#Dainin Katagiri

[eelhound]

"What you are seeking is something that is beyond feeling and experience, beyond knowing or not knowing, beyond the conscious or unconscious level. When you take care of every object of your activity with full devotion, paying attention to the total contents of every moment, you can touch it. Then you realize how fragile human life is. There is nothing to hold on to because nothing is substantial. You see that everything is transient and nothing has its own fixed existence.

We can apply this to the zazen meditation we do. When we practice zazen, many things come up and distract us. So we have to take care of them continually, not with hatred, but by accepting them, just patting them on the head and passing by without being too interested in them. But if I pat my head and think 'Good boy!' that is not the practice I am talking about. When I think 'Good boy!' that idea is coming from an idea of 'bad boy' I had in the past. If you see things this way, you are creating ideas, discriminating between the previous moment, the present moment, and the next moment, instead of being right here, right now...

Right now, right here is a great opportunity. That is the moment you are you, as you really are, prior to the germination of thinking. For this you must be in time; you must be at the moment where you cannot think about a previous moment or a following moment. How can you do this? Just pat your ideas on the head and pass by. To pat their head means to just practice continually, just become empty and flexible. Then this emptiness makes your life alive in the universe and you are ready to act."

- Dainin Katagiri, from Each Moment is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time, 2007.

[talonabraxas]

“Above the Illusion” by Tyler Shrake

“The important point of spiritual practice is not to try to escape your life, but to face it - exactly and completely.” Dainin Katagiri

[lunamagicablu]

“Visto in termini universali, con l’occhio del Buddha, il silenzio non è altro che «essere come si è», ciò che semplicemente è com’è. È qualcosa di molto semplice. L’insegnamento del Buddha ne parla sempre. Se vogliamo sapere chi siamo e toccare con mano l’autentica, silenziosa, profonda natura della nostra vita, dobbiamo essere come veramente siamo. Dainin Katagiri ********************** “Seen in universal terms, with the eye of the Buddha, silence is nothing other than «being as one is», that which simply is as it is. It's something very simple. The Buddha's teaching always talks about it. If we want to know who we are and touch the authentic, silent, profound nature of our life, we must be as we truly are. Dainin Katagiri 

[lesondupapillon]

Juste être présent à l'univers.

/ Dainin Katagiri

[lynk-into-the-abyss]

I opened a book today that I haven't in awhile and a card fell out. I had written a quote I had found and had been using it as a bookmark.

"The China bowl is beautiful because sooner or later it will break... The life of the bowl is always existing in a dangerous situation" - Returning to Silence by Dainin Katagiri

Being chronically ill, having an aneurysm that if ruptured I'll most likely drop dead in under a minute, maybe two if I'm lucky, I'm constantly living in a dangerous situation. And the aneurysm is just one example of my dangerous situations. So I've got a choice, and if you're like me, than we have a choice. To always keep the China displayed and never use it. Never give it a life to live. Or use it, for special occasions, for not special occasions. To use it, knowing at somepoint it's life will end, most likely with shattered pieces. Or to keep it put away, in hopes that it'll last longer.

Everything comes to an end at some point. I refuse to leave my China on display. I want to use it, until it breaks. Maybe when it breaks it can still find a way to be fixed, with gold or stitches.

I'm going to live my life as best as I can, for as long as I can. My spoons are reserved for time with my loved ones. To have fun. Hold and love on all my friends kids, knowing I'll never be an aunt, and most likely never a parent. I hope when my China breaks, it breaks for a good reason. And not because it fell off display.

[ceekbee]

"If you see the world very deeply, then you can hear the sound of the world. The sound of the world is something you are always looking for. But you cannot actually find it through your experience, so finally that is suffering. It is a very direct cause of suffering. So finally you say, “Please.” Please make me simple. Please make me free. The moment that you call, saying “please,” is called Avalokiteshvara.

There is no subject who is calling and there is no object you are calling upon. Because the one who is calling upon something is simultaneously what one is looking for. That is Avalokiteshvara."

