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“Our culture is fixated on youth. We neglect our elders like things stored in the attic and dread our own aging as a curse.”
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“If we enter spiritual practice hoping to know ourselves completely, then our proper attitude toward all creation is one of curiosity and ultimately of communion.”
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“investigate the mind and its creation, the world”
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“The mind’s attention is energy.”
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“Wherever the mind is directed, energy flows.”
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“The bodhisattva called Jizo in Japan and America is known by different names in other countries. In India he is Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva, in China Ti-tsang Pusa, in Korea Ji-jang Bosal, in Tibet Sati-snin-po.”
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Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva
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“Ryokan lived in simple huts and supported himself by begging. He often forgot himself in the samadhi of games with children and of drinking with village friends, in addition to meditation. He brushed thousands of poems in a free-flowing calligraphic style.”
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“The most beloved is known in Japan as Kannon. She is called Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit, Kuan-yin in China, Kwan-um Bosal in Korea and Chinrezi in Tibet. Like Jizo Bodhisattva, Kannon is an embodiment of compassion.”
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“Certain patterns of electrical signals-thought-emotion are imprinted by heredity.”
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“Then the environment adds its shaping and we become more or less polite, feel more or less shame, anger, and joy.”
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“Like the carbon and calcium elements, the thought and emotion elements are still operating in the chain of cause and effect after we die.”
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“there is only one Truth. If not, it could not be the Truth”
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“We only use different words to try to speak of it, and different rituals to celebrate our joy in being able to experience it.”
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“We are happy in childhood with our life just as it is until we develop a mind that compares.”
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“To retain its vitality a religion has to adapt to the needs of the people. These adaptations are mirrored in the changes that have occurred to Jizo Bodhisattva over the past one and a half millennia in Japan.”
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“Once a religion becomes well established and interwoven with bureaucracy, it begins to serve the fears of those who cling to power.”
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“People may do what has to be done to survive in desperate circumstances, but it does not mean they escape without emotional pain.”
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“In its best form, the mizuko kuyo is performed by Buddhist and Shinto priests only upon request. The ceremonies are private and infrequent, and the priest also may provide counseling to the woman or couple. At its worst, the mizuko kuyo has become a vehicle for deliberately enhancing and exploiting the feelings of guilt people have after abortion. ”
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“Her life was undermined by sorrow, her pain deepened by each baby she happened to see.
As she was listening to a description of life as a continuous process, appearing and disappearing, her sorrow for herself dropped away. It was transformed into an energy that moved outward, a sincere wish that the child whose life had touched her very briefly go on to find happiness. In releasing the child at last, she also released herself.”
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“The Buddha told her, “When a person’s mind is deeply attached, infatuated with sons and cattle, death grabs him and carries him away, as a flood does a sleeping village.” Later Kisagotami became enlightened as she was watching the flickering flame of an oil lamp.”
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“Birth is not a complete separation but rather the appearance of a new bud, branch, or leaf. Death is not the end of life but one step in a dynamic of change that has no beginning or end. A leaf emerges from a small bud when conditions are right in the spring. It is visible on the tree until autumn when it changes color, falls, and disappears from our view. We do not say the tree dies, only the leaf. To say a leaf—or any individual—has died is not incorrect but is only a very small part of what we see if we enlarge the framework of time and place.”
“La muerte no es el final de la vida, sino un paso en una dinámica de cambio que no tiene principio ni fin. Una hoja emerge de un pequeño brote cuando las condiciones son adecuadas en la primavera. Es visible en el árbol hasta el otoño cuando cambia de color, cae y desaparece de nuestra vista. No decimos que el árbol muere, solo la hoja. Decir que una hoja, o cualquier individuo, ha muerto no es incorrecto, pero es solo una pequeña parte de lo que vemos si ampliamos el marco de tiempo y lugar ".
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“Neither view is right. They are only views, part of what the Buddha called a “wilderness of views.” Either view can be taken to an unhealthy extreme.”
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“the Buddha refused to say that nothing continued after death. He said that the craving for existence will ignite another flame of life.”
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“Jizo simply shelters the children under his robe when they are afraid and encourages them to continue their efforts. This, Morinaga Roshi says, is “the essence of religion.”
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“The childlike figure of Jizo appeals to us because it portrays what we all wish to regain, our original nature, innocent, happy, open and curious.”
