The River

"Enlightenment, for a wave in the ocean,
is the moment the wave realises it is water."
Thich Nhat Hanh

Once upon a time there was a beautiful river finding her way among the hills, forests, and meadows.She began by being a joyful stream of water, a spring always dancing and singing as she ran down from the top of the mountain. She was very young at the time, and as she came to the lowland she slowed down. She was thinking about going to the ocean. As she grew up, she learned to look beautiful, winding gracefully among the hills and meadows.

One day she noticed the clouds within herself; clouds of all sorts of colors and forms. She did nothing during these days but chase after clouds. She wanted to possess a cloud, to have one for herself. But clouds float and travel in the sky, and they are always changing their form. Sometimes they look like an overcoat, sometimes like a horse. Because of the nature of impermanence within the clouds, the river suffered very much. Her pleasure, her joy had become just chasing after clouds, one after another, but despair, anger, and hatred became her life.

Then one day a strong wind came and blew away all the clouds in the sky. The sky became completely empty. Our river thought that life was not worth living, for there were no longer any clouds to chase after. She wanted to die: “If there are no clouds, why should I be alive?” But how can a river take her own life?

That night the river had the opportunity to go back to herself for the first time. She had been running for so long after something outside of herself that she had never seen herself. That night was the first opportunity for her to hear her own crying, the sounds of water crashing against the banks of the river. Because she was able to listen to her own voice, she discovered something quite important.

She realized that what she had been looking for was already in herself. She found out that clouds are nothing but water. Clouds are born from water and will return to water. And she found out that she herself is also water.

The next morning when the sun was in the sky, she discovered something beautiful. She saw the blue sky for the first time. She had never noticed it before. She had only been interested in clouds, and she had missed seeing the sky, which is the home of all the clouds. Clouds are impermanent, but the sky is stable. She realized that the immense sky had been within her heart since the very beginning. This great insight brought her peace and happiness. As she saw the vast wonderful blue sky, she knew that her peace and stability would never be lost again.

That afternoon the clouds returned, but this time she did not want to possess any of them. She could see the beauty of each cloud, and she was able to welcome all of them. When a cloud came by, she would greet him or her with loving kindness. When that cloud wanted to go away, she would wave to him or her happily and with loving kindness. She realized that all clouds are her. She didn’t have to choose between the clouds and herself. Peace and harmony existed between her and the clouds.

That evening something wonderful happened. When she opened her heart completely to the evening sky she received the image of the full moon–beautiful, round, like a jewel within herself. She had never imagined that she could receive such a beautiful image.

There is a very beautiful poem in Chinese: “The fresh and beautiful moon is traveling in the utmost empty sky. When the mind-rivers of living beings are free, that image of the beautiful moon will reflect in each of us.”

This was the mind of the river at that moment. She received the image of that beautiful moon within her heart, and water, clouds, and moon took each other’s hands and practiced walking meditation slowly, slowly to the ocean.

There is nothing to chase after. We can go back to ourselves, enjoy our breathing, our smiling, ourselves, and our beautiful environment.

The River by Thich Nhat Hanh from Peace Is Every Step

I have often thought how lovely and how strange a river is. A river is a river, always there, and yet the water flowing through it is never the same water and is never still. It’s always changing and is always on the move. And over time the river itself changes too. It widens and deepens as it rubs and scours, gnaws and kneads, eats and bores its way through the land. Even the greatest rivers- the Nile and the Ganges, the Yangtze and he Mississippi, the Amazon and the great grey-green greasy Limpopo all set about with fever trees-must have been no more than trickles and flickering streams before they grew into mighty rivers.

Are people like that? I wondered. Am I like that? Always me, like the river itself, always flowing but always different, like the water flowing in the river, sometimes walking steadily along andante, sometimes surging over rapids furioso, sometimes meandering wit hardly any visible movement tranquilo, lento, ppp pianissimo, sometimes gurgling giacoso with pleasure, sometimes sparkling brillante in the sun, sometimes lacrimoso, sometimes appassionato, sometimes misterioso, sometimes pesante, sometimes legato, sometimes staccato, sometimes sospirando, sometimes vivace, and always, I hope, amoroso.
Do I change like a river, widening and deepening, eddying back on myself sometimes, bursting my banks sometimes when there’s too much water, too much life in me, and sometimes dried up from lack of rain? Will the I that is me grow and widen and deepen? Or will I stagnate and become an arid riverbed? Will I allow people to dam me up and confine me to wall so that I flow only where they want? Will I allow them to turn me into a canal to use for they own purposes? Or will I make sure I flow freely, coursing my way through the land and ploughing a valley of my own?





