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The middle way and the will to truth (part 2)
questions and answers
(From the book: Encounters with the true dragon, forthcoming)


It is difficult for me to understand the meaning of the middle way as a target. Can you explain how the middle way as a guideline for practical Action can work?


In the ancient Buddhist scriptures, mostly similes and metaphors used to make the lessons easier to understand. Perhaps such an approach would also be useful to make the middle way of course. We can compare life to a road or highway:

Our road leads to a destination, but the location of our starting point, this destination is not normally see. The landscape on either side of the road is visible and this is often very exciting and seductive. There are wonderful views of mountains, forests and rivers that our attention from the road . Distract There are also fascinating roadside advertising for all kinds of wonderful things. Some advertise their products as the highest quality of life and vitality. Others offer instant fame and success, and others promise us the way to the omniscient enlightenment and spiritual bliss.

Without that we are aware of this guide, we the wheel of the car after the seductive advertising either right or left. But the road of life off the actual road is impassable! At the roadside, only potholes and dangerous precipices. If we drive the car into the ditch, it will probably take a long time, to get back on the paved road and get to continue on.

It is the goal of life, simply to stay on the road, otherwise it is not progressing. We should not be too much to worry about the final destination and the future destination. The problem is our safety while driving, here and now. If we are to have the feeling by too fantastic to ideals or materialistic incentives right or left moved away, we should correct our course as soon as possible and return to the middle of the road.

This is the meaning of the middle way as a goal of life. The middle way is not by fantastic or seductive dream goal but a very practical measure to assess the balance of ideas and actions correctly and to achieve. It is a measure that keeps us in motion and puts us in the right direction. With such a scale we can take pleasure in our journey through life, without fear of side tracks illusory and dangerous precipices on both sides. If we follow the middle path, we can achieve the goal of true Buddhism faster than in any other way.

If the idealism is always the first manifestation of the will to truth?

No, I do not think so. The will to truth reveals itself very simple and direct in childhood. If a child finds a strange insect, it asks, for example, his name. If it encounters in the nature of a snake, it would incite them with a stick. It is therefore trying to figure out what this is really up. Such a simple curiosity has been the clear revelation of the will to truth. As you get older, the same impulse moves us to bookstores, with interesting people or maybe to Buddhist seminars.

Not all revelations of the will to truth are idealistic. In the course of life, the will to truth often emerges in the form of idealistic questions and answers, if we begin to study philosophy or religion and think about life. The will to Truth is a fundamental trait of man, our fundamental nature. Therefore, we should not lose the will to truth in the course of life and not throw away, but on the contrary, maintain and preserve.

You stated that the will to truth is quite natural and in principle, and many of our efforts are directed in the life of the will to truth. Why is it necessary to bring him to maintain and preserve, if this is so?

The stirring so that the original will to truth that is shared by all people depends, in fact, to various destinations. So there is the will to fame, the will to riches, the will to power, etc. Such desires and ambitions are not necessarily such a bad or unnatural, but they tend to obscure the will to truth itself, or to displace all.

We are then captured by our worldly activities and exercises, so that the true goal of our life we can not see clearly. At some point we will probably see the emptiness and futility of our blind greed for power, fame, money, pleasure superficial or apparent security. We then have the feeling that all our efforts in life were wrong and have led to nothing. It then seems as if there were nothing, for which it is worthwhile to live and nothing to which we could build our life.
may
In such times of despair to report the will to truth again ignored. This is meant to awaken the will to truth. to awaken the will to truth means to discover the illusions of our thoughts and our desires and expose. We explore the fact that we have here and now nothing which we can rely on and support - except the will to truth.

Main Components Of Fire Extinguisher

The middle way and the will to truth (Part 1)
From the book: Encounters with the true dragon, will soon appear

I'm sometimes on human thoughts that come from the west to Japan in order to study Buddhism. I think many of them looking for the essence and the heart of the mysterious East. Perhaps her life in the West has become boring and uninteresting. Can not find the meaning of their social life and the religious institutions of their countries of origin seem essential part of this negative social situation to be. The institutions are there, people might be familiar to them and appear to be ordinary, too boring and offer little new. Therefore they are looking for something else.

