Morning Practice

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



This morning we rose early. It feels good to get up early sometimes, but then again, it feels good to sleep in on occasion. This morning I went through my morning yoga routine feeling ever-so-tight and feeling as if springs were uncoiling in the process. Yoga when done slowly and mindfully is such a centering, contemplative practice. I followed this with an easy leg workout with weights: squats and calf-raises, then for abs, crunches and knee tucks. In a week or two I will increase this day’s workout to include lunges and much heavier weight.



Last night at Temple we explored a few fragments of Master Dogen’s “Fukanzazenji.” It was a good discussion, I thought, about coming to experience what is true and already present within us: our buddha-nature. Once this unfolds and we see it clearly, everything in our lives has the portent of teaching and learning: from downward facing dog to making coffee in the morning to typing such a message as this. Once our eyes are open, we can actually see.



I like to think of it as similar to walking in our own authority, the authority of substance. Knowing, one need not speak. Everything is there in every gesture. Now, to get ready to go out the door for a walk.



Be well.

A Day

With palms together,


Good Afternoon Everyone,



This morning I am still nursing a blister on my left foot’s Big Toe…I need it to heal for Sunday’s race at White Sands Missile Range. So, I have not walked but a half mile or so over the last two days. Kathryn (Soku Shin) and I did go down to the Rio Grande where we biked two miles the day before yesterday. (It was very beautiful at sunset!)



What I have been doing is yoga twice a day and weights. This morning I punched up my weight routine, pulled out my old workout log, and re-did it to reflect a few changes. As it stands: Monday and Thursday are Arms and Shoulders, Tuesday and Friday are Chest and Back, Wednesday is Legs, Abs are daily. Yoga is twice daily. Tai Chi Chih is Wednesday. I am going from three sets of 8 reps heavy, building to five sets of 8 heavy.



On the aerobic side: After the Bataan Death March on Sunday, I thought I would move back to running, since I think I have solved the foot issues (at least temporarily) so Monday is a Slow Run, Tuesday is a Walk, Wednesday is a Tempo run, Thursday is a Walk, Friday is an Easy Run, Saturday is a Long Run, Sunday is Off.



This said, Zazen is my main contemplative practice, although I work hard to train in a contemplative mode in all things I do. Zen, as I taught last night, is an every moment thing: Zen is life itself. In everything we do, we should do it aware that we are doing it. There is no room for auto-pilot in life. Life is far too short for that sort of thing.



This evening at Clear Mind Zen Temple, we will host Zen 101 at 6:00 PM, practice Zazen at 7:00 PM, and practice Yoga at 7:30 PM. Please consider joining us!



Be well.

A Peaceful Nation

With palms together,




Good Afternoon Everyone,







This morning we woke in good time, a few stretches (I wouldn’t call it yoga) a few reps of the dumbbells (I wouldn’t call it a weight workout) and a trip to the Temple to don the vestments, open the service, sit Zazen and then leave to join Rev. Gozen-sensei, my former disciple, as he gave Shukke Tokudo to one of his disciples, Rev. Kim Vajramanas Pries. After the festivities, we regrouped at the International Delights Deli for a wonderful lunch. Rev. Dai Shugyo completed the service in my stead at the Temple and Dharma Teacher Zen Shin offered a talk. Afterwards, Soku Shin and I took Suki for a walk in the desert, albeit, a short walk, as MY DOGS are tired and still sore. Now resting, I have some time to write to you.







The wars of the United States seem to keep increasing, all very legitimate I am given to understand, yet wars, none-the-less. I am wondering where our resolve to find peaceful solutions to conflict went. What? Oh, excuse me, you’re right, there was never any such resolve. Must be all in my mind, but I thought our president was elected to bring an end to this nonsense. I must be mistaken, as there seems no real end in sight and now we have joined with other nations to fight another war.



Maybe I am just getting old, but frankly, this is such old news. Here's the deal, I will be conned no more. I was born shortly after the conclusion of World War Two. So, I just researched our war efforts since I was born. Since then, we have been involved in the Korean war, the Vietnam war, and the following “operations”:







1. Operation Urgent Fury-Grenada (1983)



2. Operation Just Cause-Panama (1989)



3. Operation Desert Storm-Iraq (January and February 1991)



4. Operation Restore Hope-Somalia (1993)



5. Operations in Europe-Bosnia (1990's)



6. Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan (2001-present)



7. Operation Iraqi Freedom-Iraq (2003-present)





And now, Libya. (for a very detailed and eye-opening index of US Military operations, see this link. I feel sad for us. We have been led to believe for so long that we are a peaceful, peace-loving nation, but the record speaks for itself. For me to consider us a peaceful nation at any time in the future, I will need to see evidence that we can actually live in peace. I think I will be dying long before that ever happens. Until then, let’s be peaceful and peace-loving individuals, communities, and even cities.







I will be resuming my Peace Witness Vigils on Monday and Friday mornings at the Veteran’s Park tomorrow. In addition, I believe I will begin again to sit for peace at the Federal Building in downtown Las Cruces on Wednesday afternoons at 4:00 PM.







Please consider joining me.







Be well, be peace.

