Meeting your self

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

Yesterday I had the honor of visiting a Zen Center in El Paso Texas and there met a young Zen Teacher from Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas. She teaches from a different Zen tradition than I am from and so it was interesting to learn from her. Her tradition integrates Rinzai and Soto schools. It is called Sanbo Kyodan, and was transmitted by Yamada Koun-roshi, the same teacher as taught one of my personal heros Robert Aitken-roshi.

We sat in stillness for several periods beginning at 8:00 AM. Then broke for a short work meditation (samu) period. As we sat again, Rev. Valerie began a wonderful Tiesho regarding one of the koans springing off the poems contained in the Platform Sutra. This is Case 23, "Neither Good Nor Evil" from the Gateless Barrier. This koan invites us to begin to see the power of Right Effort as we discover what Ven. Ananda discovered over 2600 years ago: just stop struggling.

There are so many "gates" to the opening of our eyes. But they appear only to those who come to them through effort and sincerity. It is rather like learning to paint or take excellent photographs or ride a bicycle. We must practice with right effort, learning, integrating, tilling the soil until that single moment when, a crack of sound, a glimmer of light, a faint smell, that "something" happens which opens our eyes.

I invite each of you to develop your practice in this way: study. Study yourself and your world. Learn. Work hard in the middle of it and in the process, be open and willing to see.

Be well.

[Zen] Unity in spite of differences.

Good afternoon All,

This message was posted to the Zen Forum at Yahoogroups by my friend Al. I wanted to share it with you because I believe he hits the nail right on the head. When did it become cool to be so mean, rigid, and unwilling to listen to a diffeent point of view?

My wife and I chanced upon a few minutes of Jerry Springer the other day. My goodness. And the "discussion" by the t.v. news talking heads isn't any better.

I hope we can dig our way our of this craziness.

Be well.

Al <actionheroes@earthlink.net> wrote:

To: <Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com>
From: "Al" <actionheroes@earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 08:32:16 -0500
Subject: [Zen] Unity in spite of differences.

This PETA & Cat Zen discussion has really illustrated something to me. It
all started with news about a guy who tried to kill a rat and it burned down
his house.

It has continued with some interesting information, but also a lot of folks
demonstrating deep feelings or hardened attitudes and opinions about cats,
dogs, PETA, and various other issues.

Some person joined to state that she was going to be banned because of her
love for animals, and then she quit (banned herself?). Are so many people
nuts?

Then this morning I was listening to the radio, and Michael Medved came on
to push some book he wrote about how he used to be a volunteer for Bobby
Kennedy & George McGovern and then became a "Reagan Republican." Medved then
went on to ridicule and lambaste liberals, Democrats, etc.

What I realized is that people no longer respect each other. There is no
respect for ideas or other people. We should all be able to have a
light-hearted discussion about cats, dogs, or politics without hurting each
others' sensibilities. But nowadays, there seems to be an nasty attitude
that permeates all discussions. That smug anti-intellectual attitude is that
there is only one right answer for any question, and that anyone who
proposes a different opinion is either stupid, deluded, or anti-American,
anti-British, subversive, mentally unbalanced, "has issues" or is somehow
incapable of intelligent thought.

This smug, snide, and superficial attitude is propagated by Rush Limbaugh,
O'Reilly, and every so-called Conservative radio host I have heard.
Unfortunately, what passes for Liberal radio is just as bad. I have heard
Randi Rhodes and that guy who used to be a comedian on Saturday Night Live,
and they exude the kind of obnoxious smugness that makes people want to
throw up.

Anyhow, I guess I can't change anything about the way civilization is
de-evolving. Back in the era of Enlightenment (the 1700s); people published
some incredible books and had some incredible debates filled with hope and
ideas that were radically different, and debate flourished.

People can have totally different opinions and still be friends, meet for
lunch, go to the park and have a picnic, or go to the movies together. We
should not seek to associate only with clones of each other.

Moving Practice

Good Morning Everyone,

There is Zen of Stillness and there is Zen of Movement. In the Zendo we practice both: zazen and kinhin. There is a reason for this. We talk so much about the ideas of Zen. We talk about the paramitas, the precepts, sitting zazen, etc. In spite of all the words, Zen is not about them. The talk is about walking the walk. In this case, the walk is literal.

Today is the last day of my modified training schedule which includes a longish run/walk. Also today I will work my legs with weights. Beginning Monday morning my workouts will change, upping the volume to several sets of heavy weight Monday through Friday each day targeting a major muscle group: chest/back, arms/shoulders, legs, chest/back, arms/shoulders. I will do a short treadmill run following each of those workouts and on Tuesdays and Thursdays go outside for a longer run. Saturday will be rest and Sunday will be my Long Slow Distance run day.

Daily hard and vigorous exercise is a good Zen practice. We enter this practice with an open mind, accepting of our body and its limitations, as well as its need to be stressed. We were built to move. Our muscles and cardiovascular system demands it; our digestive system works better with it; and our central nervous system has an opportunity to integrate with our total body.

It is challenging for us to begin and stay with this practice. We find all sort of reasons not to do it: time, pain, lack of inclination, ideology, fear. The same reasons we use not to sit zazen. Or do other practices which will nurture both our bodies and the planet.

Let me encourage each of you to begin a moving practice today. Walk, bike, lift, play: it really doesn't matter. Just do this practice with right concentration and right effort. Being mindful in each movement we increase our awareness of, and integration with, our mind and body. As we progress we will feel stronger, healthier, and more confident.

Be well.

Awake?

