#ExploretheRealmofBuddha
| More Tea!
Smile as one plucks the flower. What is the smile about?
Let us listen to Grandmaster’s singing: I have a flower.
Hui Ke broke his arm in order to settle his heart. Where is the heart?
What are the differences between “not affected by karma” and “not ignorant of karma”?
In “Explore the realm of Buddha (Part 19)”, Grandmaster JinBodhi shared many interesting Zen kōan with us. All the great Zen masters in the past used different means to help their disciples overcome their obstacles, doubts and delusions and to impart to them the important concepts of Buddha dharma and meditation. Concepts such as: who am I, what do emptiness and existence mean, where does the heart reside, what is Buddha nature, karma, truth and falsehood, good and evil? These masters hoped for their disciples to get inspired and gain enlightenment instantaneously. As the saying goes: “A roar from the meditation master causes the water in the Yangtze river to flow backwards.”
The most perplexing Zen kōan is that of an ancient meditation master who proclaimed that: “Cultivators will not be affected by karma”. And yet, he was trapped in the karmic cycle and reincarnated as a wild fox for the next five hundred lives. So, what is wrong with the phrase “not affected by karma”? How is it different from “not ignorant of karma”? What kind of states are the great enlightened meditation masters in?
In today’s session, Grandmaster JinBodhi gave all of us the following advice: Practice meditation visualization correctly and you will not be confused by what you see; practice the cultivation methods that you have been taught diligently, with your feet firmly planted on the ground; follow through on the great vow that you have set to benefit all sentient beings.
Let us listen as Grandmaster JinBodhi expounds on the Zen stories and the deep meanings behind them. What was it that these great and famous meditation masters hoped to convey?
★The content of the live broadcast is as follow:
00:03:21 The 禪師APP.
00:05:07 Enlightenment: Enlightened about what?
00:08:14 Enlightenment: Why are nuns female?
00:12:20 Go drink tea: Drinking Oriental Beauty tea helps to increase wisdom.
00:17:25 Discussion of the smile: What was Mahakassapa smiling about?
00:21:09 Singing: I have a flower.
00:22:57 Zen kōan: Master Bodhidharma helped to settle Hui Ke’s heart.
00:34:31 How to settle the heart: Hui Ke’s broken arm | Why did Hui Ke cut his arm off in his pursuit of the dharma?
00:37:17 Discussion of how to settle the heart: Where does the heart reside?
00:40:28 Existence and absence of me: Why did the meditation master first shout for help and then got up to his feet on his own?
01:00:18 Upright or crooked: The phrase in the story, upright will always be upright and crooked will always be crooked. What do you understand from this?
01:03:33 Upright or crooked: Solution – The angle from which to look at the item; what we get when we put upright and crooked together.
01:07:29 Upright or crooked: Solution – Upright will always be upright and crooked will always be crooked.
01:21:31 Go learn Buddha dharma: The master held his duster vertically – Is there a special significance to that?
01:25:30 Go learn Buddhadharma: Three thousand can be achieved in one thought.
01:27:46 Go learn Buddhadharma: What are the characteristics of willow catkins? Why did the meditation master ask to pick willow catkins?
01:30:47 Zen kōan: Master Chenghao and Dongbo’s scale.
01:32:23 Discussion: How heavy was the master?What does the shout mean?
01:47:42 Zen wisdom: When one is not confident, he dares not look at the sun or the moon. But when he is inspired, he feels that he is the best in heaven and on earth. When the meditation master shouts, the water in the Yangtze river flows backwards.
01:48:37 Zen kōan: Master Weikuan answered – Do dogs have Buddha nature?
01:56:29 Buddha nature: The relationship between Buddha nature and absence of self.
01:58:39 Zen kōan: Yixiu cannot see.
02:03:04 Discussion: What did Yixiu see?
02:09:51 Meditation method: Dead wood meditation.
02:10:40 Discussion: The visualization meditation technique.
02:17:27 Zen kōan: Master Daoyuan and Master Youjing in Japan – the story of buying mushrooms.
02:22:16 Discussion of cultivation: Why did the old master answer with 12345, 678910?
02:27:41 Explaining the background of the story.
02:32:41 The true meaning of cultivation: What is meditation and sutra? What is cultivation?
02:44:54 What is wrong in saying that great cultivators are “not affected by karma”?
02:57:43 The inconceivable aspects of karma.
03:00:21 What kind of persons is bound by karma?
03:02:54 The state of no-birth and no-destruction.
03:06:07 The key concepts and meanings of the Zen stories.
03:10:05 Today’s online broadcast came to an auspicious end with Master’s three knocks of the Qing.
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