Brickbats and Bouquets

To improve anything, we need both sincere and accurate brickbats and bouquets-
Brickbats to know where we can improve.
Bouquets to know what improvements worked.

Fengshui

Where would there be leather enough to cover the entire world?
The Earth is covered over merely with the leather of my sandals.

-Shantideva

When the mind is pure, the land is pure.

-Vimarlakirti Nirdesa Sutra

[The Buddha's message is in essence mastering the mind; not the environment. Being attached to fengshui (geomancy) is in a way trying to cover leather everywhere.]

The Buddha did not teach many things for a simple reason-
they are unnecessary for the path to Enlightenment.
While there are 101 things seemingly helpful for Enlightenment,
they are still essentially unnecessary.

-Stonepeace

Does Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Dizang Pusa) experience hell in hell?
No - or he would simply be another being suffering in hell.
His purified mind sees even hell as a pureland, a perfect place to practise.

-Stonepeace

Perfect fengshui is the experiencing of pureland everywhere.
It comes from minding the mind perfectly;
not by minding the environment perfectly.

-Stonepeace

Impact

Too much mere positive but superficial Dharma IMPRINT here and there through this and that "skillful means". We need Dharma IMPACT.

Suffering Self

It is the self who suffers. When there is no self, there is no suffering. And since there is actually no self, there is actually no suffering. We do not suffer from having a self; we suffer from having the delusion of having a self. What is worse than attachment to something is attachment to "nothing" - an illusion. I am still deluded, so there is self and the self is suffering.

Best

There you go again... ranting about another manic Monday around the corner. Zen Master Ummon says, "Every day is a good day!" Zen story - man asks butcher to give him best meat from a pig and he replies, "Every part is the best."

Simple

All beings by nature are Buddha,
as ice by nature is water;
apart from water there is no ice,
apart from beings no Buddha.

-Hakuin Zenki, Song of Zazen

It is so simple, so so simple. But we are so complicated, so so complicated. Zen is too simple for most of us - that we need the complicated, in order to simplify, in order to see Zen.

-Stonepeace

Why Not Die Now?

Albert Camus said that the first question we should ask is why we should not commit suicide. I think the first question we should ask is why we need to ask anything at all. The answer is because we are ignorant or deluded about the nature of life and death. So we should seek answers about life and death - and not just ask "Why don't we die now?" That is just too abrupt, though existentially, I can see where Camus was coming from. He was questioning the worth of life and living. But should we not question too, the worth of death and dying? In Buddhism, life and death is like dawn and dusk, cyclic in nature. So there's no need to be hung up on either life or death alone - they are two halves of a whole puzzle.

Sleep Away

Waking up everyday to life is a recurring nightmare to some. To me sometimes too. Maybe that is why the homeless and the aimless sleep so much... attempting to sleep away life? Nothing to do and wanting to do nothing, they prefer the tastelessness of nothingness - though they are not there to taste it when asleep. They don't exactly have a deathwish - though they are not enthusiastic about life either. Maybe they just want to get it over with "naturally" - and die and unite with the bliss of nothingness forever without waking up. Theylive like ghosts flitting randomly in the background - not really alive and not realy dead. The sad part is all they want is True Happiness, and it is obvious that it eludes them, whether sleeping or not. The "pleasure" of sleep is only fleeting - we have to wake up. If sleep is for rest before we wake up, then perhaps our waking up is for waking up more and more to life's lessons - till we attain Enlightenment.

-Zeph's Journal

Second Nature

It is easy for the good person to do good deeds,
but for the evil one it is difficult to do good deeds.

It is easy for the evil person to do bad deeds,
but it is difficult for the good one to do bad deeds.

-Udana (The Buddha)

 

Avoid evil and do good till it becomes your second nature,
until you realise your second nature is your first and original nature,
which is none other than your Buddha-nature.

-Stonepeace

Who Are You?

When we say, "This is MY mind and body", it means YOU are not YOUR mind or body. It means YOU are different. Similarly, MY house is not me. What then is YOU? Can YOU point your SELF out?

Reaction

Different reactions arise from different people when experiencing the same thing. The element that differentiates is the state of mind. There is prior habitual perception that urges one to to experience something in a certain way, and the choice that one takes to do so. What we have to be aware of is the faultiness of our perception and the availability of choice.

