With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
My teacher often would say to me, "If I grab your nose and twist it, you would yell!" The trouble with reaching a state of non-duality is those reaching it often believe they will reside there, should reside there, and ought to be able to reside there...forever. Not so.
We are human beings living with a central nervous system and all of it's attendant functions. Our senses perceive, our brain organizes, processes and responds. Even when we realize the reality constructed by our brain is not the reality that exists as it is, we still must deal with our CNS and it's chemical and electrical processes.
Creating a pause between thought, feeling, and behavior is only one step. Some get stuck in the pause. Believing that pause is the same as emptiness. It is not. We must take a next step. A next breath. A next meal. We must continue to function in the world.
So then, what is this function? Is it to sit in serene reflection under a bodhi tree? Perhaps. Facing the world with a clear mind reveals function. When angry, love. When desperately hungry, eat. When caught in the traps of mind, practice. Our universe presents its state to us. When we have a clear mind, we see this state and respond accordingly. It is not a one size fits all world. Nor is it a world we can separate ourselves from.
Be well.
Organ Mountain Zen
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Notes for the Day
with palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Waking to the patter of rain today. The sky is clouded over. The temperature is a chilly 37 degrees. I am wrapped in my robe and feel content to just be here at my desk talking to you.
A sense of contentment is a wonderful thing. Very grounding. Yet, contentment can be dangerous. It is one thing to feel contentment for one's self and entirely another, to be content with the condition of the world in which we live. Feeling content to me means I have little anxiety about myself, my own path, my desires, hopes and dreams. Yet, I am a deeply malcontent-ed person as I look out into that other aspect of myself, the world.
So much fear and anger in the world; so much suspicion and hate. So much disproportionate wealth, poverty, hunger, untreated sickness. And such fear about people getting what some believe they do not deserve.
On one level, I would like to eliminate that word and its meaning from our language. Deservedness, like merit, suggests undeservedness and a lack of merit. The assignment of these values is based on duality. I am different, separate from, you. I do (or don't do) "x" and "deserve" "Y". Or "not Y". Yet we are all of the same species, living together on an interdependent world. We have the same needs, often start out in vastly different circumstances, but according to some, should accept the value system of the few who "own" 90 percent of the wealth. On the other hand, we are, in fact, a part of an interdependent universe and as a result each have some responsibility to offer something to the whole. My practice of late is how to come to terms with this. Everyone is important. Everyone deserves the wherewithall to live.
Maybe this time of year is a good time to examine the question ourselves. We must exercise care, though. It is easy to think that the needs of others are there to offer us opportunities to learn compassion and resolve some guilt we may ourselves feel for the quality of our own lives. Yet, doesn't this make the other an object to meet our needs? Meeting the needs of others must be for the sake of others and not for ourselves. So we should approach our work with complete personal contentment and deep grounding.
Just so, these holidays.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Waking to the patter of rain today. The sky is clouded over. The temperature is a chilly 37 degrees. I am wrapped in my robe and feel content to just be here at my desk talking to you.
A sense of contentment is a wonderful thing. Very grounding. Yet, contentment can be dangerous. It is one thing to feel contentment for one's self and entirely another, to be content with the condition of the world in which we live. Feeling content to me means I have little anxiety about myself, my own path, my desires, hopes and dreams. Yet, I am a deeply malcontent-ed person as I look out into that other aspect of myself, the world.
So much fear and anger in the world; so much suspicion and hate. So much disproportionate wealth, poverty, hunger, untreated sickness. And such fear about people getting what some believe they do not deserve.
On one level, I would like to eliminate that word and its meaning from our language. Deservedness, like merit, suggests undeservedness and a lack of merit. The assignment of these values is based on duality. I am different, separate from, you. I do (or don't do) "x" and "deserve" "Y". Or "not Y". Yet we are all of the same species, living together on an interdependent world. We have the same needs, often start out in vastly different circumstances, but according to some, should accept the value system of the few who "own" 90 percent of the wealth. On the other hand, we are, in fact, a part of an interdependent universe and as a result each have some responsibility to offer something to the whole. My practice of late is how to come to terms with this. Everyone is important. Everyone deserves the wherewithall to live.
Maybe this time of year is a good time to examine the question ourselves. We must exercise care, though. It is easy to think that the needs of others are there to offer us opportunities to learn compassion and resolve some guilt we may ourselves feel for the quality of our own lives. Yet, doesn't this make the other an object to meet our needs? Meeting the needs of others must be for the sake of others and not for ourselves. So we should approach our work with complete personal contentment and deep grounding.
Just so, these holidays.