With palms together,

When we open our eyes in the morning and get out of bed, we are not necessarily awake. We might be thinking of what we have to get done this morning or what we must do this afternoon or this evening. We might be feeling a bit tired or grumpy or our muscles might need a stretch. We might smell the coffee in the air or the car exhaust as we leave our homes to go to work. We might see a flower and say to ourselves, that's an awfully pretty flower!

But this is only awake to our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. It is not being awake.

Being awake is being before the thoughts, the feelings, the sensations. Being awake is seeing directly with a clear mind reflecting only what is there, and in so doing becomes us. Thought is just thought. Feeling is just feeling. Smell is just smell. Flower is just flower.

If we open our eyes like this, our Buddha-nature opens with them. Our Buddha-nature and the thought is one. Our Buddha-nature and our feeling is one. Our Buddha-nature and the flower are one.

Does it matter?

Second guessing, concern, worry...all take us away from being fully present. When we are not fully present we are living in something that has no foundation, no reality. Thoughts, feeling, and sensations have no reality of their own. How can we be present with the flower or our wife, husband, child, co-worker, client, worlk, when we are only with their idea?

So, this is our practice: be with what is there without regard for what we "think" of it, "feel" about it, or "sense" about it, and more, without regard for the next moment.

Be well.

Ten Ox-Herding Pictures: Stage Ten

STAGE 10
ENTERING THE MARKETPLACE WITH ARMS HANGING LOOSE

Introduction
He closes the thatched gate to his hermitage
so that even the thousand sages do not know of him.
He buries the light of his own knowing
and goes against the tracks left by former sages.
Carrying a gourd, he enters the marketplace; holding his staff, he
returns home,
Bestowing Buddhahood on barkeeps and fishmongers.

Verse
Shoeless and bare-chested he enters the marketplace;
He is daubed with earth and ashes, and a smile fills his face.
Making no use of the secrets of gods and wizards,
He causes withered trees to bloom.

So Daiho:

When we are buddhas there is no need for the signs and symbols, the shoes and the robes, of the Buddha. There is no need for sticks and whisks, special words, or bells and incense. Transformative process is like this.

Our presence is enough. The way we open a door. The way we smile. The way we invite. The way we say no. Each speaks as silence is to thunder.

When we are buddhas there is no Zen apart from us. Our way is Zen, regardless of how Zen came and went in the past. So we set out on our own way, free of the trappings of our Teacher, free of the trappings of the Buddha himself.

In so doing, what was once a stiff, old teaching or a vericose-veined Temple, is now living and vibrant. This is dialectic. This is life.

We still wear our robes. We still shave our heads. We still light our incense and make bows. There is a deep and profound difference between habits and manifestations. Just as there is a difference between a candle without a flame and a candle burning bright.

In this so-called "Stage" we are understopod as beings in full expression of Buddha-nature. Our each action is a seamless expression of Buddha-dharma. Our bodies are the body of the Buddha. The notion of these stages happening as sequential events is very misleading. While it is true, in my opinion, that in order for seeds to sprout, the ground of our being must first be tilled by both life and death and a true practice, there is no moment within which the Buddha is not present within each of us. So in each moment an eye may open and light shine forth. Our continuous practice is to assist us, so to speak, in keeping our eye open regardless of the time of day.

With love and a deep bow,

The Other Side of One

With palms together,

Good Morning Sangha,

This morning I awake to see I killed an old man last night. Strapped his ass down and filled him full of poison. I also stood outside the death chamber as a silent witness. And slept in my bed, comfortable and thoughtless as to what I was doing.

When we say we are one, what do we mean? When we say we are all buddha-nature waiting to crack out of that vast emptiness we could call a cosmic egg, what does this mean?

If we are all one, then we are all killing, all witnessing, all crying, all starving, all sleeping, all fucking, shitting, eating, and whatever else we human beings, mice, worms, cats and dogs do. So, then, what is our responsibility?

When you get up this morning, that question is your practice.

Be well,

Ten Ox-Herding Pictures: Stage Nine.

STAGE 9
RETURNING TO THE SOURCE

Introduction
It is originally pure and clean without a speck of dust clinging.
He observes the flourishing and dying of form
while remaining in the silence of no-action.
This is not the same as illusion; what need is there for striving or
planning?
The water is blue and the mountains green;
he sits and watches phenomena take form and decay.

Verse
Having come back to the origin and returned to the source,
you see that you have expended efforts in vain.
What could be superior to becoming blind and deaf
in this very moment?
Inside the hermitage,
you do not see what is in front of the hermitage.
The water flows of itself and the flowers are naturally red.

So Daiho:

The bodhisattvas whisper in our ear. We see poverty. We see war. We see cruelty and illness, sickness and death. We see our neighbors stealing, lying, cheating, and swindling. We see the world manipulating as if it is OK because we are, afterall, just putting a positive "spin" on things.We see this all as one side of the human coin. And the bodhisattvas whisper.

We are here to attain clear mind then step out into the universe to assist all beings. We are here to help. To save. To nurture. To witness. To do what is there to be done.

There should be no distinctions here: just wash the dishes, write your congressman, talkk to your neighbor. No better or worse, higher or lower, just the simple and clear experssion of buddha in action. Saving a fly from death is the same as saving a man from execution. It is our true nature to witness.

So here it is: our practice is to destroy the stored assumptions we carry around on our backs, these multiply colored filters through which we distort our perception and thus, skew our thoughts, feelings and behavior. Our practice is to develop clear mind. To perceive without history and distinction, without distorted thought and feeling, then to seamlessly behave according to what is there to do.

Our time on the cushion is time with the ultimate therapist who cures us and sends us on our way.

Be well.