A local newspaper story.
Organ Mountain Zen
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Chicken Little
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Yesterday I was invited to offer a lecture on Zen Buddhism at Dona Ana Community College. The lecture was part of their Cultural Awareness Week. It was good to be on a college campus again. I enjoyed the relaxed nature of the venue very much. I sat on my travelling zafu in the center of a small stage in an open interior food court. They set me up with a microphone and I began by telling the story of Siddhartha.
As I spoke, working my way through the history of Zen and into its practices, I noticed people were actually listening. Students, faculty, and college staff sat at the tables and paid attention. How wonderful to be heard. I think each of us should be offered a similar opportunity. We each have very important things to say. We should each be heard.
A society that fails to listen to its members fails its members and in the end silences them through such a failure. We each have a story to tell and that story is the mosaic of our humanity. In Zen, we hear from the hardcore punkster, Brad Warner, as his band, Zero Defex screams into microphones. We hear from the soft spoken Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hahn. We hear from the disrobing Big Mind guru, Genpo-roshi. The chuckles of clown roshi Glassman. The smile of Joan Halifax-roshi. Through the blogosphere we hear from everyday Zensters, students, dabblers, and not so high class teachers like myself. The stories are there; the fabric is being woven.
Is anyone actually listening? A society that fails to listen fails itself.
Listening is not passive. Listening is active. It requires action. Too often it is in one ear, out the other, yeah, yeah, yeah. To listen we must engage the speaker, respond somehow. My fear is that we are not doing this so much in any meaningful way. We have a global crisis on many, many fronts: environmental, political, social, and spiritual. Many of us are squawking, looking very much like Chicken Little. In one ear, out the other. Many of us want the Chicken to sit down and shut up. The soft sand our heads are buried in feels safe and secure. Careful, though, some perfect storm approaches and with a scythe swung like a golf club, will take off our heads.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Yesterday I was invited to offer a lecture on Zen Buddhism at Dona Ana Community College. The lecture was part of their Cultural Awareness Week. It was good to be on a college campus again. I enjoyed the relaxed nature of the venue very much. I sat on my travelling zafu in the center of a small stage in an open interior food court. They set me up with a microphone and I began by telling the story of Siddhartha.
As I spoke, working my way through the history of Zen and into its practices, I noticed people were actually listening. Students, faculty, and college staff sat at the tables and paid attention. How wonderful to be heard. I think each of us should be offered a similar opportunity. We each have very important things to say. We should each be heard.
A society that fails to listen to its members fails its members and in the end silences them through such a failure. We each have a story to tell and that story is the mosaic of our humanity. In Zen, we hear from the hardcore punkster, Brad Warner, as his band, Zero Defex screams into microphones. We hear from the soft spoken Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hahn. We hear from the disrobing Big Mind guru, Genpo-roshi. The chuckles of clown roshi Glassman. The smile of Joan Halifax-roshi. Through the blogosphere we hear from everyday Zensters, students, dabblers, and not so high class teachers like myself. The stories are there; the fabric is being woven.
Is anyone actually listening? A society that fails to listen fails itself.
Listening is not passive. Listening is active. It requires action. Too often it is in one ear, out the other, yeah, yeah, yeah. To listen we must engage the speaker, respond somehow. My fear is that we are not doing this so much in any meaningful way. We have a global crisis on many, many fronts: environmental, political, social, and spiritual. Many of us are squawking, looking very much like Chicken Little. In one ear, out the other. Many of us want the Chicken to sit down and shut up. The soft sand our heads are buried in feels safe and secure. Careful, though, some perfect storm approaches and with a scythe swung like a golf club, will take off our heads.
Be well.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Fearless Bodhisattvas?
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I woke thinking about the six people standing around a small stand in a park on the left side of Las Cruces’ City Hall. They were witnessing for peace. On the other side of the Hall was a much larger group of people standing around listening to the newly elected governor of New Mexico give a speech. We were sitting Zazen on a small rise in between.
