ideas and reality

• Master Dogen is saying ideas are different to reality and reality is always here and now

  Bussho 4: Real Present Time Summer 2004 — Bussho

The most important texts

1. Kodo Sawaki and Concrete Teaching ●●● August 2011 — Dibbavana

   But they are teachings themselves: concrete teaching, concrete teaching, concrete teaching, concrete teaching

   afraid to throw away the mask · concrete teaching of koans · cutting through intellectualising · intellectualising from concrete situations · never finding what's in our mind · the world before thinking
2. The Map in Our Head ●●● May 2012 — Nová Dedinka

   We make a picture of our life, and then we live in the picture. And this is important, otherwise society can't function.

   four noble truths without shoulds · goal as only an idea · picture of our life · reality as another picture · seeing a picture, not the person · truth as something real
3. Shoaku Makusa 4: Doing Right Without a Doer ●●● Winter 2006 — Shoaku Makusa

   our concept of right and actual right are not separate

   abstract and real right and wrong · soldier versus television viewer · dyne instead of state · imagining something which is not
4. Right Action from Balance ●●● August 2014 — Banský Studenec

   there has never been any kind of right that is realised beforehand

   abstract and real right and wrong · three-year-old and eighty-year-old · forcing ideas into reality · pieces of coloured glass · world of ideas
5. Bussho 3: Joshu’s Dog and Concepts ●●● Summer 2005 — Bussho

   we can’t stop mistaking our thoughts for reality, that is the nature of thought

   buddha-nature beyond concepts · mistaking thoughts for reality · real dog versus abstract existence
6. Bussho 4: The Cut Earthworm ●●● Summer 2005 — Bussho

   The reason he doesn’t tell us what it is, is that it’s impossible to say what it is

   buddha-nature beyond concepts · real real · thoughts as reality
7. Ikka-no-myoju 3: Our Place in the Universe ●●● Summer 2006 — Ikka-no-myoju

   it’s that different real life that is perfect, not the idea that we can so easily create in our mind

   concepts as poor pictures of reality · perfection of real life · riding the adversary's horse

Other texts

8. MMK 5: Relinquishing All Views ●●● Summer 2008 — Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika

   Nagarjuna uses the word ‘emptiness’, to put it simply, to describe the state where our conscious awareness is empty of the discriminating conceptual entities

   emptiness as awareness without concepts · opposites as constructs · words pointing outside words
9. When the Mud Buffalo Dissolve ●●● August 2011 — Dibbavana

   the image we create of somebody else inside ourselves is just the mud

   image of someone else inside ourselves · projection onto the teacher
10. Bussho 4: Real Present Time ●●● Summer 2004 — Bussho

    Master Dogen is saying ideas are different to reality and reality is always here and now

    ideas and reality · area separate from the present · flowers in a vase
11. Bussho 1: Names and Reality ●●● Winter 2005 — Bussho

    His object is to accept both the conceptual and beyond the conceptual

    conceptual and beyond the conceptual · conceptual cage · numbers as abstraction
12. Bussho 2: Without a Concept of Buddha-Nature ●●● Winter 2005 — Bussho

    The price is that we believe our concepts of reality are reality

    mistaking thoughts for reality · south and north as concepts
13. Shoaku Makusa 3: Balance and Not Doing Wrong ●●● Winter 2006 — Shoaku Makusa

    a very, very fixed, deep belief that there is something called wrong

    abstract and real right and wrong · dyne instead of state
14. Shoaku Makusa 5: The Child and the Old Man ●●● Winter 2006 — Shoaku Makusa

    Yes, although a child can say it, an old man can’t do it.

    abstract and real right and wrong · three-year-old and eighty-year-old
15. Kuge 1: Ripening Fruit ●●● Winter 2007 — Kuge

    not something causing something else, but something being something else

    identity rather than cause · the undiscoverable
16. MMK 3: Cutting Through Categories ●●● Summer 2008 — Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika

    the centre of Buddhism is not to divide the world into categories but to stop dividing the world into categories

    stopping categorisation · categories on bits of elastic
17. MMK 4: Constructs and the Present Moment ●●● Summer 2008 — Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika

    a kind of existential point of view that time is a construct because ‘now’ is always here

    abstract generalisation · time as a human concept
18. Right and Wrong in Buddhism ●●●

    right as a concept is completely different from right action

    abstract and real right and wrong · kitten at the dinner table · three-year-old and eighty-year-old
19. Right and Wrong in Action ●●● June 2006 — Padmafarma

