With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Mastering your mind is the aim of Zen practice. What does this mean? It means many things on many levels. Not just one thing. Yesterday I suggested sitting with scissors. Yes. Sit zazen, as a thought arises cut it loose. As a feeling arises cut it loose. We practice not thinking. Thinking is the act of putting one thought together with another thought and another and soon we've constructed a thinking reality in which we reside. This thinking reality excludes the actual reality of our lives. If you want to live in a movie, be my guest, stay asleep. Sometime something will whack you upside the head.
Mastering mind also means knowing/experiencing proper relationship of mind to mind. This is a bit more challenging. In Zen we talk about "mind to mind" transmission. Mind to mind is one mind, experience one mind. We do this by beginning outside of our self. When we open our eyes, do we say "I see you"? Or do we say nothing and simply experience the whole? Our starting point is harmony.
We practice to experience the other as our self and our self as the other to the point that self and other are one and the individual words become hindrances. No mind. This is the relationship side of our practice.
If you say, 'but what about me?' you are lost. Let that be your danger flag. Your early warning device. From Zen practice, there is no "me". No "you" There is only awareness.
We function within this awareness. Experience within awareness requires this. Experience within awareness requires that.
When we function in this way we see Big Mind in operation. But caution! The moment you think, "Big Mind", it disappears.
Be well.
Organ Mountain Zen
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sitting with Scissors
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
There were five of us last night who braved the chilled evening air to come to the Temple for meditation. It was very good to see Rachel there, and Sam KoKyo, and Patrick, and Colette. We sat in silence and felt the chill in the Temple sanctuary...not as cold as some evenings when I sat streetZen at the Veteran's Park rotunda, but enough to let one know there was little heat.
As we sit, we experience. This is the important thing. We experience without attaching to or investing in, the experience. We experience without desiring to get away from the experience. We just sit with scissors cutting thoughts and letting them float away. Soon, there is no need for scissors.
I am very happy we had an opportunity to practice together.
I read Sam KoKoyo wishes to give me thirty whacks if I say anything. Sipping my coffee, I smile.
I read Dave KoMyo offers me a teaching from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and offers as well a fond memory of my friend, Ken.
I read Wen and am taken back to long conversations with Tex Anderson, a Navajo Road Chief on the reservation.
With intimacy comes responsibility to be open and reception to the other. Student KoKyo and I discussed some of this yesterday in dokusan. It all depends on our starting point. When we open our eyes, whose eyes do we see with?
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
There were five of us last night who braved the chilled evening air to come to the Temple for meditation. It was very good to see Rachel there, and Sam KoKyo, and Patrick, and Colette. We sat in silence and felt the chill in the Temple sanctuary...not as cold as some evenings when I sat streetZen at the Veteran's Park rotunda, but enough to let one know there was little heat.
As we sit, we experience. This is the important thing. We experience without attaching to or investing in, the experience. We experience without desiring to get away from the experience. We just sit with scissors cutting thoughts and letting them float away. Soon, there is no need for scissors.
I am very happy we had an opportunity to practice together.
I read Sam KoKoyo wishes to give me thirty whacks if I say anything. Sipping my coffee, I smile.
I read Dave KoMyo offers me a teaching from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and offers as well a fond memory of my friend, Ken.
I read Wen and am taken back to long conversations with Tex Anderson, a Navajo Road Chief on the reservation.
With intimacy comes responsibility to be open and reception to the other. Student KoKyo and I discussed some of this yesterday in dokusan. It all depends on our starting point. When we open our eyes, whose eyes do we see with?
Be well.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Intimacy
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
The sun rises over the Organ mountains as I sit in the comfort of my Zendo. I have recently switched back to sandalwood incense. I had been using cedar. Sandalwood is the incense my Teacher uses in his Zendo. I think I am yearning for connection.
