With palms together,
Good Morning All,
As we each sit down on our cushions this morning, each of us drops away, the universe seems to enter, and all drops join the sea. The sea is constant, the drops are momentary. The sea is momentary, the drops are constant.
What this means is simple. Everything is both one and many, this one and many is nothing other than words in the theatre of our mind however.
No one, not even the most solitary mountain hermit priest can be separate from anything. No one, not even in the most dense crowd is with others.
We are in each moment and are not in any other.
What does all this cryptic crap mean?
Sit Zazen and discover the truth for yourself.
Be well.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Remembrance
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Some say we should never forget the bad things that happen. They inform us of what humanity is actually capable of, giving us a true sense of our power and a large look at our morality. Some say the past should be a testimony, victims of atrocity should be given a voice. That voice should echo through time.
I am not so sure.
While remembrance serves the above functions, I truly wonder to what end? I know that it has not been particularly useful or helpful for me to retain traumatic memories of combat. Images of killing and death that seem eternally there in technocolor, are easily tripped and like a trip-flare the explode in graphic sensory stereo. Like I really need this in a crowd at Disney World.
We bow our heads and pray. We recite blessings, or mantras, and become synchronous with all history. We sit on meditation cushions or pews in a church or Temple and commune with the Infinite, remembering what is possible, actually what is, just now in this moment. And do what?
Remembrance Days are sort of like Departments of War. Self-fulfilling agencies of tears. I would rather we spend our money and brains on waging peace, finding non-violent alternatives to killing so no other generations need Remembrance Days.
We spend so much effort on such yesterday, so little on today. Its as if our lives are only meaningful when we wrap them in the past. Yet that is like being stuck in the mud. Some of us these days seem to enjoy their old mud, but not me. I want new mud, or more precisely, no mud at all.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
Some say we should never forget the bad things that happen. They inform us of what humanity is actually capable of, giving us a true sense of our power and a large look at our morality. Some say the past should be a testimony, victims of atrocity should be given a voice. That voice should echo through time.
I am not so sure.
While remembrance serves the above functions, I truly wonder to what end? I know that it has not been particularly useful or helpful for me to retain traumatic memories of combat. Images of killing and death that seem eternally there in technocolor, are easily tripped and like a trip-flare the explode in graphic sensory stereo. Like I really need this in a crowd at Disney World.
We bow our heads and pray. We recite blessings, or mantras, and become synchronous with all history. We sit on meditation cushions or pews in a church or Temple and commune with the Infinite, remembering what is possible, actually what is, just now in this moment. And do what?
Remembrance Days are sort of like Departments of War. Self-fulfilling agencies of tears. I would rather we spend our money and brains on waging peace, finding non-violent alternatives to killing so no other generations need Remembrance Days.
We spend so much effort on such yesterday, so little on today. Its as if our lives are only meaningful when we wrap them in the past. Yet that is like being stuck in the mud. Some of us these days seem to enjoy their old mud, but not me. I want new mud, or more precisely, no mud at all.
Be well.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Home Leaving
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
Home Leaving or Shukke in the Japanese, is about many things but should mostly be understood in its pychological and emotional sense. When we leave home we are literaly leaving behind what we are comfortable with. All of our beliefs, our understandings, our connections near and dear, are left at our doorstep as we walk out into the desert. This preperatory act has been the same through millenia for those who are wishing to discover the deepest truths of existence. The Hebrews left Egypt, Moses left the Hebrews, Jesus went out in the desert for 40 days and nights, Buddha left his palace and wondered in the forests...when you think about it, every hero comtemporary or historical, spiritual or materialist, leaves what they know in order to receive that which they do not know.
There is a relatively new Zen story about this. An American comes to Japan and seeks the teaching of a Zen Master. The Master pours tea. As the cup overflows, the would be student shouts at the Master telling him that the cup is overflowing. The Master replies that the student must be empty to receive the teaching.
So home leaving is about this.
Zazen is home leaving in the present moment. Zazen asks us to sit down quietly and be in the moment, not in yesterday's moment, not in the appearance of being in the moment, not in tomorrow's moment, but this very moment as it is, purely and directly. We cannot do this if we are carrying around our assumptions, our beliefs, and our values for security, or as a blanket or light against the darkness and cold.
To be in the presence of the infinite one must drop away the known and take a cavernous step into the unknown.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
Home Leaving or Shukke in the Japanese, is about many things but should mostly be understood in its pychological and emotional sense. When we leave home we are literaly leaving behind what we are comfortable with. All of our beliefs, our understandings, our connections near and dear, are left at our doorstep as we walk out into the desert. This preperatory act has been the same through millenia for those who are wishing to discover the deepest truths of existence. The Hebrews left Egypt, Moses left the Hebrews, Jesus went out in the desert for 40 days and nights, Buddha left his palace and wondered in the forests...when you think about it, every hero comtemporary or historical, spiritual or materialist, leaves what they know in order to receive that which they do not know.
There is a relatively new Zen story about this. An American comes to Japan and seeks the teaching of a Zen Master. The Master pours tea. As the cup overflows, the would be student shouts at the Master telling him that the cup is overflowing. The Master replies that the student must be empty to receive the teaching.
So home leaving is about this.
Zazen is home leaving in the present moment. Zazen asks us to sit down quietly and be in the moment, not in yesterday's moment, not in the appearance of being in the moment, not in tomorrow's moment, but this very moment as it is, purely and directly. We cannot do this if we are carrying around our assumptions, our beliefs, and our values for security, or as a blanket or light against the darkness and cold.
To be in the presence of the infinite one must drop away the known and take a cavernous step into the unknown.
Be well.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Transformation, eh?
With palms together,
Good Afternoon All,
Sitting in the Zendo this morning, I lit a stick of incense and sat with it. Some say the incense turns into ash through combustion. Maybe so. But when sitting, there is just sitting. I read this morning that meditation could be "transformational." No doubt, just as burning turns incense "into" ash. But sitting is just sitting.
Incense is incense, burning is burning, ash is ash. Transformation is a mistake. It presumes too much and takes away from the real pupose of meditation which is precisely nothing. So, then, why practice the art of doing nothing? So that we can learn to be present with what is. Perhaps that is, in itself,transformative. Only practice will tell us.
Be well.
Good Afternoon All,
Sitting in the Zendo this morning, I lit a stick of incense and sat with it. Some say the incense turns into ash through combustion. Maybe so. But when sitting, there is just sitting. I read this morning that meditation could be "transformational." No doubt, just as burning turns incense "into" ash. But sitting is just sitting.
Incense is incense, burning is burning, ash is ash. Transformation is a mistake. It presumes too much and takes away from the real pupose of meditation which is precisely nothing. So, then, why practice the art of doing nothing? So that we can learn to be present with what is. Perhaps that is, in itself,transformative. Only practice will tell us.
Be well.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Defining the Spiritual Situation
With palms together,
Good Afternoon Sangha,
I beg your indulgence here. I am working out some thoughts.
This morning I went out for the first time in three days. My Little Honey dropped me off at the Bountiful Bakery where I ate a fruit cup and sipped coffee while the rabbi and I discussed meditation with the group. We then got into a discussion about the Gospel of Judas, God, Jesus and the whole enchilada. Within this discussion the notion of our images of God became noticable.
Images of God are so interesting to me, as they seem reflections of a person's spiritual presence and growth. If we are interested in people these images become very informative, revealing much of what is underneath the public surface. Those needing punitive images, mean old granddads, in the sky are on one side, those without need for an image at all on the other. Most everyone is somewhere sandwiched in between and the sandwich is, per chance, getting tighter.
Images of God can become in-service to political and societal needs. Fear creates one sort of need, love another, acceptance still another, forgiveness yet another.. Depending on our definition of the spiritual situation, God and the image we create for him changes. It is important to see this. As it reveals much about who we are and more importantly still, who we are becoming.
In times of turmoil and uncertainty, human beings want or need a degree of comfort. We have a felt need for control and God becomes the agent we apply to. In times of oppression, God becomes a hero who frees us from our slavery. In times of plenty, we are free to reach for self-actualization and God becomes a partner in the manifestation of this effort.
