Is it good to keep breeding to keep countries or is it better just to give nature back to the native American?

Blood type diet

The term Roshi as far as I understand it is a term of respect like Sensi, San, or Sama. It has little to do with an official rank.

I stopped watching your videos because some of your teachings went counter to the basic Buddhist Dharma. You speak out against koan practice which I find bewildering. I could go on but what would be the point? Now I have completely lost any respect I had for you. You may, or may not want to respond to this comment, but I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned, even though we are all perfect in our Buddha nature, you are acting like a perfect anal sphincter.

Tao Te Ching (Chapter 12) has a slightly different take on this issue: "The five colours cause one's eyes to be blind. The five tones cause one's ears to be deaf. The five flavours cause one's palate to be spoiled. Racing and hunting cause one's mind to be mad. Goods that are hard to get injure one's activities. For this reason the sage is concerned with the belly and not the eyes. Therefore he rejects the one but accepts the other."

Zen Question : am i always Have to sit in Way of zazen posture in all my meditation,, Cant i just do zazen While Cooking, riding or just laying when im not feeling to sit still,, sometime i feel too lazy and ends up Focussed more on Sitting instead of noticing here and now

_"demonstrations of enlghtenment"_ Nope. You can't demonstrate enlightenment, because enlightement is not an act or action. It's a recognition of ones own nature. Such a thing cannot be seen with the physical senses.

Sakyong's primary spiritual teacher was his father, Chogyam, who also had sexual relations with many students. Good for Pema for stepping down.

Sanzo means “three baskets” or Tripitaka master, not big ears. Big ears is Daini (Da’er). Just saying.

Mahayana buddhism is nonsensical magic mumbo jumbo and does not follow Buddhas original teachings.

does zen help brad have so little grey and so much hair?!

This is a typical example of how Dogen adepts like Brad use words without filling them with content. What is "good", what is "the right thing"? He doesn't clarify it. It's not the same for evetyone everytime. And obviously not the same for a samurai who is mentioned in another comment. "Even if the universe is full of jerks" just means that Dogen makes up a category "jerk" in which he trapped himself and you. Who is a jerk for Dogen and why should we care 800 years later? What a religious hogwash. And if you think it's clear what is meant, you dont need any Dogen to tell you.

The dalai is a CIA plant Just search "wiki" "dalai" "CIA". Enjoy.

The dalai is a CIA plant. Not even a conspiracy, there's a wiki page. And tibetan Buddhism is very different from the revisionist version that Richard Gere sold to western thirsty (preferably deep pocketed) women. If USA media is desperate to make you support something, chances are there's a big lie being covered behind. The truth doesn't need aggressive PR.

WHAT DID BUDDA TEACH--- not tibetean buddism whch is hinduism etc.

dumb title..ramana wasnt in japanese zen.

Fascinating topic Brad! Thanks for exploring!

Was that "Dear Prudence" being Travis picked? Pretty guitar parts for sure. Yes, such self-immolation is hardly a demonstration of enlightenment. It's an astonishing act of self-control and perhaps self-hypnotic focus, but not enlightenment. Enlightenment is the embrace of and total immersion into the moment. The classic "chop wood, carry water" mundanity of life. The monk's necessary act of complete detachment from that horrendous pain seems the opposite. That other fellow is confusing super-human capabilities with an enlightened state of being. Just a thought. 🤷 Interesting discussion, thanks! 🤙🧘

It may not be useful, but it sure sounds profound! :D

I remember having teachers that were very generous to me. When I think back at some of some of the foolish ideas I shared as an inexperienced, unlearned, and undeveloped youth, I am grateful for the genuine interest, respect and kindness the teachers showed me as they walked with me as learning unfolded. They had no contempt, no impatience, no scorn, in fact, I think they felt some fulfillment at seeing and sharing in the process of learning. They did not judge my youthful ideas with the yardstick used for an old sage. I don't remember them telling me I was an idiot, nor did they tell me my foolish ideas were correct, they just listened and shared their insights and their own perspectives. Looking back, it is now clear they were busy planting seeds. Some took a long time to germinate!

You took me straight to “a man called horse” Richard Harris( I think, It was along time ago) acted the part fantastically, the trials of becoming a warrior. I think there has been a lot of protest self imoliations in Sri Lanka too, by very seemingly sedate monks.

