With palms together,
Good Morning (barely) All,
Our window is open and the gardeners are taking a break from their work. It is such a delight to sit here and look out a window onto the courtyard. It is green and there are a few trees. We have picnic tables and tall grasses with even taller plumes. It rained earlier and the air is clean and fresh. I wish you could be here to experience this with me. Yet, we each have our own beauty to experience, don't we?
It is so important to stop for a bit and take note of it. In our rush to get here and there, we often miss the simple, natural, beauty that surrounds us. Beauty is everywhere: even in the darkest places. We only need open our eyes and hearts to see and experience it.
Often in the midst of conflict, stress, or suffering of some sort or other, we are so overwhelmed with the difficulty that we just want to close our eyes and make the world go away. Not the best approach, I'm afraid. The world will remain forever. It is our problems that will go away.
What we need to do in such circumstances is work hard to take a moment to see something wonderful there in front of us. Nothing there? Think again. There is always something wonderful. Always.
Be well.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Peace
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
A fragile peace, and there is no other kind, has been achieved in Lebanon and Israel. How wonderful! Let us all work together to maintain it. Peace is always fragile because life hurts. We don't enjoy suffering and try to stop ourselves from suffering by force. This just increases the suffering of all concerned. A cycle of violence and injury emerges and takes on a life of its own.
To stop it we must find a way to accept the blows of others, verbal or physical, and accept them in such a way as to both survive ourselves and nurture our enemies in the process. Love erodes hatred. It is like anti-toxin. But is slow working, demanding, and very difficult to produce in the face of hatred.
Still, we must learn this practice. All of us. We must stop taking the violent steps that we take believing they will make us safe, and take the far more courageous steps of loving-kindness.
We do this with practice. We do this with love. We do this because we don't have any other choice.
Be well.
Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
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Sunday, August 13, 2006
The Great Divide
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Offering a stick of incense this morning, I bowed and affirmed that all beings be free from suffering. I say affirmed because all too often when we talk about prayer we are talking as we and the thing we are praying for (and to) are somehow different or apart.
Prayer is not just a request. In its highest form its an affirmation of non-duality. Just as we resolve a paradox by becoming the paradox, resolve a koan by becoming the koan, so too, we pray.
So, we could say, I pray for peace. Or we could say, I become peace. Or better still, I realize peace. The truest statement is the statement that most reduces the divide between subject and object.
While our language, hardwired in duality, is a tall barrier to our full realization, our practice can be a hammer breaking down that barrier.
Peace.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
Offering a stick of incense this morning, I bowed and affirmed that all beings be free from suffering. I say affirmed because all too often when we talk about prayer we are talking as we and the thing we are praying for (and to) are somehow different or apart.
Prayer is not just a request. In its highest form its an affirmation of non-duality. Just as we resolve a paradox by becoming the paradox, resolve a koan by becoming the koan, so too, we pray.
So, we could say, I pray for peace. Or we could say, I become peace. Or better still, I realize peace. The truest statement is the statement that most reduces the divide between subject and object.
While our language, hardwired in duality, is a tall barrier to our full realization, our practice can be a hammer breaking down that barrier.
Peace.
Be well.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Get to Work!
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
The world is suffering. Each of us is witness and participant. Yet, what are we really doing about it? From the silence of our deepest practice arises the deepest compassion. How so? Because from our deepest practice comes the deepest realization that everything is one, so that when one suffers all suffer; when one is joyful, all are joyful. When one dies, all die.
Not becoming attached to one state of being or another does not mean ignoring a problem when it presents itself. It does not mean becoming stoic and quiet and withdrawing to the mountains. As Master Dogen points out, even the green mountains walk.
As I sat at the Peace Vigil this past Wednesday, I was heartened by the drivers who honked in our support, but was dismayed by the severe lack of people on the line with us. At Zen Center andat the synagogue I am struck by the lack of attendance. At the soup kitchen, where are the food donations that should be overwhelming the pantry's ability to contain them? At the child care centers and homeless shelters, where are the goods, services, and people that will repair the wounded in our communities?
We are a world of great wealth and great intelligence and yet the distribution of basic necessities, as well as social justice is askew. We are a world now embattled by fundamentalism and the fear that drives it. We see the images and want to turn away.
I say turn away, go ahead! Stop the poison from entering your heart. But then turn to something! You want to reduce suffering? Get to work!
Be well.
Good Morning All,
The world is suffering. Each of us is witness and participant. Yet, what are we really doing about it? From the silence of our deepest practice arises the deepest compassion. How so? Because from our deepest practice comes the deepest realization that everything is one, so that when one suffers all suffer; when one is joyful, all are joyful. When one dies, all die.