My Little Honey and I had a talk about this last night. Connection is so important, yet a challenge for many, including myself. By connection I don't mean the superficial, acquaintance level. I mean a deeper, much more intimate level. And yet, when I consider any deep connection but with the Infinite in the privacy of the Zendo, I feel anxious and vulnerable. Such a struggle.
My response is to become defensive. I talk. I turn the conversation away. I leave.
Years of practice has helped me "see" these things. And I have adapted in some cases. I rarely use intense anger to frighten people away. Nor do I use the sort of intellectually arrogance sarcasm that was present in my grad school days.
My technique is much more sophisticated now. Yet, it leads to the very same place. A lack of real, sustaining, connection to others who are close to me and very important to me.
Preparing for this class I am teaching at the Academy has made some of this very clear. I am using my journal much more efficiently and purposefully.
So, the good part about Zen practice is that it gets us close to the truth of ourselves, but there is a shortcoming, I think, in how we teach Zen in the US, since it is taught outside of a monastic community. This shortcoming has to do with intimacy.
Many of us who come to Zen experience this and its just fine because it is what we want. Yet, that want is a real block to our growth as human beings.
What do you think?
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
The sun rises over the Organ mountains as I sit in the comfort of my Zendo. I have recently switched back to sandalwood incense. I had been using cedar. Sandalwood is the incense my Teacher uses in his Zendo. I think I am yearning for connection.
My Little Honey and I had a talk about this last night. Connection is so important, yet a challenge for many, including myself. By connection I don't mean the superficial, acquaintance level. I mean a deeper, much more intimate level. And yet, when I consider any deep connection but with the Infinite in the privacy of the Zendo, I feel anxious and vulnerable. Such a struggle.
My response is to become defensive. I talk. I turn the conversation away. I leave.
Years of practice has helped me "see" these things. And I have adapted in some cases. I rarely use intense anger to frighten people away. Nor do I use the sort of intellectually arrogance sarcasm that was present in my grad school days.
My technique is much more sophisticated now. Yet, it leads to the very same place. A lack of real, sustaining, connection to others who are close to me and very important to me.
Preparing for this class I am teaching at the Academy has made some of this very clear. I am using my journal much more efficiently and purposefully.
So, the good part about Zen practice is that it gets us close to the truth of ourselves, but there is a shortcoming, I think, in how we teach Zen in the US, since it is taught outside of a monastic community. This shortcoming has to do with intimacy.
Many of us who come to Zen experience this and its just fine because it is what we want. Yet, that want is a real block to our growth as human beings.
What do you think?
Be well.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Impossible Expectations
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Impossible expectations are always a source of suffering. Over the last few weeks we have witnessed a war in Gaza. Hamas rockets for years were met with an overwhelming assault by Israel. Hamas places rocket launchers near hospitals and schools then claims Israel commits war crimes when it attacks those launching sites. Israel yesterday ceased fire, unilaterally. Hamas keeps up its rocket attacks. Hamas says it will do so until Israel leaves Gaza. Israel says it will leave Gaza when Hamas stops firing rockets over its borders.
My heart suffers at the pain on both sides.
Hamas says it will not stop fighting with Israel until Israel goes away. Its hate is deep and unrelenting. Hamas suffers. Hamas teaches its children to be joyful when Israelis die. Israelis teach children to be sad when any life is taken. Yet, when faced with a gun pointed at you and an enemy willing to kill you with it, somehow you must survive.
The question is how.
My prayers go out to all those who suffer in such circumstances. Both the ones with the guns and bombs and the ones who are the targets of the guns and bombs. We are all human beings. May both sides relent, seek peace, and find ways to embrace each other. an impossible expectation? Perhaps, But a righteous aim.
So, we work and pray for peace and compassionate living knowing that any expectation that such will be the case will lead to suffering. This is the heart of Buddhist practice.
Be well.
PS. I just read Hamas ordered a ceasefire! Good news!
