Dragons in Buddhism: The Zen Tale of the True Dragon; Guanyin and the Dragon King's son
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2023
- What would you do, if one morning you woke up to find a real dragon coiled by your bed, its scales and teeth glittering in the moonlight? Would you scream in terror, or embrace the opportunity to learn? In this feature, we explore why Dragons remain important in most traditions of Buddhism, and why they are associated with Shakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara Guan Yin and Tara. Come along with us now, into the very real world of Buddhist dragons!
#dragons #guanyin #kuanyin #Buddhism #zen #chan
In Zen or Chan Buddhism, the Tale of the True Dragon is used by teachers to illustrate the importance of true practice over entirely intellectual study.
In the Buddhist zen story of the True Dragon, a “real” dragon decides to visit one of his Buddhist admirers:
There was a monk who loved dragons. He studied dragon lore and decorated his room with paintings and statues of dragons. He would talk on and on about dragons to anyone who would listen.
One day a dragon heard about him and thought, how lovely that this man appreciates us. It would surely make him happy to meet a true dragon.
The kindly dragon flew to the monk's room and went inside, to find him asleep. The monk woke up and saw the dragon coiled by his bed, its scales and teeth glittering in the moonlight.
Before the dragon could introduce himself, the monk screamed in terror, terrified of that which he thought he loved and understood. The dragon flew away, never to return.
This story is meant to illustrate how it is important to have a teacher, take refuge and - more importantly - to practice, not simply to hang up pictures and study sutra. In the story the monk told everyone he loved dragons, put up pictures, and said he was an expert. Then, when the True Dragon appeared, he didn't understand. He panicked and scared off the friendly dragon.
He didn't understand that Buddhism is meant to be practiced, rather than reduced to form, theory and intellectual comprehension. It is more important to meet the Dharma through practice, than to philosophize and tell stories. So, if a dragon ever appears in your bedroom, remember to say Hi. Don't scream and run away.
Why was a Buddhist monk obsessed with dragons? In Buddhism, dragons are important symbols and appear everywhere. They are associated with Amitabha, Guanyin or Avalokiteshvara, and the entire Lotus family. Dragons are forces of nature in Buddhism. They actually appear in Mahayana Sutra - for example when Shakyamuni Buddha taught the dragon king.
There are many charming stories of Guan Yin Avalokiteshvara and dragons, most with lessons in compassion, most notable the story of Longnu and Sudhana (a.k.a. Dragon Girl and Shan Tsai) who appear in the Lotus Sutra in Chapter 12.
Many years after Shan Tsai became a disciple of Guan Yin, a distressing event happened in the South Sea. The son of the Dragon King was caught by a fisherman while taking the form of a fish. Being stuck on land, he was unable to transform back into his dragon form. His father, despite being a mighty Dragon King, was unable to do anything while his son was on land. Distressed, the son called out to all of Heaven and Earth.
Hearing this cry, Guan Yin quickly sent Shan Tsai to recover the fish. Shan Tsai begged the fish seller to spare the life of the fish. The crowd, now angry at someone so daring, was about to chase him away from the fish when Guan Yin projected her voice from far away, saying
“A life should definitely belong to one who tries to save it, not one who tries to take it."
The crowd realizing their shameful actions and desire, dispersed. Shan Tsai brought the fish back to Guan Yin, who promptly returned it to the sea. There the fish transformed back to a dragon and returned home.
As a reward for Guan Yin’s help saving his son, the Dragon King sent his daughter, a girl called Lung Nue (“dragon girl”), to present to Guan Yin the ‘Pearl of Light’. The ‘Pearl of Light’ was a precious jewel owned by the Dragon King that constantly shone. Lung Nue, overwhelmed by the presence of Guan Yin, asked to be her disciple so that she might study the Buddha Dharma.
What is the significance of the dragon, really? Why is dragon lore a major part of Buddhism.
COMMENTS and COMMUNITY: Please be respectful in your comments, guided by kindness and Bodhichitta. We do appreciate corrections, however, we will not approve comments with corrections that are unsupported. If you wish to state "this is not correct" (bearing in mind it may be correct in one tradition and not in another) then it is important to INCLUDE YOUR CITATION (Which teacher or Sutra are you quoting.) Simply saying "This isn't true" is not a publishable comment. Why isn't it true? Or why do you disagree? We will also not approve comments with disparaging comments, regardless of the context. We will not approve any political comments, as we strive for a positive, spiritual community. Thank you for understanding! - Zábava
I’ve always had connection with dragons and had dragon dreams ever since I was a child.
