Good Morning All,
Sometimes we can "know" the Buddha too much. We read his words, study his life, and think we have an idea of what it is to be a Buddha. This is the precise moment we should kill him, cut him into little pieces and spread him on the ground to serve as compost.
Keeping the Buddha prevents you from being a buddha. He becomes a mouthpiece only, so you cannot speak, but to mouth his words, dry and stale as they might be, and offering little nourishment to the world. Or maybe he becmes your clothes and you wear him like a talisman on your body. Forget him. Be yourself.
_____
An Offering
Time to get naked.
Time to let yourself come out.
It is you, afterall,
Who is the real Buddha,
Not some dusty words on paper,
Or puke from a teacher's mouth.
When the teacher teaches, run.
Find your own place in the sun.
Then open your self ---
And be.
_____
See ya.
Organ Mountain Zen
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Live or Die: there is no such thing
Good Morning Everyone,
The Buddha taught that we should be very careful to see clearly, in fact, seeing clearly and being completely at ease with what is there, is a sort of code pointing to awakening. If I say "this is a cup" and my mind has fixed itself of "cupness" I am not really seeing the object I am calling a cup. I am seeing with my mind's eye. And if we see someone about to harm us? How do we see clearly then?
In the martial arts, it is very important to develop an ability to make your mind like water. Still water reflects accurately what is around it. It fixes on nothing. In Zen, we do the same. We call this non-attachment. Non-attachment means non-investment. We suffer in direct proportion to our emotional investment in something we perceive we are about to lose.
So, self seems central. Our mind's eye records for the self; it is in service to the self. Unless we re-wire it. Training to let go of self, lets go of fear, and fear distorts, causing ripples in the water. Training to let go of attachments, non-investment in outcomes, is key to our success and allows us to see clearly.
So, someone is trying to harm you. You are unconcerned about yourself. You can see him clearly. His suffering, his pain, his craziness. You can meet his needs, sidestep his assault, embrace his pain. You live; he lives: two have not just survived, but thrived. The seeds of kindness and compassion have been watered.
What is a cup if not a cup? Cup is just a concept, a word. The thing itself is what life is all about. Live without the labels, live without fear. Know there is no "live", no "die". Be present.
Be a blessing.
The Buddha taught that we should be very careful to see clearly, in fact, seeing clearly and being completely at ease with what is there, is a sort of code pointing to awakening. If I say "this is a cup" and my mind has fixed itself of "cupness" I am not really seeing the object I am calling a cup. I am seeing with my mind's eye. And if we see someone about to harm us? How do we see clearly then?
In the martial arts, it is very important to develop an ability to make your mind like water. Still water reflects accurately what is around it. It fixes on nothing. In Zen, we do the same. We call this non-attachment. Non-attachment means non-investment. We suffer in direct proportion to our emotional investment in something we perceive we are about to lose.
So, self seems central. Our mind's eye records for the self; it is in service to the self. Unless we re-wire it. Training to let go of self, lets go of fear, and fear distorts, causing ripples in the water. Training to let go of attachments, non-investment in outcomes, is key to our success and allows us to see clearly.
So, someone is trying to harm you. You are unconcerned about yourself. You can see him clearly. His suffering, his pain, his craziness. You can meet his needs, sidestep his assault, embrace his pain. You live; he lives: two have not just survived, but thrived. The seeds of kindness and compassion have been watered.
What is a cup if not a cup? Cup is just a concept, a word. The thing itself is what life is all about. Live without the labels, live without fear. Know there is no "live", no "die". Be present.
Be a blessing.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Seeking Ourselves
Good Morning Everyone,
When we seek something in intangible, we often do not find it. Somehow the act of looking gets in the way. We typically have an idea of what the "something" looks like and we set out to find something that corresponds to our idea. If we are searching for God, the Infinite, or Enlightenment, big problem, as we really have no idea what these look like. We only have our ideas about them.
Now some might say, yes, but these ideas are based on text references, such as biblical sources. Others might say, we we have Masters we can go to who will help point the way. Yes, true, but in both cases, the way is not in the picture the text or the Master presents, but in what unfolds as we seek.