I was thinking about the six people as heroes. These were six people out of the thousands who live in southern New Mexico who thought enough about peace to actually get off their asses and show themselves. While I disagree politically with those on the right side of City Hall, those standing there were are also heroes. They were citizens who cared enough about their government to also get off their butts.
Here is the thing: we get what we deserve. Always. It’s the truth, plain and simple. Our apathy at the fact that we are at war on three fronts is astounding. The fact that we are wringing our hands and crying to save assistance to veterans, homeless, those without means, without medical care, and basic public educational necessities like teachers and classrooms while literally burning up a projected trillion dollars in spending on defense this year and next, just blows my mind. We get what we deserve. If you want good schools, schools that actually have teachers, buildings and classrooms, then, damn it, pay for them. If you want less homelessness, less poverty, less sickness, pain and misery, work to create the conditions within which these will no longer be such an unmanageable and devastating social problem.
Cutting taxes to Corporate America will not do this. Jobs are not related to tax cuts: increased salaries, benefit packages, and other perks to corporate CEOs and upper management stars are the true beneficiaries. We are sold a bill of goods by the conservative right, those deluded beings who think they actually deserve to flourish on the backs on the poor and disenfranchised. What’s good for business is good for America, right? Perhaps the upper 2 percent of America and, from their point of view, they are America. The rest of us are, and by rights, should be, in-service to them.
Our wars are no longer about freedom, they are about oil, power, influence and control of world resources. Our religious leaders, in the main, make me sick. They are either in bed with conservatives, lackeys of Corporate America, or direct supporters of war (in the name of peace, Jesus, and all that is right, of course). Good grief.
We Buddhists aren’t much better. We sit on our asses and do nothing. We talk about compassion, want to be bodhisattvas, and what? Live in La La Land thinking it will all somehow be OK.
Where is our passion? I don’t mean the sort of crap passion that drives evil, I mean our passion to live deeply, to actually BE bodhisattvas? Afraid we are, I suspect. Too comfortable in our robes and on our cushions, I suspect. We no longer have to beg for our food and have forsaken the Buddha as he actually lived, just as Christians have forsaken, twisted, or perverted the words of Jesus.
Maybe when we have to ride a bicycle because we cannot afford a car, or when we ourselves have to stock up on cheap carbs because we cannot afford real food, we might begin to wonder (as all the while that 2 percent of real America insists) even this we do not deserve.
We get what we deserve and our willingness to passively buy a bill of goods is our currency.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I woke thinking about the six people standing around a small stand in a park on the left side of Las Cruces’ City Hall. They were witnessing for peace. On the other side of the Hall was a much larger group of people standing around listening to the newly elected governor of New Mexico give a speech. We were sitting Zazen on a small rise in between.
I was thinking about the six people as heroes. These were six people out of the thousands who live in southern New Mexico who thought enough about peace to actually get off their asses and show themselves. While I disagree politically with those on the right side of City Hall, those standing there were are also heroes. They were citizens who cared enough about their government to also get off their butts.
Here is the thing: we get what we deserve. Always. It’s the truth, plain and simple. Our apathy at the fact that we are at war on three fronts is astounding. The fact that we are wringing our hands and crying to save assistance to veterans, homeless, those without means, without medical care, and basic public educational necessities like teachers and classrooms while literally burning up a projected trillion dollars in spending on defense this year and next, just blows my mind. We get what we deserve. If you want good schools, schools that actually have teachers, buildings and classrooms, then, damn it, pay for them. If you want less homelessness, less poverty, less sickness, pain and misery, work to create the conditions within which these will no longer be such an unmanageable and devastating social problem.
Cutting taxes to Corporate America will not do this. Jobs are not related to tax cuts: increased salaries, benefit packages, and other perks to corporate CEOs and upper management stars are the true beneficiaries. We are sold a bill of goods by the conservative right, those deluded beings who think they actually deserve to flourish on the backs on the poor and disenfranchised. What’s good for business is good for America, right? Perhaps the upper 2 percent of America and, from their point of view, they are America. The rest of us are, and by rights, should be, in-service to them.