“The river is one of my favorite metaphors, the symbol of the great flow of Life Itself. The river begins at Source, and returns to Source, unerringly. This happens every single time, without exception. We are no different.” 
― Jeffrey R. Anderson, The Nature of Things - Navigating Everyday Life with Grace


“Ask the river, where it comes from? You will get no answer. Ask the river, where is it going? You will get no answer, because the river lives inside this very moment; neither in the past nor in the future, in this very moment only!” 
― Mehmet Murat ildan


     

What do Buddhists believe?

I am new to Buddhism, and although I have yearned to know more for over half my life, I have only recently had the extreme good fortune* to have found the most honest, loyal and loving teacher (sensei). He has taken me under his wing and selflessly devoted himself to teaching this most undeserving and humble student. 

 “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear” ~ Buddha

 So...

"What do Buddhists believe?"

I was taken aback by my own question. What do Buddhists believe? No one had told me I had to believe any particular thing. Indeed, in Zen Buddhism rigidly held beliefs are considered to be barriers to realization.

Guiding Means

Beginners to Buddhism are handed lists of doctrines -- the Four Noble Truths, the Five Skandhas, the Eightfold Path. One is told tounderstand the teachings and practice them. However, "believing in" doctrines about Buddhism is not the point of Buddhism.

What the historical Buddha taught was a method for understanding oneself and the world in a different way. The many lists of doctrines are not meant to be accepted on blind faith. The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen master, says "Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth."

The absolute truth of which Thich Nhat Hanh speaks cannot be contained in words and concepts. Thus, merely believing in words and concepts is not the Buddhist path. There is no point in believing in reincarnation/rebirth, for example. Rather, one practices Buddhism in order to realize a self not subject to birth and death.

Many Boats, One River

To say that doctrines and teachings shouldn't be accepted on blind faith doesn't mean they aren't important. The myriad teachings of Buddhism are like maps to follow on a spiritual journey, or a boat to carry you across a river. Daily meditation or chanting may seem pointless, but when practiced with sincerity they have a real impact on your life and outlook.

And to say that Buddhism is not about believing things doesn't mean there are no Buddhist beliefs. Over the centuries Buddhism has developed diverse schools with distinctive, and sometimes contradictory, doctrines. Often you might read that "Buddhists believe" such and such a thing, when in fact that doctrine belongs only to one school and not to all of Buddhism.

To compound confusion further, throughout Asia one can find a kind of folk Buddhism in which the Buddha and other iconic characters from Buddhist literature are believed to be divine beings who can hear prayers and grant wishes. Clearly, there are Buddhists with beliefs. Focusing on those beliefs will teach you little about Buddhism, however.

If you want to learn about Buddhism, (and I most certainly do) it is suggested that you put aside all assumptions. Put aside assumptions about Buddhism, and then assumptions about religion. Put aside assumptions about the nature of the self, of reality, of existence. Keep yourself open to new understanding. Whatever beliefs you hold, hold in an open hand and not a tight fist. Just practice, and see where it takes you.

And remember the Zen saying -- "The hand pointing to the moon is not the moon".





*Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, taught his followers not to believe in luck. The view which was taught by Gautama Buddha states that all things which happen must have a cause, either material or spiritual, and do not occur due to luck, chance or fate. The idea of moral causality, karma (Pali: kamma), is central in Buddhism. In the Sutta Nipata, the Buddha is recorded as having said the following about selling luck:

Whereas some religious men, while living of food provided by the faithful make their living by such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood as palmistry, divining by signs, interpreting dreams ... bringing good or bad luck ... invoking the goodness of luck ... picking the lucky site for a building, the monk Gautama refrains from such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood.

    

The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings: Chapters 1 - 3

Chapter 1

• If we go to the Buddha with our hearts open, he will look at us, his eyes filled with compassion and say, "Because there is suffering in your heart, it is possible for you to enter my heart." 
• Suffering is the basic condition for us to enter the Buddha's heart and for the Buddha to enter our hearts. 
• "I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffering".
• Suffering is how we can become free. 
• The ocean of suffering is immense, but if you turn around, you can see the land. 
• Don't let your suffering (pain) imprison you. 
• Once the door of awareness has been opened, you cannot close it. 
• The Buddha called suffering a 'Holy Truth'.