Spiritual inquiry requires us to seek without any real idea as to what we will find. This is why it is so very difficult. In the beginning we have an idea, we want to have God in our lives, or faith, or enlightenment. Somehow these things sound wonderful and maybe even necessary to us. Perhaps we have been suffering, perhaps a loved one has died or left us, or maybe we3 just feel something has been missing in our lives.
We go find a book or two or three. Some may go to the Bible, others to books on religion, still others to church, synagogue or temple. We are seeking something. The books, churches, and religious teachers offer us an idea. "Oh, that's what I'm looking for" we say. But it is only an idea. Ideas, like other thoughts and feelings are rather temporary. In our minds and hearts they come and go. They are unstable, even absolute faith cannot last in our mind's eye for very long before it is replaced by another thought.
Many of us placate ourselves with these ideas, this "faith" or "belief" and never go any deeper. We convince ourselves we have found what we are looking for and that is that.
Yet, I suggest this is a shallow faith, it is a faith in the image of something, rather than the substance. This faith only gets us so far. So often this faith is shattered easily by the most ordinary of human experiences. True seekers must go beyond this.
The moment we acknowledge the this terrible truth becomes the moment we are true seekers. Images and ideas are scattered in pieces on the floor and we step out of the boxes of religion into the true light of day. You see, religion paints a picture, but we often mistake the picture for the thing itself. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it still is only a picture and words are just words, and like the coffee spoons of T. S., Elliot, they measure out our lives in a hollow lifeless way.
Our task as seekers is to seek. We must never actually find.
Be well.
When we seek something in intangible, we often do not find it. Somehow the act of looking gets in the way. We typically have an idea of what the "something" looks like and we set out to find something that corresponds to our idea. If we are searching for God, the Infinite, or Enlightenment, big problem, as we really have no idea what these look like. We only have our ideas about them.
Now some might say, yes, but these ideas are based on text references, such as biblical sources. Others might say, we we have Masters we can go to who will help point the way. Yes, true, but in both cases, the way is not in the picture the text or the Master presents, but in what unfolds as we seek.
Spiritual inquiry requires us to seek without any real idea as to what we will find. This is why it is so very difficult. In the beginning we have an idea, we want to have God in our lives, or faith, or enlightenment. Somehow these things sound wonderful and maybe even necessary to us. Perhaps we have been suffering, perhaps a loved one has died or left us, or maybe we3 just feel something has been missing in our lives.
We go find a book or two or three. Some may go to the Bible, others to books on religion, still others to church, synagogue or temple. We are seeking something. The books, churches, and religious teachers offer us an idea. "Oh, that's what I'm looking for" we say. But it is only an idea. Ideas, like other thoughts and feelings are rather temporary. In our minds and hearts they come and go. They are unstable, even absolute faith cannot last in our mind's eye for very long before it is replaced by another thought.
Many of us placate ourselves with these ideas, this "faith" or "belief" and never go any deeper. We convince ourselves we have found what we are looking for and that is that.
Yet, I suggest this is a shallow faith, it is a faith in the image of something, rather than the substance. This faith only gets us so far. So often this faith is shattered easily by the most ordinary of human experiences. True seekers must go beyond this.
The moment we acknowledge the this terrible truth becomes the moment we are true seekers. Images and ideas are scattered in pieces on the floor and we step out of the boxes of religion into the true light of day. You see, religion paints a picture, but we often mistake the picture for the thing itself. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it still is only a picture and words are just words, and like the coffee spoons of T. S., Elliot, they measure out our lives in a hollow lifeless way.
Our task as seekers is to seek. We must never actually find.
Be well.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Life's Little Requirements
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I made a nice breakfast for My Little Honey and me. I fired up the oven and whipped up some biscuits, while frying each of us one egg, over medium, and one fake sausage. Served with butter and strawberry jam, the pups were drooling before the plates got to the table.
Sipping coffee, we are now attending to our individual Internet business, she working on a second novel, me scribbling to you. Pete-kitty is curled on a chair by the window, Tripper is curled on the floor below him and wise old Pepper is sleeping at my feet.
In a little bit I've got to get changed and walk over to the synagogue for Talmud study. After that, I go to the downtown mall for a peace vigil. Its another Saturday and I'm feeling a bit guilty for not having gone to synagogue last night. We rarely miss, but there are times when its best to stay away, and since My Little Honey isn't quite up to snuff, this was one of those times.