Hey Brad, so this is (or was rather), once a particular subject of mine that I spent a lot of time researching back in my Zen days. Ghosts actually have a pretty big connection in Zen through Segaki: the ceremony of the feeding of the hungry ghosts. There are some lineages of Soto Zen that put a lot of emphasis on this ceremony, for example the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (Jiyu-Kennett's lineage), does a pretty elaborate ceremony of this every year at each temple in their order. This ceremony actually comes from Chinese Vajrayana and is practiced in China still, as well as in Vietnamese Buddhism, and Korean Buddhism, etc. Kennett's lineage comes from Sojiji, which was founded by Keizan. Keizan was known as being a mystic, and I know they do this ceremony at Sojiji as well. It's part of the yearly, and monthly calendar of various ceremonies. The ceremony itself actually is very old and goes back to early Buddhism where there was a story of a monk who's mother I believe had died, and he got a vision of her being reborn as a ghost, and so asked the Buddha how he could help her. And the Buddha told him that he could make an offering of various different kinds of foods so that she could receive the merit of that and be freed from rebirth as a ghost. If you want a really great read on this, google the paper titled: "Feeding Ghosts: A Study of the Yuqie Yankou Rite" by Hun Yeow Lye from the University of Virginia. If you just google the title, the paper will come right up. It's a fascinating read about the history of Feeding of the Hungry Ghosts ceremony that is used in Soto Zen as well as various forms of Buddhism. In Vajrayana we have versions of this also, called "Tsok" where as part of regular monthly practices, we perform ceremonies and offer bits of food to hungry ghosts and spirits as well. It's also worth noting, that Dogen was not as against this sort of thing as many people think. He had many profoundly mystical experiences himself. If you're interested, I have a journal article that was researched by some of the monks at the OBC and they put together a pretty extensive accounting of some of Dogen's mystical experiences. Including pretty profound visions of 16 ancestors that were so strong, they were witnessed by many others present. Dogen didn't "emphasize" a lot of things like that, but he didn't deny them either, and he had plenty of his own mystical experiences as well. And especially I think the lineages of Soto Zen that were more flavored by Keizan also are going to have more of that. But yes, in some lineages of Soto Zen discussion of ghosts and such is a pretty important part of the teachings.

Im 120 km away from the spot in Germany, but the universe doesnt want me to be there atm 🥲

He's looking where the cat was, but there cat's not there anymore . Deep . It's not the same teaching as the video, but it's related 🪷

5:00 straw man argument

Reading minds is a metaphor. It means that you quickly analyze your listener and understand how to reach their mind and heart. You quickly discern what values are important to them and deliver your message through those values. For example, you impress a person who is deeply rooted in materialism with materialism. You impress a person who loves asceticism with asceticism. When you impress someone, you have a greater influence on them and can guide them onto a path. It's like the second level of mindfulness: instead of observing your own thoughts, you observe your listener and choose your words to reach their mind as easily as possible. This is a very difficult skill, but it can be learned.

China is no different with Communism being an authoritarian religion and Xi Jinping 习近平 is the Emperor cum Deity.

That's true. Great example is: Chogyam Trungpa - The Master Manipulator (Hailed by many as enlightened master, yet mastered the art of manipulating women)

realism--something that Dogen grasps and something that a lot of buddhists miss. I love his essays on words. Chan buddhism (and Renzai) really pooh-pooh words--i.e., 'words can't express the way', 'studying sutras is lame', etc--but Dogen sees that words themselves (and sounds and colors) are expressions of the way. Words are not separate from enlightenment, because nothing is separate from enlightenment. None of this 'reality is an illusion' or 'reality is just a product of the mind' bullshit.

I recall Charlotte Beck mentioned she had the ability to peer into friends’ houses (sangha members?) and see what they were preparing for dinner. She mostly shrugged it off as nothing particularly special or useful.

