What Makes You Think?

NOTE: PART OF END OF TALK WAS CUT OFF ... BUT THE POINT GETS ACROSS! 
There's an old Chinese story about the son and the broken leg ...
A farmer had only one horse, and one day the horse ran away. The neighbors came to console him over his terrible loss. The farmer said, "What makes you think it is so terrible?"
A month later, the horse came home--this time bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer's good fortune. Such lovely strong horses! The farmer said, "What makes you think this is good fortune?"
The farmer's son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. Such bad luck! The farmer said, "What makes you think it is bad?"
A war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. Only the farmer's son, because he had a broken leg, remained. The neighbors congratulated the farmer. "What makes you think this is good?" said the farmer.
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Stone Woman Dancing

An old Zen poem, the 'Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi' ...
When the wooden man begins to sing, The stone woman gets up to dance.
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Avoiding The Jive And Hype

It’s almost to the point that there’s a flavor of Buddhism for everyone, especially in the West! From A is for Amida to Z is for Zen, there are groups and teachings of all stripes … the monastic and the “out in the world” types … traditional and tradition breaking … many teachers in between, mixing and matching. The Western Buddhist world comes in ten thousand colors and flavors!
And that can be GOOD! I have never been a “my way or the highway, one size fits all” kind of Buddhist. Different folks may require different medicines for what ails them. Find the path and teacher(s) right for you.
All you have to do, though, is avoid the snake oil, the image driven jive and hype, soothing but empty cliches, crazy cults, charismatic charlatans and ego maniac gurus professing “freedom from ego”, downright crooks and con-men, New Age dribble and pseudo-psycho-babble, fast food drive-though spirituality. Also, don’t fall into “spiritual materialism” … shopping around in the Dharma department store for the fluffy and flashy, for teachers of ‘anything goes, feel good philosophies’, “teachings” that just say what we want to hear (and not what we need to hear). Oh, and if you do stumble on a worthwhile practice, be sure not to quit too fast … as soon as it becomes a little demanding.
Do all that … and you’ll be just fine!
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What We Think Others Think

The topic came up in another thread about worrying too much about what others think of us ...
I have a tendancy to take a lot of what people say to me, personal. ... Can anyone give me some tips from a buddhist or zen-perspective, how to stop myself from constantly being so busy with what other people think of me (or, better put: what I think that other people think of me)
Link to thread
Well, ultimately there is no "you" there, nor "others" ... so no need for you to worry what others think!
However, even before one gets to such an ultimate Truth ... there's much Wisdom that Shikantaza Practice can offer to free us from opinions, from self judgments, imaginings and the like. Let them go, let them drift from mind!
What's more ... you are a jewel, just as you are! Not a thing to change! (which doesn't mean, however, that you don't have some flaws, my friend, in need of change! )
Gassho, Jundo
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Genjo Koan - Fanning Space

Dogen writes: Do not suppose that what you realize becomes your knowledge and is grasped by your consciousness. Although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be apparent. Its appearance is beyond your knowledge. Zen master Baoche of Mt. Mayu was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, "Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. When, then, do you fan yourself?"
"Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent," Baoche replied, "you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere."
"What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?" asked the monk again. The master just kept fanning himself. The monk bowed deeply.
Taigu comments ...
In this video, we look at Dogen's take on practice (fanning) as the only way to manifest awakening (air). Even this little corner of the big Universe is reached and touched by reality itself. No need to take this too far, to travel far, the simple actions of our life, the daily moves we make, the ten thousand activities we display are unfolding this awakening. The simple and bare practice is the Dharma gate. It also shows that tradition matters, we are not asked to get rid of the fan but to pick it up.
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The Ten Oxherding Pictures (XIII)

Rev. Taigu closes his series on the Ten Oxherding Pictures…
“In the world, entering the marketplace… as we get up  and leave our hermitage, we just don’t leave Shikantaza behind. If we do so, what would be the real meaning of our practice? Merging with people, being nobody, we disappear into the crowd. But we let the life of Shikantaza shine through and reveal the real face of this, every single sentient being is truly met and perceived. We don’t teach or instruct, but open our hands, our eyes and ears to the living teachings of the Buddhas which are found in every single form of this universe, from garbage to star. A very humbling experience, serving and being invisible. Our consciousness like clouds, rivers, wind, always passing, never fixed.”
(Click through for more, and to watch today’s talk and “sit-a-long.”)
Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended.

The Ten Oxherding Pictures (XII)

Rev. Taigu brings to life the 9th of the Ten Oxherding Pictures…
“Fabulous weather and great cherry blossoms. Loud and busy street, towers of steel and glass. We are reaching the source, or should we say that we are fully back to where we were originally? Anyway, the bull and the self have disappeared to fully merge with every single thing and being we meet. The ten thousand dharmas, the countless exixtences come forward. Seated in Buddha’s place, we are instantly actualizing Buddha.”
(Click through for more, and to watch today’s talk and “sit-a-long.”)
Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended.

The Ten Oxherding Pictures (XI)

 
For the 8th of the Ten Oxherding Pictures, Rev. Taigu offers this from Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo Genjo-Koan: To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realization remains, and this no trace continues endlessly. “The place where everything is dropped, the action-non action of dropping things and self away, is what the 8th picture is about. All things go through that motion and dance, the dance of impermanence, forms have to go through that gateless gate where all reference points vanish to arise again. To truly and absolutely meet a tree, a flower, a friend, a sound, you have to go through the process where you forget totally anything about what is a tree, a flower, a friend or a sound. Otherwise, you would only meet dusty labels, names, memories, beliefs.”
“Dropping body-mind, forgetting the self is the roundness of the moon, this fully ripe moon which is also the true face of sitting. No trace of realization to be found there, for you are sitting as the very moonlight. The light doesn’t see itself. But indeed, the light is seen all around, endlessly shining in countless things.”