With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Please Note: Today at Clear Mind Zen Temple: 7:00 AM Zazen, 9:00 AM Zazen, 2:00 PM Zazen, 4:00 PM Tai Chi Chih, 7:00 PM Zazen.
From Uchiyama’s translation of Tenzo Kyokun, “What are the characters? 1,2,3,4,5. What is the practice? There is nothing in the world that is hidden.”
Here in as succinct a fashion as was ever written is the definition of Zen as life. Everything is Zen; nothing is hidden. In whatever you do, wherever you are: that is it.
On the one hand, we make a big mistake separating this from that, teaching from learning, teacher from student, zendo from kitchen, and so on. We add meaning to these words; we conceptualize them, and in so doing, take ourselves away from our experience of life itself.
On the other hand, teachers have an obligation to teach. Teachers are, monks are, doctors and attorneys are, sanctioned by both their sanctioning bodies and the public, to be somehow separate from their students, patients, and clients. This separation, while artificial, is powerful and, as a result, can lead to serious issues in understanding.
If we do not know each other, communication will be compromised. We get to know each other through sharing. Sharing involves a degree of self-disclosure. The moment you meet a religious leader who will not share something of himself, or who cannot seem to be an actual human being in your presence, run. Indiscriminate sharing is also a problem. Be wary if the sharing does not bear on the teaching.
Be well.
Organ Mountain Zen
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Awake!
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
The practice of Zen is difficult. It is not for everyone. Zazen requires discipline, as does koan work, samu, oryoki, and kinhin. A Zen life is a life of dedicated and committed practice. We rise in the morning with an aim in mind: wake-up! We sit with this, we walk with this, we eat this, we work this. Wake up!
Yes, of course, but what, exactly, does “wake-up!” mean?
Have you ever had the experience of lightening striking near you? Or an experience of dozing off and suddenly being startled as you woke? The instant you were brought to presence, that is awake. The instant afterwards, not awake.
What is it about these experiences? The main thing is the sharp dropping away of everything but your senses: no thought at all, just pure perception, clear, unimpeded, and flawless.
While we cannot live in this state we can approximate it by paying attention.
The Buddha taught this method in a number of sutras, but primarily in The Four Establishments of Mindfulness. This sutra has us placing our complete attention on exactly what it is we are doing in each moment, with each posture, and with each gesture.
There is a copy of the sutra here, at this website:
http://www.buddhistedu.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:discourse-on-the-four-establishments-of-mindfulness&catid=16:class-lessons&Itemid=41
Be well
Good Morning Everyone,
The practice of Zen is difficult. It is not for everyone. Zazen requires discipline, as does koan work, samu, oryoki, and kinhin. A Zen life is a life of dedicated and committed practice. We rise in the morning with an aim in mind: wake-up! We sit with this, we walk with this, we eat this, we work this. Wake up!
Yes, of course, but what, exactly, does “wake-up!” mean?
Have you ever had the experience of lightening striking near you? Or an experience of dozing off and suddenly being startled as you woke? The instant you were brought to presence, that is awake. The instant afterwards, not awake.
What is it about these experiences? The main thing is the sharp dropping away of everything but your senses: no thought at all, just pure perception, clear, unimpeded, and flawless.
While we cannot live in this state we can approximate it by paying attention.
The Buddha taught this method in a number of sutras, but primarily in The Four Establishments of Mindfulness. This sutra has us placing our complete attention on exactly what it is we are doing in each moment, with each posture, and with each gesture.
There is a copy of the sutra here, at this website:
http://www.buddhistedu.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:discourse-on-the-four-establishments-of-mindfulness&catid=16:class-lessons&Itemid=41
Be well
Back in Las Cruces
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Morning in Las Cruces is cool and wet. Though it is dark, I can tell the sky is cloudy. I felt the clouds hanging there above me as I walked Suki. I am back in Las Cruces and the Temple is open with its full schedule. Today’s schedule includes Zazen at 7:00 AM, 9:00 AM (in the park), 2:00 PM, and 7:00 PM. Please consider joining us in our practice.
As I entered the Zendo on my return, I could not help but notice the wooden floor had been polished and the bathroom door actually swung open and closed without resistance. Most subtle was the fact that the computer lines that had dangled by the doorway were neatly rolled and tucked in a way that rendered them inconspicuous. Thank you very much Disciple Dai Shugyo!
My hope is that our Temple will offer what it can to be in service to this small, but vibrant community. I am here and at your service.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Morning in Las Cruces is cool and wet. Though it is dark, I can tell the sky is cloudy. I felt the clouds hanging there above me as I walked Suki. I am back in Las Cruces and the Temple is open with its full schedule. Today’s schedule includes Zazen at 7:00 AM, 9:00 AM (in the park), 2:00 PM, and 7:00 PM. Please consider joining us in our practice.
