Bodhisattvas

With respect,


An elderly man came upon the stage last night at the Cattleman’s. Shaky and unsure of himself, as he was just learning to play his guitar, he began to strum. Straining to see his sheet music in the stage lighting, he lost his place several times, tweaked a string or two, and started over two or three times. The elder was clearly on the verge of tears.

Just then the organizer, who acted as stage manager, bolted out of his seat, grabbed his guitar out of its case, and nearly flew to the stage positioning himself behind the elder. The two finished the piece together. Then just as quickly, the organizer left the stage asking for a round of applause from the back. Bodhisattvas don’t think; they do.



Be well

February 1

With palms together


Good Morning Everyone,



Today is the last day of Soku Shin’s retreat at Upaya in Sante Few. She did very well, braving sub-freezing temperatures and seven days of intensive seated practice. She will be finished at 3:00 PM, but will stay the night in Albuquerque in order to visit a family member.

Intensive retreats are a foundation of our Zen practice. They are critical to our development, adding stamina and deep strength to our practice. Please consider joining us at our coming Zazenkai on Saturday the 4th from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Below is our schedule. You may enter and leave as necessary.

This afternoon at 4:00 PM I will practice Street Zen at the Federal Building in Las Cruces. You are welcome to join me. Bring your cushion and bear witness.

_____

Zazenkai Schedule

08:00-09:00 Zazen 2@25

09:00-10:00 Break/Samu

10:00 - 11:30 Opening Ceremony, Sanpai, Robe Verse, Verse of Atonement, Three Refuges, the Heart Sutra, Tea Service, Teisho, Zazen 3@25

11:30-12:00 Samu/Break

12:00-1:00 Lunch (Oryoki)

1:00-2:00 Study

2:00-3:30 Zazen 3@25

3:30-3:45 Closing Ceremonies: Hanya Shin Gyo, Four Vows, Incense Offering, Fueko

3:45- 4:00 Prep for Meeting

4:00- 6:00 Priest’s Meeting

_______

Be well

Swirl

With respect,


Good Morning All,



While sitting with the morning light I caught a glimpse. Fleeting it was, Nothing can be held. Everything changes. Everything. Always. We say these things. Do we understand? And if we understand, do we realize? Words like everything and always offer an invitation to drop away the finite. Words like beginning, middle, and end refer to the finite and take away from the infinite. Moving, constantly moving, the universe seems a swirl when not in buddha’s eye. In truth, nothing is moving, nothing is changing, everything is nothing when all is one. Good grief. No wonder we say, don’t just do something, sit there! Or, in my case, eat toast with peanut butter.

Be well.

This Week

With respect,


Good Morning All,



There is something about the morning that has forever inspired me. I think it must have something to do with the intersection of morning light and a fresh mind. Sleep, if one is so fortunate as to have had it, is a wonderful cleanser of the junk accumulated through a day and when we open our eyes to be greeted by the light, it is quite glorious.



This week we will practice Zazen today at 10, Monday at 10 and 6, and Thursday at 10. Zen Study group will be Monday at 7. We will also practice street Zen at the Federal Building on Wednesday at 4.



Saturday is our February Zazenkai. We begin at 8 and close at 4. A priest’s meeting will follow. Please let me know if you plan to attend the Zazenkai.



Be well

What Matters

Good Morning All,








Ever wake up in the morning and wonder just what was going on? I have. Many, many times. Each time I open my eyes, actually, a new day with new possibilities presents itself. On some mornings the sensation is deeper, perhaps more profound, like a thud on my chest or a knock on my head. It cannot be ignored. This was one of those mornings.







A little background: As a child, no one in my family went to college. I dropped out of high school, enlisted, then was shot in the head in Vietnam. Over time, I finished high school, went to college and moved on. When I moved to Las Cruces from Cleveland, I was considered an expert in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. I had completed my PhD dissertation at a premier university on the Meaning of Combat in Vietnam, traveled from coast to coast doing training seminars for psychologists, nurses, counselors, and social workers on PTSD, edited a clinical textbook on practice with difficult client populations, and just sold a rather large and successful human services corporation I had founded. Once here, I quickly rose to the position of head of outpatient operations at a local psychiatric hospital. From there, I became the head of mental health services for a school system. In short, I was quite used to being understood as the go-to guy for mental health issues, etc. I was used to being referred to as ‘the doctor.’ Very heady, full of myself crap, that life.







I left all of that to practice Zen. I went to a little known temple in the mountains, studied with a little known roshi who was the disciple of a little known Japanese Zen master, and was quite willing to let myself fall away.







Old habits die hard, though. Those who start from nothing, build. Starting from nothing, I re-established my teacher’s Zen Center. I left that to do street practice. I then established the Order of Clear Mind Zen. Again, building. Good grief, don’t I ever learn?







What I woke up to this morning was a profound truth. None of that matters. Not the PhD., the ordinations, the building, none of it. All that matters is whether I am awake in this very moment and as a result, how I am with you.







What we practice to do, is to do the best we can with what we have. If we sit still long enough, we realize we have the entire universe if we simply get out of our own way. What I am learning over and over and over again is that letting ourselves fall away is also an every moment practice.







Be well

Zen

Good Morning All,


The Zen of the Order of Clear Mind Zen is the simple straightforward living out of life as it is. Easy enough, right? Just take what comes and open yourself to it. Enfold it in your heart, care for it, and let it go. Yet, to do this requires an absolute faith in the cosmos and an intimate knowledge of your true nature.

What is this?

When we sit down to practice and breath in, what are we literally doing? On the most basic level, “outside” is coming “inside” and on the inside the outside is no longer outside, but is now inside. Conversely, as we breath out, the inside goes outside, becoming outside. When is outside, inside? When is inside, outside? What are these terms anyway and don’t they just confuse the actual situation?

What is this?

In each breath, the universe enters us, on each breath, we enter the universe. So in a very real way, universe and we are not two.

Words like inside, outside, cosmos, us, and breathing, are just labels for concepts that are actually process: they are at no point, singular. There is never a moment that is not process. Therefore, there is, actually, never a moment which exits independently. Moment is a fiction.

Just so, we can only be, not become. As Master Dogen pointed out, ash is completely ash; firewood is completely firewood. Our practice is to live fully in our complete awareness of each awareness. Aware we are breathing in, we breathe in; aware we are breathing out, we breathe out. Nothing more or less than that.

So, what are we to do? How are we to be? Touch your heart/mind and there it is.

Be well.

Radical Weird

Good Morning Zensters,

So, last night I came to some decisions.  Finally.  First, I am on the Net to stay.  Second, everything changes, always.  So, we cannot count on anything.  It is important that we really get this, that we get this in our bones.  If we want to be happy we need to learn not to hang on to shit.  let it go, wipe our butt and move on.

Here's to flushing down the crap.
Bows y'all