Be well.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Avatar
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
What follows is inspired by both the film, Avatar, and our weekly discussion group held at my residence.
In a world where species specific ethics is the rule, an organic system cannot sustain itself. In a world of egocentricity, a homo sapien system cannot sustain itself. In both cases, we are on the losing side of the rule. Sustainability requires an aim of system wide sustainability. In Merton's words, 'no man is an island', nor, I will add, is a species.
Classic theology has Man at the center of the world, if not the entire universe, and Self and the salvation of self , is the chief product and process of that creation. It is a theology of death, yet masquerades as a supporter of life. Adherents of this theology place everything in service to a single species and, ultimately on each human being as the crown of creation. Even our care and compassion are placed in service to our needs.
Yet, no system can sustain itself without being open and interconnected to other systems. Our planet depends on such interconnectivity. Our individual lives depend on our interconnectivity to other lives. Energy must be transferred. We must see and behave with the heart/mind of the totality, of One.
Some might call this pantheism. Where everything is God and the universe is imbued as Its central nervous system. Some believe this means an end to a personal God. I don't believe it is so. It is only my need to have something like me as deity that I hold onto such a belief. Release that need, open yourself to the entirety of life and such a egocentric need dissolves.
A system large or small must maintain its equilibrium. If we look at any one part of a system as its key element, then we might understand a system's self regulatory balancing as cruel. But sustainability is both the end and the means.
Only through a willingness to see through the eyes of the other can we understand our actual relationships to all things. The film, Avatar, explores such themes in creative and beautiful detail. It is a rare effort to open our heart and open our eyes to things bigger than ourselves. What a wonderful holiday gift.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
What follows is inspired by both the film, Avatar, and our weekly discussion group held at my residence.
In a world where species specific ethics is the rule, an organic system cannot sustain itself. In a world of egocentricity, a homo sapien system cannot sustain itself. In both cases, we are on the losing side of the rule. Sustainability requires an aim of system wide sustainability. In Merton's words, 'no man is an island', nor, I will add, is a species.
Classic theology has Man at the center of the world, if not the entire universe, and Self and the salvation of self , is the chief product and process of that creation. It is a theology of death, yet masquerades as a supporter of life. Adherents of this theology place everything in service to a single species and, ultimately on each human being as the crown of creation. Even our care and compassion are placed in service to our needs.
Yet, no system can sustain itself without being open and interconnected to other systems. Our planet depends on such interconnectivity. Our individual lives depend on our interconnectivity to other lives. Energy must be transferred. We must see and behave with the heart/mind of the totality, of One.
Some might call this pantheism. Where everything is God and the universe is imbued as Its central nervous system. Some believe this means an end to a personal God. I don't believe it is so. It is only my need to have something like me as deity that I hold onto such a belief. Release that need, open yourself to the entirety of life and such a egocentric need dissolves.
A system large or small must maintain its equilibrium. If we look at any one part of a system as its key element, then we might understand a system's self regulatory balancing as cruel. But sustainability is both the end and the means.
Only through a willingness to see through the eyes of the other can we understand our actual relationships to all things. The film, Avatar, explores such themes in creative and beautiful detail. It is a rare effort to open our heart and open our eyes to things bigger than ourselves. What a wonderful holiday gift.
Be well.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Recovery
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
There is no where to go that we have not been. Yet, we always seem to seek something new. Brain on drugs. Every feeling, every sensation,smell, taste, touch, sound, we have experienced either directly in life or indirectly through media. There is, indeed, nothing new under the sun, yet there it is, the next step, the next adventure, trip, meal, movie, partner. Its dizzy making.
What we avoid experiencing is stillness. Serene reflection. Our actual self.
This gives a somewhat different meaning to recovery. Rather than seeking recovery from, we experience recovery of. It is a deeply profound difference with very different assumptions and starting places.
Our original self is our original mind, like that great void across the deep in Genesis, it is our Original Nature. We need not recover from our addictions, distractions, and other delusions, instead we take a backward step and allow them to just be what they are: our job is to see them clearly for the nose-rings they are, for the deluded thinking they are, and for the escapes they offer.
In this place of serene reflection,we release our grip on thought, we let go, and reside in our Original Nature. Taking that next step first requires getting to a condition we call the top of a hundred foot pole. Yet here is the rub, there is no top; there is no bottom. Top and bottom are one in the same. Now what?
When things are buzzing around, witness the buzz. Invite the fly out the door. No where to go; nothing to be.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
There is no where to go that we have not been. Yet, we always seem to seek something new. Brain on drugs. Every feeling, every sensation,smell, taste, touch, sound, we have experienced either directly in life or indirectly through media. There is, indeed, nothing new under the sun, yet there it is, the next step, the next adventure, trip, meal, movie, partner. Its dizzy making.
