With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Today is the day for us in the United States to decide as a group who will represent us. It is very important that you participate in this election. As we have seen, elections are often won or lost on the basis of voters choosing to come or not come to the polls.
While I cannot endorse a candidate or a party, I can ask you to vote in a way that clearly reflects our values as followers of the Buddha Way. So, in the voting booth, vote as the buddha you are.
Be well.
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Patience
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
This morning there wee two of us for zazen, faithful Zento and myself. After we sat, Zento told me his girlfriend would be joining us for breakfast. I made the coffee as he prepared the pancake batter. I then sliced a breakfast cake My Little Honey baked for us. We waited. Girlfriend didn't arrive. Zento called her and she said she would be right here. Zento paced a bit. Finally she arrived, but declined breakfast and said she need gasoline. Zento drove her to get gasoline. i went ahead and made my breakfast. By the time he returned, I was just washing my dish. I bid him good day and left for the grocery. Pepper and Tripper were in dire need of treats.
At the grocery store, I got into a checkout line with only one person ahead of me. The cashier rung up her small purchase, but the amount was wrong according to the customer who had an ad saying what the sale prices were. While they tried to straighten things out, the customer kept saying, "I hate people like me!"
The people behind us went to another register.
After a few minutes, the cashier asked me to go to another register as well. So, I got in line behind the people whom just a few minutes ago I was in front of. And in a few minutes, I was walking to my car with a small bag of dog food and a large box of treats.
It is important to know that not a single person was upset except for the lady who perceived herself to be a hindrance to others. This sort of self talk almost always gets us into emotional trouble.
I am sure that if this were a big city grocery store, the scene might have been different, but then, maybe not. In any event, patience is a wonderful thing.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
This morning there wee two of us for zazen, faithful Zento and myself. After we sat, Zento told me his girlfriend would be joining us for breakfast. I made the coffee as he prepared the pancake batter. I then sliced a breakfast cake My Little Honey baked for us. We waited. Girlfriend didn't arrive. Zento called her and she said she would be right here. Zento paced a bit. Finally she arrived, but declined breakfast and said she need gasoline. Zento drove her to get gasoline. i went ahead and made my breakfast. By the time he returned, I was just washing my dish. I bid him good day and left for the grocery. Pepper and Tripper were in dire need of treats.
At the grocery store, I got into a checkout line with only one person ahead of me. The cashier rung up her small purchase, but the amount was wrong according to the customer who had an ad saying what the sale prices were. While they tried to straighten things out, the customer kept saying, "I hate people like me!"
The people behind us went to another register.
After a few minutes, the cashier asked me to go to another register as well. So, I got in line behind the people whom just a few minutes ago I was in front of. And in a few minutes, I was walking to my car with a small bag of dog food and a large box of treats.
It is important to know that not a single person was upset except for the lady who perceived herself to be a hindrance to others. This sort of self talk almost always gets us into emotional trouble.
I am sure that if this were a big city grocery store, the scene might have been different, but then, maybe not. In any event, patience is a wonderful thing.
Be well.
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Benefits
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
It is a wonderful thing to be offered the opportunity to practice zazen. In this practice we are able to clarify the mind, experience directly, and behave with autheniticity. All from the simple practice of stilling oneself on a cushion facing a wall.
Yesterday's zazenkai at Zen Center was just such an experience. We had nerly a full house in the morning and, although some had to leave after oryoki lunch, others arrived. We practiced in silence and had a hour's samu to clean the Zen Center as meditative release from the cushion.
Today I return to Zen Center for our morning service. I return with fresh eyes and a real sense of deep appreciation for Sangha and this practice.
Please join me.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
It is a wonderful thing to be offered the opportunity to practice zazen. In this practice we are able to clarify the mind, experience directly, and behave with autheniticity. All from the simple practice of stilling oneself on a cushion facing a wall.
