Bodhisattvas are Everywhere

Good Morning Everyone,


Yesterday for the first time in more than 40 years I picked up a pair of drum sticks. It was a moment that terrified me on the one hand and made my heart feel warm, on the other hand. It seems I used to be a drummer in my teens, but being shot in the head changes everything. Anyway, we found ourselves at Mountain Music, a small used musical instrument shop in Las Cruces. There we met a Vietnam vet named Jerry. As we walked through the pulled high drums, I pulled a pair of old, used drumsticks from a cowboy boot and clutched one in my atrophied left hand holding it firmly on a snare drum. Some old folks were jamming with guitars in a corner and I quietly kept the beat with them. Jerry must have approved as he gave me the pair of drumsticks as we began to leave the store. Maybe I will duct tape the stick into my hand. Maybe I will just do what I can. Jerry promised to find me a used drum set we could afford. Bodhisattvas of compassion are everywhere. Be well

News for 11/2/11

With respect, Good Morning Everyone,




Our water has been turned off at the temple due to our landload not paying the water bill :( So, we will not be open today. We will check on the water's status later today and let you know what's up.



We have created an online Blog Radio talkshow called "Zen Living" and our first "episode" is schduled for 1:00 PM MT. We will talk about Zen 101. The show is only 15 minutes long as we are not purchasing a "premium" account. We are setting up this show to repeat weekly at the same time. People can call in and we will send out information on Monday morning about how to do that.



Other news, we will represent our Order at a local interfaith religious conference tomorrow evening at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Cathedral from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM in support of an effort to stop the flood of foreclosures in our area.



It was good to see everyone last night at Zen 101! Thank you so much for coming and we look forward to seeing you next week. Don't forget about Zazenkai this Saturday at 9:00! If you haven't registered and still wish to attend, please email us ASAP.



Yours,

Moments

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Goodness, it is Halloween already. I cannot believe how quickly time seems to be passing. It seems as we age this is what happens. I remember as a child I could not wait for “X” and it seemed as though time was like a pole I had to climb and as I put one hand in front of another, it stretched on up just out of reach. Today, for me, that pole seems greased and slippery and I am sliding down far too quickly. I am confessing here that I do not want to get to the bottom of that pole. Why?

It is not that I fear the end of the pole. The pole never really ends. Its more that I want to slow the fall and live as fully as possible along every inch of the way. When time slips by it means I have not been awake to the experience of each moment. That is the problem with reverie, isn’t it? When holding on to the past or seeking the future we fail the moment. Moments are far too precious to not experience.

So, today, I vow to wake up to each and every moment.

Be well.

Training Plan: Arms and Shoulders weight workout, a two mile easy run, yoga this evening, and Zazen at 9:30 AM.

Day of the Dead

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,

Our dogs are playing with their “Big Dog Bones” and enjoying the cold morning air here in the desert. We have not yet turned on the heat in the house. It seems, like the dogs, we both enjoy the chill. Yesterday we hung out in the plaza with the Day of the Dead memorials. We were going to set up an altar but at the last minute changed our minds. We will set up an altar next year with Jizo Bodhisattva leading the way.

Jizo is a wonderful bodhisattva. He represents that aspect of us which protects and nurtures expectant mothers, children who died as a result of miscarriage, abandonment and abuse, as well as travelers and firemen. He is the bodhisattva who vows never to enter nirvana until all “hell-beings” are awakened and set free.

I think it is important to recognize that the Hell Realms and the Hungry Ghosts are just us in this place at this moment if we are grasping for, and attaching to, any ideas of gain, self, and awakening. To free ourselves we simply open that hand of thought and let our heart/minds open.

Be well.

Spinning

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



The sun is not yet awake in this part of the world, although I have faith that the burning globe will seem to rise over the mountains in the east and spread its warmth out over all of us. Our perception is simply not to be trusted. We think the earth is spinning around the sun and the sun is spinning around in the galaxy and the galaxy is spinning around in the universe, but that spinning itself is just a result of our perception, which is to say, how our brain functions. Spinning is an artifact of our perception. It only is because we see one “thing” in relation to another “thing,” that we see “movement ” at all. Thus, sitting in my chair writing to you I feel stationary, and on this morning’s walk, I will feel I am moving. Yet, I know this is not the case. Movement and lack of movement are in my mind’s eye. So, while we often say everything changes, because of this, we can just as easily say nothing changes. In the relative world, everything is in motion; in the absolute world, there is no motion.

Just now, I hear a rooster crow.

Be well.

Large and Small

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,

The universe is not large. The tip of your finger is not small.  Large and small are ideas we bring to our perception. Let go of large and small, hot and cold, good and bad, and the tip of your finger, just as the universe itself, has no limits.

Be well.

Training

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,

Training schedules are on my mind as I am about to go in to see my cardiologist and be, hopefully, released to train.  Soku Shin and I have tentatively agreed to do the Honorary Bataan Death March in March.  This is a tough course consisting of 14 miles of desert trails. We also agreed to train-up for a 10k run in the relatively near future.  So, it is important to get our butts in gear. 

We are not certain what 10k or when, but I have designed a training plan that will get us to the Bataan race with relative ease.  J  My thoughts are to find a race in December, some jingle bell run or other.

I am adding in yoga to the schedule, as well as my old weight routine.  It is important to balance things out.  Running does things to muscles and metabolism, stretching and deep yogic breathing aids in the restoration and healing of torn muscle fibers from both anaerobic and aerobic exercise. We will round this all off with an adherence to a modified Mediterranean diet we both can eat. 

As a head’s up on other topics, I have been discussing with Brad Warner a visit to our communities (El Paso, Las Cruces, and Deming).  He is suggesting the dates around March 9^th.  I will try to settle on dates and then get in touch with those in El Paso and in Deming (our friends at the Deming Zen Center have voiced an interest in having Brad come there) to discuss details.

We still have three openings for Zazenkai on November 5^th if you are interested.  Please sign up at the Temple, pay in advance, and don’t forget your oryoki sets. (We do have sets at the Temple we can rent to you for $5.00 or sell to you for $20.00.)

Lastly, I have edited the reading list on our website.  It is, as always, a work in progress.  Please take a look at it. In the near future we will be adding a link to Amazon on the “Suggested Readings” page so that you might go directly there to purchase texts.  I will post to you when that has been accomplished. 

Be well.