Our wars are no longer about freedom, they are about oil, power, influence and control of world resources. Our religious leaders, in the main, make me sick. They are either in bed with conservatives, lackeys of Corporate America, or direct supporters of war (in the name of peace, Jesus, and all that is right, of course). Good grief.
We Buddhists aren’t much better. We sit on our asses and do nothing. We talk about compassion, want to be bodhisattvas, and what? Live in La La Land thinking it will all somehow be OK.
Where is our passion? I don’t mean the sort of crap passion that drives evil, I mean our passion to live deeply, to actually BE bodhisattvas? Afraid we are, I suspect. Too comfortable in our robes and on our cushions, I suspect. We no longer have to beg for our food and have forsaken the Buddha as he actually lived, just as Christians have forsaken, twisted, or perverted the words of Jesus.
Maybe when we have to ride a bicycle because we cannot afford a car, or when we ourselves have to stock up on cheap carbs because we cannot afford real food, we might begin to wonder (as all the while that 2 percent of real America insists) even this we do not deserve.
We get what we deserve and our willingness to passively buy a bill of goods is our currency.
Be well.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Notes
With respect,
Last night was a delight at Rev. Kankin's Sangha. We sat two periods, did walking meditation, and had tea as I delivered a Dharma Talk on the Essentials of Zazen practice. Before all this, though, we had a wonderful meal of Bobby's Wonderful Beans, salad, and bread. We stoppd for a snack at an El Paso Starbucks on the way home.
This morning we did desert sand hill repeats of about a tenth of a mile each. The grade was varying but about 6%. We first walked to the hill through a sandy road, then did four repeats (me) five repeats (Kathryn). We then hiked back to the car. All tolled we did 1.5 miles. Heart rates were maxed out on the last two repeats, I believe (I forgot to put on my HR monitor this morning). Earlier this morning I caught up on my weights by doing a shortened version of Tuesday's chest and back workout. I did do the Wednesday leg workout, though, of squats and calf raises. I also carted my forty pound dumbbells up the flight of stairs to the weight room.
We are now on our way to the Temple for our private yoga class. Tai Chi Chih, Zazen, and yoga this evening beginning at 6:00 PM.
Sesshin begins at 7:00 PM this Friday!
Be well!.
Last night was a delight at Rev. Kankin's Sangha. We sat two periods, did walking meditation, and had tea as I delivered a Dharma Talk on the Essentials of Zazen practice. Before all this, though, we had a wonderful meal of Bobby's Wonderful Beans, salad, and bread. We stoppd for a snack at an El Paso Starbucks on the way home.
This morning we did desert sand hill repeats of about a tenth of a mile each. The grade was varying but about 6%. We first walked to the hill through a sandy road, then did four repeats (me) five repeats (Kathryn). We then hiked back to the car. All tolled we did 1.5 miles. Heart rates were maxed out on the last two repeats, I believe (I forgot to put on my HR monitor this morning). Earlier this morning I caught up on my weights by doing a shortened version of Tuesday's chest and back workout. I did do the Wednesday leg workout, though, of squats and calf raises. I also carted my forty pound dumbbells up the flight of stairs to the weight room.
We are now on our way to the Temple for our private yoga class. Tai Chi Chih, Zazen, and yoga this evening beginning at 6:00 PM.
Sesshin begins at 7:00 PM this Friday!
Be well!.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning Kathryn and I went out for a nice hike with Mike GoZen LaTorra, my old student, former disciple, and abbot of the Zen Center of Las Cruces. We have a lot in common and it was good walking with him. Altogether in the desert with lots of sand and hills, we did 2.5 miles. We committed to doing this at least once a week. Alright!
Last night a photographer dropped by the Temple a took some pictures of us in practice to go with an article about Clear Mind Zen Temple that will be coming out this weekend, we think. It was a very good evening with lots of Zensters sitting upright.
