Three Things That Helped Me

[@joeoleary9010]

Ajahn Amaro tells of when he was a new monk, and one of the other monks explained the nature of desire and anicca. "Well, you recognize the desire, and then wait a bit, and then you find that the desire (thought, emotion, mental state) disappears on its own." Amaro was amazed; how had he gone through life this far without anyone telling him this truth? I feel the same way. The Buddhist teaching of impermanence is incredibly practical and a reliable way to deal with suffering.

[@HardcoreZen]

That's true! Thanks!

[@yoya4766]

Ajahn Amaro is also a thick, conceited dope head. Just saying.

[@SpaceLordLono]

Ya know when you talk about trusting your teachers in that you trust they weren't bullshitting you.... Thats how I feel, and probably a lot of others feel about you. I don't feel like you want a damn thing from me and that you're being honest. I also really dig how grounded you are.

[@HardcoreZen]

Thanks!

[@pinkfloydguy7781]

“What’s gonna happen to me next?” “Nothing is going to happen because there is no ‘you next’” Love it

[@EvanBerry.]

Hi, Brad -- I do not have a teacher, nor do I know that many people with whom I feel I share a similar worldview, though it is tremendously validating when I do, since the prevailing attitudes and perspectives of most people sometimes feel at odds with such things as kindness and compassion, and what's worse is that sometimes people pay lip service to these values, but then when you get to know them you find that it's not really so. That's why I read books, and that's why I value your videos so much. At any rate, I wanted to tell you that I finished Embracing Mind, Kobun Chino's book,, and the most thought-provoking part of it, for me (besides the last few chapters on the precepts), which I hope you will touch on in your book, was his early definition of dualism as reality versus idealism, and later, paradoxically, how he frames the Bodhisattva Vows this way. That is, even though it's an impossibility, we do it anyway. That impossibility (reality) lends strength and audacity (idealism) to it. It's as if following those vows has its basis in dualism, rather than transcending it, which is usually what we always hear about in Buddhism. I thought that was interesting, since reconciling those ideas is something I never thought about. Maybe we're not supposed to reconcile them. As you say, "Life is paradox. Deal with it." But when I reached the section on the Bodhisattva Vows I slowed down and had to steep myself in it for a while like a teabag.

[@HardcoreZen]

That's interesting. Now I have to re-read those parts of the book!

[@dr.jeffreyzacko-smith324]

One of your best and most useful videos - and that is saying something!

[@zazenfrog7834]

Love that down-to-earth rendition of the Three Treasures! Thanks for sharing it, Brad.

[@BlazoOfficial]

Thank you so much!! 🙏 I just found this channel today from Muho interview. Your videos are like good books for me. 😊 so thanks for the dharma.

[@HardcoreZen]

Thank you!

[@justahumanbeing.709]

I wanna see Ziggy!!!! maybe he could do a zen teaching video through silence and woofs!?

[@HardcoreZen]

I'll see what I can do. He doesn't sit still for the camera very easily.

[@brandonjello778]

Recently just read your first book, and am in process of reading all your other super excited to see the new one come out zen has helped me emencially with my depression and anxiety no doubt probably caused from my drug abuse and alcohol abuse in the past when I was in the punk scene back in the day lol loved the video too btw! Still can’t wait till I can experience a tangerine the way you did lol.

[@HardcoreZen]

Thank you! I'm glad I could help a little bit.

[@bahez761]

Thanks ❤️

[@andrewkryzak84]

You Sir, are a genius.

[@HardcoreZen]

Oh my.

[@bobg.7976]

Good video. Even in the Bendowa one of Dogen's students in Q&A asks the master, "I'm a serious student of zazen, but do you think I should be trying mantra meditation? How about vipassana meditation? " Worrying about ones technique - and progress -is an age old hindrance.