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“Infants have the quality of not judging right or wrong. They accept milk from a breast or a bottle, and love a sober or drunk parent. ”
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“No one emerges as a tabula rasa. The karma of genetics and environment are already active.”
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“Before words arise, what is our experience?”
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“Under the external words and actions are the internal thoughts and feelings that drive them, primarily the thoughts and feelings that construct and reinforce the notions “I am” and “I must survive.” Under the thoughts are what the Buddha called “latent tendencies.” Unless these are completely cut off down to the finest root hair they will, like weeds given the right “nutrition, always grow again. We know this ourselves. We emerge from a long retreat feeling clear, clean, and loving. But as soon as we pull out onto the highway and someone cuts in front of “our” car, or as soon as we arrive home and see the pile of “our” bills or dirty laundry waiting, or find that “that” dog has destroyed the window screens or our grubby, demanding children pile on us-the latent tendencies explode full blown into speech and action.”
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“The events of life always will cause those latent tendencies to emerge. All it takes is “No, that’s bad!” or “You idiot!” or “You adorable thing! I love you.” and the cycle of conditioning begins again.”
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“The only way to stop the merry-go-round is to get off. The only way to get off is to let go of the self we are riding on and the support posts we are gripping. This is only possible through the power of practice.”
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“Age and circumstance do not matter. A pilgrim recognizes a pilgrim.”
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“When I grow up, I am going to write for children—and the grownups that haven’t grown up too much—all the earth songs I now do hear.”
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“a necessary aspect of our growth is to assume responsibility and, with it, the anxieties of heart and mind that cover our original nature.”
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“metta—loving-kindness, karuna—compassion, mudita—rejoicing in another’s happiness, and upekka—equanimity”
Metta, karuna, mudita, upekka.
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“Degenerate era” refers to a prediction that the original teachings of the Buddha would become so corrupted over time that eventually people could not hope to become enlightened through their own study and practice.”
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“Buddhism is the only religion to forecast its own demise.”
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“The Sutra of the Ten Kings is a synthesis of Taoist, Confucian, and Buddhist views.”
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“That fear is the source of all anger. ”
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“When the self is seen as empty, that is, simply an ever-changing process with no thing at its heart, then there is nothing to defend and nothing to fear.”
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“A pilgrim is defined as a person who travels a long distance to a sacred place as an act of devotion.”
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“What transforms despair and resignation to hope and joy is to know there is a path.”
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“If you find a book that inspires you to meditate, read a little upon first awakening, and a little just before going to bed. Begin each day with practice; and end each day with practice taken into sleep time.”
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“Instead of looking for time to practice and trying to expand it, I look for time I am not practicing and try to shrink it.”
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“One way to begin to make a seamless practice is to pick points of awareness. These points depend upon your particular life. They could be upon opening the eyes, upon sitting on the toilet, upon putting your hand on a door handle and before opening it, upon entering an elevator, upon looking in a mirror, upon stepping into a shower. These many small moments of mindfulness, a pause to take one or two breaths in awareness, eventually fill in the background of “not practicing” like many small dots of paint eventually fill in a canvas.”
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“One of the ways I know I am on the path is that what occurs, what teaches, what cracks, what opens up, is never what I expected it to be. The ego cannot foresee its own demise.”
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“I was surprised that strangers could feel that silence. I realized then that our practice of zazen has a physical effect upon our surroundings. And that effect can radiate back to inspire and affect (infect?) others.”
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“What we seek is true religious freedom, the freedom to be whole and complete, the person we truly are, to live life alive to the presence of that great Body-Mind that is us. To be able not just to know it, but to function with it, as it, to use its eyes to see, ears to hear, voice to speak. To find complete health.”
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“Step, step, step. Don’t count or measure them.”
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“No time to worry, just keep going. Worrying is a big waste of energy.”
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“The Buddha said that we can tell whether we are on the path by the fruits of our activity, the results of our thinking, our speech, and our bodily action.”
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“Our practice is to return over and over to this day, this very moment of pilgrimage. ”
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“Where am I now? That very awareness is a function of a bigger mind.”
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“The Buddha taught us that everything is impermanent. This means no real endings. This is good.”
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“We know it is a mistake to be tossed around by waves of thoughts and emotions, living in the midst of a storm.”
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“We are uncomfortable inhabiting our own bodies and minds. But we don’t know where we do belong. That is why we set out on pilgrimage, hoping to find the place we do fit.”
