Monkey!

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Disciple Dai Shugyo and I were talking yesterday morning. He is my Ino (the Zendo Disciplinarian) and, like my Teacher, a former Marine. We were talking about the phenomenon some Buddhists refer to as “”Monkey Mind.” He indicated that we needed to train the monkey. Although a commonly held and natural suggestion, I disagree.



There was a Teacher, I think it was Shunryu Suzuki, who had the right idea. He said if you want to get in control of something, give that something space. What he meant was, we cannot control anything. Therefore, the Way is through what therapists call “paradoxical intention.” Control through release, in this case. You want the monkey to settle down? Let him run amok. Tell him, “Go ahead, you can’t settle down, impossible for you to settle down, so go! Be wild and crazy!” In this way we open the mind’s field and let the monkey run free. Monkey begins to wonder, “What’s so special about running amok?”



Zazen, in spite of common wisdom, is not about quieting the mind, but instead, it is about releasing oneself from the mind’s grip. Paradoxically, the mind settles of its own accord.



Be well.

Limitations

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Yesterday evening I came to the Zendo to offer Zazen and chant a memorial service for a list member only to find the deadbolt in the front door of the Zendo was seriously stuck. So, I entered the Temple through the back door, tried to open the deadbolt from the inside to no avail. II then got out my Philip’s head and took the lock apart. I finally got the door open, but could not get the lock back together as it takes two hands.



All while this was happening, my cell phone’s mindfulness bell brought me back to the actual moment. I took the bell as an invitation to stop and breathe. That app is a delight.



So, this morning I called disciple Dai Shugyo to come and help me with the lock.



I am reminded, through all this, of one of Dirty Harry’s comments: “A man’s gotta know his limitations.” As in running, the thing about limitations is the boundaries are either constantly shifting or are permeable. So one must constantly push against them in order to first, locate them, and second. get into the best shape. It is the same in Zen: we push against the limits, sit upright, and find the absolute edge. It is there we chose to live, because it is there we find our True Nature.



Be well.

On Teaching

With palms together,


Hello Everyone,



This morning came in fits and starts. Up and down with barking dogs: wanting out, wanting in, wanting to eat Pete-kitty. Thank goodness I fell asleep after dinner last night which allowed for an extra hour or two of sleep. I did take my disciple, Dai Shugyo’s advice, and drank a cup of hot chocolate. It helped. Since there is nothing we can control, I resolved to accept what was, dogs and all.



I have been re-reading Kennet-roshi’s famous text, “Zen is Eternal Life” and want to say that every time I read that book I gain something of useful value. While a serious and quite strict Master, Kennet-roshi was thoroughly grounded in the Buddha’s teaching. Moreover, she took on the Bodhisattva ideal from the inside out. In writing about the rise of Mahayana practice from its “Hinayana” roots, she claims, quite obviously, that the Buddha’s life itself is evidence of his manifestation of the Bodhisattva ideal.



Just there, living purely in thusness, Buddha decided to teach and cure rather than enter Nirvana. She argues with the parable of the father and three sons in a burning house, the notion that skillful means may include teaching using differing means and levels of understanding, and that this practice is not deception. We must teach to what we understand our student may accept.



Such a practice does take us on a rough ride, however. We teach form first, explore its meaning second. We practice first, explore its teaching second. We do not put the cart in front of the horse, which is where many of us sit all the while wondering why we aren’t “getting anywhere.” Moreover, a cart without a horse is as useful as a horse without a cart. Both are essential for the horse-drawn cart to manifest its function.



Teachers are given authority to teach only after considerable practice. Practice is the horse; teaching is the cart. Too often, it seems to me, those coming to Zen come in through a book, which is fine, but then they stay there. Coming to the Way through a book or magazine is a good thing, but staying there is not. Any text on Zen, if it does not admonish the reader to practice, is misleading the reader. We cannot “know” Zen in the intellectual sense. Zen must be intuited through practice. Our practice may be through rigorous koan work or silent illumination meditation.



Lastly, Zen is not a word game. Get the drift of the teacher then sit down and shut up. The true teaching comes from your practice and you cannot practice when picking at words.



Be well.

Moment to Moment

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Change is our essential nature. Everything we think we know is incorrect by the time we know it. I am surprised at how much we tend to resist this fact. Just what do we think we would do if we could hold on to something and not have it change, and thus by definition, slip away? One thing seems certain: boredom would be a prominent feature.



So, while the nature of things is change, our brain builds a picture of an aggregate and holds on tightly to that picture. It is our brain that makes something something. The red cup I am sipping my morning coffee from came from the Panda Exhibit at the Memphis Zoo. I got it on a trip to see my daughter and grandson. It is special to me. Yet, as every day passes, so does its ability to retain itself. Moreover, its meaning shifts as my daughter and I are in opposing corners waiting for the bell to ring.



We want very much to hold onto an image of something rather than the thing itself, as we know (I think intuitively) everything changes.



Our practice is a straight up, moment-to-moment, appreciation, and letting go practice. Through this practice, we come to not only see, but actualize change. In this actualization is the heart of stillness we have come to call serene reflection.



May we practice this serenity in every breath.



Be well.

The Day

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,





Last night I came “home” to a leather sofa with a hole in its corner: Suki did it. She is now spending her days in her cage. Somehow, I need to repair that sofa. My Daughter-in-Law suggested an automotive store. She knows things like this. So, sometime today I will visit the Auto Zone.



Anyway, I got to the Temple and opened her up at 6:00 AM. Zazen at 7:00 was followed by a talk with a neighbor who is very interested in Zen. I handed him a flier and invited him to visit us for Zazen.



We just need to be here. People will come and when they do, they will expect someone to be here to listen to them and to offer them instruction.



At 10:00 AM, I will meet a friend who will help me move bookcases and possibly our futon. Then I will attend a Clergy Lunch.



I want to thank all of you who assisted us in moving into the Temple: Reba, Joe, Ken, Celia, Colette, and now Ken S. You are all bodhisattvas.



Such a wonderful life this is.



Be well.

Buddha

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



“Trying to find a buddha or enlightenment is like trying to grab space. Space has a name, but no form. …The buddha is a product of your mind.” So says Bodhidharma in his Bloodstream Sermon. He goes on to say, “To find a buddha, you have to see your own nature. Whoever sees his nature is a buddha.”



If you should meet someone who claims to be a buddha or enlightened, offer prayers for them, they are deluded. To see our own nature is to see emptiness and emptiness has no name. Again Bodhidharma, “If you envision a buddha, a dharma, or a bodhisattva and conceive respect for them, you relegate yourself to the realm of mortals. …The sutras say, “That which is free of all form is the buddha.””



So, then what is a buddha? Your own true nature. There is nowhere to go with that. Nothing to do with that. Nothing that can be said about that.



When we touch that impermanence, there are no words that can capture it and no words to describe it: in fact, words destroy it.



Practice and allow buddha entry into the world.



Be well.

Just Do

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Moving day has arrived. Wouldn’t you know I have a low-grade fever! It is hovering between 99 and 100 degrees F. This will offer me a lesson about going out! Yesterday at noon I went to see the film, “Inception” and actually enjoyed myself. Then I came home, worked a bit to finish another sign (this one for the entrance). Then went over to the other condo and swept it out. My Ex and I finally came to an agreement to offer them for a short sale.



We have to complete a ton of paperwork, though. We just cannot escape that side of the Relative world.



As the Ancients teach, though, just do what is in front of us to do. We should do whatever it is we are doing with care, compassion, dedication, and full attention. This is One Practice Samadhi



Therefore,, we will move today with appropriate care and presence.

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Be well.