What's Your Moment?

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

This morning is different. I was up late last night and fell asleep in the Zendo. My Little Honey slept in the bedroom. My dogs slept in the Zendo with me, as did Pete-kitty. So this morning My Little Honey crawled onto the futon and found a place amid all the little heart beats. Of course, Tripper was very unhappy that he had a rival for my attention. Rather than unfolding, this folded into an awakening experience for me: all hair and wet tongues and heartbeats.

So, I got up and made the coffee, decided I had enough enlightenment and sat down in the living room to clear my head of the fur and hair that can be my life.

Since the coffee is made, My Little Honey has decided she should join me, and all the other heartbeats followed. It is said that wherever we go, there we are.

Life is like that.

No escape.

So, what can we do? We enjoy the moment by shifting gears, as is said today. We let go of our expectations and enjoy the ride as it is. When we consciously do this it is possible to be taught. Drivers never learn, they are too busy driving.

You might say, but how do we ever get anywhere? And I answer, where is there to get? When we achieve something we want something else. We we have something, it gets old and we want something new. When we have some money, we want some more. When there is always somewhere to go, we never arrive.

Yet, to live in the moment does not mean there is no tomorrow or that we cannot plan for, and build toward, a future. It means that in each moment, even if it is a planning moment, we experience it as fully and as completely as possible. To do this requires something of us.

We have to disappear and allow the present to be us.

Be well.

Living and Learning

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

 

Our Rohatsu sesshin was a powerful one. We were completely full and on Sunday, had several people sitting in the kitchen and two in the foyer of the Zen Center.  Soon we will need a larger building, I suppose.

 

A deep bow of gratitude to each of you in attendance!

 

We all sat zazen very well. I must say, though, that our silence was broken late Saturday afternoon when one of the participants,Jeremy, requested the kyosaku and as I went to smack his shoulder I missed, hitting his neck!  As I bowed and apologized, the whole Sangha erupted in laughter...this is what sitting hour after hour will do to you!

 

Sesshin should not be tense. Neither should zazen.  Neither should life.  These are experience.  Experience itself is neutral.  It is what it is. We add to it our various spins.  We like this, we dislike that.  People should be this way, not that way.  And so on. It is this discerning mind that takes us away from Buddha Mind. 

 

Buddha Mind appreciates life as it is: sweet, sour, salty, torrid. Each of these is a pointer, so to speak.  Appreciate and use the pointer, but then move on. So, while we can laugh at the Roshi's mistake, we should not carry it with us. I need to be completely mindful and present with my kyosaku and not assume I know how to use it well.  

 

What do you need?

 

Be well.

Stepping Out

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

This morning my wrist alarm surprised me. I pushed back the down comforter and was greeted with a chill in the air. We have two alternatives, pull the comforters back up or throw them off and Step out into the cool morning air. Our lives, every moment of our lives, is just like that.

We can pull the covers over us and stay warm and comfortable in what we know or we can cast off what we know and enter life with open eyes.

This choice comes to us a million times a day. It is the choice between being automatic and genuine. The choice between patience and impatient, generous or greedy, wise or shallow. The "right" choice is always both the more challenging and the more rewarding.

Yet we should not make this choice on that basis. Rather, we chose because we are buddhas being buddhas.

Be well.

Be a Light

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

A friend writes that I rarely quote sutras in my messages. He also points out that I rarely reply to comments. There is truth is this sorta. If we understand sutras as scripture, he is correct. Scripture is what it is, a finger pointing to something. The danger of scripture study is that we can get to a point where we value the scripture more than what it is pointing to. And what exactly is that? Every scripture is about practice, that is to say, some aspect of living out an awakened life.

Sutra study aids us. It is a corrective lesson. It helps us sit upright, so to speak, but it is not the sitting itself. Sitting we must do. Life must be lived and when lived with open eyes the buddha is realized.

Often my morning messages are replies. Your messages suggest topics. I clarify - or attempt to clarify - with my messages. I write two of these a day. One I post to you on these lists and the other to my blog at Yahoo 360. I try to keep up with the direct correspondence as much as possible, yet life must be lived. Puppies need to be walked, Zen Center needs to be taken care of, and Little Honeys listened to and engaged with. Life is like that.

The lessons of life are our own. They are right there in the lives we live. We only need turn the lamp on them to realize them, as the Buddha himself said in his parinirvana sutra. I will leave you this morning with that: be a light unto yourself.

Be well.

The Refuges

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

There were two of us at Zen Center this morning. Michelle and I sat a solid period of zazen, I made pancakes, we ate, then sipped a morning cup of coffee and talked about the Three Refuges. These are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.

It might surprise you to know these are not always what you think they are. The Buddha is not the person of the Buddha, nor the statue of the Buddha, nor an idea of the Buddha. The Buddha is just being awake. Seeing without distortion, like a mountain in crisp morning air. So, we take refuge is being awake. The Dharma is the teaching, but not really. The Teaching is not the Dharma. Once uttered it is stale. The Dharma is reality just as it is, unvarnished, sweet or stinky, smacking us upside our head. When we see clearly, with open eyes, no preconception, and experience this, this is Dharma. It is the truth of our lives. Sangha is the world that supports us and our practice.

So, forget stone Buddhas, fancy scriptures, and pretty temples. These are not our home. Our home is in our breath just now. Now. Now. Now.

Buddhas and sutras and priests can be hindrances if we see them as something to emulate. These are just pictures of the thing. Be the thing itself. How?

Right now, let your eyes close half way, release your breath, and be present.

How hard is that?

Be well.

A Different Sort of Sesshin

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

We are about to leave Memphis for our return home to Las Cruces. I am ready! While I certainly (and deeply) enjoy playing with Grandson Tate and visiting Daughter Sam and Not-Son-in-Law, Pete, five days is enough.

I miss my pups, friends, and Zen Center and look forward to returning to my routine which helps me stay "grounded" as they say. Here in Memphis, I turned off all of my wristwatch alarms: no 5:30 wake-up, 7:30 end of zazen, 1:30 end of zazen, 10:30 end of zazen, just short periods of silence interrupted by long periods of giggles and playtime. This is a wholly different form of sesshin. And like the monks at Antaiji in Japan, I say five days is plenty!

We leave at 3:00 PM Central Time and arrive in El Paso at 6:30 PM Mountain Time. Another hour and a half or so drive and we will be home. I look forward to a day of flying practice.

Be well,

Knowing What We Know?

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

When we practice zazen, we are just present with ourselves. Self encounters self. Sometimes we argue with each other, sometimes we run from each other, sometimes we watch movies of one, none of this is zazen. But every time we notice that we are doing these things and bring ourselves back to the present moment, we are practicing zazen. Zazen is in the noticing. It is the being, not the becoming.

When we encounter something and act like a human being we ask questions, sometimes out loud and directly, but more often secretly and to ourselves. What's this? Who is this? Where is this? Why is this? And we put these things into a time-line of 'when is this?' All perfectly natural. But all in the mind. Each of these questions take us far away from the experience of the thing we are encountering.

We answer our questions and believe we know something about the thing when in fact we know something about our thoughts about the thing. And there is a dramatic difference. This is why we can say it is a mistake to say, incense becomes ash.

So, the next time you experience something new. Stop at the point of experience. Keep the experience and let the thoughts about it go. This is zazen.

Be well.