In today's world, there is a growing conflict between vastly different needs for, and understandings of, God. On the one hand, the sweep of change, rapid information flow, explosive growth of knowledge, fuels tremendous fear on the part of those either disenfranchised by that change or those who are a part of a group being dragged along by the force of such a change. On the other hand, there are those who are leading the change. These are the modernists, the scientists, developers, capitalists, and the highly skilled and trained information specialists.
A question arises in the midst, is there a God unaffected by our needs? Do we matter to God? Is God on the one hand "Wholly Other" or are we infinately "One with Him"?
Is God an anthropomorphic reflection or a stand alone deity? What is the spiritual situation?
When contemplating a circle, one first notices its completeness. Something is "inside", something, "outside." Human beings use images to describe thoughts and feelings, attempting to put into a form an abstraction. Infinite is often understood as a vast unbroken circle. The universe a large bubble. We use nouns to name, verbs as action words. Names, by defintion limit the picture. The Hebrew name for God is not a noun, but a verb phrase, I am that I am, I will be that which I will be. And so on. As with God we soon we ask what is outside of infinity?
Miamonides could only define God by negation, as any attempt to positively assert what God was limited God: a paradoxical statement.
Could it be that God is both subject and object, inside and outside, dependent and independent of human beings? Do we create God and are we at the same time created by God?
Systems theory offers us a way of approaching this question. Systems theory simply allows us to see infinately, one system in relation to another in relation to another. Some larger, some smaller, but all interconnected and dependent on all others. There is no "largest" system. No "smallest" system. No outside of infinite. Perspective forms definition and definition forms perspective. We are limited only by our willingness and ability to detail and expand the eco-system.
From a Zen Buddhist perspective, God is or is not, may be or may not be. Like all things, we are because other things are, we are not because other things are not. Causation has no beginning or no end. Such things as beginnings and ends are human inventions created by a limited ability of our mind to grasp infinitude.. In this sense, Zen is neutral on the matter of God. It is this very neutrality that makes it possible for a Zen practitioner to become clear on God, so to speak. And perhaps is one reason why so many people come to Zen or other forms of Buddhism as a practice starting point.
When you sit down and consider God, your consideration paints a picture of your needs. Your need-set interacts with others, sometimes in concordance sometimes in conflict. Regardless of how, the need-set points to an image of God which is then linked to a particular role for both the practitioner and the congregant, as well as the religious institution itself.
Be well.
Harvey So Daiho Hilbert
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
On the web at http://www.daihoji.org/
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/
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Tuesday, April 25, 2006
The Present Moment
With palms together,
Godd Morning Sangha,
Typically I sit half lotus with left ankle on right thigh. My body has accommodated this stable position and I settle into it easily. Such habits are not good and we should arouse outrselves from them. This morning I sat reversing this half lotus and felt my body not settle. This tension assists me in staying in the moment and not falling asleep in the habit of body and mind.
I have talked at some length about birth and death. Coming and going, as it were, the processes of the life cycle of the universe. These are but imaginings. The past, as does the future, do not exist except in the mind's eye. They are chimera and take us away from what is real, this very moment.
Process is a delusion. We only understand it when we take our mind's eye and leap out of the immediate moment as if to say we can thus see a panorama of time. Each moment contains all others, past and future. All birth and death are here right now. Yet how false this is. As each birth and death, each thought coming and going, are fiction.
We live only in the moment and are asleep all other times. This moment presents itself the universe as it is and only can be. A hand goes out, we offer a dollar. A child cries, we offer our breast. We are hungry, we eat, when we are sleepy, we sleep. We do what we do as it is to be done.
In this a community of the moment arises. A faith-based community that assumes we each are present and doing what needs to be done. We call this community sangha. It becomes our ground. Just as the Buddha offers us a way, and the Dharma, a teaching on reality, the Sangha provides the foundation.
Be well.
Godd Morning Sangha,
Typically I sit half lotus with left ankle on right thigh. My body has accommodated this stable position and I settle into it easily. Such habits are not good and we should arouse outrselves from them. This morning I sat reversing this half lotus and felt my body not settle. This tension assists me in staying in the moment and not falling asleep in the habit of body and mind.
I have talked at some length about birth and death. Coming and going, as it were, the processes of the life cycle of the universe. These are but imaginings. The past, as does the future, do not exist except in the mind's eye. They are chimera and take us away from what is real, this very moment.
Process is a delusion. We only understand it when we take our mind's eye and leap out of the immediate moment as if to say we can thus see a panorama of time. Each moment contains all others, past and future. All birth and death are here right now. Yet how false this is. As each birth and death, each thought coming and going, are fiction.
We live only in the moment and are asleep all other times. This moment presents itself the universe as it is and only can be. A hand goes out, we offer a dollar. A child cries, we offer our breast. We are hungry, we eat, when we are sleepy, we sleep. We do what we do as it is to be done.
In this a community of the moment arises. A faith-based community that assumes we each are present and doing what needs to be done. We call this community sangha. It becomes our ground. Just as the Buddha offers us a way, and the Dharma, a teaching on reality, the Sangha provides the foundation.
Be well.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
The Three Pure Precepts
With palms together,
Good Afternoon Sangha,
This afternoon I would like to talk to you about the Three Pure Precepts. These are the first precpets after the Three Refuges in the list of Sixteen Bodhisattva Vows. The Three Pure Precepts are as follows: Cease doing evil; Do good; Do good for all beings.
To cease doing evil is really simple. One just stops doing bad stuff. What bad stuff, you ask? Anything that harms another being. Within this precept are all the others. Ahimsa, that old Hindu concept of non-harming is at the source. If we at least do not harm, we are doing well.
Second, a positive precept, do good. What good? Anything that will be good to do. Good and bad do not exist independently of our behavior, We must bring good into the world, just as we cease bringing bad into the world. All it takes is a willingnerss to be present and do what is necessary.
Third, bring about good for all beings, now this one is a challenge. Its a call to social action, like the Jewish concept of T'zadikah or Christian charity. We are not isolated beings, living on islands apart from each other. We are on a planet where the whole eco-system is interdependent on us. We should care for all beings, nurture all beings, be well in a world of pain and suffering and bring a relief to as much suffering as we can. This is a challenge for most of us as we tend to live as if we are in bubbles. As we all know, however, bubbles are quite delicate and are esily popped. None of us can afford social isolation any more.
One need not be a Zen Buddhist to do these things. One simply needs to be willing to care.
Be well.
Good Afternoon Sangha,
This afternoon I would like to talk to you about the Three Pure Precepts. These are the first precpets after the Three Refuges in the list of Sixteen Bodhisattva Vows. The Three Pure Precepts are as follows: Cease doing evil; Do good; Do good for all beings.
To cease doing evil is really simple. One just stops doing bad stuff. What bad stuff, you ask? Anything that harms another being. Within this precept are all the others. Ahimsa, that old Hindu concept of non-harming is at the source. If we at least do not harm, we are doing well.
Second, a positive precept, do good. What good? Anything that will be good to do. Good and bad do not exist independently of our behavior, We must bring good into the world, just as we cease bringing bad into the world. All it takes is a willingnerss to be present and do what is necessary.
Third, bring about good for all beings, now this one is a challenge. Its a call to social action, like the Jewish concept of T'zadikah or Christian charity. We are not isolated beings, living on islands apart from each other. We are on a planet where the whole eco-system is interdependent on us. We should care for all beings, nurture all beings, be well in a world of pain and suffering and bring a relief to as much suffering as we can. This is a challenge for most of us as we tend to live as if we are in bubbles. As we all know, however, bubbles are quite delicate and are esily popped. None of us can afford social isolation any more.
One need not be a Zen Buddhist to do these things. One simply needs to be willing to care.
Be well.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
God
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
Do not trust your point of view, it is as shaky as you are. Our points of view are all relative to our senses and the clarity with which they perceive. Even with the clearest perception, the result is a few chemical reactions in our brains which create a picture for us to see. A point of view is just that. It is not the thing itself.
