lotusinthemud

you are already accepted

In accepting yourself, you’re simply agreeing to the fact that you are already accepted by the entire universe, just as you are.

~ Ruben L. F. Habito, “Be Still & Know”

Honen’s “One-Page Document”

Honen’s “One-Page Document”:

On January 23, 1212, just two days before his death, Honen, the founder of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, was asked by his disciple Genchi to provide a record of his essential teaching. The result was the Ichimai-kishomon, or “One-Page Document.”

What does it say? 

It says to recite the nembutsu and believe in the Pure Land — that is all. That is why in Japan it has been called “easy practice.” “Easy” because, unlike “hard practices” such as Zen, it can be done without prior study. Easy because it can be performed by anyone, anywhere, at any time. But then, things aren’t always what they seem.

In reality, “hard practice” is easy; “easy practice” is hard.

Think of it this way: It is not so difficult to believe that, with many years of meditation practice, you might eventually become enlightened — if only somewhat. In theory at least, it makes a kind of sense. After all, “You get what you pay for.” Thus, “hard practice” is easy. It is easy because you can believe in it. Easy because you can justify it with the same cause-and-effect logic you apply to the world.

there was truth and there was untruth

“Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. Tthere was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”

~ George Orwell

being good at things...

By Kurt Vonnegut:

“When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.

And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”

And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”

And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

The Opportunities that Karma Presents

It is common to think of karma as a sort of fate to which we are subjected, but it is more central to the Buddha’s message that karma is the opportunity we have each moment to choose what sort of person we are to become next.

—Andrew Olendzki, “The Search for Meaning”

via Tricycle

We, the misfits... ~ Dharmavidya

We are an outpost of Nyorai’s Pure Land. We, the misfits, fit here. We are trying to live a life that is genuine — a life free from spin — while recognising that we are just ordinary, unenlightened beings.

~ Dharmavidya

There is no audience involved, no 'me' and 'them.'

"The point is not to want to benefit anyone or make them happy. There is no audience involved, no 'me' and 'them.' It is a matter of an open gift, complete generosity without the relative notions of giving and receiving. That is the basic openness of compassion: opening without demand. Simply be what you are, be the master of the situation. If you will just 'be' then life flows around and through you."

~ Chogyam Trungpa ~ Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

pay attention to the karmic process

Please be careful in the future to pay attention. Karma can be very subtle and tricky. We might think something is no big deal, but it may turn out to have serious consequences, so pay good attention to the karmic process. This is what every practitioner needs to pay attention to — even those with the highest realization.

~ Dudjom Rinpoche

:: link

working cheerfully with illness

In working with physical ailments or problems on the physical level, you can develop cheerfulness and joy, in spite of your sickness. You need joy, because dealing with sickness is difficult. But even if you are sick, you do not have to feel that you are completely trapped. There are gaps, moments in which you can cheer yourself up and celebrate the existence of life.

~ From “Maintaining the Samaya Vow” in "The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness, Volume Three of The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma" by Chögyam Trungpa

the nembutsu of the fundamental vow

The nembutsu of the fundamental vow can and should be truly independent, for it requires no external supports. By "external supports" I mean reliance upon one's human intelligence, moral conduct, the heart that seeks the path, compassion, or anything else. None of these is an auxiliary to nembutsu, which stands alone.

Good people should seek salvation in the recitation of "Namu Amida Butsu" just as they are. And bad people should seek salvation in "Namu Amida Butsu" just as they are. Whether they are bad or good, let people just recite "Namu Amida Butsu" as they were the day they were born. Such a person need not depend on any other means. Even so, every one who tries to rectify his evil ways, and do good deeds, acts in accord with the Buddha's wishes.

If a person's mind is not set on going for birth, or if he believes himself to be disqualified for this reason or that, then his birth in the pure land is not assured.

~ Hōnen Shonin (1133-1212)

(Gyojo ezu, Chapter 21).