The Buddha Precepts, Part Eleven
Do not speak ill of the Three Treasures: Respect and value all aspects of the Great Way.
This precept is a sort of capping verse to the whole enchilada. All of the precepts, indeed all moral behavior, flow from non-duality, the great Oneness of Everything That Is. To speak ill of any one part takes us away from our true selves and allows evil to arise.
Old Homeless Kodo used to say, “The person who has left home must create his own life.” The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are our refuge, they are the home we let arise when leaving home. They are our natural inherent state of being. It is said, ‘one minute Zazen, one minute Buddha; five minutes Zazen, five minutes Buddha. I say every moment Buddha
I say this because Buddha is universally present, it is only that we need open our eye to see. To speak ill of the three Treasures is to duck with closed eye under the cover of delusion and wrap ourselves in the cloak of ignorance. When we understand the Buddha Way is not Buddhism, we understand it is every breath, every step, and everything we do throughout our day.
Be well.
Organ Mountain Zen
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Way, Part Ten
The Buddha Precepts, Part Ten
Do not get angry: Respect and value tranquility of heart and mind.
It is telling that the only feeling addressed in the Grave Precepts of Zen is anger. We do not vow to be happy or vow not to be sad or afraid, but we do vow not to get angry. What is this about?
Anger is a destructive feeling. It separates rather than unites. It enables us to do great harm and feel good about it in the process. Most of all, anger blinds us. Anger is one of the Buddha’s three poisons. Anger is a poison that takes away our sight, binds our reason, and kills our heart.
In Zen, we take the attitude that we create our universe through our thoughts. It is not that the universe does not exist apart from us, but what the universe is, what it means, is our creation. Our universe can be threatening and dangerous or it can be a peaceful refuge. We turn people into devils hell-bent on causing us harm one day and on another, those very same people can be our friends. The universe and all that is in it are the same. What changed are our thoughts about it. Change the thoughts; change the world…that’s what love’s got to do with it.
Everyday situations can become quite toxic when we assign anger-provoking meanings to them. This person slighted us, that person cheated us, and so on. On the larger world stage, countries do the same: this behavior is provoking, that behavior threatening. The resultant fear and anger allows us to justify aggression.
Yet these moments can be wonderful opportunities to look more deeply into ourselves. They invite investigation, not solution. The tendency to respond in kind must be avoided. We practice to remain open. If we are threatened, address the threat: check it out. What is this feeling doing to me, to my morality, my ethic? What about the situation is a threat? Does the feeling of anger help or hinder me in this situation?
If we really want serenity, peace of mind and body, we must be willing to take that backward step and accept ourselves on the cushion facing a wall. In truth, anger arises and anger falls away. No need to pass it on.
Be well.
Do not get angry: Respect and value tranquility of heart and mind.
It is telling that the only feeling addressed in the Grave Precepts of Zen is anger. We do not vow to be happy or vow not to be sad or afraid, but we do vow not to get angry. What is this about?
Anger is a destructive feeling. It separates rather than unites. It enables us to do great harm and feel good about it in the process. Most of all, anger blinds us. Anger is one of the Buddha’s three poisons. Anger is a poison that takes away our sight, binds our reason, and kills our heart.
In Zen, we take the attitude that we create our universe through our thoughts. It is not that the universe does not exist apart from us, but what the universe is, what it means, is our creation. Our universe can be threatening and dangerous or it can be a peaceful refuge. We turn people into devils hell-bent on causing us harm one day and on another, those very same people can be our friends. The universe and all that is in it are the same. What changed are our thoughts about it. Change the thoughts; change the world…that’s what love’s got to do with it.
Everyday situations can become quite toxic when we assign anger-provoking meanings to them. This person slighted us, that person cheated us, and so on. On the larger world stage, countries do the same: this behavior is provoking, that behavior threatening. The resultant fear and anger allows us to justify aggression.
Yet these moments can be wonderful opportunities to look more deeply into ourselves. They invite investigation, not solution. The tendency to respond in kind must be avoided. We practice to remain open. If we are threatened, address the threat: check it out. What is this feeling doing to me, to my morality, my ethic? What about the situation is a threat? Does the feeling of anger help or hinder me in this situation?
If we really want serenity, peace of mind and body, we must be willing to take that backward step and accept ourselves on the cushion facing a wall. In truth, anger arises and anger falls away. No need to pass it on.