What is the thing itself? In Zen Buddhism we call it suchness. That which is before perception. It has no name, desires no name. It is vast emptiness manifest. Emptiness refers to lack of substance, lack of permanence. Some might "name" this "God."
Names are odd, really. They tend to be nouns in the English language. As such they can be very misleading. We often think because we name something, we either understand it or control it. This is one of the psychological truths of biblical times. God tells Adam to go out and name all of the animals, suggesting that he will then have dominion over them. Today, in many forms of psychotherapy, naming a problem is a tool employed to enable the patient to feel some control in their lives over against a problem. Yet, these are devices only. Tools of the trade, really. And they have limited value.
At some point in our spiritual development, such devices not only lose their value but become actual hindrances to our growth. To understand God as a noun is to miss His true existence entirely. To understand God as a verb also misses the mark. So if not a noun and not a verb, then what? God and Vast Emptiness are beyond our ability to name them.
Here's the thing: there is no place where God is not. When we attain this then we see clearly. There is no thing that God is not. There is no voice that is not God. Not one place where God is not.
In Zen Buddhism, we practice to realize such things, regardless of whether or not we are theists. The reality of God is not important. In whatever His form, He is, or is not. Like the universe itself, we can take His existence for granted or not, it changes nothing except in ourselves. Call it universe, call it God, but appreciate it fully.
To understand ourselves as human beings misses the mark completely, as well. We too are works in progress. Not nouns, not verbs. In both cases we are left in boxes with tight lids on top.
The point of Zazen is to blow the lid off. Blow the lid off until we realize there is no box, nor a lid to blow, nor a blowing itself. There is just this.
It is *this* that is *suchness*.
Be well.
Harvey So Daiho Hilbert
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
On the web at http://www.daihoji.org/
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/
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Friday, April 21, 2006
Reality
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
From Cheng Li's Tales of Kwan Yin
Adapted by a friend from a translation by John Blofield
Good Morning Sangha,
From Cheng Li's Tales of Kwan Yin
Adapted by a friend from a translation by John Blofield
Transcendence
Now I have done with Su-tras
and pious practices.
Day and night I recite the Bo-dhi-sat-tva’s sacred name,
rejoicing in the beauty of it’s sound.
NOT for me it’s recitation in multiples of One-hundred and Eight,
as though it were a duty.
Does the runner count his breaths, the poet his words,
or the stream it’s ripples?
You sentient beings who seek deliverance,
why do you NOT let go?
When sad,
Let go of the cause of sadness.
When wrathful,
Let go of the occasion of wrath.
When covetous or lustful,
Let go of the object of desire.
From moment to moment,
be free from grasping
at the illusion of a permanent
or separate “self.”
Where there is
NO separate “self” to grasp,
there can be NO permanent sorrow,
NO graspable desire;
NO causally-separate “me” to weep,
NO compositionally-separate “me” to lust,
NO circumstantially-separate “being” to die
and NO perceptually-separate “being” to be reborn.
The winds of circumstance
blow across the infinite expanse
of NON-graspable emptiness.
Whom can they harm?
____________________________
This is the essence of the source of compassion. In the Heart Sutra we chant "No hindrance in the mind, therefore no fear." Once we are able to see through to the other side, be the other side, having never left; that is, realize this side and that side (birh and death, heaven and hell, samsara and nirvana, God and Me) are the same, two sides of the same coin, then there is no hindrance, nothing to fear, no self to be harmed. Nothing left but the vast processes of the universe and our vast compassion within them.
We establish our reality through our perceptions and these perceptions flow through our senses. While "objective reality" exists without our presence, it depends upon our perceptions of it for its definition in human terms. So, no human contact, no defintion. Some may say, themn, no existence. In this we must ask what is existence? Whast does it mean to be real? Does the tree falling in the forest make a sound? What is tree? Forest? Falling" Sound? Are these all not human concepts? No human, no human conceptualization, then?
Zazen.
Be well.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
A Blackened Nose
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
There was once a nun who carried a gold leafed Buddha everywhee she wandered. She would light her incense offering each day, but did not wish to share it, so she created a devise which kept the incense from moving about, instead it was funneled in the the Buddha's nose. Over time, the gold leafed Buddha became particularly ugly with a blackened nose.
When we practice our lives, we are practicing for all beings, not for Buddhas and ourselves. Our practice should be for the benefit of others. To practice othewise is not the Buddha Way.
So, when we eat, we eat for all beings, recognizing the many lives that went into the food before us, the sharing of so many hands in creating it and bringing it to us. When we drink, we drink with all beings, refreshing ourselves, and thereby all others. When we work, we work for the benefit of all beings, and when we sleep, we sleep with all beings restoring our bodies, rebuilding muscle, resting our minds, and soothing our hearts.
When we live this way, there is no self. Just living this way. Attempting to keep life for ourselves blackens our nose.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
There was once a nun who carried a gold leafed Buddha everywhee she wandered. She would light her incense offering each day, but did not wish to share it, so she created a devise which kept the incense from moving about, instead it was funneled in the the Buddha's nose. Over time, the gold leafed Buddha became particularly ugly with a blackened nose.
When we practice our lives, we are practicing for all beings, not for Buddhas and ourselves. Our practice should be for the benefit of others. To practice othewise is not the Buddha Way.
So, when we eat, we eat for all beings, recognizing the many lives that went into the food before us, the sharing of so many hands in creating it and bringing it to us. When we drink, we drink with all beings, refreshing ourselves, and thereby all others. When we work, we work for the benefit of all beings, and when we sleep, we sleep with all beings restoring our bodies, rebuilding muscle, resting our minds, and soothing our hearts.
When we live this way, there is no self. Just living this way. Attempting to keep life for ourselves blackens our nose.
Be well.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Another Day
With palms together,
Good Evening Sangha,
Rev. Gozen, my disciple and abbot of the Zen Center of Las Cruces, gave a wonderful talk this evening. He spoke of the moment before the word. We are so caught in words and ideas that we fail to really see. When we see with words and ideas, we aren't seeing reality. I sat in silence there with him in the Zendo feeling a number of things. I was listening intently and the Dharma was alive and present in the room with us. The tea was excellent. Ryan did a good job as both Ino and server of the tea. I made some mental notes to assist him in the future.
A small Zen Center is an intimate place. We sit in rows facing the great white wall, the scent of sandalwood incense slips to and fro, and the soft flicker of the candle is just enough light to feel warmed by its presence. Our bell is large and sits on a wonderful cushion. I remember finding it in a shop in San Francisco one day while attending a retreat with the Dalai Lama. On that journey I also found our Buddha statue and incense holder.
It is quite a task to establish a new Zen Center. Many small details. But the hearts beat and the many hands come together; soon we are there, sitting silently in rows supporting each other as we practice our Way.
So, this morning began with a lot of energy. My wife was to read her poetry at a local writer's group. I went with her. Her work, whimsical word portraits of our grandchildren, was warmly received. Lunch with friends at a restaurant where I happened to met a couple I married some time ago. Things between them are going well. I am happy for them. I drove Judy home, then went grocery shopping. After putting away the groceries, I rode my bike to the weekly peace vigil where I pulled my sign out of my backpack and stood for an hour in the afternoon sun. There were so many horns honking in support! Then the long ride home. A nice salad for dinner and a shower. Time to go to the Zen Center for Zazen.
Tonight I am here with you. Writing and offering some small voice. Tomorrow morning a walk in the desert, a meeting with the rabbi, a speedwork session and a weight workout. Life is good.
Be well.
Good Evening Sangha,
Rev. Gozen, my disciple and abbot of the Zen Center of Las Cruces, gave a wonderful talk this evening. He spoke of the moment before the word. We are so caught in words and ideas that we fail to really see. When we see with words and ideas, we aren't seeing reality. I sat in silence there with him in the Zendo feeling a number of things. I was listening intently and the Dharma was alive and present in the room with us. The tea was excellent. Ryan did a good job as both Ino and server of the tea. I made some mental notes to assist him in the future.
