No Expectations

My apologies for a lack of postings recently. The Grand Rapids Zen Center opened and the response was much greater than expected and it required a lot of my time. Things are settling down and I am getting into a routine. What I learned is that having expectations is not right thinking. It is better to have no expectations so that you can experience what is and don't get caught up in what was or what might be. It was a very god lesson for me---abandon expectations, accept just what there is.
I also wanted to share this article form today's Washington Post entitled, "The Inconspicuous Buddhists Among Us". Very interesting article and I hope you'll take the time to read it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-meditation-on-the-inconspicuous-buddhists-around-us/2011/07/11/gIQAlx2u9H_story.html

Why Do Things Happen They Way They Do

Why do things happen the way they do? Why are some experiences good while others are not? We've all heard the question, "why do bad things happen?". From a Buddhist perspective we would say it has to do with karma---but be careful---karma has nothing to do with reward or punishment. Karma has nothing to do with judgment. Karma is about result; a non-judgmental result. Karma is a result from an intention and/or action taken. Think of it as a consequence. If we put a match to paper it catches fire. If we tell someone we love them we feel good and maybe they do as well. If we hold a negative thought, negative things sometimes happen. Natural disasters occur because certain factors coincide to bring about e.g., an earthquake, tornado, or tsunami. Just the simple result of the rising of certain causes and conditions. In our lives what is happening now is the result of past actions. What we are doing now will cause certain results in the future. Those results are not rewards or punishments, they are just the result of actions taken and nothing more or less. So when the question of "why is this happening" comes up, don't look for a reason, look instead to intention and action---what is happening results from those and not from a place of reward or punishment. To reward or punish is to judge. Karma makes no judgments. Only we do. Wonder what would happen if we made no judgments? What karma results then?

What the Research Shows

Over the past year there have been a series of research articles detailing the beneficial effects of a regular meditation practice. Here is a summary of what the research is finding. What follows is a short list of some of the areas where they have found that a meditation practice has had lasting benefit: stress (this is an easy one!), psychotherapy, fibromyalgia, smoking cessation, depression, anxiety, anger, cognitive processing, chronic pain, eating disorders, post traumatic stress to name the ones that have been studies the most. If you take a close look at this list you might notice that all of them have an underlying current of pain and suffering. If we call to mind the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths we can see that the First Noble Truth---suffering---still resonates 2500 years after he gave this teaching. And, the teachings on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness interestingly begin with the Mindfulness of Breathing. So what we can take away from the the Buddha's teaching and current research is that he was on to something---that a place to begin to relieve suffering is through Mindfulness of Breathing, i.e. through a regular meditation practice. Here we are 2500 years later acknowledging what he tried to get us to understand 25 centuries ago.

The First Foundation of Mindfulness

There are Four Foundations of Mindfulness. This week let us concentrate on the First Foundation: Mindfulness of Breathing. In short, this means being mindful of the simple process on which our entire being depends---breathing in and breathing out; inhale and exhale. We take it for granted. Don't even imagine just how crucial this process is. How many times a day does this simple in and out of breath happen? Think about it. I mean really think about it. If the next breath doesn't come then what? So simple yet so crucial to everything. No breath/no life. It all boils down to the next breath. If you think about it, about the necessity of your next breath, then just how important are all those things that nag and annoy? Wouldn't it be better to be thankful for the breath from moment to moment? When you start to see life, not just yours but all life in this way, then you begin to move away from the delusions of life. Greed and anger start to fade. What steps in to take their place is the simple peace of the next breath. This is how life is. It is the next breath. We need the breath, we need life if we are to see things as they are and let go of our attachments and our cravings. We will move away from the things we needlessly cling to and abide in things just as they are. Nothing else matters except that fundamental truth---things are as they are. This is where the First Foundation of Mindfulness will lead you. This is the possibility being mindful of breathing reveals.

Where are you?

This week let us step back and take a long view of our practice. What have you learned from the contemplation of how the senses work? Have you been able to experience that what you see, hear, smell, taste, or touch begins and ends inside your head? Have you noticed that once those senses arise your mind begins to make choices and judgments: have you heard the words "I" "me" "mine" "you" "yours"; decided "like" "dislike"? These words, when we think them, speak them, hear them signal that we still see the world and everything in it is separated. We see things in terms of inner and outer, subject and object. As our practice evolves and we come to see that in truth there is no I or you, there is just "things as they are", our judgments fall away and so do all the things that cause us pain and suffering. It all starts with our first sense encounters. When we can really experience how they work in conjunction with our discriminating mind we can begin to see how much of I me mine you and yours dominate the way we approach the world. If we can really experience this at a visceral level we can begin to experience the world in a different way. Compassion and loving kindness step in where judgments once took up space.

Something to consider for the weekend

Coming empty-handed, going empty-handed---that is human
When you are reborn where do you come from?
When you die where do you go?
But there is one thing which always remains clear.
It is pure and clear, not depending on life and death.

What, then, is the one pure and clear thing?

Where is "Me"?

Here is a question to consider. At what point in our development does the thought, "this is me"? first arise? We are told that this is a crucial point in a child's development; the point at which the child starts to differentiate him/herself from everyone else. Our thoughts become consciousness: we become "conscious" of the world around us and of the "me" in the world. Where does that consciousness come from? We can see, hear, touch, taste, smell and that explains a lot about how we take in the world around us. But, where do our thoughts, judgments, feelings, reactions come from? The mind? Where exactly is that? I'm not talking about your brain, I'm talking about the mind. Where is the mind? The mind is where consciousness arises. But, where is it? The mind is where notions of "I, me, mine, you, your, it" come from and the mind is where we spend so much of our time. The questions, where is the mind and where does "me" come from, perhaps don't have clear answers, but the questions alone are worth pondering. In our practice we talk a lot about the mind, the conventional and the original mind, so we should keep these questions in front of us. They might help us in our practice. Don't seek answers, just be with the questions.

A News Item

Today we should all keep Tibet in our intentions. The Chinese government has once again this year closed Tibet to foreigners. Citing safety concerns, the Chinese government said it will not admit foreigners to Tibet until at least mid-August. Please keep the Tibetan people in your thoughts. The Buddha taught that the first Noble Truth is that life is unsatisfactory, is suffering. What the Tibetan people, a buddhist people, are going through is a lesson in the First Nobel Truth. While we may not be able to be there to help them, our intentions, and our support can reach them. There are many organizations that help. If you can, send your support to one them.