Yesterday's zazenkai at Zen Center was just such an experience. We had nerly a full house in the morning and, although some had to leave after oryoki lunch, others arrived. We practiced in silence and had a hour's samu to clean the Zen Center as meditative release from the cushion.
Today I return to Zen Center for our morning service. I return with fresh eyes and a real sense of deep appreciation for Sangha and this practice.
Please join me.
Be well.
Saturday, November 4, 2006
Peaches and Cream; Rocks and Nails
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Today is a good day to spend in meditation. Or in mindfulness. As my finger touches each key, I am aware that each finger is touching a key. I am aware of the muscle movement in my forearm as my fingers extend and contract, aware of the thoughts arising and falling, being recorded on the electronic page of this computer soon to be presented to you.
When we are mindful, we are aware of the things themselves, but also aware that these things come and go. On the one hand we say they are ours, like "my thoughts" but on the other, we notice that thoughts simply are thoughts and they arise and they fall away. A notion of ownership, in a sense, becomes meaningless. In another sense they are quite meaningful, as they originate from our brain, and our brain originates from its connections with all of the other subsystems created by our genetics, even these are connected and originate through interactions with other systems. When we are mindful we are aware that when we eat, we eat ourselves. We we touch our partners or a stranger, we touch ourselves. And so we do so with care.
This is a difficult practice and though I try, I often fail at achieving it. The world seems to exist outside of us and can easily crash in bursting this little Buddha Bubble I've just created. Or has it? You know, stress is just another feeling. Loss, love, anger, just feelings. They roll toward us like ocean waves. sometimes we resist them, sometimes we embrace them, sometimes we just let go and go with their flow.
Where is it written that everything should be peaches and cream and that we should be as smooth as the cream flowing over the peaches? Aware of the peaches, I am also aware of the rocks and the nails, and the sting of angry, hurtful words.
Our practice is to take this awareness and use it.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
Today is a good day to spend in meditation. Or in mindfulness. As my finger touches each key, I am aware that each finger is touching a key. I am aware of the muscle movement in my forearm as my fingers extend and contract, aware of the thoughts arising and falling, being recorded on the electronic page of this computer soon to be presented to you.
When we are mindful, we are aware of the things themselves, but also aware that these things come and go. On the one hand we say they are ours, like "my thoughts" but on the other, we notice that thoughts simply are thoughts and they arise and they fall away. A notion of ownership, in a sense, becomes meaningless. In another sense they are quite meaningful, as they originate from our brain, and our brain originates from its connections with all of the other subsystems created by our genetics, even these are connected and originate through interactions with other systems. When we are mindful we are aware that when we eat, we eat ourselves. We we touch our partners or a stranger, we touch ourselves. And so we do so with care.
This is a difficult practice and though I try, I often fail at achieving it. The world seems to exist outside of us and can easily crash in bursting this little Buddha Bubble I've just created. Or has it? You know, stress is just another feeling. Loss, love, anger, just feelings. They roll toward us like ocean waves. sometimes we resist them, sometimes we embrace them, sometimes we just let go and go with their flow.
Where is it written that everything should be peaches and cream and that we should be as smooth as the cream flowing over the peaches? Aware of the peaches, I am also aware of the rocks and the nails, and the sting of angry, hurtful words.
Our practice is to take this awareness and use it.
Be well.
Friday, November 3, 2006
Zazenkai
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Tomorrow we will practice zazen throughout the day. It is Zazenkai day at Zen Center. I look forward to this opportunity to practice with you. If you are not within distance of Zen Center or are otherwise occupied with matters of consequence, please practice mindfulness through your day.
Each day the sun comes up, we are offered the opportunity to become a buddha. Yet these days are numbered. It is up to you not to waste your time.
This means in each act, each breath, of each moment, we are to make ourselves aware of each act, each breath, and each moment. This is attention. It requires practice. When we practice all things change, they come alive. The colors are brighter, the textures are more vibrant, because our senses are keener. We use our attention to open ourselves to the universe.
This is a very good thing.