Zen Buddhism for them is something different and exotic. He has strange and paradoxical stories and unusual ideas and concepts and a strange exercise practice. Everything seems mysterious and exotic. Such mysteries take some people violent, but I'm afraid these are still largely to illusions. I'm doing in my remarks to be corrected also about such illusions and faulty concepts.
The true Buddhism is not exotic and strange.

The true Buddhism is basically very simple, very practical and very realistic. If we understand the Buddha Dharma really, we find that other religions of the world on the other hand some very strange and mysterious are. They are also mysterious, because they are often restricted to a particular area of the mind or soul, because in the mind and the imagination is really all possible. But the real world has its concrete and practical limitations such as time and space. The real world is not fantastic and strange, but straightforward and simple: reality is "normal".

Reality can not be found in the extremes of thought and feeling in this sense, for it is only in a state of equilibrium exists between such extremes. The reality there is in the middle or at the center, so we speak on Buddhism and the middle way and the fact that by the Buddha Dharma find our center.

The middle way is a very important concept in Buddhism, and like most Buddhist teachings, it can be understood on different levels and from many perspectives out. Most Buddhists understand the middle path as a guide to lead their lives properly - a life that is in the middle between the extremes of too hedonistic, secular life, to an excessive hardship and scarcity spiritual asceticism on the other. I believe that this understanding is very important and I feel very strongly that it is the original concept of Gautama Buddha in what was then India.

The Living was the Buddha, there are many different views, attitudes, mindsets and ideologies about life. One school of thought was led by a group of naturalistic theorists who were also known as the six non-Buddhist priests. Their materialistic attitude supported the pursuit of sensual pleasures as the main goal of life.

the other extreme were Brahmin priests and other idealistic seeker. They urged the people to sensual pleasures and delights of all to take distance and the freedom of the Spirit through faith and prayer to achieve independent from the body. We can therefore in the philosophical sense, the middle way be described as an attitude which is in the middle between materialism and idealism. It is an attitude that avoids the extreme positions, with the goal of a moderate, balanced and harmonious life.

The middle way is actually a simple and straightforward idea. If we study the world and the people around us, we can without difficulty, the confusion and suffering will recognize the result from a life of sensual pleasures, or the unrealistic ideals. We often feel that our life is out of balance if we pursue unattainable dreams, or chasing fleeting sensual pleasures and thus experience ultimately only disappointment and frustration.

It is impossible that we get what we want. Often we can not recognize or even decide what we want. Sometimes we are in high spirits and optimistic, other times we are defeated, depressed and discouraged regarding our future. Once we think we are great and extraordinary people at other times we suffer from feelings of their own smallness and lack of meaning. Through all the ups and downs of such a life, we begin to long for us to have a certain order and clarity. Maybe we should try to bring harmony into our lives. Perhaps we should therefore follow the middle path. This is certainly an excellent idea, but unfortunately it is not easy to achieve. follow

The middle way is in fact not as simple as it first appears and as you might think. This is a very important point that we should not pass over lightly. Why is it now so difficult to follow the middle path? In one respect, but the problem is very simple. The middle way is a spiritual concept, an ideal that we can indeed imagine, it is not the reality itself, it is not our life. Ideals are always easy to think and difficult to achieve. They are just ideas and not reality.

We wonder maybe the fact that Gautama Buddha taught us to aspire, which is not to achieve in the real world. Why did he not told us that we should forget our dreams and ideals to live only in the unfathomable reality and truth? I fear that his pupils had stared at him with an uncomprehending look on her face, if he had taught it. But how can we live in a tangible reality, not with the mind? How can you look for something that has no name and can not be described accurately? In the beginning our study of Buddhism, the teachings of the Dharma and the incredible seem unclear and incomprehensible reality to be particularly important. We therefore need a mental picture that is easier to understand, we need an idea that can be more directly related to our everyday experience. I think that Gautama Buddha knew this well. He knew that people need an understandable target - an idea that can serve as a target or guideline for their efforts in life.