What If

Where does the world we experience begin? Where does what we call "I" or "me" begin? It begins with our senses. Through our five physical senses we take in sight. sound. smell, taste, touch. Through our sixth sense, our mind, we form perceptions and make judgments about what the senses take in and we begin a series of thoughts about likes and dislikes all of which center around "I" like or dislike. Then "I" moves on to "I" want this for "me". The world is seen as "other" or "you" or "it". What if the particular sense faculty you are working on this summer no longer was available to you? Then what? What if all the sense faculties were gone; then what? What if they were all gone---what remains? Where do then find the "I", "me", "you", "it", "mine", "yours"? How can you make those distinctions if the senses are all gone? We take our sensory world for granted. We make all these judgments and evaluations without really thinking---they just happen don't they. How different would the world be without our senses and how different would it be without our judgments.

What If

Where does the world we experience begin? Where does what we call "I" or "me" begin? It begins with our senses. Through our five physical senses we take in sight. sound. smell, taste, touch. Through our sixth sense, our mind, we form perceptions and make judgments about what the senses take in and we begin a series of thoughts about likes and dislikes all of which center around "I" like or dislike. Then "I" moves on to "I" want this for "me". The world is seen as "other" or "you" or "it". What if the particular sense faculty you are working on this summer no longer was available to you? Then what? What if all the sense faculties were gone; then what? What if they were all gone---what remains? Where do then find the "I", "me", "you", "it", "mine", "yours"? How can you make those distinctions if the senses are all gone? We take our sensory world for granted. We make all these judgments and evaluations without really thinking---they just happen don't they. How different would the world be without our senses and how different would it be without our judgments.

A Little Help

As you continue your work this summer I'll try to provide a hint or two to help you with your practice. Here's today's hint. It is the very first line of the very first chapter of the Dhammapada, the best introductory collection of the Buddha's teachings (everyone should have a copy):

Our life is shaped by our mind: we become what we think.

I urge everyone, if they can, to get a copy of the Dhammapada, particularly the translation with commentary by Eknath Easwaran. If you do, then take some time to read the Introduction and the first chapter, "Twin Verses & Vigilance".

Deception

Most of us think in terms of only the five senses. But, in Buddhism we consider the mind a sense organ. This might come as a surprise to some of you and it takes a little getting used to---the mind as a sense organ just like the other five. As you work on the sense organ you have chosen to work on over the summer and are asking who or what "senses", every few days switch and ask the same question about the mind: who or what thinks. In a later post We'll consider the mind in a bit more detail, but for now, just hold the thought that the mind, or what we consider the mind to be, is a deceiver. Our conventional mind plays tricks. It is the ego's lover. But there is another mind, the true mind, the Buddha mind that is in each of us. That mind, our true, original mind, only experiences the ultimate truth. So, at least once a week ask yourself, who or what thinks. Then return to working on the sense you have chosen to consider this summer.

If you have questions or want some help feel free to email me at deokwun@grzen.org

The Senses are The Foundation

The reason I thought we should pick one of the senses for our summer focus comes from the idea that the senses are the foundation for our cravings and our suffering. While our lack of appreciation for the impermanence of all things is part of why we experience pain and suffering of all kinds, it is from the senses that they first arise. Consider this teaching from Master Nagarjuna:
Form, sound, taste, touch,
smell, and concepts of things,
these six are thought of as
the foundation of
desire, hatred, and confusion.
As we work on the one sense faculty this summer, consider how that one sense alone leads to the craving for the experiences that sense faculty brings and how those experiences, pleasant or unpleasant, can make you frustrated, judgmental, angry, confused. And, how do those feelings show up for you? How do they turn your day around? How does it affect you and those around you?

Who's There?

Hope you read yesterday's blog. If not, then it might be a good idea to go back and read it so that this post makes some sense.
As we focus on the one sense faculty we have chosen to work on this summer, I will remind you of the questions that we must hold. Today, just focus on: "who hears (or sees, smells, tastes, touches---let's stay away from thinks for now). If you wake up in the morning and hear the birds singing---who is it that hears? In silence is there sound? Must there be the birds for the ear to hear? If you were deaf, who hears? Don't try to work it out. Just hold the question. There is nothing else to do.

Summer Approaches

Now that Memorial Day is over we are moving towards the summer. This is the time of year when all of our senses are alive. Fragrant, bright flowers, song birds, tasty fruits and vegetables, sun on our skin, the mind wanders. It is also a good time of year to focus your meditation on one of the senses. Let's take sounds. What the ear hears are the objects of the hearing sense. But, if there were no sounds would the hearing sense still be there? What is it, or who is it, that hears? Is an audible sound necessary for the sense of hearing? Just sit with those questions for for the entire summer: what or who hears and must there be a sound for the hearing sense, the ear, to work? Don't look for the answer. Just sit with the questions. There is nothing more to do. Just sit with the questions. Even when you think you know, you probably don't. Be patient. Just keeping asking. Stay with this one sense (or choose another) and stay with it for the summer. Stick to it. Just that. Nothing else..

What is "The Way"

We speak often of "The Way" or "The Path". The Noble Eightfold Path is 'The Way". But, what is the essence of "The Path/The Way"? Chinese Master Zhang Shangying teaches that the essence, the heart of "The Path/The Way" is simply this: virtue, humaneness, justice, and courtesy. If you think about it The Noble Eightfold Path (right understanding,thoughts, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration) leads us to the four ways of being that Master Zhang Shangying teaches. When you can't recall the eight parts of the Noble Eightfold Path just think of being one of the four the Master teaches and you will be on "The Path/The Way".

Be the Middle

I overheard someone today complaining about how they didn't get what they wanted. It was a trivial thing no matter how you looked at it. They were ranting so that anyone within ear-shot could hear. It was clear that this person had a strong sense of entitlement and that the person who stood between them and the object they sought was the target of their anger and the object the target of their greed. But, what was really behind the rant was the dissatisfaction they were experiencing because they could not have what they wanted. I wondered what would happen if they had succeeded. What would they want next? It was a living example of the workings of the ego---workings that I am all too familiar with and workings that I battle daily. I wanted to share the following with the person I encountered this morning, but they were in no mood to listen. So I will share it with you instead in hopes that it may bring some insight into your day.

between left and right,
just be exactly centered,
suspended like sun and moon
without any self
Guanzi

Joplin Missouri

We must all keep the people in Joplin in our thoughts. They are suffering so much. Do what you can to help them. It is also a time for us to reflect on the impermanence of all things. Everything is subject to this universal law of impermanence. We may desperately cling to the notion that things can and will remain just as they are, but they don't. Our relentless craving for permanence only leads to pain, sorrow, lamentation, distress, and despair. Many of the people in Joplin have expressed these emotions, but there are others who see things "just as they are" --- they talk about getting past the tragic events and moving on to what's next. How truly wise they are. What can we learn form both groups? It would be wrong to ignore the suffering or treat it lightly. This suffering is real and in it are the lessons. It is in the suffering that we find liberation from suffering. Suffering and liberation---the same thing. This is what the Buddha teaches us to understand. All things are one including suffering and liberation. It may not make sense to you right now, but if you sit with this notion of the two as one, you may find a moment of awakening.

