Let it be

With palms together,


Good Evening Everyone,



Master Fuke travelled around saying, “If a clear mind comes, I let it be clear. If a deluded mind comes, I let it be deluded. If the wind comes from all directions…I let it be a whirlwind. And if a space comes I will strike it again and again.” Upon questioning, Master Fuke said, “Tomorrow there will be a formal dinner in Dai-hi Temple.”



This makes perfect sense to me. The first part points to being completely present in the moment, the second part is the same as saying, “Three pounds of flax!” when asked, “What is Buddha?”



Life offers us a variety of possibilities, doesn’t it? We can feel perfection and be completely calm and serene on one day. On another day, we might be hurried, frustrated, and crazy with worry. Special one day, common the next, we encounter each moment and respond according to the state of mind we are in. We may seem to be a slave to this “who knows what will happen next” mentality, but our practice reveals that we are not.



Zazen teaches us to accept that this is this and that is that and in this state of being we are to do what is in front of us to do with equanimity. Crazy is buddha. Serene is buddha. Full is buddha. Empty is buddha. Release yourself, as the Beatles crooned, “Let it be.”



Be well.

Islam

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Last’s night’s Comparative religion group was well attended and enjoyable, but clearly, we struggled with the religion of Islam. The behavior of many of its adherents leaves we in the West feeling anxious, if not downright hostile. We have to wonder what it is all about. The thing is, it’s as plain as the nose on our face: submission, which is the core meaning of the word, “Islam” itself. Westerners are not grown up to feel particularly in need of submitting. We stand on our own authority, or like to believe that we do.



Our two faith traditions, Zen and Islam, are very far apart. We speak very different languages and have very different core assumptions. While Islam, like Zen, does not hold humanity is essentially sinful, Islam does hold that humanity is disobedient to God. Whereas Zen, holds that humanity has separated itself from the Universe, this separation is not understood to be malevolent or even necessarily “sinful,” but more a simple by-product of our neurophysiology.



The starting point of Zen is a cosmological view that we are all one, deeply and completely one. So, an “individual self” is a delusion. The starting point for monotheistic faith traditions is the separate nature of God and Man. From a Zen point of view we might say that God is a delusion, man is a delusion, and that, at bottom, there is “just this,” as Master Baso points out in Case Four of Master Dogen’s Shinji Shobogenzo. This “just this” is the true reality.



Releasing oneself, letting go of self, and surrender, are Zen practices, which on the surface appear to be similar to Islamic submission, but the tone, aim, and internal sense are worlds apart. We practice to surrender our ego to the cosmos, a weave of living processes, recognizing our illusionary nature in the process. Islamic submission seems to be the act of a self, retaining the idea of self, and surrendering that self to Allah, a separate and superior sentient being. The feel is, I imagine, much like that of a serf to a king.



I would like to know more about Islam. If for no other reason than to understand a faith tradition that is rising and asserting itself in no uncertain terms on the world’s stage. Our group decided to find and invite Muslims to our discussion in order to gain a better understanding.

Be well.

Comparative Religion Discussion Today

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Today at Clear Mind Zen Temple we will practice zazen at 7:00 PM and host our Comparative Religions discussion group at 7:30 PM. The Temple will be open for open zazen at 2:00 PM.



The chapter on Islam will be our focus this evening. I do not expect us to get through the entire thing in one or even two sessions. This is an open group and anyone may join us. So, invite your friends and lets study together.



Be well.

Dokusan

With palms together,


Good Evening Everyone,



A question came up today at the Temple. It had to do with the nature of dokusan in our Order. I tried to answer, stumbling as I am prone to do on occasion. I thought I would offer a more comprehensive answer this evening.



Dokusan is typically a private interview between a student and his/her teacher. In the tradition, the general term is sanzen, and it has three types. The first deals with listening to the teacher’s lectures in a group, the second is the private interview, and the third is visiting the teacher “in secret.”



My former teacher held dokusan in his office which was a small room that acted as a connection between the two bedrooms of his house in the mountains. It had a door on one room entrance and a set of swinging louvered doors on the other. I have done dokusan in my small Zendo in my residence. This had a door. At the current temple, we do not have a door on the office entrance, although I have asked the landlord for one. When we move into the new temple, I am hopeful we will have an office where we could do dokusan in a more private context than we have at this time, if we chose to do so.



Dokusan has a long and varied history in Zen. It is typically a brief encounter where the student is essentially asked to show their true nature, their understanding, or offer something about their practice. Many of the stories throughout the history of Zen are a result of such encounters, although these do not usually take places in offices, but rather on walks, during work, or on some other off-hand occasion. Offices, we might say, are a fairly modern and, I believe, “western” comfort.



I have not often used an office for dokusan. It reminds me too much of being a therapist, and a Zen teacher is decidedly NOT a therapist. My private interviews are much more conversations than tests of a student’s understanding. I see my student’s practice as witnessed in Zazen, kinhin, oryoki, and samu, as its own best “test.” I might say that dokusan is a moment to moment experience of practicing under the teacher’s eye. For scheduled dokusan, I like to see it as a personal dialogue, typically using a text to compliment the process.



