Book: Pema Chödrön - No Time to Lose.

[Snoopy]

Enthusiasm (Ch. 7 verses 1 – 76).

Chapter seven is concerned with the paramita of enthusiasm (or exertion). Chödrön calls it heroic perseverance. Shantideva contrasts it with laziness: laziness per se, not being willing to make an effort and the despondency of self-contempt.

After examining laziness, Shantideva considers two major causes of suffering: creating negative karma and having a closed, compartmentalising mind, which then leads to false views.


“The forces that secure the good of beings
Are aspiration, firmness, joy and moderation.
Aspiration grows through fear of suffering
And contemplation of the benefits to be attained.”

- 7.31​

This verse begins a teaching on the four strengths that support enthusiasm.

The final verses of the chapter present various attributes of enthusiasm, such as lightness and urgency.

s.

 

[seattlegal]

Specific Situations for Practicing Patience (Ch. 6 verses 52 – 134).

Shantideva next moves on to various scenarios where we have the opportunity to practice patience rather than give in to anger; for example when we are scorned, criticised or treated in a condescending manner.

The attachments in our mind are held together by the story lines that we weave. The storylines that involve anger and hatred Shantideva says can be addressed by the practice of shamatha meditation discussed earlier (Chapter five). Each time our mind wanders in such meditation, Chödrön says that we can further the practice by labelling our thoughts simply as “thinking” to gently dissolve the stream-like storylines that we generate.

With verse 99, Shantideva begins a section on the value of the troublemakers in our life:

“Those who stay close to me, then,
To ruin my good name and cut me down to size
Are surely there protecting me
From falling into ruin in the realms of sorrow.”

As is often the case, this may not at first sight seem to be the common sense view or logical. But Shantideva explains that such “troublemakers” are the very people who show us where we are stuck in our practice, they perhaps show us aspects of ourselves that we would rather not see. So rather than obstacles, such people are essential to providing opportunities for practicing patience.

“So like a treasure found at home,
Enriching me without fatigue,
All enemies are helpers in my bodhisattva work
And therefore they should be a joy to me.”

- 6.107​

s.

Hey, I enthusiastically push the buttons of those who like to cut me down to size and keep me honest! (It goes along with the Christian ideal to "love your enemies.")
{I've always thought that finding an ethical and honest skeptic is like finding a great treasure.}

 

[Netti-Netti]

 

[Snoopy]

Hey, I enthusiastically push the buttons of those who like to cut me down to size and keep me honest! (It goes along with the Christian ideal to "love your enemies.")
{I've always thought that finding an ethical and honest skeptic is like finding a great treasure.}

Hey, sg, you enthusiastically push buttons, period. (as I believe you folk say)

s.

 

[Snoopy]

N-N, this image reminds me...

in my current book juggling I'm also reading The Best Buddhist Writing 2007, edited by Melvin McLeod. There is a piece called Letting Go by Judith Lief. In it she talks about this basic practice and alerts us to not thinking we've done so well and "let go" when actually our sneaky ego has converted it into a concept which we are still clinging on to. So as well as letting go, we have to (incrementally and gently with good humour) let go of the concept of letting go.

s.

 

[Netti-Netti]

There is a piece called Letting Go by Judith Lief. In it she talks about this basic practice and alerts us to not thinking we've done so well and "let go" when actually our sneaky ego has converted it into a concept which we are still clinging on to.

Minor problem: when you're all done letting go of stuff - including that pesky desire to let go - you have nothing left to work with for transformation purposes. Then you've got nothing left to transform.

It seems we need to reconcile transformation and renunciation.

 

[seattlegal]

Minor problem: when you're all done letting go of stuff - including that pesky desire to let go - you have nothing left to work with for transformation purposes. Then you've got nothing left to transform.

It seems we need to reconcile transformation and renunciation.