Keep Knocking

In Zen, when a novice shows up at the monastery for training he/she is refused entrance for up to a week. Each day they knock and each day they are rudely refused entry. When they are finally invited in they are put into guest quarters for a few more days to sit in meditation. All of this is to test their resolve for Zen training. It requires patience, fortitude, and unflinching commitment. I often think about the times I have wanted to enter into something I really wanted. Each time I wanted it NOW! What I discovered is that the things that come easy fade just as easily. It is the things that we have to work hard for, the things that are at first refused us that stick. What is it you have been refused that you wanted? Were you able to sit outside the door and knock and wait and knock and wait? What are your knocking at the door for these days? Can you sit in silence and patience? If not, then are you knocking at the right door?

To Find The Way

To find The Way, to discover the Path there is one sure method---cease from making judgments. Yet, how hard it is. It is what we do, what we have learned. Nothing comes as easy as being for or against. But, this is where all our suffering begins; this making judgments. I know that despite my best efforts I still do. I have to constantly remind myself of these words from Master Sheng-yen from his verses, "Faith in Mind":

If you want the Way to appear
Be neither for nor against
For and against opposing each other
This is the mind's disease

The Dog in the Forest

In Zen we work towards a return to our true mind; a mind free of discursive and discriminating thinking. Koans are a device that helps us on our Path to liberation. Koans can take many forms. Everything can be seen as a koan if we approach life mindfully aware of "just this". Today, let's carry with us a kind of koan from Master Dogen. It is not a tradition koan, but it might help us to free our minds from the traps and distractions were are prone to. Just carry this phrase with you today and see what shows up. Whatever does show up, don't chase it. Instead, recognize the thoughts then let them go. Here is the phrase:

The forest runs around the dog.

It's Been A Week

For the past week I have been working with a group of volunteers to get the Grand Rapids Zen Center is shape to open on June 5. We held a ritual cleansing of the space on Sunday May 15. Expected 15 people---60 showed up. Perhaps this is Grand Rapids' way of telling us that we have come to the right place at the right moment. Is this the city's karma? Is it time for the Buddha Dharma to take root here? The Buddha taught that we must use upaya (expedient means) to bring the Dharma to the places and people who need it at the time and in a way that appeals to them. I ask that all who read this keep us in mind and send us the intention that what we do brings the Dharma to Grand Rapids in a way that attracts people to the Path and that their lives are the better for it.

Buddha's Birthday

This is the week that we celebrate Buddha's birthday. We celebrate not the man, but his teachings. After all, he was just a man, no different from the rest of us. What does set him apart is his enlightenment---his awakening to the Truth. Rather than keep that Truth to himself he dedicated his life to sharing that Truth with those who wanted to know it. The Truth he teaches (and I use the present tense deliberately) can liberate us from our cravings and graspings that lead to suffering, our own and others. There is nothing so much to celebrate as there is to remember. Remember the Four Noble Truths: Life is unsatisfactory; the cause of unsatisfactoriness is anger, greed, and delusion; there is a way to relieve the unsatisfactoriness; that way is the Noble Eightfold Path. As this week passes and we remember the birth of the Buddha, let us take the time to renew our practice as a sign of respect for his teachings.

Been Away/Bin Laden's death

I haven't posted anything because I have been working on the Grand Rapids Zen Center website. I will be working on it the rest of this week and will post a link to it here when it is finished. In the meantime, remember that our practice never stops. Everything we do is our practice. One question to consider is how you reacted and then responded to the death of Osama Bin Laden. Did you rejoice, feel good about it, experience some unease? How should a Buddhist respond? For those who have taken the precepts, how did your response square with the precept to honor all life? This is a challenging event for some. It might be worthwhile for us to take some time to explore our experience of his death.

Between Breaths

When people ask me what they can do to get a "taste of zen" I suggest that they take a few minutes and concentrate on what happens when they breathe. Specifically, that moment between exhale and inhale. There, in that tiny moment, is the hitch in time when there is no air left to sustain us and our body desperately needs take in oxygen. What exists in that space between breaths? Everything is there! It is THE moment when life and death meet. If you don't take in another breath you die. It is that simple. What does that moment hold for you and what does it mean for you? What do you observe and experience when you put yourself fully in just that moment? Do you think of the past or the future? Do any of the things that make you mad, happy, sad, annoyed, joyful show up? I don't think they will. All that will show up is the need, in that split second, to take in another breath in order to keep living. When you take the time to be with just that life and death moment then just how much does all the rest of it matter? Do all those little things that seemed so important, so much life and death still seem to be there or, do they fade away to be replaced by just the moment of the need to breathe?

Raindrops

Today, just carry this with you and observe how it affects your day:

For the rain drop
Joy is entering the river

Ghalib, A Sufi

Time

There are three periods of time we refer to: past, present, future. We have a habit of talking about all three as if they each exist in any given moment; as if they are are all one at the same time. We try to pull the past forward and the yank the future back into the present trying to re-shape all three around what exactly? The past no longer exists, it has ceased to be and there is nothing we can do to change or re-align those events. The future has yet to arrive and it is contingent upon causes and conditions that likewise have yet to arrive. As a result, there is nothing we can do until all those things come into being in the future. That leaves us with just this moment and all the things that happen to make this moment what it is. When we are busy pulling and yanking at the past and the future we too often miss what we have now, at this moment, and before we know it, this moment has faded into the past and we start all over again. It is very hard to let go of the past and not worry about what happens next. It may be the hardest thing we try to do. Living fully present in this moment is our challenge and our gift---to ourselves and ultimately to others.

Success

Success is a a word we hear all too often.  It has become a goal unto itself. We chase this and that,  run here and there looking for success.  If success were really out there why the chase?  Why the pursuit?  If it were within reach wouldn't we have found it and then find peace and stillness with it?  It seems that most of us haven't found it, or we are not sure what it is or what it looks like for us so we run and chase and tire.  Chinese philosopher Guanzi has some advice for us in our pursuit of success:
Don't run in the place of horses
or you'll exhaust your strength
don't fly in the place of birds
or you'll wear out your wings.
Don't act before others
so you can observe their examples.
If you stir, you lose your position
be calm, and you'll spontaneously succeed.