Good Morning Everyone,
Impossible expectations are always a source of suffering. Over the last few weeks we have witnessed a war in Gaza. Hamas rockets for years were met with an overwhelming assault by Israel. Hamas places rocket launchers near hospitals and schools then claims Israel commits war crimes when it attacks those launching sites. Israel yesterday ceased fire, unilaterally. Hamas keeps up its rocket attacks. Hamas says it will do so until Israel leaves Gaza. Israel says it will leave Gaza when Hamas stops firing rockets over its borders.
My heart suffers at the pain on both sides.
Hamas says it will not stop fighting with Israel until Israel goes away. Its hate is deep and unrelenting. Hamas suffers. Hamas teaches its children to be joyful when Israelis die. Israelis teach children to be sad when any life is taken. Yet, when faced with a gun pointed at you and an enemy willing to kill you with it, somehow you must survive.
The question is how.
My prayers go out to all those who suffer in such circumstances. Both the ones with the guns and bombs and the ones who are the targets of the guns and bombs. We are all human beings. May both sides relent, seek peace, and find ways to embrace each other. an impossible expectation? Perhaps, But a righteous aim.
So, we work and pray for peace and compassionate living knowing that any expectation that such will be the case will lead to suffering. This is the heart of Buddhist practice.
Be well.
PS. I just read Hamas ordered a ceasefire! Good news!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Danger, Zen Ahead!
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
We each are stuck if we believe we have "a path" to walk. There is no path. When we envision "path" we envision and to do so creates an illusion at best and an ideal at worst.
Yet, each us us will speak of our path.
What if the path is not really a path at all, but just being still? I don't mean not moving. I mean inner stillness, inner receptivity.
Path suggests a beginning point and an end point somewhere on the horizon. Zen has no horizon save that which is here right now. There is no where to go.
Few of us believe this. It is beyond our willingness to accept. There must be something better! So, off we trot to find it.
Heaven, Nirvana, Enlightenment. ..all very dangerous words and concepts, you see. To be there is to be in hell.
So, you want ice cream? Ice cream would make you happy? Live in ice cream, live in that happiness. Now stay there forever. How happy then?
It is not our nature to remain in happiness, it is not happiness' nature to remain period.
Everything comes and goes, when we attain this, no path arises.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
We each are stuck if we believe we have "a path" to walk. There is no path. When we envision "path" we envision and to do so creates an illusion at best and an ideal at worst.
Yet, each us us will speak of our path.
What if the path is not really a path at all, but just being still? I don't mean not moving. I mean inner stillness, inner receptivity.
Path suggests a beginning point and an end point somewhere on the horizon. Zen has no horizon save that which is here right now. There is no where to go.
Few of us believe this. It is beyond our willingness to accept. There must be something better! So, off we trot to find it.
Heaven, Nirvana, Enlightenment. ..all very dangerous words and concepts, you see. To be there is to be in hell.
So, you want ice cream? Ice cream would make you happy? Live in ice cream, live in that happiness. Now stay there forever. How happy then?
It is not our nature to remain in happiness, it is not happiness' nature to remain period.
Everything comes and goes, when we attain this, no path arises.
Be well.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Being Being
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Last night's meditation at Temple Beth El was very well attended. I deeply appreciate every one's practice. It is said in many traditions that as people gather together to come close to the Infinite, there resides the Infinite. Like Jacob when he awoke from his dream, "Surely the Lord is present in this place and I did not know it! This is an awesome place!"
We have the potential to experience something very much like this. Each time we sit down and bring ourselves to stillness, there arises the possibility of opening our heart to the Infinite.
Whether its a centering practice performed by Christians, or Hitbodedut by Jews, or Zen by Zen Buddhists, or even the whirling of the dervishes, the point of practice is the same: to let go.
Our ego is so strong and sticks like glue to our senses. It wants to label everything "mine". Yet, meditation allows us to peel away this ego, clean our glasses, and see clearly: there is no mine. There is no self. There is just this vast emptiness.
As we step up to the precipice of emptiness, we feel awe and dread, and sense of impending death. That's OK. This is the death of Small Mind. As we take that next step into vast emptiness, we experience complete, unexcelled awakening. Fear melts away. Just the breath remains, and by this I mean, awareness.