Be well.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Way, Part Nine
The Buddha Precepts, Part Nine
Do not be greedy: Respect and value generosity of the material and spiritual.
We do love our things, my things, your things, everybody’s things. No problem! Love values. Yet, when we want our things, need our things, when we cannot live without our things, big problem. This precept teaches us that the way we live with our things is relational. We live with our things by being generous with them. Looking deeply, we see our things are not our things, that we have a hand on them only briefly and that they actually are the universe. Understood in this way, generosity means letting go our grip on what we do not possess in the first place.
Greed is one of the three poisons, the Buddha taught. Greed means possessiveness, it means aggrandizement, it means wanting more and more, even at the expense of others. Greed is short sighted. It separates us from others and diminishes our capacity to see clearly our interdependence.
Greed involves both things material and spiritual. As Zensters we offer ourselves to the universe. I offer you me, my time, my home, my heart, my dharma. I do this in the form of opening. The Buddha taught that the antidote to this poison of greed is generosity or “dana.” Dana paramita is the first paramita, the first perfection, if you will. Dana releases us, frees us.
The koan-like aspect of this practice knows we own nothing. How can we release anything? If we release our material stuff, how do we live? Am I to give you my house, my car? In a manner of speaking, yes. I do not possess my house; it possesses itself. I do not possess my car; it too, possesses itself. I am just the caretaker. Most importantly, however, I practice not to let these things possess me.
Generosity is a serious teacher, be its serious student.
Respect and value generosity of the material and spiritual: Do not be greedy.
Do not be greedy: Respect and value generosity of the material and spiritual.
We do love our things, my things, your things, everybody’s things. No problem! Love values. Yet, when we want our things, need our things, when we cannot live without our things, big problem. This precept teaches us that the way we live with our things is relational. We live with our things by being generous with them. Looking deeply, we see our things are not our things, that we have a hand on them only briefly and that they actually are the universe. Understood in this way, generosity means letting go our grip on what we do not possess in the first place.
Greed is one of the three poisons, the Buddha taught. Greed means possessiveness, it means aggrandizement, it means wanting more and more, even at the expense of others. Greed is short sighted. It separates us from others and diminishes our capacity to see clearly our interdependence.
Greed involves both things material and spiritual. As Zensters we offer ourselves to the universe. I offer you me, my time, my home, my heart, my dharma. I do this in the form of opening. The Buddha taught that the antidote to this poison of greed is generosity or “dana.” Dana paramita is the first paramita, the first perfection, if you will. Dana releases us, frees us.
The koan-like aspect of this practice knows we own nothing. How can we release anything? If we release our material stuff, how do we live? Am I to give you my house, my car? In a manner of speaking, yes. I do not possess my house; it possesses itself. I do not possess my car; it too, possesses itself. I am just the caretaker. Most importantly, however, I practice not to let these things possess me.
Generosity is a serious teacher, be its serious student.
Respect and value generosity of the material and spiritual: Do not be greedy.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The Way, Part Eight
Buddha Precepts, Part Eight
Do not elevate yourself by criticizing others: Respect and value yourself.
This precept is about us. When we criticize others for the sake of elevating our selves, we are actually lowering ourselves. The precept before this is about separating ourselves through gossip, it is about them and our relation to them. This precept is more about our relationship to our selves.
When in the presence of others and we see someone else doing something in a way different from how we might do it, what do we do? Internally, we tend to evaluate it as “not right.” While this is a problem for many of us, as we just cannot seem to resist either the valuation or the sharing of it. This precept goes to our intent.
We can evaluate for the sake of helping, for the sake of protecting, or for the sake of efficiency, as long as those evaluations are both necessary and sought out by the other. But when we evaluate for the sake of showing our superiority, for the sake of demonstrating our expertise, or for the sake of making ourselves look good in the eyes of others, we are misusing evaluation on the one hand and demonstrating our own emotional and psychological insecurity on the other hand.
When we need to put others down in order to feel good about ourselves, we show our insecurity and our willingness to harm. These put down critiques become habitual and we can easily become known as toxic. They are challenging habits to break.
Advice: Begin a practice of mindful speech. In order to practice mindful speech we must be willing to consider both our word’s necessity and their intent. Second, create a space between you and other, In that space look to see both their value and the value of their way. Each of these are our teachers. Third, take up a practice of good enough. More often than not, our criticisms are about our ideas of perfection, unattainable ideas, by the way. For practice, say “good enough” from time to time and reside with the thoughts and feelings that arise in such a practice.