A small Zen Center is an intimate place. We sit in rows facing the great white wall, the scent of sandalwood incense slips to and fro, and the soft flicker of the candle is just enough light to feel warmed by its presence. Our bell is large and sits on a wonderful cushion. I remember finding it in a shop in San Francisco one day while attending a retreat with the Dalai Lama. On that journey I also found our Buddha statue and incense holder.
It is quite a task to establish a new Zen Center. Many small details. But the hearts beat and the many hands come together; soon we are there, sitting silently in rows supporting each other as we practice our Way.
So, this morning began with a lot of energy. My wife was to read her poetry at a local writer's group. I went with her. Her work, whimsical word portraits of our grandchildren, was warmly received. Lunch with friends at a restaurant where I happened to met a couple I married some time ago. Things between them are going well. I am happy for them. I drove Judy home, then went grocery shopping. After putting away the groceries, I rode my bike to the weekly peace vigil where I pulled my sign out of my backpack and stood for an hour in the afternoon sun. There were so many horns honking in support! Then the long ride home. A nice salad for dinner and a shower. Time to go to the Zen Center for Zazen.
Tonight I am here with you. Writing and offering some small voice. Tomorrow morning a walk in the desert, a meeting with the rabbi, a speedwork session and a weight workout. Life is good.
Be well.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Bodhidharma's Wake-Up Sermon
From the First Patriarch, Bodhidharma, in his Wake-Up Sermon (translated by Red Pine) Bodhidharma, founder of Zen, was born in the year 440. He came to China late in the fifth century of the common era.
"Whoever knows that the mind is a fiction and devoid of anything real knows that his own mind neither exists nor doesn't exist. Mortals keep creating the mind, claiming that it exists. And arhats keep negating the mind, claiming it doesn't exist. But bodhisattvas and buddhas neither create nor negate the mind. This is what is meant by the mind that neither exists nor doesn't exist. The mind that neither exists nor doesn't exist is called the Middle Way." (p. 53)
This is a profoundly deep teaching. It at once delineates between an awakened person and a non awakened person, but goes beyond that to suggest that an awakened person must go past awakening to become a bodhisattva and a buddha. By a "mortal" Bodhidharma is referring to a ordinary person living in an ordinary life, unaware of his original nature. This is a sleeping person, a person on auto-pilot, going through the motions of living, but completely not present.
An awakened person, an arhat, is one who has attained awakening. This person's eyes are opened to the true nature of things. Self is extinguished, impermanence understood, and emptiness attained. Yet, this is not enough. Buddha was fully awakened, but he got up from his cushion and entered the world. He taught. He healed. He sat with every sort of person from pauper to king. He made a diffeence in the world through his work.
When we realize that subject and object have relational existance, that one is and is not at the same time, and that we are able to live within the vast and eternal processes of life, then we are both buddhas and bodhisattvas. Buddhas because we have realized and attained this highest teaching, bodhisattvas because we set our "selves" aside to be inservice to the entire universe throughout time.
One who attains this understanding recognizes there is no past, present or future; no you, no me, no subject, no object; yet lives at the same moment within time, subject and object, and does so without thought as hindrance.
Be well.
"Whoever knows that the mind is a fiction and devoid of anything real knows that his own mind neither exists nor doesn't exist. Mortals keep creating the mind, claiming that it exists. And arhats keep negating the mind, claiming it doesn't exist. But bodhisattvas and buddhas neither create nor negate the mind. This is what is meant by the mind that neither exists nor doesn't exist. The mind that neither exists nor doesn't exist is called the Middle Way." (p. 53)
This is a profoundly deep teaching. It at once delineates between an awakened person and a non awakened person, but goes beyond that to suggest that an awakened person must go past awakening to become a bodhisattva and a buddha. By a "mortal" Bodhidharma is referring to a ordinary person living in an ordinary life, unaware of his original nature. This is a sleeping person, a person on auto-pilot, going through the motions of living, but completely not present.
An awakened person, an arhat, is one who has attained awakening. This person's eyes are opened to the true nature of things. Self is extinguished, impermanence understood, and emptiness attained. Yet, this is not enough. Buddha was fully awakened, but he got up from his cushion and entered the world. He taught. He healed. He sat with every sort of person from pauper to king. He made a diffeence in the world through his work.
When we realize that subject and object have relational existance, that one is and is not at the same time, and that we are able to live within the vast and eternal processes of life, then we are both buddhas and bodhisattvas. Buddhas because we have realized and attained this highest teaching, bodhisattvas because we set our "selves" aside to be inservice to the entire universe throughout time.
One who attains this understanding recognizes there is no past, present or future; no you, no me, no subject, no object; yet lives at the same moment within time, subject and object, and does so without thought as hindrance.
Be well.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Zazen
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
When practicing Zazen we should be present with ourselves and our environment, experiencing without thinking, feelings, tasting, smelling or touching. As we sit, our mind speaks to us, sometimes through thought, sometimes through sensation.We feel an itch, or something crawling, or a twitch, a stitch. We think. We see our thoughts. We might smell something, hear something, taste something. What is it?
This question arises and if we are not very careful, we are exploring it. Big mistake. Our Zazen is not to explore the interior and exterior of our minds and bodies. Our Zazen is to simply practice serene reflection: presence without attsachment/.
Shikantaza is the practice of wholeheartedly hitting the mark while seated. What is the mark? What is this present moment, exactly, before a thought or perception arises? That is the mark.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
When practicing Zazen we should be present with ourselves and our environment, experiencing without thinking, feelings, tasting, smelling or touching. As we sit, our mind speaks to us, sometimes through thought, sometimes through sensation.We feel an itch, or something crawling, or a twitch, a stitch. We think. We see our thoughts. We might smell something, hear something, taste something. What is it?
This question arises and if we are not very careful, we are exploring it. Big mistake. Our Zazen is not to explore the interior and exterior of our minds and bodies. Our Zazen is to simply practice serene reflection: presence without attsachment/.
Shikantaza is the practice of wholeheartedly hitting the mark while seated. What is the mark? What is this present moment, exactly, before a thought or perception arises? That is the mark.
Be well.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
A Seasonal Message
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
We have an opportunity today to be reminded of the blessings of the yearly cycle. This is spring, Easter, Passover, Hannamatsuri, a time of hope and re-generation. Many cultures come out of an agrarian background. Life cycles were closely connected to our planet's seasonal cycles. In this modern era, we seem to have lost that connection on many levels, As a result ofthis dis-connect, some of the real meanings of the season are lostto us. To compensate we fall back on belief. Belief is a wonderful thing, in some ways, a hindrance in others.
When living in belief, we live in the world of the mind. Hopeful, we are looking for tomorrow, not living in the experience of this moment. This is why, in some sense, Zen sees hope as a problem. Hope takes us away from the work at hand, though it also can inspire us and motivate us to move into the future.
As in all things, a balance is very important.
For those who are Christian on the list, Happy Easter! For those Jewish, Happy Pesach, for those who are singularly Buddhist, a joyous Hannamatsuri.
May we all be happy and present.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
We have an opportunity today to be reminded of the blessings of the yearly cycle. This is spring, Easter, Passover, Hannamatsuri, a time of hope and re-generation. Many cultures come out of an agrarian background. Life cycles were closely connected to our planet's seasonal cycles. In this modern era, we seem to have lost that connection on many levels, As a result ofthis dis-connect, some of the real meanings of the season are lostto us. To compensate we fall back on belief. Belief is a wonderful thing, in some ways, a hindrance in others.
When living in belief, we live in the world of the mind. Hopeful, we are looking for tomorrow, not living in the experience of this moment. This is why, in some sense, Zen sees hope as a problem. Hope takes us away from the work at hand, though it also can inspire us and motivate us to move into the future.
As in all things, a balance is very important.
For those who are Christian on the list, Happy Easter! For those Jewish, Happy Pesach, for those who are singularly Buddhist, a joyous Hannamatsuri.
May we all be happy and present.
Be well.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Being One
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
We have been exploring reality from the point of view that both objective and subjective experience are one. One makes the other, the other makes the one. In fact, they are the same reality experienced in different ways, from different perspectives: very functional. We must be able to see subject and object at certain times, use thought to plan, etc. But we must also not lose sight of the fact that this is an artificial device created through the way our brain works in order to enhance our survival. Reality itself, is not two, but one.