The arising of the kundalini serpent mature into a dragon on the way to final liberation. May you all achieve liberation through the inner dragon path of awakening.
😮 dragons r my protectors my Angel's my warriors!!@🙏🙏🙏
Hello there! I'd like to suggest using more hashtags like #Buddha, #Chenrezig, #Buddhism, #Dharma, #Bodhisattva, or #Avalokiteshvara, as well as #Manjushri and #Vajrapani, and more. Incorporating these hashtags could greatly benefit your channel's visibility and engagement with the Buddhist community.
Thanks for the suggestion! Thanks for watching.🙏
The generic Chinese word for dragon is "lóng (龍)," which is used to refer to nāgas, a type of serpentine spirit that forms a major part of the Buddhist pantheon. Nāgas and dragons are one and the same.
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A video on cakrasamvara and his different forms and how to worship him without empowerment please…
Thanks for the request. 🙏🙏🙏
Om ah hum 🤍❤️💙💚💛💎💎💎🪔🪔🪔📿📿📿🙏🙏🙏🙇♂️🙇♂️🙇♂️
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Good afternoon pray pray pray thank you 🙏🙏🙏🙏💟💟💟💟
Good afternoon and many prayers. 🙏🙏🙏
beautiful story
Thank you! 🙂 🙏🙏🙏
I always feel spiritual when I see stories and pictures of dragons I think they are Godley connection I love them my grand son practise Kung Fu and he does the dragon 🐉🐲 so amazing I know they are a spiritual thing and I love them .Thank you for explaining all this love from Canada 🇨🇦🙏🌺🐉🐲🐉🙏🌺
yes, and in the Lotus Sutra, it was the Dragon Kings daughter who attained enlightenment upon her first hearing of the Sutra and when challenged by the male monks who couldn't accept a girl (woman) achieving enlightenment, then turned herself into a man and repeated the act. LOL.. and then went back to being a girl... The Lotus Sutra was the last sutra preached by Shakyamuni on his death bed and is said to assign all other sutras to the category of "provisional" teachings meant to lead Buddhist thought to the final teaching, the supreme Lotus Sutra...
Very good story 👍🏾 Thanks for sharing 🙏🏽 😀
Thanks for watching! 🙏🙏🙏
They are real, beautiful, wise and absolutelly... incredible ❤ There's something in Dragons, especially the Asian Dragons that just feels my heart with joy ❤
wow
❤
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If a dragon appeared in your room you live in an extremely holy place and you are very advanced spiritually in Dharma. None of us are that advanced.
Once a shaman taught me how to astral project while he played the drum and I spoke to a dragon! I think It was a shamanic journey to the lower world, I don't remember if there's a step missing. They seem to live in the Non-Ordinary Reality and I've met with them many times.
I don't practice shamanism anymore since I've taken refuge vows but read The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner if curious.
Speak for yourself 😂
This is a great story and thank you for telling it to us. For me, it's a story about our human expectations and the fact that we can get lost in these imaginations. Also about the fact that we need to be prepared to make our dreams come true. Not everyone is able to cope with the fact that their dream has come true... Some will run away because they would rather dream about it than experience it. Buddhism is about processing the experience. If we do not experience it because we are too engaged in dreaming, in theory, we may miss the opportunity for the fulfillment. And that would be a big loss.
Namo Buddhaya 🙏🙏❤️❤️
🐲🐉🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
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Dragon in bed...red one or white?
I love them both, fuel of my life
So often visiting in forms
that leave my body limp and warm
Gone are the days when freely given
a dragon's heart curved woman's linen
Sometimes a body leaves this world
to ride a form whose depth runs bold
Along the rivers of my veins
I invite all dragons to reign
over my hands as I write this
account of the dragons I've missed
Your scales of justice weave through time
coiling the colours of my rhymes
Dragon my love, come back to earth
out of the waters of rebirth
Bring down the knowledge we've forgotten
transform us back into our hope's end
Help us to shift out of this puddle
where religious tears keep preaching dogma
Noble red dragon, I invite you
to ride across the sky of white/blue
Swing your tail's end into my mouth
so I may taste your love of life
I've not forgotten how to stare
into your face, fiery fanged glare
I do not fear your form or colour
give me a chance to be your brother
Swim down to where I'm softly calling
I love your every form of crawling
Be it a snake or poison worm
all life is sacred when it burns
Though dragon slayers call you devil
I rise to greet you at all levels
Dragon of my heart, lover swinging
with scales of justice jewel-like gleaming
I ask you to assist this world
unravel its chaotic curls
Lend me your ear, for I will listen
wisdom of fire I have been missing
I call to you from every corner
of consonants that stand to order
the lines I speak in virtual tongue
Come down to meet me where I run
4 Noble truth is the core...
A segment from 'Saved by the Light of the Buddha Within'...