Life is like that, you know. Our willingness to flow with change is a mark of our spiritual well-being. Sticks tend to break, while branches often bend. Our willingness to stay connected allows a healthy flow of nutrients and the water necessary for our pliability. Break yourself off from the community or family and you dry up, become brittle, and are far more easily broken.
If we remain within our practice regardless of where we are, then our practice becomes our refuge, our reality, and our community. Like life, it must be pliable and connected. It requires water and nourishment. It requires sunlight and fresh air. Those who practice in the dark, live in the dark, and as a result, cannot withstand the light.
Be well.
This morning I made a nice breakfast for My Little Honey and me. I fired up the oven and whipped up some biscuits, while frying each of us one egg, over medium, and one fake sausage. Served with butter and strawberry jam, the pups were drooling before the plates got to the table.
Sipping coffee, we are now attending to our individual Internet business, she working on a second novel, me scribbling to you. Pete-kitty is curled on a chair by the window, Tripper is curled on the floor below him and wise old Pepper is sleeping at my feet.
In a little bit I've got to get changed and walk over to the synagogue for Talmud study. After that, I go to the downtown mall for a peace vigil. Its another Saturday and I'm feeling a bit guilty for not having gone to synagogue last night. We rarely miss, but there are times when its best to stay away, and since My Little Honey isn't quite up to snuff, this was one of those times.
Life is like that, you know. Our willingness to flow with change is a mark of our spiritual well-being. Sticks tend to break, while branches often bend. Our willingness to stay connected allows a healthy flow of nutrients and the water necessary for our pliability. Break yourself off from the community or family and you dry up, become brittle, and are far more easily broken.
If we remain within our practice regardless of where we are, then our practice becomes our refuge, our reality, and our community. Like life, it must be pliable and connected. It requires water and nourishment. It requires sunlight and fresh air. Those who practice in the dark, live in the dark, and as a result, cannot withstand the light.
Be well.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Peace: Let it Begin With Each of Us
Good Morning Everyone,
Yesterday afternoon I sat zazen at the Federal Building bearing witness for peace. It was a wonderful practice period with a few people who have become Wednesday afternoon allies. We practice in virtual silence with an increasing number of honks of horns in support over the last two years I've been at this. We rarely get a negative comment, rarely.
In fact, yesterday we had a press person visit us and do interviews while some attorney stopped by to offer his support for our work. These are not uncommon occurrences. Even the construction workers give up thumbs up as they pass by us.
I think peace is on every one's mind and the only real question is how to best achieve it.
My point of view is really simple, but perhaps I am a simple person, peace comes when we become peace.
Be well.
Yesterday afternoon I sat zazen at the Federal Building bearing witness for peace. It was a wonderful practice period with a few people who have become Wednesday afternoon allies. We practice in virtual silence with an increasing number of honks of horns in support over the last two years I've been at this. We rarely get a negative comment, rarely.
In fact, yesterday we had a press person visit us and do interviews while some attorney stopped by to offer his support for our work. These are not uncommon occurrences. Even the construction workers give up thumbs up as they pass by us.
I think peace is on every one's mind and the only real question is how to best achieve it.
My point of view is really simple, but perhaps I am a simple person, peace comes when we become peace.
Be well.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Pretense
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Our Zen is our life, not our rules or precepts or even our practices about our life. It is very easy to confuse the two. Frankly it is easier altogether to create a temple with a nice alter, beautiful Buddha, and fragrant incense, than to walk the walk of Buddhist life. Such a temple makes us feel like Buddhists, but if we are not buddhas as we leave, drive our cars, interact with our friends and co-workers, and go through our day, then the temple is really just a shallow idol we pay homage to, a pretense, so to speak.
Walking the walk requires us to actually make our practice our life itself. The means we must think-feel our way through our precepts and make them living expressions of our Buddha Nature. Sitting like a buddha is not being a Buddha.
We must ask ourselves how is our life informing our practice, how are we actually being buddhas? Some might say we should "just sit" sooner or later a light will go off. Yeah? So what? Unless we change our life and go out into the world with that light, we might as well be in the dark.
