Barries to the Awakened Life

"These things will destroy the human race: politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, learning without silence, religion without fearlessness and worship without awareness."

Anthony de Mello

Bringing Deep Compassion

"All meditation must begin with arousing deep compassion. Whatever one does must emerge from an attitude of love and benefiting others."

Milarepa

Playing Our Part

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total ;of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."

Robert F. Kennedy

All Minds are Interconnected

"Every thought you think is a force sent out, and in accordance with it's nature and intensity will it go out to seek lodging in minds receptive to it, and will react upon yourself for positive or negative. There is ceaseless reciprocity between mind and Mind, and a continual interchange of thought-forces."

James Allen
Excerpt | The Path to Prosperity

Enlightenment Appears

"To realize Zen one has to pass through the barrier of the Patriarchs. Enlightenment follows when the road of thinking ceases. If you do not pass the barrier of the patriarchs, or if your road of thinking does not cease, then no matter what you think, no matter what you do, you are like a tangling ghost."

Trans. | Eido Shimano Roshi
Excerpt | Golden Wind (Talks on Zen Buddhism)

No Gaps

"Do not create a gap between your life and the Buddha's life."

Taizan Maezumi Zenji Dai Osho

Perspectives can Change

"Buddha said that the cause of stress and pain is that we don't have the proper perspective. Somehow we see things in an upside-down way.
What is the wrong perspective? My one perspective! We don't think of it as only one perspective.

How does this translate into our daily lives? Don't we often see others as wrong because they don't share our perspective? This causes constant clashes in relationships. The ego gets involved and we can't find our way out.

We become blind to everything but our own view. We can't see it's just one view. Why get so tied up with the?"

Dennis Genpo Merzel, Roshi
Excerpt | 24/7 Dharma - Impermanence No-Self Nirvana

Not Giving Up on Others

"Very seldom will a person give up on himself. He continues to have hope because he knows he has the potential for change. He tries again - not just to exist, but to bring about those changes in himself that will make life worth living. Yet people are very quick to give up on friends, and especially on their spouses, to declare them hopeless, and to either walk away or do nothing more than resign themselves to a bad situation."

Hugh Prather

Emanations of the Buddha

"Like the reflections of the moon that effortlessly appear in any body of still water, a Buddha's emanations spontaneously appear wherever living beings' minds are capable of perceiving them. Buddhas can emanate in any form whatsoever to help living beings. Sometimes they manifest as Buddhists and sometimes as non-Buddhists. They can manifest as women or men, monarchs or tramps, law-abiding citizens or criminals. They can even manifest as animals, as wind or rain, or as mountains or islands. Unless we are a Buddha ourself we cannot possibly say who or what is an emanation of a Buddha."

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Caring for Each Other

"Helping each other, caring for one another, I think that's a basic human quality. Without that, you can't be a good politcian, you can't be a good businessperson, you can't be a good religious person."

H.H. Dalai Lama

How to Do the Wrong Thing

I am amazed, shocked, surprised and disappointed by the Israeli governments response in turning away to 50 Darfur refugees (survivors of the current genocide) seeking asylum. When the world said, things like genocide would never be permitted to happen again, odd that it is those that it was purported against the most are will to support it happening again. One would think that they more than anyone else could identify with experience of genocide, but it seems that reliance on “policies” has helped them to avert both their hearts and eyes to compassion.

Read the CNN report by clicking this link.

Related Content:
Save Darfur
Darfur Genocide Intervention
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Namaste’

Jaye Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO.com

Simplicity of the Truth

"If one speaks or acts with a cruel mind, misery follows, as the cart follows the horse... If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows, as a shadow follows its source."

The Dhammapada

Entirely by Thinking

"Time, space, and cause and effect, make this world. They are the strongest forces in the life of nearly every human being. Yet none of these things actually exists: they are all created entirely by thinking."

Zen Master Seung Sahn
Excerpt | The Compass of Zen"

Inadequacy of Words

"Most words evolved as a description of the outside world, hence their inadequacy to describe what is going on inside me."

