)

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Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2022 50:59

“For me, the best Zen Master is a dead Zen Master. It's really healthy for us to venerate and revere these figures. It just doesn't seem all that healthy for a human to actually sit in that role.” - Dave Cuomo Join us for a madcap romp to the thrilling conclusion of The Vimalakirti Sutra - Buddha and Vimalakirti square off for an epic confrontation Beyond Comprehension, Vimalakirti holds a universe in his hands like a bouquet of flowers for his loved ones (us!), Shariputra finally gets some answers, Buddha regales us with stories of when he was a young upstart Bodhisattva just as confused as the rest of us, and even the God Indra makes a cameo to endorse the whole affair. What actually is a Buddha after all? Why doesn't the sutra want us to believe it's own bulls**t?? What are our practice, dreams, ambitions, and lives about if in the end they're not about us at all??? Find out here!

Rev. Nannette Overley

Santa Cruz Zen Center

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2022

Vimalakirti's Great Compassion

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Dave Cuomo - “Slumming It” (Vimalakirti Sutra ch 10 & 11)

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Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2022 41:28

“When I read the old literature, the Zen Masters are never my role models. I identify with the idiot monks who don't get it. Like, how do I humble myself to what I don't understand? How do I respond to what I'll never feel capable of? That helps me relax. It might even help me be more virtuous.” - Dave Cuomo Vimalakirti opens up a portal to a sweet smelling alien pure land to order some lunch, while those blissed out beings get curious about what it's like to have problems and pop over to our little Saha World to see what life is like on the wrong side of the karmic tracks. Will they be able to appreciate the gritty realism of our little corner of paradise? Why is our Buddha so hard on us with all of his tough love truths when other Buddhas teach just by smelling good? Is our messy world a practice opportunity or a perfection we're just too ignorant to see? Will Shariputra and the gang remember to get the recipe for the best rice in the galaxy? Find out here!!

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 27

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Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2022 60:38

Entrustment. To live our Samsaric life in Buddha-mind while influencing others to do the same. Buddhism resources threefoldlotus.com www.lulu.com/spotlight/kwoon www.cafepress.com/gohonzon PayPal.me/sifusylvain Patreon.com/TLK

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 26

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2022 50:22

To live the "Law" is to offer the Law. Share your path as you travel it.

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Vimalakirti Sutra - part 25

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2022 56:32

To course in the realms of the phenomenal world as Bodhi.

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 24

living samsara sutra vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2022 34:42

Living in Samsara while maintaining wonder.

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 23

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2022 53:26

Buddha is the mind's experience of the making of time, the fabric of moments.

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Vimalakirti Sutra - part 22

sutra bodhisattva vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2022 54:54

What is a Bodhisattva and How do we behave, teach, live this life?

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 21

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2022 49:19

This entire universe is our Buddha Land. Our Daimoku is the window, door, gate, to enter into Buddhaness.

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 20

buddha sutra saha vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2022 67:27

To remain focused on Buddha-ness is to eliminate all entanglements of the Saha realms in the Buddha-Way.

Dave Cuomo - Thunderous Silence (Vimalakirti Ch 9 - Non Duality)

marvel silence buddhism cuomo nonduality thunderous bodhisattvas norman fischer vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2022 46:29 Very Popular

“Don't try to improve at all. Just try to understand what a nut you are. Be patient with it. Marvel at it - ‘What a dummy I am, it's unbelievable that I still do this, and it's perfect the way I do it because I've been conditioned so perfectly, so exquisitely. My mother and father were so perfect in making me as neurotic as I am.'” - Norman Fischer Birth & death, blame or blessings, life or liberation?? In this epic stand alone chapter of the Vimalakirti Sutra, Dave takes us on a walk through Non Duality in Buddhism, as poetically descried by the great Bodhisattvas (with a little commentary help from the also great Norman Fischer). Is everything really all one? What does it even mean to say that? Can us puny mortals experience such a thing? Is Non Duality just another heady philosophical wormhole or is there something to it that can actually transform our lives in this mundane workaday world we all know and love? Find out here!

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 19

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2022 70:06

To perceive equanimity in all "things" is the gate to emancipation from dualism

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 18

sutra dualism vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2022 67:06

How many mandalas are there? What is non-Dualism?