As I entered the Zendo on my return, I could not help but notice the wooden floor had been polished and the bathroom door actually swung open and closed without resistance. Most subtle was the fact that the computer lines that had dangled by the doorway were neatly rolled and tucked in a way that rendered them inconspicuous. Thank you very much Disciple Dai Shugyo!
My hope is that our Temple will offer what it can to be in service to this small, but vibrant community. I am here and at your service.
Be well.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Ripples
With palms together,
Good Evening Everyone,
My partner cannot stand a single ripple in things. I am not so oblivious to ripples myself. When we practice our zazen, we see things rise and fall. They come and go with the ease of waves at the ocean’s shore. When inside a wave, there is no wave. However, if we fail to practice and stand outside of the wave, something changes. Waves become disturbances in the placid, serene nature of the ocean of our mind.
How so? Serenity is the unification of Mind.
And in this a ripple is not a ripple until we say it is. This descriptive word and this assignment of meaning, makes a ripple what it is. In other words, waves need a point of comparison to be “waves” such as flat, still water, and vice versa. It is our mind that creates this point and, without it, the ocean is just the ocean as it is.
So, the natural state of things is serene, even in the midst of cataclysm. The universe, like the ocean, unfolds and folds, it expands and contracts, all in accordance with itself. Even as a star goes super nova, or the coffee pot fails to work, they do so without the thought of disturbance.
Our world is our own: we create it and we can recreate it.
Be well.
Good Evening Everyone,
My partner cannot stand a single ripple in things. I am not so oblivious to ripples myself. When we practice our zazen, we see things rise and fall. They come and go with the ease of waves at the ocean’s shore. When inside a wave, there is no wave. However, if we fail to practice and stand outside of the wave, something changes. Waves become disturbances in the placid, serene nature of the ocean of our mind.
How so? Serenity is the unification of Mind.
And in this a ripple is not a ripple until we say it is. This descriptive word and this assignment of meaning, makes a ripple what it is. In other words, waves need a point of comparison to be “waves” such as flat, still water, and vice versa. It is our mind that creates this point and, without it, the ocean is just the ocean as it is.
So, the natural state of things is serene, even in the midst of cataclysm. The universe, like the ocean, unfolds and folds, it expands and contracts, all in accordance with itself. Even as a star goes super nova, or the coffee pot fails to work, they do so without the thought of disturbance.
Our world is our own: we create it and we can recreate it.
Be well.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Brilliance
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
“The Grand Design” is on the end table beside my bed here in my hotel room. I began reading it on the walk back from the bookstore to my hotel. I like the early reference to Faynman because it reminded me that I never finished reading his Six Easy Pieces, which a friend and I were discussing on our morning walks. (Note to self, finish what you start.)
There is something about being in the presence of brilliant people, whether their brilliance is in physics or kindness that is so very inspiring. Yet, even these wonders of the universe, drop away. A book, regardless of its greatness, is not the author. And while a book can live on millennia after the author’s death, it is just not the same.
I have noticed on one of the blog sites I post on, a proclivity toward using dead writers (or living ones, for that matter) to bolster or explain points of their theory and practice of Buddhism. I would rather we begin with our own practice and work our way out. Theories of practice are unnecessary side trips: practice is the beginning and the end, whether that practice is on the cushion or through mindful hands doing everyday tasks.
The thing I so much appreciate about brilliant people is that they know this on a visceral level. Reading them is reading the story of their practice as it opens before them. We are taught to use such reads as supports to our own positions…”as so and so says…” Wouldn’t it be better to report our own experience bolstered by our own practice?
Well, no matter, it is now time for my own study of the way. To be followed by a read of Stephen Hawking.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
“The Grand Design” is on the end table beside my bed here in my hotel room. I began reading it on the walk back from the bookstore to my hotel. I like the early reference to Faynman because it reminded me that I never finished reading his Six Easy Pieces, which a friend and I were discussing on our morning walks. (Note to self, finish what you start.)
There is something about being in the presence of brilliant people, whether their brilliance is in physics or kindness that is so very inspiring. Yet, even these wonders of the universe, drop away. A book, regardless of its greatness, is not the author. And while a book can live on millennia after the author’s death, it is just not the same.
I have noticed on one of the blog sites I post on, a proclivity toward using dead writers (or living ones, for that matter) to bolster or explain points of their theory and practice of Buddhism. I would rather we begin with our own practice and work our way out. Theories of practice are unnecessary side trips: practice is the beginning and the end, whether that practice is on the cushion or through mindful hands doing everyday tasks.
