The Homeless Mendicant

A forum for those wishing to discuss Buddhist history and teachings in the Western academic manner, referencing appropriate sources.
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kusulu
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The Homeless Mendicant

Post by kusulu »

How does one go about this? Decide which color of robes you like? Or just follow the leader? How do you get rid of your stuff? What if you are old and grey and don't want to join Dharma Kindergarten? Suppose your poetry sucks? I'd rather follow the right teaching than be a teacher, why teach at all if it's not quite right? And finally do I really need to learn a foreign language?

:bow:
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Queequeg
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by Queequeg »

Walk out the door and don't look back. Just. Let. Go.
"A householder or householder's son, hearing the Dhamma, gains conviction in the Tathagata and reflects: 'Household life is confining, a dusty path. The life gone forth is like the open air. It is not easy living at home to practice the holy life totally perfect, totally pure, like a polished shell. What if I were to shave off my hair and beard, put on the ochre robes, and go forth from the household life into homelessness?'

"So after some time he abandons his mass of wealth, large or small; leaves his circle of relatives, large or small; shaves off his hair and beard, puts on the ochre robes, and goes forth from the household life into homelessness.

"When he has thus gone forth, he lives restrained by the rules of the monastic code, seeing danger in the slightest faults. Consummate in his virtue, he guards the doors of his senses, is possessed of mindfulness and alertness, and is content."
Samaññaphala Sutta
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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FiveSkandhas
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by FiveSkandhas »

Best wishes for safe and happy wayfairing!

南無阿弥陀仏
ls01.jpg
ls01.jpg (64.38 KiB) Viewed 2771 times
"One should cultivate contemplation in one’s foibles. The foibles are like fish, and contemplation is like fishing hooks. If there are no fish, then the fishing hooks have no use. The bigger the fish is, the better the result we will get. As long as the fishing hooks keep at it, all foibles will eventually be contained and controlled at will." -Zhiyi

"Just be kind." -Atisha
avatamsaka3
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by avatamsaka3 »

Every time we encounter our own suffering, we're starting from the beginning... at least, until we actually start to learn.

I'll assume you're not actually talking about being a homeless mendicant. Pretty much all monks in the West do have a place where they sleep and eat and meditate and study: in that sense they have a home. If you're asking how to make the transition to that life, first of all you have to decide which tradition you want to practice. Then it's a good idea to have a firm foundation of knowledge of that tradition, and then it's obviously really good to live life according to what that tradition teaches. If you can talk with disciplined spiritual friends in that tradition, they can provide guidance.
Last edited by avatamsaka3 on Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
GDPR_Anonymized001
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by GDPR_Anonymized001 »

kusulu wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:23 am How does one go about this? Decide which color of robes you like? Or just follow the leader? How do you get rid of your stuff? What if you are old and grey and don't want to join Dharma Kindergarten? Suppose your poetry sucks? I'd rather follow the right teaching than be a teacher, why teach at all if it's not quite right? And finally do I really need to learn a foreign language?

:bow:
What on earth is a Dharma kindergarten? I don't understand this series of questions, why are you asking about poetry and a foreign language?
Natan
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by Natan »

I would suggest you will need to commit your practice to memory because all your stuff will end up lost and stolen. And so that means you need to memorize some stuff and to do that you need a teacher which means choosing a path. And that teacher if a lama has a big center and you will be there a long time before you are shoved out the door and sent on your own.
PeterC
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by PeterC »

kusulu wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:23 am How does one go about this? Decide which color of robes you like? Or just follow the leader? How do you get rid of your stuff? What if you are old and grey and don't want to join Dharma Kindergarten? Suppose your poetry sucks? I'd rather follow the right teaching than be a teacher, why teach at all if it's not quite right? And finally do I really need to learn a foreign language?

:bow:
You want rules, guidelines, processes and assurances in order to be free from attachments?
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tkp67
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by tkp67 »

jake wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:37 am
kusulu wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:23 am How does one go about this? Decide which color of robes you like? Or just follow the leader? How do you get rid of your stuff? What if you are old and grey and don't want to join Dharma Kindergarten? Suppose your poetry sucks? I'd rather follow the right teaching than be a teacher, why teach at all if it's not quite right? And finally do I really need to learn a foreign language?

:bow:
What on earth is a Dharma kindergarten? I don't understand this series of questions, why are you asking about poetry and a foreign language?
Sounds like he wants a dharma gate that will work with his desires which I interpret as not wanting to reinvent the wheel and perform practice that seem superfluous. Reading between the lines it seems at his age it seem he may have much to reflect upon already.

Personally I don't see the academic side alone solving the problem, seems like more of an open dialog. Perhaps though this exists in my mind alone.
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Queequeg
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by Queequeg »

FiveSkandhas wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 3:13 am Best wishes for safe and happy wayfairing!

南無阿弥陀仏

ls01.jpg
Love that statue. Saw it in person a few years ago.
Carved by Unkei's son. Amazing.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
boda
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by boda »

Queequeg wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:39 pm
FiveSkandhas wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 3:13 am Best wishes for safe and happy wayfairing!

南無阿弥陀仏

ls01.jpg
Love that statue. Saw it in person a few years ago.
Carved by Unkei's son. Amazing.
What’s the little hammer for?
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Queequeg
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by Queequeg »

boda wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:28 pm
Queequeg wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:39 pm
FiveSkandhas wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 3:13 am Best wishes for safe and happy wayfairing!

南無阿弥陀仏

ls01.jpg
Love that statue. Saw it in person a few years ago.
Carved by Unkei's son. Amazing.
What’s the little hammer for?
I appears to be a mallet I assume is for striking the bell hanging in front of his chest.