13.1 Today

With palms together,


Good Afternoon Everyone,



Students Yubao and Alice and I finished our last long training hike this morning in preparation for the Bataan Death March Memorial race coming up this Sunday, the 27th. I left them at a corner about a mile from my apartment and when I walked in the door I had done 13.1 miles. My toes were killing me. A cold bath helped, Aleve helped more! And now, after lunch, a cold beer is topping off a wonderful morning. Soku Shin and I are planning a trip into Old Mesilla today. She wants to look at a proposed biking route. I think we will rest after that…or at least I know I will!



Be well.

Morning Note

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Today is a full day. Walking this morning with friends, Allen and Eve, Peace Village Board Meeting at noon, a birthday greeting for a friend at 1:30, several dokusan interviews this afternoon, and the evening’s Zazen and yoga tonight. I have been quite busy for a retired guy who is a monk.



We have put together a small team for the Bataan Death March: I will join students Yubao and Alice on the March. Yesterday I ordered special t-shirts for us to wear. On the front, Clear Mind Zen with our Order’s logo. On the back, “Stillness in Motion” with “Team Zen” underneath.



So far each evening we are chanting the Heart Sutra for our brothers and sisters in Japan. I have few moments in the day where that nation is not on my mind. Such suffering makes my worries seem thoroughly insignificant, even embarrassing. The Japanese have much to teach us, I suspect, about handling adversity. No looting, no craziness, just a determination to do what needs to be done. No doubt there will be introspection and a desire to do better with the results. I have watched their 24 hour news show on my PC and see none of the sort of talking head, faux news, emotional screaming we see in the United States. Yes, there are lessons. We might benefit from paying attention to them.



So, off to take a desert trails walk and enjoy the conversation of friends.



Be well.

Change

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Many thanks, and nine bows, to the individual who offered a new Buddha statue at our Temple’s gate. And for the care given to our plants along the side. It was a delight to arrive yesterday afternoon and discover these gifts.



Last night’s Zazen was powerful. Just before the bell rang we got an update on the tsunami/nuclear plant catastrophe. So the loss of life, devastation, potential for even greater devastation, and great suffering of the Japanese people were foremost on our minds. Our Robe Verse, Verse of Atonement, Three Refuge Chant, Heart Sutra and Four Great Vows seemed especially meaningful and suggestive.



A glance at the news pages this morning revealed death and destruction, war, wanton killing, and environmental crisis. On a student’s Face Book page, I saw a video of a young woman thanking God for answering her prayers by raining down destruction on the “atheists” in Japan. Soku Shin and I saw a documentary about a new craze in the UK: cosmetic surgery for vaginas. A diet of this sort of thing feels quite toxic, yet is what it is: our condition today. What are we to do with it?



Some might suggest we not turn on a TV or read a newspaper. Some might suggest we do nothing as there is nothing we really can do. Some might suggest we do what we can to help: offer food, clothing, medicine, etc. These are each ways to cope, and in the latter case, actually help, albeit on a very small scale. Yet, these do not address the toxicity of the images, nor do they touch the fundamental issues a spiritual and religious life demands of us.



How do we make sense of such events? Is God punishing us? Or, framing it differently, is the earth making adjustments to compensate for conditions, some of which might be manmade? Are these random? Are these karmic?



When faced with death and destruction on such a scale we often feel there is nothing to do but clean up and rebuild. Yet, there is something else. We can pause and look deeply in all directions. What are we here for? Just to multiply? Simply to build factories that have the potential, and in some cases, actual capacity to harm both life and that which supports life? What is our relationship, as individuals, to these things? Do we support industry that pays little or no attention to its impact on us and our home?



If so, this is a time to re-evaluate and say “Enough!” No more war, no more taxing to support industry harmful to animal and plant life; no more “Progress is our most important product” or “Better living through chemistry.” Such delusions are not in-service to humanity. What is in our service is our willingness to touch one another, love one another, and care for one another. What is in service to us is our willingness to care for our homes, beginning in our own neighborhoods and working our way outward toward the entire planet. To use a phrase we are using this year at Peace Village, we might consider thinking globally and acting locally.



Be well.

Stillness

With respect,


Good Morning Everyone,



Yesterday at Temple I spoke about seated Zen practice, about how we often think of discipline incorrectly and thus push against it. There is a source of strength deep within us. I know it is there; I have tapped it in Vietnam, on long motorcycle trips, in Sesshin, in Ango, and on long runs. The conventional wisdom to developing endurance is that we push ourselves to tap into it. Wrong. This strength resides in stillness, in the heart of our being. To push to touch it actually pushed it away.



In our struggle to achieve something, say running 26.2 miles or say, sitting in zazen for Sesshin, it is our goal and push to achieve it that forms a barrier, or resistance, to its actual achievement. Our practice is a gentle way, but a resolute way, none-the-less. Our practice is to release ourselves into our practice.



Sitting in zazen we often want to move, we want the period to be over. We say things to ourselves, we say things to the timer, and we sometimes struggle against these. What I suggest is not to surrender to the pain or the thought or the feeling, but rather to surrender the goal and touch our inner stillness. When we release ourselves and just reside in the exact moment, the exact breath, the exact feeling, it is possible to open our grip and let it go. For runners, this is stillness in motion, the “zone.” For Zensters, it is Zazen. It is the stillness of the heart/mind.:



This is discipline of a different sort. This is a discipline of self-awareness in the process of opening selflessness. This is Zen. Practice touching that strength of resolve we already possess. With every out-breath we touch our true self.



Be well.