The middle way is such a goal. It should, in fact, a good goal that we live a balanced, harmonious life and to avoid extreme views and actions. This goal can easily grasp with our minds. The middle way is an ideal, but it reflects the real nature of the universe. It is an ideal that is realistic and improved our lives forever. Our efforts to lead a life on the middle path, we will over time lead to harmony with the world, man and the universe.

then we can forget the ideal of fact and easy in the real world live and act. If we have a simple, realistic goal, this is an important starting point for many human actions and activities. Gautama Buddha took into account this fact, as he taught the middle way. If one accepts the need of a goal, it means that we recognize the importance of idealism and ideals in our lives. This is, I think the deeper meaning of the Buddhist doctrine of the middle way. Also

Master Dogen has recognized the value of idealism, but in a different way. In Shobogenzo he often urges us to awaken the will to truth, to maintain and preserve it. "Will to truth" my translation of the Sanskrit word "bodhicitta" is. It means a very old concept in Buddhism and in the work of Master Dogen takes it up a particularly important place. He says emphatically that it is of paramount importance for the study of Buddhism, have the will to truth and to develop further.

We like an excellent understanding of Buddhist theory and practice, even the exercise, but without the will to truth is such knowledge largely meaningless. On the other hand underlines Dogen that mistakes and wrong actions are in our lives is an important prerequisite for the learning process by which we attain the truth and even the cause may be that we get them out unless we have the will to truth in our life have taken root.

When I first such sentences in Shobogenzo read, I understood that faith was unshakable commitment to the truth of Master Dogen, and did not allow for compromise, but I could not understand why this should be so important. I was surprised that he so high an opinion of the will to truth was. Now, in light of my own experience of a long Life, I can understand the reason for this uncompromising faith. I think we can use it in the history of his life for yourself. He began the study of Buddhism when he was very young. At that time he had no clear idea of what Buddhism really is. He had many ideas and some one-sided idealistic fantasies, but he could finally understand the Buddhism at all.

He could neither understand nor sutras, Buddhist theory and not the teachings of his master really is. His thoughts were mostly about Buddhism Gautama Buddha's intentions completely opposite. He had no measure to assess the truth from falsehood distinction, not a realistic goal, could elaborate on anything. He had in all its confusion really nothing but the will to truth.

Therefore, the will to truth as the standard of his life. His erroneous ideas and fantasies drove him forward. When he met the realities of life, he had to suffer a lot and got into more and more confusion, but the suffering and confusion that reinforced his decision to seek the truth. Meister said Doge finally reached in spite of the countless mistakes, misunderstandings, and personal difficulties, the goal he had previously not seen clearly in his mind. This was for him a very important fact. If he thought of the experiences of his life, he felt no doubt that the only true leader had been his will to truth.

This is the reason I think why Master Dogen underestimated the will to truth as high. He believed that the will to truth is our true allies and our true friend in life. These allies to maintain themselves, is therefore the most important duty in human life. We should not be afraid of suffering, confusion and difficulties, but we should be afraid of losing the will to truth. Without the will to truth we can never reach the highest purpose of human life.
is why the will to Truth for us is fundamental. He is the power and restlessness that drives us forward in search of the meaning of life and the source of a better life and happiness. In this sense, therefore all our efforts are in life in a direct relation with the will to truth.

If we study philosophy or religion, we have initially usually a specific motivation, which is pure, spiritual, and very idealistic. Master Dogen felt that such an idealistic effort to try to understand our own lives, the sincere and natural expression of the will to truth. Therefore, he rejected the idealism and later does not. On the contrary, he saw it as an expression of human will to know and understand something to do. He felt that is the idealistic form of the will to truth is a key stage in the development of the individual and of all humanity.
I therefore believe that Master Dogen and Gautama Buddha had very similar attitudes to the ideals and idealism. They understood that people must first of all be idealists. When people encounter with Buddhism, they are always his first study on the basis of idealistic thoughts.

