With palms together,
Good Evening Everyone,
Everyday is a wonder. I look at my hand and marvel at it. I look at my other hand and marvel at it, as well. They couldn't be more different, yet are of the same body. One moves with ease and has tremendous sensitivity. The other hardly moves and when it does it curls into strange twists and strains almost against itself. I feel one, barely feel the other. Just so, my heart/mind.
I consider the cause. A single bullet to the right side of my head on May 29, 1966 is the obvious cause. But equally present was my youthful willingness to go to war. My culture's willingness to have me go there. All of the propaganda, all of the socialization, and religions unwilling to stand up and shout against the grain, "There is another way!"
When I returned from combat, I decided I could no longer support war. Talk is cheap, though. So I protested. At that point in the Vietnam War, people didn't like protesters.
All the same arguments I hear today. What would you do if.... You know, enemy at the gates, etc. Sometimes I feel like doing an Arlo Guthrie on them, "I want to kill!"
Killing should be personal. Perhaps if it were, we might have less willingness to do it. Its easy to drop bombs, fire rockets, and artillery. Even easier with unmanned drones. No muss, no fuss. That's not real killing.
Real Killing is torture. It never stops. There are few days that go by that I don't have a memory of killing. My hand and my rather oddly shaped head see to that.
Yet, on the other hand, my heart/mind spoke loudly when I saw the Trade Centers attacked. Some terrible stuff, that. "I want to kill!"
Yes. And then what?
If the violence is far away and the stench not in our nostrils, no problem. Imagination is a poor simulator. For those who do violence, up front and personal, things are different. As we Buddhists are prone to pontificate, a moment is an eternity. As an Infantryman I attest to this truth.
And that dog eat dog crap is just that, crap. Real survival is based on mutual aid. You want to be strong? Love your neighbor even if he hates you.
Practice to create a pause between thought, feeling and behavior. Reject violence and warfare. It leads to nothing but more of the same and, believe me, it stinks. Practice the gentle way, the way of care and love. Hard, I know this, I am still struggling with being loving, tender and compassionate. Yet, I am convinced this is the way.
Life is nothing if not a great teacher to those willing to learn.
Be well.
Organ Mountain Zen
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Violence
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Lately, I am encountering questions about the use of violence to confront violence in the world. Is Zen Buddhism pacifist? How do we actually live out our precepts, precepts that underscore a position of doing no harm on the one hand, and doing good, on the other hand?
How do we embrace those that would kill us?
How do we deal with those who would have us kill?
I will answer directly:
I believe the Buddha Way does not embrace or support violent solutions to violent conflict.
I believe we are called to directly confront violence with non-violence and to meet hate with love.
I believe this takes a long and deep practice which results in a dropping away of self so there is "no hindrance in the mind, therefore, no fear". We are not always residing in this place, but must continue our practice so as to 'water the seeds' of our compassion.
Because of this, Zen is not for everyone as very few are at a point in their human and spiritual development where such a way is even understandable, let alone possible.
Is violence necessary? I say rarely. We are far too quick to rely on primitive and thoughtless behaviors. If someone is about to cause harm, we must prevent that harm from happening, of course The question is how. Violence should be the absolute last choice and only if the threat is imminent.
The Buddha Way is the way of stillness in motion. It is selfless love made manifest through every bodily organ. We practice to be walking, talking, and doing Buddhas.
Yes, Zen is not for everyone. But everyone willing is welcome to come and train.
_____________
On a personal note, today is very interesting. II will meet with Robert Yee, the filmmaker, and select snippets of video as well as stills that we might use on our Clear Mind Zen website to address streetZen. I also have a doctor's appointment to talk about a sleep study. After that, PrayerWorks at Rabbi Kane's home which takes us through lunch.
In the afternoon at 4:00, it is Meditation and Yoga at TBE.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Lately, I am encountering questions about the use of violence to confront violence in the world. Is Zen Buddhism pacifist? How do we actually live out our precepts, precepts that underscore a position of doing no harm on the one hand, and doing good, on the other hand?
How do we embrace those that would kill us?
How do we deal with those who would have us kill?
I will answer directly:
I believe the Buddha Way does not embrace or support violent solutions to violent conflict.
I believe we are called to directly confront violence with non-violence and to meet hate with love.
I believe this takes a long and deep practice which results in a dropping away of self so there is "no hindrance in the mind, therefore, no fear". We are not always residing in this place, but must continue our practice so as to 'water the seeds' of our compassion.
Because of this, Zen is not for everyone as very few are at a point in their human and spiritual development where such a way is even understandable, let alone possible.
