Sokukoji Buddhist Temple Monastery

Classically, the parts of practice are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. It’s pretty hard to do this unless you meet someone who has been doing this for awhile and has some clarity about what this is. Of these three, the very most important thing that I spent my time on as a student of the buddha’s dharma, and that I was introduced to by my teacher, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, was the sitting practice of meditation. You’re going to need the other ones, but this is absolutely the most important. The best way to study the dharma is with the sangha. It’s not about understanding the material. It’s about your intention, your dedication, and your devotion to the teacher. https://youtu.be/FZsmaCjttmA https://sokukoJi.org/donate

According to the Buddhadharma, there are three kinds of pain. The pain of pain is anything from a toothache to some kind of paranoia about what’s around the corner. Sometimes the most difficult kind of pain is emotional: mental anguish, anxiety and pain. The pain of alternation shows up in the pain of pain. The pain of conditioned existence shows is the pain of the composite. All three show up in each one. If it shows up in your mind stream, if it shows up in your lifestream, if it shows up in your living room, it’s supposed to be there. It’s dependent origination. You have to see this yourself. https://youtu.be/rg7A38EnQnY https://sokukoji.org/donate

https://youtu.be/5gvOfSAvTxc https://www.sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/4LBg8Zwr6yU https://www.sokukoji.org

Whatever arises in your mind, don’t object, don’t run away, and don’t cover it up. If it’s intense and it’s coming up in your mind stream, then I highly recommend that you go right into the negativity. When I say go to hell, I’m saying be responsible for what arises in your mind stream and respond to it. The third of the three pure precepts is to be with all things. If you intend to do that, you’ll see how impossible it is and that’s when the self centeredness starts falling by the wayside. Don’t abandon the difficult feeling by blaming yourself or others, or coming up with an idea about it. Whatever arises in your mind is a gift to you, a dharma gate. Go there; just look at it. https://youtu.be/DzfjWBMJ46U https://www.sokukoji.org

There are different ways this shows up as a spiritual path. The sitting practice of meditation takes you into seeing everything you’ve been covering up. You may need the help of someone who is dedicated to you, someone who sees your neurosis and addresses it in a way that doesn’t take your intelligence away from you. The first thing to do is to listen to your own mind without doing anything other than seeing the way you grasp at this and reject that. The vow to be with all things, or to save all beings is an intention, not an accomplishment. https://youtu.be/yYHjPCEVBpI https://www.sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/FZr0km8Y22g https://www.sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/Va6zLJH7R10

https://youtu.be/xGGVgcKJcVg https://www.sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/pDRV5OQXN7U https://www.sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/BwIbOR5GqTA https://www.sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/RraFB3Rg770 https://www.sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/uLkUdDhCPwo https://www.sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/eAJCvDUBomc https://www.Sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/K8qds4Sa-ow

Whatever arises — taste, touch, thinking, sight, smell, sounds — just receive. This is basically shikantaza: Just Precisely This. The idea is to keep it very, very simple. You might immediately start to speculate. If you do, just watch the speculation. Correct nothing. You can just receive your thoughts, without complicating. Sit down symmetrically in front of the wall and whatever shows up, that’s it. If you completely, throughly and specifically receive, then you won’t know exactly what that is. From the point of view of wisdom, you know what everything is. https://youtu.be/wtxb9NJEOis

https://youtu.be/bC_h6nis7MQ

What makes the self-centeredness, the "me"-feeling stronger, more assertive and pushy, like a dictator? When a negative emotion shows up in your mind stream in all its variations we tend to personalize it. Something triggers us and suddenly we are enraged. There is no direct cause; everything is done with everything else. It’s called dependent origination. What strengthens the ego is commenting on it. This is the petty mind, the embodied negativity of the 7th consciousness or the paranoid mind. This is the part of the consciousness that thinks there is somebody. Just see that your comments are stories. The goal of spirituality is to realize your true nature. You have to transcend that by receiving what is actually happening in your life. https://youtu.be/Ra2Gougv154

Questions from Sangha: How do we appreciate difficulty? Whatever arises in your mind stream needs to be appreciated. It’s hard to appreciate something in its completeness without giving it space. With space it will not solidify. How do we appreciate anger? You might not produce out of the anger if you’re fully receiving the anger you’re having and not trying to get rid of it by blaming someone. Have the willingness, the awareness to just be with what arises. Sit down, hold still and appreciate that you even have a mind and your apparent identity. https://youtu.be/oG8yAP1cF0A

The spiritual path is not about cause and effect; there is no transaction happening here. If you think so, you’ll go in circles. The awareness needs to drive this incredible vehicle of the Buddha’s Dharma. Stop looking to see whether you are making progress and just look at the obstructions. You have to awaken, and to do that you have to look at the walls of the mind, no matter how crazy that may feel or how outrageous that may look. Watch the movement of the mind that’s continually obstructing your buddha-nature. You’re already Buddha. https://youtu.be/E0pfO1fUt40