This is a necessary phase of human understanding, a natural step to learn through the life of the great problems of life itself. Therefore, the Buddhist idealism as a starting point of all thought and understanding it, but he is not the final outcome or the highest truth, but it is an important step on the path to this truth. Without our dreams, ideas and ideals, we can never begin our journey to the truth because we had no idea of the direction, not a goal towards which we might move. The mental pictures, ideas and goals that characterize the first stage of our understanding, are therefore very important to us. They give us a first impression of a complex reality, a reality with many faces. Idealistic images of truth are in fact a particular face of this reality - a Face the real world.

Small Purses For Women Images

never lower than in God's hands

Is it cynical, photographs of suffering people to publish? A few days ago a group of journalists discussed the question of whether people are entitled to show the suffering of others in mass media. That was my inspiration for me to see the images more precisely: A desperate weeping man holding his dead brother in her arms. A severely injured woman sits crying help from the rubble of a (her?) House. Throughout the photo shoot it was deeply shocking pictures of dead and desperate people in the Caucasus to see. As was the journalistic question suddenly irrelevant and the other pushed his way up - probably for the thousandth time:

Is it not cynical by God to let people suffer? Why God So lets much misery? Ossetia, China, Mindanao, Darfur - the list of places where it is catastrophically bad people is far too long. Does God exist at all? If so, what is it for God? An arbitrary tyrant? God himself is cynical? To the horror of the suffering of others are personal experiences of life. There were some moments in my life where I thought my faith to lose. Because if there were God and he loved us, he could not let that happen.

On the threshold of doubt and disbelief I feel very clear: My faith makes me live. What would be left without God - especially in the face of suffering? A hoffnunsloses prison Despair and cynicism! Yes, cynicism is to disbelief, not to God. Because of this unfathomable God who permits suffering, has suffered in Jesus - to the abandonment by God. God is so close to those who are suffering, that God himself was one of them. When I look at Jesus on the cross, I can hope that with God all people loving hands through suffering and misery and death in these fields in the hands. Then I need to not turn away from horrific images, but can I let touch me. Maybe I can see God in people in the photos. Far too often I can help. I guess I can always pray.

Cervix Low Soft Before Period

How to make a true champion? (Part 2)
From the book: Encounters with the true dragon, forthcoming


questions and answers

How can we find a true master of Buddhism?

you must find him and listen to him.

But when we encounter a Buddhist teacher, how can we know that he is a true teacher and a true champion?

Buddhist masters are very different and have distinct personalities. They like thick or be thin, boring or good looking, jovial and serious. Therefore, there is unfortunately no specific physical characteristics or simple guidelines to help distinguish a true masterpiece by a skilled imposter. When we meet a good teacher, we should be able to recognize in him a certain seriousness. We should have an intuitive feeling that his teachings are true. Once we find someone from whom we feel that he is a true teacher, the next step is to open ourselves to even for those teachers and really what he says, the very record. Some of his statements may sound rather strange or even outrageous.

The master might, for example To say that Buddha is the weeds in the garden or a falling leaf from the tree. We must be ready to take these statements seriously and engage with them: Yes, maybe Buddha is the weeds or a falling leaf. If we then consider the lessons of the master with an open mind, we must examine its lessons for our own lives. This is an important phase of Buddhist studies. At the beginning of the Buddhist life, we are normally subject to a process of trial and error. We must then find out through our own efforts, what is true and whether we can trust the teacher.

Sensei, in your presentation you have in your early introduction of Buddhism spoken. But I'm interested in your life as a whole. I have read some of your life on the back of your books. I have learned that you have studied at the University of Tokyo that you have for the Government in the Ministry of Finance and later worked for an insurance company. We combine professional activities are not generally those with the life of a monk or a priest. But I know that you were ordained later in life, in fact, as a priest. What differences have since been felt in your life, after becoming a priest? How has it changed you personally and your behavior towards other people influenced?

basically it was all because no major differences. My life was basically the same thing, before I became a priest. Before I became a priest, I lived my life as a Buddhist. After I became a priest, sat down on this life as a Buddhist life. I lived my Buddhist life from day to day, moment to moment - sometimes in my office, sometimes at home and sometimes in the temple. In every situation there was only my Buddhist life. By a certain ceremony to become a priest. But this does not change the fundamental way of life and this is the Buddhist life here and now. This does not change.

