Karma Is

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Reading a quote about karma on Facebook this morning pinched me. The quote, appearing on Adam Tebbe’s Sweeping Zen said the following:



“Karma is of body, speech and mind. Thoughts have karmic results. Speech has karmic results. Bodily actions have karmic results. That’s why it’s important to think, speak, and act properly.”



This is a common view, understandable given how things are so often taught, yet incorrect. While we often consider karma to be cause and effect, it is actually cause-effect, one, not two. People perceiving with Small Mind see a linearity, when seeing with a Big Mind, no linearity.



If we focus our attention on the “effect” of a “cause” we are separating one from the other, thus eviscerating a living, continuous and dynamic reality, and, in effect, killing it. We are no longer seeing karma, but instead examining a carcass.



Karma is one, not two. It is a continuum (cause-effect-cause-effect-cause, etc.), a complete, total manifestation of our intentional action in thought and body. Yet even this is not quite it. We suffer from linearity of language. Flowing water has no beginning or end: flowing water is just flowing water. Is it flowing to nourish or destroy?



Intention is key in understanding karma. This is so because it is a manifestation of our true nature. We cannot become a buddha, we are a buddha. Practice to open the self to that nature, be a buddha and no problem. So the precepts are not external rules, principles, or guides. They are a mirrored reflection of something we have hidden deeply within us. They are our true nature. We have but to shed the barriers that hide them in order to bring them into the universe. We shed through practice, as Master Dogen teaches, letting body and mind fall away.



Be less concerned with the result, give up the poison of delusion. Be buddha. Be well.

A Local Newspaper Story

A local newspaper story.

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.

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.

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!.

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.

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.