Courage

 

With palms together, Good Morning All,

 

“You cannot be a hero unless you are prepared to give up everything; there is no ascent to the heights without prior descent into darkness, no new life without some form of death.”

Armstrong, “A Short History of Myth,”  P.37

 

There is no shortage of this mythic truth. Gilgamesh, Jacob, the Hebrews, Buddha, and Jesus all descended into darkness, wrestled with that darkness and emerged changed in dramatic ways. It is no different today with each of us.  We are struggling in the darkness of a pandemic, a world threatening ecological disaster, and a threat to our democracy. Some of us put our heads in the sand, some of us hold up signs, some of us do nothing but get through our day.  What we do reveals our character.

 

The Three Pure Zen Buddhist precepts teach us we are to be responsible human beings.  We are to cease doing evil.  We are to do good. And we are to bring about abundant good for all beings. Let these resonate for a bit. Let them arise from within us.  Let us each, then, explore the meanings.  What is evil?  What is good?  How can we assist others by bringing about abundant good?

 

I am not here to answer these questions for you.  They are yours to answer for yourself.  What I can say is that to address these questions with integrity requires us to struggle with our own moral foundations and it is in this struggle that we gain strength, clarify our understanding, and are able then to set forth on the Eightfold Noble Path.  We die to ourselves and are born anew; we become bodhisattvas.

 

May we each establish a daily intention to step into our darkness and rise into the light.

 

Daiho

A little art lesson

Soldiers for Humanity?

Precept Study

OBON Zazenkai

 

(Note:  In service to Hungry Ghosts)

Order of Clear Mind Zen Obon Service

(Needed:  Sweat Cakes wrapped in plain white paper)

 

 

Remembering Our Ancestors

We dedicate this service to the successive generations of buddhas who transmitted the flame that we may do the same.

mShakamuni Butsu Dai Osho

mBodaiharuma Dai Osho

mDaikan Enô Dai Osho

mEihei Dôgen  Dai Osho

mZengaku Sôyû Matsuoka Dai Osho

 

Kannon Sutra

(5) Kanzeon

 

Praise to Buddha

 

All are one with Buddha

 

All awake to Buddha

 

Buddha Dharma Sangha

 

Eternal joyous selfless pure

 

Through the day

 

Kanzeon

 

Through the night

 

Kanzeon

 

This (7) moment arises from Mind

 

This (7) moment itself is  Mind

(x7)

 

 

mThe Great Compassionate Dharani

Adoration to the three treasures, buddha, dharma, and sangha!
Adoration to Kannon, the bodhisattva mahasattva,
the bodhisattva of compassion!
Adoration to the one who removes all fear and suffering!

Having adored Kannon bodhisattva, may we now recite this glorious dharani which purifies all beings, which fulfills the wishes of all beings.

Hail to the bodhisattva mahasattva who embodies the trikaya,
who has the transcendental wisdom.

Hail to bodhisattva mahasattva who continues to save all beings
without defilement in his mind.

Hail to bodhisattva mahasattva who sustains the highest, the most complete wisdom and who is free from all impediments.

Hail to bodhisattva mahasattva whose deeds reveal the
fundamental purity of all beings.

Hail to bodhisattva mahasattva, who wipes away
the three evil delusions - greed, anger, and folly.

Quick, quick! Come, come! Here, here!
A joy springs up in us. Help us to enter into the realm of great realization.

Kannon bodhisattva, bodhisattva of compassion,
guide us to spiritual contentment.
Accomplishment, accomplishment!

Having testified to the freedom and compassion of the mind of Kannon, Having purified our own body and mind,
Having become as brave as a lion,
Having become manifest into all beings,
Having attained to the wheel of dharma and the lotus flower,
we can now save all beings without hindrance.
May the understanding of the mysterious nature of Kannon
prevail forever, ever and ever.

Adoration to the three treasures, buddha, dharma, and sangha!
Adoration to Kannon, the bodhisattva mahasattva,
the bodhisattva of compassion!
May this dharani be effective. Hail!

 

 

 

Sweet Cakes Offering to Hungry Ghosts

Incense Offering

Fu - e - ko

May this merit extend universally to all,

So that we, together with all beings,

realize the Buddha way. 

Change

 A lot on my mind today. And as a result a few changes. 

I have decided to withdraw from public life. I have stepped away from the radio show and will only use social media to show art work and offer teachings in the Zen tradition. I will continue training my current students but will not accept new students. 

Fundamentally, I am retiring to focus my attention on my practice and life as a priest.  Treating my residence as my monastery, containing myself to my zendo and library with occasional use of the kitchen and living room. 

May you each be a blessing in the universe.

Situations

 With palms together,

Good Afternoon All,

We each suffer moments throughout our day. Sometimes these are truly difficult and often, less difficult, but moments of suffering non-the-less. Our situation may be critical, it may contain triggers that bring us to responses of anger or hurt, sadness or remorse, but its not the situation that is the issue, but ratherm our responses to it.

Situations are just situations, they are the "given" of the moment. Often out of our power to change, they have the power to trigger us. What we tend to do is blame the situation, or what we perceive to be the causes of the situation, but these are what they are and we cannot change them.

What we can change is how we respond when in the middle of them, because it is often our response that makes the situation worse. It is "something added."

A wise man once told me to "sit on my hands" when playing chess. He rightly observed I was "snapping off" moves...much to my own detriment. We all tend to do this, snap off a feeling, blame someone or something, and dig in when this "snap" creates a sense of defensiveness on others. It is rarely the situation that is the problem then; it is our felt response.

My advise? Sit on your hands, or in other words, practice the Buddha Way and stop. Take care of yourself, then open your heart to those in front of you and let the rest fall away.

With gratitude,

Daiho