With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
May our day be one filled with serene reflection. Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. It seems to me another word for thanksgiving is gratitude. Gratitude requires three things of us. Gratitude, as a quality of selflessness, requires us to look outside of ourselves for those things that nurture and support us. Yet, at the same time, it asks us to look inside for the many points in our heart we are touched. Lastly, gratitude needs to be expressed in some way.
What do we do with our gratitude? How do we express it? I hope having gratitude means a bit more than our traditional meals, a day off, and sales at local stores. For me, I am grateful for the opportunity to look at my life and the many people who have steadfastly supported and nurtured me over this last very challenging year. I also am grateful for those who did not. Sometimes the sting of failing friendships puts things in perspective. Perspective is a quality of wisdom.
Today: Zazen at 7:00 AM, Thanksgiving Dinner at Clear Mind Zen Temple at 5:30 PM, and Zazen at 7:00 PM.
Be well.
Organ Mountain Zen
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Free
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
“Buddhism is a religion of action, not of words that so often mean nothing…peaceful sit-in demonstrations are examples of great action in silence. …Nothing will ever be achieved unless action is taken.” Rev. Dr. Soyu Matsuoka-roshi, The Kyosaku, p. 319
Matsuoka is referring to the protests against segregation in America during the sixties. His point, though, is simple and straight forward: we are not simply meditators. Followers of the Buddha Way have an obligation to act in the face of evil. Buddhism, he says, is a religion of action, and so it is. Any word would be a waste of breath. Silence is thunder, he used to say. But silence in a certain way. Silence with an attitude.
What is the attitude? The attitude of Zen: still, courageous, and upright.
These days far too many of us are complacent. We have truly become sheep or worse. We are either sleepwalking through life or busily burying our heads in the sand while all around us bad things are happening. From a slow erosion of human rights to an erosion of civility to an erosion of care for others to outright hostility toward those with whom we may disagree: we are becoming a world of beings lost in the three poisons.
We are afraid to say no and we are afraid to say yes. The common denominator is fear. We do not want to rock the boat. We do not want to be the one’s who others look at, the one’s on the front line.
When I think about it, I get a sick feeling. Segregation and racism are still with us. War has been a constant part of our lives. People are homeless, without medical care or coverage, and we do not trust our neighbors. Not much has changes since the days of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Martin Luther King, and our efforts to end hunger and homelessness.
In this land of the free, we give up, and to be safe, we elect to live in cages. Where is a good Zen Master when you really need her?
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
“Buddhism is a religion of action, not of words that so often mean nothing…peaceful sit-in demonstrations are examples of great action in silence. …Nothing will ever be achieved unless action is taken.” Rev. Dr. Soyu Matsuoka-roshi, The Kyosaku, p. 319
Matsuoka is referring to the protests against segregation in America during the sixties. His point, though, is simple and straight forward: we are not simply meditators. Followers of the Buddha Way have an obligation to act in the face of evil. Buddhism, he says, is a religion of action, and so it is. Any word would be a waste of breath. Silence is thunder, he used to say. But silence in a certain way. Silence with an attitude.
What is the attitude? The attitude of Zen: still, courageous, and upright.
These days far too many of us are complacent. We have truly become sheep or worse. We are either sleepwalking through life or busily burying our heads in the sand while all around us bad things are happening. From a slow erosion of human rights to an erosion of civility to an erosion of care for others to outright hostility toward those with whom we may disagree: we are becoming a world of beings lost in the three poisons.
We are afraid to say no and we are afraid to say yes. The common denominator is fear. We do not want to rock the boat. We do not want to be the one’s who others look at, the one’s on the front line.
When I think about it, I get a sick feeling. Segregation and racism are still with us. War has been a constant part of our lives. People are homeless, without medical care or coverage, and we do not trust our neighbors. Not much has changes since the days of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Martin Luther King, and our efforts to end hunger and homelessness.
In this land of the free, we give up, and to be safe, we elect to live in cages. Where is a good Zen Master when you really need her?
Be well.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
A Simple Person
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
“Zen asks you to be a simple person.” Matsuoka-roshi says. “It asks you to disregard notions about yourself, about others and about life which you may have acquired before you began seeking the truth of Zen.” (p.398, The Kyosaku)
For Matsuoka, a simple person is one who has let go of what he was, what he knows, and what he needs. He is a person who is just present, open, empty, and receptive to the teachings, which arise from him, from his teacher, and from the Buddha.
