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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Change the World Today!

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

Today is a day you can use to change the world. Rita, a member of my Zen Living Yahoogroups list, my Yahoo 360 friend, and Child Protective Services Worker in California, invited everyone to do something today to Change the World.

I am passing this invitation along.

Each one of us, doing something good, can and will make a difference. Small as a smile and invitation to talk, large as picking up trash along a pathway, each act of kindness to self and others creates goodness in the world.

Now, go change the world.

Be well.