When we approach our life, our practice, in this way, we begin to see that everything is sacred, nothing is profane. Indeed, such categories are local devices, rather than universal truth. As we light a stick of incense, all beings are lighting a stick of incense. As we bow, all beings are bowing. As we bring ourselves to the other shore, all beings are brought to the other shore. You and God share the same space, the same reality. When you touch, God touches. When you see, God sees. When you eat, God eats. Being one with God changes everything.
This is nothing more than the simple truth.
So difficult, however, to realize, so powerful the discriminating brain.
Whether we each believe in God is irrelevant. Call God the universe, it doesn't really matter. What matters is your willingness to open yourself to its vastness.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
We have been exploring reality from the point of view that both objective and subjective experience are one. One makes the other, the other makes the one. In fact, they are the same reality experienced in different ways, from different perspectives: very functional. We must be able to see subject and object at certain times, use thought to plan, etc. But we must also not lose sight of the fact that this is an artificial device created through the way our brain works in order to enhance our survival. Reality itself, is not two, but one.
When we approach our life, our practice, in this way, we begin to see that everything is sacred, nothing is profane. Indeed, such categories are local devices, rather than universal truth. As we light a stick of incense, all beings are lighting a stick of incense. As we bow, all beings are bowing. As we bring ourselves to the other shore, all beings are brought to the other shore. You and God share the same space, the same reality. When you touch, God touches. When you see, God sees. When you eat, God eats. Being one with God changes everything.
This is nothing more than the simple truth.
So difficult, however, to realize, so powerful the discriminating brain.
Whether we each believe in God is irrelevant. Call God the universe, it doesn't really matter. What matters is your willingness to open yourself to its vastness.
Be well.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Re: [Zen Living] Evaluation of Soto
With palms together,
God Morning Sangha,
Guy has written an excellent post below. He asks similar questions Master Dogen asked many centuries ago.
Let me try to walk through this as a morning message.
We are indeed, enlightened and perfect as we are. Why practice? Dogen asked this very question. Because we possess Buddha nature does not mean we arer in touch with it. Because we can run or walk or talk, does not mean we can do it without practice. We inherently possess, but we must manifest.
The Sixth Patriarch uses a similar metaphor in his Platform Sutra. A rival for the robe suggests the mind is like a mirror and that practice must be used to clear the dust from its surface. Hui-Neng argues back:
Bodhi originally has no tree,
The mirror also has no stand.
Buddha nature is always clean and pure;
Where is there room for dust?
(Yoplansky translation, p. 132)
The questions raised in this post are essential. The go to the heart of the matter. What is "reality?" Why do we even concern ourselves with it? What is "enlightenment?" What is "Samsara?" What is "dust, the mirror?" If A is A, why B?
These questions are not an evaluation of Soto. They are the questions that take us to the cushion. They are the questions that provide a 'platform' for our existence and thus, our practice.
Apparent contradiction and paradox in Zen should always be understood as existing within a certain point of reference: relative truth. Resolution of the paradox exists in Absoulte truth. Practice teaches us both the difference and the means of being simultaneously in both. Samsara/Nirvana: heads/tails, one coin.
There are many practice gates. Zazen is the first and last, but this is Zazen properly understood. What is this "properly understood?" That is your practice.
If we sit with a corse in a cemetary, as once was done, we do not stink, we discover stink and the sweet smell of a rose are essentially the same. Our valuations are something we add. If we sit with a corpse and witness decomposition, we see life. We see process. We see ourselves as something not dependent on form.
Such activities as sitting with corpses, sitting with ourselves, eating in mindful silence, tea ceremonies, koans, the smack of the kyasaku on our shoulders are simply means, but here's the thing. They are also ends. Reality is 'perfect' as it can be no other way than it is. Our thoughts about it, how we discern it, our relative comfort and discomfrt within it, these are imperfection.
I hope this short answer helps.
Be well.
ventouxboy <ventouxboy@yahoo.com> wrote:
God Morning Sangha,
Guy has written an excellent post below. He asks similar questions Master Dogen asked many centuries ago.
Let me try to walk through this as a morning message.
We are indeed, enlightened and perfect as we are. Why practice? Dogen asked this very question. Because we possess Buddha nature does not mean we arer in touch with it. Because we can run or walk or talk, does not mean we can do it without practice. We inherently possess, but we must manifest.
The Sixth Patriarch uses a similar metaphor in his Platform Sutra. A rival for the robe suggests the mind is like a mirror and that practice must be used to clear the dust from its surface. Hui-Neng argues back:
Bodhi originally has no tree,
The mirror also has no stand.
Buddha nature is always clean and pure;
Where is there room for dust?
(Yoplansky translation, p. 132)
The questions raised in this post are essential. The go to the heart of the matter. What is "reality?" Why do we even concern ourselves with it? What is "enlightenment?" What is "Samsara?" What is "dust, the mirror?" If A is A, why B?
These questions are not an evaluation of Soto. They are the questions that take us to the cushion. They are the questions that provide a 'platform' for our existence and thus, our practice.
Apparent contradiction and paradox in Zen should always be understood as existing within a certain point of reference: relative truth. Resolution of the paradox exists in Absoulte truth. Practice teaches us both the difference and the means of being simultaneously in both. Samsara/Nirvana: heads/tails, one coin.
There are many practice gates. Zazen is the first and last, but this is Zazen properly understood. What is this "properly understood?" That is your practice.
If we sit with a corse in a cemetary, as once was done, we do not stink, we discover stink and the sweet smell of a rose are essentially the same. Our valuations are something we add. If we sit with a corpse and witness decomposition, we see life. We see process. We see ourselves as something not dependent on form.
Such activities as sitting with corpses, sitting with ourselves, eating in mindful silence, tea ceremonies, koans, the smack of the kyasaku on our shoulders are simply means, but here's the thing. They are also ends. Reality is 'perfect' as it can be no other way than it is. Our thoughts about it, how we discern it, our relative comfort and discomfrt within it, these are imperfection.
I hope this short answer helps.
Be well.
ventouxboy <ventouxboy@yahoo.com> wrote:
Good day all sangha, I've been exploring the Soto line of Zen for
the past year and have started to come to conclusions that may draw
me away from it. So let me see if my understanding is correct. It
seems to me that Soto's view is that if there is something wrong
with reality, what is wrong is not reality. We are already perfectly
awakened, there is nothing to achieve. And I fully agree with this,
to a point. The point is this. Isn't the act of "just sitting",
although not trying to achieve anything, doing exactly that? It's
clearing the mirror of our minds. If we were perfectly awake, we
wouldn't clear anything from our minds when we meditate.
So there is something wrong, we live in Samsara. Our view is not
perfect, although buddha said it is possible to achieve. In one of
Sodaiho's post the other day he made reference to Dogen's statement
that we are all living on leftovers. Sidhartha found the way, we
just follow what he did. So i consider this the source to fall back
on even though the cannons were not written in buddha's time. Brings
me to two conclusions. First, suffering exist, and Buddha advocated
alleviating suffering. Seems to acknowledge that something might
just be wrong. Second ,buddha taught in ways other than just
meditation. After recently being admonished by a Soto priest for
saying to face one's fears; he came back and reinforced my point by
saying that Buddha sent his monks to sleep with corpses. Hard to say
what Buddha was trying to say here: maybe it was confronting the
fear of death, maybe he was telling his monks they smell bad. But it
points to teaching off the mat. So maybe there is more than "just
sitting".
Anyway, this is my conflict with Soto. Anybody able to resolve
this? In gassho, Guy.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
A Day
With palms together,
Good Afternoon Sangha,
This morning I went out the door early. A full sun, a cool breeze, and an appointment at the dermatologist's office. The doc and I are buds, we went to the same graduate school. Anyway, I ran down to his office and entered. It was a three mile run and by the time I got there, it was a tad warm. I arrived 15 minutes early, as I had planned so that I could have a little time to cool off and wash up in the restroom. As I began washing off with cold water, the nurse told me he was ready to see me, so sweat and all, I walked into the exam room.