Chapter 2

• "I have seen deeply that nothing can be by itself alone, that everything has to inter-be with everything else."
• If you destroy your health, you have no energy left to realise the (Eightfold) Path. Be free from austerity *reduced availability of luxuries and consumer goods* and avoid sense pleasures (sexual desire, running after fame, eating immoderately, sleeping too much, chasing after possessions).

Chapter 3 - The Four Noble Truths.

• The Buddha had found perfect awakening (the water) but he had to discover jars like the Four Noble Truths  and the Eightfold Bath to hold it.

1. We have to embrace suffering  and look deeply into it for it to be 'holy'.
2. After we touch our suffering, we need to look deeply into it to see how it came to be.
3. Refrain from doing the things that make us suffer. We can be happy. Healing is possible.
4. We need the Path the most - refraining from suffering.

    

Zen Koans

koan, Japanese Kōan,  in Zen Buddhism of Japan, a succinct paradoxical statement or question used as a meditation discipline for novices, particularly in the Rinzai sect. The effort to “solve” a koan is intended to exhaust the analytic intellect and the egoistic will, readying the mind to entertain an appropriate response on the intuitive level. Each such exercise constitutes both a communication of some aspect of Zen experience and a test of the novice’s competence.

A characteristic example of the style is the well-known koan “When both hands are clapped a sound is produced; listen to the sound of one hand clapping.” Sometimes the koan is set in question-and-answer form, as in the question “What is Buddha?” and its answer, “Three pounds of flax.”

• Dan Hettmannsperger III
  

  
  

  I will give you a koan. Ever heard of one?
• 

  08:51
  

  Chrissy Newbury
  

  
  

  No...
• 

  08:53
  

  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  

  
  

  koan means "case"....it works like this: I give you the koan. I will ask you what it means. If your answer shows insight we will discuss it. If not I will give you 6-12 hours to think about it and we'll proceed again. Understand?
• 

  08:53
  

  Chrissy Newbury
  

  
  

  I do... yes.
• 

  08:55
  

  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  

  
  

  Very well.

  Here it is:

  .

  .

  .

  "To connect is to sever."
• 

  08:56
  

  Chrissy Newbury
  

  
  

  (thinking)
• 

  08:56
  

  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  

  
  

  Give yourself a minute or so.
• 

  08:58
  

  Chrissy Newbury
  

  
  

  to me... I think this means that in order to connect to my 'new way of being', then I must relinquish all my baggage, all my old ways of thinking and living ... I cannot embrace something if my arms are already full of something else.
• 

  08:59
  

  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  

  
  

  You understand.

  [bows to acknowledge your achievement]

  Gassho.
• 

  09:00
  

  Chrissy Newbury
  

  
  

  <<< bows and smiles. Gassho.
• 

  09:01
  

  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  

  
  

  I'm reminded of something an officer said to me in the Navy:

  "If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything."

  But yes: To connect to truth you must sever yourself from delusion.

  To connect to compassion you must sever selfishness.

  You understand. I am proud of you.
• 

  09:02
  

  Chrissy Newbury
  

  
  

  Thank you.

  I now have to try and apply it to my daily life. But I will try, and hopefully, I will succeed.

  I am inspired by your teaching. 
• 

  09:04
  

  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  

  
  

  I am gratified.
  
         
  
  
  My Heart Burns Like Fire
  

  Soyen Shaku, the first Zen teacher to come to America, said: "My heart burns like fire but my eyes are as cold as dead ashes." He made the following rules which he practiced every day of his life.

  In the morning before dressing, light incense and meditate.
  Retire at a regular hour. Partake of food at regular intervals. Eat with moderation and never to the point of satisfaction.
  Receive a guest with the same attitude you have when alone. When alone, maintain the same attitude you have in receiving guests.
  Watch what you say, and whatever you say, practice it.
  When an opportunity comes do not let it pass by, yet always think twice before acting.
  Do not regret the past. Look to the future.
  Have the fearless attitude of a hero and the loving heart of a child.
  

  Upon retiring, sleep as if you had entered your last sleep. Upon awakening, leave your bed behind you instantly as if you had cast away a pair of old shoes.

