Attachment Talks
Upādāna is a Sanskrit and Pali word that means "fuel, material cause, substrate that is the source and means for keeping an active process energized". It is also an important Buddhist concept referring to "attachment, clinging, grasping". It is considered to be the result of taṇhā (craving), and is part of the dukkha (dissatisfaction, suffering, pain) doctrine in Buddhism.
Upādāna is the Sanskrit and Pāli word for "clinging", "attachment" or "grasping", although the literal meaning is "fuel". Upādāna and taṇhā (Skt. tṛṣṇā) are seen as the two primary causes of dukkha ('suffering', unease, "standing unstable"). The cessation of clinging is nirvana, the coming to rest of the grasping mind.
In the Sutta Pitaka, the Buddha states that there are four types of clinging:
sense-pleasure clinging (kamupadana) all views clinging (ditthupadana) rites-and-rituals clinging (silabbatupadana) self-doctrine clinging (attavadupadana).The Buddha once stated that, while other sects might provide an appropriate analysis of the first three types of clinging, he alone fully elucidated clinging to the "self" and its resultant unease.
The Abhidhamma and its commentaries provide the following definitions for these four clinging types:
sense-pleasure clinging: repeated craving of worldly things. view clinging: such as eternalism (e.g., "The world and self are eternal") or nihilism. rites-and-rituals clinging: believing that rites alone could directly lead to liberation, typified in the texts by the rites and rituals of "ox practice" and "dog practice." self-doctrine clinging: self-identification with self-less entities (e.g., illustrated by MN 44, and further discussed in the skandha and anatta articles).According to Buddhaghosa, the above ordering of the four types of clinging is in terms of decreasing grossness, that is, from the most obvious (grossest) type of clinging (sense-pleasure clinging) to the subtlest (self-doctrine clinging).
Buddhaghosa further identifies that these four clinging types are causally interconnected as follows:
This hierarchy of clinging types is represented diagrammatically to the right.
Thus, based on Buddhaghosa's analysis, clinging is more fundamentally an erroneous core belief (self-doctrine clinging) than a habitualized affective experience (sense-pleasure clinging).
In terms of consciously knowable mental experiences, the Abhidhamma identifies sense-pleasure clinging with the mental factor of "greed" (lobha) and the other three types of clinging (self-doctrine, wrong-view and rites-and-rituals clinging) with the mental factor of "wrong view" (ditthi). Thus, experientially, clinging can be known through the Abhidhamma's fourfold definitions of these mental factors as indicated in the following table:
To distinguish craving from clinging, Buddhaghosa uses the following metaphor:
"Craving is the aspiring to an object that one has not yet reached, like a thief's stretching out his hand in the dark; clinging is the grasping of an object that one has reached, like the thief's grasping his objective.... [T]hey are the roots of the suffering due to seeking and guarding."Thus, for instance, when the Buddha talks about the "aggregates of clinging," he is referring to our grasping and guarding physical, mental and conscious experiences that we falsely believe we are or possess.
In the Four Noble Truths, the First Noble Truth identifies clinging (upādāna, in terms of "the aggregates of clinging") as one of the core experiences of suffering. The Second Noble Truth identifies craving (tanha) as the basis for being at unease. In this manner a causal relationship between craving and clinging is found in the Buddha's most fundamental teaching.
In the twelve-linked chain of Dependent Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda, also see Twelve Nidanas), clinging (upādāna) is the ninth causal link:
Upādāna (Clinging) is dependent on Taṇhā (Craving) as a condition before it can exist. "With Craving as condition, Clinging arises". Upādāna (Clinging) is also the prevailing condition for the next condition in the chain, Becoming (Bhava). "With Clinging as condition, Becoming arises."According to Buddhaghosa, it is sense-pleasure clinging that arises from craving and that conditions becoming.
Professor Richard F. Gombrich has pointed out in several publications, and in his Numata Visiting Professor Lectures at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), that the literal meaning of upādāna is "fuel". He uses this to link the term to the Buddha's use of fire as a metaphor. In the so-called Fire Sermon (Āditta-pariyāya) (Vin I, 34-5; SN 35.28) the Buddha tells the bhikkhus that everything is on fire. By everything he tells them he means the five senses plus the mind, their objects, and the operations and feelings they give rise to — i.e. everything means the totality of experience. All these are burning with the fires of greed, hatred and delusion.
