Organ Mountain Zen



Monday, July 13, 2009

Peace Village

With palms together,
Good Afternoon Everyone,

This morning we taught Zazen to about forty children at Peace Village at the Unitarian Universalist Church here in Las Cruces. We will visit with them each morning for two weeks. I am assisted by Student Reba Zhen Shan Montero. The period began with a song focused on peace and then instruction of seated Zen practice. We had them sit for five minutes then offered an opportunity to talk about their experience. As the days pass, we will increase the length of time and add walking meditation.


Peace Village children, I have found over the four years I have been doing this, are very open to the practice of Zazen. The key is to keep the periods short and offer opportunities to talk. The wiggle worms eventually settle down. And most children seem interested enough to practice with a certain amount of diligence. Not correcting or judging is also important. I like to think of their time in the sanctuary zendo as a stress-free, settle-in time. The kids seem quite responsive and this always makes for a great volunteer experience.

If anyone has had any experience with the Peace Village I would like to hear your stories!

Be well.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Obon

With palms together,
Good Evening Everyone,

We just concluded sesshin. Revs. KoKyo and Kajo are now priests in our lineage, and Rev. KoMyo is a Disciple. Obon is a particularly inspiring time. We practice to offer any merit derived from our compassionate practice to all of the universe, especially those suffering from greed, and excessive attachment to things. We think of these beings as Hungry Ghosts. Tenzo Jacob created sweet-cakes, Rev. KoMyo wrapped them, and this morning each of us took up a cake, carefully unfolded it, and offered it to the universe. We were all moved by this experience of generosity and deep caring.

As Zen Buddhists we practice not for our benefit but for the benefit of all beings. We chant, "beings are numberless, I vow to free them." So our lives are a commitment to be in service to others. To practice Zazen is to study the self, Master Dogen says, and as the self drops away we are open to be taught by all beings. So, our service is always a learning experience.

My experience is ants teach me to be careful as I walk; bees teach me to be careful in the woods; flies teach me to be patient and humble as I sit in public spaces and offer them a face to scamper over. In the end,of course, there are no ants, no bees, to flies, no me: and so what remains?

Rev. KoMyo this morning offered a Dharma talk based on a teaching by my Dharma Grandfather, Rev. Dr. Soyu Matsuoka-roshi. The teaching was a teisho offered by Roshi for Obon on July 14, 1963. Matsuoka-roshi had a fondness for this particular holiday, as does my Teacher Hogaku McGuire-roshi. I have found myself drawn to this holiday as well. Matsuoka taught what remains is how we treat each other, even those we have issues with. He taught that "Zen is a way of action that urges us deeds of compassion and a life whose time has been put to good use." (The Kyosaku, pp. 77-80) It is a compassionate teaching and resonated deeply with me.

May we each practice as blessings in the universe.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Every Day

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

After a steady morning of doing Zazen, hiking and running in the desert (2.4 mi), doing dishes, and so on, KoMyo has prepared a wonderful pot of oatmeal. The scent is calling me to the table.

We will be leaving for sesshin at 3:00 PM this afternoon and will return Sunday afternoon. I am looking forward to being at the Refuge for a few days.

"Setting aside one, you gained seven." (a line out of the Blue Cliff Record, Case 6 Every Day is a Good Day) Katsuki Sekida notes, "You put the past aside, you ignore even enlightenment; that is 'setting aside one'. And in penetrating into the present moment's activity of consciousness, you meet with many things; that is how 'you gained seven'..."

Awake means living in multiple moments that are not at all multiple. We recognize a past, a present, and a future, but we know these are just mental constructs. We recognize a "me" and a "you" a "coffee cup" and a "cat" but we know these are not what we call them, they are just what we call them.

Getting to Awake we take the next step. We get up off our asses and out from under that Bodhi tree and we put one foot in front of another. We sweat. We eat. We work. We sleep. Yet we do these experiencing them both exquistiely and subtly as both real and false; one and many. To know One, set aside Many; to know Many, set aside One. Do this seamlessly.

Be well.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Pay Attention

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

The morning light seems to rise from the ground, and while it is beautiful, it means nothing in itself. Dark and light are the same. Nirvana and samsara, heaven and hell, good and bad: same-same. When we behold beauty, we behold ugliness. Beauty excludes ugliness and thus becomes ugly. A good that excludes bad, excludes itself. If heaven excludes hell, then heaven is hell. Do you understand?

Live in your world. Embrace your world. Seeking bliss is like seeking a narcotic; its use excludes us from being awake. The same with peak experiences. Peak experiences are to be avoided; they separate us from the everyday. Avoid feeling good; avoid feeling bad: reside in the great middle of each moment and be authentic in that residence.

Practice Zazen. Eat life. Share your food.

Be well.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Late

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Late edition today: dishes, a walk, and waking up late took me off schedule. Floating along, son Jacob made the tuna salad for Breakfast Club, and I have a few minutes to write to you now. Friends Allen and Eve just walked in, maybe less time than I thought. So it goes.

Time does not exist, really, there is just this typing on these keys, just now. Late is a notion invented by our mind focused on a point in thought. This point is chimera. Being present is being alive. In a certain sense, then, being in time is being asleep. Time and being are one and in this oneness, time itself, loses its meaning.

So, what happens if we are late? Are we still ourselves? Is our world still not intact? The walls don't crumble, the curtains aren't rent, and the earth doesn't open up and swallow us. We are here.

On the other hand, being prompt is essential to civilized life. Thus a problem. Solution? Plan properly when it is time to plan, be disciplined, and thoroughly be present as you "move" from one thing to another. You are your own master, always, regardless of what anyone else thinks or says, but master of yourself you must be.

Now, it it time for Breakfast Club.

A bow to each of you.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

So?

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

So, a student enters a training center and says, "please teach me." The Teacher asks, "Have you finished eating?" The student says, "Yes." The Teacher replies, "Go wash your bowl!"

Case 7 offers us a direct teaching. Very important; deeply profound. Most of us we want teachers to teach us with fantasies of mind. We want our heads filled with thoughts, as if to say, thoughts are the universe. We want to feel smart, philosophical, poetical, artistic, social, loving, etc. We think we can think ourselves into this way of being.

Zen is far more economical: go wash your bowl.

What more is there to teach?

Be well.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Let Go and Live

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

A little while ago friends Allen and Eve walked with me as I jogged 1.5 miles of hills. I did this sort of in-place jogging, enough to break a sweat and really enjoy myself. At home, I did a few different upper body weight exercises, including push ups, then stretched out with a few minutes of yoga. I woke late today, missed writing practice and zazen, but am catching up now.

Sometimes life would be out of sync if we had sync to begin with. No sync, nothing to be out of: when hungry, eat, when sleepy, sleep. Or so I sometimes say. Zen is like that.

Here you are. Zen practice, says Kyogen, is like a man hanging in a tree by his teeth over a cliff. In the ravine below, a man asks him, "Why did Bodhidharma come to China from India?" If the man in the tree does not answer, he fails. If he answers, he falls and loses his life. So, what should he do? (Case 5, the Gateless Gate). Always between a rock and a hard place; the devil and the deep blue sea: that's Zen.

I hear the water falling in my pond. My gate needs to be fixed. A friend needs a ride. To let go is to live.

Be well.