This evening Kathryn and I are traveling to El Paso to sit with Both Sides/No Sides Zen Sangha. I am to deliver a teisho. I am looking forward to seeing our El Paso friends and, hopefully, those from Juarez, as well.
In my absence, Student Alice will facilitate the Zen 101 group this evening. Alice is a dedicated practitioner with a sharp eye and clear mind. I hope you will not miss this very wonderful opportunity at 7:00 PM.
We have added Kathryn Soku Shin’s picture to our “About Us” page on the Clearmindzen.org website. She has been acting as my Jiisha for sometime now and deserves this recognition. A Jiisha is the abbot’s personal assistant, like an executive assistant. In a corporation. She has been doing very well learning the various roles in Temple life.
I am doing a t-shirt order this afternoon. If you wish a t-shirt, please let me know the size. My guess is that the cost to the Temple will be about $9.00 per shirt.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning Kathryn and I went out for a nice hike with Mike GoZen LaTorra, my old student, former disciple, and abbot of the Zen Center of Las Cruces. We have a lot in common and it was good walking with him. Altogether in the desert with lots of sand and hills, we did 2.5 miles. We committed to doing this at least once a week. Alright!
Last night a photographer dropped by the Temple a took some pictures of us in practice to go with an article about Clear Mind Zen Temple that will be coming out this weekend, we think. It was a very good evening with lots of Zensters sitting upright.
This evening Kathryn and I are traveling to El Paso to sit with Both Sides/No Sides Zen Sangha. I am to deliver a teisho. I am looking forward to seeing our El Paso friends and, hopefully, those from Juarez, as well.
In my absence, Student Alice will facilitate the Zen 101 group this evening. Alice is a dedicated practitioner with a sharp eye and clear mind. I hope you will not miss this very wonderful opportunity at 7:00 PM.
We have added Kathryn Soku Shin’s picture to our “About Us” page on the Clearmindzen.org website. She has been acting as my Jiisha for sometime now and deserves this recognition. A Jiisha is the abbot’s personal assistant, like an executive assistant. In a corporation. She has been doing very well learning the various roles in Temple life.
I am doing a t-shirt order this afternoon. If you wish a t-shirt, please let me know the size. My guess is that the cost to the Temple will be about $9.00 per shirt.
Be well.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Announcements for the Order of Clear Mind Zen
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Be advised: What follows is a short update on our Order’s activities and a request for dana.
This morning we have a few important announcements. First, this coming weekend we will be offering April’s Hanamatsuri Sesshin beginning at 7:00 PM Friday evening and extending through until noon on Sunday. John Shoji Sorenson, our acting American River Sangha leader, is flying in from California and will be taking the precepts as a novitiate priest. Please reply with your reservation so that we might prepare our food budget. Suggested donation is $25.00.
Second, this month we have a few additional expenses that we need to address. Our website domain name needs to be renewed, we have to order new t-shirts for Team Zen (the set up fee is $25.00), and we need to complete and ship an order for wagessas placed some time ago by Claude Anshin Thomas, author of “At Hell’s Gate.”
If it is at all possible, please make an additional donation to the Order soon.
We will be up-dating our website’s calendar of events soon. My apologies for not doing this earlier. If there is something you would like to see added or something you think we might do differently, please forward your comments and suggestions to me.
We are a growing Sangha, well into the world of electronic communications. We currently have 380 readers on our YahooGroup, ZenLiving, 480 “Friends” on Facebook, 44 “Friends” on Tricycle.com, and 64 readers on Blogger.com. In addition, we currently have five students receiving services through Skype, our Women’s Group is picking up members and is thriving, and our beginners group is also doing well.
Our Sangha in California continues to practice in a Martial Arts dojo in Northern California, as well as practice Zen in the park. While Rev. KoMyo is sorely missed, Student Shoji is ably filling in.