My new understandings of what many call 'God -The Holy Spirit' - resulting from some of the extraordinary ongoing after-effects relating to my NDE...
Myoho-Renge-Kyo represents the identity of what some scientists are now referring to as the unified field of consciousnesses. In other words, it’s the essence of all existence and non-existence - the ultimate creative force behind planets, stars, nebulae, people, animals, trees, fish, birds, and all phenomena, manifest or latent. All matter and intelligence are simply waves or ripples manifesting to and from this core source. Consciousness (enlightenment) is itself the actual creator of everything that exists now, ever existed in the past, or will exist in the future - right down to the minutest particles of dust - each being an individual ripple or wave.
The big difference between chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and most other conventional prayers is that instead of depending on a ‘middleman’ to connect us to our state of inner enlightenment, we’re able to do it ourselves. That’s because chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo allows us to tap directly into our enlightened state by way of this self-produced sound vibration. ‘Who or What Is God?’ If we compare the concept of God being a separate entity that is forever watching down on us, to the teachings of Nichiren, it makes more sense to me that the true omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of what most people perceive to be God, is the fantastic state of enlightenment that exists within each of us. Some say that God is an entity that’s beyond physical matter - I think that the vast amount of information continuously being conveyed via electromagnetic waves in today’s world gives us proof of how an invisible state of God could indeed exist.
For example, it’s now widely known that specific data relayed by way of electromagnetic waves has the potential to help bring about extraordinary and powerful effects - including an instant global awareness of something or a mass emotional reaction. It’s also common knowledge that these invisible waves can easily be used to detonate a bomb or to enable NASA to control the movements of a robot as far away as the Moon or Mars - none of which is possible without a receiver to decode the information that’s being transmitted. Without the receiver, the data would remain impotent. In a very similar way, we need to have our own ‘receiver’ switched on so that we can activate a clear and precise understanding of our own life, all other life and what everything else in existence is.
Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo each day helps us to achieve this because it allows us to reach the core of our enlightenment and keep it switched on. That’s because Myoho-Renge-Kyo represents the identity of what scientists now refer to as the unified field of consciousnesses. To break it down - Myoho represents the Law of manifestation and latency (Nature) and consists of two alternating states. For example, the state of Myo is where everything in life that’s not obvious to us exists - including our stored memories when we’re not thinking about them - our hidden potential and inner emotions whenever they’re dormant - our desires, our fears, our wisdom, happiness, karma - and more importantly, our enlightenment.
The other state, ho, is where everything in Life exists whenever it becomes evident to us, such as when a thought pops up from within our memory - whenever we experience or express our emotions - or whenever a good or bad cause manifests as an effect from our karma. When anything becomes apparent, it merely means that it’s come out of the state of Myo (dormancy/latency) and into a state of ho (manifestation). It’s the difference between consciousness and unconsciousness, being awake or asleep, or knowing and not knowing.
The second law - Renge - Ren meaning cause and ge meaning effect, governs and controls the functions of Myoho - these two laws of Myoho and Renge, not only function together simultaneously but also underlies all spiritual and physical existence.
The final and third part of the tri-combination - Kyo, is the Law that allows Myoho to integrate with Renge - or vice versa. It’s the great, invisible thread of energy that fuses and connects all Life and matter - as well as the past, present and future. It’s also sometimes termed the Universal Law of Communication - perhaps it could even be compared with the string theory that many scientists now suspect exists.
Just as the cells in our body, our thoughts, feelings and everything else is continually fluctuating within us - all that exists in the world around us and beyond is also in a constant state of flux - constantly controlled by these three fundamental laws. In fact, more things are going back and forth between the two states of Myo and ho in a single moment than it would ever be possible to calculate or describe. And it doesn’t matter how big or small, famous or trivial anything or anyone may appear to be, everything that’s ever existed in the past, exists now or will exist in the future, exists only because of the workings of the Laws ‘Myoho-Renge-Kyo’ - the basis of the four fundamental forces, and if they didn’t function, neither we nor anything else could go on existing. That’s because all forms of existence, including the seasons, day, night, birth, death and so on, are moving forward in an ongoing flow of continuation - rhythmically reverting back and forth between the two fundamental states of Myo and ho in absolute accordance with Renge - and by way of Kyo. Even stars are dying and being reborn under the workings of what the combination ‘Myoho-Renge-Kyo’ represents. Nam, or Namu - which mean the same thing, are vibrational passwords or keys that allow us to reach deep into our life and fuse with or become one with ‘Myoho-Renge-Kyo’.
