With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Social Action, Part Two
What would Buddha do? Who knows? Who cares? To have such an idea is to consider an ideal, a dream, and wish to impose it on the dharma in front of our eyes. Every situation presents itself as it is and requires our direct and immediate action, even if that action is simply to consider.
How would a buddha address racism? Religious intolerance? Social and economic inequity? War? This is a slightly different question, as we are not talking about a historical person, but rather ourselves when our eyes are open. Still, it takes us in the wrong direction as it asks us to guess by imagining two thoughts: ourselves as awake, and that we are awake in some scenario we might encounter. Next, we might ask is there any such thing as religious intolerance, war, social injustice, in the first place? Or are these, as well, just ideas?
Our common sense says, “of course there is such a thing, I have seen it!” You might say, “Roshi just used a pejorative phrase referring to fundamentalist thinkers as ‘Fundies’!” You might be right. On the other hand, what is under the question? What is the thing itself? The thing before the thought? Which is the issue, the injustice or the label or are they equally so?
This is what this bodhisattva did: On his matter of “Fundies” I decided to ask my friend Garland. We happened to be together at a gathering yesterday. Garland is a man who walks around the City of Las Cruces dragging a large cross on his shoulder. He comes to Torah study with his New Testament. Last year, an accomplished pianist, he gave out CDs of Christmas music to congregation at Temple Beth El. Garland’s response is always based in direct, literal translation of the Bible. He is as close to fundamentalist as I know. So, I asked him about the phrase and the “Left Behind” series I referenced in an earlier post.
He considered these for a moment or two. He agreed that the phrase “Fundie” could be pejorative, but he said it was a matter of perception. He himself rejects the idea that he is a fundamentalist, except that he refers always to his spiritual source when walking in the world. He also told me he thought the books were based on the book of revelation and that he avoided them as they presented a vision of God he was not inclined to agree with, namely a judging, wrathful God. He thought he books were scary, as well, and would not recommend them. Unfortunately, at that point I needed to leave to assist a friend.
What to do? Ask. Healthy living and honest communication requires a bit of a willingness to set aside the baggage of what we think we know and act in the moment from our heart. Garland and I are on opposing sides regarding the Iraq war, opposing sides regarding abortion, opposing sides regarding prayer in schools, etc. But we are on the same side regarding the core issue: living with heart as directly as possible. His source is his text and how he frames his understanding of it; mine is my practice and the lessons I derive from it.
We get into trouble when we begin saying true Buddhists act this way or that. A true Buddhist is first, not a Buddhist, and second, acts without preconceived shoulds. He calls a spade a spade, knowing it is not a spade, and works to get to know spadeness seeing it as both spadeness and not-spadeness at the same time, while not ignoring either. Yet, he can do nothing if he is afraid of the encounter or worries about what others might say.
I have two missions in my life as a bodhisattva. First is to brandish the sword of Manjushri to kill the Buddha in me in order to be a buddha in life, and the second is to offer my experience of that sword to others.
Be well.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Social Action, Part One
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
The workshop went very well, although I was exhausted by afternoon. It is a considerable amount of work to organize, market, and conduct a workshop. I am not as young as I used to be and it shows.
We had a reasonably good attendance and wonderful participation by those who did. People shared very challenging stories from their past. We sat in mindful silence, practiced deep listening meditation, eating meditation, and writing meditation. Toward the afternoon, we practiced yoga and T’ai Chi Chih. My Teacher, Hogaku-roshi acted as the summation guide.
I would like our Order to do more of these in various parts of the country. We are looking to do one in Northern California in September. Survivors of violence need a little space and recognition of their suffering.
As I listened to people speak, I heard the voices of the perpetrators through the survivor’s mouths: “I am going to f*** you and if you tell anyone, I will hunt you down.” I marveled at the woman attending with still fresh stab wounds made be her ‘boyfriend.’ The subtext of violence is fear and control, it is about domination and subjugation...and it depends on our silence.
