On Teaching

With palms together,


Hello Everyone,



This morning came in fits and starts. Up and down with barking dogs: wanting out, wanting in, wanting to eat Pete-kitty. Thank goodness I fell asleep after dinner last night which allowed for an extra hour or two of sleep. I did take my disciple, Dai Shugyo’s advice, and drank a cup of hot chocolate. It helped. Since there is nothing we can control, I resolved to accept what was, dogs and all.



I have been re-reading Kennet-roshi’s famous text, “Zen is Eternal Life” and want to say that every time I read that book I gain something of useful value. While a serious and quite strict Master, Kennet-roshi was thoroughly grounded in the Buddha’s teaching. Moreover, she took on the Bodhisattva ideal from the inside out. In writing about the rise of Mahayana practice from its “Hinayana” roots, she claims, quite obviously, that the Buddha’s life itself is evidence of his manifestation of the Bodhisattva ideal.



Just there, living purely in thusness, Buddha decided to teach and cure rather than enter Nirvana. She argues with the parable of the father and three sons in a burning house, the notion that skillful means may include teaching using differing means and levels of understanding, and that this practice is not deception. We must teach to what we understand our student may accept.



Such a practice does take us on a rough ride, however. We teach form first, explore its meaning second. We practice first, explore its teaching second. We do not put the cart in front of the horse, which is where many of us sit all the while wondering why we aren’t “getting anywhere.” Moreover, a cart without a horse is as useful as a horse without a cart. Both are essential for the horse-drawn cart to manifest its function.



Teachers are given authority to teach only after considerable practice. Practice is the horse; teaching is the cart. Too often, it seems to me, those coming to Zen come in through a book, which is fine, but then they stay there. Coming to the Way through a book or magazine is a good thing, but staying there is not. Any text on Zen, if it does not admonish the reader to practice, is misleading the reader. We cannot “know” Zen in the intellectual sense. Zen must be intuited through practice. Our practice may be through rigorous koan work or silent illumination meditation.



Lastly, Zen is not a word game. Get the drift of the teacher then sit down and shut up. The true teaching comes from your practice and you cannot practice when picking at words.



Be well.

Moment to Moment

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Change is our essential nature. Everything we think we know is incorrect by the time we know it. I am surprised at how much we tend to resist this fact. Just what do we think we would do if we could hold on to something and not have it change, and thus by definition, slip away? One thing seems certain: boredom would be a prominent feature.



So, while the nature of things is change, our brain builds a picture of an aggregate and holds on tightly to that picture. It is our brain that makes something something. The red cup I am sipping my morning coffee from came from the Panda Exhibit at the Memphis Zoo. I got it on a trip to see my daughter and grandson. It is special to me. Yet, as every day passes, so does its ability to retain itself. Moreover, its meaning shifts as my daughter and I are in opposing corners waiting for the bell to ring.



We want very much to hold onto an image of something rather than the thing itself, as we know (I think intuitively) everything changes.



Our practice is a straight up, moment-to-moment, appreciation, and letting go practice. Through this practice, we come to not only see, but actualize change. In this actualization is the heart of stillness we have come to call serene reflection.



May we practice this serenity in every breath.



Be well.

The Day

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,





Last night I came “home” to a leather sofa with a hole in its corner: Suki did it. She is now spending her days in her cage. Somehow, I need to repair that sofa. My Daughter-in-Law suggested an automotive store. She knows things like this. So, sometime today I will visit the Auto Zone.



Anyway, I got to the Temple and opened her up at 6:00 AM. Zazen at 7:00 was followed by a talk with a neighbor who is very interested in Zen. I handed him a flier and invited him to visit us for Zazen.



We just need to be here. People will come and when they do, they will expect someone to be here to listen to them and to offer them instruction.



At 10:00 AM, I will meet a friend who will help me move bookcases and possibly our futon. Then I will attend a Clergy Lunch.



I want to thank all of you who assisted us in moving into the Temple: Reba, Joe, Ken, Celia, Colette, and now Ken S. You are all bodhisattvas.



Such a wonderful life this is.



Be well.

Buddha

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



“Trying to find a buddha or enlightenment is like trying to grab space. Space has a name, but no form. …The buddha is a product of your mind.” So says Bodhidharma in his Bloodstream Sermon. He goes on to say, “To find a buddha, you have to see your own nature. Whoever sees his nature is a buddha.”



If you should meet someone who claims to be a buddha or enlightened, offer prayers for them, they are deluded. To see our own nature is to see emptiness and emptiness has no name. Again Bodhidharma, “If you envision a buddha, a dharma, or a bodhisattva and conceive respect for them, you relegate yourself to the realm of mortals. …The sutras say, “That which is free of all form is the buddha.””



So, then what is a buddha? Your own true nature. There is nowhere to go with that. Nothing to do with that. Nothing that can be said about that.



When we touch that impermanence, there are no words that can capture it and no words to describe it: in fact, words destroy it.



Practice and allow buddha entry into the world.



Be well.

Just Do

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Moving day has arrived. Wouldn’t you know I have a low-grade fever! It is hovering between 99 and 100 degrees F. This will offer me a lesson about going out! Yesterday at noon I went to see the film, “Inception” and actually enjoyed myself. Then I came home, worked a bit to finish another sign (this one for the entrance). Then went over to the other condo and swept it out. My Ex and I finally came to an agreement to offer them for a short sale.



We have to complete a ton of paperwork, though. We just cannot escape that side of the Relative world.



As the Ancients teach, though, just do what is in front of us to do. We should do whatever it is we are doing with care, compassion, dedication, and full attention. This is One Practice Samadhi



Therefore,, we will move today with appropriate care and presence.

.

Be well.

Practice Whispers

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Last night I decided to watch a little TV. I do not have “TV” myself, but my ex does and since I am house sitting/dog sitting, I decided to try it. Wasn’t much. Within ten or fifteen minutes, I was asleep.

When I woke up, I turned the thing off. It now sits there like a giant mouth desiring only to swallow those around it. I am glad I escaped if only through sleepiness.

After waking up, I was talking to my girlfriend (good grief, that sounds weird, do those in their sixties have girlfriends?) and I told her I felt bored. In retrospect, I think it is something else. I feel disengaged. I so easily fell asleep with the TV, and lately I find myself nodding off while practicing zazen. I have nearly zero desire to go out of the house. I pursue the causes of this with great effort.

The Sixth Patriarch says we should practice to speak what our heart/mind thinks; there should be no difference. “Don’t practice hypocrisy with your mind, while you talk about being straightforward with your mouth.” In Zen Group yesterday we talked about this and the sense arose that in order to practice in our way we must be fearless.

Is the issue ego, protection of self, or identity? We practice to let body and mind drop away, yet there is ego grasping to stay. When we move on, past self, there is no hindrance of the mind, no fear, or so teaches the Wisdom Sutra: Wonderful news for Shariputra, but another story for us mere mortals. The truth is we suffer to the extent that we hold on to our ideas about our self. So I ask, “who am I?” In a whisper, I hear, “No one.” Not very satisfying, but it will do.



Be well.

Correction

United Nations International Day of Peace Interfaith “Musical Celebration for Peace”. It will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 200 Boutz, on Sunday, September 19th. Round Table Discussions will be from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The musical celebration begins at 7:30 PM.