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SWORD OF FUDO

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Fudō Myō-ō, in Japanese Buddhist mythology, the fierce form of the Buddha Vairocana

A live sword of Fudo — who has it?
We often hear that just reading and intellectualizing teachings are not enough, we have to practice and embody them. Only then we can see if they work and only then we can see a change. But often we end up getting lost in written teachings, books and most importantly, our minds. We struggle so much to come out of it. Why? Is it just because it is hard to practice? Or are we not consistent and diligent? Or there is something else? Something that is so subtle that we don’t even realize it. because it is engraved in us, due to our thinking mind, our ego.

Let’s see how. It is much easier to read and talk about Gita, Buddhist teachings, quotes, etc. Because, all these books are dead,  the Buddha, Krishna, Jesus in them are dead! There is none here live with a sword in their hands to kill us. No risk of any death of our false ego. Soaked in fear, worries, anger and jealousy. Everything there is very safe and easy. In fact we can inflate our thinking ego-mind more and more by reading them. Have you wondered how come, when we read a teaching from a book ourselves, it affects differently, but when we hear same thing from the mouth of someone else it’s like piercing sword?

When we start to practice and try to embody teachings, we begin to come face to face with a living Buddha, who can be our teacher, standing with a sword in his or her hand ready to kill. And we just want to run away because it’s scary. Standing in front of Krishna or Buddha is a totally different smile emoticon. Because if we do he is ready to kill us immediately, no way of any rescue. In fact soon we realize that external Buddha is just an illusion, it’s our imagination.

We are actually afraid to face our fear, worries, anger, which is really our own neurotic mind. So, the sword of Fudo is always here, it is always in our own hands and nowhere else. But we have to keep practicing diligently and by keeping true to our way, by being honest to ourselves.


Featured image by lovelyheewon. Fudō Myō-ō statue from Wikipedia.



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