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 17

duality sutra vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2022 59:05

Duality. This or that. Self and other. Duality is the construct of possession.

Vimalakirti Sutra - part 16

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2022 41:09

Living life to the full means the support and inspiration for all others to do the same

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Vimalakirti Sutra - part 15

hell sutra coursing vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2022 74:17

Coursing through the worlds of the Hell of Incessant Suffering, we live the Buddha Way.

Dave Cuomo - Heavenly Hells! (Vimalakirti Sutra ch 8)

plant cuomo wrong way sutra hells manjushri vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2022 36:33

“Plant seeds in the sky and they'll never grow. Plant them in dung and dirt and watch them flourish.” - Manjushri In the culminating thesis of the sutra, our great bodhisattvic heroes Vimalakirti and Manjushri celebrate the irascible and irreverent with a whole hearted endorsement of the path of the Wrong Way and the heavenly delights of hell while Mahakasyapa laments the great disappointment of his own enlightenment. Is this why we can't have nice things? Would we actually be content if we did get all those nice things? Does being good ultimately do anyone any good?? Find out here!

How Do We Regard Living Beings?

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2022 44:15 Very Popular

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 07/17/2022 - Hojin Sensei speaks on Chapter 7 from the Vimalakirti Sutra entitled "The Goddess." In this chapter, Manjushri asks Vimalakirti , "How should we regard living beings?" Hojin Sensei offers insight into the harm done through the oppression of particular human embodiments. She shares teachings on how to honor all aspects of ourselves and others: sameness and difference as one reality.

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Dave Cuomo - Flowers Abound! (Vimalakirti ch7 - The Goddess)

flowers goddess cuomo abound zen center vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2022 46:19

“The nice thing about a Zen Center is they make it really easy to be a good person. Just follow the script - bowing, sitting, chanting enlightened things, sending all your cosmic merit to all living beings… you're already being an enlightened buddha just by following the playbook. Everyone seems so nice, wholesome, and down to earth around here. I guess I don't really know what you're like on the outside. Maybe I don't wanna find out. But I like what this place does to us.” - Dave Cuomo Dave regales us with the famously wise and whimsical Goddess chapter of the Vimalakirti Sutra. A sneaky snarky goddess has been hiding out listening in on our heroes, and now she's ready to reveal herself and indulge in some no holds barred dharma combat. Can this proto feminist icon show our heroes the way? What do identity politics mean to a being born of no self? Can hatred be a tool of liberation?? Is it always attachment to want nice things? Or is the real attachment to push them away?? Find out here!

The Body of Reality

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2022 41:27 Very Popular

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 07/10/2022 - From The Blue Cliff Record, Case 82 - Ta Lung's "Hard and Fast Body of Reality" - In this crucible of our lives today, so full of so much, why, in Buddhism is there an emphasis on realizing emptiness? Similarly, why does realizing the nature of the self liberate us from our attachments? At the same time, we speak of the body of reality. That doesn't sound very empty, and we're certainly attached to our own bodies, the living manifestation of impermanence. So what is our true body, our body of reality? We speak of the three bodies of the buddha: Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya and Dharmakaya. Can we understand these as aspects of ourselves?

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Dave Cuomo - Beyond Comprehension (Vimalakirti Sutra ch 6)

universe cuomo comprehension sutra vimalakirti

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2022 42:03

“If you train yourself to always be confident, competent, and charismatic, you're going to walk into a room and either alienate or inspire everybody, and connect with nobody. If you're able to walk into a room with a tickle of anxiety and self doubt, next to some hope and aspiration, all cradled in the big old thromb of emptiness that animates everything, then you can actually connect with people. Maybe.” - Dave Cuomo Dave regales us with the wild and wacky wizardly hijinks of Chapter 6 of the Vimalakirti Sutra. This week the assembly needs to find itself some chairs, so Vimalakrit busts out his portal gun to go looking for the Greatest Chairs in the Universe, which turn out to be 84,000 feet tall! Can the lesser monks among us measure up to the seats of the great bodhisattvas (metaphor alert…)? And how are we to understand the bodhisattva's great magic known as “Beyond Comprehension” (irony alert…)? And if, as the sutra says, every jerk in the universe is actually just a bodhisattva in disguise trying to test and train us, what is the actual answer to the test?? Find out here!