                   

Suffering and Arising

Suffering: The word often translated as suffering has no English equivalent. The meaning of the phrase is not that "life is miserable," as the English translation might seem to indicate, but that some pain is inevitable in life. Birth is painful, sickness is painful, aging is painful, death is painful. It is painful to experience unhappiness and displeasure; it is painful to want something and not be able to have it; it is painful to have something and lose it; it is painful when a pleasurable experience ends.

What the Buddha had been seeking when he became enlightened was a way out of samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth. The Hindu texts, the Upanishads, which were written at around the same time, had argued that the way out of the endless cycle of death and rebirth was to realize that one's individual self or soul (atman) is a part of the world soul (Brahman).

Some scholars argue that the Buddha's solution to end this cycle was to realize that there is no self, no atman. If there is no self, there is nothing to reincarnate, nothing to endure this endless cycle. Others scholars argue that Buddha refused to answer questions about the self, and that to deny the existence of the self is just as much of an obstacle as is the self.

According to textual accounts of his first sermon, written long after his death, what the Buddha said was that the forms of suffering he listed (birth, sickness, aging, loss, etc.) are examples of "the five aggregates subject to clinging." These five aggregates, or skandhas, are what makes up the self: form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. Each of these constituents is constantly changing, constantly in flux; therefore the "self" is also constantly changing. Thus while there may be an experience of selfhood, there is no permanent, unchanging self.

If there is "evil" in Buddhism, it is the greed, anger, and delusion that give rise to samsara. Human nature is not evil,per se, but it can give rise to suffering. The goal of the Buddha's dharma is not to eliminate all suffering or to create a perfect life or world, but to learn how best to deal with the suffering that is a normal part of human life.

Arising: Humans tend to long for what they do not have, or to wish for their lives to be different than they are; they often fail to fully appreciate what they do have. This longing(craving, desire) gives rise to, or causes, a new cycle of life and death.


     

Dharma and the Three Signs of Being

 The Three Signs of Being

(1) Change (2) Suffering (3) no" I "

The first, Change, points out the basic fact that nothing in the world is fixed or permanent. We ourselves are not the same people, either physically, emotionally or mentally, that we were 10 years - or even 10 minutes ago! Living as we do, then, as shifting beings upon shifting sands, it is not possible for us to find lasting security.

As regards the second Sign, we have already seen how it was Suffering that sent the Buddha off on his great spiritual quest, though suffering is not a very good translation of the original word, dukkha. Dukkha implies the generally unsatisfactory and imperfect nature of life. Please do not think, though, that Buddhists believe that life is all suffering. They believe that there is joy in life, but know that life can't be all joy; even in the most fortunate of lives there must be suffering.

No-I, the third Sign, is a little more difficult.

Buddhists do not believe that there is anything everlasting or unchangeable in human beings, no soul or self in which a stable sense of 'I' might anchor itself. The whole idea of 'I' is in fact a basically false one that tries to set itself up in an unstable and temporary collection of elements.

Take the analogy of a cart. A cart may be broken down into its basic components -axle, wheels, shafts, sides, etc. Then the cart is no more; all we have is a pile of components. In the same way 'I' am made up of various elements or aggregates (skandhas): form (body), perception, conception, volition and consciousness (mind). Upon death these elements do not vanish from the face of the universe, they form new combinations elsewhere. Thus the whole universe is a great, ever-changing orchestration of interconnected movements without beginning or end.

 In General

'Not to do any evil; to cultivate good; to purify one's heart - this is the teaching of the Buddha.'

Although Buddhists value highly such virtues as loving kindness, humanity, patience and giving, perhaps they value compassion most of all. The idea of ahimsa or harmlessness is very closely connected with compassion. The compassionate desire to cause no harm to other beings (Buddhists would include animals, plants, inanimate objects and even the world in general in this) has caused many Buddhists to become pacifists or vegetarians, although they are not obliged to do so. In all things Buddhism places great stress on self-reliance and the Buddha himself told his followers not to believe a thing because he told it but to test it for themselves.

Buddhism is also a very practical religion and aims at helping people to live their lives; it is as much if not more concerned with giving people things to do as with giving them things to believe. Doing things like chanting a simple formula, visiting a temple to make an offering or to perform prostrations - such simple acts help to reduce a person's sense of 'I.'

Buddhists also try to practice the Buddhist virtues actively in their everyday lives. The final goal of all Buddhist practice is to bring about that same awakening that the Buddha himself achieved.