With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Senzaki-roshi says, "The old timers in a religious group consider themselves to have reached the top, and then jump from where they are, leaving the very principles of that religion. They are poor fish who cannot swim in the water."
When our eyes are open, there is no question, we swim because it is what we do. An open eye is a completely integrated eye, therefore eye and no eye at once.
When about to face a question, we cannot answer. We answer only when the question is asked and we do so without pointing.
As Leonard Cohen says, dance me till the end of love.
And if love is the essential, core, complete and total reality?
Dance on...
Be well.
Organ Mountain Zen
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Awe
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
The morning brings desert wind and small splatters of rain. I imagine the desert floor is being swept by the Infinite. I remember once while climbing the Organ Mountains, a storm came out of the southwest. From my elevation, I could see it rolling across the valley toward the mountains. The feeling was a sweet combination of fear and utter awe.
Such moments enter one's body like a shotgun to the stomach.
Over time, this feeling lays in wait. It can open and spread, like a pool of honey being fed by that Infinite Wellspring or it can remain a puddle being stepped over by those of us who are busy.
This morning as I walked outside, my feet refused to move. My eyes were fixed on clouds rolling down the slopes of the Organs. I was transfixed.
Whatever the Infinite is, it is here.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
The morning brings desert wind and small splatters of rain. I imagine the desert floor is being swept by the Infinite. I remember once while climbing the Organ Mountains, a storm came out of the southwest. From my elevation, I could see it rolling across the valley toward the mountains. The feeling was a sweet combination of fear and utter awe.
Such moments enter one's body like a shotgun to the stomach.
Over time, this feeling lays in wait. It can open and spread, like a pool of honey being fed by that Infinite Wellspring or it can remain a puddle being stepped over by those of us who are busy.
This morning as I walked outside, my feet refused to move. My eyes were fixed on clouds rolling down the slopes of the Organs. I was transfixed.
Whatever the Infinite is, it is here.
Be well.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
What Next?
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning came too soon and not soon enough. Too soon in the sense that I had a late night with Study Group followed by dinner and long conversation with my close friend friend and psychiatrist, Abe. Not soon enough in that life is so short and there is so much to do.
We discussed a sort of midrash in group. Midrash is a story offering a back-story to a biblical tale. This midrash was about what happened after Jacob discovered God was everywhere and he saw the ladder to heaven. God asks Jacob to go up the ladder and Jacob refused. The question then becomes quite existential.
I likened this to the Zen koan about having attained the top of the hundred foot pole to only be asked, "What is your next step?"
If the top of the pole signifies awakening, then what? Buddha faced this on the morning of his awakening. Jesus likely faced it in the desert after his dance with the devil.
Is this all there is?
How do I face my future? If I am One, then what is the meaning and role of two?
Am I a hero or a coward? Which is to ask, am I authentic or a fraud?
Even with awakening, God in our heart, Jesus on our shoulder, and direct connection with Everything, we still must live.
How?
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning came too soon and not soon enough. Too soon in the sense that I had a late night with Study Group followed by dinner and long conversation with my close friend friend and psychiatrist, Abe. Not soon enough in that life is so short and there is so much to do.
We discussed a sort of midrash in group. Midrash is a story offering a back-story to a biblical tale. This midrash was about what happened after Jacob discovered God was everywhere and he saw the ladder to heaven. God asks Jacob to go up the ladder and Jacob refused. The question then becomes quite existential.
I likened this to the Zen koan about having attained the top of the hundred foot pole to only be asked, "What is your next step?"
If the top of the pole signifies awakening, then what? Buddha faced this on the morning of his awakening. Jesus likely faced it in the desert after his dance with the devil.
Is this all there is?
How do I face my future? If I am One, then what is the meaning and role of two?
Am I a hero or a coward? Which is to ask, am I authentic or a fraud?
Even with awakening, God in our heart, Jesus on our shoulder, and direct connection with Everything, we still must live.
How?
Be well.
Monday, January 18, 2010
The Cosmic Egg
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
There are living opportunities hidden in each moment regardless of time or space. The ground of our lives is fertile. When we reach out, risk, invite, embrace, or express, we transform seed into seedling. Life unfolds through us and our creative spirit moves across its face. The Infinite is in Everything. Allow awe to enfold you, then speak its name.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
There are living opportunities hidden in each moment regardless of time or space. The ground of our lives is fertile. When we reach out, risk, invite, embrace, or express, we transform seed into seedling. Life unfolds through us and our creative spirit moves across its face. The Infinite is in Everything. Allow awe to enfold you, then speak its name.