Direct Path

I have this knack for seeing the most direct or shortest path between point A and B (without stepping on grass or crossing anywhere illegally). In the mean time, I see many others following laid pavements blindly, looping loops, even though they walk through the area day in and out. I'm not just encouraging others to take the path less travelled, but the path untravelled, by seeing possiblities beyond that laid by convention.

Moving House

Amazing how few are essential items one needs to live with. I discovered this when I was moving house. There's this saying on how to design a Zen-styled house - take out everything and put in only what you need. I daresay my place is quite Zen now. It's a new stage of my life - of filtering out the unnecessary and focusing on the essentials - not just in terms of physical things, but spiritual stuff too.

Ultimate Trap

The ultimate trap is the one that one creates by refusing to let go of the delusional clinging that causes oneself suffering. An imprisoned bird might not wish to fly out of an opened cage when it has gotten too used to the trap being home.

Buddha Picture

Look at a picture of the Buddha and ask yourself - "What is it that makes it a picture of the Buddha?" Is it the eyes, or the hair, or... It is your mind.

Traffic Jam

A traffic jam ceases to be one when your mind stops defining the traffic as jammed, but perhaps as slow-moving instead. A jam is all in the mind, not a real solid thing out there.

Oversleep

It is not always laziness that leads one to oversleep. Sometimes it is a result of being more restful or needing more rest than expected; not resting too much. Isn't this common sense? Yes maybe - but we often tend to see only one side of the picture. Every seemingly useless or "bad" thing can have a useful or good side.

Staples

I respect people who do as much as they can to safeguard the environment - down to the little details. I try to do the same. I try not to use staples when putting papers together which will later be taken apart. Yes, even though they are "tiny pieces of metal". I use paper clips instead. And I collect used or removed staples for recycling under "metal."

Perfectionist

I find it funny when fellow Buddhist friends call me a perfectionist and overly detail-minded. I mean... aren't Buddhists supposed to be spiritual perfectionists? Thus is there the practice of the Six Perfections (Paramitas). In fact, they can take a long time to perfect - it is thus never too too early to be picky... on yourself. But forgive yourself too, after repentance - when you fail to meet your standards. Only so can you move on and improve yourself.

Window Scenery

The windows laminate the scenery, sealing it tightly such that I can only see, but not touch, hear, smell or taste it. A view is just a view. A room with merely a view is overrated if you are stuck in the room - not unlike seeing the world on TV. I am not there yet - not in the scene of the scenery, not in the thick of it all. I need to get through the window that divides. The view is supposed to guide me to my destination; not trap me. I am looking at what is more than that that can be seen. I need full experience. I need the truth that will set me free.

No Self

Oh we can play with words all day long...
"self" discovery is the discovery of no "self".

Purify

Avoid Evil.
Do Good.
Purify the Mind.
This is the Teaching of All Buddhas.

-The Buddha (Dhammapada)

To avoid evil and do good is to practise self-improvement.
To purify the mind is to realise there is no self to improve.

-Stonepeace

Virus

Dear Ast,

Viruses work in a complex way these days. If my email address sits in person A's computer, which is infected, the virus can impersonate my address to send a virus file. The virus mail apparently from me has nothing to do with my computer, which has virus scan updated every time before email is turned on. All we can do is ensure we ourselves are not infected and that we are not infecting others. This runs parallel with our spiritual practice. May we not spread our spiritual viruses (three poisons of greed, hatred and delusion) to others by ridding ourselves of them.

Amituofo,Stonepeace

Improve

Do not speak
unless it improves on silence.

-Anon

Do not do anything
unless it improves something.

-Stonepeace

Peace & Quiet

Silence is not the absence of sound,
but the absence of self.

-H.W.L. Poonja

Real peace is of the mind,
not the environment

-Stonepeace

Responsibilities

One should not wish fewer responsibilities for an easier life,
but better strength for more responsibilities.

-Dharma Master Cheng Yen

Just when I was contemplating shirking responsibilities, this came in the mail. Reminds me that the Bodhisattva path to freedom is in picking up the task of helping more and more, yet with a freer and freer mind, not one more and more burdened by thoughts of exhaustion and giving up.

Welcome to the Moonpointer Buffer

This is a buffer blog for moonpointer.com . What do I mean? This is a lazy way for me to blog before posting officially in moonpointer.com with pictures and proper archiving. So please pardon shoddiness which you might find here in terms of grammar and design :-]