In the nidana chain, then, craving creates fuel for continued burning or becoming (bhava). The mind like fire, seeks out more fuel to sustain it, in the case of the mind this is sense experience, hence the emphasis the Buddha places on "guarding the gates of the senses". By not being caught up in the senses (appamāda) we can be liberated from greed, hatred and delusion. This liberation is also expressed using the fire metaphor when it is termed nibbāna (Sanskrit: Nirvāṇa) which means to "go out", or literally to "blow out the flames of defilement". (Regarding the word Nirvāṇa, the verb vā is intransitive so no agent is required.)
Probably by the time the canon was written down (1st Century BCE), and certainly when Buddhaghosa was writing his commentaries (4th Century CE) the sense of the metaphor appears to have been lost, and upādāna comes to mean simply "clinging" as above. By the time of the Mahayana the term fire was dropped altogether and greed, hatred and delusion are known as the "three poisons".
The term Upādāna appears in the sense of "material cause" in ancient Vedic and medieval Hindu texts. For medieval era Vaishnavism scholar Ramanuja, the metaphysical Hindu concept of Brahman (as Vishnu) is the upadana-karana (material cause) of the universe. However, other Hindu traditions such as the Advaita Vedanta disagree and assert alternate theories on the nature of metaphysical Brahman and the universe while using the term upadana in the sense of "substrate, fuel".
More generally, the realist Hindu philosophies such as Samkhya and Nyaya have asserted that Brahman is the Upādāna of the phenomenal world. The philosophies within the Buddhist schools have denied Brahman, asserted impermanence and that the notion of anything real is untenable from a metaphysical sense. The Hindu traditions such as those influenced by Advaita Vedanta have asserted the position that everything (Atman, Brahman, Prakriti) is ultimately one identical reality. The concept Upādāna also appears with other sense of meanings, in Vedanta philosophies, such as "taking in".
Anatta Five Skandhas Detachment (philosophy) Nekkhamma MacGuffin Pratitya-samutpada Twelve Nidanas Bodhi, Bhikku (2000a). A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma: The Abhidhammattha Sangaha of Acariya Anuruddha. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. ISBN 1-928706-02-9. Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000b). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1. Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (2005). In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pāli Canon.Boston: Wisdom Pubs. ISBN 0-86171-491-1. Buddhaghosa, Bhadantācariya (trans. from Pāli by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli) (1999). The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. ISBN 1-928706-00-2. Gombrich, Richard F. (2005). How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-37123-6. Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) Anatta-lakkhana Sutta: The Discourse on the Not-self Characteristic (SN 22.59). Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at Anatta-lakkhana Sutta: The Discourse on the Not-self Characteristic. Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) & Bhikkhu Khantipalo (ed.) (1993). Kukkuravatika Sutta: The Dog-duty Ascetic (MN 57). Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at Kukkuravatika Sutta: The Dog-duty Ascetic. Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) & Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.) (1993). Cula-sihanada Sutta: The Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar (MN 11). Retrieved 2007-11-19 from "Access to Insight" (1994) at Cula-sihanada Sutta: The Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar. Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) & Bhikkhu Bodhi (ed.) (2001). The Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-072-X. Olendzki, Andrew (trans.) (2005). The Healing Medicine of the Dhamma (excerpt) (Miln 5 [verse 335]). Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at The Healing Medicine of the Dhamma. Rhys Davids, Caroline A.F. ([1900], 2003). Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, of the Fourth Century B.C., Being a Translation, now made for the First Time, from the Original Pāli, of the First Book of the Abhidhamma-Piṭaka, entitled Dhamma-Saṅgaṇi (Compendium of States or Phenomena). Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-4702-9. Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available from "U. of Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997a). Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta: Analysis of Dependent Co-arising (SN 12.2). Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta: Analysis of Dependent Co-arising. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life (DN 2). Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1998a). Culavedalla Sutta: The Shorter Set of Questions-and-Answers (MN 44). Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at Culavedalla Sutta: The Shorter Set of Questions-and-Answers. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1998b). Upadana Sutta: Clinging (SN 12.52). Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at Upadana Sutta: Clinging. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1999). Ratha-vinita Sutta: Relay Chariots (MN 24). Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at Ratha-vinita Sutta: Relay Chariots. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (2000). Life isn't just Suffering. Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at Life Isn't Just Suffering. Walshe, Maurice O'Connell (trans.) (1995). The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya. Somerville: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-103-3. Economics in BuddhismTitle | Speaker | |
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Translation of Unknown TextSerial: SR-00183 August 1971 Ceremony, Priest, Hate, Passions, Attachment, Forms |
Aug 1971 City Center |
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Sewing SesshinSerial: SR-00122 Sunday, June 20, 1971 Sesshin, Okesa, Dogen, Attachment, New Year, Freedom, Bodhidharma, Lay, Concentration... |
Jun 20 1971 City Center |
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Freedom from EverythingSerial: SR-00150 Sesshin Lecture, Day 5 Sesshin, Happiness, Demons, Precepts, Perfect Wisdom, Attachment, New Year, zen,... |
Jun 09 1971 City Center |
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Calmness of your MindSerial: SR-00079 Saturday Morning, February 13, 1971 Sesshin, Pain, New Year, Suffering, confusion, Oneness, Beginners, Community,... |
Feb 13 1971 City Center |
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Ekō Lecture 3Serial: SR-00228 The Second Morning Eko, Part 2 of 3 [This is the third in a series of six lectures by Suzuki on the four ekos chanted... Eko, Chanting, Concentration, Karma, Attachment, Mindfulness, Hindrances, Pain, Death... |
Jul 11 1970 Tassajara |
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Do Not Pass Your Days and Nights in VainSerial: SR-00221 Sandokai Lecture XIII: “Don't Spend Your Time in Vain” [This lecture is concerned with the following lines of the Sandokai:... Branching Streams, Sandokai, Sixth Patriarch, Dogen, difficulty, sitting, zen,... |
Jul 06 1970 Tassajara |
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Things-As-It-IsSerial: SR-00048 Sandokai Lecture I [This is the first in a series of lectures on the Sandokai (Chin. Cantong qi or Tisan-tiung-chii), a... Branching Streams, Sandokai, Big Mind, Discrimination, Freedom, Oneness, Bell,... |
May 27 1970 Tassajara |
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We Try To Control Or Restrict Our ActivitySerial: SR-00044 Tuesday Evening, May 5, 1970 Culture, Posture, Evil, difficulty, Attachment, zen, Pain, American, reality, Freedom... |
May 05 1970 City Center |
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The Zen of Going to the Rest RoomUmmon, Tangaryo, Culture, Monastic Practice, Suffering, American, Don't Know... |
Mar 29 1970 City Center |
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Shosan CeremonySerial: SF-05964 Friday, December 5, 1969 Previously described as intranscribable - now clearer File name: 69-12-05N: untitled level low. [Verbatim transcript not... Ceremony, Shosan, Sixth Patriarch, Big Mind, Letting Go, Separation, Attachment,... |
Dec 05 1969 Tassajara |
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Question and AnswerQuestion-and-Answer, Buddha Nature, Suffering, Separation, Pain, American, Anger,... |
Aug 25 1969 Tassajara |
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OLD - Question and AnswerSerial: SR-00134 This is another version of 00083, which had been incorrectly dated. This is an incomplete version although the audio has been improved. Question-and-Answer, Buddha Nature, Attachment, Suffering, American, Separation,... |
Aug 25 1969 Tassajara |
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Twelve Links of CausationSerial: SR-00135 Twelve Links Of Causation English Japanese Sanskrit... Consciousness, Suffering, causation, Discrimination, Emptiness, Fasting, Passions,... |
Aug 23 1969 Tassajara |
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OLD - Twelve Links of CausationSerial: SF-05089A Continuation of previous lecture on 12 links of causation - Aug 23 - both sides - 3 3/4 - on cassette - Dan Gourley #5 causation, Discrimination, Faith, Enemies, Attachment |
Aug 23 1969 Tassajara |