-- From, 'Returning to Silence: Zen Practice in Everyday Life' by Dainin Katagiri -/- Photo, IBMC Zendo Kwan Yin (Avalokiteshvara)

[moingay1cuonsach]

Trở về tĩnh lặng

Trong suốt hai ngàn năm trăm năm, Phật giáo dạy rằng chúng sinh đều có Phật tánh, tức đã giác ngộ, không còn thiếu thứ gì. Nhưng vẫn còn đó câu hỏi: Làm sao để nhận ra sự thật đó trong cuộc sống của mỗi người? Trong cuốn sách này, Dainin Katagiri chỉ ra hiện diện của giác ngộ ngay tại đây, ngay bây giờ, trong mỗi thói quen hằng ngày. Bản chất thuần túy nhất của tu tập nằm ở việc “chỉ sống” thật…

[true-person-of-no-rank]

[halfchildhalfancient]

"The moment that you are living right now is a very important opportunity to make your life vividly alive."

― Dainin Katagiri

[hocuspicus]

If you want to take care of tomorrow, take better care of today. We always live now. All we have to do is entrust ourselves to the life we now live.

Dainin Katagiri

[eelhound]

"Emptiness is not negative; emptiness is letting go of fixed ideas in order to go beyond them. The Christian mystic Meister Eckhart called it the desert: in the desert of emptiness, everything dies and then comes back to life. This is really true. Otherwise you would not be successful in doing anything at all. When you dance, when you sing, when you walk, when you do zazen, whatever you do you must be empty first. Then your body and mind become flexible and you can really jump into painting, dancing, eating breakfast, washing your face, chanting, or doing zazen. At that time you become one with your activity, whatever it is, and do your best.

You and your activity already exist together in the realm of emptiness; you are not separate from each other. When you see yourself, your activity, and your body and mind in the realm of emptiness, occupying the whole universe, there is oneness. A beautiful flower is blooming. But there is no way to discuss that beautiful flower because it is beyond human speculation, concepts, or ideas. All you can do is pay careful attention to the reality of that flower as it really is.

To experience this refreshing emptiness, accept your life and then face it. Make your body and mind be fully present, and practice living with full devotion. Instead of trying to get something for yourself, totally offer your whole body and mind to whatever you are doing; surrender your life. To surrender means to let go of the idea that you have a completely separate existence and accept that your life is going on beyond your usual understanding. Then demonstrate full commitment from moment to moment and just be there. That's it! That's all you have to do. At that time you are right on the flow of impermanence."

- Dainin Katagiri, from Each Moment is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time, 2007.

[nicksalius]

Essere come si è – Dainin Katagiri "Visto in termini universali, con l'occhio del Buddha, il silenzio non è altro che «essere come si è», ciò che semplicemente è com'è.

[viewingroom]

If you try to fill your life just from the top, from gaining knowledge, then your head is very big. But the knowledge you gain is hard to carry because it's pretty heavy.  It makes your head spin and it's easy to loose your balance.

[lunamagicablu]

Vivere pienamente la vita significa prendersene cura giorno per giorno, momento per momento, qui, adesso.

Dainin Katagiri

art by  Fred Calleri

**************

Living life fully means taking care of it day by day, moment by moment, here, now.

Dainin Katagiri

art by  Fred Calleri

[ayipost]

"If you want to take care of tomorrow, take better care of today…"Dainin Katagiri.

“If you want to take care of tomorrow, take better care of today…”Dainin Katagiri.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com Many are consumed by thoughts aboutthe uncertainty of tomorrow and never aboutusing today to plant the tree and build the arkthat will provide shelter and safety when the vicissitudes of lifeknock tomorrow;little do they knowthat when we take care of today, we take care of tomorrowbut when we’re negligent today, we fail to deepen those rootsthat should prepare us…

[radical-revolution]

DAININ KATAGIRI

You cannot find any peace by escaping human suffering.

You have to find peace and harmony right in the midst of human pain.

That is the purpose of spiritual life.