He enters right away, we chat for a minute comparing babies (his) grandbabies (mine). He asks why I'm so sweaty. I tell him I jogged to his office. He said I was crazy. I agreed. He did, however, support my craziness.
He numbs the skin on my neck, cuts a chunk out and gave me a couple of scripts. I go back in two weeks.
Well. Added up, I was in and out in 15 minutes. Way early. My Little Honey was supposed to pick me up at the docs an hour later. So. I ran more. I asked the clerical staff to let Judy know I was at the Barnes & Nobles bookstore and off I went. Another mile.
At B & N I browsed through the poetry, religion, philosophy, and running sections for anything new or that piqued my interest. I asked about a new book out by the guy who saved all those souls in Ruwanda. Not in. I heard him on CNN or NPR or somewhere.
Little Honey arrives and we have lunch at the Bountiful Bakery. After a vegan sandwich, we then went to get the taxes done. Glad that is out of the way.
We are now at home, the temperature on my car thermometer said it was 95 degrees.
Life comes and goes like that. Both Pepper and Tripper were happy to see us, but quickly went back to sleep on their respective spots on the floor.
Tonight we will go to the local Temple's Seder, drink a few glasses of wine, eat some matza, and enjoy.
For those Jewish Buddhists among us, Happy Pesach! For those Christian Buddhists, Happy Easter!
Total miles run: 4.0
Be well.
Harvey So Daiho Hilbert
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
On the web at http://www.daihoji.org/
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/
New Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Call regular phones from your PC and save big.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Self and the Relativity of Truth
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
On my Yahoo 360 blogsite, there is a place called a "Blast." It enables the blogger to make a quick little statement, ask a question, etc. Every morning I create a new "Blast" statement and change the color theme of the blog. I feel this keeps things fresh and present.
This morning's blast thought was about individuality. When we allow our indentification with "self" to fall away, then all sorts of things are made possible. Dogen suggests that everything becomes our Teacher. This is so because we have no self acting as a hindrance. It goes deeper than that, however.
When we cease indentifying with this "self" and this "body" then death and life themselves cease to carry weight. We can become aware of the great stream of living and dying, like the ocean's tide, eternally flowing.
More, with no individual self, everything can be more clearly understood in its relation to everything else: a great web or net containing both point and interconnection.
To say we cease identifying with self does not mean self does not exist. It means self is understood in its proper relation to the universe. In this sense we begin to identify with the great vastness, understanding the relativity of all things.
It is in this understanding that we begin to see truth as both relative and absolute simultaneously.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
On my Yahoo 360 blogsite, there is a place called a "Blast." It enables the blogger to make a quick little statement, ask a question, etc. Every morning I create a new "Blast" statement and change the color theme of the blog. I feel this keeps things fresh and present.
This morning's blast thought was about individuality. When we allow our indentification with "self" to fall away, then all sorts of things are made possible. Dogen suggests that everything becomes our Teacher. This is so because we have no self acting as a hindrance. It goes deeper than that, however.
When we cease indentifying with this "self" and this "body" then death and life themselves cease to carry weight. We can become aware of the great stream of living and dying, like the ocean's tide, eternally flowing.
More, with no individual self, everything can be more clearly understood in its relation to everything else: a great web or net containing both point and interconnection.
To say we cease identifying with self does not mean self does not exist. It means self is understood in its proper relation to the universe. In this sense we begin to identify with the great vastness, understanding the relativity of all things.
It is in this understanding that we begin to see truth as both relative and absolute simultaneously.
Be well.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Is everyone eating leftovers?
Master Dogen writes: The ordinary states, the outer ordinary states --- bamboo in the mountains, cypresses in the yard. Partial sage,ultimate sage --- spring flowers, autumn moon.
When you have attained the realm of Zen, there is no Zen; when you clarfy the realm of desire, there is no desire.
There is no one in the whole world who understands Buddhism --- everyone is eating leftovers.
To say it is like something would miss it --- it is not in the company of myriad things. What stages are there? What do you want with the beyond?
Eihei Koroku (translated by Cleary)
Our practice of the Buddha Way is our practice of the Buddha way. Yours is not mine. Each of us must enter the gate ourself. My words to you are like shit. They mean little to nothing, mere tracks of one who has gone before.
When we experience the wind in our face, the shock of a sound, or the smell of a corpse or flower, we are experiencing ourselves. As I paint a picture, it is just a painting of a picture. Quite different from your actual experience.
I urge you to practice the Buddha Way for yourself. What does this mean? Nothing really. Just stop and sit still. Create an opprtunity for you to experience the universe as it is, rather than as you think it is.
Be well.
When you have attained the realm of Zen, there is no Zen; when you clarfy the realm of desire, there is no desire.
There is no one in the whole world who understands Buddhism --- everyone is eating leftovers.
To say it is like something would miss it --- it is not in the company of myriad things. What stages are there? What do you want with the beyond?
Eihei Koroku (translated by Cleary)
Our practice of the Buddha Way is our practice of the Buddha way. Yours is not mine. Each of us must enter the gate ourself. My words to you are like shit. They mean little to nothing, mere tracks of one who has gone before.
When we experience the wind in our face, the shock of a sound, or the smell of a corpse or flower, we are experiencing ourselves. As I paint a picture, it is just a painting of a picture. Quite different from your actual experience.
I urge you to practice the Buddha Way for yourself. What does this mean? Nothing really. Just stop and sit still. Create an opprtunity for you to experience the universe as it is, rather than as you think it is.
Be well.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Doing and Not Doing
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
Is there time in your day for yourself? A moment where you can stop and be still, opening yourself to everything by not doing?
If we do not create such time and opportunity, we waste away. Living well requires both motion and stillness, doing and non-doing. If we tend to a plant too much it will die. If we tend to it too little, it will also die. We are the same.
How much of each is sufficient? In human terms, what is tending and non-tending?
Very excellent questions. Questions these are for your practice of living your life.
The most important thing is to both answer them, then practice!
Life is short, you have a precious opportunity, get going!
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
Is there time in your day for yourself? A moment where you can stop and be still, opening yourself to everything by not doing?
If we do not create such time and opportunity, we waste away. Living well requires both motion and stillness, doing and non-doing. If we tend to a plant too much it will die. If we tend to it too little, it will also die. We are the same.
How much of each is sufficient? In human terms, what is tending and non-tending?
Very excellent questions. Questions these are for your practice of living your life.
The most important thing is to both answer them, then practice!
Life is short, you have a precious opportunity, get going!
Be well.
Sunday, April 9, 2006
Life or Fiction, Which is Your Preference!
With palms together,
Good Afternoon All,
In the world of the everyday, we are prone to easily lose our grip. We think constantly, telling ourselves all sorts of things, creating worlds upon worlds of thoughts and feelings about the ideas we create. At some point we need to clearly understand that this world we create is not real, but rather, a fiction. It is a mental construction and truly means nothing. In fact it can become a hindrance to our life.
When we are living in the fictional world of our thoughts, ideas, and feelings, we are not experiencing our true, actual lives. When we live in a "belief system" that system organizes, colors, and frames our experience. This is not actual experience, this is filtered and distorted thought-as-experience.
How can we truly appreciate our life when we are so busy thinking about it?
When practicing Zazen we are experiencing our self. There is no other self. Just this self, just this moment. All moments past are seen as thoughts in motion. All moments future are thoughts in motion. Zazen clarifies. When we are on the cushion, present in the here and now, witnessing our actual self as it is, then we are Buddha.
Do we need to give up our goals? Do we need to stop thinking?
No! Of course not. What this means is that we practice to see clearly what is what. That is, what is in relation to what? Thoughts are thoughts, that is all. Goals are thoughts made into objectives with a plan to attain them, but they remain mental constructs. We suffer in direct relation to how closely we hold them and how we use them. If we hold them close, are highly invested in them, use them as some sort of litmus test for ourselves to assess our value, then we are giving them far too much power and are, in effect, using them to eclipse our actual, real life in the here and now. We do not need to supplant our actual life with thoughts and beliefs, living in hopes and dreams. We can live in this life, with this self, as it is, and appreciate it for the blessing that it is. We do this when we make sure we are our lives and not our mental constructs. Another way of saying this is to live deliberately with open eyes.
