On Being Human

   It is very common for people to say that Zen offers you nothing. That what the Zen  experience for them personally  may accomplish is the loss of what the Tibetans call afflictive emotions. Emotions and feelings like hate anger avarice and greed. Of course the list goes on with emotions like envy and probably most important fear. When I talk to people that come to our Zendo and ask them what they want it seems like mostly they want peace. They want to still the turmoil that stirs within their souls. They want to stop being angry and fearful and petty,  because all these things hurt. All these afflictive emotions simply make us unhappy.  I think one of the things that Buddha so clearly saw was that all these terrible feelings and emotions bring us great pain and pain to the people around us. They are truly the root cause of much unhappiness.

Part of the cure for all this unhappiness is the realization of dependent arising, that is to say that all things come and go depending upon circumstances and that nothing ever stays the same. We are taught that this realization can lead us away from attachment to the things and even ideas such as our ideas of God and thus reduce our unhappiness. But insight into this fact of nature doesn’t really help unless there is an underpinning of compassion for both yourself and others. This compassion stays the hand of judgment and opens the door to forgiveness. As hard as it is to forgive others it is much harder to forgive ourselves.

 There are some things that it seems only natural to be attached to. We are attached our ideas of right and wrong and are attached to those we care and love. I think almost everyone has a deep feeling of what is just and what is unjust.  And no matter what you say these things also cause us great unhappiness. This creates a great dilemma for a man without a feeling of justice without charity and is  without compassion for others can barely be said to be a man. A man who does not love his children and weep upon their death’s has no heart and I don’t think would be capable of experiencing joy even if being able to separate himself from these attachments were possible.

I would like to think that being human means that we will suffer in this life from good cause. The clearing away the smoke of emotions that reduce our humanity, ridding ourselves of those emotions that make us small and petty is work for everyone who wants to be human. But it is clear to me that this is very hard work indeed. Even if we were to actually accomplish the eradication of all these afflictive emotions and turn to a completely rational understanding of the pain caused by loving our children caring for the poor and feeling the frustration of our own inability to do more, would we want to end the pain that these things cause. Can there really be any joy without this pain?

Growing up,  becoming mature,  waking up is a painful process in itself. It becomes clear that even for the best of us pain is the fire in which our souls must be forged. It’s simple enough to say we want to be happy and we want the Buddha to show us the way to that happiness. But a soul without turmoil is nothing more than a piece of deadwood.

 

 

 

Zombie Zen

                                                

          A zombie is the body of a dead person given the semblance of life, but mute and will-less, 0r just a person whose behavior or responses are wooden, listless, or seemingly rote; automaton.

         Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism which originated in China during the 6th century CE as Chán. From China, Zen spread south to Vietnam, to Korea and east to Japan.  The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle Chinese word 禪 Dzyen (Modern Mandarin: Chán), which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "absorption" or "meditative state". Over the years many forms of Zen have come and gone.

 It is time to ask if you and I are practicing Zombie Zen!

           A living religion is the one which changes according to the needs of the times keeping its essence.   Is our Zen a Zen that is doctrinally rooted in the past?  If a Religion hasn't changed since it's inception, or continues to cling to dogma that is obviously out of step with the time it's in, or it's social environment, then it is no more living than a stone.  It is doomed to irrelevance simply because society changes and it doesn't.

          Is our Zen simply the animated corpse of a Zen long dead?    Teachers are you responsible for this voodoo.  Do you spend your life trying to reanimate that which is long dead?

   It seems to me too many Zen Masters focus on the trivia of Zen as a way to avoid risking their reputation by exercising their own judgement. If you assume your self a teacher don't pratice voodoo trying to recreate what is long dead.  If you are a master stop trying to  raise the dead, give birth to a living Zen

Right View

             For some reason people today ignore Buddha’s first sermon. It dose not promise enlightenment. It dose not promise magical powers or omniscient insights.  The first and only promise Buddha ever made was that he knew how you could reduce the suffering of this life.

The Four Noble Truths

1. Life means suffering
2. The origin of suffering is attachment
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable
4. The way to the reduction of that suffering is the noble eightfold path

The Eight Fold Path

1. Right View
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right concentration

               When considering the Buddha’s prescription for reducing the suffering of this world the first two admonitions Right View and Right Intention can be called wisdom. They are in fact referring to our fundamental world view, how we see the world and what motivates us to do what we do. Right view is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point of view, including natural philosophy; fundamental, existential, and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and ethics. In fact it is both the beginning and the end of the path.