This is a ‘don’t know’ mind. The mind of one who sees clearly, but does not cling to what he sees. Very difficult this is for most of us. We want to hold onto our understanding. We want to discuss and debate and analyze. As we say in the south, we want to show ourselves. We might ask ourselves why.
The truth of Zen is in living Zen. It is in our humanity expressed through our daily lives. To behave in loud and aggressive ways reflects a mind that is needy. To behave in ways that are hurtful reveals a person suffering. As we practice, we begin to see the person we are. We should not run or hide from this person, but rather invite him for tea. In the process of getting to know ourselves, exercise great compassion and forgiveness. We cannot be these toward others without being these toward ourselves.
We do not get Zen from books. We get Zen from life. Zen books are helpful pointers, but the path pointed to must be walked. To put it simply, travel guides are not travel. My sense is the secret to a Zen life is in a willingness to receive. As Matsuoka-roshi quoted Nan-in,” …first you must empty your cup.”
Today at Clear Mind Zen Temple: 7:00 AM Zazen, 5:00 PM Dokusan, 6:00 PM Zen 101, 7:00 PM Zazen.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
“Zen asks you to be a simple person.” Matsuoka-roshi says. “It asks you to disregard notions about yourself, about others and about life which you may have acquired before you began seeking the truth of Zen.” (p.398, The Kyosaku)
For Matsuoka, a simple person is one who has let go of what he was, what he knows, and what he needs. He is a person who is just present, open, empty, and receptive to the teachings, which arise from him, from his teacher, and from the Buddha.
This is a ‘don’t know’ mind. The mind of one who sees clearly, but does not cling to what he sees. Very difficult this is for most of us. We want to hold onto our understanding. We want to discuss and debate and analyze. As we say in the south, we want to show ourselves. We might ask ourselves why.
The truth of Zen is in living Zen. It is in our humanity expressed through our daily lives. To behave in loud and aggressive ways reflects a mind that is needy. To behave in ways that are hurtful reveals a person suffering. As we practice, we begin to see the person we are. We should not run or hide from this person, but rather invite him for tea. In the process of getting to know ourselves, exercise great compassion and forgiveness. We cannot be these toward others without being these toward ourselves.
We do not get Zen from books. We get Zen from life. Zen books are helpful pointers, but the path pointed to must be walked. To put it simply, travel guides are not travel. My sense is the secret to a Zen life is in a willingness to receive. As Matsuoka-roshi quoted Nan-in,” …first you must empty your cup.”
Today at Clear Mind Zen Temple: 7:00 AM Zazen, 5:00 PM Dokusan, 6:00 PM Zen 101, 7:00 PM Zazen.
Be well.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thanksgiving
With palms together,
Good Evening Everyone,
The Clear Mind Zen Temple will offer a simple Thanksgiving dinner between 5:00 PM and 6:30 PM followed by a Thanksgiving Zen service at 7::00 PM. Our meal will be vegetarian. If you wish to bring a dish to share, it would be very welcome. Please email me your reservation.
Yours in the dharma,
Good Evening Everyone,
The Clear Mind Zen Temple will offer a simple Thanksgiving dinner between 5:00 PM and 6:30 PM followed by a Thanksgiving Zen service at 7::00 PM. Our meal will be vegetarian. If you wish to bring a dish to share, it would be very welcome. Please email me your reservation.
Yours in the dharma,
Evolution
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
Buddha sat under a tree and faced his fears. His adversary threw a world of hurt at him, but he did not budge. What did Buddha know that enabled him to live in such a way, in the open without doors, locks, security guards, or armies? His world included murderers, thieves, and sadists, didn’t it? Yet he chose not to lock himself away. Why?
When we live in fear, we are at fear’s mercy. When we live in suspicion, we live alone. This is not human. Human beings are, by definition, social beings. We depend on each other, nurture each other, and inspire each other: we should not define ourselves as individuals so much as community.
So, fear is a powerful enemy if we experience it, a powerful tool if we wield it. We have been groomed to respond to fear with artifices of protection: armies, police, and militia. Doors, double dead bolts, security systems, weapons, all provide us with a way of coping with fear. Remember though, coping is not dealing. The prehistoric, pre-human mechanism of fight or flight still engages us, short circuiting our reason and our heart. It’s all so natural. Not only do we want to live, we are hard-wired to survive. Yet, these mechanisms for survival are not useful tools in our evolution as human beings. In fact, as the Buddha knew, they are fetters.