The thing I so much appreciate about brilliant people is that they know this on a visceral level. Reading them is reading the story of their practice as it opens before them. We are taught to use such reads as supports to our own positions…”as so and so says…” Wouldn’t it be better to report our own experience bolstered by our own practice?
Well, no matter, it is now time for my own study of the way. To be followed by a read of Stephen Hawking.
Be well.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
A Heartbeat Away
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
My partner is beside me and she is pretending not to be interested in what I am writing. I know better. It has been a joyous reunion. She looks much healthier and is so much more alive. We have a very special, if not outside the pale, relationship. We have not seen each other for two months time.
In Zen, the universe is one. There is no outside, no inside; just this that is there in front of us. Unlike Stephen Hawking, it does not care whom or what (if anything at all) created it: it simply is. In thusness we turn and face ourselves. How are we doing? Is our life of benefit to others? How are we treating one another? Can we die in this moment without hesitation?
Labels and boxes are the stuff of duality: they are fingers pointing to delusion. I say, drop them and be free.
Travel at the speed of thought,
And find yourself
Looking at yourself:
There is no tomorrow
No yesterday.
No now.
There is just what we make
In our next breath.
So, we touch each other over a time and distance which does not exist, and in the flash of a thought we will bring love into the world.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
My partner is beside me and she is pretending not to be interested in what I am writing. I know better. It has been a joyous reunion. She looks much healthier and is so much more alive. We have a very special, if not outside the pale, relationship. We have not seen each other for two months time.
In Zen, the universe is one. There is no outside, no inside; just this that is there in front of us. Unlike Stephen Hawking, it does not care whom or what (if anything at all) created it: it simply is. In thusness we turn and face ourselves. How are we doing? Is our life of benefit to others? How are we treating one another? Can we die in this moment without hesitation?
Labels and boxes are the stuff of duality: they are fingers pointing to delusion. I say, drop them and be free.
Travel at the speed of thought,
And find yourself
Looking at yourself:
There is no tomorrow
No yesterday.
No now.
There is just what we make
In our next breath.
So, we touch each other over a time and distance which does not exist, and in the flash of a thought we will bring love into the world.
Be well.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Open Heart
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
We bow to buddha. I find this practice to be a pathway to right understanding. When I place my palms together, I am reminded of several things simultaneously: the fact that my left hand does not work and I have to work at it to get it to align with the fingers of my right hand; the fact that I am but a human being no better or worse than any other; and the fact that I need to let go of my ideas about everything. When I a bow, my heart relaxes and who it is that stands in front of me is allowed to enter as they are.
Bowing in this way, the Buddha way, is a gate for releasing the self and opening the heart/mind. When stepping through this gate a synchronicity of body, heart/mind, and environment forms: it is within this alignment that I consider Right Understanding to be possible.
If we are not in proper alignment, if our heart/mind is not synchronous with our environment, for example, distortions arise, as we are not seeing what is immediately in front of us, rather we are taking a side trip through our assumptions and see with the resultant skew. We do not see a cup for itself, but rather a cup, with all of our assumptions about a cup clouding our mind’s eye. From Right Understanding, then, clarity of mind arises and all of the other aspects of the Path can be walked freely.
For me placing my palms together slowly, and with mindful attention, then bowing creates an opportunity for selfless clarity, the clarity that comes with a seamless view.
May we each create conditions for our heart to open.
Good Morning Everyone,
We bow to buddha. I find this practice to be a pathway to right understanding. When I place my palms together, I am reminded of several things simultaneously: the fact that my left hand does not work and I have to work at it to get it to align with the fingers of my right hand; the fact that I am but a human being no better or worse than any other; and the fact that I need to let go of my ideas about everything. When I a bow, my heart relaxes and who it is that stands in front of me is allowed to enter as they are.
Bowing in this way, the Buddha way, is a gate for releasing the self and opening the heart/mind. When stepping through this gate a synchronicity of body, heart/mind, and environment forms: it is within this alignment that I consider Right Understanding to be possible.
If we are not in proper alignment, if our heart/mind is not synchronous with our environment, for example, distortions arise, as we are not seeing what is immediately in front of us, rather we are taking a side trip through our assumptions and see with the resultant skew. We do not see a cup for itself, but rather a cup, with all of our assumptions about a cup clouding our mind’s eye. From Right Understanding, then, clarity of mind arises and all of the other aspects of the Path can be walked freely.
For me placing my palms together slowly, and with mindful attention, then bowing creates an opportunity for selfless clarity, the clarity that comes with a seamless view.
May we each create conditions for our heart to open.
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