Zen

It is not the not the same as the New Age ‘Zen’ take to still the mind and just know that God is there.

The latter may seem to be a reasonable take on the sentence, translated into English, but it is not the one that Hebrew scholars of the Torah have always understood.
Thx for your response and totally get it.

Also get that i should not have responded, in oublic, in kind, in the same tenor I read his comment.

I enjoy and respect RabbiOs knowledge and posts.....often see him as channeling and old poster from here who used to bang his cane on the floor as he harumphed my line of thinking.

I often bump heads with any hardline religionists of any denomination of any religion.

In Judaism I relate more to the flexible renewal folk. I totally understand folks have different interps...

Mine is not an orthodox interp of the OT but a selection of words that resonate with me and allow me to coexist with the realities of life most the time...

I walk down the sidewalk bouncing off of signs and lightpoles...metaphysically!

Much to others chagrine, they still let me out.
 
Mine is not an orthodox interp of the OT but a selection of words that resonate with me and allow me to coexist with the realities of life most the time...
The question then is:
Do we bring anything to the banquet, or do we just sample what's on offer and walk away?
 
The question then is:
Do we bring anything to the banquet, or do we just sample what's on offer and walk away?
Who is this "we" you speak of, do you have a mouse in your pocket or when you say "we" are you referring to me.

To be clear, I come to the banquet to sample...(if the banquet is a metaphor this forum) I take "no thank you bites" of most offerings, things I only try "read" to honor the providers...to say I tried but it isnt for me.

For other stuff I am a vegetarian, I dont eat meat (the orthodox dogma in general) but I ain't totally vegan, more plant based and I will have some of your ratatouille even though there is some fat in the roux. But I ain't bringing the meat, ill leave that upto the rest of ya, I got all the weird casseroles you cant identify and cater to those with peanut or wheat allergies I label my dishes.

But you asked the question so are you saying you dont think i bring enough to the table for you (yes I know you bring a lot, and a lot of people like that, but as I sad, I dont eat meat, i hope you dont take offense that I ain't touching those barbecued cadavers you put next to the deserts, but the smell of decaying flesh spoils my interest in the pie.

And yeah, I make mistakes about what is halal and kosher sometimes, but like the celiac those affected have gotten use to watching out for themselves.

Heck, I stay to help with the dishes and provide humorous anecdotes is that not enough? Or maybe my sarcasm is too much?

I find it hard to believe you think I dont bring enough to the table...next Friday i'll grab some fish and chips before I stop by, do you want the white sauce or the red? You know me, I'll mix the two together!
 
Who is this "we" you speak of, do you have a mouse in your pocket or when you say "we" are you referring to me.
I was directing the question at all of us, myself included, which is why I said 'we'.

To be clear, I come to the banquet to sample...(if the banquet is a metaphor this forum) ...
No, I was not referring to the forum, but the world's sacra doctrina.

But, from your comments, I get the gist, so no need to answer.
 
I was directing the question at all of us, myself included, which is why I said 'we'.


No, I was not referring to the forum, but the world's sacra doctrina.

But, from your comments, I get the gist, so no need to answer.
Lol, if you had asked that my answer would have been so much shorter.
The question then is:
Do we bring anything to the banquet, or do we just sample what's on offer and walk away?

No.

A tad longer, I dont aspire to be any Thomas Aquinas! I ain't no author, ain't published no books...just a common man enjoying my limited decades on the planet!

You?

Bringing anything to that table you speak of?

Again, I am not worthy of setting that table or even pushing in anyone's chair but as above if allowed to listen, I will do the dishes.
(I still feel blessed to have munched with Bishop Spalding and Bart Ehrman on seperate occasions and been present that night the two chatted in the hotel lobby)
 
LIBERATION FROM ALL OBSTRUCTIONS
by Hogen Bays
In the presence of Sangha, in the light of Dharma, in oneness with Buddha,
May my path to complete enlightenment benefit everyone.
In this passing moment, karma ripens and all things come to be.
I vow to affirm what is:
If there’s cost, I choose to pay.
If there’s need, I choose to give.
If there’s pain, I choose to feel.
If there’s sorrow, I choose to grieve.
When burning, I choose heat.
When calm, I choose peace.
When starving, I choose hunger.
When happy, I choose joy.
Whom I encounter, I choose to meet.
What I shoulder, I choose to bear.
When it’s my birth, I choose to live.
When it’s my death, I choose to die.
Where this takes me, I choose to go.
Being with what is, I respond to what is.
This life is as real as a dream; the one who knows it cannot be found; and
truth is not a thing, therefore I vow to choose this Dharma Entrance Gate!
May all Buddhas and Wise Ones help me live this vow.
 
I dissappear in meditation...

Sensai challenges me to stay present.

I get jarred back to present by cars or sirens... and then dissappear again.

He challenges me to count breaths, acknowledge and accept the uncomfortable, the dragging on of time, the itch, the loss off blood flow in my legs...i have been striving to ignore, interesting.
 
Sat in a rocker, rocked back and hit a pie safe, picture fell off oie safe and busted my head open, bled like a stuck pig, urgent care said cant treat head injury on blood thinners, you may have brain bleed go to ER. Waited 3 hours in waiting room (meditated on validity of name) had to silence the woman with the pained face groaning and the old man loudly telling ww2 war stories and the other coughs and noises while meditating (they call that practice) they finally took back the groaning woman with oained face and 104 degree temp who had been there 5 hours and I called my kids to pick me up and left...

If I wake up, I will have a scar, and a story ftw...practicing Doris Day zen. Whatever will be will be, the futures not ours to see que sera sera.....
 