As Karen Armstrong pointed out, Buddha wanted to establish a better way of being a human being. He was an anomaly: a single being showing us the way. He lived without fear because he understood, deeply understood, the fact that he did not exist as a solitary, individual being, he was Everybeing.
When we live as Everybeing, every being is us. Every being is to be cared for, loved, and understood. Living as One, there is no two. There is no singular, independent “I” to protect. Nothing for the singular, independent “I” to fear. We are free.
Practice letting go of that which you fear. Open your heart to that which you fear. Find a better way to be a human being. This is the Buddha Way.
Be well
Good Morning Everyone,
Buddha sat under a tree and faced his fears. His adversary threw a world of hurt at him, but he did not budge. What did Buddha know that enabled him to live in such a way, in the open without doors, locks, security guards, or armies? His world included murderers, thieves, and sadists, didn’t it? Yet he chose not to lock himself away. Why?
When we live in fear, we are at fear’s mercy. When we live in suspicion, we live alone. This is not human. Human beings are, by definition, social beings. We depend on each other, nurture each other, and inspire each other: we should not define ourselves as individuals so much as community.
So, fear is a powerful enemy if we experience it, a powerful tool if we wield it. We have been groomed to respond to fear with artifices of protection: armies, police, and militia. Doors, double dead bolts, security systems, weapons, all provide us with a way of coping with fear. Remember though, coping is not dealing. The prehistoric, pre-human mechanism of fight or flight still engages us, short circuiting our reason and our heart. It’s all so natural. Not only do we want to live, we are hard-wired to survive. Yet, these mechanisms for survival are not useful tools in our evolution as human beings. In fact, as the Buddha knew, they are fetters.
As Karen Armstrong pointed out, Buddha wanted to establish a better way of being a human being. He was an anomaly: a single being showing us the way. He lived without fear because he understood, deeply understood, the fact that he did not exist as a solitary, individual being, he was Everybeing.
When we live as Everybeing, every being is us. Every being is to be cared for, loved, and understood. Living as One, there is no two. There is no singular, independent “I” to protect. Nothing for the singular, independent “I” to fear. We are free.
Practice letting go of that which you fear. Open your heart to that which you fear. Find a better way to be a human being. This is the Buddha Way.
Be well
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Life
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
The morning light emerges from the dark and I find myself sitting quietly with it. I notice subtle changes expressed through body, speech, and mind. Sitting quietly, being witness, itself changes something in us. The act of just sitting is a deeply profound and life altering experience. It is the heart of the Buddha’s awakening. It is the complete teaching.
What is the teaching? “Things as it is,” says Shunryu Suzuki. What is this? Everyday life manifesting everyday life or, as Uchiyama suggests, self manifesting Self. We practice to live within it.
Just now, for me, this moment contains light. It contains the aftertaste of coffee in my mouth and the still chilled feeling of my bare feet that have not warmed since taking Suki out for her morning ‘business.’ To live within it requires us to notice the life we are, in fact, living. How is it for us? Is this breath enough? Do we cry for more? Want less? Worry about losing it? Gaining it?
For me, every thought, feeling, and sensation is a source of wonder and, more often than not, delight. I am just so thankful to be alive, grateful for being born a human being, and humbled by the gift of my practice.
Morning Zen at 9:00 at Clear Mind Zen Temple
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
The morning light emerges from the dark and I find myself sitting quietly with it. I notice subtle changes expressed through body, speech, and mind. Sitting quietly, being witness, itself changes something in us. The act of just sitting is a deeply profound and life altering experience. It is the heart of the Buddha’s awakening. It is the complete teaching.
What is the teaching? “Things as it is,” says Shunryu Suzuki. What is this? Everyday life manifesting everyday life or, as Uchiyama suggests, self manifesting Self. We practice to live within it.
Just now, for me, this moment contains light. It contains the aftertaste of coffee in my mouth and the still chilled feeling of my bare feet that have not warmed since taking Suki out for her morning ‘business.’ To live within it requires us to notice the life we are, in fact, living. How is it for us? Is this breath enough? Do we cry for more? Want less? Worry about losing it? Gaining it?
For me, every thought, feeling, and sensation is a source of wonder and, more often than not, delight. I am just so thankful to be alive, grateful for being born a human being, and humbled by the gift of my practice.