Is violence necessary? I say rarely. We are far too quick to rely on primitive and thoughtless behaviors. If someone is about to cause harm, we must prevent that harm from happening, of course The question is how. Violence should be the absolute last choice and only if the threat is imminent.
The Buddha Way is the way of stillness in motion. It is selfless love made manifest through every bodily organ. We practice to be walking, talking, and doing Buddhas.
Yes, Zen is not for everyone. But everyone willing is welcome to come and train.
_____________
On a personal note, today is very interesting. II will meet with Robert Yee, the filmmaker, and select snippets of video as well as stills that we might use on our Clear Mind Zen website to address streetZen. I also have a doctor's appointment to talk about a sleep study. After that, PrayerWorks at Rabbi Kane's home which takes us through lunch.
In the afternoon at 4:00, it is Meditation and Yoga at TBE.
Be well.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Monday Notes
With palms together,
Good Afternoon All,
This morning's streetZen went well. It was delightful outside. Colette and I were sitting alone, but a woman came by and decided to join us. She had been to the local showing of the short Yee film about me and Street Zen and decided to come by. Such good things happen when just sitting.
During the first sitting period I was visited by a spider. After the others left, I stayed for awhile and was soon visited by a curious roadrunner. The spider crawled onto my head, the roadrunner just walked behind me.
This afternoon I have a Study Group meeting at my residence at four. A delightfully diverse group of participants create a truly wonderful atmosphere. If interested, please join us.
Be well.
Good Afternoon All,
This morning's streetZen went well. It was delightful outside. Colette and I were sitting alone, but a woman came by and decided to join us. She had been to the local showing of the short Yee film about me and Street Zen and decided to come by. Such good things happen when just sitting.
During the first sitting period I was visited by a spider. After the others left, I stayed for awhile and was soon visited by a curious roadrunner. The spider crawled onto my head, the roadrunner just walked behind me.
This afternoon I have a Study Group meeting at my residence at four. A delightfully diverse group of participants create a truly wonderful atmosphere. If interested, please join us.
Be well.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Winter
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Winter gets a bad rep. In some places, such as Cleveland, deservedly so. Yet, there is something of value about the winter regardless of where we are. The day opens slowly in the winter. A good way to begin any day actually.
"Slow" is rarely encountered and certainly not appreciated today. "Slow" is too often experienced as a hindrance. We so want to 'get there'! Yet, "slow" assists us by allowing moments of thoughtful deliberation to occur, as well as time to appreciate each moment itself. And due to our own expectations of what a reasonable pace is, to go slower than that expectation offers us a teaching about ourselves.
So, I know when I am in a hurry, I have taken to slowing down a bit. Attention to breath, slowly in, slower out, reside in the center. While I am clearly not always successful, as I do not always practice what I preach, I am always successful when I do practice.
Be well, be slow.
Good Morning Everyone,
Winter gets a bad rep. In some places, such as Cleveland, deservedly so. Yet, there is something of value about the winter regardless of where we are. The day opens slowly in the winter. A good way to begin any day actually.
"Slow" is rarely encountered and certainly not appreciated today. "Slow" is too often experienced as a hindrance. We so want to 'get there'! Yet, "slow" assists us by allowing moments of thoughtful deliberation to occur, as well as time to appreciate each moment itself. And due to our own expectations of what a reasonable pace is, to go slower than that expectation offers us a teaching about ourselves.
So, I know when I am in a hurry, I have taken to slowing down a bit. Attention to breath, slowly in, slower out, reside in the center. While I am clearly not always successful, as I do not always practice what I preach, I am always successful when I do practice.
Be well, be slow.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Living Zen
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I would like to talk a little about what it means to follow the Buddha Way. It's a deceptively simple path to nowhere. It's a path where the path itself is the end and the beginning. It is a Way where, "Are we there yet?", is a meaningless question.
More BabbleZen? Put your hands on the table you are sitting at. Take in a breath and release it slowly and deeply. Where are you? No BabbleZen, just being there.
When we are 'there', that is to say, 'here', we are able to experience nothing more or less than 'here.' When we realize 'here' is the whole enchilada then we are free to be completely present and eat it. We release the thought of the next moment and the last moment. We release the grip of feelings, knowing they have very short lifespans and are simply reflections of thoughts and discriminations.
No planning? No dreaming? Not so. We have our thoughts and our feelings, but we do not hold them tightly. We practice knowing these things are present moments activities and we do them wholeheartedly. What we don't do is allow let them lead us around by the nose.
