StreetZen Ordination

Good Morning Everyone,

 

The winds blew fiercely across the construction site of the new Federal Building in downtown Las Cruces, spraying us with sand as we sat for our peace vigil on Church Street.  At the very beginning of the sit, Rev. Bussho sat in front of me and I offered her the vows of a Zen priest in our Order. I had to do the ceremony from memory and without incense or candle. She repeated them flawlessly. We recited the Wisdom Heart sutra, the verse of repentance, and I dabbed her head with water using a pine bough she had picked for the purpose.  We then recited the Three Refuges, the Three Pure Precepts, and the Ten Grave Precepts.  With a crack of the kyosaku on her shoulders, it was done. I offered Rev. Bussho my kyosaku, given to me by my teacher, and presented her with a rakusu in the new emerald green color of our order.  Rev. Bussho is the first priest ordained in our new Order of Clear Mind Zen. 

 

Afterwards we sat in zazen holding small signs for peace and Earth Witness.  Then along came Abbey, the teen granddaughter of one of our vigil participants.  She was excited to see a woman Zen priest sitting there and asked a number of questions.  It was good to see them talk, yet the wind was relentless.  After an hour we left and had some pie and tea in celebration at the Village Inn. 

 

A good day.

 

Be well.

 

 

.

 

Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi 

Clear Mind Zen

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The Real Zen

Good Morning Everyone,

 

So, we sit down on a cushion, face a wall, place our palms together, bow, take up the cosmic mudra and practice presence. We breathe in, we breathe out.  We let our self fall away. As we and the Infinite realize our oneness. Then a bell rings, we bow, rise and perhaps recite a sutra or some vows and move on through our day. So?

 

Unless we carry those vows, the essential nature of the sutra, the essential connection with the Infinite gained on that cushion into the world, our sitting is meaningless.  When you read these words what is your experience?

 

When your partner is crabby or your boss a jerk or traffic deeply, tightly congested, what is your experience?

 

This is your real practice.  The cushion is essential, but still only prep work.

 

Do the prep, then walk the walk.

 

Be well.

 

Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi 

Clear Mind Zen

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Ordination

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Rev. Bonnie Bussho Hobbs will undergo Shukke Tokudo, becoming a full priest in the Order of Clear Mind Zen during streetZen Wednesday, January 30 at 4:00 PM near the corner of Church and Griggs next to the Federal Building. All who wish to attend and honor Rev. Bussho, please come.

 

Be well. 

 

Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi 

Clear Mind Zen

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Facing the Sun

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Your Original Face is faceless.

Like a boundless mirror,

There it is in everything you

See, taste, feel, smell, hear, and  think. 

Know it.

 

This is the meaning of form.

 

This is the meaning of formlessness. 

 

Practicing the forms

Allows formlessness to be realized.

Not practicing the forms

Makes them prison walls.

 

Freedom resides

Within the boundaries of form.

To be truly free,

Take up a daily practice

And do it religiously.

 

As we practice

Our daily practice,

Our heart-mind opens

As if it were a morning glory

Facing the sun.  

 

Let us grow.

 

Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi 

Clear Mind Zen

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Change

Good Morning Everyone,

 

In life it is always a good idea to be open to your actual experience.  We tend to live in our thoughts so much that we are really not as open as we could be.  The result is a constant strain to keep things from changing.  An impossible task, of course, as life itself is constant change.  But if we live in our thoughts, the real, actual world does not have an opportunity to present itself as it is.  This is very sad because if we keep things from changing, against the natural order of things, then we live in death itself.

 

As I write to you this morning, for example, I sit with Pete-kitty on my right and Tripper, the cockapoo, on my left.  Both are sleeping, but in close proximity to me in the middle. The coffee is ready.  I have to go to my cushion shortly. And in just two sentences I am not sitting here with you.  Did you notice?

 

This is important because we live in relationship either to others or to our physical world.  When we cut ourselves off from the living nature of our relationships we die.

 

Life is like that, so our vigilance toward living awake must be constant and real.  We should check ourselves with nearly every breath.  It is in every breath that we create ourselves.

 

On a personal note: The last couple of days have been a bit of a challenge.  My Little Honey is not well.  She has a chest cold and nagging cough that has resulted in a very irritated throat.  I hope she wakes this morning feeling a little better today.  We have had to cancel things and she cannot teach religious school this morning at the Temple. Neither of us get sick very often, but when we do, geeez, its a lulu. Son Jason came through his heart procedure nicely and my mother has returned home from the rehab center.  Also, it seems one of two expecting nieces delivered her baby yesterday!

 

Life is change, indeed.

 

Be well.

 

Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi 

Clear Mind Zen

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Killing

Good Morning Everyone,

I vow not to kill.

All living things should be treated with respect and with the understanding that they possess Buddha Nature. Our precept against killing is an indication of our willingness to keep this understanding in our experience as we live out our lives. We vow not to kill, but understand that life lives off of life. So this precept against killing cannot be about killing to live. Killing to kill is not respectful. Killing for glory is not respectful. Killing for fun is not respectful. These are not acceptable in terms of our vow not to kill.,

If we have roaches in our kitchen we should try to tease them away, or trap and release them or, failing in that, we must kill them because they pose a health risk to human beings and the observe of our precept is to support life.

On the other hand, if we have a mouse in our kitchen we should trap it with a non-lethal trap and release it to the wild. Doing so takes a little effort, but the powerful sense of deep care that arises as a result of such action will pervade the universe. It is in this that the precept takes its life and its meaning.

So, we recognize that killing is a part of existing, but we also refrain from killing unnecessarily and look for ways to nurture and protect all life if possible. We cannot be rigid and black and white in our approach to life. Life is not like that. Besides, its why we have shin: heart/mind.

Be well.

Tails A-Waggin'

Good Afternoon Everyone,

 

Zen is a way of life, indeed, it is life itself.  When we practice Zen we are alive and awake.  When we do not practice Zen we are asleep and dead. No special tools are required, just a willingness to open our eyes to see and our lungs to breathe.

 

This morning I made a tuna salad for our breakfast club.  The pups, Pepper and, rounded the corner as soon as they heard the hand cranked can opener at work.  Pete-kitty followed close behind. All waited patiently -- and not so patiently -- as I emptied the can, chopped the onion, and mixed the relish, peas, and spices, into the tuna. 

 

Pete-kitty was insistent, but he really does not like tuna.  Tripper was doing near back flips to get at the can.  Pepper, old dog that he is, waited patiently.  I gave him a small chunk of tuna and topped it off with a dog biscuit, as I slipped the near empty can to Tripper.

 

During this whole live theatre, I kept awake.  Opening the can I was aware I was opening the can.  Dealing with tails-a-waggin' I was aware I was dealing with tails-a-waggin'; mixing the salad I was aware I was mixing the salad.  I witnessed without reference to self, just opening, dealing, mixing, each in their appropriate turn and place.  

 

I am always aware of where this food comes from; aware of the lives offered to be food itself; and of the many hands involved in bringing it to me. Pete-kitty is not as aware, nor is Tripper or Pepper.  They just smell food and salivate until they can get their teeth into it.  We human beings are fortunate.  We have the ability to practice Zen.  We have the capacity to be awake and alive.

 

A bow to each of you.

 

 

 

Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi 

Clear Mind Zen

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