Anger is an earthquake

I delivered a Dharma talk yesterday and wanted to share just a part of it here.
Our anger is like an earthquake. It begins to build just like the tectonic plates of the earth that push and push until they finally erupt.  Anger is just like that. Whatever it is inside of us that pushes against itself finds a release all too often in anger. And, when it does, just like an earthquake, it leaves behind destruction and devastation that takes a long time to rebuild.  The rebuilding is also often hampered by the shame, remorse, and regret we feel that rumble around in us like aftershocks causing more harm and devastation.  Here's an exercise I have been using with my own anger.  When I feel the pressure starting to build instead of focusing on keeping the anger at bay, I try to substitute compassion, love, and kindness in its place.  I do this by just repeating those three words to myself; "compassion . . . kindness . . . love . . .". I just repeat the words (nothing more than this) and even the smallest annoyance starts to fade and a new way of seeing the situation comes into view.  It may not work for you, but try it and see what happens.  What have you got to lose?  Your anger?  Maybe!

Clinging

Last week we focused on gratitude. This week let's take a look at our clinging---our grasping at things or for people, places, and ideas.  The Buddha teaches us that it is our relentless craving, clinging, and grasping that is at the root of our dissatisfaction with life.  Everything that causes us pain and distress comes from this drive to hold on and make the things, the people, the places, and the ideas remain as they are or as we want them to be---forever.  We forget that they won't.  Everything starts to end the moment it comes into existence.  Each and every moment rises and fades in an instant.  Nothing is permanent.  If we can understand this and really take it in, then we are on our way to ending our pain and distress.  It is not easy to experience.  It is contrary to everything our ego wants.  Yet, if we truly want to be free of our pain, distress, and sorrow we must come to grips with the impermanence of everything.  So today, focus on just one person, place, thing, or idea and let yourself go with the notion that whatever you choose to focus on cannot last forever; it is when it is and then it is gone.  What choices will then you make about that person, place, thing, or idea?  What choices do make with regard to yourself?  Remember, all you ever have is "just this" and nothing more.  That is today's truth---"just this".

Inner Gratitude

We work hard to send our gratitude and generosity out into the world. It is our practice. But, every once in awhile we should turn those energies inward.  Today, instead of looking out, look in---into yourself.  What is it about you that you are thankful for?  Where is an area where you should be generous to yourself?  This is not a selfish exercise.  It is an exercise in the truth.  When we take the time to look inside with gratitude and generosity what do we experience?  You may find things are missing, there are longings, there are regrets and there are also powerful places of energy, peace, and stillness.  They are all true in their own way.  Don't dwell on the difficult pieces or the easy pieces.  Instead, be thankful for them all and treat yourself with kindness. Until we do, we are not putting our full gratitude and generosity into the world. Let's make this our gratitude practice for today.

Virtue

No matter what you faith tradition might be, virtue is always a fundamental area of cultivation. They are cultivated as an antidote for our misguided intentions and actions. What the specific virtues for cultivation might be vary from faith to faith, but at their core the virtues serve as an impetus for a moral and ethical life free from the suffering caused by anger, greed, and delusion. How does one practice all the virtues together?  Buddhaghosa, in his 'The Path of Purification" (Visuddhimagga) provides a simple, direct way to do this.  He tells us, in essence, that regardless of what we confront, whether it be praise or blame, if we can remain unshaken, rooted firmly in what we know is right, then we become virtuous---our lives come from a place of purity; a purity of intent and action.  He says:
Just as a solid massive rock
Remains unshaken by the wind
So too, in the face of blame and praise
The wise remain unmovable

Today, as we work on gratitude, let us sit solidly with it and have our intentions and actions emanate from our rock solid base of generosity, compassion and loving-kindness.

Recollecting Generosity

One of the Six Recollections taught in the Vishuddhimagga is that of generosity.  In Chapter VII .107 we are taught that, "one should naturally be devoted to generosity and the constant practice of giving and sharing".  When we are mindful of generosity we free ourselves from our tendency to avarice and greed.  In giving, we  are practicing a fundamental virtue that brings us closer to the cessation of suffering caused by our cravings and we release others from the suffering caused by their unmet needs. So today, as we think of gratitude, let us also think about one way that we can be generous to someone today. It is one of our best practices.

Gratitude

Let's make this week a week of mindful gratitude. Each day let us give thanks for just one thing, no matter how big or small.  It might be a thank you to someone important to us, or a thank you for the first signs of Spring (especially for those of us who live in the snow belt!).  It is in gratitude that generosity, morality, and truth can manifest.  So, let's take time each day this week to be mindfully thankful at least once each day.  What are you thankful for today?  If it is a person---have you told them? How do you think they felt when you did?  How did you feel? Better, I bet.  I'll remind all of us again tomorrow.

Sadness

There may be no heavier burden than sadness.  Some days it feels as if the sack we carry just gets heavier and heavier.  When we look into the sack and see what is really in there we find brick upon brick of attachments. While each of those bricks represents people, places, or things that have been deeply important to us, our sadness comes from our hope that each will last forever.  Deep down we know that nothing does, that everything changes and passes on over time.  Yet, we cling to the notion that what we have will last and never fade.  When those things do fade we feel sad, sometimes deeply and profoundly so.  What we must do is let the sadness in; it is a legitimate feeling.  To deny, fight it, or ignore it is not the answer.  It is there and it is real.  The only way to get past it is to embrace it and then let it go.  Treat it like a wild animal.  When we can cage them they become something other than what they are; they lose touch with their true nature.  Set them free and they return to what they are.  And so it is with sadness.  Open the cage and let it go - - - in giving it its freedom you can return to your true nature.  Sadness is a burden that keeps a person caged and away from who they are.  I have and continue to know sadness and am always at the cage door pushing it out into the wild, into freedom.  When I do, I too am free to return to my true nature.  When I do I can then see things as they are:  "just so".

Putting Things Down

How often have you heard someone say, "I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders"?  What they are saying is that they have been carrying something around that has been burdensome, difficult, heavy, maybe even crushing.  Who is it that placed the burden there?  What exactly is it?  When we can see both the what and the who we soon can some to realize that we placed the burden on our shoulders ourselves; no one else has. And, just as we placed it there, we are the only ones who can truly put it down.  Others may help us, but our hands are the ones that have to reach up and put it down.  The same holds true for what it is we carry.  No one made it just for us.  There is no one out there who crafted the burden with us especially in mind.  When we can come to terms with the notion that what we carry and how we carry it is of our own making and our own lifting, then perhaps we can find our way to seeing that we too are the only ones who can put it down, feel the relief, and walk on with a lighter step.  The Buddha teaches us that, "everything is created by mind alone".  In the end, what we carry is created in our minds and it is there, in the unfettered light of being and seeing "just this", that we can begin to lift our burdens and get the relief we seek.

