Don't worry be happy?

[Nungali]

12 hours ago, old3bob said:

 

who is supplying the ectoplasm, and is it organic non-gmo?

 

You dont want to know !  

 

[Mark Foote]

On 2/15/2026 at 10:09 AM, old3bob said:

 

just a side note:  there is the Zen story of a person who had little training yet upon hearing a wise concept/saying he suddenly got "it"!   Maybe Mark or anyone else could fill us in on that? 

 

That would be the sixth patriarch of Ch'an, who saw the light in a crowded marketplace when an itinerant Buddhist preacher read the following line from the Diamond Sutra:

 

Let the mind be present without an abode.
 

(from the Diamond Sutra, translation by Venerable Master Hsing Yun from “The Rabbit’s Horn: A Commentary on the Platform Sutra”, Buddha’s Light Publishing pg 60)

 

Or maybe you were thinking more like:

 

When we let go of our minds and cast aside our views and understandings the Way will be actualized. One sage clarified True Mind (Reality) when he saw peach blossoms and another realized the Way when he heard the sound of tile hitting a bamboo. They attained the way through their bodies. Therefore, when we completely cast aside our thoughts and views and practice shikantaza, we will become intimate with the way… This is why I encourage you to practice zazen wholeheartedly.

(“Shobogenzo-zuimonki”, sayings recorded by Koun Ejo, translated by Shohaku Okumura, 2-26, pg 107-108, ©2004 Sotoshu Shumucho)

 

"The Way will be actualized"--that's like something Dogen wrote in "Genjo Koan":

 

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point…

(“Genjo Koan [Actualizing the Fundamental Point]”, tr. Kazuaki Tanahashi, included in his “Enlightenment Unfolds”)

 

 

Shunryu Suzuki told Blanche Hartman:

 

Don’t ever think that you can sit zazen! That’s a big mistake! Zazen sits zazen!
 

(“Interview with Blanche and Lou Hartman” 10/9/95, conducted by David  Chadwick–from cuke.com)

 

The fundamental point sits zazen, and what is that other than this consciousness, right here?

 

 

 

[old3bob]

8 hours ago, Mark Foote said:

That would be the sixth patriarch of Ch'an, who saw the light in a crowded marketplace when an itinerant Buddhist preacher read the following line from the Diamond Sutra:

 

Let the mind be present without an abode.
 

(from the Diamond Sutra, translation by Venerable Master Hsing Yun from “The Rabbit’s Horn: A Commentary on the Platform Sutra”, Buddha’s Light Publishing pg 60)

Or maybe you were thinking more like:

 

When we let go of our minds and cast aside our views and understandings the Way will be actualized. One sage clarified True Mind (Reality) when he saw peach blossoms and another realized the Way when he heard the sound of tile hitting a bamboo. They attained the way through their bodies. Therefore, when we completely cast aside our thoughts and views and practice shikantaza, we will become intimate with the way… This is why I encourage you to practice zazen wholeheartedly.

(“Shobogenzo-zuimonki”, sayings recorded by Koun Ejo, translated by Shohaku Okumura, 2-26, pg 107-108, ©2004 Sotoshu Shumucho)

"The Way will be actualized"--that's like something Dogen wrote in "Genjo Koan":

 

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point…

(“Genjo Koan [Actualizing the Fundamental Point]”, tr. Kazuaki Tanahashi, included in his “Enlightenment Unfolds”)

 

Shunryu Suzuki told Blanche Hartman:

 

Don’t ever think that you can sit zazen! That’s a big mistake! Zazen sits zazen!
 

(“Interview with Blanche and Lou Hartman” 10/9/95, conducted by David  Chadwick–from cuke.com)

The fundamental point sits zazen, and what is that other than this consciousness, right here?

 

 

Thank you Mark, that was finely written and informative!    

 

"The fundamental point sits zazen, and what is that other than this consciousness, right here?"  

Can seem like light years away but is always right under our noses, so to speak...

 

[old3bob]

16 hours ago, Nungali said:

 

You dont want to know !  

 

 

right, don't know much about it but it looks messy in picture below.  Wonder if a earth ear, nose and throat specialist could help this guy?

 

Edited 5 hours ago by old3bob

[Nungali]

my fav ones ; 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

okay, thats enough sillyness ... let's look at a real scientific examination of ectoplasm ;  

 

( I bet you guys didnt know about this !  )