What we avoid experiencing is stillness. Serene reflection. Our actual self.
This gives a somewhat different meaning to recovery. Rather than seeking recovery from, we experience recovery of. It is a deeply profound difference with very different assumptions and starting places.
Our original self is our original mind, like that great void across the deep in Genesis, it is our Original Nature. We need not recover from our addictions, distractions, and other delusions, instead we take a backward step and allow them to just be what they are: our job is to see them clearly for the nose-rings they are, for the deluded thinking they are, and for the escapes they offer.
In this place of serene reflection,we release our grip on thought, we let go, and reside in our Original Nature. Taking that next step first requires getting to a condition we call the top of a hundred foot pole. Yet here is the rub, there is no top; there is no bottom. Top and bottom are one in the same. Now what?
When things are buzzing around, witness the buzz. Invite the fly out the door. No where to go; nothing to be.
Be well.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Testing is Not Living
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
When we fail our lives seem as if for nothing. Our thoughts scream, our feelings blister, and our hearts feel empty. If failure is a pattern, we begin to think in terms of futility or a corruption of our personality, a loss of soul. Yet, all of this is based in what? A measure we create in the first place and hold out as if it were a litmus test of our worth.
Not so.
Our test is not in our failure or our patterns, but rather in our recognition and willingness to take the next step. Always, it is to do what is there in front of us to do.
Listen to the screams, they are our teachers. Listen to the thoughts, they are our teachers. Listen to our feelings, they are our teachers. Yet, none are the end point, but rather the beginning.
Just so, the successes in life. Another false measure, easy to be mistaken for the moon and not the finger pointing to it. We bathe ourselves in good feeling, positive thoughts and embrace a sense of invincibility. Each are our teachers. Pay attention!
Things always change! Therefore positive and negative are never infinite, but always reside on an infinite continuum. It takes a human heart/mind to assign a point on a fabricated measure in order for them to make any sense at all.
Because everything changes the most important aspect of our lives is how we engage the moment we are in. Just what is our next step, anyway?
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
When we fail our lives seem as if for nothing. Our thoughts scream, our feelings blister, and our hearts feel empty. If failure is a pattern, we begin to think in terms of futility or a corruption of our personality, a loss of soul. Yet, all of this is based in what? A measure we create in the first place and hold out as if it were a litmus test of our worth.
Not so.
Our test is not in our failure or our patterns, but rather in our recognition and willingness to take the next step. Always, it is to do what is there in front of us to do.
Listen to the screams, they are our teachers. Listen to the thoughts, they are our teachers. Listen to our feelings, they are our teachers. Yet, none are the end point, but rather the beginning.
Just so, the successes in life. Another false measure, easy to be mistaken for the moon and not the finger pointing to it. We bathe ourselves in good feeling, positive thoughts and embrace a sense of invincibility. Each are our teachers. Pay attention!
Things always change! Therefore positive and negative are never infinite, but always reside on an infinite continuum. It takes a human heart/mind to assign a point on a fabricated measure in order for them to make any sense at all.
Because everything changes the most important aspect of our lives is how we engage the moment we are in. Just what is our next step, anyway?
Be well.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
No Buddhism
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
In spite of all the books, references, and times it is refered to as such, there is no Buddhism. For there to be a Buddhism, there would need to be a set of beliefs, a dogma, something the "-ism" would reside in. If we seek to adopt a set of values, we are lost. If we believe in Buddha, we are lost. We must allow the sword of Manjushri to set us free.
Followers of the Buddha Way take a backward step. We sit down. We reside in stillness. In this stillness our skins fall away allowing us to touch our True Nature, our True Body. Say what it is, and it is no more. Hold it out as an ideal and it is as good as a stuffed animal.
All that we think we know about Buddhism is delusion. We should get rid of it. It is worse than trash, it is toxic to our practice, which is to say, it closes our eyes. To use a phrase popularized by my friend, Brad Warner, sit down and shut up and in the process, allow our eyes to open.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
In spite of all the books, references, and times it is refered to as such, there is no Buddhism. For there to be a Buddhism, there would need to be a set of beliefs, a dogma, something the "-ism" would reside in. If we seek to adopt a set of values, we are lost. If we believe in Buddha, we are lost. We must allow the sword of Manjushri to set us free.
Followers of the Buddha Way take a backward step. We sit down. We reside in stillness. In this stillness our skins fall away allowing us to touch our True Nature, our True Body. Say what it is, and it is no more. Hold it out as an ideal and it is as good as a stuffed animal.