Did you have in your youth, the Feel like a monk to be?

What do you mean "the feeling of being a monk?

Well, some people seem special skills and to have a special relationship to life.

Yes, I think I had the feeling of a monk. But in addition I also had the feeling of a layman. I had the feeling of a man at work, a father, etc. All at the same time. I had the feeling to be human.

How was it that Master Kodo Sawaki has made such an impression on you? Why he was such a good teacher?

I think it was because His teaching was so pure. When a person normally does anything in particular, he has it mostly a special motivation or a particular interest. Often, a partly conscious and partly unconscious desire behind it to get something in return for their own expenses. But with Master Kodo Sawaki, I could not detect such motives. He taught simply because it was natural for him to do so. His teaching was clear and his theory clear and simple. He taught that zazen is the essence of Buddhism - yes, that zazen is the same as Buddhism itself.

When I heard the words of Master Sawaki, I still had the tendency to doubt and to be critical, but I could be Words do not really put into question. When I met him, I touched something deep in his behavior and his words. It was a kind of intuitive sense. I felt that the teachings of Master Kodo Sawaki were true - that he was an incarnation of truth itself.

Did not you feel that you were so ready to shoot through a special assessment for Master Sawaki? You must have been a special student.

Yes, I suppose, that I was particularly curious. Did you say that?

clueless?

Yes, limited in their literal sense. People generally have little time to philosophical questions such as the relationship of body and mind or the basic essentials of religion, etc. But such questions for me were of the utmost importance. In a sense I was too serious to be straightforward and easy-to my mind. But I think it was these qualities that made me receptive to the truth when I heard them. I therefore believe that it does not matter how smart we are, but that we believe in the existence of truth and seek it in earnest.

Why emphasized the importance of Master Kodo Sawaki zazen so strong?

Master Kodo Sawaki estimated the practice Zazen extraordinary and often told us how it happened that he recognized the importance of zazen. He was still a teenager when he decided to become a monk. He wanted to enter the great monastery Eihei-ji, which was founded by Master Dogen. But at that time it was only young men from wealthy families able to be included in the temple as a novice. Unfortunately, the young Kodo lost his parents early and was very poor. To enter

at all to the temple to be able to, he was forced to work as servants for the older monks. Such was his life in the temple, very hard and not very inspiring. His Supervisor was an old, stern woman who held her subordinates from morning until late evening with cleaning and minor requirements for the monks on their toes. Their long scolding and cursing the day he sounded in his ears and he realized that he had no time to practice zazen, or other religious activities of the temple teilzunehmen.Einmal was a special holiday when all the monks left the temple to visit their families or spend time with friends.

Thus was the young servant Kodo alone again in the temple and decided that it was for him a good opportunity to practice zazen. He went into the great hall and sat quietly in a corner on a pillow. It was dark and peaceful. After some time came the old cleaning woman, his boss in the room and sang softly to himself. First, she had the presence of the young Sawaki not detected. But when her eyes had to get used to the darkness of the room, she saw him suddenly sit in the corner.

She fell in surprise to his knees and bowed again and again before him. As recognized master Sawaki, that zazen has a special power, a truly mystical quality that makes even a poor young servant respect and dignity. This experience had a central role in the life of Master Sawaki . At every opportunity, now, he practiced zazen. The more he practiced, the lower was his confidence in the power of zazen.

His daily practice enabled him to develop a solid foundation of Buddhist teaching, and he was an extraordinarily good masters. When he began to teach the true understanding of Buddhism and Zazen in Japan was already in decline. Many priests practiced zazen, if at all, only as a formal requirement, but Master Kodo Sawaki recognized the natural and fundamental importance of zazen practice. He taught us the joy of the practice. He led the Zazen in Japan again.