Our Sangha in El Paso is also doing well. They just completed a Zazenkai there. We are pleased that Rev. Kankin is doing such a great job making Zen practice available to both West Texas and Juarez Mexico.
In March we were interviewed by a local newspaper reporter and a Master’s student doing research on Zen Temples. The student seemed surprised that our Order was so widespread and that we used Skype Internet communications. One example of educational thought to be lagging behind the real world.
Lastly, we have revived Team Zen and it has sparked a lot of interest. We believe this effort is one way to assist local charities and practice Zen Running and Zen Walking in the process. If you have an interest in becoming a Team member, please sign up at YahooGroups. Search for TeamZen there.
Thank you each for being an active part of this growing grassroots Zen movement to make Zen available to everyone even if there is no sitting group in an area and no teacher available. As the quote from my Dharma Grandfather below points out, we make a monastery in our heart. I cannot help but see us each as a lotus in bloom.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Be advised: What follows is a short update on our Order’s activities and a request for dana.
This morning we have a few important announcements. First, this coming weekend we will be offering April’s Hanamatsuri Sesshin beginning at 7:00 PM Friday evening and extending through until noon on Sunday. John Shoji Sorenson, our acting American River Sangha leader, is flying in from California and will be taking the precepts as a novitiate priest. Please reply with your reservation so that we might prepare our food budget. Suggested donation is $25.00.
Second, this month we have a few additional expenses that we need to address. Our website domain name needs to be renewed, we have to order new t-shirts for Team Zen (the set up fee is $25.00), and we need to complete and ship an order for wagessas placed some time ago by Claude Anshin Thomas, author of “At Hell’s Gate.”
If it is at all possible, please make an additional donation to the Order soon.
We will be up-dating our website’s calendar of events soon. My apologies for not doing this earlier. If there is something you would like to see added or something you think we might do differently, please forward your comments and suggestions to me.
We are a growing Sangha, well into the world of electronic communications. We currently have 380 readers on our YahooGroup, ZenLiving, 480 “Friends” on Facebook, 44 “Friends” on Tricycle.com, and 64 readers on Blogger.com. In addition, we currently have five students receiving services through Skype, our Women’s Group is picking up members and is thriving, and our beginners group is also doing well.
Our Sangha in California continues to practice in a Martial Arts dojo in Northern California, as well as practice Zen in the park. While Rev. KoMyo is sorely missed, Student Shoji is ably filling in.
Our Sangha in El Paso is also doing well. They just completed a Zazenkai there. We are pleased that Rev. Kankin is doing such a great job making Zen practice available to both West Texas and Juarez Mexico.
In March we were interviewed by a local newspaper reporter and a Master’s student doing research on Zen Temples. The student seemed surprised that our Order was so widespread and that we used Skype Internet communications. One example of educational thought to be lagging behind the real world.
Lastly, we have revived Team Zen and it has sparked a lot of interest. We believe this effort is one way to assist local charities and practice Zen Running and Zen Walking in the process. If you have an interest in becoming a Team member, please sign up at YahooGroups. Search for TeamZen there.
Thank you each for being an active part of this growing grassroots Zen movement to make Zen available to everyone even if there is no sitting group in an area and no teacher available. As the quote from my Dharma Grandfather below points out, we make a monastery in our heart. I cannot help but see us each as a lotus in bloom.
Be well.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Dirt
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
In the Vimalakirti Sutra, the bodhisattva Manjushri addressing the Buddha, says, "Noble sir, one who stays in the fixed determination of the vision of the Uncreated is not capable of conceiving the spirit of unexcelled perfect enlightenment. However, one who lives among created things, in the mines of passions, without seeing any truth, is indeed capable of conceiving the spirit of unexcelled perfect enlightenment.
[For] Noble sir, flowers like the blue lotus, the red lotus, the white lotus, the water lily, and the moon lily do not grow on the dry ground in the wilderness, but do grow in the swamps and mud banks.