Inconceivable Liberation and The Womb of Compassion – Ep. 292

Bob Thurman Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2022 57:38 Very Popular

In this episode Robert Thurman leads a close line reading of the sixth chapter of “The Holy Teachings of Vimalakirti”, giving an all-levels teaching on the inconceivable nature of the Buddha's enlightenment, Buddhist emptiness and the nature of love as taught throughout Buddhism. Using personal stories from his time teaching in academia and studying with His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Thurman reflects on the way that emptiness creates a space for love and compassion to flourish. This episode also includes an examination of the the term “womb of compassion” as found in Nāgārjuna's “Jewel Rosary” connecting Buddha's revolutionary physical discovery of emptiness/relativity with the wisdom that empowers the positive emotions of selfless love and compassion. The Vimalakirti Sutra's Inconceivable Liberation chapter (#6) is said to be a drop from the ocean of this multilevel set of presentations by the Buddha and many bodhisattvas, in which he demonstrates his permeation of the enlightened cosmos and the glory of the bodhisattva realms. For any Buddhist practitioner, particularly those of Vajrayana Buddhism and Zen, this Vimalakīrti-nirdesha Sūtra. is of the utmost importance. Unlike most sutras, its central figure is not a buddha, or even a monk, but an ordinary man, who, in his mastery of the teaching and spiritual practice, personifies the ideal human being, assuring regular people that they can reach levels of spiritual attainment comparable to those accessible to monks. The sutra opens the door to the meaning of non-duality. Thurman discusses the background of the sutra, its place in the development of Buddhist thought, and the profundities of its principal teaching: emptiness the womb of compassion. "To any Buddhist practitioner, particularly those of Vajrayana Buddhism and Zen, this sutra is of the utmost importance. Unlike most sutras, its central figure is not a Buddha, but an ordinary man, who, in his mastery of the teaching and spiritual practice, personifies the ideal lay believer, assuring commoners that they can reach levels of spiritual attainment comparable to those accessible to monks. The sutra teaches, among other subjects, the meaning of non-duality. Thurman discusses the background of the sutra, its place in the development of Buddhist thought, and the profundities of its principal teaching: emptiness." -Text from "The Yoga of Ordinary Living" Inconceivable Liberation and The Womb of Compassion - Ep. 292 is excerpted from “The Yoga of Ordinary Living” by Robert A.F. Thurman, Available via www.betterlisten.com. "We are empty of any isolated essence, of any non-connected essence.We are free of such non-connected, isolated, alienated essence. That is what it means. Enlightenment is realizing that freedom at the deepest level. And therefore, enlightenment is realizing our inexorable interconnectedness. The vast space of reality is nothing but the surface of the interrelations of all things. All of the interconnected things are the reality of emptiness. Therefore emptiness, voidness, freedom are the womb of compassion, the sensitivity and will that refuses to accept anyone's suffering, that automatically wills everyone's happiness. Emptiness is the womb of compassion, means that in realizing emptiness we are free of the illusion that we have carried from the beginning of time that I am the one." -Robert Thurman Womb Realm Mandala, Shingon Tantric Buddhist school, Heian period (794-1185), Tō-ji, Kyōto, Japan, via www.wikipedia.org.

Dave Cuomo - Why Bother? (Why Not?! (Vimalakirti ch 5))

Mountain Cloud Zen Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2022 45:08

“The goal here isn't to stop feeling pain. We need you to feel pain." - Dave Cuomo In pt 4 of our Vimalakirti series , the great bodhisattva Manjusrhi finally meets the enlightened laymen Vimalakirti himself for some playfully profound dharma combat as they tackle the big questions; why do we have trouble? How should we care for other people when they have trouble?? How should we care for ourselves when we have trouble??Can we really rid ourselves of all pain, and if so, should we??? Let's find out.

cuomo bother vimalakirti

Dharmatalk: Moving Toward the Winter Light

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2022 35:36

Description: Valerie Forstman explores the silence when Vimalakirti is asked, what is the bodhisattva entering the dharma-gate of non-duality (or the gate of not two)? Vimalakirti opens a portal to

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Dave Cuomo - “Now What??” (Vimalakirti pt 3)