From this place we can know exactly what we need to do next.
It will come from this place of selfless compassion and lovingkindness, it will come from the Infinite itself.
May we each be a blessing in the universe.
Good Morning Everyone,
Last night's meditation at Temple Beth El was very well attended. I deeply appreciate every one's practice. It is said in many traditions that as people gather together to come close to the Infinite, there resides the Infinite. Like Jacob when he awoke from his dream, "Surely the Lord is present in this place and I did not know it! This is an awesome place!"
We have the potential to experience something very much like this. Each time we sit down and bring ourselves to stillness, there arises the possibility of opening our heart to the Infinite.
Whether its a centering practice performed by Christians, or Hitbodedut by Jews, or Zen by Zen Buddhists, or even the whirling of the dervishes, the point of practice is the same: to let go.
Our ego is so strong and sticks like glue to our senses. It wants to label everything "mine". Yet, meditation allows us to peel away this ego, clean our glasses, and see clearly: there is no mine. There is no self. There is just this vast emptiness.
As we step up to the precipice of emptiness, we feel awe and dread, and sense of impending death. That's OK. This is the death of Small Mind. As we take that next step into vast emptiness, we experience complete, unexcelled awakening. Fear melts away. Just the breath remains, and by this I mean, awareness.
From this place we can know exactly what we need to do next.
It will come from this place of selfless compassion and lovingkindness, it will come from the Infinite itself.
May we each be a blessing in the universe.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Hiding in a Dark Room
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
_____________________
Hiding in a quiet moment
In a darkened corner
Of an old friend's house,
I sat in complete stillness.
We just picked away his gloss and left him
As he truly was: naked before the Infinite.
A couple of hats, some shirts, a few socks,
And even a coat or two. The rest away to the
Salvation Amy. I notice
Our clothes disguise us before the Universe.
Like Adam, we hide in the leaves of linen and cotton.
We forget ourselves and who we really are:
Then that singular moment. I am here.
_________________
That lovingkindness we Jews call Chesed requires courage. We are required to help our friends through the lifecycle, which is actually a cyclical mirror of our own lives. As we do, we see ourselves through our friends.
It takes courage to be open to this sight.
I look away often. Words are my hiding place. They take me away from the feeling and drop me directly into thought. So slick.
But then, so is stillness at times.
I knew receiving my friend's clothes after his death would be difficult. I saw myself as a scavenger bird, as in the scene in Kundun when the Dalai Lama's father died and the birds picked clean his bones. It is a natural cycle, and we are all here to feed the universe in one way or another.
Be well.
This evening we will sit in meditation at Temple Beth El at 7:00 PM. Please join us.
Good Morning Everyone,
_____________________
Hiding in a quiet moment
In a darkened corner
Of an old friend's house,
I sat in complete stillness.
We just picked away his gloss and left him
As he truly was: naked before the Infinite.
A couple of hats, some shirts, a few socks,
And even a coat or two. The rest away to the
Salvation Amy. I notice
Our clothes disguise us before the Universe.
Like Adam, we hide in the leaves of linen and cotton.
We forget ourselves and who we really are:
Then that singular moment. I am here.
_________________
That lovingkindness we Jews call Chesed requires courage. We are required to help our friends through the lifecycle, which is actually a cyclical mirror of our own lives. As we do, we see ourselves through our friends.
It takes courage to be open to this sight.
I look away often. Words are my hiding place. They take me away from the feeling and drop me directly into thought. So slick.
But then, so is stillness at times.
I knew receiving my friend's clothes after his death would be difficult. I saw myself as a scavenger bird, as in the scene in Kundun when the Dalai Lama's father died and the birds picked clean his bones. It is a natural cycle, and we are all here to feed the universe in one way or another.
Be well.
This evening we will sit in meditation at Temple Beth El at 7:00 PM. Please join us.
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