Memos from the Pure Land
On various forums I have ended up posting Memos from the Pure Land. The title is in part simply my whimsical sense of humour. Just how "pure" the land I'm in is is for others to judge - if they are of the judging kind.
I find writing them therapeutic. I have my own mental health issues and, again, I can be fairly vulnerable. But I can sit down in Costa's and it can all pour out. Anything. I might have some ideas first, but really it is almost stream of consciousness stuff.
I posted earlier this morning on some thread about whether we believed in the immortality of the soul. I posted:-
I don't believe in anything. I don't mean this in any nihilistic sense. I simply have Trust that Reality-as-is, is.....yes..... "trustworthy". My trust offers no guarantees that I will be "kept safe" or that I will live forever.
My trust means that I can accept the next moment without pre-conditions. Reality moves forward into pure novelty.
It really is simple. Almost like a child.
I thought afterwards that perhaps I could expand on the "Trust", that I trust in the infinite compassion, the infinite wisdom and the infinite potential of the Reality in which we "live and move and have our being."
It's virtually a default position (or "no-position"....😀 ) evolving from the simple recognition that what good is, what evil is, what truth is, what untruth is, what happiness is, what unhappiness is, not one of these is finally within my grasp. That what the Japanese call jiriki (self-power) is helpless in the face of life's deepest questions.
There is a great song by Robbie Robertson, of the Band, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". and a great line from it:-
Just take what you need and leave the rest
Which seems fine, but the next line of the song is:-
But they should never have taken the very best
How can we ever know what is the best?
One of the great zen masters, Dogen (13th century Japan) once said:-
Therefore, if there are fish that would swim or birds that would fly only after investigating the entire ocean or sky, they would find neither path nor place. When we make this very place our own, our practice becomes the actualization of reality
I have often pondered those words. I understand that many today have little time to ponder. I'm sorry. The words to me point to the need for trust. We must find our very own time and place and path unique to our own unique unrepeatable humanity. Helping others to find their own is part of it, at least I think so. Yet how can we ever investigate the "entire ocean or sky"?
We all have our own questions and I think our questions are more important than our answers. Dogen had his question, which weighed upon his mind. Losing his father and mother early the impermanence of existence pervaded his question and his own quest for time, place and path. His question revolved around the Mahayana Buddhist teaching of "original enlightenment". If we were all originally enlightened then what was the point of practice? Why did all the previous masters and Buddhas "practice"?
In the original Theravada texts the historical Buddha was asked this question and answered:- "Out of compassion for future generations".
Dogen had to find his own answer, which can never be the words of a book or a creed. It must be written on the heart. He travelled to China in search of his answer - all the great zen (ch'an) masters were there. He arrived at a monastery and met an old cook who provided food for the novices. Dogen said to him:- "would you not rather be practising?" and the old guy just laughed. It took Dogen many more years before he understood why.
Our answers are found in our own unique time and place, however lowly by some standards. We have to come home. And as Dogen also found, the journey itself is home, and the road goes on forever.
Anyway, I'm not in Costa's today, but up in the Oxfam Vinyl Record department. Listening to Neil Diamond at the moment, occasionally disturbed by a customer who actually wants to buy something!
That is all for now.
I find writing them therapeutic. I have my own mental health issues and, again, I can be fairly vulnerable. But I can sit down in Costa's and it can all pour out. Anything. I might have some ideas first, but really it is almost stream of consciousness stuff.
I posted earlier this morning on some thread about whether we believed in the immortality of the soul. I posted:-
I don't believe in anything. I don't mean this in any nihilistic sense. I simply have Trust that Reality-as-is, is.....yes..... "trustworthy". My trust offers no guarantees that I will be "kept safe" or that I will live forever.
My trust means that I can accept the next moment without pre-conditions. Reality moves forward into pure novelty.
It really is simple. Almost like a child.
I thought afterwards that perhaps I could expand on the "Trust", that I trust in the infinite compassion, the infinite wisdom and the infinite potential of the Reality in which we "live and move and have our being."
It's virtually a default position (or "no-position"....😀 ) evolving from the simple recognition that what good is, what evil is, what truth is, what untruth is, what happiness is, what unhappiness is, not one of these is finally within my grasp. That what the Japanese call jiriki (self-power) is helpless in the face of life's deepest questions.
There is a great song by Robbie Robertson, of the Band, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". and a great line from it:-
Just take what you need and leave the rest
Which seems fine, but the next line of the song is:-
But they should never have taken the very best
How can we ever know what is the best?
One of the great zen masters, Dogen (13th century Japan) once said:-
Therefore, if there are fish that would swim or birds that would fly only after investigating the entire ocean or sky, they would find neither path nor place. When we make this very place our own, our practice becomes the actualization of reality
I have often pondered those words. I understand that many today have little time to ponder. I'm sorry. The words to me point to the need for trust. We must find our very own time and place and path unique to our own unique unrepeatable humanity. Helping others to find their own is part of it, at least I think so. Yet how can we ever investigate the "entire ocean or sky"?
We all have our own questions and I think our questions are more important than our answers. Dogen had his question, which weighed upon his mind. Losing his father and mother early the impermanence of existence pervaded his question and his own quest for time, place and path. His question revolved around the Mahayana Buddhist teaching of "original enlightenment". If we were all originally enlightened then what was the point of practice? Why did all the previous masters and Buddhas "practice"?
In the original Theravada texts the historical Buddha was asked this question and answered:- "Out of compassion for future generations".
Dogen had to find his own answer, which can never be the words of a book or a creed. It must be written on the heart. He travelled to China in search of his answer - all the great zen (ch'an) masters were there. He arrived at a monastery and met an old cook who provided food for the novices. Dogen said to him:- "would you not rather be practising?" and the old guy just laughed. It took Dogen many more years before he understood why.
Our answers are found in our own unique time and place, however lowly by some standards. We have to come home. And as Dogen also found, the journey itself is home, and the road goes on forever.
Anyway, I'm not in Costa's today, but up in the Oxfam Vinyl Record department. Listening to Neil Diamond at the moment, occasionally disturbed by a customer who actually wants to buy something!
That is all for now.