A Bee

The Buddha said, "even as a bee, having taken up nectar from a flower, flies away, not harming its color and fragrance, so may a sage wander through a village".  We should be like the bee as we move through our lives.  We land on places and with people over the course of our years.  As we do, and if we live the Dharma, we should not disturb the color or fragrance of those people or places.  We should do what we can in a compassionate, loving, and kind way to enhance their color and fragrance.  It is not for us to change them, but rather to accept them for and as they are.  Let our practice include an act each day that honors someone near to us, to enhance their life, its color and fragrance.  In so doing, the merit in our life increases and both of our suffering diminishes.

end of times: not for a Buddhist to predict

I haven't posted a news item in awhile and thought this was interesting.  See what happens when a monk predicts the end of the world.  Buddhist Sangha takes a different view than western religions. Click on next item for article.

Buddhist Monk in trouble for predictions

Generosity

The Buddha teaches us that generosity (dana) is one of the fundamentals of our practice.  Being generous means that we give at least in proportion to what we have. We should give of all of our resources, financial, energy, material goods, effort, enthusiasm, you name and it should be shared.  There will be times when it is very hard to part with those things---we will want to preserve and protect them.  It is very hard to part with them because we fear being deprived or vulnerable.  Yet, when we can get past our fears and give freely and without expectation then we move closer to peace, joy, and wisdom.  Make no mistake, it is not always easy, but the benefit to others is where our thoughts should be.  Think of the devastation in Japan or the attacks on civilians in the Middle East.  What have you give to help them?  Is there more or something else you can do?  How about those around you whose needs may not be as great as those in Japan or Libya---have you given freely to them today? Find something to give away today.  Be as generous as you can.

Monkey Mind/Sloth Mind Become

I hear a lot of people talk about "monkey mind" but have wondered if they really know where the term comes from.  Here it is---the Buddha's words from the Nidanasamyutta 12. VII:

But that which is called 'mind' and 'mentality' and 'consciousness' arises as one thing and ceases as another by day and by night.  Just as a monkey roaming through a forest grabs hold of one branch lets go and grabs another, the lets go and grabs still another, so to that which is called 'mind' and 'mentality' and 'consciousness' arises as one thing and ceases as another by day and by night.


How often does the monkey in our mind swing from one thought to another?  A recent study suggests that we generate a new thought every 1.2 seconds!! That's 50 thoughts a minute, 3000 thoughts an hour, 168,000 thoughts in a 14 hour day, 1,176,000 thoughts a week, 61,152,000 a year---now multiply that by your age.  Now do you see why you are exhausted AND you haven't done anything yet.  Want some rest? Quiet the mind.  How?  As I have been suggesting.  Stop and be still. Make the monkey a sloth.  Five minutes of quieting the mind a day relieves 250 thoughts that day, 1750 a week, 91,000 a year. May not seem like much but it's 91,000 fewer.  Think of the possible relief with each additional five minutes!!  Make the monkey a sloth!

Laying down a burden

There are times in our lives when it seems that we can't carry another load.  Our reserves are spent, we can't summon energy or enthusiasm.  Yet, we somehow seem to get through it.  The devastation in Japan certainly puts our burdens in perspective.  I can't imagine what it must be like to be there right now.  And what do we see from the Japanese?  Order, calm, resilience.  Wonder if that would happen here?  I also wonder if it has to do with their long Buddhist tradition and it's teachings on impermanence.  The Japanese have had centuries of not just the teaching, but the direct experience of it on a national scale.  I sometimes think that we in America don't get the notion of impermanence---we think we and us are immortal. Not so.
So, when you think the burden you carry is about to crush you, think of the Japanese and it might help with your perspective and assist you in carrying your burden.  If you could find a way to get the right perspective and put your burden down, not pick another one, then you can truly live your life as it is, when it is.  Living that way is a mindful life, a life free from the grasping, clinging, and craving that give rise to the burdens in the first place.

Stop so you can go

"To Do List"  "Shopping List"  "Bucket List"  lists, lists, lists.  Have to do this today, this tonight, this tomorrow, this next week.  Answer the phone, check email, twitter, facebook, run here, do this, don't forget about . . ., did I remember to do, what if I forget . . . . . .  This is our contemporary version of what the Buddha called 'muddled mindfulness'.  It's a mindfulness that has no focus, no relief, and no direction.
It is a muddle of anticipation, vigilance, anxiety, and fear.  Where is the peace and calm in it?
On and on it goes.  The mind spins and spins and takes the body with it.  After awhile it all starts to fall apart.  When do we stop?  Really STOP.  Take some time to let it all go just for a little while.  Isn't that what we do with a child when they rev up and spin wildly?  Don't we get them sit down tell them to be quiet and settle down?  Yet, as adults we don't do that.  Instead, we give all the mundane things a false priority.  Resolve, just for one day, to take 10 minutes and truly stop. Stop everything. Let nothing get in the way of stopping.  Just follow your breath and nothing else. Observe just how much "stuff" tries to get in the way.

If we don't learn how to stop we never quite get the hang of go.

The Look

I have been spending a lot of time recently refining my vision, so to speak. As I have worked on this I came across this poem by Zen Master Bassui Tokusho, a fourteenth century monk.  Before I share the poem I wanted to first share with you a phrase he often used: I teach with the voice of silence.  Silence has a very loud voice!
The last words he uttered before he died, and the poem I want to share with you today, may be his most simple and profound teaching.

Look straight ahead.  What's there?
If you see it as it is
You will never err.


May toady be a day of seeing what's there.

Men and Fish

One of my favorite poets and monks is Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who died accidentally while attending a Buddhist conference in India. This is one of his poems that I have frequently turned to for reflection. For those unfamiliar with the word "Tao", substitute the words "the Way".

Fishes are born in water
Men are born in Tao
If fishes, born in water,
Seek the deep shadow
Of pond and pool,
All their needs 
Are satisfied.
If man, born in Tao,
Sinks into the deep shadow
Of non-action
To forget aggression and concern,
He lacks nothing
His life is secure.


Moral: "All the fish needs is to get lost water.  All man needs is to get lost in Tao.