On a more personal level, nothing ever happens by chance or coincidence, it’s the causes that we’ve made in our past, or are presently making, that determine how these laws function uniquely in each of our lives - as well as the environment from moment to moment. By facing east, in harmony with the direction that the Earth is spinning, and chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo for a minimum of, let’s say, ten minutes daily to start with, any of us can experience actual proof of its positive effects in our lives - even if it only makes us feel good on the inside, there will be a definite positive effect. That’s because we’re able to pierce through the thickest layers of our karma and activate our inherent Buddha Nature (our enlightened state). By so doing, we’re then able to bring forth the wisdom and good fortune that we need to challenge, overcome and change our adverse circumstances - turn them into positive ones - or manifest and gain even greater fulfilment in our daily lives from our accumulated good karma. This also allows us to bring forth the wisdom that can free us from the ignorance and stupidity that’s preventing us from accepting and being proud of the person that we indeed are - regardless of our race, colour, gender or sexuality. We’re also able to see and understand our circumstances and the environment far more clearly, as well as attract and connect with any needed external beneficial forces and situations. As I’ve already mentioned, everything is subject to the law of Cause and Effect - the ‘actual-proof-strength’ resulting from chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo always depends on our determination, sincerity and dedication.
For example, the levels of difference could be compared to making a sound on a piano, creating a melody, producing a great song, and so on. Something else that’s very important to always respect and acknowledge is that the Law (or if you prefer God) is in everyone and everything.
NB: There are frightening and disturbing sounds, and there are tranquil and relaxing sounds. It’s the emotional result of any noise or sound that can trigger off a mood or even instantly change one. When chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo each day, we are producing a sound vibration that’s the password to our true inner-self - this soon becomes apparent when you start reassessing your views on various things - such as your fears and desires etc. The best way to get the desired result when chanting is not to view things conventionally - rather than reaching out to an external source, we need to reach into our own lives and bring our needs and desires to fruition from within - including the good fortune and strength to achieve any help that we may need. Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo also reaches out externally and draws us towards, or draws towards us, what we need to make us happy from our environment. For example, it helps us to be in the right place at the right time - to make better choices and decisions and so forth. We need to think of it as a seed within us that we’re watering and bringing sunshine to for it to grow, blossom and bring forth fruit or flowers. It’s also important to understand that everything we need in life, including the answer to every question and the potential to achieve every dream, already exists within us.
I had dream of huge python which seemed to got released from it's owner
Although we find Dragons in both the Occident and in the Orient, the different perception of dragons in western and far eastern cultures: in fact diametrical opposite perceptions (of dragons being benign in the far East and of dragons being horrible in the west) are a very strong argument against this nebolous theory of a common"group consciousness" pervading throughout the world.
Dr 🐲🐾
Thanks, and it's a good observation. Adding to that thought, if the perception in one culture is different from another on a common idea, this could be cultural conditioning, which filters that universal idea. Thanks again!
Good afternoon
Purest mind, heart, eyes and ear, prevent though
What is the goodness symbol of the dragon
1) a good heart will be blessing for ourself which we can control wisdomly in any of way of life segment
That is the fenghsui of self serving
2) A Good and wisdom mind, teach people how to self control to way of life, that is a fenghsui to people, means our syllibus is a blessing, that is the fenghsui
3) a wisdom mind can teach the self develop syklbus in objective, people can increase wisdom and decrease judgement, the wisdom will build a consiousness development for people, that is the fengshui
4) medication syklbus and knowledgeable can contribute to others people as advises and caring, that is the fengshui
5) our selves is a good blessing, by consistently, we as self, can contribute a wisdom way of life,
Key point
Vision is not a though, because though is emotion and feelings judgement
No though appear vision, must know wheither is is though or not
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What is the wrong with the Monk? He scared and disappointed the dragon who could be his protector.
I know, right? 😀Sad for the monk, but a profound lesson:-) Thanks for watching🙏