To eat meat, not eat meat; to sit in witness or not sit in witness; to be buddhas or pretend buddhas, has nothing to do with eating meat or bearing witness, but it has everything to do, with being a Buddha. These things, like the old story of polishing a tile to make it a mirror, do not make us Buddhas or Buddhists. We are already Buddha. Life is already Dharma. Humanity is our Sangha. It is our decision to live our lives as Buddhas that makes a difference.
How do you do that?
Good Morning Everyone,
Our Zen is our life, not our rules or precepts or even our practices about our life. It is very easy to confuse the two. Frankly it is easier altogether to create a temple with a nice alter, beautiful Buddha, and fragrant incense, than to walk the walk of Buddhist life. Such a temple makes us feel like Buddhists, but if we are not buddhas as we leave, drive our cars, interact with our friends and co-workers, and go through our day, then the temple is really just a shallow idol we pay homage to, a pretense, so to speak.
Walking the walk requires us to actually make our practice our life itself. The means we must think-feel our way through our precepts and make them living expressions of our Buddha Nature. Sitting like a buddha is not being a Buddha.
We must ask ourselves how is our life informing our practice, how are we actually being buddhas? Some might say we should "just sit" sooner or later a light will go off. Yeah? So what? Unless we change our life and go out into the world with that light, we might as well be in the dark.
To eat meat, not eat meat; to sit in witness or not sit in witness; to be buddhas or pretend buddhas, has nothing to do with eating meat or bearing witness, but it has everything to do, with being a Buddha. These things, like the old story of polishing a tile to make it a mirror, do not make us Buddhas or Buddhists. We are already Buddha. Life is already Dharma. Humanity is our Sangha. It is our decision to live our lives as Buddhas that makes a difference.
How do you do that?
Sunday, February 10, 2008
There's Nothing to Do!
Good Morning Everyone,
"There's no where to go!" "There's no thing to do!" Any parent or couple married longer than a couple of years has heard these laments. These are the words of boredom. I occasionally feel bored myself. Yet, rather than dive into whine, I prefer to experience myself in the state of boredom. What does it really feel like?
There is the sense of being trapped, the sense of numbness, the sense of pure flatness, or the sense of restless despair that sometimes masks itself as boredom. We often lack the language to deal with such states and feelings, as dealing requires a naming of sorts, a dialogue -- even if it is just interior dialogue.
More importantly, though, is the need to be aware What is it? What is it!
Too quickly we rush to answer our feelings: we rush to label or we rush to solution. Delay here is a wonderful strategy. Feel. Be the feeling. Experience yourself as uncomfortable as it might at first be.
In the process, we learn a few things. First we learn we are not really slave to our impulses. second, we learn that being bored, or flat, or even trapped, is not all that bad. Third, we can learn that such feelings are more a result of our thoughts about a situation than any actual reflection of that situation.
We would not learn these things without being still.
Stillness is a great teacher.
Be well.
Harvey Sodaiho Hilbert-roshi
Clear Mind Zen
Web Log
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.
"There's no where to go!" "There's no thing to do!" Any parent or couple married longer than a couple of years has heard these laments. These are the words of boredom. I occasionally feel bored myself. Yet, rather than dive into whine, I prefer to experience myself in the state of boredom. What does it really feel like?
There is the sense of being trapped, the sense of numbness, the sense of pure flatness, or the sense of restless despair that sometimes masks itself as boredom. We often lack the language to deal with such states and feelings, as dealing requires a naming of sorts, a dialogue -- even if it is just interior dialogue.
More importantly, though, is the need to be aware What is it? What is it!
Too quickly we rush to answer our feelings: we rush to label or we rush to solution. Delay here is a wonderful strategy. Feel. Be the feeling. Experience yourself as uncomfortable as it might at first be.
In the process, we learn a few things. First we learn we are not really slave to our impulses. second, we learn that being bored, or flat, or even trapped, is not all that bad. Third, we can learn that such feelings are more a result of our thoughts about a situation than any actual reflection of that situation.
We would not learn these things without being still.
Stillness is a great teacher.
Be well.
Harvey Sodaiho Hilbert-roshi
Clear Mind Zen
Web Log
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.
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