Be well.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
An Evening
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyman,
Last night was very good to my heart. Children descended on our house. We had a neighbor join us. We enjoyed pizza, a delicious eggplant dish, Buffalo wings (for those who eat such things and son Jacob made a marvelous desert. Granddaughter Livvie played with Pappa's iPhone, son Jacob played a guitar, and at various times, the music of either Jacob or Leonard Cohen.
Laughter was a prominent feature.
After everyone left, I sat for a few moment and enjoyed the silence.
It was a beautiful evening. I am sorry My Little Honey wasn't here to enjoy it. But she is enjoying daughter Sam and grandson Tate in Memphis.
So, after a bit, I decided to put my laundry in the washer, get the dishes done, and take a late night walk under the desert stars. I walked 3/4 of a mile. It was chilly. The sky was expansive and deep and full of starlight.
I walked briskly, stumbling once or twice, but finally getting My Left Foot not to drag. Its an exercise in mindfulness, that. But on the way back I could not help but stop and look a deeply as I possibly could into that velvet sky. We are so fortunate to live in such a way.
There is beauty everywhere because there is life everywhere. Even in the midst of witnessing a disaster such as that in Haiti, we are surrounded by the wonder of humanity and the natural world. When our focus is on the loss, we experience great sadness, but we should then shift our attention to those being in service: there is the practice opportunity. Witness it. Then we take our own next step.
Morning Zazen at 6:30 and 9:00. A Memorial Service for friend Bernie Lieberman at 3:00.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyman,
Last night was very good to my heart. Children descended on our house. We had a neighbor join us. We enjoyed pizza, a delicious eggplant dish, Buffalo wings (for those who eat such things and son Jacob made a marvelous desert. Granddaughter Livvie played with Pappa's iPhone, son Jacob played a guitar, and at various times, the music of either Jacob or Leonard Cohen.
Laughter was a prominent feature.
After everyone left, I sat for a few moment and enjoyed the silence.
It was a beautiful evening. I am sorry My Little Honey wasn't here to enjoy it. But she is enjoying daughter Sam and grandson Tate in Memphis.
So, after a bit, I decided to put my laundry in the washer, get the dishes done, and take a late night walk under the desert stars. I walked 3/4 of a mile. It was chilly. The sky was expansive and deep and full of starlight.
I walked briskly, stumbling once or twice, but finally getting My Left Foot not to drag. Its an exercise in mindfulness, that. But on the way back I could not help but stop and look a deeply as I possibly could into that velvet sky. We are so fortunate to live in such a way.
There is beauty everywhere because there is life everywhere. Even in the midst of witnessing a disaster such as that in Haiti, we are surrounded by the wonder of humanity and the natural world. When our focus is on the loss, we experience great sadness, but we should then shift our attention to those being in service: there is the practice opportunity. Witness it. Then we take our own next step.
Morning Zazen at 6:30 and 9:00. A Memorial Service for friend Bernie Lieberman at 3:00.
Be well.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Blessing
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Reader Michele wrote:
Harvey can you provide me with some insight on blessings. I need balance. I keep hearing from people that they are blessed because they were not part of the Haiti tragedy. I get sooo angry when I see or hear this...I know since I am not in the neutral zone upon hearing "I am blessed," I am not perceiving something......HELP. Please post. Thanks and apologies for the intrusion...
I replied briefly: No one is blessed by not being harmed when others are. If one blade of grass is harmed we are all harmed. Second, try to use your anger to energize you into action. The best way to deal with such things is to do something about them.
It is a human experience to feel relief that we slipped out of harm's way. It is delusion to believe that because you have, you are somehow one of God's "elect". A long time ago, people seemed to dwell obsessively on the question of where they resided in God's eye. Calvin put forth the notion that some of us were, indeed, God's "Elect". How to know? Well, it was easy, those who prospered were the elect, those who didn't weren't. It was the ultimate in dualistic discrimination.
From a Zen perspective, to be blessed is not something we are granted, it is something we experience. The Infinite does not, in our view, parcel out this or that, the Infinite is just that, Infinite. To feel blessed, on the other hand, is to feel gratitude.
All of life is a blessing, that is, an opportunity to experience deeply. We are blessed even in suffering, as suffering is like cold water on the skin on a hot day. Or the sound of an unexpected thunderclap. Suffering demands something of us. First, that we wake up to its existence and second that we experience it in a way that will release it.
On the other hand, none of are special in our experience. And no experience is better or worse than any other It is all life. To assign a meaning to a "good"experience is just as deluded as assigning a meaning to a bad experience. Experience is nothing other than itself.
When someone feels blessed for having escaped destruction, be happy for them. When someone feels special as a result, care for them.
People like Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh are suffering. If we respond with anger, we are not helping. Better to take the energy of anger and turn it into a source of power of transformation. In order to do this, though, we must examine it's source within ourselves.