Not becoming attached to one state of being or another does not mean ignoring a problem when it presents itself. It does not mean becoming stoic and quiet and withdrawing to the mountains. As Master Dogen points out, even the green mountains walk.
As I sat at the Peace Vigil this past Wednesday, I was heartened by the drivers who honked in our support, but was dismayed by the severe lack of people on the line with us. At Zen Center andat the synagogue I am struck by the lack of attendance. At the soup kitchen, where are the food donations that should be overwhelming the pantry's ability to contain them? At the child care centers and homeless shelters, where are the goods, services, and people that will repair the wounded in our communities?
We are a world of great wealth and great intelligence and yet the distribution of basic necessities, as well as social justice is askew. We are a world now embattled by fundamentalism and the fear that drives it. We see the images and want to turn away.
I say turn away, go ahead! Stop the poison from entering your heart. But then turn to something! You want to reduce suffering? Get to work!
Be well.
Friday, August 11, 2006
In the shrill of the night
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
The world is all a-jitter. Terrorists, terror threats, wars: all before our eyes 24/7. I wonder about the impact of such things on our human psyche. How does one live in constant fear and remain a human being? One doesn't.
The truth is, its all noise.
An abundance of caution is just a way of justifying giving sway to fear. Caution, good; an abundance, not so good. In an abundance of anything we swim in craziness. Each voice ramping up the next until there's nothing left but the shrill whine of terror itself. We clone each other.
So here's what to do. Nothing. Doing nothing is always best. Just as there is thunder in silence, so there is peace in vast emptiness. Let the voices rant, be peace in the rage. Smile a lot. Smiling helps. Bow a lot. Humility is always a good thing.
In a placid pond, stones are swallowed whole.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
The world is all a-jitter. Terrorists, terror threats, wars: all before our eyes 24/7. I wonder about the impact of such things on our human psyche. How does one live in constant fear and remain a human being? One doesn't.
The truth is, its all noise.
An abundance of caution is just a way of justifying giving sway to fear. Caution, good; an abundance, not so good. In an abundance of anything we swim in craziness. Each voice ramping up the next until there's nothing left but the shrill whine of terror itself. We clone each other.
So here's what to do. Nothing. Doing nothing is always best. Just as there is thunder in silence, so there is peace in vast emptiness. Let the voices rant, be peace in the rage. Smile a lot. Smiling helps. Bow a lot. Humility is always a good thing.
In a placid pond, stones are swallowed whole.
Be well.
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Respect
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
I have spent the last couple of days with the Eihei Shingi, Dogen's work on the rules for monastic life. What I come out of this study with is the sense that respect is key.
Our ability to respect, however, comes only with serious practice. We must be willing to set ourselves aside along with our notions and values, our ideas and beliefs and what we know in order to respect the person in front of us. And we do so simply because he is there.
It is our job to find the Buddha-nature within him, not his job to show us where it is.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
I have spent the last couple of days with the Eihei Shingi, Dogen's work on the rules for monastic life. What I come out of this study with is the sense that respect is key.
Our ability to respect, however, comes only with serious practice. We must be willing to set ourselves aside along with our notions and values, our ideas and beliefs and what we know in order to respect the person in front of us. And we do so simply because he is there.
It is our job to find the Buddha-nature within him, not his job to show us where it is.
Be well.
Sunday, August 6, 2006
Being a Buddha
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
As we have all read, and some of us practice, to study the Way is to study the self. This has particular meaning for us. It means we must be aware of our responses to the universe as it presents itself. How do we hear our fellow man? How do we read text on a computer screen? What do we add? What do we take away?
Lists such as this offer us a unique practice opportunity. We can take on roles. We can speak from the heart. We can practice deep listening. We can be compassionate. We can be hurtful. Our choices should be our teachers.
Just so in our everyday discourse. Investigating how we interact with our spouse is every bit as important as how we interact with each other in a Zendo, perhaps more.
Being a Buddha is not a part time job, nor is it contained to certain media.
A deep bow to each of you,
Good Morning All,
As we have all read, and some of us practice, to study the Way is to study the self. This has particular meaning for us. It means we must be aware of our responses to the universe as it presents itself. How do we hear our fellow man? How do we read text on a computer screen? What do we add? What do we take away?
Lists such as this offer us a unique practice opportunity. We can take on roles. We can speak from the heart. We can practice deep listening. We can be compassionate. We can be hurtful. Our choices should be our teachers.
Just so in our everyday discourse. Investigating how we interact with our spouse is every bit as important as how we interact with each other in a Zendo, perhaps more.
Being a Buddha is not a part time job, nor is it contained to certain media.
A deep bow to each of you,
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