Hakuin biography of martin luther king
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Recalling the Great Hakuin Ekaku
Hakuin Ekaku, one of the two most important figures in the history Japanese Zen, died on this day, the 18th of January, in 1769.
He was born on the 19th of January, in 1686, in a village at the foot of Mount Fuji. As a child he attended a lecture given by a Nichiren priest on hell. The talk captured the boy’s imagination. He became obsessed with the idea of the hell realms. And he determined to escape them by becoming a monk.
When Hakuin turned fifteen he entered the monastic life as a Zen priest at Shoinji. Soon after he was sent to study at a neighboring temple, Daishoji. Here he delved deeply into Mahayana texts, and in particular he studied the Lotus Sutra. Ultimately he dismissed it as recorded in Wikipedia, as “nothing more than simple tales about cause and effect.”
Hakuin continued training and ended up at Zensoji. Here he became obsessed with the story of Yanto Quanhuo, a Chinese master who when murdered by robbers yelled so loudly that
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The Bodhisattva Ideal: Five Rare Powers bygd Roshi Joan Halifax
Contemplation and Reflection: DT Suzuki Museum, Kanazawa, Japan. Upaya Pilgrimage, April 2024
Wednesday, July 4, 2024
The Bodhisattva Ideal:
Five Rare Powers
Roshi Joan Halifax
Creations are numberless, inom vow to free them
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to transform them
Reality fryst vatten boundless, inom vow to perceive it
The Awakened Way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it
(The kvartet Great Vows of the Bodhisattvas)
I want to begin with profound thanks for my teachers Thich Nhat Hanh and Roshi Bernie Glassman. Thay and Bernie were Zen teachers who were dedicated to the practice of engaged Buddhism. They are both gone now, but their courageous approach to Buddhism has touched people all over the world. I turned toward Buddhism in the nineteen sixties out of my experience as a social activist in the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam Anti-war Movement that magnetized into action young people of