[@Invisible_Hermit]

Great wisdom there Brad, thank you. I’m glad to see that you continue to do well in the midst of all this craziness. Very much looking forward to the upcoming new book! Your voice is always a much appreciated voice of rational logical wisdom and reason, that cuts through the BS like a razor blade. I’m thankful you’re there, and appreciate you. It is so true how we can get caught up with dwelling on the body and mind, even if we know and understand (to the extent that we can) the principle of anatta. I find myself frequently struggling with this. I realize that I'm NOT THIS BODY, and, I'M NOT THIS MIND. But, events in life happen that suck us back into the illusion that we are those things. Even with regular zazen, the struggle is still very real. So it's a constant fine tuning, to refocus on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, in the less than legalistic way in which you just defined them, if I understand you correctly. I definitely need to do more of that! That's why I watch your videos and read your books, along with others I know in my heart not to be "wackadoodle!" LOL, I have a seven year old granddaughter who is rather precocious and silly. There are times that she asks me, "who are you?" in a playful manner, and after acknowledging that it's a good question, I'll tell her; "I'm nobody; I'm everybody; I'm nothing; I'm everything!" She then just proceeds to tell me how funny I am.

[@HardcoreZen]

Thank you!

[@t.c.bramblett617]

I haven't found a teacher in real life yet, but some people hit me in the right way. Two of my favorite "virtual teachers" are you, Brad, and Osho from the now-defunct Victoria Zen Center and its podcast, which I genuinely miss. I guess Dogen would have to count too. I hope to find one like that in real life.

[@marcussmith9647]

This video was very helpful in my current situation, thanks Brad.

[@markcaselius5993]

I keep watching your videos and buying your books. I guess that does mean something. The no bullshit part is what resonates with me.

[@HardcoreZen]

Thank you!

[@blackbird5634]

I use the example of a raindrop, it cannot be squeezed into something smaller than itself. By this I mean that the volume of water is what it is, so under pressure, water becomes steam. It vaporizes, becoming something other than water. The molecules are the same but rearranged. By sitting Zazen I have discovered that I cannot be squeezed into something smaller than myself, without becoming something else. *man I hope that made sense in some way.

[@sasefina]

This is really great, Brad. So much wisdom. Thank you!

[@HardcoreZen]

Are you calling me a wise guy?

[@sasefina]

I believe I am!

[@Vacuoustom]

Thanks Brad, this is a really helpful video.

[@gustomizuka4266]

Thank you!

[@jdwhite5892]

Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Awesome, yet also Non-Awesome in a get-over-your self kinda way.

[@florianknipping7806]

Thanks a lot for this video! 😃

[@alvageffenblad8293]

That paper bag of something to the left looks like a cat.

[@alvageffenblad8293]

And the "cat" is looking at "me".

[@bobg.7976]

Also Greg Fain's simile about chewing gum is great!

[@jeffreygalket5883]

My question is simple. If the teacher finds you, or presents themselves, or appears, why haven’t I found one? 😊 I’ve been studying and reading and watching non-duality teaching for years. I’ve had what “I” consider an initial enlightenment experience a year ago, and I still continue to deepen that experience every single day by reading and watching videos on what I’ll define as non duality. I say non dual because there are tons of different teachings, all with the same basic concepts at their root. Different perspectives of the same basic truths. Maybe I don’t need a physical teacher to continue to grow and learn? Maybe I just continue to explore the illusion of self and perceived reality just the way I’ve been doing without a physical teacher? Maybe that teacher will still appear when I can no longer deepen my understanding alone? I realize there’s no true answer to this question. But it’s just something that I wonder about from time to time. Love to all.

[@ricklanders]

Three things that help everyone: Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha Understanding anatta, anicca, dukkha Sila, samadhi, paññā All laid out in: Vinaya, Sutta, Abhidhamma No zen, no sho, no dogen needed ;- )

[@tonydyer2919]

Bought the book "ZEN Key to Your Undiscovered Happiness" by C. N. HU - It must be 20 plus years since I bought it and I only read it today for the first time. It's interesting especially because the author makes use of General Semantics to do analysis and explanations. These analyses and explanations come across very staight forward and clear. I've come across General Semantic by Korzybski many years ago and i had forgotten how useful it is. A E Van Vogt did a series of SF books starting with The Pawns or World of Null A. I thought that General Semantics might aid you in clarification of your thinking on the ethics you are examining. The map is not the territory, the name is not the thing.