Letting others be who and what they are is an important Buddhist practice and central to our Way; learning to recognize and value ourselves is equally important.
Do not elevate yourself by criticizing others: Respect and value yourself.
Be well
Do not elevate yourself by criticizing others: Respect and value yourself.
This precept is about us. When we criticize others for the sake of elevating our selves, we are actually lowering ourselves. The precept before this is about separating ourselves through gossip, it is about them and our relation to them. This precept is more about our relationship to our selves.
When in the presence of others and we see someone else doing something in a way different from how we might do it, what do we do? Internally, we tend to evaluate it as “not right.” While this is a problem for many of us, as we just cannot seem to resist either the valuation or the sharing of it. This precept goes to our intent.
We can evaluate for the sake of helping, for the sake of protecting, or for the sake of efficiency, as long as those evaluations are both necessary and sought out by the other. But when we evaluate for the sake of showing our superiority, for the sake of demonstrating our expertise, or for the sake of making ourselves look good in the eyes of others, we are misusing evaluation on the one hand and demonstrating our own emotional and psychological insecurity on the other hand.
When we need to put others down in order to feel good about ourselves, we show our insecurity and our willingness to harm. These put down critiques become habitual and we can easily become known as toxic. They are challenging habits to break.
Advice: Begin a practice of mindful speech. In order to practice mindful speech we must be willing to consider both our word’s necessity and their intent. Second, create a space between you and other, In that space look to see both their value and the value of their way. Each of these are our teachers. Third, take up a practice of good enough. More often than not, our criticisms are about our ideas of perfection, unattainable ideas, by the way. For practice, say “good enough” from time to time and reside with the thoughts and feelings that arise in such a practice.
Letting others be who and what they are is an important Buddhist practice and central to our Way; learning to recognize and value ourselves is equally important.
Do not elevate yourself by criticizing others: Respect and value yourself.
Be well
Monday, May 31, 2010
The Way, Part Seven
The Buddha Precepts, Part Seven.
Do not talk about other's faults: Respect and value others uniqueness.
In the Absolute world, everything is one. In such a world, there are no “faults.” In the Relative world, with each breath, each of us is born and born, and born again. Each birth is a unique event. I am looking at a cup of coffee I just brewed. It is wonderful. Does this “wonderful” make the coffee at Starbucks less so? Likewise, when I admire a pear, and I do love pears, does this make an apple less admirable? Things are what they are: in the Relative world different and unique; in the Absolute world, one.
When I talk about someone’s faults, I am in a perverted Relative world. My mind is creating a view of perfection against which it is measuring that person. In doing so, I am not living in non-duality, but rotting in judgments, diminishing us both. To what end? Does such talk make the world a better place?
This precept is about idle chatter, the mindless prattle of everyday minds. Do not do it. This precept points to a golden truth: silence is thunder.
Moreover, each of us is unique in our oneness. Each of us has value as we are from the farmer to the scientist and from the householder to the beggar. When we are criticizing our differences, we are not recognizing our value.
Let the thunder in our silence be our teacher.
Be well.
Do not talk about other's faults: Respect and value others uniqueness.
In the Absolute world, everything is one. In such a world, there are no “faults.” In the Relative world, with each breath, each of us is born and born, and born again. Each birth is a unique event. I am looking at a cup of coffee I just brewed. It is wonderful. Does this “wonderful” make the coffee at Starbucks less so? Likewise, when I admire a pear, and I do love pears, does this make an apple less admirable? Things are what they are: in the Relative world different and unique; in the Absolute world, one.
When I talk about someone’s faults, I am in a perverted Relative world. My mind is creating a view of perfection against which it is measuring that person. In doing so, I am not living in non-duality, but rotting in judgments, diminishing us both. To what end? Does such talk make the world a better place?
This precept is about idle chatter, the mindless prattle of everyday minds. Do not do it. This precept points to a golden truth: silence is thunder.
Moreover, each of us is unique in our oneness. Each of us has value as we are from the farmer to the scientist and from the householder to the beggar. When we are criticizing our differences, we are not recognizing our value.
Let the thunder in our silence be our teacher.
Be well.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The Way, Part Six
Buddha Precepts, Part Five
Do not ingest intoxicants: Respect and value clarity of mind and health of body.