Sat in a rocker, rocked back and hit a pie safe, picture fell off oie safe and busted my head open, bled like a stuck pig, urgent care said cant treat head injury on blood thinners, you may have brain bleed go to ER. Waited 3 hours in waiting room (meditated on validity of name) had to silence the woman with the pained face groaning and the old man loudly telling ww2 war stories and the other coughs and noises while meditating (they call that practice) they finally took back the groaning woman with oained face and 104 degree temp who had been there 5 hours and I called my kids to pick me up and left...

If I wake up, I will have a scar, and a story ftw...practicing Doris Day zen. Whatever will be will be, the futures not ours to see que sera sera.....
You keep your pies in a safe?! Are you from Wigan?
 
Good man, @wil, ER waiting rooms are a good place to practice zazen. If you can do it there, you can do it anywhere.

I worked with someone who went to a Zen meditation course in Japan. Turns out the temple was next to a power-station, and some of the attendees complained (considering the cost of the course) that the setting was not quite conducive to meditational repose, nor an audible hum from the station.

The monks were rather dismissive, pointing out that anyone can do zazen in a fairy-tale garden ...

Get well.

If @Bloodshot's 'Wigan' comment is giving you a headache, it's a regional food thing here in the UK.
 
Mine is not an orthodox interp of the OT but a selection of words that resonate with me and allow me to coexist with the realities of life most the time...
The context within psalm 24:10 (NIV) of the phrase “Be still and know that I am God” supports the Hebrew scholars’ meaning rather than the ‘zen’ one, imo

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.


He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”


The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 46


However the psalm as a whole comes back to simple faith and trust in God, in any age or circumstance imo?
 
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in any age or circumstance imo?
Ya know the cartoon of two guys looking at a a big number on the floor from opposite sides one saying it is a 6 and the other saying it is a 9.... i'll contemplate it is binary it is 1 and it is zero and it is infinity and it is all and your opinion is and so is rabbios and so is mine and so is the ant and we are also all wrong imo.

time and circumstance and experience create perspective and definitions change.
 
Ya know the cartoon of two guys looking at a a big number on the floor from opposite sides one saying it is a 6 and the other saying it is a 9.... i'll contemplate it is binary it is 1 and it is zero and it is infinity and it is all and your opinion is and so is rabbios and so is mine and so is the ant and we are also all wrong imo.

time and circumstance and experience create perspective and definitions change.
It’s like hearing a line from a song, and it has personal meaning. Or opening the Bible, or any book of wisdom, and drawing personal meaning from the line my eye falls on. Lectio Divina reading with open mind and the personal message.

Great thought going beyond the immediate time and context
 
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Without the monks and scribes and scholars who have faithfully conserved and transcribed the texts all down the ages, we would not have the texts today in our modern 21st century world, imo.

They are the keepers of the flame. When we get bored and lose attention and move on, they will still always be there, for the next generation, and the next.
 
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Without the monks and scribes and scholars who have faithfully conserved and transcribed the texts all down the ages, we would not have the texts today in our modern 21st century world, imo.

They are the keepers of the flame. When we get bored and lose attention and move on, they will still always be there, for the next generation, and the next.
When I taught Sunday school (listen to the gasps!) I had every Bible i could find so whenever I asked the kids to open to book, chapter and verse they were all in a different version, kjv, nkjv, nrsv, lamsa, message, manga etc. We had fun discussions.
 
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Zen Koans
The Mumonkan (Gateless Gate)

19) Ordinary Mind Is the Way
Jôshû earnestly asked Nansen, “What is the Way?” Nansen said, “The ordinary mind is the Way.” Jôshû said, “Should I direct myself toward it or not?” Nansen said, “If you try to turn toward it, you go against it.” Jôshû said, “If I do not try to turn toward it, how can I know that it is the Way?” Nansen said, “The Way does not belong to knowing or not-knowing. Knowing is delusion; not-knowing is a blank consciousness. When you have really reached the true Way beyond all doubt, you will find it as vast and boundless as the great empty firmament. How can it be talked about on a level of right and wrong?” At these words, Jôshû was suddenly enlightened.

The spring flowers, the moon in autumn,
The cool breezes of summer, the winter's snow;
If idle concerns do not cloud the mind,
This is a person's happiest season.
 
Zen Koans
The Mumonkan (Gateless Gate)

19) Ordinary Mind Is the Way
Jôshû earnestly asked Nansen, “What is the Way?” Nansen said, “The ordinary mind is the Way.” Jôshû said, “Should I direct myself toward it or not?” Nansen said, “If you try to turn toward it, you go against it.” Jôshû said, “If I do not try to turn toward it, how can I know that it is the Way?” Nansen said, “The Way does not belong to knowing or not-knowing. Knowing is delusion; not-knowing is a blank consciousness. When you have really reached the true Way beyond all doubt, you will find it as vast and boundless as the great empty firmament. How can it be talked about on a level of right and wrong?” At these words, Jôshû was suddenly enlightened.

The spring flowers, the moon in autumn,
The cool breezes of summer, the winter's snow;
If idle concerns do not cloud the mind,
This is a person's happiest season.
This makes me wonder..

How is the above, advocating liberation from certainty, reconciled with the vast elaborate bodies of religious texts saying "This is the truth and the way"?
 
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How is the above, advocating liberation from certainty, reconciled with the vast elaborate bodies of religious texts saying "This is the truth and the way"?
Is that a koan, lol :)

16) The Sound of the Bell and the Seven-Panel Robe
Unmon said, “The world is vast and wide like this. Why do we put on our seven-panel robe at the sound of the bell?”

With realization, all things are of one family;
Without realization, everything is separate and different;
Without realization, all things are of one family;
With realization, everything is separate and different.
 
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