With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
It is late in the morning already. There is something about being cradled by your partner that is arresting. In such a position, it is best to release one’s grip on schedule and relax into it. Such good practice.
My colleague, Jue Miao Jing Ming, is working on his message regarding re-incarnation for the Zen Living list at Yahoogroups.com. In the meantime he has asked me for my thoughts regarding a book which explores past-life regression. While I have not read the particular text, I have read several excerpts and reviews, but more to the point, have some experiential understanding of the phenomena.
Similar to near death or death resuscitation experiences, past life regression stories are anecdotal evidence. Assuming the individuals are not being guided,, they are simply reporting what their brain is telling them. Our brains are totally unreliable organizers of sense data. Our brains rush to place data in categories. We see this in experiments where subjects read texts with missing letters and are able to make perfect sense of them. Our brain fills in the gaps according to pathways that have been developed. When our brain does not know what to do with particular data, it makes up something that allows the data to make sense to us.
So, under hypnosis, what is happening? Are we actually touching a “past life”? Or are we adding to a sensory data array a frame within which to place the data so that it makes a degree of sense to us?
Trusting a memory can be dangerous. Memories are constructions, like all other thoughts. Three people witness an accident and three versions are described. Someone, a crime victim, just “knows” a particular person did something, only to discover they were in another state at the time. People have used memories of abuse to charge alleged perpetrators only to discover the alleged perpetrator was not, actually, the perpetrator at all. Memories can be, and are, manipulated.
So, does a memory of a past life mean anything? Does it offer any sort of evidence that re-incarnation is an actuality? Maybe, maybe not. I rather think that these things point to other explanations such as a potent connection with all life, a sort of genetic memory, if you will, and not a memory of a single soul migrating through time.
From a Zen perspective, all time is in all being; being and time are not two, but one. So, too, all things. The Buddha’s memories of past lives, memories of animal existence, etc., are, in my opinion, expressions of present moment, deeply interconnected, manifestations of the oneness of life. “My” Buddha-nature is not separate from “yours.” There is no mine or yours, there is just Buddha Nature.
Be well.
Organ Mountain Zen
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Re-Birth
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
Recently, we decided to begin an educational exchange series on our Zen Living email list. My morning post is my position on our Order’s understanding of “Re-incarnation.”
The Soto School of Zen typically does not use the term, “re-incarnation,” but rather, chooses the word, “re-birth” to refer to continuation of life in the eternal flow of living and dying. To re-incarnate would mean a transmigration of a unique individual’s ego or ‘essence’ into another form after death. We hold to the Buddha’s teaching that there is no such thing, that there is no “soul” that survives after death as a manifestation of a unique individual. I quote Kennett-roshi, Founding Abbess of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives,
“A new being is neither absolutely the same as its predecessor (since the composition is not identical) nor entirely different, being the same stream of life-force which, like electric current, can be tapped when a new bulb is plugged in…so with re-birth there is a continuity of a life force which manifests itself in birth and seems invisible in death; just that and nothing more.”
So, Re-birth, on the other hand, means life as life itself continues as a river continues along its path. The matter and energy that once was a person re-enters the whole and becomes part of the whole re-manifesting in whatever ways it might. There is no conscious choice in this process, only process itself, or ‘flow’ if you will.
Our unique sentience is ours in this moment and, at death, ends forever as “our” unique awareness. That which we were composed of comes apart, the aggregates fall away, and “we” as a “I” are no more. But then again, we as an I never really were, were we? The “I” of us is an illusion created by a physical brain which perceives itself and needs a name.
As a river of life flows past a sentient viewer is the river the same or different at any given moment in time? It is both. It is river flowing. Living and dying are the same. We are river.
So, where does karma fit in?
Let’s suppose the river we are thinking of has the conscious capacity to engage its banks. It might chose at some point to change this or that aspect of a bank. The river flowing before it and the river flowing after it will be the same, yet will have changed as well. Perhaps it will be cleaner; perhaps more polluted. Any change in a system creates changes in all of its sub-systems: this is karma, impersonal cause and effect, but in your face. A wider view reveals the whole: it is still river flowing.
Again, Kennett-roshi:
"re-birth must be distinguished from re-incarnation or transmigration since an unchanging or eternal soul is non-existent; since there is no "I" to think, there is nothing to be reborn."
Awakening, then, is our complete and total realization of this and our total acceptance of it.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Recently, we decided to begin an educational exchange series on our Zen Living email list. My morning post is my position on our Order’s understanding of “Re-incarnation.”
