Boxes

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

The other day someone said to me they "had enough religion." That comment, meant to be an offhand reply about coming back again to a service, has stuck with me. Like one of those scriptural phrases or a line of poetry, it rolls around in my mind.

A comment like this suggests religion exists outside of us. I suppose for some this is true, they slice life into pieces and create boxes: this is spiritual, that is religious, this is philosophical, that is scientific, and so on.

Actually, we all do this. It is an aspect of our mind, created by our brain, that we do it. Ad like any organ, it functions autonomically. What do we do with the products of such production?

Some of us take this products seriously, see the slice as existing outside of us, as if we were simply remarking on the natural state of the universe. We fail to see how silently and how quickly our mental knife cuts, sorts, and moves on. In fact, we fail to see we are doing it at all.

So we live in a world of boxes. Some ours, some others. Comparing, valuing, and selecting, boxes and symphonies of boxes compete. We work for this box, we've had enough of that box. We love this other box and hate that one over there. All the while not understanding that the boxes are our own mental creation and that actually there are no boxes, just life.

Our practice is the practice of living without boxes. Everything is us. Nothing is not us.

Be well.

The Great Teacher

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

The desert air is cool. I am sitting by the living room window and feeling a chill from its touch on my shoulder through the open window. The feel of natural air, unconditioned by our machines, is a delight. The less we process things, it seems, the better they are.

So too with zazen.

When we sit down on our cushion. We should just sit down, back upright, shoulders open, and head erect. We feel the bones as they seem to organized themselves one on top of another while taking our seat. There is nothing special about this save the deliberate nature of being still. Nothing conditioned. No machine involved. There is just zazen.

We should not process this experience while in the experience. Processing things takes us away from them and in fact, kills the moment. Being witness with a student's eye is being there without a self. A student's eye is unencumbered by the dust of "things we know."

Practicing this way is the great teacher.

Be well.

Compassion

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

As I walk on this earth, so do you. As I sit on this earth, so do you. As I eat, sleep, love and hate, so do you. We are the same, you and I. Just different reflections of Original Mind at work. So when I suffer, so do you. When you suffer, so do I. Our understanding of each other in each of these gently sweeps away the residue of the illusion we are separate. If we allow it.

Compassion must be voluntary. We allow our feelings to loosen and let go. We allow ourselves to open to others. We become vulnerable, and in that vulnerability, we become the water for the parched plant.

It is not easy to be so vulnerable. Vulnerability demands of us. It requires we actively address those things that would harm us. So that we might continue to enjoy our vulnerability and nurture others. Addressing harm, however, without protection, requires a willingness to experience pain.

This is why compassion is courage in another form.

Frankly, I am not so good with this. Perhaps I am a coward. It is so difficult for me to not protect myself. I do not want to feel the pain of you, nor my own. I sometimes want to be on a mountain, aloof, apart, untouched and untouchable by you.

Yet, here we are. I am down off the mountain. Not such a small thing.

So, while vulnerability is a choice, and our willingness to be with another is salve to injury, and we are born with them, life can often harden us and make it difficult to be the buddhas we are. We can take small steps. We can feel each others pain. We can learn to enfold that pain with our love and make it better.

I believe this. I believe this very deeply.

Be well.

Enough

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

Last night we attended New Year's service at Temple Beth-El. The sanctuary was crowded. Everyone was dressed nicely. There was a banquet of sweets in the social hall. And there were armed guards outside the door.

Yesterday's newspaper had a very interesting op-ed piece by Charles Krautheimer. I usually take issue with this conservative, but on this occasion, his words resonated like the bell in the Zendo. He talked about the irony of Muslims protesting with such viciousness statements that suggest their religion was spread through the sword. He noted that monotheism, in general, has a history of such behavior: all of monotheism.

And how can it be otherwise? By definition, monotheists hold one god, praise one god, hail one god. Each slice of the god pie has its supporters, doctors, lawyers, nurses, and soldiers. Each rallying to set their particular understanding above others and in the process...or perhaps to support the process...Denigrating the other two.

We have become such an intolerant species. Our intolerance is everywhere. We are offended by this or that, we are quick to point out what we see as inappropriate and somehow expect the other to learn from this lesson all the while blind to our own biases and cultural ways.

Frankly, at this point in my life, I have little need for such things. I am happy being present. I am happy with the great diversity on our planet. Its richness is so beautiful. Yet, the three spoiled children trying to play in the sandbox create a racket any sane person doesn't want to hear.

I wonder whether any god is worth this distraction, this pain, this suffering. Has civilization come to a point where god has become a hindrance to our peace and continued growth?

Zen does not have a point of view. It has only Zen. When we are Zen, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. My ice ream is delicious. The mosquito's effort to live stings.

Be well.

In the Meantime

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

Have you ever thought about the phrase, "in the meantime"? Just what does this phrase mean? A mean is a number achieved by adding the universe and dividing the sum by the number of its parts. The mode is the number which occurs most frequently, and the median is the number that is dead center of an array of numbers. In the meantime?

I think it means now. Before the next moment, but after the last. If this is the case, all of our lived time is meantime. We are very casual about this meantime. We see it as something occurring between other matters, often matters of consequence. Yet, how is this so? Matters past and matters future are matters immaterial. They are not real. They are constructions.

So, I live in the meantime. The meantime is mine. And like other base things settled at the bottom, those living in the meantime are still within the current. In being nothing special, we are everything that matters.

So, join me in the meantime. Tomorrow and yesterday are fiction.

Be well.

Accept the Stone

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

There is no peace outside of that which we make for ourselves. When we are at peace with ourselves and live in serene reflection, the disturbances of life are just ripples on the pond. Allow the ripples. Accept the stone. No problem.

Our world seems full of pain and suffering. People killing and maiming. People starving. People threatening other people. We might think these are about power and control or money or oil, but I think not. My sense is these are caused by people who suffer greatly. They are victims of their own thoughts and the brains that create them.

When we discover we do not have to be victims, we are free. At that moment of discovery, we realize all of our suffering is created by our mind and its need to have something to do. This is not to say that our pain is not real. If I touch the griddle at Zen Center as I did the other day, it will burn me, as it did. Yet, that is not suffering. Suffering occurs when I get caught in a web of thoughts about that incident and the pain surrounding it.

Who do I blame? Why did it happen? Shouldn't something be done to protect me from injury? These are the footprints of suffering.

If we let these thoughts go, attend to the burn, go on with our lives, no suffering.

As the public service announcements suggest, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Allowing our mind free rein is a worse.

Practice zazen today.

Be well.

A Hammer is But One Tool

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

As someone who has spent a lifetime developing a critical mind, I am now spending the rest of my life learning to see it as both a tool and a hindrance. We should each strive to develop our mind. Critical thinking and a sharp wit is important. Knowledge is important. Yet these are not ends in themselves, but rather tools. We must know not only how to use them, but also how not to use them. We must know when to use them and when not to use them.

In spite of what I was once taught, a hammer will not fix the everything. Sometimes a screwdriver, sometimes a chisel, sometimes a pair of pliers: it is not a one tool fits all world.

Zazen can assist us with this. Zazen is being present regardless. It is using discipline to bring our attention to bear without needing to change anything. So if we have reached point "A" that is where we are and we enjoy point A. A thought of point B takes us away from point A. A thought of point B diminishes point B. Enjoy point A.

Wisdom is our ultimate acceptance of the limits of our tools.

Be well.