Being open is a challenge,a it requires a degree of vulnerability we are not accustomed to, yet it is this precisely, which allows for the possibility of intimacy, something tragically missing in our culture.
Kannon taught, "the Bodhisattvas live this deepest wisdom with no hindrance in the mind, no hindrance therefore no fear.." In order to be intimate with each other,we need to feel safe. But most importantly,to feel safe we need to realize our True Nature Practice.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Reader Michele wrote:
Harvey can you provide me with some insight on blessings. I need balance. I keep hearing from people that they are blessed because they were not part of the Haiti tragedy. I get sooo angry when I see or hear this...I know since I am not in the neutral zone upon hearing "I am blessed," I am not perceiving something......HELP. Please post. Thanks and apologies for the intrusion...
I replied briefly: No one is blessed by not being harmed when others are. If one blade of grass is harmed we are all harmed. Second, try to use your anger to energize you into action. The best way to deal with such things is to do something about them.
It is a human experience to feel relief that we slipped out of harm's way. It is delusion to believe that because you have, you are somehow one of God's "elect". A long time ago, people seemed to dwell obsessively on the question of where they resided in God's eye. Calvin put forth the notion that some of us were, indeed, God's "Elect". How to know? Well, it was easy, those who prospered were the elect, those who didn't weren't. It was the ultimate in dualistic discrimination.
From a Zen perspective, to be blessed is not something we are granted, it is something we experience. The Infinite does not, in our view, parcel out this or that, the Infinite is just that, Infinite. To feel blessed, on the other hand, is to feel gratitude.
All of life is a blessing, that is, an opportunity to experience deeply. We are blessed even in suffering, as suffering is like cold water on the skin on a hot day. Or the sound of an unexpected thunderclap. Suffering demands something of us. First, that we wake up to its existence and second that we experience it in a way that will release it.
On the other hand, none of are special in our experience. And no experience is better or worse than any other It is all life. To assign a meaning to a "good"experience is just as deluded as assigning a meaning to a bad experience. Experience is nothing other than itself.
When someone feels blessed for having escaped destruction, be happy for them. When someone feels special as a result, care for them.
People like Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh are suffering. If we respond with anger, we are not helping. Better to take the energy of anger and turn it into a source of power of transformation. In order to do this, though, we must examine it's source within ourselves.
Being open is a challenge,a it requires a degree of vulnerability we are not accustomed to, yet it is this precisely, which allows for the possibility of intimacy, something tragically missing in our culture.
Kannon taught, "the Bodhisattvas live this deepest wisdom with no hindrance in the mind, no hindrance therefore no fear.." In order to be intimate with each other,we need to feel safe. But most importantly,to feel safe we need to realize our True Nature Practice.
Be well.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Heart
With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
There are times when, like a tidal wave striking a shoreline of thatched huts, we are completely undone by an emotion. Such emotions are the great caps of the wave. We become so saturated that all things take on their feel.
It is catastrophic to a human being, as it separates us from others. The very essence of human being is social.
I have a dear friend who has been overwhelmed by anger. The hurt which caused it was like an earthquake. Everything he had worked all of his life for was rejected, the ground he walked on sank, and he found himself in a great darkness.
Responding to his pain with anger, he fanned its flames, colored nearly every event with its brush, and with each stroke, worried his friends.
In such catastrophic states, everything is made far too simple. Threat, no threat. Friend, foe. Its as if we are on a combat mission deep in a jungle all alone. Every sound is suspect.
As he suffers, I suffer. My love for my friend is deep and built through real life struggles. I sit in my Zendo and listen to my heart. I offer incense. I practice for him. This allows me to be open to his suffering, rather than to close it off in order to protect myself. The heart of our practice is in such a willingness.
Step out into the light.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
There are times when, like a tidal wave striking a shoreline of thatched huts, we are completely undone by an emotion. Such emotions are the great caps of the wave. We become so saturated that all things take on their feel.
It is catastrophic to a human being, as it separates us from others. The very essence of human being is social.
I have a dear friend who has been overwhelmed by anger. The hurt which caused it was like an earthquake. Everything he had worked all of his life for was rejected, the ground he walked on sank, and he found himself in a great darkness.
Responding to his pain with anger, he fanned its flames, colored nearly every event with its brush, and with each stroke, worried his friends.
In such catastrophic states, everything is made far too simple. Threat, no threat. Friend, foe. Its as if we are on a combat mission deep in a jungle all alone. Every sound is suspect.
As he suffers, I suffer. My love for my friend is deep and built through real life struggles. I sit in my Zendo and listen to my heart. I offer incense. I practice for him. This allows me to be open to his suffering, rather than to close it off in order to protect myself. The heart of our practice is in such a willingness.
Step out into the light.
Be well.
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