Comparative Religion Discussion Today

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Today at Clear Mind Zen Temple we will practice zazen at 7:00 PM and host our Comparative Religions discussion group at 7:30 PM. The Temple will be open for open zazen at 2:00 PM.



The chapter on Islam will be our focus this evening. I do not expect us to get through the entire thing in one or even two sessions. This is an open group and anyone may join us. So, invite your friends and lets study together.



Be well.

Dokusan

With palms together,


Good Evening Everyone,



A question came up today at the Temple. It had to do with the nature of dokusan in our Order. I tried to answer, stumbling as I am prone to do on occasion. I thought I would offer a more comprehensive answer this evening.



Dokusan is typically a private interview between a student and his/her teacher. In the tradition, the general term is sanzen, and it has three types. The first deals with listening to the teacher’s lectures in a group, the second is the private interview, and the third is visiting the teacher “in secret.”



My former teacher held dokusan in his office which was a small room that acted as a connection between the two bedrooms of his house in the mountains. It had a door on one room entrance and a set of swinging louvered doors on the other. I have done dokusan in my small Zendo in my residence. This had a door. At the current temple, we do not have a door on the office entrance, although I have asked the landlord for one. When we move into the new temple, I am hopeful we will have an office where we could do dokusan in a more private context than we have at this time, if we chose to do so.



Dokusan has a long and varied history in Zen. It is typically a brief encounter where the student is essentially asked to show their true nature, their understanding, or offer something about their practice. Many of the stories throughout the history of Zen are a result of such encounters, although these do not usually take places in offices, but rather on walks, during work, or on some other off-hand occasion. Offices, we might say, are a fairly modern and, I believe, “western” comfort.



I have not often used an office for dokusan. It reminds me too much of being a therapist, and a Zen teacher is decidedly NOT a therapist. My private interviews are much more conversations than tests of a student’s understanding. I see my student’s practice as witnessed in Zazen, kinhin, oryoki, and samu, as its own best “test.” I might say that dokusan is a moment to moment experience of practicing under the teacher’s eye. For scheduled dokusan, I like to see it as a personal dialogue, typically using a text to compliment the process.



There are times, of course, when I might go directly to a student’s understanding. It may be at a time the student least expects it and it may feel uncomfortable. Zen is a practice that often takes us out of our comfort zone. This is a good thing. Comfort zones have become our contemporary places to hide in plain sight. They allow us to decline anything that will challenge us and, as a result, we decline possibilities for growth.



I would like to invite any of you to ask for time with me. This is a first, “out of our comfort zone,” step. I will be happy to see you. We can talk in person or via Skype video conferencing. The procedure is to go to our Temple calendar, find a time, and then email Soku Shin for an appointment. She can be reached at clearmindzen@yahoo.com.



Be well.

Stepping Off

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



While yesterday was a challenging day,

Today blossoms like a morning glory.

Standing on the petal’s edge,

I step off.

_____



Each moment’s breath is an awakening: Breathe in, aware that I am breathing in; breathe out, aware that I am breathing out. I feel my heart beat as my toes grip the floor. I feel the muscles deep in my bottom stretch as my left knee crosses my right and settles there creating a sort of mountain with two crossed leg shins forming slopes. The sound of the morning doves, the clacking of laptop keys, and the taste of espresso on my lips: these all are the poetry of everyday life. As Student Bonnie M pointed out, Zen talk is like poetry. It is important to notice that. Few words, but words filled with meaning, nuance, and nearly electric in their ability to open a ready mind.



Let’s step off together.



Be well.

When Anger Knocks

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



This morning I am working on myself. It is difficult to feel angry and hurt. The experience is unpleasant. So, such feelings are important practice opportunities. For this post, it is NOT important who or what brought about these feelings. What is important is how I encounter them.



I spent the night last night considering these feelings. I avoided by playing online chess. I engaged in several ways. I wrote several letters I did not send. I talked with Soku Shin. I talked with a colleague. I practiced Zazen. I have decided this morning to take the high road.



What does this mean? To me it means not picking apart the one that hurt me or assailing him and hurting him in return. It does mean engaging my desire to do just that and processing it in ways so that it can be released and the negative energy integrated. It means I must be willing to see the suffering of this individual and see how we might share the same suffering at different times.



I practiced a giving and receiving practice, using the poison of his anger to counter the poisonous hurt arising in my heart. As my hurt transforms into compassion, albeit very, very slowly, I release it and offer it to him.



I wonder, though, selflessness in practice leaves the traces of us vulnerable to further injury. I tell myself to let that concern go. Yet, I have set myself aside in service to this individual for years and received his injuries over and over. I must work to obliterate the traces.



The most troubling aspect for me is that this person has no clue as to the harm he does. He appears arrogant. He appears self-serving. He seems unwilling to learn for himself about himself. While I have learned much from him, my lessons have been the lessons of reflection on the feelings evoked in his presence. May I work to put these to the best use possible.



Be well,

Daiho

Paramitas

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



The precepts are a mainstay of our conversation as Zen Buddhists. The manifest themselves as a deep and abiding aspect of our humanity, I believe. They are not written in stone as were the Ten Commandments, but rather are living aspects of our True Nature as human beings. They begin with generosity. The Buddha taught this by simply standing with a bowl in front of homes. The dana bowl has become a symbol of this paramita as its presence touches our heart and opens it.

Precept Paramita is our innate Buddha Heart/Mind arising and opening in the world. It is our moral center. As we wrap ourselves in the robe of liberation, whether figuratively or literally, we step forward with the Heart of deep compassion and care. Morality is the heart of ethics and ethics is right conduct among beings.

