Belated Bodhi

by: auntie

Fri Dec 09, 2011 at 11:44:46 AM PST

Don't Forget Bodhi:

Through most of Buddhist history, the enormous majority of laypeople did not meditate at all. And in some periods this applied to monastics as well. Instead, practice mostly focused on keeping the Precepts and making merit by supporting the monastic sangha. It was (and still is, in some places) understood that bodhi was out of reach for most people.

Regarding the date of Bodhi Day, she notes:

So, Rohatsu, or Bodhi Day, falls on December 8 every year, at least in Japan. And, as far as I can tell, there really isn't much observance of Bodhi Day outside Japan. So today is pretty much it, I think.

Whiskey River served up this tasty quote:

Through endless ages, the mind has never changed.

It has not lived or died, come or gone, gained or lost.

It isn't pure or tainted, good or bad, past or future, true or false, male or female. It isn't reserved for monks or lay people, elders or youths, masters or idiots, the enlightened or unenlightened.

It isn't bound by cause and effect and doesn't
struggle for liberation. Like space, it has no form.

You can't own it and you can't lose it. Mountains,
rivers or walls can't impede it. But this mind is
ineffable and difficult to experience. It is not the mind of the senses. So many are looking for this mind, yet it already animates their bodies.

It is theirs, yet they don't realize it.

- Bodhidharma
The Wisdom of the Zen Masters