Sokukoji Buddhist Temple Monastery

https://youtu.be/wWuef6JyzAQ

https://youtu.be/RPDiIHCaeZA

We are always projecting out onto something what we think it is based on our prejudice. Thinking we are not prejudiced is the very nature of prejudice. Pay attention to what’s coming through the door or down the street. Picking and choosing works well in the relative world. Wanting this and not wanting that is not particularly important or helpful on the spiritual path. Just receive. The absence of choice becomes choiceless. It will be replaced by dependent origination. If you get a little bit of clarity around your insanity, you’ll know what to do. https://youtu.be/6NfaOMQMjHs

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Just Feel It - 09.11.22 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org by Sokuzan

https://youtu.be/ANnIWmR4dl4

#Sokukoji #Sokuzan #Buddhist #Buddhism #Zen #Talk #Sermon #Battlecreek #Michigan #Dharma #awareness #meditation #shikantaza #mindfulness #suffering #dharmatalk #Youtube https://youtu.be/p4RRIIT00gc

So far, we are free - kind of. But, if you believe, disbelieve or ignore your thought patterns, you’re not free; you’re in a prison of your own making - hopes for this, fear of that - it’s a set up. The “selfie” I’m talking about is the seventh consciousness. It’s not easy to understand. It’s the aspect of consciousness called the klesha mind, also known as klisto-mano-vijñāna. This is that part of the mind that says yes, no or I don’t care. When something happens, the self-centeredness is a knee-jerk reaction. The ability to be aware of it is where you start. This awareness of the grasping at self might take some relaxing of the mind stream. https://youtu.be/Asft_h7BB7Y

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This teaching comes out of the Tiantai, or Tendai tradition, which came to Japan around the ninth century. It is similar to Zen Buddhism. The four moments are: forethought, immanent arising, actual arising and passing away. This is about seeing the actual coming and going of things, much more stark, much more vivid, and empty of a self and empty of an other. You probably won’t be able to tune into these instructions unless you have a lot of sitting meditation under your belt. Not being able to do this is awareness; it’s not about accomplishing anything. It’s a concept that’s pointing at something that is not about thought. You can see this. https://youtu.be/vmOHQmf7LTY

There are sixteen vows, but the basic vow is to be with all things. Whatever arises in your life stream, don’t object to it, don’t agree with it and certainly don’t ignore it. Those are the three poisons. It’s incredibly simple, yet impossible to accomplish. The vow to save all beings, to put others before yourself begins with seeing how selfish you are. It’s about being aware of that, not about stopping it or covering it up with ideas. This is why we have the vow, the offerings, and retuning to the buddha, the dharma and the sangha over and over and over. It feels useless. Accomplishing is the relative language of ego. If it looks like you’re getting somewhere, you’re probably in a rest area. This is a transcendent path. https://youtu.be/issyJRZ4YaY

Taking no position requires you to notice the way you move spontaneously from what shows up to a position about it. This is what you need to see. It’s not something you need to figure out, change or modify. Don’t accept anything. You can actually function just fine without a center, without a me. We get our identity from our descriptions of what we like and don’t like. It doesn’t mean that somebody who commits a crime isn’t wrong, it’s the grasping at right or wrong that is a big misunderstanding. We are all the product of dependent origination. Seeing this is done through an awareness practice. https://youtu.be/ktMJB5VT7Lg

Something triggers us and we have an intense emotional reaction. This is totally appropriate: It’s called dependent origination. The emotion is just a feeling and it doesn’t belong to anyone. We differentiate and divide things up in such a way that we take ownership and add on that it shouldn’t be there. We want things to be different than they are, which is the first noble truth. Whatever arises in your mind stream needs to be there. Don’t do anything with it. It looks like a straight line but it’s a circle and it’s called samsara. https://youtu.be/WWSWnwVkvAc

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Notice how when something shows up you go to belief, disbelief or distraction. It’s very difficult to use relative concepts to see over time what that’s pointing to beyond the words. It’s not logical or reasonable. The ego mind will use that to turn you around because it wants you in that carnival. It’s terrified of the open space, of not knowing. With each person this will have its own kind of chemistry or texture. It will be very personal to you. Notice the way you believe or attach to something before you’ve even investigated it. Of course, it’s about being aware of that. https://youtu.be/edtHLuvjEr4

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