ED, The awareness of Buddha Nature continues to sharpen and becomes more enduring and persistance with practice. That is certainly what koan study is for, and more importantly shikantaza - and most importantly eating when hungry, sleeping when tired.
It's hard to say how zen practice has affected me. I don't have an alternate life with which to compare it. Sometimes I'm happy; sometimes I'm sad. But it's always Just THIS! ...Bill! --- In [email protected], "ED" <seacrofter001@...> wrote: > > > > Bill, > > Thank you for sharing. > > How have your (presumably brief as they usually are) experiences of > kensho-satori after decades of practice transformed your experiencing of > life? > > Thanks. > > --ED > > > > --- In [email protected], "Bill!" <BillSmart@> wrote: > > > > Mayka, > > > > The short version of my story is: > > > > I lived in L.A. in the mid-1960's and began frequenting a new zen > center there (Zen Center of Los Angeles). There were 2 zen masters > there, Koryu Roshi (an old Japanese Zen Buddhist lay teacher in the > Renzai school) and Maezumi Roshi (a yound Japanese Zen Buddhist ordained > teacher in the Soto school). After receivng instructions in zazen I was > assigned to Koryu Roshi. He gave me the koan Mu. I worked on that for > about 6 months until during a week sesshin (teaching retreat) I 'passed' > the koan with Koryu Roshi. That was kensho (first glimpse of Buddha > Nature). It lasted at full intensity only a few minutes - maybe 5 or 10 > at the most. The awareness faded somewhat but never completely > disappeared. After that I worked on a few more koans (to sharpen my > awareness)with Koryu; and then after he returned to Japan I continued my > koan study with Maezumi. Maezumi also taught me to sit shikantaza (clear > mind) which is what is practice now. > > > > ...Bill! > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