Morning Zen at 9:00 at Clear Mind Zen Temple
Be well.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Matsuoka Day
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
What to keep, what to let go of? What to revere, what to dismiss? When traveling to another country to offer the dharma, what would you bring? What would you leave behind? I recall a film or TV show from my childhood where the last scene involved such a question, if it was the end of the world and you were escaping to establish humanity on another planet, what single book would you bring?
Rev. Dr. Zengaku Soyu Matsuoka-roshi was one of the first Japanese Zen Masters who were dispatched by Soto Shu headquarters in Japan to face this choice as he entered the United States. In 1949, Matsuoka-roshi established the Chicago Zen Buddhist Temple, the first Soto Zen Temple to be established in the United States.
Zengaku Matsuoka-roshi was a powerhouse Zen Master, a black belt, he often travelled across America introducing Zen Buddhism wherever he could. He established Zen Centers across the US. Although all of this is true, his pioneer work was eclipsed by the later stellar growth of the Zen Centers in San Francisco and Las Angeles.
Matsuoka-roshi tried to remain true to his mission as he understood it: to introduce and create an American form of Zen. He modified the forms and ceremonies, making them far less ostentatious and monastic. He recognized the lay nature of Zen in America. He thought the temple forms in Japan were correct for Japan but too “fussy” for America (quote from Kozen Sampson).
I fear though that the temptation of successors who feel the need to look to Japan to legitimate their Zen has, and will, result in an abandonment of their founder’s mission here in the US. From my point of view, this is an abandonment of true Zen, as well. We are not Japanese monastics. We are American lay Zen Centers. Lay practice in America must find itself. Its forms and ceremonies must have meaning to American hearts and minds and not be dress-up versions of Temples continents away.
So, on this Founder’s Day, the day we honor our founding teacher, Zengaku Soyu Matsuoka-roshi, I would invite us to look deeply into what we are actually all about. I invite you to study Matsuoka’s teachings before you make judgments of him. Recently, the Atlanta Soto Zen Temple under the direction of Taiun Elliston published two collections of Matsuoka’s Dharma talks. They are a special gift to us today. Please consider ordering one or both of them. Go here: http://www.lulu.com/aszcpublications
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
What to keep, what to let go of? What to revere, what to dismiss? When traveling to another country to offer the dharma, what would you bring? What would you leave behind? I recall a film or TV show from my childhood where the last scene involved such a question, if it was the end of the world and you were escaping to establish humanity on another planet, what single book would you bring?
Rev. Dr. Zengaku Soyu Matsuoka-roshi was one of the first Japanese Zen Masters who were dispatched by Soto Shu headquarters in Japan to face this choice as he entered the United States. In 1949, Matsuoka-roshi established the Chicago Zen Buddhist Temple, the first Soto Zen Temple to be established in the United States.
Zengaku Matsuoka-roshi was a powerhouse Zen Master, a black belt, he often travelled across America introducing Zen Buddhism wherever he could. He established Zen Centers across the US. Although all of this is true, his pioneer work was eclipsed by the later stellar growth of the Zen Centers in San Francisco and Las Angeles.
Matsuoka-roshi tried to remain true to his mission as he understood it: to introduce and create an American form of Zen. He modified the forms and ceremonies, making them far less ostentatious and monastic. He recognized the lay nature of Zen in America. He thought the temple forms in Japan were correct for Japan but too “fussy” for America (quote from Kozen Sampson).
I fear though that the temptation of successors who feel the need to look to Japan to legitimate their Zen has, and will, result in an abandonment of their founder’s mission here in the US. From my point of view, this is an abandonment of true Zen, as well. We are not Japanese monastics. We are American lay Zen Centers. Lay practice in America must find itself. Its forms and ceremonies must have meaning to American hearts and minds and not be dress-up versions of Temples continents away.
So, on this Founder’s Day, the day we honor our founding teacher, Zengaku Soyu Matsuoka-roshi, I would invite us to look deeply into what we are actually all about. I invite you to study Matsuoka’s teachings before you make judgments of him. Recently, the Atlanta Soto Zen Temple under the direction of Taiun Elliston published two collections of Matsuoka’s Dharma talks. They are a special gift to us today. Please consider ordering one or both of them. Go here: http://www.lulu.com/aszcpublications
Be well.
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