How deceiving food portions can be. No wonder we have trouble with moderation. Here is 200 calories in the form of peanut butter (38 grams).
Monthly Archives: February 2013
No form
What is the ‘no’ in ‘no form’?
This ‘no’ is not the no in the phrase ‘I have no money’. Whether one has money or not is not of importance. The ‘no’ is rather like the ‘-less’ in ‘priceless’ meaning ‘beyond a value’ where it is not attached to existence or non-existence.
And what is the ‘form’ of ‘no form’? It the very way our physical body works. The heart pumps. The blood flows. Rhythm follows. We breathe. We grow. And we change. But to go beyond this understanding of good and bad is the meaning of the phrase ‘no form’.
It is this life, this reality, without principles, without discrimination that we have simply overlooked.
We should be attentive to the ‘no form’ which is without attachment in all its working.
(My translation of Choyaku Hannya Shingyo, pp88-9, by Sakaino Katsunori, ISBN 9784837981619)
Abuse within Zen
Even Buddhism is not immuned to problems. Was Sasaki Sensei enlightened? I doubt it.
Joshu Sasaki Roshi, 105, a leading figure in Zen Buddhism in the United States, may have abused hundreds of others for decades. According to the group’s report, that abuse included allegations of molestation and rape, and some of the incidents had been reported to the Rinzai-ji board, which had taken no effective action.
There Is No Guarantee
Three pieces of news has made me think about existence – the news of the death of the great kabuki (a form of traditional Japanese play) actor Ichikawa Danjuro, the death of three Japanese tourists in Guam, and the explosion of a meteor over Russia.
Truly, there is no guarantee you will be alive by the end of the day, or even the end of this minute.
To take this a step further there is even no guarantee that you would have been brought into the world in the first place.
Think about that.
Taken at Senkoji, Onomichi, Hiroshima.