Rohatsu

 With palms together,

Today, December 8th, is the day in history Siddhartha became the Buddha, the Enlightened One. We call it Rohatsu, "the eighth day of the twelfth month." It is said, after practicing zazen under a tree, on the eighth morning he looked up and saw the morning star and in that instant became fully awake: "Anutarra Samyak Sambodhi" complete unexcelled awakening.

He saw all things in the entire universe were one, as Master Dogen Zenji puts it, "one bright pearl." He saw that time and space were one so he saw the past and future in the same moment. These realizations were 'deeply profound and minutely subtle.' Getting up from his seat he believed it would be impossible to teach such things. No one would understand him.

Yet, as he walked away from the tree and met some former friends, they noticed something had changed in him. These friends were seekers of the way, as well, and wanted to learn. They convinced him to teach and so he did with his first teaching being the Four Noble Truths; life is suffering because we are attached to things, there is a way to end this suffering and the way is the eightfold noble path, a "middle" way," a way between extremes.

Today, it seems to me, we all might accept this truth: extremes of any sort are problematic, if not destructive. Releasing ourselves from being overly invested in things, realizing we are all together living on the same planet, breathing the same air, may be our way of growing closer together, uniting as one family, to become more caring and compassionate.

Winter has always been a time when the light is low and we look to renew ourselves by bringing the light of hop into our world. Lets all do that this month and maybe, just maybe, the darkness eclipsing our societal sun will be lifted.

Gassho

Sitting under the Stars

 With palms together,

At nearly 3:00 in the morning of December 7th I have been practicing zazen on my patio bench, having listened to the sounds of my little waterfall and witnessed the heavens in that clear southwestern sky. It is a wonderful thing, this practice.

Our world is so infinite and yet as close as the next breath. I wish more of us would take on such a practice. Perhaps then we might find our way to a state of deep serenity. As the gatha teaches, “the Dharma is incomparably profound and minutely subtle. We can now see it, hear it, and hold it. May we realize the Tatagathas true meaning.”

Sitting under the stars in the early morning hours is a true gift. I accept it with deep and abiding gratitude.

Gassho

Masterful

 With palms together, No matter what you may think of my fellow priest Rev. Jundo Cohen, he is a force to be reckoned with in today's Zen world. He has taken on the institutions of Zen, created an awesome international Zen Community, and now produced a masterful text on Master Dogen Zenji's shobogenzo, a text as relevant and inspiring as any I have ever read.

His "The Zen Master's Dance" is quite literally brilliant, revealing both a tremendous depth as well as application …

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Gratitude

 

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

 

Today is a day to offer our gratitude for the wonder that is our lives.  We were born human beings capable of great good and great evil.   You each have the great opportunity to be as fully human as possible, Giving, kind, and compassionate, you are the seeds of things to come. Please consider on this day the many gifts you have received and acknowledge them with your gratitude.  

 

May we each take that gratitude out into the world around us.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all

Daiho

Matsuoka Memorial

 https://www.facebook.com/sodaiho/videos/10159496757358488/

Courage

 

With palms together, Good Morning All,

 

“You cannot be a hero unless you are prepared to give up everything; there is no ascent to the heights without prior descent into darkness, no new life without some form of death.”

Armstrong, “A Short History of Myth,”  P.37

 

There is no shortage of this mythic truth. Gilgamesh, Jacob, the Hebrews, Buddha, and Jesus all descended into darkness, wrestled with that darkness and emerged changed in dramatic ways. It is no different today with each of us.  We are struggling in the darkness of a pandemic, a world threatening ecological disaster, and a threat to our democracy. Some of us put our heads in the sand, some of us hold up signs, some of us do nothing but get through our day.  What we do reveals our character.

 

The Three Pure Zen Buddhist precepts teach us we are to be responsible human beings.  We are to cease doing evil.  We are to do good. And we are to bring about abundant good for all beings. Let these resonate for a bit. Let them arise from within us.  Let us each, then, explore the meanings.  What is evil?  What is good?  How can we assist others by bringing about abundant good?

 

I am not here to answer these questions for you.  They are yours to answer for yourself.  What I can say is that to address these questions with integrity requires us to struggle with our own moral foundations and it is in this struggle that we gain strength, clarify our understanding, and are able then to set forth on the Eightfold Noble Path.  We die to ourselves and are born anew; we become bodhisattvas.

 

May we each establish a daily intention to step into our darkness and rise into the light.

 

Daiho

A little art lesson