People who believe they have the right to harm others need to be addressed. People who believe they are somehow better than others by virtue of gender or race or class, and therefore have a right to control or speak for others, need to be addressed.
I remember a time in South Carolina where I was a social worker in a rural community. A White farmer and a Black share-cropper were having a fight. The White farmer was angry that the Black sharecropper had a voice. He felt the sharecropper owed him deferential silence, after all, he “gave him everything he needed.” This, in a place that religiously insisted it was their right to keep “Whites Only” restaurants, restrooms, and water fountains. He actually told me, “Why that boy, he don’t need to vote, its what wrong with this country.” The “boy” was twenty years his senior and a veteran of WW II.
In the face of such nonsense, we are wrong to remain silent as our silence supports the aggressor.
Next, “what would Buddha do?”
Good Morning Everyone,
The workshop went very well, although I was exhausted by afternoon. It is a considerable amount of work to organize, market, and conduct a workshop. I am not as young as I used to be and it shows.
We had a reasonably good attendance and wonderful participation by those who did. People shared very challenging stories from their past. We sat in mindful silence, practiced deep listening meditation, eating meditation, and writing meditation. Toward the afternoon, we practiced yoga and T’ai Chi Chih. My Teacher, Hogaku-roshi acted as the summation guide.
I would like our Order to do more of these in various parts of the country. We are looking to do one in Northern California in September. Survivors of violence need a little space and recognition of their suffering.
As I listened to people speak, I heard the voices of the perpetrators through the survivor’s mouths: “I am going to f*** you and if you tell anyone, I will hunt you down.” I marveled at the woman attending with still fresh stab wounds made be her ‘boyfriend.’ The subtext of violence is fear and control, it is about domination and subjugation...and it depends on our silence.
People who believe they have the right to harm others need to be addressed. People who believe they are somehow better than others by virtue of gender or race or class, and therefore have a right to control or speak for others, need to be addressed.
I remember a time in South Carolina where I was a social worker in a rural community. A White farmer and a Black share-cropper were having a fight. The White farmer was angry that the Black sharecropper had a voice. He felt the sharecropper owed him deferential silence, after all, he “gave him everything he needed.” This, in a place that religiously insisted it was their right to keep “Whites Only” restaurants, restrooms, and water fountains. He actually told me, “Why that boy, he don’t need to vote, its what wrong with this country.” The “boy” was twenty years his senior and a veteran of WW II.
In the face of such nonsense, we are wrong to remain silent as our silence supports the aggressor.
Next, “what would Buddha do?”
Friday, June 18, 2010
Heaven
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
The other day I saw a book, one of the “Left Behind” series. Good grief.
There is no one left behind.
I recall my visceral yucky feeling when I first encountered this series of books. I listened to interviews of the author. I was not a happy camper. Actually, at the time, I was quite annoyed. In the world of religion, beliefs such as those espoused by fundamentalists are the most toxic. Fundies completely and deliberately misread text, stand on that misrepresentation, and live with their eyes closed in a world of horror, which they themselves have created and want to thrust on others. I pity them.
Life is deeply and completely organic. It is total, seamless, metabolic process. The “I” that “I AM” is just “memory me”. It has no independent reality apart from the organic processes that enable it to exist. Left behind? Say what?
This reminds me of a conversation we were having at PrayerWorks this week. Someone brought up heaven, what did we think? I thought, hmmm, a place, which no one has ever been to and returned from, what can anyone say? Yet there are those who speak with absolute authority on the subject. Any discussion of heaven is actually a discussion of life after death. And on this, we must remain silent or risk speaking nonsense. What we can examine is our need to hold on to an “I,” a “me” that somehow (and for some reason) “lives” on after death. What’s that about?
I suspect it has something to do with fear of extinction or permanent loss of consciousness. Our practice helps with this, as our practice is to open our grip on such notions in order to let them go. I gave up my “I” in fits and starts: slowly over the years since facing directly my own mortality in combat and subsequently, on the cushion, but more directly and quickly with my diagnosis of a prematurely aging brain. Facing death regularly in its variegated forms will do this. The process exposes concepts for the chimera they are, as we, moment to moment, experience actual life, as it is, directly.