The Soto School of Zen typically does not use the term, “re-incarnation,” but rather, chooses the word, “re-birth” to refer to continuation of life in the eternal flow of living and dying. To re-incarnate would mean a transmigration of a unique individual’s ego or ‘essence’ into another form after death. We hold to the Buddha’s teaching that there is no such thing, that there is no “soul” that survives after death as a manifestation of a unique individual. I quote Kennett-roshi, Founding Abbess of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives,
“A new being is neither absolutely the same as its predecessor (since the composition is not identical) nor entirely different, being the same stream of life-force which, like electric current, can be tapped when a new bulb is plugged in…so with re-birth there is a continuity of a life force which manifests itself in birth and seems invisible in death; just that and nothing more.”
So, Re-birth, on the other hand, means life as life itself continues as a river continues along its path. The matter and energy that once was a person re-enters the whole and becomes part of the whole re-manifesting in whatever ways it might. There is no conscious choice in this process, only process itself, or ‘flow’ if you will.
Our unique sentience is ours in this moment and, at death, ends forever as “our” unique awareness. That which we were composed of comes apart, the aggregates fall away, and “we” as a “I” are no more. But then again, we as an I never really were, were we? The “I” of us is an illusion created by a physical brain which perceives itself and needs a name.
As a river of life flows past a sentient viewer is the river the same or different at any given moment in time? It is both. It is river flowing. Living and dying are the same. We are river.
So, where does karma fit in?
Let’s suppose the river we are thinking of has the conscious capacity to engage its banks. It might chose at some point to change this or that aspect of a bank. The river flowing before it and the river flowing after it will be the same, yet will have changed as well. Perhaps it will be cleaner; perhaps more polluted. Any change in a system creates changes in all of its sub-systems: this is karma, impersonal cause and effect, but in your face. A wider view reveals the whole: it is still river flowing.
Again, Kennett-roshi:
"re-birth must be distinguished from re-incarnation or transmigration since an unchanging or eternal soul is non-existent; since there is no "I" to think, there is nothing to be reborn."
Awakening, then, is our complete and total realization of this and our total acceptance of it.
Be well.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Words
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
Mark, on our Zen Living list, wrote to ask why we don’t use our native language in Zen rather than foreign words.
Very good question and one often asked. He framed his question with this:
“To me the words, regardless of the language, are only labels we place on reality and not actually reality. Who was it that said, "The teaching that is spoken is not the true teaching"? The fullness of sitting for meditation cannot be described in any words that I have heard or read, yet it can be experienced.”
I do not exactly disagree. In fact, I agree with Mark. Words are, indeed, just labels. So, then, as such, should it matter which words we use? Actually no, so there may be something else going on, something under this question. Or some other reason for using one word over another.
Is it that we do not like foreign words? Is it that we resist learning new words? Is it a resistance to difference itself or to the fact there is a Teacher offering this new language? Is it a veiled attack on tradition? I don’t know and as long as the subtext is not revealed, I really don’t care to address it.
So, setting the aim of the question aside, we might consider how some words just are better as they are. Dharma is a good example of this. What is Dharma? Do we have an English equivalent? Is it teaching? Scripture? Truth? Reality? Or all of that.
We could use a string of words that get us to the sense of the word, but that would be cumbersome. Why not use the word of the buddhas and ancestors before us? To paraphrase what Master Dogen said about the practice of Zazen, or Suzuki-roshi said about wearing his robes, 'its just what we do.'
As founder of a Zen Buddhist Order I selected certain liturgical pieces to be chanted in their original for two reasons. First, they are a serious and direct connection to our ancestors, a lineage going back to the Buddha himself. Second, they are often far richer than the English equivalents. Take the phrase "sei gon," for example, in the Four Great Vows. It has the meaning of prayerful vow, but not prayer in the sense of supplication. Rather, prayer in the sense of unification with the aim of the vow. A lot of words when "sei gon" will do nicely, and, at the same time, using it connect us to other practitioners worldwide.
Mark also suggested that perhaps there was a mystical reason for the use of certain words, that certain words might be believed to have spiritual power. I think it is less the definition of the words than their sound, cadence, and resonance that makes them "mystical." And if some believe them to be mystical, powerful, or otherwise avenues to awakening, so? Who are we to argue they are not? Perhaps we would do well to regain a little sense of the mystical in our lives.
Our world has been denuded, so to speak, of its living nature, that nature I perceive to be spiritual . When parks are just tracts of land to be developed, or food wrapped in plastic in grocery stores is not recognized for its source, or words are just words, we have lost something very important.