Just so, the Buddha-qualities do not grow in living beings certainly destined for the uncreated but do grow in those living beings who are like swamps and mud banks of passions. Likewise, as seeds do not grow in the sky but do grow in the earth, so the Buddha-qualities do not grow in those determined for the Absolute but do grow in those who conceive the spirit of enlightenment, after having produced a Sumeru-like mountain of egoistic views.
Noble sir, through these considerations one can understand that all passions constitute the family of the Tathagatas. For example, noble sir, without going out into the great ocean, it is impossible to find precious, priceless pearls. Likewise, without going into the ocean of passions, it is impossible to obtain the Mind of Omniscience."
Our Bodhisattva of Wisdom is saying something very important here. A flower grows in dirt. Its roots are dirty and wet; it’s stem is upright, strong; and its flower rises into the open air as if to touch the sky. Which is pure, which impure? Which is dirty, which is clean? We cannot have the flower without the stem, nor the roots. The dirt is as necessary as the air, sun and sky. Moreover, which is not the flower? Where does the flower begin and end?
This morning I dug two small trenches, filled them with rich soil, and planted two rows of onions. I covered the tiny bulbs with more dirt, then the sand that is our native soil. I added water. My fingers felt the wet bulbs and the tiny roots. I was careful to set the greens upright. I cannot say any of this was impure, nothing was dirty. Each time such a thought arises, I work to put it in the largest context possible. See the particular, but never forget its context; see context, but never forget the particular. Both inter-are.
Be well.
Today at CMZ Temple: 5:30 Women’s Zen Group at our residence, 7:00 PM Zazen at Temple Zendo, Yoga at 7:30 at Temple Zendo.
PS. My thanks to Students Kanu and Ron for joining Team Zen!
Good Morning Everyone,
In the Vimalakirti Sutra, the bodhisattva Manjushri addressing the Buddha, says, "Noble sir, one who stays in the fixed determination of the vision of the Uncreated is not capable of conceiving the spirit of unexcelled perfect enlightenment. However, one who lives among created things, in the mines of passions, without seeing any truth, is indeed capable of conceiving the spirit of unexcelled perfect enlightenment.
[For] Noble sir, flowers like the blue lotus, the red lotus, the white lotus, the water lily, and the moon lily do not grow on the dry ground in the wilderness, but do grow in the swamps and mud banks.
Just so, the Buddha-qualities do not grow in living beings certainly destined for the uncreated but do grow in those living beings who are like swamps and mud banks of passions. Likewise, as seeds do not grow in the sky but do grow in the earth, so the Buddha-qualities do not grow in those determined for the Absolute but do grow in those who conceive the spirit of enlightenment, after having produced a Sumeru-like mountain of egoistic views.
Noble sir, through these considerations one can understand that all passions constitute the family of the Tathagatas. For example, noble sir, without going out into the great ocean, it is impossible to find precious, priceless pearls. Likewise, without going into the ocean of passions, it is impossible to obtain the Mind of Omniscience."
Our Bodhisattva of Wisdom is saying something very important here. A flower grows in dirt. Its roots are dirty and wet; it’s stem is upright, strong; and its flower rises into the open air as if to touch the sky. Which is pure, which impure? Which is dirty, which is clean? We cannot have the flower without the stem, nor the roots. The dirt is as necessary as the air, sun and sky. Moreover, which is not the flower? Where does the flower begin and end?
This morning I dug two small trenches, filled them with rich soil, and planted two rows of onions. I covered the tiny bulbs with more dirt, then the sand that is our native soil. I added water. My fingers felt the wet bulbs and the tiny roots. I was careful to set the greens upright. I cannot say any of this was impure, nothing was dirty. Each time such a thought arises, I work to put it in the largest context possible. See the particular, but never forget its context; see context, but never forget the particular. Both inter-are.
Be well.
Today at CMZ Temple: 5:30 Women’s Zen Group at our residence, 7:00 PM Zazen at Temple Zendo, Yoga at 7:30 at Temple Zendo.
PS. My thanks to Students Kanu and Ron for joining Team Zen!
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