Left behind? I insist! It is where the people are.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
The other day I saw a book, one of the “Left Behind” series. Good grief.
There is no one left behind.
I recall my visceral yucky feeling when I first encountered this series of books. I listened to interviews of the author. I was not a happy camper. Actually, at the time, I was quite annoyed. In the world of religion, beliefs such as those espoused by fundamentalists are the most toxic. Fundies completely and deliberately misread text, stand on that misrepresentation, and live with their eyes closed in a world of horror, which they themselves have created and want to thrust on others. I pity them.
Life is deeply and completely organic. It is total, seamless, metabolic process. The “I” that “I AM” is just “memory me”. It has no independent reality apart from the organic processes that enable it to exist. Left behind? Say what?
This reminds me of a conversation we were having at PrayerWorks this week. Someone brought up heaven, what did we think? I thought, hmmm, a place, which no one has ever been to and returned from, what can anyone say? Yet there are those who speak with absolute authority on the subject. Any discussion of heaven is actually a discussion of life after death. And on this, we must remain silent or risk speaking nonsense. What we can examine is our need to hold on to an “I,” a “me” that somehow (and for some reason) “lives” on after death. What’s that about?
I suspect it has something to do with fear of extinction or permanent loss of consciousness. Our practice helps with this, as our practice is to open our grip on such notions in order to let them go. I gave up my “I” in fits and starts: slowly over the years since facing directly my own mortality in combat and subsequently, on the cushion, but more directly and quickly with my diagnosis of a prematurely aging brain. Facing death regularly in its variegated forms will do this. The process exposes concepts for the chimera they are, as we, moment to moment, experience actual life, as it is, directly.
Left behind? I insist! It is where the people are.
Be well.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Everyday Practice
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Practice must be disciplined in order to be of help to us. When we do things as we feel like doing them or when we think we have time to do them, we give too much power to either our feelings or external events. A disciplined spiritual practice is a practice that assists the growing of the dharma from the inside out.
This self-discipline is something we moderns do not seem to want to hear about as regards ourselves. Yet, I often hear it is discipline that is most needed among others. We all have excuses, don’t we?
We practice according to a schedule. Adherence to that schedule is important, not for the schedule, but for us. Within a schedule of practice there is, paradoxically, great freedom. It is rather like being set free on a playpen. The borders of the pen keep us together, so to speak, and on task: it is a playpen, after all. Yet within those borders we can be open and explore.
Scheduled practice is only one side of a disciplined spiritual practice, however. The other side is the side of mindfulness. Are we disciplined in our willingness and effort to stay mindful through the day? Do we appreciate the feel of the keys as we type or they clicking sound they make? Do we recognize the many lives that brought us the keyboard or the monitor that allows us to be connected as we are?
Every moment buddha is every moment awareness. Create a practice schedule for yourself, but don’t forget that practice is every moment and everything. Stick to it. Let me know how it goes.
A bow to each of you.
Good Morning Everyone,
Practice must be disciplined in order to be of help to us. When we do things as we feel like doing them or when we think we have time to do them, we give too much power to either our feelings or external events. A disciplined spiritual practice is a practice that assists the growing of the dharma from the inside out.
This self-discipline is something we moderns do not seem to want to hear about as regards ourselves. Yet, I often hear it is discipline that is most needed among others. We all have excuses, don’t we?
We practice according to a schedule. Adherence to that schedule is important, not for the schedule, but for us. Within a schedule of practice there is, paradoxically, great freedom. It is rather like being set free on a playpen. The borders of the pen keep us together, so to speak, and on task: it is a playpen, after all. Yet within those borders we can be open and explore.
