Images

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,





There are notions regarding how Zen Buddhists are supposed to act, think, and believe. These notions set us apart from reality. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the phrase, “well, that’s not very Buddhist!” As if to say, I am not conforming to some idea of Buddhism and therefore am stepping out of Buddhist practice in that instant.





Ideas such as we are to be gentle creatures, vegetarian, serene, and unattached come to mind. Its as if people have shaped heir view, uncritically, from television and movie images. It certainly isn’t from study of Zen itself or people would know better. We can’t say too much about this however, as indeed, some of us do put this image on and wear it as if it is part of the nature of our robes. This is posturing. It is inauthentic.





While we practice the Way, and allow through our behavior buddha-dharma to come into the world, this buddha-dharma is not an idealized image. It is not we sitting like the Buddha with a golden halo around us. It is, rather, the Universal arising in the Particular. Nothing more, nothing less.





When we realize the Universal, we can behave seamlessly in the Relative. The skunk in my alpaca pen was the entire universe; it was not separate from me, yet it was exactly separate from me. It has its nature, as I have mine. On one level they are the same. On another level they are not the same. I should behave toward it in accordance with both of its natures or risk being quite stinky.





Be well.

Nowhere Else

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Katagiri-roshi said, “Your basic nature is no solid form.”



Dogen Zenji quoted an ancient as having said, “Craving life, day after day goes by in distress; if one does not turn one’s head when called, what can be done?”





Nothing we do or say can change the fact that everything changes. The tree buds; the bud blossoms; the bloom fades.





Sounds trite, but our basic nature is every moment change. When we realize this in every moment, we step forward and do what is there to be done. It is in this doing what is there to be done that we manifest our buddha nature and reveal the buddha-dharma. Everything is one; everything is not-one. We experience our morning coffee as itself and the universe. Respect, compassion, and authenticity follow.





We must not crave life. We must not grasp the moment. On the other hand, we must not crave death. We must not deny the moment. Craving and grasping are, as Buddha taught, sources of suffering.





Life is to be lived. To do so we must release ourselves into it. Letting our life’s condition be what it is as we face it openly; receiving it with compassion, we let go of what was and what will be.





Here we are and nowhere else.





Be well.

Darkness

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,





We so often stumble in the dark, when all that is required is that we turn on a light. So stubborn we human beings!



We insist on walking in the dark, even relish it, and yet wonder how it is that we land on our butts so often.



The problem is that we do not know we are walking in the dark. We don’t know because we are sleep walking. Its easy. Just know everything.



To know is to not know. Sounds paradoxical. Yet what is moonlight? If you say anything at all, it is incorrect. You are only blowing words out of your mouth. Thoughts out of your brain. No. To know moonlight is to be moonlight.



How can we be moonlight? Sit outside tonight.



Stumbling in the dark is easy; turning on the light? Well, that is a different story.



Be well.

Shoshin

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



This morning arrived late. I am usually up and at my day by 4:30 or so. Today I opened my eyes at 5:15. Suki was sleeping in the Zendo. I made coffee, washed, and sat down to see how the world was presenting itself.



I wish I hadn’t. Saber rattling everywhere, good grief.



Yesterday afternoon, our discussion group got into a pesky little hole. This often happens. We are examining the Platform Sutra. It is a teaching, a history, a biography, and a work of great fiction. Some of us do not like to hear that. Yet, it is so of all “sacred” texts. We must drop away this notion of “sacred” completely; it is no more sacred than doggy doo, but no less sacred, either.



Twhen studing text we must not approach the work as literalists, hanging on every word as it is. We need to learn how to let go of the literal and swim in the deeper tapestry of text history, culture, context, and so on.



One piece of text gave us pause. After Hui-Neng has Dharma Transmission, the Fifth Patriarch says to him,



“…since ancient times the lives of those to whom this teaching has been transmitted have hung by a thread. If you stay here, someone will harm you. You must leave at once.”



Most of us take this literally. We say, well, all the monks will get up in arms about the newbie getting the robe and bowl, etc. It gives rise to all sorts of discussion regarding human nature, politics, human life, etc.



I suspect there is a deeper understanding here, a teaching of immense significance that if we reside on the surface, we will completely miss.



The teaching referred to here by the Fifth Patriarch is not a teaching, per se, as nothing was “taught,” but rather, the experience of direct, Mind-to-Mind transmission and the question of how to remain free and easy in the marketplace. Transmission is a “born again” sort of thing. As a newborn, every step is fraught with the danger of us losing our shoshin, beginner’s mind. This life is always hanging by a thread and people are always out to steal your life from you. That someone might even be our self.





One of the aspects of this piece that has captured my attention is the aspect of a demand to leave home. We got into that a little yesterday, but again, I fear the literal understandings can be an obstacle to deeper understanding.



Homeleaving does not simply or solely mean, get up and go. It is also a metaphor for clear mind. Setting aside what we know is as much “leaving home” as getting on an airplane. If we have left home, we are always at risk for setting up housekeeping elsewhere. It is in our nature to nest. There are powerful social and psychological forces at play to move us in that direction.



This is one aspect of the enlightened Fifth Patriarch’s message to the enlightened Sixth Patriarch: “stay awake, there are always those who will help put you to sleep!”



Be well.

Eternal Life

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,





Kennet-roshi re-titled her seminal book on Zen, “Zen is Eternal Life.” Early in my practice I wondered about this. I still do. How could this be so? What does it mean? In this one line she offered a sword to cut through everything.



When we practice Zen we are as free as the wind, present as the mountain, and still as an undisturbed pond. There is satisfaction. We are also alive, kicking and screaming, wiggling and itching. We have an itch, but cannot scratch. There is no satisfaction. We are both dual and non-dual at once.



Bearing witness to our suffering, our joy, and our everyday life is all there is. When we accept it as our own it becomes our teacher. Is there any beginning or end to this? No. Everything is, always will be, and is constantly changing. Our lives are no exception. When we drop away self what remains? Everything. So, Zen is Eternal Life, no exception.





May your practice be yours,

Assistance

Hello All,

I am applying for membership in the American Zen Teachers Association.  If you are a member and would be willing to allow me to reference you, please email me.

A bow to each of you.

Zen in America

With palms together,




Lately I have been considering Zen in America. I have concluded it should have little to nothing to do with Zen in Japan. It will be its own creation driven from, and derived from, practice. True Buddhism, as Master Dogen pointed out, is practice. And I see by the time, that my morning bell will ring in a few minutes. More later.
 
Be well.