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. 

🙏🙏🙏