Morning Light

 

Good morning all,

When my son was a baby, I used to chant him awake with this:

The birds are up

The flowers and the trees are up

It’s upsy wupsy time!

And so here I am in the morning after having sat outside with my flowers, trees and birds considering my day. I will give a Dharma talk on Zoom this morning, I will go to the store for a new garden hose, I will read some but mostly enjoy the company of my family.  For me, mornings are always special because I survived the night. There was a time a few decades ago when I wasn’t so certain. I had been shot in the head, lying in combat, doing what I could to stay awake till morning.  Such moments seem indelible. Painful, yet so special as they remind me to be ever so grateful for each morning to enjoy my life and to be of service to others.

May each of you find gratitude in your life and may you each find ways to be in service to others.

Be well,

Daiho

Butterfly

 

Yesterday I saw my first butterfly of the season. It was beautiful.  While our world certainly has ugliness, it is also filled with beauty. When I worked on the Navajo reservation, the People often talked about walking in beauty or following the Beauty way. I saw this as much like our Buddhist principle of walking the Buddha way, a way of mindful attention. A morning butterfly is such a reminder.

Be well,

Samu

 

March 18, 2026

                This morning I will be working as best I can in my backyard garden and bird sanctuary.  There is much to do: planting flowers and a couple vegetables, feeding the birds, watering, fertilizing the rose bushes, and spraying to prevent bugs. I don’t know whether I will finish everything or not, but it really doesn’t matter. What matters is doing, not getting done.  This is how we approach “samu,” or how we understand work as meditation.

                Everything should be done with mindful attention. I will prepare the soil for planting, tilling it, adding a bit of fertilizer, adding water, etc. I will carefully fill the bird feeders, add water to the bird bath, and re-positioning them on their hangers.  Resting between each task and not attending too much to the time, but rather fully enjoying being with each task as it arises.  This is what is meant by being Zen, rather than doing Zen, an important distinction.

                Practicing Zen is practicing in life itself. It is not separate. When we live with attention to the life we are living as we actually live it we are practicing Zen.  A cumbersome sentence, I know, yet too often we forget that Zen is much larger than that practiced in a Zendo.  People often say they are practicing “Buddhism” and don’t understand there is no such thing as “Buddhism.”  There is, however, the “Buddha Way.”  The Buddha Way is life itself, which is why Kennet Roshi referred to her book as “Zen is Eternal Life.”  True Zen is not a philosophy, it is not a religion, it is not a way of life, but rather,  a way of being.

                Now it is time for me to go outdoors. Be well, be alive, be present.

Daiho

Windshield?

 

Living Zen can sometimes be a challenge. Take yesterday for instance.  I had ordered a very expensive windshield for my CanAm motorcycle and had made an appointment with the dealer to have it installed. I arrived early, checked in and began to wait. I was told it would be an hour. I brought with me a copy of Hesse’s book, Siddhartha, and began to read. An hour and a half later I asked about the progress. I was told after a bit that the mechanic had trouble locating the thing in the parts department, but he had found it. So, another hour was projected. I waited. I began to sit in Zazen.

 

                One of the service reps asked me what I was doing, I told him and we chatted a bit about Zen. I gave him my card and went back to practice. Sometime passed and I finally asked for the service department manager. After a while longer he and the parts department manager came out to talk with me. It seems they ordered the wrong windshield, and I needed to select another one that would fit my bike. I had been at the shop for two and a half hours already.  I ordered another windshield as both men profusely apologized.

 

                I felt for the two men in their embarrassment.  Sitting Zazen had helped me through this experience. I was extremely frustrated and quite irritated.  As I rode home without the windshield, knowing it would be another week before the replacement arrived, I felt it all fall away. Riding a motorcycle has been a lifelong Zen practice for me. After telling Shukke all about it, sitting outside, then sipping a cold Mexican beer, all was forgiven. 

 

May we each be at peace,

 

Daiho

 

Zen

 

March 8, 2026

 

This morning brings sunshine and a cool temperature to southern New Mexico. It promises to be a sunny and warm day. We will be practicing Zen at 10 AM today and I will be offering the Dharma talk. Its funny, I rarely know what I will talk about. I rarely plan a talk. I find this helps me speak from “shin” which is to say, “heart/mind.”

 

                Early this morning, around 5:30, I sat outside and listened in the darkness. A few early birds were at the feeders. My one shih tzu came out to do her “business,” and I just sat still. As I’ve often said, sitting zazen outside is wholly different from sitting in the zendo or my library. I recommend it very much. It is, after all, the way the Buddha himself sat.

 

                If anyone should wish to attend Zen service this morning go to this site and click on “join us.”

http://organmountainzen.org

 

May you be well and happy!

 

Daiho

 

Gratitude

 

March 6, 2026

 

                Master Dogen Zenji says the most important task is to study the matter of birth and death. While watching some British hospital show last night there was an elderly man, a few years younger than me, who suffered a stroke. Next to him, lay a young baby boy in his mother’s carriage: birth and death. We are each born to grow, flower, and die. It is life’s way. For each of us, this is our path. What we make of it is ours.

 

                There is an old phrase, “Carpe Diem.” In effect, it means having a “live for the moment” attitude. Seize the day for tomorrow may not come and yesterday is gone.  Yes. For us Elders, tomorrow is a hope; each morning I am grateful for the sun to rise, and I am awake to experience it. A sip of coffee, a chat with Shukke, petting our dogs…grateful for it all.  My practice is to live knowing I will die. This is the knowledge of being a human being. I may not be here tomorrow. And so?

 

                The “so what?” is to make each day count by some measure we each bring to our lives. For me, since Vietnam, it has been to be in service to others whether as a psychotherapist or priest. Now, pretty much retired, it is with such writing as this, such kindness as caring for wife and pups. I am grateful for this everyday opportunity.

 

                Be a blessing,

 

                Daiho

 

War Again

 

War Again

 

                Again, we are at war, again without congressional approval. Our dictator just makes a nod, and our war machine goes into action.  This sort of war does not involve ground troops and so seems more sanitary for our side. Jets, guided missiles and drones: pilots rarely see who they kill. But kill they do.  I oppose war unless we have little choice.  The Buddha Way does not oppose self-defense.

 

                Still, it is always a terrible choice to kill. Our dictator has never served, has never had to engage in combat. He dodged the draft multiple times. What does he know but a life of ease and wealthy privilege? Yet he unleashes the most powerful killing machine the world has ever seen without the authority to do so. This, among many things, makes him less a president and more a dangerous dictator.

 

                Plainly, he should be removed from office.

 

                Daiho