Everyday Practice

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Practice must be disciplined in order to be of help to us. When we do things as we feel like doing them or when we think we have time to do them, we give too much power to either our feelings or external events. A disciplined spiritual practice is a practice that assists the growing of the dharma from the inside out.



This self-discipline is something we moderns do not seem to want to hear about as regards ourselves. Yet, I often hear it is discipline that is most needed among others. We all have excuses, don’t we?



We practice according to a schedule. Adherence to that schedule is important, not for the schedule, but for us. Within a schedule of practice there is, paradoxically, great freedom. It is rather like being set free on a playpen. The borders of the pen keep us together, so to speak, and on task: it is a playpen, after all. Yet within those borders we can be open and explore.



Scheduled practice is only one side of a disciplined spiritual practice, however. The other side is the side of mindfulness. Are we disciplined in our willingness and effort to stay mindful through the day? Do we appreciate the feel of the keys as we type or they clicking sound they make? Do we recognize the many lives that brought us the keyboard or the monitor that allows us to be connected as we are?



Every moment buddha is every moment awareness. Create a practice schedule for yourself, but don’t forget that practice is every moment and everything. Stick to it. Let me know how it goes.



A bow to each of you.

Notes for the Day

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



This morning a short bicycle ride to Sagecrest Park for zazen at 7:00 is followed by Tai Chi Chih class at Mountainview Regional Medical Center, and then by Prayerworks at Cyrille Kane’s residence. A break for marketing the weekend workshop will be followed by a meeting with Dalene Fuller Rogers this evening.



I feel up to this day because I got a good night’s sleep last night. Its amazing what a few hours of sleep will do!



Yesterday we took Suki to the vet as she has developed a bit of Kennel cough. A half hour wait got us a few pills and instructions to use Robitussen.  Suki is happy.



Also yesterday I saw my psychiatrist who gave me a journal with tons of articles about recent work with gunshot wounds to the head. He thinks there might be something modern medicine can do about my degenerating brain. Medicine Man, he! Still, I will look at them.



The world is a place we live in. We should be at home in it, but this means we should be taking good care of it, not abusing it. Our bodies, likewise: I know I sometimes push myself too far. And like Nature does for the world, so too it will do for my body and will tell me in no uncertain terms, “Back off!”



Time to dress for zazen. A bow to each of you.

Mokusho Zen, Part Six

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



There are birds. I hear them as they speak. Their sound is my sound: one. Where are they?



What a nonsensical question! In a formless field of emptiness, there is no “where”: “they” and “me” do not exist independently.



I eat my morning toast with all beings:

You eat your eggs and bacon with all beings.

Sun, moon stars, wind and rain;

Trucks, roads, refineries, sales clerks, cooks, and dishwashers;

Pigs, farmers, chickens, worms, ladybugs, ants, and bacteria;

Everything is here now with us as we enjoy this moment together.



When we practice Mokusho Zen, which is to say, living awake in the everyday, every moment world, we reside in this field free and easy, and live for the benefit of all beings.



Be well.

KRWG: Dalene Fuller Rogers and Harvey Daiho Hilbert Roshi (2010-06-11)

KRWG: Dalene Fuller Rogers and Harvey Daiho Hilbert Roshi (2010-06-11)

Mokusho Zen, Part Five

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,

Mokusho Zen, Part Five

This morning I woke to the calm stillness of my inner world. The field of boundless emptiness, as Hongzhi refers to it. Master Hongzhi was a 12th century Master who laid the groundwork for what is called Silent Illumination, which came to be known through Master Dogen as Shikantaza, and that I am offering as Mokusho Zen. In this field of emptiness, self has fallen away and as a result, everything is present exactly as it is.

One of the reasons I recommend waking so early is that the day has not shrunk nor has it intruded. The day is still there, but unfolding, if you will. The silence of the morning is silence of the infinite. As a quiet, but persistent presence, we see with fresh eyes, undisturbed, and clear eyes. Our heart has an opportunity to speak and be heard.

The day is not a” day.” The day can be experienced as one singular moment after another singular moment. Lived as we do in walking meditation: we breathe in on one step; breathe out on the next step. We have nowhere in particular to “go,” as we are always right where we are. So, morning, in its quiet, expansive state, offers us a teaching. Be still, be alive, be what is there in front of us to be.



Be well.

Zazen in the Park

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

This morning we sat at Sagecrest Park under some rather large trees. The birds were up, the bees were up, the flowers and the trees were up, it was clearly “upsy-wupsy” time. Student Dai Shugyo and I sat alone amid the torrent of morning sound.

As I sat I considered the universe. No small task, no large task either. All one need do is look deeply at the ground in front of him or her. Under the grass: ants, worms, and other small critters. Above the grass: birds, dogs, and humans. In the sky: birds, clouds, and planes. All being in place as they are, moving on the one hand, not moving on the other hand. Everything is point of view. The universe resides in the ant crawling across my foot. No need to see the Grand Canyon or Angel Falls, or the Earth from the moon: Everything is there right in front of us if we only open our eyes to see.

Zazen in a park does that. Crazy, isn’t it?
Be well

Mokusho Zen, Part Four

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Mokusho Zen, Part Four

Hongzhi was a 12th century Zen Master who formulated much of the “Silent Illumination” teachings which powerfully influenced Master Dogen. Hongzhi writes, the whole purpose of practice is to “graciously share yourself with the hundred grass tips in the busy marketplace.” He teaches us to “Stay with that, just as that. Stay with this, just as this.”
In Hongzhi’s teaching of shikantaza there are no ranks. He teaches the field is already with us, this field being Buddha Nature. As Taigen Dan Leighton adds, “Nothing is external to this luminous present mind.” (Cultivating the Empty Field: the silent illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi)

How do we experience what is already there hidden in the bushes of our mind?

Simple. We relax. We notice.

Dogen suggests we turn the light inward and take a backward step. By this, he means we open our attention to our internal world as the external world cradles it. As we sit, walk, or lay down, are we fully aware of what is happening? Do we notice the dynamic interactions between body, heart/mind, and environment?

Dogen argued that as we open our attention, notice our own interactions, the body and mind will, paradoxically, fall away.

Practice: The next time you take your seat and you find yourself feeling itchy somewhere, instead of scratching the spot, put your mind on it as fully and completely as possible. Experience the sensation of the itch completely and watch it. What happens? The itch falls away.

May we practice to do the same.

Be well.