“For the average human being, their mind has become their reality...
Spirituality is experiencing new vistas and contemplating the possibility that there may be an immensity of reality beyond what we currently know."
~ Adyashanti
Image ~ Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014)
“If you want to find the meaning, stop chasing after so many things.” Ryokan
With appologies to the Catholic Church...
Reminders everywhere.
"We hear that some of Bankei’s informal mass trainings consisting of discourses and question-answer sessions saw 3,000, 5,000, 10,000 or even up to 50,000 people attending, having to be accommodated in shifts. Yet almost no rules were needed, and here and at his monasteries none of the traditional Zen beating or scolding was allowed, since Bankei trusted the natural goodness of our perfect Buddha-nature to prevail over our human nature. His followers came from all over Japan and included monks, nuns and laity among both Rinzai Zen and Sōtō Zen Buddhist schools, as well as followers from the several other schools of Buddhism and the native Shintō religion, too. He usually had both monastics and laity training together under one roof, both male and female.
His main advice, given to everyone from rich aristocrats and menacing samurai to merchants, peasant farmers and children, was quite frequently and simply expressed as:
“Abide as the Unborn.” “Don’t get ‘born!’” That is, don’t fall into identification as a “me,” a “Buddhist,” “enlightened,” “unenlightened,” “young,” “old,” etc. For instance, when a woman complained that her gender was a karmic obstacle, he retorted: “From what time did you become a woman?” So he taught the multitudes: let go all selfishness and bad habits—they’re not part of your Original Mind (honshin) anyway, and just be at great ease in/as the Unborn Buddha-Mind.
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