Empty Bowls 2

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Empty bowls are an opportunity; full bowls are an opportunity. Being generous is an opportunity; being self-sufficient is an opportunity. Lessons can be learned from everything in every time and condition, provided there is space for learning to take place. We create this space through our very deliberate practice of zazen.

Judgments about conditions do nothing to address conditions. To fill a bowl does not diminish it and leaving it empty does not enhance it. However, practicing generosity, compassion, and love does nurture us and our world, whereas, practicing greed, heartlessness, and hate diminishes our interdependence and connectivity.

Practice Prajna Paramita.

Be well.

Empty Bowls

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

When things remain the same they rot: in this case, tomatoes sitting on my counter. Tops red; bottoms black, I offered them to the birds this morning. So, from a certain point of view everything has its value and nothing is trash.

There are people who argue that some people have no value. They argue from a certain point of view, certain groups are a drain on society, that they are a lazy, shiftless, and morally deficient lot. Like empty bowls, they gather dust and are often in the way They argue that providing basic needs enables such people to remain a drain. Perhaps this is so.

Yet, from another point of view, a compassionate point of view, an empty bowl is an invitation to make an offering.

If we begin without assumptions (always a good idea), we might be more able to see what needs to be offered and be more willing to make the offering. Empty bowls are always empty for a reason, but they remain empty until an offering is made. It is in this that an empty bowl has value.

Be well.

Like the Sea

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

“Transitions are always difficult,” Soku Shin said to me. Without thinking, I agreed too quickly. In retrospect, saying such a thing has certain implications. I recognize transitions are the essential nature of our lives. Indeed, as we come to experience, change is life. However, if this is so, are we then saying life is always difficult? Change in any direction involves a loss of what was and an apprehension of what might be next. It also involves experiencing what is. Depending on where our mind’s eye rests we will answer yes or no.

In chapter 31 of Shobogenzo (Kai-in-zanmai), Master Dogen quotes Buddha as saying,
“An instant before, an instant after: instant does not depend on instant; a dharma before, a dharma after: dharma does not oppose dharma. Just this is called Samadhi, state like the sea.”

A buddha is a buddha in every moment, not holding on, not letting go, just being buddha. Standing on the shore we might see the sea rise and fall, being the sea itself, no rising, no falling. Both are true, neither opposes one another. Each is exactly and completely itself.

Three A.M. is just this moment, neither early nor late. Only in relation to four A. M. might it take on before or after. To realize one Truth also realizes the Other.

Be well.

Daily Life

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Sitting on my cushion, in front of me is a small handmade Medicine Buddha. His right hand extends down from serenity to touch the Earth. His left hand holds his medicine bowl.

In our practice we must remember to touch the Earth, which is to say, be grounded. We also must bear in mind our purpose as bodhisattvas is to heal and transform. All with a serene and calm heart.

At first blush, this may seem an awesome and extremely challenging task. Yet know the Earth is here to support us. It is our foundation. And our medicine flows from our heart. When we assume to posture of zazen, we assume the posture of buddha: mind/heart/body/environment are one and every step is the correct step.

May we walk together along the Way.

Be well.

Practicing Buddhas

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Sitting on the edge of a chair just now, I am at a friend’s home looking out into a very dark desert. I made a pot of coffee, sat quietly for a bit, and now turn my attention to you.

Soku Shin and I watched the film, Little Buddha, last night. This is a film within a film, the story of Buddha, as well as the story of the search for a re-incarnated Tibetan Lama. All along the way, of course, it is a story of awakening and personal transformation.

Every time I sit with this film, I feel blessed to have been born a human being. I am further blessed by the suffering in my life as it has been the source of, and invitation to, compassion. We cannot hear the suffering of the world ensconced in a tower above it all. We waste ourselves in such places. And more importantly, others are wasted as a result of our absence. To be a human being is to be caring in community.

Some have said of me lately, though, that I must not be the person they thought I was as I have caused great suffering in the lives of those close to me because of my separation from my wife. This is hurtful. Neither of us was particularly happy and we wrestled in blind alleys frequently. Would that we could live without change, but change is the essential nature of all things and cannot be avoided. We do the best we can.

Listening deeply, I find my life is no longer my own. It belongs to the universe. Practicing zazen, listening, learning, sharing, teaching: these are my core elements of being now. They are the practice of all buddhas and the gift of being human.

Be well.

Wonder

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

This morning was wonderful: silence, good sleep, and then opening my eyes to such beauty! Our world is so full of good things: hugs, smiles, and lovingkindness.

It is all a matter of willingness. We must be willing to open ourselves, drop the barriers, and live fully and completely. So challenging at first. So everyday later. Seated on a cushion, we worry if we are doing it right, what people will think, and so on. Yet, with practice, we experience breath and existence as formless form.

Last night Zen Student Soku Shin and I worked through the first part of Master Dogen’s Bendowa. When we realize buddha, all is buddha. All was buddha. All will continue to be buddha. Once the True Dharma Eye is opened, everything changes but remains the same. Spacious Mind and Narrow Mind are actualized as One and a Zenster can now be the Universe and a Zenster, as well as no Zenster and no Universe simultaneously.

Aim for seamless being.

Be well.

Like a Cat

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Consumation

Morning arrives in the night
Like a cat on the prowl
For something to eat.
I turn myself
Open, ready to be released.

Zen practice is the practice of eternal life.
Awake, I see
You are not you
And I am not I
And we are not we,
Yet at once,
You are you,
I am I,
And we are we.
Past, present and future
Are mere thoughts.
Living and dying
Are simply dreams.

In such a place,
The only step
Is the step originating in the night,
The Self making the self.