Zen

With palms together


Good Morning Everyone,

Please indicate whether you would like to attend a Friday Discussion and Zazen tomorrow at 4:00 PM by reply.

My apologies to Member Rose for not getting back to the Temple in time for Tai Chi Chih. It seems we were delayed on business in T or C, NM. Soku Shin and I went there to meet our webmistress and re-imburse her for the new ISP service. We also shopped for statuary and found a lovely Kwan Yin for the ceremonial table. Soku Shin herself found a beautiful Medicine Buddha. On the way back to the Temple we needed gasoline and that became a techno-nightmare. Needless to say, we didn’t get into town until after 5:00.



Recently, I have begun training our evening students how to use the various instruments that are used during a service. We tend to have 3-4 people so one gets the mokugyo; one gets the large bell, one the small bell, and one, the inkin (acting as timekeeper).



It is a delight to see the ensemble at work. Students are getting the feel for the rhythm and texture of the service’s chants and, as a real benefit, a sense of participation and deep learning. As in all other aspects of Zen, we must do the thing, not just talk the thing.



This past Tuesday evening at our Zen 101 Group, we were talking about an aspect of the Fukanzazengi and I used a piece out of Harada-roshi’s text, the Essence of Zen, to make a point. There is Zen in activity and Zen in stillness he offers. The idea is that every moment is our practice: walking, sitting, driving, chopping onions; it’s all Zen when our mind in unified.



We cannot be thinking about the wooden fish when using it to lead a chant, we must just invite the sound contained within it to arise. It is the same with the bell and gong, the knife and onion, and all other instruments and activities of living.



Being one requires practice. Perhaps we will practice together this evening at the Temple. Zazen at 7:00 PM.



Be well.

No Sound

With palms together


Good Morning Everyone,



This morning I am awake to the sounds of silence. What sounds are those? The sound of no-sound. No-sound is the sound of presence. Just this, as it is, with nothing added.



No-sound, like no-seeing or no-thinking, is a serious challenge for us and so it is core to our practice.



When we walk and we think we are walking are we walking? Is this Zen in motion? Or is Zen in motion just walking? Consider this.



When I say I am awake to the sound of silence, to no-sound, it simply means there is no I in the “I am.” “I am” is nothing more or less than a fiction derived from language. How can this be? Where is the “I” in the sudden close-by crack of thunder? Practice no-sound. Practice no-I.



Be well.



A reminder: Tai Chi Chih today at 4:00, Zazen at 7:00 PM

Morning Note

With palms together


Good Morning Everyone,





First, I want to thank you for your generosity of heart. It is important that our sangha finds support for itself through its members. Second, I want to invite each of you to write to me personally with your thoughts or questions or request a Skype personal interview. I am at your service.



Our online sangha is struggling right now. There is a conflict about our sangha asking for donations and the linkage between my teaching and donation. As I see it, my teaching belongs to the sangha and a sangha is composed of members. The question is what constitutes membership? In my view, the main element is a commitment to practice. The key word is commitment. A commitment is more than a word, it is an word turned into action. A commitment without action is hollow.



What sort of action? From my point of view, the very least is a communication stating one’s desire to be a member. Add to that a financial commitment (practicing generosity), a social action commitment (practicing the three pure precepts) and practicing Zazen (the practice of meditation). This completes the membership.



Our society seems to have developed an idea that ideas are all that matter. As if to say it is enough to think about Zen, Sangha, Practice and somehow we will magically manifest our Buddha Nature. Not so. We must practice and practice requires a relinquishment of ideas, especially of self.



I am grateful for your presence. I am grateful for this Sangha. Thank you.

Be well.

Nothing to Attain

With palms together


Good Morning Everyone,



In the Heart Sutra we are told that everything is empty. Everything changes, that is, so nothing is either what it appears to be or what it is. We have no eye, ear, nose, tongue, no body, no mind and therefore there is no seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or touching, and no thinking. Yet, there they are when we look in a mirror: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. When we practice Zazen, when we enter the stillpoint, these fall away, meaning we experience truth.



In the largest context all things are not things at all. All is one, nothing is separate. This thing over against that thing is an illusion perpetrated on us by our brain. Yet, even so, when entering the stillpoint, even one is no more. For one to have any reality, there must be another, two. So, not even one is real: no wisdom and no attainment; there is nothing to attain.



This morning we practice Zazen at 9:00 AM in the Zendo. The Zendo is home to the Sangha. Please join us.



Be well.





P.S. Last night I had a candle accident, melting some wax on the office carpet. Any ideas as to how to get it up?

Practice

With palms together


Good Morning Everyone,



This morning was lazy. I woke with my alarm, but immediately went back to sleep. Suzuki-roshi said that he had to learn to jump out of bed as soon as his eyes opened in order to get up. I failed to jump. Consequently, I did not get to the temple and am at home working. Besides, Qwest lost Internet service at the office yesterday afternoon. Another one of those “24-48 hour” question marks as to when service will be back up. So, Suki and I went for our little business walk at a reasonable hour. And I am now cozy with my coffee and computer. Still, I need to get to the Temple, as one never knows…



Yesterday a young man walked into the Temple and wanted to tell me about his knowledge of Zen. I invited him to practice, but he really wanted to talk. His presentation of himself went from what he had read to how so many others were so judgmental, to how Buddhism changed his life and helped him turn his life around. I admire him. He came from a community that knows little to nothing about Zen and there he was, in a Zen Temple talking to the abbot. I hope he returns, but more, I hope he practices at home.