Compassion

I'm always looking for brief quotes that, in a very few words, capture the essence of the Buddha's teachings. I came across this one yesterday:

Compassion: a cultivated interest in suffering.


"Cultivated"---if you think of this in terms of how a farmer tends his fields.  He/she nurtures the soil, provides water, tills the space between the rows, protects against frost and disease.  The singular focus is on the health and production of the crop.  Sure, he/she is interested in the field, but more than that, they nurture and protect; a super-interest, if you will.  And so it should be for all of us in the field of suffering. We must do what we can, when can, with a super-interest, to alleviate suffering. Our own and others.  And, like the farmer, we will face bad weather and unexpected challenges, but just as the farmer is undeterred, so must we.

AH!

The owner of the cherry orchard
becomes compost
for the trees

From Japanese Death Poems

Penetrating What Is

In his poem, Faith in MInd, Master Sheng-yen gives us a short verses that we should carry with us and take out when we are wondering what to do:

Cut of talking and thinking
And there is nowhere you cannot penetrate


Ah, again how hard to follow!  Not talking and thinking!?!?  In our modern age of relentless talking and thinking about everything!!  Lindsay Lohan's necklace!  Charlie Sheen's craziness!!  Talk, talk, talk, talk.  Where is the silence when we can see things as they are?  Can you make your own silence and be still in it for awhile?  What will there be?

Zen and Pain Management

There is a fascinating study just released by the University of Montreal on the effects of meditation, and in particular Zen, on pain.  The link is here.  Take the time to read this. You will find it 'enlightening'!

Click on this link:

Montreal Study on Zen and Pain

Cleaning Out The Closet

You know how you feel when the day comes (usually in the Spring) when you open your closet and say to yourself, "I need to get rid of some of this stuff!  Do I really need all of these things?"  It's pretty easy to do if it is your closet. You take a deep breath, get a couple of bags and dig in. You keep going until the closet looks less cluttered.  You have a sense of having actually done something about the closet after thinking about it for so long.  How about your life?  I don't mean to be Forest Gumpy, but what if you looked at life the way you look at the closet?  What if you got rid of all the stuff you didn't need? Maybe, just maybe, when your cleaned out some of the life clutter you may find that things like frustration, anger, judgment, disappointment, dissatisfaction are cleared out as well.  Remember that the Buddha teaches that the roots of our "clutter" are anger, greed, and delusion.  Maybe it's time to start thinking about some Spring cleaning of the closets that are our lives.  Maybe, just maybe, we will suffer a little less in the process.

Being Angry

 A person whom I know quite well emailed me yesterday about a family matter that had her depressed and angry at the same time. Her anger was focused on another person's behavior and her depression rested in her feelings of being neglected and treated unfairly.  She was having a great deal of difficulty letting go of her feelings.  I tried to get her to realize that the anger and depression, at least in these circumstances, where choices she was making.  We talked about how much energy she was expending on something she had no control over.  And there is the lesson for all of us---when we bring our energy to those things beyond our control, to those things that bring us to a place of anger or ill-will, we are losing touch with our true nature, our true mind.  When we choose to move away from these feelings and towards our true nature, our Buddha nature, we move closer to compassion and loving kindness.  It's a hard thing to do.  For my friend, it is very difficult for her to find compassion and loving kindness for those whom she feels such anger. But, if she could make that choice instead of the ones she now makes, all that wasted energy will move in a different direction---the direction of her true nature.  And for the rest of us, the lesson is to always work on making the choice that is our true nature---one of compassion and loving kindness.

Where to go

There have been times in my life when I have cluttered it with "stuff". Doing too much, thinking too much, all caught up in  . . . what exactly was I caught up in?  And then there would come this moment when I realized what I was doing and NOT doing. I was moving through this life, but not in this life. In 1979 I had my first clear realization of this. I was in the Navy doing, well, not what I should have been doing. Now, 30 some odd years later I find myself finally moving to what is natural, what the Tao calls the root. What does the Tao say about the root? This:
Returning to the root is called stillness.
Stillness is called return to life.
Return to life is called the constant.
Knowing the constant is called enlightenment.
Acts at random, in ignorance of the constant, bode ill.

What Remains

Noisy silence
Thoughts, feelings, discriminations
Be still
Let them go
What remains

Make the best of what you have

Today I was re-reading Master Dogen's Instructions for the Cook and came across this which brought me back to what The Way teaches us from moment to moment. For those who are unfamiliar with this text, it was written by Master Dogen in the 13th century while he was a monk at the Kannon Dori Kosho Zen Monastery in Japan. Instructions is a detailed admonition to those who were assigned the role of tenso, or cook for the monastery. The tenso was considered one the most vital roles in the monastery. Dogen wanted to provide a set of instructions for the cook that would assist the cook in not just meal preparation, but would also assist the cook in finding his practice, his zen, in his work. This passage that I am sharing here is what Master Dogen says to the cook when confronted with either too few ingredients, or ingredients that may be inferior.  I like to think of the risings and fallings of our days as ingredients. And when I do, then I try to keep what Masteer Dogen instructs the cook to do in mind: "without worrying about their quality, simply make the best of what you have".

Its the little things

Practicing The Way is not about the big things---it's the little things.  There are hundreds of little things we do every single day.  Most of them go unnoticed and unthought about.  We hurry through them, more conscious of what lies ahead instead of what lies in front.  We worry about the past. Try to figure out and predict the future.  What happens when we are busy do those things is that the moment to moment rising and falling of our lives goes by and we have missed all that we only every have---this moment, right now. And, this moment is simple in its grandeur.  It is complex enough for right now.  There is nothing to look back on and nothing ahead to hold on to. What if we all lived like this?  What if you and I do?  What if I do?  What if you do?  That is all there is, isn't it?

Just A simple Thought

Something simple today:

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.  Lao Tzu

Finding Authenticity

Over the course of my life there have been times when I have not lived an authentic life. I chose instead to try to be who others wanted me to be or thought I should be and I became caught up in a distorted life instead of an authentic one. What authenticity means is living with one's self and others in such a way that you remain exactly who you are and true to what you hold most dear. To live otherwise, as I have done, is to live in a near constant state of dissatisfaction and fear. With dissatisfaction and fear there is suffering. And, the suffering we experience when living at odds with what is authentically us spills over onto those around usy making their lives ones of dissatisfaction and fear as well.  That is not how we are taught by the Buddha to live. Stephen Batchelor puts it this way, "the turning point from inauthenticity to authenticity is comprised of an experiential recognition and acceptance of the fundamental character of our being which we have been previously evading and distorting".  Our challenge is to face that authenticity and find the courage to live it moment to moment, day to day, year to year. It is part of our path and commitment to work for the cessation of suffering.

Revisiting Ignorance

Ignorance is a word we Buddhists throw around a lot. I find myself repeating this word maybe a little too often and without enough thought before I do. Today I stepped back and tried to remind myself of what it means in our way of looking at the world. I re-read a few thing and came upon this from Stephen Batchelor that is a concise way of reminding me what ignorance really means: it is a distorted mode of conception---apprehension of what is impermanent as permanent, the apprehension of what is unsatisfactory to be satisfactory, the apprehension of what is without self-identity to have a self-identity.  In other words, ignorance is seeing things that aren't really there.  So when we speak of ignorance we are speaking of a view of the world that can only lead to dissatisfaction and suffering. Ignorance is a warped perspective and a warped perspective leads to misery. The truth lies elsewhere.  It lies in the wisdom of understanding that things can only be the way they are and not as we would have them be. Once we can comprehend this and take things just the way they are, then we have taken up The Way and are on the path to an end to ignorance and suffering.

Heart Touch

One of the challenges we face each day is being and living from our heart space.  It isn't always easy to rest there or to awaken to each moment from the deepest part of our compassion and patience.  Throughout the day there are moments where our egos speak louder than our hearts and we listen to the one and offer excuses to the other.  Something I have been trying recently is to place my hand on my heart in those moments of challenge.  When I feel my heart beating I focus on the beats and visualize them as one beat for patience and one beat for compassion.  It's not always easy, but it is a small thing I try to do throughout the day.  It is a physical act that puts me in touch with the immaterial part of me that includes patience, compassion, and quiet.  For me, when I can hold that place, I know that I am still on The Path and still working to heal both myself and those around me.  Try this "heart touch" through out your day and see what arises for you.

The Thing in the Way

I read this today and found that it says something we should all be mindful of as we struggle with our practice and how our practice becomes action. It is this: we tend to make the thing in the way the way. I know that there are times when I do. I wonder what each day would be like if all of us just kept this simple phrase with us, tucked inside our minds, as a companion who does nothing more than ask us throughout the day, "what's in the way; are you making that the way right now"?  Don't look for the answer; the question is all.

Muddy Water Zen Dharma talk

I hope that anyone who stumbles on this blog will go to the link to the Muddy Water Zen blog (link included here) and listen to the Feb 6 Dharma talk entitled "2 Letters 3 Questions" a wonderful talk by Bup Chon Sunim

On the Road

Sorry there haven't been any posts, but my dog and I are driving from Michigan to San Diego California. It's not the first time we have done this drive and each time I am struck by the diversity and the sameness of our country. I say diversity and sameness because what I see is a lesson in non-duality which is essential to living our zen practice. So many different faces, accents, views, yet we are all the same if you strip those identities away. How vast is this land, yet how small some of the villages I pass. Some are no more than a couple of run down houses. And, in those houses, whether in the small village or sprawling city, the people face the same issues, share the same fears, share pain and joy.  A vast land with myriad small teachings.

Easing some Suffering

Yesterday I had the opportunity to ease someone's suffering a little. I knew what I had to do and I was surprised how easy it came once I let go of expecting anything in return. The Buddha teaches that dana, or the paramita of generosity, can only be effective if we give without any condition or expectation. That is not always an easy thing to do. If we really take a close look we can usually find that some quid pro quo is lurking around somewhere. But, if we can give of ourselves freely and without condition or expectation what we have to offer can be accepted just as freely and unconditionally. The result is an easing of the unsatisfactoriness of life for not just the recipient of our help, but our own experience of the suffering of life as well.  Nothing earns merit and can bring us closer to breaking the cycle of samsara than easing the suffering of another selflessly.  It is at the heart of our practice.

Not All Days are Good Ones

Somewhere along the line we have been told that every day must be a good day, or at least we should live so as to never have a bad day.  Really?!  Is that true for anyone?  The days are as they are.  Where we get ourselves all tangled up is when we make judgements about the day. The day is neither good nor bad.  It is just the day, as it is, how it is.  There is no good or bad about it.  But just think abut how many things we label as good or bad.  Start with little things such as a "bad hair day".  Not it's not. Your hair is just the way it is today.  Good weather or bad weather.  No, just the weather. When we practice no good, no bad, just as it is we can begin to experience things just as they, how they are, where they are, when they are.  The next time you want to identify something as good or bad, step back and say instead, it is as it is.

Long Life

Which is closer, your name or your body?
Which is more, your body or your possessions?
Which is more destructive, gain or loss?
Extreme fondness means great expense,
and abundant possessions mean much loss.
if you know when you have enough,
you will not be disgraced.
If you know when to stop,
you will not be endangered.
It is possible thereby to live long.


the Tao Te Ching

Away for a few days

I have been away for a few days.  I find that the months of January and February can be challenging.  For many of us the winter has really set in with the cold, gray, moody skies.  I imagine that many of us start to long for the Spring and the season of renewal.  But we should be mindful that if it were not for the winter there would be no Spring.  They are connected, they depend on each other.  The earth, or at least our part of it, needs to rest and recuperate.  It needs some time to recharge and so it slows down and settles for awhile.  The winter is a beautiful time of the year, pregnant with the knowledge that Spring is coming with its own kind of beauty. There is a lesson here for us.  We should take the time to renew ourselves this time of year.  Where have we lost touch with the oneness of our experiences?  What do we need to do to touch that sense of how we are all connected?  Is there one thing that we can do today that helps us reconnect?  Don't worry about yesterday, it's gone and no longer exists.  Tomorrow isn't here yet and we have no idea what it will be.  We are left with just today, with just this and nothing else.  And, if this is all we have for now, then what can we do, just today, to connect to that which is?

Reaching

I came across this yesterday. It is a simple way of saying we are all the same.

What we reach for may be different
But what makes us reach is the same


What makes us reach is the want of peace, happiness, and joy.  How they look may be different for each of us and the challenge is for each of us to recognize what we have in common and appreciate each others' reach.

Freedom

Huge freedom comes
When we hear the voices and do not believe them
They live in their own conditioned reality
They are projecting
They are saying what is true for them
and getting you to believe
it has something to do with you
It doesn't
Cheri Huber, "Making a Change"


How much credit we give those voices!  A good exercise is to step back and observe all the thoughts that ramble through our head in just a few minutes. Now, imagine how many of them in a day!  And what are those thoughts but voices vying for our attention. To what purpose?  Yet, we spend a lot of time engaging in conversation with them.  But they are not the reality of this moment. They are the voices of the ego trying to lull and fool us.  How often it works! Just be aware of them.  What to do?  There is nothing to do. It is when we 'do' something that they know we are paying attention to them. There is just this moment and nothing to do.  Easy to say, hard to . . . ---there's the lesson!

Monday, Monday

Ah, Monday!  What a great day!  Best day of the week!  No?  Why not?  It's the only day you have today. There is no Sunday or Tuesday---just Monday. Best day of the week!  Still not sure?  Well, then, what day can it be other than Monday, best day of the week. At least, so far . . .

Before Dawn

Head on the pillow

Not yet awake

Where am I

Slippered feet in the hall

anonymous

What We Become

The Buddha said, "Our life is shaped by our mind, we become what we think." The Dhammapada
It's not just our lives, but those of those around us. They too become what we think of them. We see them as our mind sees them rather than as they are. How would we experience them if we could let go of the image of them that we cling to? Who are they? Do we answer by describing them as our mind perceives them?  This is the hardest thing for us to do---to let go of what we hold on to as the truth about them when it is more the truth about us. Let's turn the Buddha's words a bit and see what we experience: "The people around me are shaped by my mind, they become who I think they are". As you read this what is your mind telling you?

Just as it is

There is a saying that has been with me my whole life: "it is what it is". Easy to say hard to live. This poem may help keep that perspective in view.

The past is already past.

Don't try to regain it.

The present does not stay.

Don't try to touch it.

From moment to moment.

The future has not come;

Don't think about it

Beforehand.

Whatever comes to the eye,

Leave it be.

There are no commandments

To be kept;

There's no filth to be cleansed.

With empty mind really

Penetrated, the dharmas

Have no life.

When you can be like this,

You've completed

The ultimate attainment.

P'ang Yün (龐蘊 Hõ Un)

Compassion

I heard religious historian Karen Armstrong today talking about her call for compassion statement. I also was thinking about the young man who shot and killed those people yesterday in Arizona. Like everyone else, I was outraged by the notion that someone could do such a thing. But then I steeped back and thought about what it must have felt like to be him. What are his parents going through? It was that moment that I realized that I was losing touch with the essence of our practice - - - compassion. I, for one, find compassiom easy to talk about, but hard to practice from moment to moment. Where is compassion in my attempts at mindfulness? What else is there if there is no compassion? It seems to fade quickly when we are confronted by the painful and inexplicable. Yet, those are precisely the moments when our compassion is tested most. Think of the shooter in Arizona; how long did it take for your thinking to shift to some compassion for him. I'd be willing to bet that few of us started with that feeling. Perhaps that is one of the lessons we take from this sad event. Our compassion should hold no limits. We should extend the same empathy and compassion we feel for the victims and their families to the shooter and his. After all, isn't relieving pain and suffering wherever we find our practice?

Lake Snows

West Michigan experiences lake effect snows from time to time. For those not familiar with this phenomenon, when cold winds blow across the warmer waters of Lake Michigan the combination creates kind of a snow machine. The sun can be shining and we can get a foot of snow. Drive inland a couple of miles and it is a sunny, though frigid day. It can be confusing the first time one experiences lake effect snow. It doesn't seem to make any sense; heavy snow, barely visible sun, no clouds. Yet, there it is---a snowy day. The sound of the wind, the blowing flakes, but there are no clouds. Life is like this sometimes. We can sort of see it out there in the haze, we know what we want it to look like, but the picture we see doesn't fit what we tell ourselves we should be seeing. In life we try to "do something" to make the picture clearer. In lake effect snow there is nothing we can do to make it stop or the sun to shine. The snow falls regardless of what we do.  Maybe we should see life as if it were lake effect snow. It's there, it's blowing, it doesn't seem to make sense sometimes, and it comes whether we are there or not. Perhaps, we should treat life the same way we do lake effect snow---there isn't anything we can do about it.  Except, of course, to shovel a path through the drifts.

Can we really speak truthfully?

Zen master Bankei once said, "because I cannot see a person's face I listen to what they say." He goes on to ask what is it that one really hears beneath the words. It is a teaching on how we form and express ourselves and how the truth somehow gets buried beneath the words. He teaches that once we form an idea and name it we are far away from the real truth.
Is it difficult to speak the truth? How often do we temper the truth and end up in a place that is both far from the truth and turns unsatisfactory, painful, and regretful? Too often we try to soft pedal the truth because we are afraid that it will do harm. But, are we doing more harm by covering over the truth?  There is an old saying that, "the truth hurts".  Maybe the better thing to say is that hiding the truth hurts. This is a good day to take a look at how we hide or filter the truth, how hard it is for us to be in the place of truth and speak from it. It doesn't mean you have to do anything with what you learn right away. What is important is to take stock of how this works for you. What to do with it?  There is nothing to do---just be with it. That is the lesson: there is nothing to do, just understand and the rest will follow.

One Mind

We hear much about the notion of One Mind, or The One, or Interdependence, or Oneness etc.. But, what is it that we take away from terms such as these?  What if we could really penetrate the meaning of One Mind---Buddha Mind---Buddha Nature? What would our lives look like if we could experience what is sometimes called, "interbeing"?  Think about that word: INTERBEING. Do we? And with what or who? Is there a limit or threshold to our capacity to interbe? Is it possible to even interbe? Who do you truly love; can you interbe with them? How about all those less fortunate than you are? Or, those more fortunate than you are?  Does it really matter if you want to interbe? Is this the source or true love and compassion? Is this the One Mind, the Buddha Mind. Buddha Nature?  Is it in you? A lot of questions today, but sometimes we need a kind of menu of choices (here just pick a question or two) to help us draw a bead on what lies around us. We are just coming into a new year. Maybe we can make this a year of interbeing.

Solitary Bliss?

I reached back into my practice journal for this. We buddhists often talk of the cessation of suffering, but how often do we use words like joy, happiness, or bliss? Just speaking them aloud gives them presence and power. Try incorporating them into your conversation and just see what shows up. Take these words from Shantideva to heart when you do:
"Since and other beings both, in wanting happiness, are equal and alike, what difference is there to distinguish us, that I should strive to have my bliss alone?"

New Year

This was sent to me by a Buddhist monk I know. Good thought to start the new year.

Let me respectfully remind you,

Life and death are of supreme importance.

Time swiftly passes by

And opportunity is lost.

Each of us should strive to awaken.

Awaken.

Take heed.

Do not squander your life.

-          The Evening Gatha, chanted at the end of the day in many Zen centers in some form or another around the world