Yours,
Good Morning Everyone,
Mark, on our Zen Living list, wrote to ask why we don’t use our native language in Zen rather than foreign words.
Very good question and one often asked. He framed his question with this:
“To me the words, regardless of the language, are only labels we place on reality and not actually reality. Who was it that said, "The teaching that is spoken is not the true teaching"? The fullness of sitting for meditation cannot be described in any words that I have heard or read, yet it can be experienced.”
I do not exactly disagree. In fact, I agree with Mark. Words are, indeed, just labels. So, then, as such, should it matter which words we use? Actually no, so there may be something else going on, something under this question. Or some other reason for using one word over another.
Is it that we do not like foreign words? Is it that we resist learning new words? Is it a resistance to difference itself or to the fact there is a Teacher offering this new language? Is it a veiled attack on tradition? I don’t know and as long as the subtext is not revealed, I really don’t care to address it.
So, setting the aim of the question aside, we might consider how some words just are better as they are. Dharma is a good example of this. What is Dharma? Do we have an English equivalent? Is it teaching? Scripture? Truth? Reality? Or all of that.
We could use a string of words that get us to the sense of the word, but that would be cumbersome. Why not use the word of the buddhas and ancestors before us? To paraphrase what Master Dogen said about the practice of Zazen, or Suzuki-roshi said about wearing his robes, 'its just what we do.'
As founder of a Zen Buddhist Order I selected certain liturgical pieces to be chanted in their original for two reasons. First, they are a serious and direct connection to our ancestors, a lineage going back to the Buddha himself. Second, they are often far richer than the English equivalents. Take the phrase "sei gon," for example, in the Four Great Vows. It has the meaning of prayerful vow, but not prayer in the sense of supplication. Rather, prayer in the sense of unification with the aim of the vow. A lot of words when "sei gon" will do nicely, and, at the same time, using it connect us to other practitioners worldwide.
Mark also suggested that perhaps there was a mystical reason for the use of certain words, that certain words might be believed to have spiritual power. I think it is less the definition of the words than their sound, cadence, and resonance that makes them "mystical." And if some believe them to be mystical, powerful, or otherwise avenues to awakening, so? Who are we to argue they are not? Perhaps we would do well to regain a little sense of the mystical in our lives.
Our world has been denuded, so to speak, of its living nature, that nature I perceive to be spiritual . When parks are just tracts of land to be developed, or food wrapped in plastic in grocery stores is not recognized for its source, or words are just words, we have lost something very important.
Yours,
Sunday, January 16, 2011
What is Zen?
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
Yesterday was a day full of goodness. Zazenkai was very special to me as my partner, Kathryn Soku Shin, took the precepts with her teacher, Rev. Bobby Kankin Byrd. It was also a delight to witness Michael Inmo Dretcsh, an Army Neuropsychologist, do the same. We were very pleased that my Teacher, Rev. Hogaku Shozen McGuire-roshi and his partner, Rev. Shin Getsu McGuire-roshi were in attendance for the ceremonials, as well. The day was spent in Zazen, but was interspersed with experiencing the film, “Zen”, the story of Master Dogen.
So much of what we do today in Soto Zen are directly traceable to this authentic and courageous seeker of the Way. Dogen’s Zen was clear and direct. Sit. Practice. Let body and mind fall away. So simple, yet so challenging.
We, in the Order of Clear Mind Zen, seek to follow him, not imitate him. His Zen was his moment’s Zen, meeting directly the requirements of his time and place. He went to China, found his true Master, got his own realization, and then worked tirelessly to fashion a Zen practice for his Japanese students.
We do the Master no great service by practicing Zen in the same way and in the same detail as do the Japanese. This is not authentic. It is a copy.
Masters like Dogen, Homeless Kodo Sawaki, Uchiyama, Senzaki, and Matsuoka took their Zen out of the cathedral and theatre and made it living. To do this takes courage, but more, it takes a willingness to look deeply inside to discover our own true nature and find fresh and relevant ways to express it.
Such a search does not mean we have carte blanche to change everything. Zen is still Zazen. Practice is a disciplined activity, not a choice to do or not do. It is everything else that is at the heart of the matter. I read a comment on someone’s blog the other day, it smacked of the sort of attitude and understanding I abhor. The commentator was happy to see that another Zen teacher, a rebellious sort, finally “learned how to wear his kesa.”
This person does not know a thing about the practice. He knows what others do, he knows what others teach, but apparently he pays attention to the finger, losing the moon entirely.