    If we try to do some ideal meaning of right, we create wrong. If we try to do something ideally good, we create bad.

    abstract and real right and wrong · three-year-old and eighty-year-old
20. Ikka-no-myoju 2: Undivided Reality ●●● Summer 2006 — Ikka-no-myoju

    although our thoughts about reality are not reality, our thoughts are reality. And that’s a contradiction

    country as a name · thoughts as reality
21. Shoaku Makusa 1: Not Doing Wrong Here and Now ●●● Winter 2006 — Shoaku Makusa

    the property of “wrongness” is a concept, and has no real substance

    abstract and real right and wrong · speeding on the way to euthanasia
22. Shoaku Makusa 2: Not Doing Wrong as a State ●●● Winter 2006 — Shoaku Makusa

    abstract wrong is just a thought. He’s concerned with real right and real wrong.

    abstract and real right and wrong · intellectual flowers in the sky
23. Precepts as Guidelines ●●● July 2009 — Dibbavana

    there's nothing called right which is waiting somewhere for us to find it and do it

    abstract and real right and wrong · three-year-old and eighty-year-old
24. Dogen and Modern Life ●●● August 2012 — Dibbavana

    our excellent ability to extract principles is a modern one

    extracting principles as a modern ability · fingers pointing in the right direction
25. The Heart Sutra: Labels and Reality ●●● September 2013 — Banský Studenec

    Just remember that we only make models of the world. The world itself is different from our models

    finger pointing at the moon · models of the world
26. Introductions 1: Rules and Reality ●●● Summer 2003 — Introductions to Shobogenzo Chapters

    So the simple order of truth, not the abstract order of truth

    model of the atom · simple order of truth
27. Introductions 4: Ordinary Balance ●●● Summer 2003 — Introductions to Shobogenzo Chapters

    notice the difference between abstract right and wrong and real right and wrong

    abstract and real right and wrong
28. Uji 1: The Depth of the Present ●●● Summer 2007 — Uji

    time is a human concept. And what they are all saying is, ‘Well, besides that human concept, what is there?’

    time as a human concept
29. Uji 2: A Crack in Our View of Time ●●● Summer 2007 — Uji

    Western civilization is biased towards the conceptual

    abstract and real right and wrong · Western bias towards the conceptual
30. Uji 3: The Complete Present ●●● Summer 2007 — Uji

    He's creating different viewpoints, and these viewpoints are models. And just as with scientific models, the model is not the reality

    views of time as models
31. Kuge 4: Nothing to Get Rid Of ●●● Winter 2007 — Kuge

    the “scholars” who think about reality in order to try to learn about reality, rather than learn what reality is in practice

    mountain of work as imagination · scholars who only think about reality
32. The Buddhist View of Living Itself ●●● February 2009 — Cholín

    In fact, we never end up at our aim, because our aim is only an idea when we make it.

    goal as only an idea · unfinished holiday hotel
33. The Truth as a Cup of Tea ●●● September 2013 — Banský Studenec

    in Chinese and Japanese Buddhist teaching, truth is not abstract. It's concrete and abstract combined

    truth as concrete and abstract
34. Reality is the Present Moment ●●●

    We don’t realise that time is an abstraction and a representation, but we believe that time is of the essence

    abstract truth waiting to be grabbed · time as a human concept
35. Fukan-zazengi ●●● Shobogenzo

    do not become so accustomed to images that you are dismayed by the real dragon

    Shoko and the real dragon
36. Bussho ●●● Shobogenzo

    If anyone understands that the body manifesting the roundness of the moon is a circle, that is a genuine case of a painted rice cake

    painted rice cake
37. Introduction to Master Dogen’s Thought ●●● May 1987 — Gudo Wafu Nishijima

    matter is a kind of concept which human beings made

    matter as a human concept
38. Genjo-koan 5: Freedom Within Limits ●●● Summer 2002 — Genjo-koan

    our goal is an idea, and the place at which we arrive is real

    goal as only an idea
39. Uji 3: The Changing State of Zazen ●●● Winter 2004 — Uji