Crazy thing is, the only thing that makes the Zen school unique among Buddhist schools is its claim to demonstrate and identity enlightenment when it happens to varying degrees. This is done through the 'encounter dialogues' or cases...koans. If you read through a classic text like the 'Transmission of the Lamp' (a 30 volume work of the Song Dynasty) there are an endless number of stories where a monk demonstrates awakening by how he responds to absurd questions and circumstances. On the more scientific side, a person advanced in meditation has no dreams while asleep and sleeps very little. There is no internal dilemma going on. So I suppose this could be tested by the absence of Rapid-Eye-Movements...REM sleep. Even while awake, the eyes dont wander around aimlessly like a dog looking for a place to pee. Even in Daoist texts like the Wenzi the Sage is said to "sleep without dreams and wakes without worries".

i've personally been targeted by "hacktivists" and I didn't even post anything online. People are insane right now. Be careful.

sorry i try hard to focus but the books in the background mesmerize me, please let me know if piper at the gates of dawn 33 1/3 and Kraftwerk book are worth it, peace

THOSE WHO KNOW DON'T SAY,THOSE WHO SAY DON'T KNOW. TRUTH (ENLIGHTENMENT) IS INDEFINEABLE WITH THE HUMAN MIND!🙏 -SILENCE IS THE MOST REVEALING!

I had a psychotic break 8 years ago and, long story short, thought there was a 'social war game' happening which was cut throat and based on normal language meaning something different (for some reason hahaha). After I started regaining my sanity, I had the problem of not knowing for sure if it was psychosis or people were gaslighting me. I went with, 'I can be a good, selfless person and let go of my ego and even if it is true, I know I am good.' Buddhism really helps people deal with their psychological problems. Thanks for helping with that by the way!

You said that China is one of the worst countries today for human rights abuses? I know the Western propaganda says so, but I don't see much evidence for it. All the claims of Uyghur genocide, or Tibetan cultural genocide are unsubstantiated. Most are paid "investigations" by the National Endowment for Democracy, which is a CIA offshoot that has been engaged in funding insurgencies within countries that threaten US hegemony and the capitalist world order. I ask you how many foreign military bases does China have worldwide? How many bombs have they dropped on civilians on foreign soil? I know they did some awful things in the past during the cultural revolution, but compared to what the US did to indigenous people alone in NA, we don't really have a right to point fingers at them today and claim they are violating human rights on anything close to that scale. What percentage of China's population is in prison? Now ask those same questions of the US. Which is the big violator of human rights? Probably both, but nothing holds a candle to the US. They are always number 1!

You are doing to Hebden Bridge in England! Cool! That is five miles from the home of Emily Brontë, who wrote W uthering Heights - a book whose whole theme is a kind of thought-experiment around the question: " what would a conciousness be like if It was a jerk, all the time?".

I clicked on this hoping for something a bit braver, to be honest. I mean, I'm viewing it all from some distance away, but I'm not convinced that "both sides"-ing what's going on over there is really the 'right thing to do' at this point.

Oh Brad this was great. I loved "Don't be a Jerk" when it came out, love this return to it! Of course, I don't have it around anymore, because I loaned it to some one. Just ordered a copy again. Give Ziggy a neck scratchy for me. Its just Ziggy doing Ziggy stuff.

Finished that book a couple weeks ago. Great book great video. Thanks Brad.

Great talk, thank you. 🙏🏽😊

boring

"everybody's doing wrong" that's how I described it when I recently rewatched ken park. It describes the feeling I personally got too. As for Trump's ordeal, I didn't go through alot of emotions. I definitely didn't wish the worst. Once I made a sarcastic comment about being unreasonably hotile towards T.Swift like an edgy teenager. Of course 20minutes later facebook's algorithm flagged it... lol, I don't listen to her music or know much about her but I'm not so dismissive or flippant when it comes to analyzing my actual feelings. Protect that lady! Anyway, it was an unfortunate tragedy.

This would be a good time to talk about non duality not being for or against either side because we are all one we all have Buddha nature what we do say or think about them we are doing saying or thinking about ourselves and creating more of that in our reality it's better to accept things they way they are and let them go as they go they are at a different level of karma or consciousness learning their own lessons while we are where we are learning our own

"Don't be a Jerk" was the first book of yours that I read. I happened to find it after searching for "Dogen" in my local library's database.

There's no perfect Travis picking. Many variations

Even if all this jerk behaviour has been demonstrated previously by the target, it doesn't improve the world to be a jerk about a jerk.

Deeeep thanks to you🙏🏻

What we call the universe is often simply where we habitually look. Being ignorant of all else we assume it doesn't exist. 🙏🏻✌🏻🧡

When people are mean, I resist the urge to be mean by saying I am not going to allow you to be my teacher