Peace Vigil

With palms together,

Good Evening Sangha,

 

Please forgive this short post. I am just passing through my home on my way to another meeting.  We stood on the corner of the Federal Building in downtown Las Cruces a little while ago.  There were several people there with signs.  I had made a small sign that simply said "PEACE."  There was a good wind blowing, but the sun was out and the sky was blue and people in the passing cars seemed very happy to see us there on the corner.

 

It was good to see some old friends standing there.  It was also good to meet new people who share a dream of a peaceful world. Rev. Dai Shin, thank you for attending.  Vicki, it was good to see you there as well!

 

However much time you have to offer to this effort, please offer it.  War is such a waste, a painful, insidious waste, that accomplishes nothing, polarizes people, fuels hatred and mistrust, and drains resources while extinguishing lives.Find a vigil in your community, make a small sign, and take a silent stand against war.

 

Be well.

 

May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
So Daiho

Zazen at Zen Center of Las Cruces: Sundays 10:00 AM; Wednesdays 7:00 PM
Zazen at Dharma Mountain Zendo: Sundays 10:00 AM
On the web at http://www.daihoji.org/ and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/

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A Valentine

With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,

May each of your hearts be warm and open.

In a world where the news is as an acid to our connections with one another, I ask that we hold hands in prayer. Love is the antidote to hatred. There is no more powerful antidote to its corrosive effects. Yet, to love requires courage and faith. Courage to love those that hate us; faith that in the process of loving, life will continue to blossom. If we are worried that our individual flame will be snuffed out, we are lost.

We must look deeply at this hate, see its fundamental cause as fear, and assuage that fear. In its place, we offer peace and compassionate regard. We offer support and nurturance. We do not feed the delusion of separation, we feed the truth of oneness and interdependence. Who here is a separate, fully self-sustaining individual who has "made it" with no help or support or teaching or encouragement or nurturance from others?

It is so easy to talk this talk. My challenge is for each of us to walk it.

Another form of kinhin.

Be well.

Witness and Participant

With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,

Each day we are both witness and participant in our universe. As interactive players we both learn and teach simultaneously. So each day we should look to ourselves and ask, what do we want to teach? What do we wish to learn?

The most simple and routine tasks are often the best examples and offer the greatest teachings. Feeding the baby, feeding the dog, taking a bath, brushing our teeth, saying hello to our neighbor, driving our car, doing our work, preparing our food, eating, using the bathroom, making love, sitting zazen: teachers all. In each of these, it seems to me the most valuable teaching and learning is presence.

Can we be present when feeding the dog? Do we really see our neighbor? Do we feel the food as we prepare it, recall the various hands and lives it is? As we join our partner, can we allow ourselves to drop away and be union itsef?

These take practice. These take deliberate effort. A seeming contradiction: practice-effort and simultaneous witness-participation. But is only seeming. When we first learn anything, we are painfuly and acutely aware to our "learning" state. As we accomplish and integrate the teaching, we become the teaching, and become less aware of "learning" or "doing." The flow from subject to object, relative to absolute, and back again, becomes increasingly seamless.Soon we notice there is no flow at all.

I invite you to be a witness and a participant in our universe today.

Be well.

Political Zen

With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,

Lately I have posted a number of political messages. Some may argue these are "off topic." I wonder. It seems to me that Zen Living is political living. The question we each face as we rise every morning is how are we to steer ourselves in the world. Zen informs us of that steerage. Zen is the compass we use, a tool, if you will, of discovery. We investigate ourselves through Zazen and through this practice realize ourselves, so to speak, in the universe. Zen in this sense is not an individual activity, but a dynamic interaction with everything in all places. It is in this sense that Zen becomes political. Politics, according to Webster, is the art or science of government or governing. Law and policy are nothing more than a group's precepts stated as rules and guidlines. Precepts then become political statements.

When I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, what does this mean? When I vow not to kill, steal, poison my mind, what do these mean? They are not precepts for only us as individuals, they are precepts for us as members of a group. They are our policy, our governance. And, in this case, I argue, our group is the family of man.

When we engage the precepts we are engaged in a process of living. How are we to effect the precepts in the world? This process is a political one. When we see killing we must stand opposed to it. When we see a violation of human rights, we must stanmd opposed to it. When we see a corporation poisoning the air or the water, we must stand opposed to it. As a Sangha, this becomes a political activity.

If we approach Zen only as a means of self improvement or of enligtenment for ourselves alone, we are taking a wrong approach. Such a practice wil only end in disaster and frustration. Zen is about neither.

Be well.

Back Home

With palms together,
Hello Sangha,

We are back in New Mexico again. How wonderful! The sun is shining and the sky is clear and blue and very beautiful! I had an opportunity to practice much Zazen on the way back home: long flights, nothing to eat. The airline did not even have tea. I read some of an old friend, The Eight Gates of Zen, but mostly sat Zazen in the air.

Tomorrow morning I will be at Zen Center to practice Zazen in the morning. I will have lunch at the International Delights Cafe and will be happy to meet with anyone interested in Engaged Practice. At 1:00 PM we will re-convene at Zen Center for Precept Study, then at 2:30 we will continue our study of Master Dogen's Bendowa.

Be well.

Cleveland and the Snow

The Zen of Flying. Set yourself aside and allow others to be in control. Eat what is offered. Drink when possible. Seated in the tight seats of the aircraft, I cozied up to a copy of The Eight Gates of Zen by Daido Loori-roshi. I enjoy this book and admire the work he and his students have done to create an American monastic setting. At times I listened to my MP3 player, but mostly I read or sat Zazen in the seat. Judy knitted.

Arriving in Cleveland the ground was covered in snow and ice. It is in the low 20s heer and overcast. It is interesting how the weather can be so very different from one place to another. And how it seems reflected in the faces of those around you.

In the morning we drive deeper into the city and I will be staying in a home without a computer. I look forward to this adventure with daughter Sam. I told her I was scared to death at my defense. It was the truth. Maybe this helped. She is a dedicated researcher and an excellent student. I am sure she will do just fine.

As we were driving in from the airport and the car slid off the highway, she told me I had left an old mala in the car on the stick shift. She referred to them as "woory beads." "Here, take these." she offered. My face must have been a bit ashen. :)

Oh well, Cleveland in the winter. Been there, done that. Looking forward to no repeats.

Se ya!

Love

With palms together,
Good Evening Sangha,

It is dark outside. And cold. The desert does not hold the heat of the sun. I am sitting by my bedroom window thinking about the next few days. Visiting our daughter will be a delight. Her dissertation defense will be stressful. They always are. My hope is that we will get through it, enjoy the process as best we can, then celebrate and come home.

Moments are what they are. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good, sometimes a real pain in the ass. Still, being present is all that we have really. Yesterday and tommorow do not exist. It is pointless to fret over what was or over what might be. So, in this very moment what I experience is love.

My breath enters my body and my breath leaves my body. I am still. My heart is warm. I love.

When we have love in every present moment what else is there?

No room for hate. No room for fear. No room for worry. Just a deep and abiding love.

I have faith in this universe and its processes. It is way larger than me. And yet there I am in it. Part of it, all of it, none of it.

There are those who would look around and see all the death and destruction, the hate and fear, and say, "what an awful, terrible world." There are others who look at the same things and see the human heart beating, overcoming great odds, and still loving. The will to life and love are powerful. They are the currents ofthe universe. And while we clash, we also embrace. While we kill, we also save. My sense is that the balances are always tipped in favor of life and love.

Spread the love, one being at a time.

Be well.