That hackneyed phrase, “garbage in, garbage out,” has abundant application in this domain of life. While this precept often is used as a basis for denying ourselves alcohol and drugs, it also applies to food, information, and all the other things we take in to ourselves. A clear mind is a mind that sees directly and does not filter sensory data through clouds of crap.
When going to a movie or watching television, we should exercise great care in what sort of material we are “ingesting.” Media presents us with the three poisons poison wrapped up very nicely. Psychologists and marketers, politicians and media executives understand this and exploit the processes involved through sensory input over extended periods.
What do we need; what do we want; how do we feel about world events: All of these are grossly and finely massaged from content to production values. Media messages tease and tickle us all the while acting as filters for our understanding so that while we think we are seeing clearly or thinking critically, we are in fact becoming near parrots of those who are the media.
Content from newspapers, books and blogs, can also be quite toxic. We often have our emotions charged over a news story, unable or unwilling to place something in a context, we experience the story, its images, and impact as raw data. Truth? No. Everything we see and hear is crafted to make a point, arouse a certain response, and masquerade as truth.
So what? Should we bury our heads in the sand? Should we listen to even more noise in order to catch the context? No and no. What we need to do is approach what we receive through our senses with great skill and mindful practice. We need to be aware of what is going on in the world, but we need that awareness to be bounded. We need to learn how to put things in context, we need to learn how to identify and sort. Most of all we need to learn how not to keep things we see, hear, and feel and instead practice with them.
The Buddha said the antidote for hate is love. The next time you find yourself watching ostensible “news” and talking heads are screaming, turn them off and heal yourself with love. Better yet, sell or give away your television. Remember, for every act of hate there are millions of acts of love. For every act of greed, there are millions of acts of generosity. For every delusion, there is a wise alternative.
So, while we should not cloud our mind with drugs and alcohol, sex and food, money and power, we should also work very hard to notice our vulnerability and protect our loving hearts.
Do not ingest intoxicants: Respect and value clarity of mind and health of body.
Be well.
Do not ingest intoxicants: Respect and value clarity of mind and health of body.
That hackneyed phrase, “garbage in, garbage out,” has abundant application in this domain of life. While this precept often is used as a basis for denying ourselves alcohol and drugs, it also applies to food, information, and all the other things we take in to ourselves. A clear mind is a mind that sees directly and does not filter sensory data through clouds of crap.
When going to a movie or watching television, we should exercise great care in what sort of material we are “ingesting.” Media presents us with the three poisons poison wrapped up very nicely. Psychologists and marketers, politicians and media executives understand this and exploit the processes involved through sensory input over extended periods.
What do we need; what do we want; how do we feel about world events: All of these are grossly and finely massaged from content to production values. Media messages tease and tickle us all the while acting as filters for our understanding so that while we think we are seeing clearly or thinking critically, we are in fact becoming near parrots of those who are the media.
Content from newspapers, books and blogs, can also be quite toxic. We often have our emotions charged over a news story, unable or unwilling to place something in a context, we experience the story, its images, and impact as raw data. Truth? No. Everything we see and hear is crafted to make a point, arouse a certain response, and masquerade as truth.
So what? Should we bury our heads in the sand? Should we listen to even more noise in order to catch the context? No and no. What we need to do is approach what we receive through our senses with great skill and mindful practice. We need to be aware of what is going on in the world, but we need that awareness to be bounded. We need to learn how to put things in context, we need to learn how to identify and sort. Most of all we need to learn how not to keep things we see, hear, and feel and instead practice with them.
The Buddha said the antidote for hate is love. The next time you find yourself watching ostensible “news” and talking heads are screaming, turn them off and heal yourself with love. Better yet, sell or give away your television. Remember, for every act of hate there are millions of acts of love. For every act of greed, there are millions of acts of generosity. For every delusion, there is a wise alternative.
So, while we should not cloud our mind with drugs and alcohol, sex and food, money and power, we should also work very hard to notice our vulnerability and protect our loving hearts.
Do not ingest intoxicants: Respect and value clarity of mind and health of body.
Be well.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Good Afternoon All,
A remembrance of my evening of the 28th and early morning of the 29th, 44 years ago.
25th Infantry Division
A remembrance of my evening of the 28th and early morning of the 29th, 44 years ago.
25th Infantry Division
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