Pai-Chang

“You realize that what you have found is your own and doesn’t come from anywhere outside.” To me this means that it is inside us, we do not need to go on a quest that goes on for many days and over many miles, because if we do not find it in ourselves we will not find it anywhere else. “After enlightenment you are still the same as you were before. There is no mind and there is no truth. You are simply free from unreality and delusion.” Our appearances do not change, we just realize an inner strength given to us by God. “To behold the Buddha nature you must wait for the right moment and the right conditions.” This means that even if we go seeking the Buddha we will not understand it until we are meant to understand it. In order to reach the Buddha nature we must understand what it is meant to reach the Buddha nature and to cherish the Buddha nature. Meaning that we must be put to the test to see if we will be willing to live without. Like the boy with the ponytail, he did not become a student of the teacher until he was willing to give up his ponytail. I know what I am typing is confusing but it makes sense in my head. I mean that we can not completely give up something if we do not know what we are giving up, thus we can not fully understand something unless we fully understand it. So you can not have reached the Buddha nature only when it suits you, if you have reached the Buddha nature you must stay in the Buddha nature. Meaning do not be two-faced about your beliefs, do not follow your belief only when it pleases you, follow them continually and whole-heartedly. “When you have arrived at this recognition, please hold on to it.”

Tzu-ssu

“What is bestowed by heaven is called human nature. The fulfillment of human nature is called the Tao. The cultivation of the Tao is called true learning.” To me this is talking about our basic human, natural instincts that we have and that we need to answer to. The need to eat or worship. It is apart of us no matter where we are or what we are doing at that precise moment. Living for the moment and living only in the moment, not worrying about tomorrow or the past, no planning or scheduling only living and understanding. “Once we find the center and achieve harmony, heaven and earth take their proper places, and all things are fully nourished.” To me this means that once we fully understand that we have no control over tomorrow and that we can only look at the now and be grateful for the now we will reach harmony, Tao. Everything is already decided for us we are just acting it out, it is all Gods will and only what God wants will happen. “This means that there is no place where the Tao doesn’t penetrate. For the mature person, the Tao begins in the relation between man and woman, and ends in the infinite vastness of the universe.” This to me means that in order to fully understand and appreciate Tao you need to first understand that it is in ourselves. Then we need to understand that it is inside all living people. Only when we understand that it is in everyone will we be able to believe and trust that it is also in everything, therefore it can only end, begin, and be throughout the universe. Meaning that it is everywhere. “To find the Tao, there is nowhere you need to search, If it is not inside you, it is not the Tao.”

Shunryu Suzuki

“If your mind I empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” To me this means that if we go about the world with an open mind we will be more open to new ideas and ways of doing thing. However if we have an expert’s mind our own way will be the only way we will ever discover. By this I mean, if someone is try to tell us a new way to say skate board or trying to teach us a new trick and all we are thinking about is how our own way is better we will never learn all there is to learn, we will never be able to broaden our horizon so to speak. If you go into the world ready and willing to learn new things you will be able to understand the world and the people better. You will understand and appreciate that there is more than one way to do everything and that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Another good point made was that there is no “I” and the example given of breathing. “When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no “I,” no world, no mind or body; just a swinging door.” This has to do with meditation and completely controlling your mind and concentrating on only the present which is breathing. And the only time you will ever have complete control over your mind and its thoughts is when your mind is clear of all thoughts and the only thing you see is the breath going in and out. I also like the use of the “swinging door” to describe how we are all tied to each other and to the world we live in. Because the breath that comes into us also goes out into the world and into everyone else all around the world. We all need it and we all depend on it.

The Buddha

“You are all Buddhas. There is nothing that you need to achieve. Just open your eyes.” This idea that we are all Buddhas goes along with the idea that God is inside each of us and is all around us. The second point that we do not need to achieve anything is another good point. Most of the time you only hear people complaining or saying things like they need this or that, when in reality they should just try and look at the bright side of their situations. If they concentrate on the good they will see the good and they will be able to find the good easier. We just need to open our eyes. Another good point that the Buddha brought up was not to follow blindly but by what you believe to be the best way for you. It is well known that if something is bad or dangerous we should do whatever is in our power to stay away from it. But if something is good we should continue to do it. This is easier said than done, just ask the people that smoke, do drugs, or drink. It may feel good when you are doing it, but does it feel good afterwards. It may lead to addiction or a sickness yet people continue to do it. Also people may not do what is good for them because it is harder. For example going to a late night party when you have a test in a 7 am class the next day, you should have probably gone to bed early. The Buddha also said that once we are done with something or once something has happened it is not good to continue to carry it with you, but to let it go. It has held its purpose and now it is done, you got everything you were going to get out of it already so just let it go, “…but that once he has arrived, it is proper to leave the raft behind and walk on without it. This is using the raft appropriately.

Shmelke of Nikolsburg (?-1778)

I enjoyed this passage by Shmelke of Nikolsburg the most out of all the readings so far. I believe that all religions say that God is everywhere and nowhere, that He is in all of us. This passage did a great job of explaining how God could be in everyone, even wicked people. He said that “For all souls are one. Each is a spark from the original soul, and this soul is wholly inherent in all souls, just as your soul is in all members of your body…the original soul came out of the essence of God, and that every human soul is a part of God?” People may be wicked, they may do wrong; but they are still human, they are still Gods creation, and they still hold God somewhere within them. So how can we so them cruelty even if we strongly believe that they deserve it, how can we ourselves go down to their level. If we see ourselves as faithful to God how can we ourselves show cruelty or hatred to his creation. If we see someone being wicked is it not in our power to show them the way to the light, should we just sit back and watch them be wicked or should we help them? We may not be able to forget their wickedness, but we should at least forgive them, so them mercy just as God would show us mercy if we did wrong. This idea is very easy to preach but very hard to follow. It is easier to tell someone else to forgive the person that has wronged them, but it is extremely hard for one to forgive someone that has wronged them. “It is our right to hate and evil man for his actions, but because his deepest self is the image of God, it is our duty to honor him with love.”

Dov Baer Of Mezritch (?-1772)

I choose to write on Dov Baer of Mezritch because his writing had a lot of profound meaning. I have to admit that when I first read the passage I thought that he meant that we should have blind faith. Meaning that we should not interpret the Bible or any spiritual sayings, words, stories, etc. in our own words. The second time I read it I looked at it in a different way. I did not just pay closer attention to what Dov Baer said in one sentence, “The moment you begin to hear what you yourself are saying, you must stop” but what he was saying throughout the whole passage. This is when I understood that he was not saying do not interpret the words, he was saying to not take credit for Gods work. Dov Baer began this passage by saying “When you gaze at an object, you bring blessing to it.” I think this is a very wise and true thing to say. If we just ignored something or did not realize that it was there it would not matter to us, we would be able to continue living without knowing its existences. But if we give that object or whatever it is importance we are blessing it. I especially enjoyed the last paragraph that Dov Baer wrote. In this paragraph he talked about “The creation of heaven and earth is the unfolding of something out of nothing, the descent from above to below…They change the something back into the nothing.” To me this means that those who are truly meditating on God and the spiritual meaning know that material things are nothing. Yes God has giving us a wonderful home, Earth, but Earth was not always here and it will not always be here, nor will we always be on Earth. God is the only thing that will be forever and that is who we need to meditate on.