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OLD - To Actually Practice SelflessnessSerial: SF-06089B August sesshin 1969 Suzuki Roshi Side A: Wed 2 lectures - transcribed - copied ZC Fox, Precepts, Freedom, Funeral, Non-discrimination, Attachment, Continuous Practice... |
Aug 06 1969 Sokoji |
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OLD - To Actually Practice SelflessnessSerial: SF-05348A August Sesshin 1969 Suzuki Roshi Wednesday lecture copy - duplicate Fox, Precepts, Freedom, Funeral, Non-discrimination, Attachment, Continuous Practice... |
Aug 06 1969 Sokoji |
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OLD - To Actually Practice SelflessnessSerial: SF-05873 Copy Master - Suzuki Roshi August sesshin 1969 Wednesday (side A of original tape) - duplicate Freedom, Fox, Precepts, Funeral, Continuous Practice, Discrimination, Liberation,... |
Aug 06 1969 Sokoji |
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The First TeachingSerial: SR-00158 Teaching of impermanence, everything changing; also there is selflessness, suffering and nirvana. The sufferings of birth, death, sickness and old age. Causes of suffering,... Suffering, Ego, Impermanence, Birth-and-Death, Suffering, Wisdom, Truth, Attachment,... |
Aug 02 1969 Tassajara |
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OLD - The First TeachingSerial: SF-05302B Aug 2 lecture beginning - duplicate Faith, New Year, Politics, Attachment, Evil, Karma, Emptiness |
Aug 02 1969 Tassajara |
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OLD - Form and Emptiness IISerial: SF-05228B Protection master: made from cassette: "July 5th (1969) Roshi on form and emptiness (ZMC)" "From psychological point of view" and some discussion of Chinese medicine. Time: 60... Emptiness, Enemies, Duality, Attachment, Hate |
Jul 05 1969 Tassajara |
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How should we establish our system of practice in San FranciscoSerial: SR-00019 Tuesday Evening, June 17, 1969 Just sit, and follow the teacher's instruction. Story of four kinds of horse. Humans go to the moon, but don't... Rinzai, Soto Zen, Dogen, Zazen, New Year, Concentration, Big Mind, Priest, Pain,... |
Jun 17 1969 Sokoji |
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Sun-Faced Buddha, Moon-Faced BuddhaSerial: SR-00009 Sunday, March 9, 1969 Koan story of sun-faced buddha, moon-faced buddha. Practicing while well or while sick. Accepting what we don't like.... Baso, Koan, Blue Cliff Record, Attachment, Composure, Discrimination, difficulty,... |
Mar 09 1969 Sokoji |
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Lotus Sutra, Lecture No. II-2Serial: SR-00233 Monday Morning, October 21, 1968 Lotus Sutra, Lotus Sutra, Sutra, Doubt, Precepts, Separation, Offering, Mahayana,... |
Oct 21 1968 Series 2, Talk 2 Tassajara |
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Lotus Sutra, Lecture No. II-4Serial: SR-00141 Fall 1968 Lotus Sutra, Mahayana, Vow, Attachment, Intention, Dragons, Continuous Practice,... |
Oct 1968 C Tassajara |
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OLD - Lotus Sutra, Lecture No. II-4Serial: 68-10-00-C Fall 1968 Vow, Mahayana, Truth, Attachment, Intention, Continuous Practice, Evil, lecture,... |
Oct 01 1968 Series 2, Talk 4 Tassajara |
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Lotus Sutra, Lecture No. II-4Serial: SF-05255 Fall 1968 Lotus Sutra, Mahayana, Passions, Attachment, Vow |
Oct 1968 Series 2, Talk 4 Tassajara |
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The Ten Powers Of A BodhisattvaSerial: SF-05106 Sunday Morning, August 25, 1968 Bodhisattva, Dogen, Rinzai, Soto Zen, Emptiness, Five Ranks, Attachment, Posture,... |
Aug 25 1968 Sokoji |
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Shosan CeremonySerial: SF-05143B SR023 Track 1 to 1/3 of other side Suzuki Roshi Question and Answer ceremony - copied 2 tapes [there are also photographs of hand-written notes on missing portions of Q&A... Sesshin, Shosan, Emptiness, Attachment, Hate, Faith, Interview, Enemies, Evil, Doubt... |
Apr 23 1968 B Tassajara |
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OLD - Shōsan CeremonySerial: 68-04-23-B Tuesday Evening, April 23, 1968, Lecture B Sesshin, Shosan, Emptiness, Faith, Attachment, Hate, Forms, sitting, Tassajara Zen... |
Apr 23 1968 B Tassajara |
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OLD - Shosan CeremonySerial: SF-05330 Copy - tape 1 of 2 Suzuki Roshi Q&A ceremony - no date (Spring '68?) - copy of o/r 68-04-23 - duplicate Attachment, Hate, Faith, Enemies, Bell, Evil, Vow, Emptiness |
Apr 23 1968 B Tassajara |
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Good and Bad FeelingSerial: SF-05141-A Tuesday, December 5, 1967 Sesshin, Attachment, Discrimination, Separation, Liberation, Freedom, Doubt, Faith... |
Dec 05 1967 A Tassajara |