Scheduled practice is only one side of a disciplined spiritual practice, however. The other side is the side of mindfulness. Are we disciplined in our willingness and effort to stay mindful through the day? Do we appreciate the feel of the keys as we type or they clicking sound they make? Do we recognize the many lives that brought us the keyboard or the monitor that allows us to be connected as we are?
Every moment buddha is every moment awareness. Create a practice schedule for yourself, but don’t forget that practice is every moment and everything. Stick to it. Let me know how it goes.
A bow to each of you.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Notes for the Day
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning a short bicycle ride to Sagecrest Park for zazen at 7:00 is followed by Tai Chi Chih class at Mountainview Regional Medical Center, and then by Prayerworks at Cyrille Kane’s residence. A break for marketing the weekend workshop will be followed by a meeting with Dalene Fuller Rogers this evening.
I feel up to this day because I got a good night’s sleep last night. Its amazing what a few hours of sleep will do!
Yesterday we took Suki to the vet as she has developed a bit of Kennel cough. A half hour wait got us a few pills and instructions to use Robitussen. Suki is happy.
Also yesterday I saw my psychiatrist who gave me a journal with tons of articles about recent work with gunshot wounds to the head. He thinks there might be something modern medicine can do about my degenerating brain. Medicine Man, he! Still, I will look at them.
The world is a place we live in. We should be at home in it, but this means we should be taking good care of it, not abusing it. Our bodies, likewise: I know I sometimes push myself too far. And like Nature does for the world, so too it will do for my body and will tell me in no uncertain terms, “Back off!”
Time to dress for zazen. A bow to each of you.
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning a short bicycle ride to Sagecrest Park for zazen at 7:00 is followed by Tai Chi Chih class at Mountainview Regional Medical Center, and then by Prayerworks at Cyrille Kane’s residence. A break for marketing the weekend workshop will be followed by a meeting with Dalene Fuller Rogers this evening.
I feel up to this day because I got a good night’s sleep last night. Its amazing what a few hours of sleep will do!
Yesterday we took Suki to the vet as she has developed a bit of Kennel cough. A half hour wait got us a few pills and instructions to use Robitussen. Suki is happy.
Also yesterday I saw my psychiatrist who gave me a journal with tons of articles about recent work with gunshot wounds to the head. He thinks there might be something modern medicine can do about my degenerating brain. Medicine Man, he! Still, I will look at them.
The world is a place we live in. We should be at home in it, but this means we should be taking good care of it, not abusing it. Our bodies, likewise: I know I sometimes push myself too far. And like Nature does for the world, so too it will do for my body and will tell me in no uncertain terms, “Back off!”
Time to dress for zazen. A bow to each of you.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Mokusho Zen, Part Six
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
There are birds. I hear them as they speak. Their sound is my sound: one. Where are they?
What a nonsensical question! In a formless field of emptiness, there is no “where”: “they” and “me” do not exist independently.
I eat my morning toast with all beings:
You eat your eggs and bacon with all beings.
Sun, moon stars, wind and rain;
Trucks, roads, refineries, sales clerks, cooks, and dishwashers;
Pigs, farmers, chickens, worms, ladybugs, ants, and bacteria;
Everything is here now with us as we enjoy this moment together.
When we practice Mokusho Zen, which is to say, living awake in the everyday, every moment world, we reside in this field free and easy, and live for the benefit of all beings.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
There are birds. I hear them as they speak. Their sound is my sound: one. Where are they?
What a nonsensical question! In a formless field of emptiness, there is no “where”: “they” and “me” do not exist independently.
I eat my morning toast with all beings:
You eat your eggs and bacon with all beings.
Sun, moon stars, wind and rain;
Trucks, roads, refineries, sales clerks, cooks, and dishwashers;
Pigs, farmers, chickens, worms, ladybugs, ants, and bacteria;
Everything is here now with us as we enjoy this moment together.
When we practice Mokusho Zen, which is to say, living awake in the everyday, every moment world, we reside in this field free and easy, and live for the benefit of all beings.
Be well.
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