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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.