Another Day for Peace

With palms together,

Good Afternoon Sangha,

 

This afternoon we are scheduled to do a peace vigil at the Federal Courthouse in town. I have my simple sign which reads, "PEACE." I will join others at 4:00 PM, the appointed hour.

 

It is important to add our voice against war and violence. That it does not cause an end to the war is unimportant.  Witnessing is.  Eventually this war will end, they all do. Eventually another will begin, it usually does. What we can do is be a steady voice for peace and against violence.

 

The wind is picking up here in the desert southwest.  It will be interesting out there on the streetcorner. Thankfully, it doesn't appear it will rain on us.

 

So, if you are available at 4:00 PM wherever you are, please stand or sit for a few minutes with us as we witness for peace. If not today, then when you can.  Or write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, or to the President, or to your congressional representative: your voice is important.

 

Be well.

 

Miles ran or walked today: 3.5

May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
So Daiho

James Madison's warning: "No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

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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The Courage to Be

With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,

This morning I read with great sadness of the death of Dana Reeve. This woman was a great bodhisattva. Her memory, like that of her husband, will be a blessing for us all.

It is not difficult to find models for us to live by. Dana and Christopher Reeve were such models. Then so is a small one named Jennifer I saw on Discovery Health Channel the other day who was born without a face and endures tremendous pain and suffering as she undergoes a countless series of surguries to build her a face. Then there is her family, and the doctors and nurses, her extendeded family, neighbors and friends. When one tosses a pebble into the pond where do the ripples cease?

Dana Reeve was only 44 years old. She had never smoked a cigarette. Yet one in five women contract lung cancer who have never smoked in their lives. One wonders. These are people who led their lives fully. They developed great courage and compassion. They suffered, but they also succeeded.

When we live our lives in this way, directly, being with each event, each feeling that arises and still maintain our balance and our determination to be of service in the world, we are living buddhas.

I saw video of little Jennifer shortly after a massive surgery, pick up a striker and play with toy bells. The sound of the bell is both a call to mindfullness and a reminder that there is always joy in our lives even in the midst of great pain should we choose to experience it.

Be well.

50s

With palms together,
Good Evening Sangha,

This evening I was thinking about what I could possibly write about. I thought about this:

50 Simple things to do:

Turn off lights when you are not using them.
Use energy saving bulbs.
Cook as little as possible, use cold foods in the summer.
Buy in quantities, then parcel into smaller portions for storage and later use.
Use a half shot glass of bleach in a spray water bottle instead of a cleanser to disinfect counter surfaces.
Flush the toilet less times per day.
Turn off the tap when not actually using the water.
Set your water heater on medium rather than high.
Bike rather than drive.
Walk rather than bike.
Park as far away from the entrance of a store as you possibly can then walk.
Eat six times a day, but smaller amounts.
Eat fruit.
Eat veggies.
Drink juice.
Drink lots of water.
Make as much from scratch as you can.
Enjoy yourself.
Each day for a week eat something you've not tried before.
Eat more nuts.
Smile as often as possible, especially when you don't feel like it.
Tell your partner you love them.
Show your partner your love in non-verbal ways.
Volunteer.
Work less than you think you should.
Turn off your cell phone for a day.
Begin a diary.
Stop writing in your diary.
Shift gears often.
When biking, wear a helmet.
Be kind to animals.
Adopt a pet.
Be kind to children.
Adopt a child.
Support charities as you can.
Visit a new place once a week.
Lay down on the floor at least once a day.
Use more bicarbonate of soda.
Use more vinegar.
Reject most TV.
Reject most movies.
Read a book.
Then read another book.
Then tell someone about the first book.
Join a club.
Vote.
Make love as much as possible.
Hug your kids.
Listen to as many people as possible.
Look people in the eyes

Above all,
Be well..

Mindful Silence

With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,

My suggestion for today is to spend the day in mindful silence. It is a good practice.