We wrap ourselves in the Buddha’s teaching. A robe of patches, originally taken from corpses, washed and died, an offering from the dead to the living, and it really matters so awfully much that it is folded this way, or tied that way? I am grateful that he wears the robe and offers himself in service to others.
We must find our way. Forms are important, doing them properly is also important, but imitation, as they say, is the poorest form of flattery. Why? Because our heart is not in it. It is not our authentic presentation of ourselves. It is such a presentation that is Zen.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Yesterday was a day full of goodness. Zazenkai was very special to me as my partner, Kathryn Soku Shin, took the precepts with her teacher, Rev. Bobby Kankin Byrd. It was also a delight to witness Michael Inmo Dretcsh, an Army Neuropsychologist, do the same. We were very pleased that my Teacher, Rev. Hogaku Shozen McGuire-roshi and his partner, Rev. Shin Getsu McGuire-roshi were in attendance for the ceremonials, as well. The day was spent in Zazen, but was interspersed with experiencing the film, “Zen”, the story of Master Dogen.
So much of what we do today in Soto Zen are directly traceable to this authentic and courageous seeker of the Way. Dogen’s Zen was clear and direct. Sit. Practice. Let body and mind fall away. So simple, yet so challenging.
We, in the Order of Clear Mind Zen, seek to follow him, not imitate him. His Zen was his moment’s Zen, meeting directly the requirements of his time and place. He went to China, found his true Master, got his own realization, and then worked tirelessly to fashion a Zen practice for his Japanese students.
We do the Master no great service by practicing Zen in the same way and in the same detail as do the Japanese. This is not authentic. It is a copy.
Masters like Dogen, Homeless Kodo Sawaki, Uchiyama, Senzaki, and Matsuoka took their Zen out of the cathedral and theatre and made it living. To do this takes courage, but more, it takes a willingness to look deeply inside to discover our own true nature and find fresh and relevant ways to express it.
Such a search does not mean we have carte blanche to change everything. Zen is still Zazen. Practice is a disciplined activity, not a choice to do or not do. It is everything else that is at the heart of the matter. I read a comment on someone’s blog the other day, it smacked of the sort of attitude and understanding I abhor. The commentator was happy to see that another Zen teacher, a rebellious sort, finally “learned how to wear his kesa.”
This person does not know a thing about the practice. He knows what others do, he knows what others teach, but apparently he pays attention to the finger, losing the moon entirely.
We wrap ourselves in the Buddha’s teaching. A robe of patches, originally taken from corpses, washed and died, an offering from the dead to the living, and it really matters so awfully much that it is folded this way, or tied that way? I am grateful that he wears the robe and offers himself in service to others.
We must find our way. Forms are important, doing them properly is also important, but imitation, as they say, is the poorest form of flattery. Why? Because our heart is not in it. It is not our authentic presentation of ourselves. It is such a presentation that is Zen.
Be well.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Notes
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Two notes:
Tomorrow we will host Both Sides/No Sides Zen Sangha's Zazenkai and Jukai ceremonies. Rev. Bobby Kankin Byrd will lead the Zazenkai and his students, Kathryn Soku Shin Masaryk and Mike Dretsch will receive the precepts at 4:30. This event includes Oryoki lunch.
Please consider joining us for all or part of the day, but let me know if you are attending so that we can get an accurate count for lunch.
Today at Clear Mind Zen Temple: We will practice Contemplative Yoga at 3:00 PM, our Zen Dicussion group will meet at 4:00 PM, and we will practice Zazen at 5:30 PM.
Good Morning Everyone,
Two notes:
Tomorrow we will host Both Sides/No Sides Zen Sangha's Zazenkai and Jukai ceremonies. Rev. Bobby Kankin Byrd will lead the Zazenkai and his students, Kathryn Soku Shin Masaryk and Mike Dretsch will receive the precepts at 4:30. This event includes Oryoki lunch.
Please consider joining us for all or part of the day, but let me know if you are attending so that we can get an accurate count for lunch.
Today at Clear Mind Zen Temple: We will practice Contemplative Yoga at 3:00 PM, our Zen Dicussion group will meet at 4:00 PM, and we will practice Zazen at 5:30 PM.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The Challenge
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
Last night was a delight at the Temple; two people came, new to us, and attended the Zen 101 group and then sat with us. This couple has been a part of an interfaith discussion group for some years now. I attended a meeting of that group a few months ago with my Teacher and close friend Soku Shin.
It is always good to see new people come to the Temple and begin to learn something about Zen as it is actually practiced. We get so much of what we know from books, movies, TV, and the Internet, rarely actually experiencing the thing itself.