[@HardcoreZen]

Thanks. I've heard of General Semantics. I'll look into it!

[@superdeluxesmell]

“To remind yourself...” So much elaborate religious practice comes back to this basic act I think.

[@NicholasKlacsanzkyICM]

I don’t know if it’s that helpful but throughout the day, when something perturbs me, I’ll ask internally “Who is feeling_____?” Like “Who is feeling stressed?”

[@erkanerken95]

Is that barbecue gel at the back?

[@HardcoreZen]

Probably. My girlfriend's dad like to barbecue.

[@EllisAnimalDefender]

What is your take on secular Buddhism I’ve been into Buddhist for the past year or so I’ve gone to a Buddhist class at a temple near me they are Mahayana Buddhist , I have an inate belief in rebirth and karma but my intellectual Ration thinking side constantly questions those beliefs , are beliefs important or relevant in Buddhism or should I simply listen to the teachers and practice ? (I come from a Christian family and the “belief” part has been ingrained in me and I’m kinda skeptic to “believe” in anything because of that family history)

[@macdougdoug]

My question would be : why believe in stuff we don't understand?

[@HardcoreZen]

It's a complicated question. The way I teach Buddhism is, I think, pretty close to "secular Buddhism." By that I mean, I never emphasize matters of belief. I don't care what people believe in, as long as they behave well. On the other hand, I do engage in many of the ritual aspects of traditional practice because I think they re important.

[@paulmyers9049]

Gotta wonder if confusion is a virtue when hearing some of this stuff....

[@danielremete4214]

You say nothing but it is everything. 😁

[@lorenacharlotte8383]

Never asked to myself “Who I am” but What am I doing? since I was a little girl. As a child I used to have lots of conversations with Jesus in my immagination. He was a kind of imaginary friend.

[@bronsonmcnulty1110]

Who is doing what you are doing ?

[@lorenacharlotte8383]

Bronson McNulty : Tricky.

[@gunterappoldt3037]

Immanuel Kant developed his whole transcendental philosophy around the phenomenon ("shining up") of the revealing-concealing self (ger.: Ich). It seems to be a part of the philosophia perennis of reflecting upon anthropogenic universals.

[@lorenacharlotte8383]

Günter Appoldt : Can you paste the link?. Thanks. I google but got massive philosophy information but nowhere anything about what you mention in your comment.

[@gunterappoldt3037]

@@lorenacharlotte8383 sorry, but I had no special source in mind. I just summed up what I learned alongside comparative studies between phenomenology and Zen (and before, via cultural "common-sensing"). I don`t know how things go in Northern America, where I assume You live, but in Germany we have a fairly good system of connected university-libraries for research. There I found some good Kant-biographies, but all in German and in rare editions, which helped much to understand his life and work better. What I know for sure, is that many middle Europeans, over many centuries, marvelled over how the "transcendental self" and the "I" (--> Edmund Husserl`s epistemological triade Ego-cogito-Cogitatum) are related to each other---as well as "the other(s), the world, and all the rest" (--> holistic matrix of the "windowless monads" à la G.W. Leibniz, who no the less also thought of a "mathesis universalis", which is rather counter-solipsistic, but that`s another story). Such meditations-contemplations---often starting on the semantic level: the everyday uses of self-(other-)indexing words, expressions, pragmas, and so forth---are part of the collective consciousness, I would say. Writers like Robert Musil, Hermann Hesse, Marcel Proust, which just spontaneously come to me mind,---yes, and not to forget some protestant mystics, like Tauler, Seusse, and Eichendorff (?), or F. Schiller and J.W. Goethe---and many others, im- and/or explicitly circle(d) around it. Eugen Herrigel tried to approach the "Zen (no)self" in the 1920ies, when teaching Western philosophy in Tôkyô, while his wife did some ikebana ... George Herbert Mead also did some meticulous studies on the "matrix" of the person, concentrating on the psycho-sociological field (maybe influenced by William James). I don`t know whether Susan J. Blackmore ("Consciousness") mentions the classics, but she gives a fairly good introduction into the whole matrix of Self-Noself-Consciousness. Hope this was of some help. Greetings.

