Being Upright: Zen Meditation and Bodhisattva Precepts (Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts)

by Reb Anderson

“the truth that is realized b...

“the transformation of that truth into scriptures and other ...

Sangha is “harmony”; it is “the community of those who practice the truth realized by a buddha”; and it is “the release of beings from suffering and ...

When I take refuge in buddha,

I take refuge in me being me.

The condition of you being you is the source of peace and the source of love.

If taking refuge is the return flight to our own true nature, the appeal is not made to something outside ourselves nor to something inside ourselves.

It seems that we must do something extraordinary in order to realize our ordinariness.

It seems necessary to enter into some special practice with our whole hearts in order to see that we don’t need to do anything special at all.

Taking refuge in buddha, dharma, and sangha, we return home to our true nature. Having returned, we are ready to receive the Three Pure Precepts: the design of our original true nature.

Refrain from all evil, Practice all that is good, Purify your mind: This is the teaching of all buddhas.

Dhammapada, one of the earliest texts of Theravada Buddhism,

behavior is inappropriate when it is not in accord with their vow to realize liberation for all beings before themselves,

The root of all evil is misunderstanding the nature of self and other by actively ignoring the interdependence of self and other.

Evil comes from turning away from the vivid world of creation, where the self can never remain separate from other beings. It is a denial of the ever-changing flux of sensory experience. Evil is a turning away from life.

To “practice all that is good” means “to wholeheartedly live life based on freedom from the illusion of an independent self.”

“good” in the original Pali is kusala,

Kusala is derived from kusa, the name of a tall grass that Shakyamuni Buddha recommended for making meditation seats.

Thus the skillful gathering of kusa was called kusala. The word then came to mean skillfulness in general.

To “purify your mind” means “to practice the first two precepts with the right attitude.”

Theravada school of Buddhism, also known as the Way of the Elders,

which began on the Indian subcontinent and gradually spread throughout southeast Asia. The form of practice known as Soto Zen is a branch of the great movement known as Mahayana. The Mahayana, or Universal Vehicle, arose later in India and eventually traveled through central Asia to China, Korea, and Japan, and also to Tibet and Southeast Asia, all the way to Borneo.

Zen tradition as the Three Pure Precepts: Embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies Embrace and sustain all good Embrace and sustain all beings

the selfish concerns of the student will eventually show themselves in some form of resistance.

resistance can manifest as practicing with these forms either too loosely or too tightly.

The Three Pure Precepts are called pure because they have been purified of all duality.

this precept is an admonition to be impeccable in time and space, including being on time for practice events, eating what is offered, not misusing or wasting the resources of the community or the natural environment, using things in an appropriate manner and returning them to their proper places, and observing the prescribed physical postures and verbal protocols.

Paying careful attention to the concrete details of daily life provides the opportunity to be initiated into the authentic tradition. Furthermore,

Zen is, in a nutshell, being on time.

“What is right effort?” He said, “To get up with no hesitation when your alarm clock rings.”

As an opportunity for training your body and mind, you may voluntarily commit yourself to practicing a daily schedule of meditation, either alone or in a group. Once you realize that you want to follow such a regimen of practice and commit yourself to doing so no matter what, you will not fail to learn something about yourself.

The pictograph for ceremony, which appears on the cover of this book, has the radicals for meaning and person embedded within it. Thus ceremony brings meaning to the person and the person embodies meaning.

A ceremony is a concert or a dance between person and meaning.

Lotus Pose (Padmasana) or Half-Lotus Pose (Ardha Padmasana),

The hands are held in what is called the Cosmic Concentration Mudra. Mudra is a Sanskrit word that means “circle,” “ring,” or “seal.” The palms are up, one on top of the other, with the thumb tips gently and precisely touching, forming a beautiful oval ring.

The hands are held against the body. The baby fingers touch the abdomen at the center of gravity of this posture, two or three inches below the navel. The back of the lower hand lightly touches the heel of the upper crossed leg. The arms are held away from the torso in such a way that an egg could be placed under the armpits.

“What we are doing here is so important that we should not take it too seriously.”

extreme ways to relate to an authentic tradition: holding on and breaking.

Formlessness is transmitted through these forms and ceremonies: given, broken, renewed or refreshed, put back together, and transmitted again.

in order for the tradition to survive, “the student must stand on the teacher’s shoulders.”

Only those who are completely committed and devoted to a tradition, have realized that tradition, and are carriers of it, have the authority to change it.

If we really love and are devoted to a tradition and to those who represent it, we must eventually disagree with it and with them.

Experiencing disagreement is a necessary element in the process of arriving at ultimate and complete accord.

Cordelia, who is the only one of Lear’s daughters who really loves him, is also the only one who has the courage and conviction to honestly disagree with him. In order to be true to him and honor their relationship, she has to take the risk of losing his favor.

The ultimate intention of the second Pure Precept is to realize all goodness together with all beings.

actualize the entire world as the embodiment of all goodness.

By practicing with our body, speech, and thought as objects, and with animate and inanimate objects throughout our environment, we are laying the foundation for the ultimate practice of good that finally sets all beings free.

The primary qualities of working with all these objects are kindness, gentleness, compassion, precision, carefulness, respect, devotion, and attention to the minute details of all objects.

refrain from handling things carelessly,

noisily, or needlessly.