Precept Forbearance, often thought of as patience, is the quality of standing in the stream with a solid heart. We know things change, we bear witness to this change by being upright in its midst. We are in no hurry to make things happen, while we mindfully engage in change itself. We are standing buddhas.

Precept Perseverance is the manifestation of concentrated energy in the direction of practice realization in any arena of life. We practice to persevere in the face of hardship. We sometimes refer to this precept as diligence because it is with a diligent heart/mind that we set ourselves on the path and continue taking one step at a time even as the path becomes a challenge. Life is like that.

Precept Zazen is our practice of living life awake. It is the upright practice of being in the world with an attitude of open heart, open mind, wrapped in complete awareness. It is the aim and being of our life.

Precept Prajna is that which we see in the completeness of the universe. It is the embodiment of the cosmos. We practice this paramita by manifesting great faith in the cosmos as we unfold with it each day. It requires perspective. This is gained by reflection through time.



When we live allowing these perfections to manifest themselves in the universe, we are timeless buddhas. We are stillness in motion. Be well.



Note:

We will host Zen Discussion at 4:00 PM today followed by Zazen at 5:15 and Gathering Meal at 6:00 PM all at CMZT. Please join us.

Thanks to Sangha Members Tamra and Shelley, we have found a large, affordable, monastic residence in Old Mesilla. We will be moving in on the week after July 1st. The Order’s Temple will relocate there, as well, and we will attempt to find ways to be released from the lease on the current building. This move will allow us to consolidate our expenses and live more appropriately as monks. We will not need to use automobiles except to grocery shop and the like and will likely use our bicycles to get around town. The building is walled, with a gate. It has several large rooms, and will accommodate Zazenkai and Sesshin and the possibility of a small residential training program. We will provide more information as we are able.

Dana

With respect,




I must practice begging this evening. It is our custom to ask for dana, which is to invite those in front of us to touch their own generous heart and make an offering to the Order. This money goes toward supportingthe Temple building, offseting the costs of communication, and helps to supply us with incense, candles, coffee, tea, and all manner of consumables. We have a beautiful wooden bowl on the foyer alter. We also have a donation button on our Order's website at http://clearmindzen.org. Please consider offering a donation to our Order. We are a New Mexico Non-profit corporation established to offer Zen Buddhist service.



It is traditional that the begging monk recite the Hanya Shin Gyo while doing this practice. Since I cannot do this for you here, I am sending you the text:



m m m Ma-ka Han-ya Har-a-mita Shin Gyo



KAN JI ZAI BO SATSU GYO JIN HAN NYA HA RA MI TA JI



SHO KEN GO m ON KAI KU DO ISSAI KU YAKU. SHA RI SHI SHIKI FU



I KU KU FU I SHIKI SHIKI SOKU ZE KU KU SOKU ZE SHIKI JU SO



GYO SHIKI YAKU BU NYO ZE SHA RI SHI ZE SHO HO KU SO FU



SHO FU METSU FU KU FU JO FU ZO FU GEN ZE KO KU CHU MU



SHIKI MU JU SO GYO SHIKI MU GEN NI BI ZETS SHIN NI MU SHIKI



SHO – KO - MI SOKU HO – MU GEN KAI NAI SHI MU I SHIKI KAI MU



MU MYO - YAKU MU MU MYO – JIN NAI SHI MU RO - SHI YAKU MU



RO - SHI JIN MU KU SHU METSU DO MU CHI YAKU MU TOKU I MU



SHO TOK'KO, BO DAI SAT - TA E HAN - NYA HA RA MI TA KO, m



SHIN - MU KEI GE MU KEI GE KO MU U KU FU ON RI IS-SAI TEN DO -



MU SO - KU GYO - NE HAN. SAN ZE SHO BUTSU E HAN - NYA HA RA MI TA KO, m



TOKU A NOKU TA RA SAN – MYAKU SAN – BO DAI KO CHI



HAN – NYA HA RA MI TA ZE DAI SHIN SHU ZE DAI MYO SHU ZE MU JO



SHU ZE MU TO DO SHU NO JO ISSAI KU SHIN JITSU FU KO KO



SETSU HAN - MYA HA RA MI TA SHU SOKU SETSU SHU WATSU. GYA TE,



% GYA TE, HA RA GYA TE, % HARA SO- GYA TE BO DHI SO WA KA. HAN-NYA SHIN GYO.

Zazen

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



When practicing Zazen, sit upright. I have taught this from the beginning just as all teachers before me have done. What does it mean, though, to sit upright?



Spine upright, crown of head touching ceiling, bottom touching the floor, shoulders open, chest open, chin tucked and, as Master Dogen used to say, “eyes horizontal, nose vertical!” This is our position, the position of all buddhas. But these instructions are also a metaphor for our attitude toward living our lives, and this is the most important point: serene and unmoving, we take each step making ourselves in the world.



We cannot think that we are practicing Zazen part-time or at home or at a Zendo. We cannot “think” we are practicing Zazen. Our practice is ontological, that is to say, it is “being.” Zazen is not separate from our moment to moment life. Zazen is complete, unexcelled, mindfulness: always aware, always present, always taking a step with deliberateness. This is our practice.



How many of us sleepwalk through our day? How many intoxicate ourselves with television, radio, CDs, DVD’s, Internet? Tombstones for eyes, hardly alive, we stumble through a day and wonder at night where the time went. I am as guilty as any of you. My one saving grace, so to speak, is my dogged diligence in noticing and bringing myself back to the world as it is. I make this paramita my first and last. When we are Zen practitioners this is our work. It is a work that has no start time and no end time. It is our life.



Be well.