Mokurai Dojo

The Mokurai Torii gate, work in progress. I musst love Torii gates, u must have built half a dozen of these so far...

"Decaissage" is French for removing soft dirt before you pour a concrete slab. I'm currently doing that in what will become the Mokurai dojo/Zendo. The dirt here is very rich, old (80 years at least) cow dung mixed with straw and hay. Not hard to dig, but there are sh*tloads of it. I'll use that to grow strawberries in the yard.

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Eishin School Kaishaku technique.

"This is a method for shortening the suffering of someone committing seppuku, and in this specific case, the opponent is not an enemy. When the opportunity arises, the right hand is used to perform a vertical decapitation, and just before the end of the movement, the left hand grasps the sword's hilt to stop its advance."

"Il s'agit d'une méthode pour abréger les souffrances de celui qui commet le seppuku, et dans ce cas précis, l'adversaire n'est pas un ennemi. Lorsque l'occasion se présente, la main droite est utilisée pour effectuer une décapitation verticale, et juste avant la fin du geste, la main gauche saisit la poignée du sabre pour stopper sa progression."

6 translations of the "Bundle of Reeds" Sutra.
Which somehow invalidates the traditional simplified circular presentation of Buddhist dependent origination.

Saṁyutta Nikāya 12.67 6 translations The Sutta of the Bundle of Reeds - Samyutta Nikaya SN 12.67. treats of Buddhist dependent origination (Paticca Samuppada) in a way that generally invalidates the circular explanation of it. original Pali text and 6 translations.

The Buddha likely taught in the Pali language.
Pali was also used to record his teachings in writing in the 1st century BC. Before that, everything had been recorded by oral tradition.
I suspect that modern (1st millenium) interpretations of the original teachings of the Buddha may at times be erroneous. (and there is no telling about some of our 20th and 21st centuries).
So that at times it may be interesting to turn back to the original Pali texts.
Of course, I don't speak Pali...
There are some translations available on line, but how can we be sure of their accuracy ? One way is to put them side by side and compare them.
Google translate does not translate from Pali, but i found this site which does it, apparently quite accurately.

Translate Pali To English | AI Translation Tool - Rephrasely Translate Pali To English with 12 FREE Styles - Rephrases Sentences, Rewords Paragraphs, Rewrites Essays, Checks Grammar... Translate PI to English instantly with professional accuracy. Free online tool with no signup required.

Paticcasamupadda is commonly translated as dependent origination, or dependent arising in English. It is a key doctrine shared by all schools of Buddhism.
Its basic principle is that all things (dharmas, phenomena, principles) arise in dependence upon other things. It is a complex concept, subject to a large variety of explanations and interpretations.

One of them is them is that it describes the process of a sentient being's rebirth in saṃsāra, and the resultant duḥkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness), due to kamma accumulated during the previous life.

I personally have doubts about this interpretation because it seems to imply the existence of an entity going on on from one life to an other one. This would be in contradiction with the principle of Anatta. But what do I know ?

I am nevertheless convinced that Paticca samupadda can be very useful tool for practice, (otherwise I would not spend time studying it) if you consider

An other interpretation is that Paticcasamupadda actually describes the arising of mental processes and the resultant notion of "I" and "mine" that leads to grasping and suffering. It is then very useful to figure out how we can stop the process, once we understand how it applies to the “birth” and “death” of our daily feelings and emotions. This is well taught by Buddhadasa Bikkhu. in his work "Paticcasamuppada: Practical Dependent Origination".

However, even if I have reservation about the 3 lives interpretation, i found out that most of what has been written about it can also be used to help us improve our daily lives and the world around us.

This is the reason why I edited the book "Dynamic psychology of Early Buddhism" by Rune E. A. Johansson from a low quality scan. I found this book quite beneficial for my own understanding and practice.

You can download this book for free at :

https://www.academia.edu/144352118/The_Dynamic_Psychology_of_Early_Buddhism

Although I did everything I could to make sure the English text would be accurate, I cannot guarantee that the Pali quotes (in italic) are, as they weresometimes hard to read on the original scan and because I could not always and did not want to waste too much time reproducing some of the accents and marks of the Pali script.

The numbers on the right side of some of the pages are references to the pagination of the original book.

I hope this is useful for your practice.

Cher tous,

Je serai absent du 21 septembre au 5 octobre. Ne pleurez pas, ce serait du temps perdu : les mouchoirs coûtent cher et, de toute façon, les larmes n’améliorent pas la posture.

Pratiques et classes reprendront le 7 octobre à 7:00 au Spa baie de Somme (Zen puis Tai Chi), et le 8 octobre a 18:00 au gymnase de St Valery pour le Kenjutsu.
Continuez à pratiquer. Même sans moi, vous finirez peut-être par progresser : après tout, certains réussissent à apprendre la flûte sans Mozart.
Je ne manquerai pas de boire à vos santés. Plusieurs fois. Car vous etes nombreux et je refuse l’injustice.
Bien à vous,