There is no day but today

There is no day but today; no yesterday, no tomorrow. More, no moment other than this very moment. As such, there is no birth or death, no younger or older. There is just this now, the now of me typing, breathing, and considering what to say in the next moment.

This is the Zen way of being. 

At 79 and a half, I consider this teaching; it prevents me from wallowing as I age. Well, most of the time anyway. What I must practice with more than anything is the losing of capabilities.  As I write this, I am recognizing the limits of my body as it is in this moment. Believe me, it isn't easy. As a former marathon runner I now fall often, use a walker or cane, and have much less energy than ever before. 

Here's the thing: each moment offers us a teaching when we are open to receive it. 

Can't walk? Sit. Take in the beauty that surrounds us. Right now, I'm writing lying in my hospital bed in my library. i notice a beautiful new cushy Royal Blue blanket my wife bought for me. I look at my bookcases and enjoy reviewing the titles of so many books I've grown to love. There's always something to be grateful for. 

Now, enjoy your moment as I am with you.

Daiho

Morning

 With palms together,  it is a Monday morning here in Las Cruces, NM and the ground is wet from an afternoon and night of rain. The air is heavy with humidity, unusual for us in the desert southwest. 

From my seat I see the sun is peaking out from the clouds. It is a beautiful sight. Ever since Vietnam in 1966 I have been deeply grateful for the morning light and its promise of another day. For me, each day has been an unexpected blessing as I was told at the time I likely would not survive. Ha! I have and at nearly 80 years old my purpose in life has been to be in service to others. 

I don’t know and will likely never know whether I’ve made much of a difference in people’s lives. That’s ok because my awareness of that is not particularly important. We are not to be helpful for ourselves, but for those we help. We are to “just do.”  It’s important to keep that in mind. 

Be well, 

Daiho

Essential Facts

 What are the essential facts? 

I breathe. I feel. I think. I have all my native senses, more or less. I am aging.  And sometime my heart will beat its last on the drum that was my life. 

In the meantime, I will smile when I see my love. I will witness wild birds at my feeder. I will plant vegetables and flowers and watch them grow. These are simple things, but the most important things of any in my day. 

To do these things I must slow down and sit awhile.  There is a park bench out along my path under my ash tree. Sometimes I sit there. Other times on a cushion under an umbrella on my patio.  Then there is morning Zazen; an essential beginning of my day. 

I walk slowly, with a cane, and stumble on occasion. It is no matter of consequence as I eventually get where I am going. There is rarely a hurry in my step. 

My meals are simple but healthy. I have lunch and dinner and a snack sometimes in between.  My wife prepares these meals and I am extremely grateful to her for the love and care she provides. 

All of these are the simple things in life. We should pay close attention to each. Breathe in; breathe out. Sense all you can around you. It is a beautiful world. 🙏🙏🙏

Mindful for What?

With palms together,  we often talk about and teach mindfulness, about being present. But, what we often fail to talk about is the “so what” of it all. So, we are “present” and we are “mindful” and we might then ask ourselves, “ of what or for what?” 

In Jewish tradition there is something called tikun olam, the admonishment to heal the world. In Zen, we have the Third Pure Precept to bring about abundant good for all beings. I fear many of those who “practice” mindfulness fail, deeply fail, to take that next step off the proverbial hundred foot pole and instead just sit there with our thumb up our asses. 

This is a failure of Zen Buddhism. If we take the time to be present with the birds in our yard, we must take the time to feed them. It we take the time to be mindful of the violence, greed, and hate in our world, we must take action to bring peace, charity, and love into the world around us. Otherwise we are simply hypocrites or worse, no better than statues sitting on a cushion. 

May your day not be idle. 

🙏🙏🙏 

Morning Zen

 

Morning Zen is like morning light. While it is dark outside, I feel the light within. In the black robe, It is time for me to greet the dawn.  Reciting the Verse of Repentance, The Three Refuges, and the Wisdom Heart Sutra, I set myself upright and set my intention for the day as I begin to practice zazen.  Master Dogen says when we study the Buddha Way, we study ourselves and in that study mind and body fall away. When this happens, he say, we are enlightened by the myriad things. And so it goes; day buy day, hour by hour, minute by minute, moment by moment.

Be well, be free

Daiho

Peace

 

Awake on the right side of the grass this morning. It’s always refreshing to see the sun and hear the birds. The air is cool today. The morning espresso was more than usually welcome. I cancelled our morning Zen Service this morning in deference to the Christian holiday of Easter.  Easter, like Passover, is a holiday of hope, a hope for peace, and yet here we are still warring with one another both figuratively and actually. Will we ever learn to stop using violence and hate speech to address our differences and conflicts? Given the history of humanity, I somehow doubt it. This saddens me greatly.

War and threats of war rarely, if ever, are useful. Instead, they widen differences, create fear and rationales for further conflict. It seems to me, those who consider themselves to be followers of Jesus ought to beat their swords into plows, sowing seeds of understanding, love, and peace.  After nearly eighty years of life and witness to war and threats of war, I should be far more pessimistic than I am. Instead, I am hopeful, hopeful that the Christ, the Buddha, will rise in the hearts of our civilizations and open the skies to let the sunshine of peace shine in. 

May we each find our way,

Daiho

Discipline

 

Once again at 4:00 AM, I woke up this morning and sat zazen outside with the moon and stars. I am so very grateful for this opportunity each morning as I have no idea how many such mornings I have left in my life. Then at 6:00 AM, I sat a morning Zen service with a small group of Zensters.  These are moments that offer an opportunity to set my intention for the day to come, explore my place in this vast universe, and remind me indeed of the universe’s vastness. There is nothing like sitting out in the open under the stars.

                I remember early mornings back in the late sixties when I sat under a willow tree in my backyard in Miami Florida. I sat with mosquitoes and “no see ‘ums” trying to maintain my posture and stillness. And then years later sitting in my meadow in the mountains of southern New Mexico and on the streets of Las Cruces… it took quite an effort on my part, believe me. But there I sat and I think that discipline has served me well over the decades of practice.  

                I’m not sure what “served me well” actually means I just know that I can sit nearly anywhere at anytime and remain in stillness. Maybe that’s enough. Try it, you might like it!

Daiho