Last night we held our Zen 101 group and, I confess, I am not myself in that group. We are using a commentary on the Fukanzazengi of Master Dogen as a source text. I struggle with the participants over the basic questions all of us who come to Zen sooner or later face. Questions regarding its apparent contradictions, regarding its practice, regarding the role of self (what self, which self?) abound and confound everyone.



It is much easier to give a Teisho and let the listener sort it out. 



Be well.

Notes

With palms together


Good Morning Everyone,



Notes:



Today we will host Zen 101, our Introduction to Zen Study Group, at 6:00 PM. We follow this with Zazen at 7:00 PM. This is a very enjoyable group as we are taking a close look at the fukanzazengi written by Master Dogen at the beginning of his career teaching in Japan. Anyone is welcome to attend, but the group is for lay people relatively new to the practice.



Our Women in Zen group is getting started soon. If you are interested, please contact Rev. Kajo at greatfiregoddess@yahoo.com. This group will be podcast, as well.



We are changing web providers for our Clear Mind Zen website soon. Be advised the site will go down for 24-48 hours when the switch happens.



We are producing a handbook for the practice of Zen in our Order. We will make it available to anyone who wishes to purchase a copy. I expect it will be in the neighborhood of $25.00 plus shipping, but as it is not yet completed, I cannot say for sure the price. If you would be interested in having a copy, please let me know so I have some idea how many copies to order in a first run.



Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will practice Tai Chi Chih here at the Temple. All are welcome to join us in this serene contemplative movement practice. We begin at 4:00 PM and close at 5:00 PM.



On Friday at 4:00 PM we host the Zen Group and will be discussing the chapter in The Compass of Zen that deals with the Structure of Buddhism. This is followed by Zazen at 5:30 PM.



Please consider joining us at one or all of these opportunities for learning and practice. Our Zazen schedule includes sitting periods Monday through Friday at 7:00 PM, Monday and Friday morning at Veteran’s park at 9:00 AM, and Tuesday through Thursday Zazen at 7:00 AM. Of course, I am always willing to practice with you at anytime during the Temple’s hours. Just call in advance to make an appointment.



Be well.

A Closed Society?

With palms together



Good Morning Everyone,







So, the morning arrives with a whisper. I shave my head and clean the razor, make the coffee and read my morning mail. It is a typical morning, but for the hour. For some reason I woke at about 2:30 AM…it might be due to the fact that I went to sleep just after dark. Hmmm, note to self, try not to do that.







I re-read that post by Naomi Wolf from Huffington. I then took a look at the Espionage Act itself and how it has been enforced, as well as some other acts. The Military Commissions Act of 2006, for example, gives the president or his appointee the power to declare anyone (including ordinary American citizens) an “enemy combatant.” I fear Naomi Wolf is onto something.







Here are her ten steps to a closed society:







10 steps that close an open society



1. invoke an internal and external threat



People who are afraid are willing to do things that they wouldn’t otherwise do.







2. establish secret (unaccountable) prisons where torture takes place



In a secret system, the government does not have to provide any proof of wrongdoing by those it holds, so it can incarcerate anyone it wants.







3. develop a paramilitary force



A private military force — under the exclusive direction of the “commander in chief” with no accountability to Congress, the courts, or the public — blurs the line between a civilian police force and a militarized police state.







4. surveil ordinary citizens



People who believe they are being watched are less likely to voice opposition. To scare a population into silence, the government need only monitor the activities of a few to make everyone fear that they are being surveilled. Every closed society keeps a “list” of so-called opponents it tracks.







5. infiltrate citizen’s groups



Spies in activist groups put psychological pressure on genuine activists by undermining their trust in one another. They may also disrupt legal activities, undermining the effectiveness of group efforts.







6. detain and release ordinary citizens



Detention intimidates or psychologically damages those arrested and also lets everyone know that anyone could be labeled an “enemy combatant” and “disappeared.”







7. target key individuals



People are less likely to speak out when those who are highly visible, like journalists, scholars, artists, or celebrities, are intimidated or have the livelihoods threatened. Targeting those who are especially visible makes it less likely that people will speak out and robs society of leaders and others who might inspire opposition.







8. restrict the press



The public is less likely to fi nd out about government wrongdoing if the government can threaten to prosecute anyone who publishes or broadcasts reports that are critical of the government.







9. recast criticism as espionage and dissent as treason



People who protest can be charged with terrorism or treason when laws criminalize or limit free speech rather than protect it.







10. subvert the rule of law



The disappearance of checks and balances makes it easier to declare martial law, especially if the judiciary branch continues to exercise authority over individuals but has no authority over the Executive branch.



See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/ten-steps-to-close-down-a_b_46695.html











What does this have to do with Zen? Everything. We cannot practice in a closed society. Our society is becoming less and less tolerant as we become more and more frightened. A piece on the BBC just pointed out the difficulties with religious garb, for example, when the TSA deciided an Indian ambassador needed to be both patted down and have his head covering searched I was patted down myself when I refused to remove my rakusu.











A free society is a living society, a closed society is a dying society. Open societies, while tumultuous at times, are vibrant, healthy, and willing to take the risks freedom requires.











Where do you suppose we might be?







Be well, be free.