Comments for 108zenbooks

Comment on renouncing acceptance – Elephant Journal trumpets news by Genju

Genju — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:13:45 +0000

Thank you, Lucinda! It’s not practice if it can’t be fun sometimes!

Comment on joyful openness of the heart by Genju

Genju — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:12:53 +0000

Thank you both! It always amazes me how my environment is in charge of me. Then I have to remember I am part of everyone else’s environment… even if I were on a deserted island!

Carole, I love Pema Chodron. Comfortable with Uncertainty got me through a tough period when we thought Frank had cancer. I’m looking at the subtitle: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion!

Comment on mushin & the train of enlightenment by Genju

Genju — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:07:45 +0000

Hi Helmut! Thank you for this insight. I kept wanting the last word to read as “dessert”! The story of Mushin reminds me constantly that I can’t always see what’s growing around me nor is what I want as evidence of good practice evidence at all! It’s a bit about faith – which I sense may be “endurance”.

Comment on mushin & the train of enlightenment by Helmut

Helmut — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:17:02 +0000

One translation of the word “Dukkha” is, enduring or endurance. What is being cultivated is an intimate look at suffering.
My experience of suffering is always about my own, and it is usually in relation to something outside of me.
When I reach those spiritually arid times it’s usually in relation to something inside me.
It may feel like one but that ain’t no desert.

Comment on renouncing acceptance – Elephant Journal trumpets news by Lucinda

Lucinda — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:46:34 +0000

This is why I love 108zenbooks.com. Incredigle post.

Comment on joyful openness of the heart by Carole

Carole — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:34:09 +0000

Joko Beck’s way of stating that “we have been sacrificied to other’s greed, hate and delusion” and that we do the same is an interesting way of expressing it. It makes it very clear to me then, why resentment and anger arise in these situations. And I have to say it makes me cringe a bit to see that I also sacrifice others at the alter of my desire, how quickly and unconsciously this happens.

I remember in one of her books she uses an example that if we were on a lake in a boat and another boat banged into us, we would immediately turn, perhaps angrily to see who did it. If we noticed the boat was empty our anger would most likely dissipate. I think my work often is just this, to see the boat as empty, to not take it personally. Then I don’t feel so much as if I’ve been sacrificed.

Other Buddhist (though not Zen) women I love to read are Tenzin Palmo and Tsultrim Allione and of course there’s the prolific Pema Chodron.

Comment on women ancestors by Genju

Genju — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:37:23 +0000

@ Carole – yes, it’s that false belief that I need fixing that gets me in trouble.

@ Suzanne – you do indeed ROCK, Girl! Just love your blog along with Carole’s. Both of you do wonders as teachers!

Comment on joyful openness of the heart by Suzanne

Suzanne — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:32:15 +0000

So interesting.

My own path – if it is that – had a lot to do with at last treating myself with the same compassion I showed others. And I find it isn’t fear of getting hurt that is uppermost; it is fear of hurting. By simply interacting and engaging others, another inevitability is causing pain, without malice, by simple virtue of being, because of the expectations or needs of others not being met. Those things are simply uncontrollable. You remind someone of someone that abused them…someone falls in love with you, and you can’t reciprocate…you try to be a good parent, which often involves consistency and the upholding of discipline…all hurtful. Behind this is not just a shallow need to be liked or loved, but a real regret that simple interaction is so potentially painful. Still, a bit of pain only makes for a full life.

There is very little I would label sacrifice, unless it’s the valuable time I spend picking up my husband’s dirty socks!

Comment on this silence by Genju

Genju — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:29:14 +0000

I’m always beginning – thankfully!

Comment on women ancestors by Suzanne

Suzanne — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:35:20 +0000

Well, all this humility-speak is great…but how I’m feeling today is…I ROCK. In a goddess-type way.