July 25

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,



This morning we offer meditation training to the youngest of the Peace Campers during week three of our three week event. It is always a joy to offer this training. Children come to it very naturally with much less self awareness and perceived threats involved.



When adults come to it, they often bring with them all the issues that have dogged them through their lives: judgments, worries, and stiff, unyielding bodies.



We can learn a lot from practicing with children. Bring an open and unattached mind, allow your body to unfold and go in the direction of the training, and check your ego at the door. We call this Shoshin, “Beginners Mind.”



Today at CMZT: Peace Camp at 8:30, Zazen at 9:30, Zazen at 6:00 PM, Comparative Religion Group at 7:00 PM.



Be well.

July 24

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,



Yesterday was a good day, as days go. We rested, we walked, we visited with friends, and I painted. Practice can take many forms. In fact, all forms are practice. This is not to say forms are practice. Rather, anything we do is a practice when we approach it with an unmoving mind.



When I paint, for example, I let the painting speak for itself. I sometimes wrestle with what it is saying, but in the main, open myself to its teaching. The same for writing. I was saying to Soku Shin the other day that when I was writing plays, the characters took on a life of their own and held lengthy discussions in my head. I simply wrote down what they were saying. Likewise, the paining is in the canvas. It simply has to be revealed. It is the same for all other activity.



So, too, our true nature. An unmoving mind is a mind that knows nothing, only perceives, and allows perception to have its place without being mistaken for the thing itself. It leaves no traces, yet is everywhere.



Be well.



Today: Sunday Services at 10:00 AM.

July 23

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,



This morning we woke late as we were up into the night. Our wagessa group did well, although there was a degree of nervousness being reported regarding the actual process of sewing. This is an area where Zen practice is extremely helpful. Just a stitch. Just a breath. Nothing more. Our practice is to stay in the stitch and the breath and let all of the rest go. Practice.



Once the wagessas are completed, we will take them to a shop and have the embroidery applied.



Then, when the student is ready, as determined by the Teacher, we will conduct a ceremony and the person will take The Three Treasures and the Pure Precepts as their own.



What comes after is all about one’s willingness to manifest one’s true nature.



Be well.

July 22

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,



Today will be a busy day. We have Peace Camp at 8:30 AM, Zazen at 9:30 AM, Dokusan throughout the afternoon, and our Wagessa Sewing Event at 7:00 PM. Our Air Card is supposed to arrive today which will give us 5 gigs of data transfer for Internet services per month. This past billing cycle we used almost 3. So, I will be doing dokusan via Skype today at the Temple while also waiting for the card to arrive via Fed Ex.



The sewing of a Wagessa is a first step in entering the Buddha way. It is offered to those who take the Three Refuges and the Three Pure Precepts. You must have studied for three months with a Teacher in our lineage, completed one Zazenkai or sesshin, and have sewn the Wagessa in order to complete the ceremony. A Wagessa is a single strap that is worn around the neck. It is a miniature Buddha Robe. Compared to a Rakusu, they are easy to sew.



Those who were in attendance at the Rakusu class decided they wanted to sew a Wagessa as well, so Soku Shin organized this event which will happen at 7:00 PM this evening. If you are interested in sewing a Wagessa, please come to this meeting. We have all the materials.



There seems to be some confusion about this process. Let me clarify. In the Order we have several steps students are welcome to take. Each step must be in training with a Teacher. These are Sanbo, Jukai, Unsui, and Shukke. Students continuing after Jukai take either the Dharma Teacher Path or the Priesthood Path. While it is recommended that a student do these in this order (Sanbo followed by Jukai), a Student may, with the Teacher’s permission, enter the path at Jukai and “skip” Sanbo. This is because Jukai includes the Three Refuges and the Three Pure Precepts. If a student has studied with a Teacher for a year, done the required sesshin and Zazenkai, and sews a Rakusu, there is no reason to first do Sanbo, then do Jukai. They may be done as one ceremony. Several members of our Order are in various stages of this process. Please confer with me if you are confused about it and whether or not it is appropriate for you to do one versus the other or both.



