I forgot to re-post this. Tonight (Fri. Feb 20, 2009)I'll be at:
An Lac Mission (Ventura Buddhist Temple)
901 S. Saticoy Ave. Ventura, CA 93004
Phone numbers: 805-659-9751 or 805-758-2028
Talk, Zazen, Book Signing:
Date & Time of event: Friday, February 20, 7:00pm-9:00pm
Zazen tomorrow morning in Santa Monica as usual. Details are to your left.
On a couple of my recent trips to Japan when I stayed in Nishijima Roshi's (I'm calling him Roshi lately since the word seems to be important to some) apartment I video taped some conversations we had. I have about 3 or more hours of discussions we engaged in covering a whole lot of topics, from philosophical stuff to world affairs to Dogen Sangha and its history and membership to Nagarjuna's "Fundamental Song of the Middle Way" (MMK) etc., etc.
I spent some time (actually a whole lot more time than I intended) this morning editing some of the best stuff into some short YouTube videos. There's more where this came from! Maybe I'll post some soon. Until then, enjoy!
NOTE: I originally posted all of these as embedded videos. But that caused the page to load really slowly. So now I've changed all but the first one to links. The videos are still there just as they were when I posted them yesterday. (I also forgot to mention that the cutest part of these videos to me is the piece of cardboard taped to the door behind him that says which days to take out the trash. The apt. he lives in is so tiny you can almost see the whole thing in these videos.)
On God
On Matter vs. Reality
Nishijima talks about the nature of matter vs. the nature of reality. This concept was one of the hardest ones for me to grasp. It was also the cause of one of the most mind blowing moments I ever experienced at a talk with him. I thought mentioned this moment in Hardcore Zen. But I just went thru the book and I couldn't find it. Anyway, the idea that matter might not be reality was a pretty big shock to me.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW
On Koans and Enlightenment
Nishijima's ideas about koans and their study is based on Master Dogen's view. It's very much at odds with the view taken by most Western scholars on the matter. The standard line Western scholars tend to take is that the koans are illogical stories designed to shake the mind out of its tendency towards linear thinking. Nishijima also here addresses the relative importance of so-called "Enlightenment experiences."
CLICK HERE TO VIEW
On Recognizing True Buddhism
This is a question I get asked all the time -- "How does a beginner recognize real Buddhism?". So I posed it to Nishijima. Here is his answer.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW
