Archive for

December, 2008

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December 31, 2008 9:10 pm

happy new year

by dochong, jdpsn    in Contributors

the flowers that bloomed this year
are commensurately as beautiful as those
that appeared last year.
the beings who exist this year
have now become older
than they were at this time last year.
fortune that befalls an individual
tends not last for a thousand days;
flowers tend not to blossom
for more than a hundred days.
this is the function of mother earth
and comes by itself through natural process.
treasure your opportunities now,
we have nothing when they have departed.
on this very day last year–
at this entry point–
your face and the poinsettias flushed the same.
yet now your lovely face has slowly diminished,
but the poinsettias radiate just as brightly
with the winter wind’s return.
please pay attention,
make time for the essence of this life–
right now is a good time to start,
making a resolution in the future,
is truly an exercise in futility–
change can only exist
in this very moment in time.
whatever that resolution might be,
just do it now,
yes,
right now this very moment–
don’t wait
or life will have passed you by.
happy new year
may we all find everlasting peace
in the unfolding chaos of the cosmos.
photo: passiflora, Maui, HI by Paul Lynch
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9:57 am

“Thinking Doth Make Cowards of Us All”

by Lauren    in Contributors

Okay, it a bit of a liberty from the original
"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action."
But it makes the point; "Thinking" can be torture.

Now make no mistake, I haven't nailed this yet, I don't know the cure, but I sure know the disease. My trouble in the relationship I have with my daughter is certainly too much thinking, to a large extent. Thoughts like - what she should be, what she should be doing, do I like how she spends her time, is she "obeying" me, does she "respect" me, what did that look mean, why can't she just [fill in the blank], she's not grateful for what she has...etc....

All this activity and none of it really arising out of pursuit of "right action."

I said "I don't know the cure," but that's not entirely true. I suspect the cure is to sit regularly, per doctor Nishijima's prescription, "take two zazen a day, once at night and once in the morning." Over time this should cure the thinking illness. Like all red blooded America males (on average) I do not do what my doctor suggests will make me better. But I'm getting there.

I think discussing thinking requires a vocabulary like the Esquimaux's reportedly have for snow, at least 57 varieties. The brain must be active, as all reports so far (with due respect to Hamlet's thesis concerning bourns from which no traveler returns) indicate, for life. Knowing not to drink lava or kiss tigers is also thinking, but very helpful. Remembering that food is in the refrigerator, is also thinking, but again, very helpful. Even realizing a new, better type of shelter from idealistic thought, is a good thinking, I believe. But mulling over what she said or he said. Worrying over how your Aunt will react to dust when she visists. Holding the pain from an arguement six years ago. All these are not good thinking.

What to call it? How about ruminant thinking on abstracts? For those without cow experience, they are ruminant cause the swallow then regurgitate their food to chew it again. Events in the abstract, like being angry, are best not ruminated.

So why an eyelash mite picture? I guess to underscore some of the mystery of life our thinking can never touch. All of us have scores of eyelash mites living entire lives over and over right under (and over) our eyes. Not much thinking goes on with them, I suppose, given their "brain" size...if they have one. And us, like them, are impermanent. Gone in a blink.

-L
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1:06 am

It the Zazen of Zen, are all realms vertical?

by Ted Biringer    in Contributors
In Shobogenzo, Sammai-O-Zammai, Master Dogen offers a suggestion on how to apply ourselves to meditation while sitting. He says:

We should investigate: at the very moment we are sitting, are all realms vertical? Are they horizontal? At the very moment we are sitting, what about that sitting? Is it a flip? Is it “brisk and lively”? Is it thinking? Is it not thinking? Is it making? Is it without making? Are we sitting within sitting? Are we sitting within body and mind? Are we sitting having sloughed off “within sitting,” “within body and mind,” and so on? We should investigate one thousand points, ten thousand points, such as these.
Translated by Carl Bielefeldt

Yes! This is exactly how practitioners with genuine aspiration apply themselves to Zen meditation. Looking deeply, examining exhaustively, not only our own perspective but that of "all realms."

Master Dogen is not alone; all of the outstanding figures of Zen history testify to the eternal quest that is the source of what, who, where, when, how, and why---the very essence and function of the vast unnamable fathomless void. Zen meditation (Zazen) illumines the wonder and mystery of being alive.
Ted Biringer - tedbiringer@flatbedsutra.com www.flatbedsutra.com Copyright Ted Biringer 2008
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December 29, 2008 9:36 pm

the midst

by dochong, jdpsn    in Contributors

we are in the midst
of a world in union
and the separation of thought.
do we see an image,
or do we exist in the moment?
there is no outside
nor is there a tangible inside,
yet we make this
and it has somehow
come to exist
as our world of thoughts.
there is a dance
in which we circle
round and round
till we come back
to the place
where we began.
humanity is the essence
running through all
of our veins,
so why call others by a name?
if we must
use a name,
just call you me;
and know that
I am you.
love is like the
transcendent blue sky,
ideas are merely
clouds forming
and dissipating
in the clear blue sky.
the clear blue sky
is always present
and never denies
the clouds from forming,
yet when the clouds must leave
the sky is never holds on.
be the sky
and let the misty places pass
of their own volition.
be as the unborn essence
of your original existence
within the timeless grace
of the dance.
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8:13 pm

What is Zen?

by dochong, jdpsn    in Contributors

Zen is very simple. What are you? In this world today, as it has been since human beings began to discriminate and to think, we all began searching for satisfaction outside of ourselves; however, because it seems almost counter-intuitive very few of us ever seek to find happiness within ourselves. Listening to typical conversations we hear others speak of this thing that is labeled “I.” Also, if we have enough internal witness and we listen to our own speech it may surprise us how many times we also use the word “I’ in our conversations. We all talk about this “I” as if it had a separate self, as if this “I” were somehow existent outside of us. We say things like, “I want this,” or “I am like this” but how many of us truly understand this “I” of which we speak, and where does our “I” come from?
In Zen we sometimes ask, “before you were born, before your mother and father conceived you, what was your original nature?” Along these same lines we might ask; when we die, where will we go? If we can sincerely ask ourselves, ‘What am I?’ Eventually we will run into a wall where all thinking is cut off. In our Zen Lineage we call this ‘don’t know;’ however, this state of perception is not exclusive to Zen and other traditions call this state by different names. Christians may call it Christ Consciousness, Jews may call it, YHWH, Daoists might call it the Great and Ineffable Dao, the great twentieth Century Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki Roshi called it Beginner’s Mind, consequently each path has a separate name for this one state of mind. So, Zen practice is about keeping a don’t-know mind always and everywhere.

when walking, standing, sitting, lying down, speaking,
being silent moving, being still...
at all times, in all places, without interruption–what is this?
one mind is infinite kalpas.-- Zen Master Seung Sahn

We define meditation in Zen as maintaining a don’t-know mind when bowing, chanting, as well as during seated meditation. Yet, for us in this modern twenty first century it is highly important to keep this don’t know mind every minute of our waking life. There are no special forms of existence or places that will take us out of our current situation or condition; this is the place where we try to escape reality by using drugs, alcohol, video games, the company of others, etc. In and of themselves, these actions are not good or not bad, it is just that it all boils down to a simple question. “Do you control your thinking, or does your thinking control you?” For most of us we have a constant dialog going on in our heads, but who is it that we are talking with? We create this separation inside our own heads. If we can stop this endless train of thoughts, this constitutes what we call formal Zen practice, and it isn’t what we think. We may think that we must meditate, or go off to a mountain top in silence to find ourselves; but Buddha taught that if we are ever to wake up to our own humanity it must be in this very moment. By keeping a don’t know mind when we are doing something, we can just do it. When driving, we just drive; when eating, we can just eat; when working we can just work.
Eventually our don’t know-mind will become clear. Then when we see the sky, there is only blue—when we see the tree, there is only green. Our mind becomes like a clear untarnished mirror­­­—if red appears the mirror reflects red; if white appears the mirror reflects white. If a hungry person arrives, we can give some food; if a thirsty person arrives, we can give something to quench their thirst. In the end there is no desire for myself, only for all sentient beings. This mind is already enlightened; it is what we call Great Love, Great Compassion, and the Great Bodhisattva Way. Zen is very simple, it is not difficult!
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6:28 pm

Relationship Meditation

by Jordan    in Contributors
The holidays often seem to bring out relationship issues with the people we care about.


Caring is bad…

Ok, it is fine to care. But sometimes when we care deeply about something and that thing is not going our way our reptilian brain takes over and it resorts to anger.

Anger is OK, it is not the real problem. The problem comes in when we allow it to override our rational brain, and we fail to restrain that anger. You see, I think we have to train both of these together.

I can not seem to escape Buddhist law. I don’t think anyone can. If I felt differently I don’t think I could call myself a Buddhist Zealot.
So here is the deal, you (or what you think of as you) are going to die.

Let that sink in for a moment. Reading this can wait. Sit with it, go on, and come back here in a bit.

Those closest to you are going to die too. Pick someone close to you. Sit with that, sit with them lying down, decomposing, showing bone, falling apart, and flesh falls away from the bones, bones bleaching, and eventually turning to dust.

I know it is gruesome. Go sit with it anyway.

Go on now, do it, hate me later.

I totally freaked out when I had the vision above unexpectedly play out in my head with my then three year old daughter in the role of the corpse. It sucked. A good friend told me I should look for the teaching in that. I spat back that I already understood impermanence! She said; what about attachment? Yeah. Expletive deleted. That hit me pretty hard. I am totally attached to the ones I love. I do not think that is a big problem though.

The problem arises when we expect a person we care greatly about to behave in ways that they are not behaving in.
We care and want to hold them close, and they squirm to get away. We care and try to push them into roles or situations that they are not ready for or otherwise are resistant to and they become resentful. What do we do? Naturally we get angry! My (insert loved one here) dose not understand the importance of such and such!

expletive deleted!

14, 40, 65 age dose not make much of a difference, we get conditioned by our own (faulty)feelings and have a hard time breaking away from them. And of course our own “faulty sensory perception” (thanks Mike C) exasperates(read may be the cause of) the problem of this conditioning.

How do I modify the behaviors of this person to meet my perception of how they respond?

Don’t.

What?

Nope.

You see, that person, is not yours to change. You can advise and encourage. But you’re not going to do that with a stick. You just make them smarter at doing whatever it is that you don’t want them to do. The American prison system is a good example of that. Person “A” committed a crime so we punish them by locking them up with a bunch of people that have also committed crimes. We create a criminal university, hooray! Extreme example I know. But that is an example of how we think. We want to protect the rest of the herd by excluding those who do harmful things, without examining the cause or trying to be compassionate to their needs.

So what do we do?

I contributed ½ the DNA for my girls. I say “My girls” but really they are not mine at all. I don’t own them. I am by law, responsible for them. But even that is indicative of our wrong outlook. How can we be responsible for a sentient being? We can’t. We are responsible too them. Wrap your mind around that for a bit. We are responsible too them.

Interestingly, if we investigate the word responsible we find it is rooted in “Respond.”

So what do we do?

Respond.

Respond with love. Respond with compassion. Perhaps most importantly respond with empathy, understanding, and appreciation.

It is really a precious thing to come into this world as a human being.
Do not waste this opportunity.



"We're Only Gonna Die From Our Own Arrogance"

Early man walked away as modern man took control.
Their minds weren't all the same, to conquer was his big goal,
So he built his great empire and slaughtered his own kind,
Then he died a confused man, killed himself with his own mind.
Go!
[x3]
We're only gonna die from our own arrogance. [x4]
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5:01 pm

Mount Sumeru

by Barry Briggs    in Contributors

Case 1

Ch'ang-ch'ing and Pao-fu were wandering in the hills. Pao-fu pointed to the top of the hill where they were standing and said, "Right here is the top of Mount Sumeru."

Ch'ang-ch'ing said, "Yes, that's true, but a pity."

Hills

Case 2

A monk asked Chao-chou, "What is the lone summit of Mount Sumeru?

Chao-chou said, "I won't answer that question of yours."

The monk said, "Why won't you answer my question?"

Chao-chou said, "I'm afraid that if I answered you, you would fall to flat ground."

Commentary
As Zen Master Seung Sahn used to say, "Mouth number one problem gate." Why can't we just stand our ground?

Source: The Gateless Barrier, by Robert Aitken, Roshi
Photo by Rick Harrison

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3:40 pm

Chiao-an Awakens

by Barry Briggs    in Contributors

Chiao-an was the niece of a high official of the Sung dynasty. When she was young, she set her heart on the way of Ch’an; she decided early on not to marry or bear children.

She experienced clear awakening at the words of Yüan-wu as he spoke to the assembly.

Yüan-wu said to her, “You should go on to erase your views—then you will finally be free.”

She answered in verse,

The pillar pulls out the bone sideways;
The void shows its claws and fangs;
Even if one profoundly understands,
There is still sand in the eye.
Sand

Commentary
This story originated in the Song Dynasty, not the Tang, but I include it in this collection for two reasons. First, Yuan-wu was the author/compiler of the Blue Cliff Record, an important collection of kong-ans. Second, Chiao-an's poem is remarkably sharp and thus worthy of wider recognition.

Photo by Brad Swick

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2:18 pm

The meaning of practice

by Uku    in Contributors

In a fundamental state Buddhism is very positive and very optimistic; we know that our deluded minds are greating suffering in our minds that might feel as a real feeling or a pain, but we also know that in reality there's no suffering at all - it's only in our minds. When it's time to cry, it's time to cry. When it's time to laugh, it's time to laugh. Therefore, we know how to get rid of our deluded thoughts and actions and we know that to get rid of this illusory suffering and ignorant thoughts and actions we need to practice everyday, day after day.

Buddhism is action, Buddhism is practicing. Bodhidharma, Dogen Zenji and Gautama Buddha and other masters in the past, present and future are and were practicing everyday, day after day. Without efforts, without practicing there's no Buddhism.

What is the meaning of practice? I think it's the practice itself; without practice there's no Buddhism. If we don't practice like ancient and present masters, what kind of Buddhists are we?
Photo by jovian
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December 28, 2008 11:22 pm

Perfect Enlightenment Sutra

by dochong, jdpsn    in Contributors

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva

Samantabhadra, understand
that the infinite misleading unawareness
of all sentient beings
is based upon the Tathāgata’s
attainment of Complete Enlightenment.
Like a phantom appearing in empty space,
its appearance depends upon the open space.
When the phantom disappears,
the empty space returns to its original unmoving state.
Delusion is dependent
upon enlightenment for its arising.
With the extinction of illusion,
enlightenment is entirely perfect,
for the enlightened mind is ever steadfast.
All bodhisattvas and sentient beings
in the decline of the Dharma Age
must forever leave delusions far, far away
until they are all finally extinguished.
It is like creating a fire with wood,
when the wood is burned away,
the fire is also extinguished.
Enlightenment contains no gradual steps;
which also applies to expedient means.
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