As a reminder, August Zazenkai will be from 9:00 AM through 4:00 PM on Saturday August 6th. Please make your reservation soon.

Lastly, we will no longer host a Women in Zen Group due to a lack of attendance. For those whose only weekly contact with the Temple was through this group, please consider joining us for Sunday Services or any of our weekday practice periods.



Be well.

July 21

With palms together,



Good Morning Everyone,







Last night we received word that our daughter in law, Lynda, who just gave birth to grandson Evan, was hospitalized due to a cardiac issue as yet unspecified. Son Jacob and Baby Evan are doing well, though Jacob is feeling very stressed and is very worried. I offered to go to them to assist. He will let me know soon if that is necessary.







When our children suffer we suffer. We are invested in their health, happiness, and well-being. Our suffering is most acute as we realize our complete powerlessness to resolve their suffering. We move into ”what if” thoughts and create all sorts of awful scenarios thereby, mentally experiencing our powerlessness. In truth, though, there is much that can be done. We can lessen the grip of our attachments by understanding that we are not at all in control of life as it unfolds. We can turn our attention to the teaching that life is now offering us. We can cut-off the thoughts that create the suffering. We can focus our attention on the exact situation at hand, offering our support, researching the issues, and then make changes. But most of all, we can love those around us as deeply as is possible.







Love of this sort requires a letting go of ideas and relaxing into realities. We practice to let go of our ideas about how things should be, and reside in how things actually are. We turn our attention to what we have: our breath, our love, and our attention, knowing that even these are short-lived and impermanent. Yet, these are it. And they are enough.



Today at CMZ: Peace Camp at 8:30, Zazen at 9:30, Zazen at 6:00 PM, Women in Zen at 7:00 PM.



Be well.

July 19

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,



This morning I wrote a note and thoroughly bored myself with my own words. Zen words are boring. They are often sophomoric. Zen words are empty and too often without real world connection. Words. Just words. Like dead leaves on a concrete floor.



I have been writing Zen words now for over ten years on my blog. What arrogance. Maybe I had to do that to get here. Enough.



I think it would be best if I just wrote about my life as it is and as it unfolds. Maybe there is the best, high-class Zen in that. Forget the Zen words. They get you into trouble.



This morning I woke to love.

This morning the moon was high

This morning Suki needed to go out early while still dark.

This morning we walked along the irrigation canal.

This morning mosquitoes had their breakfast on my calves.

Is there anything more that can be said?

Time for peanut butter on toast and espresso coffee.



Be well.

July 16

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,



Lately, I have been thinking about our mission. We say we are an Engaged Zen Sangha. People who have filled out membership forms have said they would like to find ways to make our practice socially relevant. We have practiced at parks and on the street. We have taught meditation at yearly Peace Camps for five years. We have sporadically volunteered at the local soup kitchen. And, recently, we have reconnected with the J. Paul Taylor Juvenile Correctional Facility to offer meditation to the youth incarcerated there. Members of the Order are volunteers at hospice. One member is going through the initial stages of accessing the Folsom prison network. Moreover, our Temple has opened itself to examining religious diversity and women’s issues through our groups focused on these areas.



With few exceptions, these are often individual projects, not accomplished as a community together. I wonder about that. We are a small group, spread out, that comes together most often through sesshin and Zazenkai. Our practice schedule makes it possible for some of us not to know others in the sangha. We have individuals who come sometimes on weekday mornings. Some who come to groups only. One who was just coming to Zen in the Park.



Then there is the on-line sangha, those who no one knows, except perhaps me, but who feel a part of us through their reading of these posts and, perhaps, Skype interviews. Where do these folks fit in the overall sangha?



Maybe the question is, how do we share our mission?



Here is my two cents: we should do our practice and share our practice. Part of the mission is to model our practice so that others may feel invited to take up the practice and step onto the path as they see it. This is not to evangelize, but rather to model. We are not interested in converts, we are interested in helping others learn to practice for their own benefit. We know that when a person practices, the rest of the universe benefits. We need not underscore this or give it a name.



What do you think?



Be well.