Be well.
Good Afternoon All,
In the world of the everyday, we are prone to easily lose our grip. We think constantly, telling ourselves all sorts of things, creating worlds upon worlds of thoughts and feelings about the ideas we create. At some point we need to clearly understand that this world we create is not real, but rather, a fiction. It is a mental construction and truly means nothing. In fact it can become a hindrance to our life.
When we are living in the fictional world of our thoughts, ideas, and feelings, we are not experiencing our true, actual lives. When we live in a "belief system" that system organizes, colors, and frames our experience. This is not actual experience, this is filtered and distorted thought-as-experience.
How can we truly appreciate our life when we are so busy thinking about it?
When practicing Zazen we are experiencing our self. There is no other self. Just this self, just this moment. All moments past are seen as thoughts in motion. All moments future are thoughts in motion. Zazen clarifies. When we are on the cushion, present in the here and now, witnessing our actual self as it is, then we are Buddha.
Do we need to give up our goals? Do we need to stop thinking?
No! Of course not. What this means is that we practice to see clearly what is what. That is, what is in relation to what? Thoughts are thoughts, that is all. Goals are thoughts made into objectives with a plan to attain them, but they remain mental constructs. We suffer in direct relation to how closely we hold them and how we use them. If we hold them close, are highly invested in them, use them as some sort of litmus test for ourselves to assess our value, then we are giving them far too much power and are, in effect, using them to eclipse our actual, real life in the here and now. We do not need to supplant our actual life with thoughts and beliefs, living in hopes and dreams. We can live in this life, with this self, as it is, and appreciate it for the blessing that it is. We do this when we make sure we are our lives and not our mental constructs. Another way of saying this is to live deliberately with open eyes.
Be well.
Friday, April 7, 2006
unwanted Advertisements
Hello All,
I have turned on the word verification for the comments section of this blog. We have received a number of unsolicited comments that are ads. This will help reduce this problem, but will add a small step for you to add your comment. I apologize for this inconvenience.
Be well.
I have turned on the word verification for the comments section of this blog. We have received a number of unsolicited comments that are ads. This will help reduce this problem, but will add a small step for you to add your comment. I apologize for this inconvenience.
Be well.
Sesshin
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
We begin our Hannamatsuri Sesshin this evening at the Refuge in the mountains. We gather ourselves to sit in meditation in order to both relieve suffering and prepare ourselves to relieve suffering. In this period we recall the birth of the Buddha, honoring this man with sweet tea and flowers. We will sit for the next few days, eat in mindful silence, work in mindful silence, and practice deeply together the six paramitas of generosity, morality, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom.
Our Zen Center practices extended periods of Zazen monthly as a day of mindfullness (Zazenkai) and quarterly as weekend Sesshin. During these periods we practice as monastics with a long sitting schedule, periods of samu (work meditation) and study periods. The time is spent in mindful silence with a minimum of verbal interaction. The purpose is to deliberately slow down both mind and body, cast our senses inward, and develop and deepen our personal awareness to the extent that, paradoxically, this "self" drops away.
As this happens, our true, compassionate nature is given an opportunity to bloom. During this time, my hope is that each of you will practice in some way with us, that you may each be part of the eternal garden of life.
I will, of course, be offline during this time.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
We begin our Hannamatsuri Sesshin this evening at the Refuge in the mountains. We gather ourselves to sit in meditation in order to both relieve suffering and prepare ourselves to relieve suffering. In this period we recall the birth of the Buddha, honoring this man with sweet tea and flowers. We will sit for the next few days, eat in mindful silence, work in mindful silence, and practice deeply together the six paramitas of generosity, morality, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom.
Our Zen Center practices extended periods of Zazen monthly as a day of mindfullness (Zazenkai) and quarterly as weekend Sesshin. During these periods we practice as monastics with a long sitting schedule, periods of samu (work meditation) and study periods. The time is spent in mindful silence with a minimum of verbal interaction. The purpose is to deliberately slow down both mind and body, cast our senses inward, and develop and deepen our personal awareness to the extent that, paradoxically, this "self" drops away.
As this happens, our true, compassionate nature is given an opportunity to bloom. During this time, my hope is that each of you will practice in some way with us, that you may each be part of the eternal garden of life.
I will, of course, be offline during this time.
Be well.
Thursday, April 6, 2006
Love and Hate
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
There is a lingering coolnesss, fresh and crisp, in the air this morning at my window as I type. Although the desert sun is rising and quickly warming the air, it is still a delicious taste of spring. It is important to experience directly. Feel the air. Smell the plants. Taste the interior of your mouth in the morning. It is important to do so without commenting mentally about the experiences. It is the commentary that takes us away from the truth. Within split seconds we are in the mental world of ideas, likes, dislikes; the world of labels and categories. While this world has its place and its function, it is a world that separates us from ourselves, internally and externally.
The Buddha taught that hate produces hate. He taught that love produces love. He also taught, more deeply, that both hate anmd love are part of the same thing, that we and the world, the entire universe are one. In this teaching if we attain it, we see that to hate another is to hate ourselves. To love another is to love ourselves.We see in this that every moment, every gesture, is a universal one.
Living in a dualistic world, we create groups of assumptions in our mind/body. We gather experiences, words, feelings, sensations and store them in our consciousness. This store becomes a toxic filter through which we push our each experience through. This is like that, we say, and respond accordingly. What is missed in this process is the fact that this is not that, this is this! Itself.
In our response, we gather steam, we justify ourselves, well these people act like this, they speak such and such, they must be this or that. The response re-enforces the initial belief and that re-enforcement is stored in our consciousness.
On a particular blog I have been engaging in a set of discussions that have demonstrated this and drove the point home to me in no uncertain terms. The people on this blog site see me as critical, hateful, and unpriestly. I agree. I have spoken within my store of experience, allowing it to distort my perception and not see them for themselves, but rather my creation of them. This creation and my response to it has been poisonous. Polarization is easy, understanding is challenging. Hate is easy, love is challenging. It is very easy to live in a thought world, a world of preconception, distortion, prejudice. It is a whole other matter to reliquish the baggage, as Tanzan, (in my blog note yesterday) and stand directly and openly, doing what the situation actually calls for.
May we each work hard to live directly and with deep compassion for our neighbors and for the strangers among us. We are all we have, you know. It would be wise to nurture this most precious resource.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
There is a lingering coolnesss, fresh and crisp, in the air this morning at my window as I type. Although the desert sun is rising and quickly warming the air, it is still a delicious taste of spring. It is important to experience directly. Feel the air. Smell the plants. Taste the interior of your mouth in the morning. It is important to do so without commenting mentally about the experiences. It is the commentary that takes us away from the truth. Within split seconds we are in the mental world of ideas, likes, dislikes; the world of labels and categories. While this world has its place and its function, it is a world that separates us from ourselves, internally and externally.
The Buddha taught that hate produces hate. He taught that love produces love. He also taught, more deeply, that both hate anmd love are part of the same thing, that we and the world, the entire universe are one. In this teaching if we attain it, we see that to hate another is to hate ourselves. To love another is to love ourselves.We see in this that every moment, every gesture, is a universal one.
Living in a dualistic world, we create groups of assumptions in our mind/body. We gather experiences, words, feelings, sensations and store them in our consciousness. This store becomes a toxic filter through which we push our each experience through. This is like that, we say, and respond accordingly. What is missed in this process is the fact that this is not that, this is this! Itself.
In our response, we gather steam, we justify ourselves, well these people act like this, they speak such and such, they must be this or that. The response re-enforces the initial belief and that re-enforcement is stored in our consciousness.
On a particular blog I have been engaging in a set of discussions that have demonstrated this and drove the point home to me in no uncertain terms. The people on this blog site see me as critical, hateful, and unpriestly. I agree. I have spoken within my store of experience, allowing it to distort my perception and not see them for themselves, but rather my creation of them. This creation and my response to it has been poisonous. Polarization is easy, understanding is challenging. Hate is easy, love is challenging. It is very easy to live in a thought world, a world of preconception, distortion, prejudice. It is a whole other matter to reliquish the baggage, as Tanzan, (in my blog note yesterday) and stand directly and openly, doing what the situation actually calls for.