Nota: estamos “insatisfechos” (dukha) porque no nos sentimos cómodos en nuestros cuerpos y con nuestra mente pequeña, del “yo”. Por eso el deseo de ir al lugar en dónde encontremos esa “satisfacción” y poder así estar “cómodos”.
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“We have an instinct, a vague memory, that there is a place of “original home,” a place where we are completely at ease, satisfied, where we can lean back and rest. If there is such a place, we were once there. What we think of as “me” emerged from it at birth into a world of confusion, a mixture of pain and joy. All our longing comes from this. All our sickness is homesickness.”
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“Once we find the way home, it is our natural desire to help others who are confused and homesick.”
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“Alms are not given to an individual from an individual but are the Dharma supporting the Dharma. This is called the “emptiness of the three wheels, giver, receiver and gift.”
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“At times we are the giver, at other times the receiver, at other times we are the gift.”
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“The essence of all Dharma is that we are completely supported at every moment. Although this is true, we must, however, be willing to practice without counting on any support whatsoever.”
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“True security comes not from hiding in the futile strategies of self, but in surrendering, taking full refuge in that which supports all.”
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“If you think you have a staff, it will be taken away from you. Everything is changing and impermanent. The only thing we can rely upon is the truth of Dharma, which is based upon the very fact of impermanence.”
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“A moment of suffering, irritation, boredom, panic, anger is transformed by the still mind into awareness of a moment in which the touch of a breeze brings exquisite pleasure.”
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“Our practice transforms a bewildering and frightening life journey with irritating and threatening people all around, into an adventure with interesting characters, fellow travelers, who make up a sangha.”
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“The end to our suffering will come as we learn to use not just the small human and conditioned aspects of the mind that we have developed since childhood, but also to enter at will the bottomless clear vast Mind that was ours from before our birth.”
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“The Dharma is a physical truth. An equal and opposite reaction occurs because it is only One thing! It is all happening in One Body, our body.”
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“No longer is it we who are practicing but it is the practice that practices as us.”
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“Because humans have been enlightened by anything—the sound of a stone striking bamboo, the sight of a peach blossom, a drop of water touching the skin—all things can be said to be dharmas.”
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“We are nothing but reflections reflecting reflections, an empty theater full of mirrors, a net of jewels encased in a single great Gem.”
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“There is only the ease and joy of all things perfect as they are. ”
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“it is our own action that ultimately releases us from the realms of suffering and puts us on the path to nirvana”
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“There is an opportunity in the human realm to encounter a great truth. It is that all that is, each life in every realm including your own human life right now as you read, is the One Mind’s experience of itself.”
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“When we do not run away, cold is just cold, heat is just heat, and pain is only pain. ”
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“A study of happiness shows that once the basic need for food, clothing, and shelter are met, happiness is unrelated to material wealth. Actually you don’t need a study to prove this. Any National Enquirer reader can tell you about the miseries of movie stars and millionaires in the United States. But we like studies. ”
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“We are all aspects of the One Great Life that continually appears and disappears according to cause and effect.”
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“To keep from becoming impatient and giving up on practice we embellish this slow process with chanting, eating meditation, Dharma talks, and sanzen.”
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“OM-HA-HA-HA-VIS-MA-YE-SVA-HA”
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“When you destroy the thinking process, eliminating the karmic activities of consciousness completely, your nature will be purified and you will enter the Dharma where the ten directions merge into one and the heavens and hells all become the Pure Land.”
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“When you truly understand your own mind, you will realize for the first time that the sermons of all the Buddhas are nothing more than metaphors to point to the minds of ordinary people.”
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“four noble truths: the first and foundational teachings of the Buddha. They are (1) a fundamental aspect of life is the experience of dissatisfaction or suffering, (2) the cause of this suffering is clinging, ignoring or pushing away, (3) there is a way to lessen and ultimately end this suffering, (4) there is a path of practice to accomplish this (see Eightfold path).”
“eightfold path: the eight aspects of spiritual practice which, if practiced sincerely and continuously, will become correct or “right” and lead to release from suffering. They consist of (1) right understanding, (2) “right thought, (3) right speech, (4) right action, (5) right livelihood, (6) right effort, (7) right mindfulness, (8) right concentration.”
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“metta: loving-kindness, one of the four divine states of dwelling that can be cultivated through practice. The other three are maitri or kindness, karuna or compassion, and upeksha or equanimity.”
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Domingo, 7 noviembre 2021
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