              The physical and social world we live in can be brutal, merciless and random in how it treats us.  Too many modern Zen practitioners think that they can achieve this without teaching or guidance.  They often see this as “belief” and equate that with superstition and nonsense. What they ignore is the simple fact that they are not changing themselves.  No matter how many hours they sit in meditation, no matter what hoops the have jumped through to gain recognition, until they change, they have achieved nothing. Under their robes they are still whoever the have always been.  All the teachings and all their words are just a coat of paint smeared over their surface self.
             It is not until the world begins to squeeze you hard. Not until the suffering gets to a point where it is unendurable do you begin to see what you have done. When you reach for the support that that world view grants and find your hands grasping nothing but air. Then the world will show you the arrogant crap that glib statements like, “I don’t believe in anything” are made of.   If you really think you don’t believe in anything, you are both unaware of how your mind functions and perhaps just a self deluded fool.  Buddha was not such an arrogant fool.
          You have a world view it is the fundamental basis of your mind.  If you don’t change that view, not coat it with a coat of paint your wasting your and everyone’s time.  No good act without true good intentions will generate good results. No Dana given will have any value.
          Are you obsessed with money? Do you worry more about buildings and cars and robes than about people?  What do you really care about?   The Buddha said you must make the Buddhist world view yours. You must as they say make it real.  This world view is usually called the Dharma. You must do more than take refuge you must make it the world you live in.  If it is not your reality your just fooling yourself and eventually your real world will come calling and there will be no place to hide.

  

Birth and Death

Birth and Death are elements of natural time. They help time obscure eternity. They are a mask on the face of our real selves.

Āditta Sutta - the Buddha's 3rd sermon

            At one time the Blessed one was living near Gayā, at Gayā’s head, with a thousand bhikkhus. Then the Blessed One addressed them:

“Everything, monks, is burning. What, monks, is everything that is burning? The eye, monks, is burning, form is burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning. The feeling that arises dependent on eye-contact, whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, that also is burning. With what is it burning? It is burning with the fire of passion, the fire of hatred, the fire of delusion. I declare that it is burning with the fire of birth, decay, death, grief, lamentation, pain, sorrow, and despair.

The ear, monks, is burning, sound is burning, … and despair.

The nose, monks, is burning, odour is burning, … and despair.

The tongue, monks, is burning, taste is burning, … and despair.

The body, monks, is burning, touch is burning, … and despair.

The mind, monks, is burning, thought is burning, … and despair.

Seeing thus, monks, the well-informed noble disciple is disgusted with the eye, is disgusted with forms, is disgusted with eye-consciousness, disgusted with eye-contact. He is disgusted with the feeling that arises dependent on eye contact, whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. He is disgusted with the ear … with the nose … with the tongue … with the body … with the mind, with thoughts, with mind-contact, with the feeling that arises dependent on mind-contact, whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.

Being disgusted, he is dispassionate, being dispassionate he is freed. Being freed, he knows he is free, and he knows, “Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been fulfilled, what should be done has been done, there is no more of this.”

Thus spoke the Blessed One. Those monks delighted in what the Blessed One had said. And while this discourse was being delivered the minds of those one thousand monks were liberated from defilements without any remainder.

Eating is a fire, breathing is a fire, the fire is the mouth of the Gods who accept this offering and that to is a burning ... 

Just a frog

There is the absolute and the realization of the expressions of the absolute.   Love is such a realization.  A sunset is such a realization.  Living and dying are such a realization. Time has noting to do with eternity; time is simply what obscures eternity from our perception. A frog can sit on a lily pad for a million culpa and still just be a fucking frog.

Walking Zen.

       The other day I was sitting in a crowed restaurant. I saw this elderly man trying to walk among all the bustling people fighting for their place in the buffet line. His was taking small careful steps, walking very slowly and more over with a focus and intent that can only be described as mindfulness.

       All the people around him were focused on the mechanics of getting their food and getting back to their table to eat. He on the other hand, probably due to his own frailty was focused completely at the time on walking.
      As I observed him I suddenly had several realizations about “walking meditation” or “Kinhin” as it is called in Japanese Zen and “Cankama” in Pali, as practiced by the Theravadin monks of Thailand and Sri Lanka.
       This was one of those slap your own forehead moments when you are absolutely positive you’re the last person in the auditorium to get the joke.
        Frankly I had never really utilized our sessions of Kinhin for much more than an opportunity to bring the circulation back into my lower extremities after a long period of sitting meditation (zazen). My focus was almost always on getting the feeling and blood back in my legs.
       In that moment I saw that walking mediation was truly a powerful form and practice. It became clear to me that done with true mindfulness it could be the bridge between  sitting on the cushion and my everyday life and activity, if done correctly it was Zen in action. It would be the ground for a steady and alert mind as I walked into my daily activities.
        As we baby boomers age and become afflicted with arthritis, broken hips slipped or ruptured discs I can see Kinhin becoming more and more a way we older folks can practice Zen, not just as a break between the “real” Zen, but as a powerful meaningful practice.  It can be practiced almost every where and by almost every one. I know this seems stupid but realizing all this made my heart feel very good.

(A Navajo Indian Prayer of the Second Day of the Night Chant (anonymous)


In beauty may I walk.

All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
Beautifully will I possess again.
Beautifully birds . . .
Beautifully joyful birds
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.
With beauty may I walk.

With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.

It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.