[@sea_squirt]

The teaching is beyond words and letters, like the landscape is beyond maps and signposts. It doesn't mean you shouldn't use maps, but if you sit at home looking at a map, don't kid yourself that you know the landscape. Teachers are ok to get you to started thinking differently, but don't revere them. They are all flawed and most of them are crackpots, despite their partial understanding. You should be constantly looking for ways to get free of them. It's ok to go back for a social visit once in a while. The sangha is helpful to ward off loneliness, but where there are people there are always power plays. Don't let the bickering make you lose sight of your primary reason for associating with these people.

[@StevenTaylor417]

Resonant. Thanks for this.

[@silviaandrade9129]

name the chapter "Triple Trick"

[@radzo1675]

You mean he LIMPED back into the temple.

[@HardcoreZen]

True!

[@MrBreadisawesome]

Lol

[@danielmeister7472]

Brad, how on earth would you know that "you're not your body"? Maybe all of that is bullshit and you actually are your body? I really liked your first book because the theme there was to question everything. Books, gurus, authority, religion, society. Everything. Why not stay there? I know it's comfortable "to know" and have some certainty/belief. But waking up has no end. I wouldn't even say that you are your body but why rule that out? At least the experiment of having full Anesthesia does a good job for me to not rule it out completely. It's much more repeatable than some of the experiences I had on the cushion. There's a nice book about that and other stuff you might find really interesting. It's one of the few books that after reading zen stuff for many years really struck me and opened up my mind again. I hadn't even noticed how many hidden beliefs I had put on my mind over the years either from books or experiences I had. It's "The ten thousand things" by Robert Saltzman. I find this way more zen than most of the zen books out there these days who're just repeating the same old stuff they learned themselves and that you can find over and over again. Check it out, the soft book and kindle edition are really cheap!

[@gunterappoldt3037]

One incidental remark: A comparative approach may sometimes be helpful to get in and out of frames. I happened to notice these weeks that the London Buddhist Centre keeps presenting some solid, "old-school style", (live-)videos via YT.

[@HardcoreZen]

Thanks. I'll look for that book.

[@danielmeister7472]

@@HardcoreZen Cool, I'm quite sure you'll like it. Would be great if you'd mention your thoughts on it sometime.

[@DavidFerguson62]

It's innate.

[@outoforder5475]

you next is a fiction

[@sebastiaoedsonmacedo7950]

Alarming advice from you saying so lightly that the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha don’t need to be exactly the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, bc this is precisely how Buddhist cults justify their creed and deceive people seeking to enter or advance in the Path.

[@HardcoreZen]

Please do some research about me. Thanks.

[@sebastiaoedsonmacedo7950]

Hardcore Zen I have watched many of your videos and read some of your writings: It’s not about you: it’s about your advice. Thanks.

[@osip7315]

eihei wanted to sleep in, but his girlfriend pushed him out of bed and said "make the breakfast then take the dog for a walk" eihei wondered as he walked down the street , toy dog in tow "am i the person who gets bossed around like this" and he bumped into the bodhisattva of compassion who looked him in the eyes and said the buddha was celibate for a reason a half moon rises its light holds a mystery a slight menace in the shadows a partially illuminated world

[@HardcoreZen]

Could be!

[@macdougdoug]

Seeing the self that gets bossed around is the practise - thus the girlfriend is the great guru.

[@osip7315]

@@macdougdoug the problem is that the non celibate life has too many things coming from too many directions inaddition to contrary paradigms so "effective practice" is actually a "sour" illusion in that context conventional religion is "safer" in that respect because you don't get into the mystical side and drowned in the cross currents, the usual consequence as you point out "no-self" is a real thing, but when self necessarily includes spouse/girlfriend/children then you are going to be ripped apart non-productively i used to think that just a girlfriend and no children was ok, but even just a girlfriend doesn't work either, its a different paradigm

[@macdougdoug]

Aïe! True dat - tricky stuff. In the end though, is it not in the mundane that one tests the mystic's metal?

[@baxmatic]

@@osip7315 what youre saying is you value silence in a relationship, and you havent found it yet