Team Zen:
Rev. Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
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Thursday, November 2, 2006
Our Teachers
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Through the smallest things in our life do we create ourselves. The way we touch something, the way we treat our friends, strangers, the cashier in the grocery store. Each point of contact with the world around us is a manifestation of our realization. Want to be a buddha, be a Buddha. It is really that simple.
This requires a willingness to be thoughtful and mindful. It also requires a willingness to surrender our ego and to see our Teacher in everything from the highest to the lowest, because in truth, there is no highest, no lowest, and every single thing is buddha.
This is so challenging in a busy world. We feel we must multitask and thus, by definition, live mindlessly on a sort of contemporary auto-pilot. such a life leads to callous disregard for what is before us. Things, people, animals become means to ends. We do not have the time to see them for the Teachers they are.
I invite you each to stop. Create a small amount of time in your busy lives to be still. Practice zazen.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
Through the smallest things in our life do we create ourselves. The way we touch something, the way we treat our friends, strangers, the cashier in the grocery store. Each point of contact with the world around us is a manifestation of our realization. Want to be a buddha, be a Buddha. It is really that simple.
This requires a willingness to be thoughtful and mindful. It also requires a willingness to surrender our ego and to see our Teacher in everything from the highest to the lowest, because in truth, there is no highest, no lowest, and every single thing is buddha.
This is so challenging in a busy world. We feel we must multitask and thus, by definition, live mindlessly on a sort of contemporary auto-pilot. such a life leads to callous disregard for what is before us. Things, people, animals become means to ends. We do not have the time to see them for the Teachers they are.
I invite you each to stop. Create a small amount of time in your busy lives to be still. Practice zazen.
Be well.
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Just Sitting
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Zazen was good this morning. It is always good to sit still and become yourself. Someone wrote to me and asked what to do in the "sadness phase" of meditation. I am uncertain as to what she meant, but I suspect when she is quiet, sadness emerges from the shadows.
One of the most challenging aspects of zazen is just this. When we sit quietly in stillness, all of our typical distractions are taken away from us. Movement, chewing gum, smoking, drinking, eating, talking, everything is just gone. These things provide cover for the other things that haunt us. So when they are not there, no cover, and bam! There they are, those pesky feelings or thoughts or memories. And we are there to witness them.
OK. So, what's the problem? They are just thoughts, just feelings, just memories. They have no power of their own. They are chimera. It is when we take them and build on them and wish they weren't there or were there more often or whatever that we begin to go crazy.
Zazen is simply about experience. We do not judge the experience. We do not move from it or to it. We just experience. We learn from this experience over time that everything has a life of its own so to speak. Things rise and things fall, just as our breath comes and goes. When we are with the coming and going, no problem; when we resist it, big problem.
As for me, I am just a simple person on a cushion who enjoys being still. Then again, maybe not.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
Zazen was good this morning. It is always good to sit still and become yourself. Someone wrote to me and asked what to do in the "sadness phase" of meditation. I am uncertain as to what she meant, but I suspect when she is quiet, sadness emerges from the shadows.
One of the most challenging aspects of zazen is just this. When we sit quietly in stillness, all of our typical distractions are taken away from us. Movement, chewing gum, smoking, drinking, eating, talking, everything is just gone. These things provide cover for the other things that haunt us. So when they are not there, no cover, and bam! There they are, those pesky feelings or thoughts or memories. And we are there to witness them.
OK. So, what's the problem? They are just thoughts, just feelings, just memories. They have no power of their own. They are chimera. It is when we take them and build on them and wish they weren't there or were there more often or whatever that we begin to go crazy.
Zazen is simply about experience. We do not judge the experience. We do not move from it or to it. We just experience. We learn from this experience over time that everything has a life of its own so to speak. Things rise and things fall, just as our breath comes and goes. When we are with the coming and going, no problem; when we resist it, big problem.
As for me, I am just a simple person on a cushion who enjoys being still. Then again, maybe not.
Be well.
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