Speak only when spoken to in as limited and gentle way as possible. When we do this we are placing ourselves in the position of being open to our lives in a way that doesn't happen when we are busy with our minds and mouths.

Knowing that we are not speaking, we can listen more closely. Listening more closely enables a more intimate connection to be made to our world. It is in this intimacy that profound change occurs.

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Due to lack of participants, today's Zazenkai at Zen Center is cancelled. Please remember we have our Hannamatsuri sesshin scheduled for the first Friday weekend of April.

Be well.

On Being Soft

With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,

Maintaining a sense of interest in the well-being of your partner may be in your own best interest in the long run. When we speak and (otherwise) behave with our partner with loving kindness, we soften ourselves and our partners, making our union a more joyous and comfortable one. On the other hand, when we speak to our partners with anger and behave in a hostile, controlling manner, we harden ourselves and our partners, making our relationship brittle.

It seems that these truths may be deeper and more concrete than we might expect. Researchers suggest that anger and hostile interactions with our partners contributes to coronary atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries.

"In a study of 150 couples, mostly in their 60s, researchers found that women who behaved in a hostile manner during marital disputes were more likely to have atherosclerosis, especially if their husbands were also hostile."

"In men, hostility -- their own or their wives -- was not related to atherosclerosis. However, men who behaved in a dominating or controlling manner -- or whose wives behaved in that way -- were more likely to have clogged coronary arteries." says a study from the University of Utah as reported by Reuters Health News.

A gentle way is a healthy way, it would seem.

"The only group of men that had very little atherosclerosis were those where both they and their wives were able to talk about a disagreement without being controlling at all," (Dr. Timothy) Smith said. "So the absence of a power play in the conversation seemed to be heart protective for men," he concluded.

My sense here is that perception plays a major role in this. How we perceive, leads to how we think, feel, and respond behaviorally. Even if there is no outward behavioral response, perceiving ownself as being in the presence of a hostile and contriolling person, may increase our risk. Interesting. So, what are we to do?

My practice tells me that understanding process without becoming caught in process is a key to dealing with this. If we were to clearly see ourselves as simply being there, with no investment one way or the other as to outcome, taking a long view, a hopeful view, of the interaction, we would be much better off. Too often we are caught in the minute points of an arguement. Who said what with what sort of tone, intending what to whom. Or some equal variant on this theme. We wish to be understood, we wish wo be accepted. We wish to be agreed with, heard, validated, something. Yet, our partner keeps hammering away.

Our goal should be to be present in these arguenments without racheting them up. The best way to do this, I think, is to make yourself available in that moment to listen deeply to your partner. Love her/him in their pain or their confusion or their anger. This requires us to be willing to set aside our own agenda and needs.

To do this we must possess and maintain a faith that our needs will eventually be addressed. My experience is that these "needs" are almost always immediate and responsive to our partner's request to have their needs met. In other words, our "needs" are really more about our unwillingness to give up ourselves to our partners than an actual need itself.

Here's the thing: needs come and go. Why be bothered by the tit-for-tat of power and control? Especially now that we have some evidence that it is hazardous to our health.

Be well.

Who am I?

With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,

What is the "higher" truth? Does God exist? Is there a Heaven? A Hell? Where do we fit in along the way? Was there a beginning? Will there be an end? Who am I? What ams I? How should I live my life? How should I treat my friends, my family, strangers? Where do we go to get the answers to these questions?

Some would say we should go to Church or Synagogue or Moque or Temple. I would agree. A good religious center would then take us and sit us down and ask us to take a backward step. A good religious center would not give us answers to these questions, instead they would invite us to examine ourselves, deeply examine ourselves. Of course, in the process of this examination they would offer us tools.

