Tuesday, December 29, 2009

deeds of no purpose

If you're thinking of New Year's resolutions, you might consider this:

"... "deeds of no purpose" ... "a life of effortlessness", or in Sanskrit anabhogacarya ...

"All the Mahayana sutras give the greatest significance to the attainment of this "life of no-purposiveness". The lilies of the field are living it, so are the greatest spiritual leaders of the world. And all the "Great Vows" of the Bodhisattva grow out of it; his vows are no vows in the ordinary sense of the word."

- from "The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk", by Daistez Teitaro Suzuki, p. 118

3 comments:

  1. reminds me of "Conjectures.... Bystander", first chapter, about rain.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You must be thinking of Rain and the Rhinoceros, Gunter ... first essay in the book, RAIDS ON THE UNSPEAKABLE.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I should check my references before I comment but it did provoke me to look it up and re-read it for the new year for which I'm glad.

    ReplyDelete

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