Living Zen is living now.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I would like to talk a little about what it means to follow the Buddha Way. It's a deceptively simple path to nowhere. It's a path where the path itself is the end and the beginning. It is a Way where, "Are we there yet?", is a meaningless question.
More BabbleZen? Put your hands on the table you are sitting at. Take in a breath and release it slowly and deeply. Where are you? No BabbleZen, just being there.
When we are 'there', that is to say, 'here', we are able to experience nothing more or less than 'here.' When we realize 'here' is the whole enchilada then we are free to be completely present and eat it. We release the thought of the next moment and the last moment. We release the grip of feelings, knowing they have very short lifespans and are simply reflections of thoughts and discriminations.
No planning? No dreaming? Not so. We have our thoughts and our feelings, but we do not hold them tightly. We practice knowing these things are present moments activities and we do them wholeheartedly. What we don't do is allow let them lead us around by the nose.
Living Zen is living now.
Be well.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Is Knowing Enough?
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
From the Soto Zen meal blessings, Gokan No Ge:
First, innumerable labors have brought us this food
We should know how it came to us.
The new farm:
"Find a sheet of printer paper and imagine a full-grown bird shaped something like a football with legs standing on it. Imagine 33,000 of these rectangles in a grid. (Broilers are never in cages, and never on multiple levels.) Now enclose the grid with windowless walls and put a ceiling on top. Run in automated (drug-laced) feed, water, heating, and ventilation systems."
Free range? Make a small opening in the wall, enough for one bird to squeeze through to a 5 x 5 foot dirt patch. This qualifies the mass of birds to be labelled "free range".
Now, after killing, the chickens are placed in a refrigerated water tank, thousands at a time. Referred to as 'fecal soup' by the Government Accountability Project, clean birds are cooled with dirty ones. Hot birds have open pores and absorb the water and "the (new) law of the land allows for slightly more than 11 percent of liquid absorption." (Quoted from "Eating animals" by Safran Foer.)
So its not just the labels that are apparently just 'full of shit'.
Consider not trusting a word, not a single word, of anything written on food packaged in the United States.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
From the Soto Zen meal blessings, Gokan No Ge:
First, innumerable labors have brought us this food
We should know how it came to us.
The new farm:
"Find a sheet of printer paper and imagine a full-grown bird shaped something like a football with legs standing on it. Imagine 33,000 of these rectangles in a grid. (Broilers are never in cages, and never on multiple levels.) Now enclose the grid with windowless walls and put a ceiling on top. Run in automated (drug-laced) feed, water, heating, and ventilation systems."
Free range? Make a small opening in the wall, enough for one bird to squeeze through to a 5 x 5 foot dirt patch. This qualifies the mass of birds to be labelled "free range".
Now, after killing, the chickens are placed in a refrigerated water tank, thousands at a time. Referred to as 'fecal soup' by the Government Accountability Project, clean birds are cooled with dirty ones. Hot birds have open pores and absorb the water and "the (new) law of the land allows for slightly more than 11 percent of liquid absorption." (Quoted from "Eating animals" by Safran Foer.)
So its not just the labels that are apparently just 'full of shit'.
Consider not trusting a word, not a single word, of anything written on food packaged in the United States.
Be well.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Opportunity to Help
From a friend:
Hi Harvey
I hope you're doing well this holiday season. The Fresh Air Fund is looking for runners and sponsors to join our Fresh Air Fund-Racers team for the NYC Half-Marathon this coming March 21st and I was hoping you might be able to post something about it on Clear Mind Zen to share with your readers. This is a great way to participate in NYC's premier summer road race while helping Fresh Air Fund children.
Over the last year, support from friends like you helped us give nearly 10,000 inner-city children country experiences that they're still talking about! We rely on donations this time of year to keep our programs strong for the summer months, and helping children is a cause that I'm sure your readers would be interested in. Please feel free to repost anything from our news site here:
http://freshairholiday.org
Hi Harvey
I hope you're doing well this holiday season. The Fresh Air Fund is looking for runners and sponsors to join our Fresh Air Fund-Racers team for the NYC Half-Marathon this coming March 21st and I was hoping you might be able to post something about it on Clear Mind Zen to share with your readers. This is a great way to participate in NYC's premier summer road race while helping Fresh Air Fund children.
Over the last year, support from friends like you helped us give nearly 10,000 inner-city children country experiences that they're still talking about! We rely on donations this time of year to keep our programs strong for the summer months, and helping children is a cause that I'm sure your readers would be interested in. Please feel free to repost anything from our news site here:
http://freshairholiday.org
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