There are times, of course, when I might go directly to a student’s understanding. It may be at a time the student least expects it and it may feel uncomfortable. Zen is a practice that often takes us out of our comfort zone. This is a good thing. Comfort zones have become our contemporary places to hide in plain sight. They allow us to decline anything that will challenge us and, as a result, we decline possibilities for growth.



I would like to invite any of you to ask for time with me. This is a first, “out of our comfort zone,” step. I will be happy to see you. We can talk in person or via Skype video conferencing. The procedure is to go to our Temple calendar, find a time, and then email Soku Shin for an appointment. She can be reached at clearmindzen@yahoo.com.



Be well.

Stepping Off

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



While yesterday was a challenging day,

Today blossoms like a morning glory.

Standing on the petal’s edge,

I step off.

_____



Each moment’s breath is an awakening: Breathe in, aware that I am breathing in; breathe out, aware that I am breathing out. I feel my heart beat as my toes grip the floor. I feel the muscles deep in my bottom stretch as my left knee crosses my right and settles there creating a sort of mountain with two crossed leg shins forming slopes. The sound of the morning doves, the clacking of laptop keys, and the taste of espresso on my lips: these all are the poetry of everyday life. As Student Bonnie M pointed out, Zen talk is like poetry. It is important to notice that. Few words, but words filled with meaning, nuance, and nearly electric in their ability to open a ready mind.



Let’s step off together.



Be well.

When Anger Knocks

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



This morning I am working on myself. It is difficult to feel angry and hurt. The experience is unpleasant. So, such feelings are important practice opportunities. For this post, it is NOT important who or what brought about these feelings. What is important is how I encounter them.



I spent the night last night considering these feelings. I avoided by playing online chess. I engaged in several ways. I wrote several letters I did not send. I talked with Soku Shin. I talked with a colleague. I practiced Zazen. I have decided this morning to take the high road.



What does this mean? To me it means not picking apart the one that hurt me or assailing him and hurting him in return. It does mean engaging my desire to do just that and processing it in ways so that it can be released and the negative energy integrated. It means I must be willing to see the suffering of this individual and see how we might share the same suffering at different times.



I practiced a giving and receiving practice, using the poison of his anger to counter the poisonous hurt arising in my heart. As my hurt transforms into compassion, albeit very, very slowly, I release it and offer it to him.



I wonder, though, selflessness in practice leaves the traces of us vulnerable to further injury. I tell myself to let that concern go. Yet, I have set myself aside in service to this individual for years and received his injuries over and over. I must work to obliterate the traces.



The most troubling aspect for me is that this person has no clue as to the harm he does. He appears arrogant. He appears self-serving. He seems unwilling to learn for himself about himself. While I have learned much from him, my lessons have been the lessons of reflection on the feelings evoked in his presence. May I work to put these to the best use possible.



Be well,

Daiho

Paramitas

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



The precepts are a mainstay of our conversation as Zen Buddhists. The manifest themselves as a deep and abiding aspect of our humanity, I believe. They are not written in stone as were the Ten Commandments, but rather are living aspects of our True Nature as human beings. They begin with generosity. The Buddha taught this by simply standing with a bowl in front of homes. The dana bowl has become a symbol of this paramita as its presence touches our heart and opens it.

Precept Paramita is our innate Buddha Heart/Mind arising and opening in the world. It is our moral center. As we wrap ourselves in the robe of liberation, whether figuratively or literally, we step forward with the Heart of deep compassion and care. Morality is the heart of ethics and ethics is right conduct among beings.

Precept Forbearance, often thought of as patience, is the quality of standing in the stream with a solid heart. We know things change, we bear witness to this change by being upright in its midst. We are in no hurry to make things happen, while we mindfully engage in change itself. We are standing buddhas.

Precept Perseverance is the manifestation of concentrated energy in the direction of practice realization in any arena of life. We practice to persevere in the face of hardship. We sometimes refer to this precept as diligence because it is with a diligent heart/mind that we set ourselves on the path and continue taking one step at a time even as the path becomes a challenge. Life is like that.

Precept Zazen is our practice of living life awake. It is the upright practice of being in the world with an attitude of open heart, open mind, wrapped in complete awareness. It is the aim and being of our life.

Precept Prajna is that which we see in the completeness of the universe. It is the embodiment of the cosmos. We practice this paramita by manifesting great faith in the cosmos as we unfold with it each day. It requires perspective. This is gained by reflection through time.



When we live allowing these perfections to manifest themselves in the universe, we are timeless buddhas. We are stillness in motion. Be well.



Note:

We will host Zen Discussion at 4:00 PM today followed by Zazen at 5:15 and Gathering Meal at 6:00 PM all at CMZT. Please join us.

Thanks to Sangha Members Tamra and Shelley, we have found a large, affordable, monastic residence in Old Mesilla. We will be moving in on the week after July 1st. The Order’s Temple will relocate there, as well, and we will attempt to find ways to be released from the lease on the current building. This move will allow us to consolidate our expenses and live more appropriately as monks. We will not need to use automobiles except to grocery shop and the like and will likely use our bicycles to get around town. The building is walled, with a gate. It has several large rooms, and will accommodate Zazenkai and Sesshin and the possibility of a small residential training program. We will provide more information as we are able.