Liturgy is such a tool. Means of practice, such as dailty rituals, meditation, chanting, are such tools. Prayer in its many colored and textured varieties are such tools. But these are not the answers themselves. It is a mistake to think that because you bow and light incense you are connecting to anything. It is a mistake to think that because you put on a prayer shawl or a robe that you are getting closer to God, being like Jesus, or becoming a Buddha. These are important practices and they will orient you, but they are not the thing itself.

The thing itself comes from inside out. It is in your heart/mind.

The backward step is, of course a step into stillness. A step into your "still small voice." Not just listening to that voice, but enjoining that voice. You and that voice are one, just as you and your God are one, just as you and Jesus are one or you and Buddha are one. This One, regardless of name, is there whether we feel it or not, see it or not, experience it or not. The questions I asked at the beginning are our invitations to discover this One.

It is now your turn to take this backward step. Be still.

Be well.

Extreme?

With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,

Someone suggested I might be considered an "extremist." I smiled deeply as I read it. I wonder. Perhaps. I don't consider myself an extremist. I see myself as an able mediator, a negotiator who seeks balance and something for everyone. My views are informed by both my experience and my values, intertwined as they always are through time and process.

My views on violence are informed by witnessing violence against my mother, brother, and myself by my father. They are informed by my experience as a combat infantryman in Vietnam who hunted human beings for a living and was wounded in the process. They are informed by thirty years of clinical work with trauma survivors in mental hospitals and outpatient clinics. I see no value in violence. None.

However, I am also informed by the fact that there are violent people in the world who would do harm to me and my family, my community, my nation, my world. This is a fact of life. And so, we are left with a question. How do we protect ourselves from those who would cause us harm without ourselves causing harm?

It is at this juncture that we need to take a breath. Because, we are so bombarded with images of violence, the news casts threats of violence with such a wide net, that we seem to think we are each in immanent danger and should act as if the world were a hostile and violent place. This is simply not true. Yes, there is violence in the world. No, not every person poses a threat of harm. Not every stranger is an enemy lurking in wait to attack us. For every act of violence, even in the Middle East, there are countless acts of selfless heroism, attempts to help and care and nurture those in harm's way. We see the bomb's damage, but fail to see the hundreds of people picking up the pieces and loving those who are injured.

You see, as I see it, most commentators only go so far as to justify violence with the fact that violence exists. But if we are value driven, and our value is sanctify of life, and the nurturance and protection of life, then (it seems to me) we must go farther. It is in this "going father" that most of us get hopelessly lost or confused. We seem unwilling to step outside the cultural, conventional wisdom box and see with unfettered eyes.

So, how do we protect ourselves without causing harm?

An extreme position would be to run away. Flee the situation. A less extreme position would be to offer assistance to those wishing to cause harm. We might consider listening to them, deeply listening. Most anger is caused by perceived injury or threat. What is the injury? What is the threat? Is there something we can do to help? Is the anger caused by an unbalanced mind? Are there therapies or medications that can help? Do people have enough food? Care? Housing? Do they have hope? Are they being treated fairly?

We take Four Great Vows daily: However innumerable all beings are, I vow to save them all; however inexhaustible my delusions are, I vow to extinguish them all; however immeasurable the Dharma teachings are, I vow to master them all; and however endless the Buddha's Way is,m I vow to follow it completely.

These vows do not exclude a single being, not one from here to eternity. It does not matter whether they are ugly, fat, skinny, kind, or killers.These vows do not exclude delusions that keep us smug and healthy, they include all delusions including ones that suggest some people are just plain not like us and therefore unworthy of our care and love. These vows do not exclude Dharma teachings that are impractical or uncomfortable or opposed to conventional wisdom. Lastly, these vows are not for just this moment, they are for all moments in every context and in every location.

Extreme? Perhaps. Our vows ask us to follow a middle path through the maze life presents us, leaning not too far this way or that. Still, values must drive our choices, rather than what we knee jerk think should be done. We must use our intelligence, our compassion, our resources, and our wisdom to make a better world. It is our work. Its what we do as human beings.

Be well.