Four Practices of Mindful Living

Good Morning Everyone,

 

My hope is that each of you had a wonderful New Year's Day and that your life will be much improved as this year unfolds.  When I say this, I don't mean your circumstances, but rather, your life.  We often assume that our lives are our circumstances, but we all have circumstances, don't we?  It is how we approach and encounter these circumstances that make our lives what they are.

 

When each day dawns I make a vow to see the world as it is and free all beings in the process.  This is an acknowledgment that Clear Mind and Zen Practice are one. Many of us struggle with this.  We think that our circumstances, if improved, will make our lives better.  In some respects this is true, I suppose.  If we understand better to mean food on the table, a warm home, or recovery from illness.  But if we mean better to mean a larger TV screen, the latest fashion, or  a new car, well this is just lust.  We human beings regardless of our circumstances always envision better circumstances and too often "better" is framed by cultural or media tease and tinsel.

 

Clear Mind enables us to see directly, exactly, what is there.  Zen is the approach of a full human being who is in sync with reality. Attitude adjusted.

 

We do this through the Four Practices: the practice of Zazen (seated meditation), the practice of Kinhin (walking meditation), the practice of Oryoki (eating meditation),  and the practice of Samu (work meditation).  These are the practices of mindful living, the practices of Clear Mind Zen.

 

Be well.

 

Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi 

http://www.clearmindzen.org 

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The Exam That Never Was

Good Morning All,

 

On the Internet we must be constantly alert to falsehood spread as truth.  Recently I wrote a blog entry about an Eighth Grade Exam.  While my points were valid, I believe, they were made against a false platform.  The article I was responding to, that is the exam, was a fiction.  My apologies. I should have checked the authenticity first. I have deleted my article referencing the exam that never was.

 

Be well.

 

See  http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

 

Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi 

http://www.clearmindzen.org 

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On Generosity

Good Morning Everyone,

 

This morning I would like to wish you each a generous year.  Generosity, our willingness to share is the cornerstone of our practice. Generosity is openness.  A willingness to live in the world without fear and with great compassion. May we all practice this through the coming year and as a result, have a less fearful, more magnanimous and caring world.

 

When I first approached this practice two themes ran around my head.  First, I wanted to show my Teacher just how advanced I was.  Second, I feared dropping away me self protecting devices: anger, self-centeredness, and the need to be recognized as really smart. I worried that if I dropped these devices along the way, I would be vulnerable and constantly attacked. Of course we equate vulnerability to attack in our world. We are taught nearly from birth that this is the true way of the world.

 

It isn't so.

 

The true way of the world is mutual aid to create mutual benefit.  We are a complex world, deeply layered, vastly interconnected and totally interdependent.  I hurt you, I hurt myself.  You hurt me, you hurt yourself.  This is the true meaning underlying the Golden Rule.

 

When we open ourselves and reveal our generosity, some might take advantage. OK. So? They are showing their need, their fear, their dark side. We, on the other hand know that nothing we "possess" is ours to begin with. So there is nothing to really "protect". Our wedding to things must end in divorce or death, always, with no exception.

 

In giving we demonstrate a way to be in the world that is healthy and courageous.

 

So, in this year, we vow to free all beings; we vow to extinguish all delusion; we vow to master all Dharma; and we vow to follow the Buddha's Way completely. 

 

May we do these together as one.

 

Be well. 

 

Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi 

http://www.clearmindzen.org 

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Peace

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

This morning way before sunrise, I woke to go to a local church as I was invited to participate in an International Prayer for Peace. The air was chilly, 28 degrees. The church had a fairy large number of people there for a 5:00 AM service.

I dropped my cushion on the floor at the back, bowed, and took my seat. Only the minister saw me enter. I enjoyed my small anonymity and listened to the various prayers as they were recited one after another: Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Jain, Christian, Nichiren Buddhist, even a Native American prayer. I was asked to close the service with a few remarks.

The prayers were beautiful. Most beseech God for peace and asked for a world of compassion and understanding. So much desire for peace in that room. I could feel the people's need for serenity, it was almost palpable.

In between each prayer a bell was invited to ring.

I sat with complete attention.

When it came time for me to speak, I felt myself get up off my cushion and walk easily to the podium. I placed my attention on my breath, looked out at the group, and began to speak.

Peace, I said, was not something we should seek. Peace is something we are. We are peace when we set aside ourselves and our desires, our ego and our craving. We are peace when we open ourselves to others and listen to them as they speak. This is the work of peacemaking. It is deeply challenging, but very rewarding work.

This year I vow to not need to be in charge of anything. This year I vow to share. This year I vow to listen as deeply as I am capable to those addressing me. This year I vow to accept all beings as they are, warts and all. This year I vow to replace anger with love, hurt with compassion, and intolerance with patience. This is how peace happens. I know that I will not always be successful, but I vow to forgive myself when not and continue on with this work. If nothing else, I believe we are all worth the effort.

Be well.

A Change

Good Morning All,

Recently, I have decided to not blog daily on this site. I will be posting different sorts of posts, more like commentaries, I suppose, on Zen practice and Buddhist Sutras. I will do these as I can.

I have been writing this blog daily for a year now and I really need to break away from the habit of going to the computer first thing in the morning to write.

I still blog at my Yahoo 360 site, however, and those notes are more of a personal, day-to-day nature.

If interested, go to Yahoo 360 and type in my Yahoo ID, buddhist99

Be well.

On Being Alone

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

Another Friday. Hmmm. For those of you about to leave for work and those already at work, please enjoy your day today. Remember each moment is what it is; it is we who add the good or bad of it.

Last night before bed, I was studying a short sutra on being alone. The Buddha was teaching in this scripture that literally being alone was not necessary, nor was it a particularly good practice as seeking this way places our attention on the "I" of the equation.

There are some who prefer to be alone. I was one of them. I rationalized this by romanticizing the thing, you know, mental pictures of a seeker away from the crowd, treading the road less traveled, and so on. Yet, this was a form of delusion. It is a trap just as wickedly poisonous as that of seeking a crowd for approval. The truth is, I was uncomfortable with people, insecure in myself I relied far too heavily on their opinions of me for my opinion of myself.

The Buddha taught that the best way to be alone was to be mindful wherever we are. This way of mindfulness means, essentially, to practice being "all one." When we live as all one, our literal singularity is the universe and we are its sense organs.

Practice to be a partner in the process.

Be well.

The Life of Buddha

With palms together,
Good Morning All,

Last night at Zen Center we held a "Movie Night." A Sangha member, Joshua, brought in a DVD projector. We sat on our zafus against one in the Zendo and projected the film on the other. I had brought in bags of party mix and some soft drinks. We had a very nice evening together.

The film was "the Life of the Buddha." It was a French made film, circa 2003, a documentary in English, and was beautifully photographed. It was essentially a anthropological and sociological study of the Buddha's life. The filmmakers interviewed countless Indians on location in India, and followed the archaeological investigations into the Buddha's life. Religious teachers from various traditions told the stories of the Buddha's birth, training, seeking, enlightenment, teaching, and death. These provided the necessary thread through the film.

In the end, however, after all is said and done, we should know that even such a one as the Buddha,was just a man and all that we say about him is fantasy. The real Buddha is the Universe aware of Itself in and through us.

When we make an idol of the Buddha and forget he was just a man, we do him and ourselves a grave disservice. What the Buddha taught is that we should turn our light inward, we should not be deceived by the icons and religions and philosophies and glitter that surrounds us, but rather we should unfold ourselves as universal witness.

In this way be become Buddha.

Be well.