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Putting Power In Your HaraSerial: SF-05133-A Afternoon Sesshin Lecture Sesshin, Dogen, Fukanzazengi, Buddha Mind, Big Mind, Separation, New Year,... |
Dec 01 1967 A Tassajara |
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IgnoranceSerial: SF-05131-A SR 014 - On this tape: lectures A and B and also first part of D. This is to be known as the A-B lecture tape or #1 ZMC (has been transcribed) Track 1 Roshi's lecture A 9... Prajna Paramita, Attachment, Freedom, training, Daily Life, Diversity, confusion,... |
Sep 08 1967 Tassajara |
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OLD -IgnoranceSerial: SF-05370 SR-67-09-08 (-B-1 - is crossed out) - G (start) (finish) Freedom, training, Daily Life, Attachment, Fasting, Hate, Chanting, confusion, Faith... |
Sep 08 1967 Tassajara |
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OLD - IgnoranceSerial: SF-05131A SR 014 - On this tape: lectures A and B and also first part of D. This is to be known as the A-B lecture tape or #1 ZMC (has been transcribed) Track 1 Roshi's lecture B -... Giving-and-Taking, Attachment, Freedom, training, Hindrances, Chanting, Evil,... |
Sep 08 1967 Tassajara |
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OLD - Mind Itself Is BuddhaSerial: SR-00087 Friday, August 19, 1966 --------------------------- Explanation of fascicle Shobogenzo Sokushin Ze... Sesshin, Dogen, Shobogenzo, Blue Cliff Record, Silence, Instruction, Anger,... |
Aug 19 1966 C Sokoji |
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OLD - Shobogenzo Sokushin Ze ButsuSerial: SR-00096 66-08-19B Attachment, Duality, Karma, lecture, Enemies, Freedom |
Aug 19 1966 B Sokoji |
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OLD - Don't Be Attached To Your AttainmentSerial: 66-08-19-B Sesshin Lecture: Friday Morning during Zazen, Lecture B Sesshin, Zazen, Attachment, lecture |
Aug 19 1966 B Sokoji |
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This Fascicle of ShobogenzoSerial: SF-05097-F Sesshin Lecture 1966 Tape #2 Track 2: Suzuki 1pm lecture Friday Sesshin, Dogen, Shobogenzo, Blue Cliff Record, Attachment, Instruction, Freedom,... |
Aug 19 1966 C Sokoji |
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Don't Be Attached To Your AttainmentSerial: SF-05097-H Sesshin Lecture 1966 Tape #2 Track 4 Friday lecture by Suzuki during morning zazen Friday Sesshin, Instruction, Attachment |
Aug 19 1966 B Sokoji |
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ShobogenzoSerial: SF-05097-D Sesshin Lecture 1966 Tape #2 Sesshin, Sixth Patriarch, Dogen, Subject-and-Object, Attachment, Buddha Nature,... |
Aug 18 1966 C Sokoji |
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OLD - The Second Paragraph of the Genjo KoanSerial: SR-00196 Monday, August 15, 1966 Sesshin, Genjokoan, Dogen, Consciousness, Attachment, Instruction, Doubt, reality,... |
Aug 15 1966 A Sokoji |
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Think Everything OutSerial: SF-05093-C Monday, August 15, 1966, Lecture C Sesshin, causation, Attachment, Hate, Intuition, Concentration, Evil, Instruction,... |
Aug 15 1966 C Sokoji |
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Genjo KoanSerial: SF-05111C This is the bulk of the talk attributed to this date. It sounds distinct from the earlier fragment, and the date may not be accurate, though the subject is appropriate for the... Sesshin, Attachment, Instruction, Freedom, Doubt |
Aug 15 1966 C Sokoji |
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Genjo-Koan: Paragraphs 1–11Serial: SF-05098-D Sunday morning lecture by Suzuki Roshi Other notes on box: Dogen, Genjokoan, Family Practice, Observe, Doubt, Discrimination, Attachment, Hate,... |
Jun 19 1966 A Sokoji |
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Sesshin Lecture: Genjo-Koan, Paragraphs 1–2Serial: SF-05096-B May Sesshin (25 26 added later) 1 or 6pm lecture plus lecture the following morning. Sesshin, Dogen, Genjokoan, Precepts, Mahayana, Freedom, Observe, Balance, Attachment... |
May 26 1966 Sokoji |
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The Way-Seeking MindSerial: SF-05116-C March sesshin, only 1pm lecture. Evening lecture goofed up during recording. Dogen, Forgiveness, Addiction, Greed, Interview, Attachment, Conversation, Lay... |
Mar 26 1966 A Sokoji |
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Shushōgi, Section 1Serial: SF-05095-B Sesshin Lecture: SHUSHOGI, Section 1 Tape operator's comments and bells at beginning of tape, left... Sesshin, Dogen, Shushogi, Attachment, Balance |
Mar 13 1966 B Sokoji |
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Genjō Kōan, 1–3Serial: SF-05095-C Sesshin Lecture: Genjo-Koan, Paragraphs 1–3 Sesshin, Dogen, Genjokoan, Duality, Faith, Buddha Nature, Attachment, Discrimination... |
Mar 13 1966 A Sokoji |