It is a statue of Kuya -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABya
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Hazel
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by Hazel »

Maybe read this: In Love with the World: A Monk's Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying (Hardcover)

https://www.booktable.net/book/9780525512530
At thirty-six years old, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche was a rising star within his generation of Tibetan masters and the respected abbot of three monasteries. Then one night, telling no one, he slipped out of his monastery in India with the intention of spending the next four years on a wandering retreat, following the ancient practice of holy mendicants. His goal was to throw off his titles and roles in order to explore the deepest aspects of his being.

He immediately discovered that a lifetime of Buddhist education and practice had not prepared him to deal with dirty fellow travelers or the screeching of a railway car. He found he was too attached to his identity as a monk to remove his robes right away or to sleep on the Varanasi station floor, and instead paid for a bed in a cheap hostel. But when he ran out of money, he began his life as an itinerant beggar in earnest. Soon he became deathly ill from food poisoning—and his journey took a startling turn. His meditation practice had prepared him to face death, and now he had the opportunity to test the strength of his training.
Happy Pride month to my queer dharma siblings!

What do you see when you turn out the lights?
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kusulu
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by kusulu »

Queequeg wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:21 pm
boda wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:28 pm
Queequeg wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:39 pm

Love that statue. Saw it in person a few years ago.
Carved by Unkei's son. Amazing.
What’s the little hammer for?
I appears to be a mallet I assume is for striking the bell hanging in front of his chest.

It is a statue of Kuya -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABya
Thanks for this - the statue is truly amazing - his story proved no less so -
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kusulu
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by kusulu »

kusulu wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 7:33 am
Queequeg wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:21 pm
boda wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:28 pm

What’s the little hammer for?
I appears to be a mallet I assume is for striking the bell hanging in front of his chest.

It is a statue of Kuya -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABya
Thanks for this - the statue is truly amazing - his story proved no less so -
Wikipedia doesn't say what the miracles actually were
SilenceMonkey
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by SilenceMonkey »

A friend of mine who became a nun had a huge yard sale... She still worked jobs every now and then because she needed to fly back and forth to India, and she needed to eat. But she got rid of almost everything she owned. This was before the internet.

I know two other guys who lived as bums on the street. One of them would climb onto people's roofs and sleep there for a few days before moving to his next spot. He would do yoga and meditation up there and no one would bother him. The other was just a heroin addict who liked to meditate.

Then there's the case of Ven. Heng Sure and his dharma brother who did a prostration pilgrimage for a few years up the west coast of the US. They had no goal in mind... very zen.

It might be a good idea to meet some people who lived in this way, or at least read about how they did it. I'd imagine it would be very challenging in this world to have nothing...
SilenceMonkey
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by SilenceMonkey »

You could always go to India or Nepal and find a master who will guide you in a cave retreat. You wouldn't have to give up everything all at once, but you could stay in the cave for as long as you need.

Many of these Tibetan masters speak English.
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kusulu
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by kusulu »

Thank you one and all for the thoughtful replies. I've been through the grinder since my last participation here. Long story. Disappointments have pruned a lot of things out of my life. I'm glad to be back here now.

I admit it was a rhetorical question, I don't remember all of why I asked, but the user name Kusulu is a Hindi/Urdu word for 'temple bum' - or a homeless mendicant that hangs out near a given temple.

The deity in the avatar/icon is one i saw in a spontaneous vision, or one like it. Approximately. It also could have been Manjushri, which would make more sense to me.

:anjali:
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Aemilius
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by Aemilius »

Is the word related to sanskrit at all, or does it come from persian/arabic culture?


In sanskrit (and pali) we have:

कुसूल kusūla कुसूल kusûla m. granary; -dhânyaka, a. having plenty of corn in his granaries. (Sanskrit dictionary)

"Kusala is wholesome.
Source: Pali Kanon: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines

'karmically wholesome' or 'profitable', salutary, morally good, (skillful)"

Wisdom Library: Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra:
"Kuśala (कुशल) refers to “that which is good”, according to Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra (chapter 4).—Accordingly, “[Why is the Buddha called Śāstā Devamanuṣyāṇām]—Śāstā means teacher, deva means gods and manuṣyāṇām means men (in the genitive case). The expression thus means ‘Teacher of gods and men’. Why is he called teacher of gods and men? The Buddha shows [gods and men] what should be done and what should not be done, what is good (kuśala) and what is bad (akuśala)."

from https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kushala
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

kusulu wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:23 am How does one go about this?
Are you asking, how does one become a wandering monk?

How many wandering monks do you know, or have ever seen? Maybe in reruns of the 1970s TV show, ‘Kung Fu’? Even in Asia, they are very rare.

If you want to be a monk, it starts in your own mind. Once you establish that in your mind, you don’t need robes or a begging bowl or to wander aimlessly. But you need to study and practice the teachings. Every person whose life is devoted to practice is a monk. Maybe not officially, but in their true attitude, and sometimes even more so than ‘real’ monks.

In what country are you located? Find an authentic Buddhist monastery like the Tibetan one In Woodstock NY and volunteer to work there for a year. Most need volunteers, you’ll get to hang out with monks, and your experience will be authentic and not a TV show.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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kusulu
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Re: The Homeless Mendicant

Post by kusulu »

I found this: "A kusulu is someone who leads a very simple, uncomplicated life and does things easily and without much effort. Similarly, in the resting meditation of a kusulu, we do not go through a lot of effort to do the meditation. It is not examining anything thoroughly, it is not studying; we just rest simply in equipoise just as it is." Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche on explaining this teaching on the mind instructions of the Dzogchen master Khenpo Gangshar

So, I don't know this teacher, but the implication is that a Kusulu doesn't do much of anything, but it's an intentional practice. I really don't know where I located the term initially.
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