May we each work hard to live directly and with deep compassion for our neighbors and for the strangers among us. We are all we have, you know. It would be wise to nurture this most precious resource.
Be well.
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
The Present Moment
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
There was once a monk named Tanzan. Tanzan was an older monk and did not pay close attention to the rules. He ate when he was hungry, slept when he was sleepy. He drank wine on occasion even though intoxicants were forbidden.
One day Tanzan and another monk were walking along and they arrived at a stream. There was a young woman at the stream trying to cross without muddying herself. Tanzan simply picked her up and carried her across the stream, placing her back on the ground, he put his palms together, bowed and continued on his way. Sometime later, Tanzan's companion criticized Tanzan for having touched the young woman by carrying her across the stream. Tanzan simply said to his younger brother, "I put her down miles ago, why is it you still carry her with you?"
Each of us has an opportunity each moment to renew ourselves. Carrying the burdens of the past prevents this. In each moment, be a buddha. When you are angry, be angry and let it go. When you are sad, be sad and let it go. When you are happy, be happy and let it go. To experience life fully and completely is being a buddha. To live in the past or in worrry or anticipation of the future is to be asleep.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
There was once a monk named Tanzan. Tanzan was an older monk and did not pay close attention to the rules. He ate when he was hungry, slept when he was sleepy. He drank wine on occasion even though intoxicants were forbidden.
One day Tanzan and another monk were walking along and they arrived at a stream. There was a young woman at the stream trying to cross without muddying herself. Tanzan simply picked her up and carried her across the stream, placing her back on the ground, he put his palms together, bowed and continued on his way. Sometime later, Tanzan's companion criticized Tanzan for having touched the young woman by carrying her across the stream. Tanzan simply said to his younger brother, "I put her down miles ago, why is it you still carry her with you?"
Each of us has an opportunity each moment to renew ourselves. Carrying the burdens of the past prevents this. In each moment, be a buddha. When you are angry, be angry and let it go. When you are sad, be sad and let it go. When you are happy, be happy and let it go. To experience life fully and completely is being a buddha. To live in the past or in worrry or anticipation of the future is to be asleep.
Be well.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Home Again
With palms together,
Good Evening Sangha,
We arrived home a hour or so ago. It is very nice to be back in the desert southwest. We enjoyed our trip 'back east' but I confess, its not my favorite region. Way too many people, and even in the south, moving way too fast for me. I was good to hold and care for our grandson, though. We took care of him pretty much night and day for five days.
One of the things I do admire about the south, however, is the way people instill basic social manners in children. I held a door open for a young mother and children, for example, and mother was quickly to ask the child to say "thank you" by saying out loud behind her, "We say 'thank you,' darlin.'" People often addressed me with a respectful, "sir."
We have such manners among ranch folk out here, as well. But I'm afraid it seems to be a disappearing value. So accustomed we are to being addressed by our first name by total strangers. Many seem to feel comfortable using l obscenities at their leisure in public places
People feel no discomfort in calling homes late at night, intruding in private life with work whenever, and being rude and crude on the Internet. Anonymity loosens the tongue and the boundaries of civil discourse. Just as familiarity breeds the potential for contempt.
My life in the mountains over the last few years spoiled me to some degree, I suppose, or sheltered me some. I don't know. While there is a profound sense of general willingness to love among people, there is also a equally quick willingness to show a lack of patience and temper.
We need to work on this. All of us.
Be well.
Good Evening Sangha,
We arrived home a hour or so ago. It is very nice to be back in the desert southwest. We enjoyed our trip 'back east' but I confess, its not my favorite region. Way too many people, and even in the south, moving way too fast for me. I was good to hold and care for our grandson, though. We took care of him pretty much night and day for five days.
One of the things I do admire about the south, however, is the way people instill basic social manners in children. I held a door open for a young mother and children, for example, and mother was quickly to ask the child to say "thank you" by saying out loud behind her, "We say 'thank you,' darlin.'" People often addressed me with a respectful, "sir."
We have such manners among ranch folk out here, as well. But I'm afraid it seems to be a disappearing value. So accustomed we are to being addressed by our first name by total strangers. Many seem to feel comfortable using l obscenities at their leisure in public places
People feel no discomfort in calling homes late at night, intruding in private life with work whenever, and being rude and crude on the Internet. Anonymity loosens the tongue and the boundaries of civil discourse. Just as familiarity breeds the potential for contempt.
My life in the mountains over the last few years spoiled me to some degree, I suppose, or sheltered me some. I don't know. While there is a profound sense of general willingness to love among people, there is also a equally quick willingness to show a lack of patience and temper.
We need to work on this. All of us.
Be well.
Sunday, April 2, 2006
In Motion
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
This morning is overcast and drizzling. The rain is wonderful. The air is cool and heavy, unlike the desert. Green is unfolding all around. I saw beautiful flowers in bloom this morning. Lots of early birds getting their worms, as well. Life is a good thing when kept in perspective.
I urge each of us to get outside today. Enjoy the weather, whatever it is. It is always a good idea to go outside. It gives us perspective. Sitting on grass. A park bench. Or just walking along and listening, smelling, feeling, that life around us. After a short time, whatever heaviness that we might be bearing, lifts.
We breathe in, knowing we are breathing in, we breathe out, knowing we are breathing out. Short step, long step, jog, walk, run, skip: no matter, we are Zen in motion.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
This morning is overcast and drizzling. The rain is wonderful. The air is cool and heavy, unlike the desert. Green is unfolding all around. I saw beautiful flowers in bloom this morning. Lots of early birds getting their worms, as well. Life is a good thing when kept in perspective.
I urge each of us to get outside today. Enjoy the weather, whatever it is. It is always a good idea to go outside. It gives us perspective. Sitting on grass. A park bench. Or just walking along and listening, smelling, feeling, that life around us. After a short time, whatever heaviness that we might be bearing, lifts.
We breathe in, knowing we are breathing in, we breathe out, knowing we are breathing out. Short step, long step, jog, walk, run, skip: no matter, we are Zen in motion.
Be well.
Saturday, April 1, 2006
Zen is Work
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
Being a Zen Buddhist is much more than words and a good feeling, more than hours on a cushion staring at a wall, more than vows and commitments to some ideal. Zen is work.
Rise in the morning with an intent to see clearly, to help every being. Eat with awareness of all of the lives and hands that went into bringing your food to you.
Breathe with awareness, walk with awareness. Feel with awareness. Work with awareness.
Awareness is what? Of everything: the air, the scent in the air, the feel, the sound, the thought, the taste of life lived in interdependence with the universe. This is true 'multi-tasking.'
We see a hungry person, we offer them food. No question. We see thoughtlessness, we correct it. We see injury, we help nurse it. We see fighting, we help stop it.
We don't just say, "I believe!" and go on being a jerk, thinking our belief will save us. Belief of this sort is for cowards and dilitantes. Living in a world-in-wait for somebody else to make everything right.
Zen Buddhists do.
Be well.
Good Morning Sangha,
Being a Zen Buddhist is much more than words and a good feeling, more than hours on a cushion staring at a wall, more than vows and commitments to some ideal. Zen is work.
Rise in the morning with an intent to see clearly, to help every being. Eat with awareness of all of the lives and hands that went into bringing your food to you.
Breathe with awareness, walk with awareness. Feel with awareness. Work with awareness.
Awareness is what? Of everything: the air, the scent in the air, the feel, the sound, the thought, the taste of life lived in interdependence with the universe. This is true 'multi-tasking.'
We see a hungry person, we offer them food. No question. We see thoughtlessness, we correct it. We see injury, we help nurse it. We see fighting, we help stop it.
We don't just say, "I believe!" and go on being a jerk, thinking our belief will save us. Belief of this sort is for cowards and dilitantes. Living in a world-in-wait for somebody else to make everything right.
Zen Buddhists do.
Be well.
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