Hugh Prather

Motivation for Awakening

"Spiritual awakening is the most essential thing in man's life, and it is the the sole purpose of being. Is not civilization, in all its tragic forms, a supreme motive for spiritual awakening?"

Kahlil Gibran

Interconnectedness

"To practice all that is good means to wholeheartedly live life based on freedom from the illusion of an independent self. It is to awaken fully to to the interdependent self, and to express such a self."

Tenshin Reb Anderson, Roshi
Excerpt | Being Upright

Understanding This

"When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything at all. If you work day by day to understand yourself (learn yourself), it is only then you can and will understand everything."

Shunryu Suzuki, Zenji Dai Osho"

Introduction to Freedom

"Buddhas don't wash away sins with water, or heal the suffering with laying o of hands, or transmit understanding into the minds of others. They introduce beings to freedom, through showing them reality."

David Michie
Excerpt | Buddhism for Busy People

Introduction to Freedom

"Buddhas don't wash away sins with water, or heal the suffering with laying o of hands, or transmit understanding into the minds of others. They introduce beings to freedom, through showing them reality."

David Michie
Excerpt | Buddhism for Busy People

Words

"Fears, indecision, and frustration feed on words. Without words they usually stop. . . Words are at times good for looking back, but they are confining when I need to act in the present."

Hugh Prather

Each Others Light

I was at work yesterday, when a friend informed my that another mutual friend by the name of Wayne W. passed away. For me Wayne was significant because more than 20 years ago when I went to my first 12 Step meeting and he offered me a hand of friendship and invited me to come in and listen, greeting me as "friend," as I stood out in the hallway supporting a wall.

Wayne was frequently able to express tremendous insights about addiction and the process of recovery. He once said, "Love is taking delight in someone else's well-being." another time he stated, "Recovery has nothing to do with strength and power as we normally think about it. It's about surrender and not having to fight the process of recovery (including the people we love and who love us)." I had been so dazed by my addiction, those expressions and ideas became beacons which I could follow. He showed me that when we are lost and feeling uncertain that we can be each others light. I am deeply grateful to have know him.

Bowing with Head Touching the Floor Nine Times,

Jaye Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO.com

Expressions of Gratitude

"The true way of expressing gratitude (for *This* life) is not to be found in anything other than our daily Buddhist practice itself. That is to say, we should practice selflessly, esteeming each day of life."

Dogen Zenji, Dai Osho

Expressions of Gratitude

"The true way of expressing gratitude (for *This* life) is not to be found in anything other than our daily Buddhist practice itself. That is to say, we should practice selflessly, esteeming each day of life."

Dogen Zenji, Dai Osho

It's Automatic

"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Nelson Mandela

It's a Process, Not an Event

As you can see, I began redesigning the layout. This will be a part of a phased process. I will begin adding the "Library" and "Zen Center" resource list. Please stay tuned.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know by way of comment. I look forward to hearing from you.

Namaste'

Jaye Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO.com

Pownce on It

For those who are in the look, I received a Pownce invite last week and started using it. It you happen to have one and are would like to share discussions on Buddhist practice and related aspects, add me to your friends list. I'm finding Pownce pretty cool.

// Jaye Morris, Curator
// digitalZENDO.com

Who is Driving the Bus?

What is motivating your behavior and determining how your interactions will go today?

Namaste'

Jaye Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO.com

Compassion is our Business

"Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival."

H.H. The Dalai Lama

Developing Our Character

"Character is built in the same way as a tree or a house is built-namely, by ceaseless addition of new material, and that material is thought. By the aid of millions of bricks a city is built; by the aid of millions of thoughts a mind, a character is built. 'Rome was not built in a day,' and a Buddha, a Plato, or a Shakespeare is not built in a lifetime.

Every person is a mind-builder, whether they recognize it or not. Every person must by necessity think, and every thought is another brick laid down in the edifice of mind. Such 'brick-laying' is done loosely and carelessly by a vast number of people, the result being unstable and tottering characters that are ready to go down under the first little gust of trouble or temptation."

James Allen
Excerpt | The Mastery of Destiny