Master Dogen says, “You must…abandon a practice based on intellectual understanding, running after words, and clinging to the letter. You must turn and direct your light inward to illuminate your true nature.” (Fukanzazengi)
Most of us today fail in this abandonment, so easy it is to believe we know through our mind’s eye, rather than through the Dharma Eye of practice. Knowing is not realization, just as eating is not digestion. To realize, we must set aside knowing and allow realization to come out. Our True Nature is there, inside, deep, serene, and always present. We must but turn our self inward to see it. But, to experience it, we must let go of everything we think we know. This is our challenge and greatest obstacle in practice.
Meet the challenge.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Last night was a delight at the Temple; two people came, new to us, and attended the Zen 101 group and then sat with us. This couple has been a part of an interfaith discussion group for some years now. I attended a meeting of that group a few months ago with my Teacher and close friend Soku Shin.
It is always good to see new people come to the Temple and begin to learn something about Zen as it is actually practiced. We get so much of what we know from books, movies, TV, and the Internet, rarely actually experiencing the thing itself.
Master Dogen says, “You must…abandon a practice based on intellectual understanding, running after words, and clinging to the letter. You must turn and direct your light inward to illuminate your true nature.” (Fukanzazengi)
Most of us today fail in this abandonment, so easy it is to believe we know through our mind’s eye, rather than through the Dharma Eye of practice. Knowing is not realization, just as eating is not digestion. To realize, we must set aside knowing and allow realization to come out. Our True Nature is there, inside, deep, serene, and always present. We must but turn our self inward to see it. But, to experience it, we must let go of everything we think we know. This is our challenge and greatest obstacle in practice.
Meet the challenge.
Be well.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Consequences
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
The events of this past week as well as discussions in our groups at temple lead me to ask, is it possible to speak without creating some form of duality? No, but! It is silly to think that we should live without duality. If I ask you to care about this or that, I am creating a dualism on several levels. So? Do we not live in a relative world? Forget the relative at your peril, my friends.
We are our actions and we are responsible for our actions, and just as we are interconnected with all things and interdependent with all things, we are also, therefore, responsible for the actions of others as well. This is a challenging notion in this era of Me. if I am one with everything, then everything is one with me. I and Other are One My responsibility is both personal and social.
Our speech is an aspect of our behavior. We should be aware of how it affects people and know that if we yell “Fire!” in a crowded room with minimal egress, we are responsible for the consequences. We cannot say, well those poor folk who were crushed at the door should not have panicked or should have known there was no fire or some other excuse to get us off the hook.
Likewise if I keep saying liberals are treasonous as Ann Coulter repeatedly does, or that we should “target” those we don’t like and “eliminate” them, as many political operatives might say, we cannot escape some degree of responsibility if someone takes adverse action against those we have demonized.
It is our responsibility to address this now in a clear voice. Violence, both physical and emotional, through body, speech or mind, is not acceptable. We must practice the Eightfold Noble Path not just spout it. As a reminder, this path includes: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Livelihood, Right Concentration and Right Mindfulness.
Now, go do the right thing.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
The events of this past week as well as discussions in our groups at temple lead me to ask, is it possible to speak without creating some form of duality? No, but! It is silly to think that we should live without duality. If I ask you to care about this or that, I am creating a dualism on several levels. So? Do we not live in a relative world? Forget the relative at your peril, my friends.
We are our actions and we are responsible for our actions, and just as we are interconnected with all things and interdependent with all things, we are also, therefore, responsible for the actions of others as well. This is a challenging notion in this era of Me. if I am one with everything, then everything is one with me. I and Other are One My responsibility is both personal and social.
Our speech is an aspect of our behavior. We should be aware of how it affects people and know that if we yell “Fire!” in a crowded room with minimal egress, we are responsible for the consequences. We cannot say, well those poor folk who were crushed at the door should not have panicked or should have known there was no fire or some other excuse to get us off the hook.
Likewise if I keep saying liberals are treasonous as Ann Coulter repeatedly does, or that we should “target” those we don’t like and “eliminate” them, as many political operatives might say, we cannot escape some degree of responsibility if someone takes adverse action against those we have demonized.
It is our responsibility to address this now in a clear voice. Violence, both physical and emotional, through body, speech or mind, is not acceptable. We must practice the Eightfold Noble Path not just spout it. As a reminder, this path includes: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Livelihood, Right Concentration and Right Mindfulness.
Now, go do the right thing.
Be well.
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