    We shouldn’t search for some perfect state, because the perfect state only exists in our mind.

    perfection of real life
40. The Buddha’s Discovery ●●● June 2005 — Lotus Centre

    They don't like the person who is in front of them. They like the idea of a better person.

    idea of a better person
41. Ikka-no-myoju 5: The Four Views ●●● Summer 2006 — Ikka-no-myoju

    so it is complete, but it's not the completeness I can imagine. It's real completeness

    perfection of real life
42. Dropping Off Heart, Mind and Body ●●● June 2007 — Padmafarma

    But we mistake the picture for reality. So we tend to believe the picture is right, and the reality is wrong

    mistaking thoughts for reality
43. Uji 4: Coming into the Present ●●● Summer 2007 — Uji

    real for Master Dogen is a very simple, direct real. It's not an abstract real.

    direct and abstract reality
44. Kuge 3: The Whole World in Each Flower ●●● Winter 2007 — Kuge

    nobody’s ever actually seen the whole, because all we ever see is what’s in front us here and now

    the whole nobody has seen
45. MMK 1: The Four Conditions ●●● Summer 2008 — Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika

    This doesn’t mean that there are no things, but that we don’t ‘thing’ them, we don’t abstract them from the whole

    entity and reality
46. Effort for Its Own Sake ●●● July 2009 — Dibbavana

    Because our goal is only in our mind, and it's imagination. And when we reach it, the situation is always different.

    goal as only an idea
47. Recognising the Marrow in Ourselves ●●● May 2012 — Nová Dedinka

    you have to follow the truth of the mountain, not the truth of your mind

    following the truth of the mountain
48. Dogen’s Teaching as a Way of Living ●●● September 2013 — Banský Studenec

    Dogen said there is no right which is waiting for us to do it

    abstract and real right and wrong
49. Reading Dogen from Experience ●●● May 2014 — Banský Studenec

    We are always gradually building up a perfect picture. Then we have to throw it away and face reality

    throwing away the perfect picture
50. Life Itself Is Intelligent ●●● July 2021 — Skalní fara

    Master Dogen explained the difference between images in our brains and real facts

    images in the brain and facts
51. Not Making Practice Special ●●● July 2021 — Skalní fara

    We love to make models, and when we make the model, we believe the model and we forget the reality.

    models of the world
52. Three Philosophies and One Reality ●●●

    Although materialists think that matter is reality itself, it is only a concept invented by the intellect to explain that something we see out there.

    matter as a human concept
53. Understanding the Shobogenzo ●●●

    The moon is a symbol for reality and the finger is symbolic of philosophical explanation.

    three-year-old and eighty-year-old · finger pointing at the moon
54. Ikka-no-myoju ●●● Shobogenzo

    you are riding your adversary’s horse to chase your adversary

    riding the adversary's horse
55. Genjo-koan 1: Four Viewpoints ●●● Summer 2002 — Genjo-koan

    our mental constructs and ideas are like little viruses which travel from one person to another

    ideas as viruses
56. Bussho 5: Our Fundamental Nature ●●● Winter 2005 — Bussho

    what we actually got, all were different, some were burned, some were twisted, that’s reality

    burned pastries
57. Yunmen’s Lantern Without Mystery ●●● September 2009 — Earth Spirit

    noticed that it lit the top of the monastery and since then there have been so many castles in the air put around that statement

    castles in the air
58. Sadness Is a Change in Balance ●●● August 2011 — Dibbavana

    While we're thinking about our life, our life is happening.

    life happening while we think
59. Civilisation as a Shared Trance ●●● July 2021 — Skalní fara

    The event might be caused by my behaviour, which I say is wrong or right, but that's only my belief.

    abstract and real right and wrong
60. Gaku do yo jin shu - Practical Advice on Pursuing the Buddhist Truth ●●●

    Don’t be like Shoko, who loved dragons but fainted when he saw a real one.

    Shoko and the real dragon

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