That Pesky Precept

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

 

We have brains, hearts, lungs, stomachs, kidneys, penises and/or clitorises. Just as our organs like the brain and heart function without our saying much about it, so too, the others. Yet, just so: because the motor is running does not mean we must put it in gear and step on the gas.

 

Second. We live in a natural world.  Nothing evil or good exists independent of us.  We create evil and good by our actions, and our evaluations of those actions. In the end, it is our intent that creates our karma.

 

Third. If we are using sexual conduct for healthy reasons, that is, for improving our mental and emotional states, or reproducing, then our intent is a benefit.  If, on the other hand, this behavior is rooted in a desire to harm, to control or punish, then we are using sexuality as a tool for harm and in so doing, creating evil.

 

Pornography, by itself, as pictures or film, is neutral. It is like the rock under my foot.  Or the thought in my head.  It means nothing by itself.  We add to it with that thought and then create evil or good with our action.

 

Fourth.  The industry of pornography is a whole other matter and thus a matter for us. If we say that smoking is harmful, then those who produce the product we smoke have a role to play in the responsibility equation. When a film portrays violence for the sake of glamorizing violence and thus, promoting violence, it is creating evil.  Just so, pornography. We have a responsibility in consuming such material in that sense.

 

Lastly, life is complex.  We are all infants in the process, learning as we go.  Sometimes our best efforts at understanding and doing the right thing are either not good enough or, in the worst case scenario (like a righteous war) short term fixes to long term problems. We should not punish ourselves for our behavior.  Rather we should learn from it and do better.

 

I cannot tell you what better is, only you and your heart and the faces of those you love (or hate) can do that.

 

 Be well.

Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. 
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

On the web at:

http://www.daihoji.org/

http://www.zencenteroflascruces.org
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/

 

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Crickets

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

 

It is a wonderful morning already.  I was out with the dogs and relished the cool desert air and feel of the earth under my feet. Crickets, birds, and the gentle swish of leaves as the air moves them: all sounds so delicious getting out early to hear them is worth the effort.

 

I hear myself hearing them, I see myself seeing them: sky, mountains and my neighbor's windows.  Witnessing the witness, know you are they and they are you, the whole universe reveals its true nature.

 

Be well.

 

 

 

 

Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. 
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

On the web at:

http://www.daihoji.org/

http://www.zencenteroflascruces.org
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/

 

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An Inconvenient Truth

With Palms Together,

Good Morning All,

 

We saw An Inconvenient Truth last night. Al Gore should receive a medal for his efforts with his slide show and this film.  It is a deeply challenging film, scary, yet hopeful.  And a moral statement about us as a species.

 

Many people feel politics and religion do not mix.  I have been one of them.  Yet, on closer inspection, ethics and morality are at the heart of both so how do we really separate them? I believe most people who say this, are using a rather narrow understanding of "political" to mean American politics, democrat, republican, independent, or green parties.

 

Al Gore believes this environment crisis is not a political issue, per se,  but a moral one. I agree with this when using a lessor definition of politics.  Yet, when it comes to what to do with the moral question and challenge, we are left with ethics and ethics demand action. Individual action and social action.  Social action is by definition political as it is done within a body politic.

 

Our religious commitments are the nexus between the individual and the community, the community and the universe, the univesre and the Universal.  

 

If you have not seen this film, I urge you to see it.  I saw yesterday that Gore has a book just released by the same title.  Read it.  Get involved on some level large or small: this is your planet and your planet is the home of all of your generations.

 

 

http://www.participate.net/campaigns

 

Be well,

 

Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. 
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

On the web at:

http://www.daihoji.org/

http://www.zencenteroflascruces.org
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/

 

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What's in Your Closet?

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

 

Someone wrote to me recently asking about pornography the precpt regarding sexual misconduct.  The letter was refreshingly candid and clearly presented a picture of a man working hard to understand himself and the precepts.

 

Internet pornography is a huge mega-billion dollar industry. This means that a lot of people go to these site and a lots of women and men participate in conduct that creates the materials for these sites.

 

The existence of this industry, like prostitution, raises a number of good questions about our nature, ethics, and our biology.

 

Just what is pornography, anyway?  I was sitting in Barnes & Nobles the other day with a friend and her step-daughter who was 16 going on 21. This young lady picked out a copy of Cosmo, she was wearing a very mini, mini skirt, and was clearly suffering from raging hormones. The cover of the magazine promised information on ver specific sexual issues and questions, the pictures in the magazine were tantizingly sexual. What do we make of this?

 

Is creating or viewing pornography a violation of the precepts? And if so, how?

 

When does sexual content or conduct become "misconduct"?

 

I have my own understanding of these questions, but I would like to hear yours.

 

Be well. 

 

Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. 
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

On the web at:

http://www.daihoji.org/

http://www.zencenteroflascruces.org
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/

 

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Seeking

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

 

Enlightenment.  Powerful word. Lots of people searching for it, most with only a vague feeling as to what it is. Which creates a question in my mind.  If we do not have a clear idea as to what this is, why are we searching for it?

 

Do we think enlightenment will make us feel better?  Think better?  Be better people?  Will it make us superior to the next person?  Will it be a sign that we are somehow special, or that we have finally arrived?

 

When you come to the practice of Zen, check your motives rather than your enlightenment.

 

Seeking satori is a big problem.  To search means that we are looking. And when we are looking, we are too busy to be present. Stop looking.

 

Be well. 

Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. 
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

On the web at:

http://www.daihoji.org/

http://www.zencenteroflascruces.org
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/

 

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The Birds Are Up, The Trees Are Up...

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

 

Another wonderful morning comes our way.  I am listening to the birdsong out side the living room window. The rain we have been having has seemingly made everyone happy. The grass in the courtyard feels more alert, the trees seem taller, and clearly the birds are happy.

 

Have you noticed that life is like that?  Conditions create conditions. When we are surrounded by love and nurturance, we are loving and nurturing; when we are under stress we are more brittle and anxious. Internal and external coincide.

 

Yet both sides of this coin lead to our suffering.  To be happy and wish for the conditions of happiness are as powerful sources of suffering as stress and anxiety. You say, but wait, shouldn't we be happy?  Shouldn't we work to be happy and create the conditions for happiness?  I say, of course.  In the process though, do not let go of the fact that these conditions are impermanent and will, sooner or later, cease to exist. 

 

This means we can and should properly live only here and now. An eye toward tomorrow, a wink to the past, but fully present now. My sense is that the birds enjoy their day, whatever their day is. And the trees enjoy their day, whatever their day is. They do so because they are completely one with it.

 

Be well.

Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. 
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

On the web at:

http://www.daihoji.org/

http://www.zencenteroflascruces.org
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/

 

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Losing and Gaining

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

 

A young lady lost her engagement ring in the grass near our courtyard yesterday.  She spent hours out there trying to find it.  For awhile, I searched with her, but the tiny ring was not to be found.

 

As we searched, she talked about the ring, just receiving it, her happiness, and her panic and hurt over losing it.  Yet, she also talked about her fiance.  How he said not to worry, that he will borrow a metal detector to search more deeply for it and if that failed he would just buy her another.

 

Nothing was really lost.  Nothing was really gained. Everything was revealed.

 

Be well.

Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. 
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

On the web at:

http://www.daihoji.org/

http://www.zencenteroflascruces.org
and http://daihoji.blogspot.com/

 

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