All that we think we know about Buddhism is delusion. We should get rid of it. It is worse than trash, it is toxic to our practice, which is to say, it closes our eyes. To use a phrase popularized by my friend, Brad Warner, sit down and shut up and in the process, allow our eyes to open.
Be well.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Everyday: Think About It
With palms together,
Good Evening Everyone,
Everyday is a wonder. I look at my hand and marvel at it. I look at my other hand and marvel at it, as well. They couldn't be more different, yet are of the same body. One moves with ease and has tremendous sensitivity. The other hardly moves and when it does it curls into strange twists and strains almost against itself. I feel one, barely feel the other. Just so, my heart/mind.
I consider the cause. A single bullet to the right side of my head on May 29, 1966 is the obvious cause. But equally present was my youthful willingness to go to war. My culture's willingness to have me go there. All of the propaganda, all of the socialization, and religions unwilling to stand up and shout against the grain, "There is another way!"
When I returned from combat, I decided I could no longer support war. Talk is cheap, though. So I protested. At that point in the Vietnam War, people didn't like protesters.
All the same arguments I hear today. What would you do if.... You know, enemy at the gates, etc. Sometimes I feel like doing an Arlo Guthrie on them, "I want to kill!"
Killing should be personal. Perhaps if it were, we might have less willingness to do it. Its easy to drop bombs, fire rockets, and artillery. Even easier with unmanned drones. No muss, no fuss. That's not real killing.
Real Killing is torture. It never stops. There are few days that go by that I don't have a memory of killing. My hand and my rather oddly shaped head see to that.
Yet, on the other hand, my heart/mind spoke loudly when I saw the Trade Centers attacked. Some terrible stuff, that. "I want to kill!"
Yes. And then what?
If the violence is far away and the stench not in our nostrils, no problem. Imagination is a poor simulator. For those who do violence, up front and personal, things are different. As we Buddhists are prone to pontificate, a moment is an eternity. As an Infantryman I attest to this truth.
And that dog eat dog crap is just that, crap. Real survival is based on mutual aid. You want to be strong? Love your neighbor even if he hates you.
Practice to create a pause between thought, feeling and behavior. Reject violence and warfare. It leads to nothing but more of the same and, believe me, it stinks. Practice the gentle way, the way of care and love. Hard, I know this, I am still struggling with being loving, tender and compassionate. Yet, I am convinced this is the way.
Life is nothing if not a great teacher to those willing to learn.
Be well.
Good Evening Everyone,
Everyday is a wonder. I look at my hand and marvel at it. I look at my other hand and marvel at it, as well. They couldn't be more different, yet are of the same body. One moves with ease and has tremendous sensitivity. The other hardly moves and when it does it curls into strange twists and strains almost against itself. I feel one, barely feel the other. Just so, my heart/mind.
I consider the cause. A single bullet to the right side of my head on May 29, 1966 is the obvious cause. But equally present was my youthful willingness to go to war. My culture's willingness to have me go there. All of the propaganda, all of the socialization, and religions unwilling to stand up and shout against the grain, "There is another way!"
When I returned from combat, I decided I could no longer support war. Talk is cheap, though. So I protested. At that point in the Vietnam War, people didn't like protesters.
All the same arguments I hear today. What would you do if.... You know, enemy at the gates, etc. Sometimes I feel like doing an Arlo Guthrie on them, "I want to kill!"
Killing should be personal. Perhaps if it were, we might have less willingness to do it. Its easy to drop bombs, fire rockets, and artillery. Even easier with unmanned drones. No muss, no fuss. That's not real killing.
Real Killing is torture. It never stops. There are few days that go by that I don't have a memory of killing. My hand and my rather oddly shaped head see to that.
Yet, on the other hand, my heart/mind spoke loudly when I saw the Trade Centers attacked. Some terrible stuff, that. "I want to kill!"
Yes. And then what?
If the violence is far away and the stench not in our nostrils, no problem. Imagination is a poor simulator. For those who do violence, up front and personal, things are different. As we Buddhists are prone to pontificate, a moment is an eternity. As an Infantryman I attest to this truth.
And that dog eat dog crap is just that, crap. Real survival is based on mutual aid. You want to be strong? Love your neighbor even if he hates you.
Practice to create a pause between thought, feeling and behavior. Reject violence and warfare. It leads to nothing but more of the same and, believe me, it stinks. Practice the gentle way, the way of care and love. Hard, I know this, I am still struggling with being loving, tender and compassionate. Yet, I am convinced this is the way.
Life is nothing if not a great teacher to those willing to learn.
Be well.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)