Champsecret, summer 2005
posted by Mike Cross at 4:12 PM
Monday, December 12, 2005
About Me
- Name: Mike Cross
- Location: Aylesbury, Bucks, United Kingdom
From 1982 to 1997 I worked on the translation of Master Dogen's Shobogenzo, and understood the primary importance in the Buddha's teaching of full lotus sitting. Until 1994 my attitude to this sitting practice could be summed up in the words: "Don't think. Just do it!" Then in 1994 I returned from Japan to England to train to be a teacher of the FM Alexander Technique, and experiences with Alexander work woke me up to the opposite standpoint of "Don't just do. Think it!" Far from smoothing my path, however, Alexander insights (or reactions to them) caused a lot of trouble between me and my aging teacher in Japan. Then in 2008, seeking clearer water further upstream, I found a new lease of life in the extant Sanskrit works of the 12th ancestor in Dogen's lineage -- the great Indian teacher Ashvaghosha.
Previous Posts
- A Free Interpration (in verse)
- The Importance of Fukan Zazengi
- Translation: Popular Edition (Rufu-bon)
- Lacking the Vigorous Road of Getting the Body Out
- Translation: Original Manuscript (Shinpitsu-bon)
- Creating a Blog for Fukan-zazengi
3 Comments:
The relinquishing of all views:
The wonderful Reality he taught,
Using compassionate means.
I bow to Gautama.
In these words of Nagarjuna, the final verse of his Song of the Middle Way, Gudo's four philosophies are implicit but obvious -- (1) views, (2) Reality, (3) practical means, (4) real action of bowing to Gautama.
Gudo has gone quiet. Has he relinquished his own view, the view to which he has attached so strongly for so many years -- his view about the autonomic nervous system?
I do not know. If Gudo is still alive, I hope that, even in his very old age, he will wake up and relinquish this particular view. While there is life there is hope.
I can never know be sure that I am not still holding onto a view of my own, and thereby failing truly to realize the Buddha-Dharma; to others it may be obvious in the fixity of my attitude. But I cannot see it in myself. If I could see it, I wouldn't be so stupid as to do it.
Like father, like son.
The starting point is sincerity.
The secret is... that there is no secret, other than diligent and meaningful practice.
The criterion is samadhi, a balance of accepting and using the self.
The king of samadhis is sitting in the full lotus posture.
Along the way, there is thinking about thinking, and there is investigation of thinking itself.
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