In order to learn Zen you have to unlearn first. Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!" "Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?" If you want to know the teachings of the Zen master, you have to empty what you have in your mental cup.
Zen practice developed in India as an offshoot of Buddhism. A Zen master from India, Bodhidharma of Mahayana stream of Buddhism is believed to have traveled to China where he met the Chinese Emperor Wu in 475 A.D. The emperor was Wu was deeply fascinated by Bodhidhrama??s teachings on meditation.
When this dhyan or ch??an in Chinese traveled to Japan it came to be known as Zen. Zen is an abbreviation of the Japanese word of Zenna which means Dhyan or Meditation. If you want to know your true nature, sit Zazen. Zazen is the actualization of your true nature.
Zazen is the mind control technique. When you practice mind control, sit in the proper position stay perfectly tranquil and do not permit the least movement of your mind to disturb you.
In our daily living there are lots of distractions, both criticism and admiration. Zazen makes us to handle both admiration and criticism in our day to day life.
Buddhism is to learn serenity and tranquility directly, and to practice it. For this we have to empty the mental cup which is full of negative thoughts and feelings. The enlightenment or Satori or self realization is perfect peace and harmony.
Kamis, 21 Mei 2009
Zen Way For Perfect Peace and Harmony
Your Vision of Excellence: 5 Powerful Questions
The expectations we have for ourselves contribute greatly to the degree of excellence we achieve. Through our expectations, we define the boundaries inside which we are willing to strive.
Excellence, however, is not a state of perfection; it is a personal vision and guiding principle to live with daily. By striving for excellence, we continue to learn and improve throughout our lives.
A vision of excellence, consistently kept in mind, builds resolve and deepens involvement in each task before us. It allows every small action, even the most routine ones, to glow with the creative joy needed to produce achievements of outstanding value.
Each individual will define excellence in a deeply personal way. Consider these five questions while envisioning the quality that you desire for your life and career:
What would your vision of excellence look like if it had no restrictions, and you knew that you could achieve it?
In what areas of your life are you tolerating and expecting less than the best that you desire?
What, if any, are the challenges that repeatedly block you from performing at your highest potential?
What resources could you mobilize to help create the most abundance for the future?
What must happen next for you to move closer to your personal vision of excellence?
Your answers will help to clarify and strengthen your vision and enthusiasm to achieve the excellence and fulfillment that you seek.
Grenville Kleiser (1868-1953) wrote, "Keep a definite goal of achievement constantly in view. Realize that work, well and worthily done, makes life truly worth living."
May you achieve excellence and all of its rewards each and every day!
Why It's Important to Make Your Idea Real
Say you have an idea for something new and exciting in your life.
This may be something as simple as a new arrangement for the garden or as far-reaching as a career change.
You get the idea and decide you will do it.
Take a moment to use the power of your imagination to get a crystal clear vision of what you want.
What will the new issue look like? What will it sound like? If you could touch it, what would it feel like?
And how would you feel engaging it in completed form?
If you were watching a documentary of your idea becoming a realty, what might you see? What might you hear? What might you feel while you were watching with rapt attention?
If you have good answers to the above questions, you are ready for someone to tell you your idea won??t work.
Invariably, when we get an idea that sets us on fire, someone is standing by with a fire hose.
And, heaven knows, such a one will find many reasons why your idea will flop and few why it will succeed.
However, if you have a clear mental embodiment of your idea, you are more likely to stay focused on your inner reality rather than someone??s verdict of it.
A few moments of playing with the idea in your head is worth hours of wracking doubt when someone says, ??That will never work!??
If you are already established within yourself that the idea will work, the clarity of your mental embodiment will carry any day when someone decides your idea is crazy.
That is because the idea is real to you.
If the idea is real in you inner world, you won??t care what anyone says in the outer.
About The Author
Copyright 2004 by Tony Papajohn.