Have Faith in Your Mind (Hsin Hsin Ming)

If things are not thought different,
To their nature they will return.
<...>
When all is thrown away
There's nothing to remember.​

Transformation really isn't a problem in this case:
​

In all places the non-dual is
The same and there is naught outside it.
Sages everywhere
To this sect belong,
Which is beyond time, long or short,
For a thought lasts ten thousand years.
It neither “is” nor “is not”
For everywhere is here
The smallest equals the largest
For it is not confined by space.
The largest equals the smallest
For it is no within, without.
“Is” and “is not” are the same,
For what “is not” equals “is”.
If you cannot so awaken,
Why worry if you do not win it?​

 

[Netti-Netti]

I was thinking in terms of "letting go" of attachments versus "transforming" them. These would seem to be rather different approaches, yet both are associated with Buddhism.

 

[seattlegal]

I was thinking in terms of "letting go" of attachments versus "transforming" them. These would seem to be rather different approaches, yet both are associated with Buddhism.

No "vs" involved, imo. First line is about attachment, second line is about transformation:

If things are not thought different,
To their nature they will return.

There is a difference between attachment and interconnectedness.
​

 

[Netti-Netti]

First line is about attachment, second line is about transformation:

If things are not thought different,
To their nature they will return.

​

To tell you the truth, I'm having trouble with this. My thoughts may have some impact on things, but at the same time there is an objective aspect of reality that is independent of my ideas, beliefs, and intentions. Therefore, the notion that things will go back to their nature as a result of a shift in my persective is a little hard to take. Knowing does not directly imply being.

I gather this is probably about zazen and getting in touch with Original Mind. But I see the passage in question as more an illustration of Dzogchen than the Path of Transformation.

 

[Snoopy]

To tell you the truth, I'm having trouble with this.

Perhaps a couple of alternative translations may be of assistance?


When all things are seen equally
The timeless Self-essence* is reached.

* “the unborn, undying, eternal self: no outside, no inside, no beginning, no end; our true nature that always had been and always will be.”

–[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]from The Eye Never Sleeps by Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi.​

​

- and -


If the mind makes no distinctions,
The ten thousand things are as they are, of single essence.

- from Trust in Mind by Mu Soeng.​

There are several translations of the poem in this book but this one is by Richard B. Clarke, that Soeng uses in the commentary. Soeng relates these lines to the natural, transparent mind in which there is no forced effort. With this, we are woken up from our sleepwalking through life and thus escape samsara. “It is an a priori condition of mind that can be experienced existentially but does not lend itself very well to conceptual reification.”

I shall close with two more lines from the poem (translated by Clarke):

Stop talking and thinking,
And there is nothing you will not be able to know.







s.

 

[Snoopy]

btw, I bought this Pema Chödrön book to get to know a little something about Tibetan Buddhism, so this isn’t helping.

s.

 

[Snoopy]

{I've always thought that finding an ethical and honest skeptic is like finding a great treasure.}

You might find some treasure here, sg.

Sasana: A Refuge for the Skeptical Buddhist

s.

 

[seattlegal]

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Snoopy.

No "vs" involved, imo. First line is about attachment, second line is about transformation:

If things are not thought different,
To their nature they will return.

There is a difference between attachment and interconnectedness.

To tell you the truth, I'm having trouble with this. My thoughts may have some impact on things, but at the same time there is an objective aspect of reality that is independent of my ideas, beliefs, and intentions. Therefore, the notion that things will go back to their nature as a result of a shift in my perspective is a little hard to take.

You are the one being transformed.

Knowing does not directly imply being.

Hence, the dukka associated with wrong view.

I gather this is probably about zazen and getting in touch with Original Mind. But I see the passage in question as more an illustration of Dzogchen than the Path of Transformation.

Back to the Tibetan view--desire is transformed into discerning wisdom via meditation. (Buddha Amitabha.)
http://www.namobuddhapublications.com/docs/PDF/E-Five-Buddha-Families-2003.pdf
http://www.interfaith.org/forum/desire-9207.html#post153208

 

[Snoopy]

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Snoopy.

carry on me old flower
s.

 

[Netti-Netti]

Stop talking and thinking

What are you doing here?

 

[seattlegal]

What are you doing here?

Temporarily stopping the production of trash.

 

[Netti-Netti]

Temporarily stopping the production of trash.

You sure you aren't creating more of it?

 

[seattlegal]

You sure you aren't creating more of it?

There is always that possibility.

 

[Netti-Netti]

There is always that possibility.

Ever been to a landfill?