It’s a sad thing that in our country we have the need to be right about everything and lack the necessary ability to be able to accept that others do not feel as we do. We have a need to be the winners in our politics and religion even with people who don’t believe in either. How can we progress past this and what will happen if we don’t? I believe that if we don’t learn the art of negotiation we will surly perish. If we don’t learn to let people worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster or just let them not believe in our imaginary friends then we will pass the way of all things unable to change and evolve,  into extinction. Give your brothers and sisters space to be different from you, remember change is good, remember be here now. 

Dorothy Jones Lecture

   
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My Spot on the wall.

          I’ve returned from a weekend sesshin with my friends at “Deep Springs Temple”  (http://www.deepspringzen.org/)  near Pittsburgh PA. It’s was an intense experience. We had 4 ea. 40 minute sitting periods with a 10 minute kinhin (walking meditation) on Friday and Sunday and  4x5 ea. on Saturday. The zendo is a roughly 16’x30’ room with wood paneling. As is the practice in Soto Zen we sat facing the wall. By mid-day on Saturday my body hurt but my mind had started to clear, or so I thought.  I went to bed on Saturday night feeling all “zenny” and non-attached, knowing that I had made progress in my searchers life. The wakeup bell rang at 3:30 Sunday morning. After a quick trip to the bathroom I took my spot in the zendo, and looked for my little spot on the wall that had been my friend all day Saturday

          Then the realization hit me. “My” sitting spot and “My” spot on the wall. How these attachments grow in us, this clinging to anything in the material world. I had grow an attachment to a small hole in a piece of paneling. How appropriate is that since the hole is basically a void. I had become attached to the void.

          This reminded me of a short teaching that I had read. “When you have a muddy dirty pair of work jeans you need a good detergent to get them clean. But try as you might, the jeans are not really clean until you rinse out all of the detergent”.

          In the end we must not even be attached to the dharma. Freedom is what we are after. To save all sentient beings we must first be free ourselves.

Do your practice, be free,
Namaste’

Don

A few weeks ago Ann, a member of our sangha, made an off hand statement to me about how zazen has helped her. I asked her to expound briefly on this. Here is her letter back to me.

Don,

          This is just a short note to let you know how helpful the practice of zazen has been to me.  Since I started, just a little over 4 months ago, I have noticed a difference in my ability to focus.  My listening skills have improved. My memory and recall have sharpened.  I feel very fortunate to be reaping such benefits at this stage of my life.  As a nursing student I have studied the impact stress has on the human body, zen meditation is an excellent way to restore the mind and body.  I can not thank you enough for your generosity in teaching this art to me.

Namaste',

Ann Goas

Having just returned from a weekend sesshin at “Deep Spring Temple” near Pittsburgh I feel almost to a word as Ann does. The stresses of home and hearth can oft times weigh heavily on a person. In this information dominated age we are all so thoroughly inundated that our stress level are usually beyond the roof. Now I know some will say that they are off the grid but I venture to say that unless you try extremely hard you are never really off.

Health and mental health reasons are some on many things to take into consideration when beginning a practice. At the sesshin the teacher name was Dosho Port. One of the points he stresses with us was the quality of mercy. He, along with the resident priest Kyoki Roberts, continued on with this thought throughout the time I spend.

Many hands can lighten the load.

Sunday morning as we awoke at 3:30 a.m., everybody was trying to get ready for our sitting at 4:00 a.m. Kyoki had assumes the job as cook for the weekend. Now I can imagine that having an extra dozen or so folks is stressful. The participants in the sesshin do work sessions with assigned task. With a sink full of dishes and everybody running around, not one person thought of asking her if she need a hand.

(and the shoe drops)

During our morning Dharma talk Dosho again spoke of mercy at which point Kyoki, as a true Zen master would, brought our collective actions to our collective attentions. 

She explained it thusly, and I paraphrase, When you walk into a room look around be a part of what is happening. If you see something needs done do it. When you leave, leave no trace behind.

That, my friends, will stick with me for quite a while. To live life as such. Seeing something need done and doing it leaving with no trace, no ego, no attachment. If we use less of our ego and more of our mind, imagine how our stress levels would plummet. If we had mercy on ourselves and others maybe we wouldn’t need to be a “Prozac” nation.

Ann, your journey has just begun with zazen. You have many more rewards to reap from this practice. The effort that you have put into your practice will benefit you from now until you pass from this life.

Be merciful to yourself, for we cannot be merciful to others until we can show mercy to ourselves. Be merciful to others, walk into the room of their life, see if anything needs done, do it, and leave with no trace, no bad karma.

Be diligent in your practice, whatever that may look like. Do it to the best of you ability.

Namaste’,

Don   

Model-Dependent Reality

Model-Dependent Reality, my new favorite catch phrase. This is from a book by Stephen Hawkins and Leonard Mlodinow titled “The Grand Design”. (GD)

 "[Model-dependent realism] is based on the idea that our brains interpret the input from our sensory organs by making a model of the world. When such a model is successful at explaining events, we tend to attribute to it, and to the elements and concepts that constitute it, the quality of reality or absolute truth." (GD)

How we view the world, our place of, or in, existence can effect this existence. Now I realize that (GD) this is dealing with things on the quantum level, my contention would be that this is also true on a macro level.

"There is no picture- or theory-independent concept of reality. Instead we will adopt a view that we will call model-dependent realism: the idea that a physical theory or world picture is a model (generally of a mathematical nature) and a set of rules that connect the elements of the model to observations. This provides a framework with which to interpret modern science." (GD)

"According to the idea of model-dependent realism ..., our brains interpret the input from our sensory organs by making a model of the outside world. We form mental concepts of our home, trees, other people, the electricity that flows from wall sockets, atoms, molecules, and other universes. These mental concepts are the only reality we can know. There is no model-independent test of reality. It follows that a well-constructed model creates a reality of its own." (GD)

We see the world through our senses, we hear, see touch, and smell. Everything is interpreted coming through our senses and to our brain. We label things and that is what they become to us. As my friends for “A Course In Miracles “are fond of saying a chair is not a chair. We designate it a chair then our whole concept of reality is dependent on that being a chair.

How many time have we hear the term “think outside the box”? What does that mean to you? To me it means that we must try to avoid our preconceived notions of reality and invent another version that will work in this given situation. We have heard many times of marathon runners pulling that last bit from somewhere deep within to win a race or of a sports team coming from behind to achieve a victory. Where does that come from? Have they reinvented their realities? If so, how can our perception invade the physical world?

"According to model-dependent realism, it is pointless to ask whether a model is real, only whether it agrees with observation. If there are two models that both agree with observation ... then one cannot say that one is more real than another. One can use whichever model is more convenient in the situation under consideration." (GD)

In the quantum world there is the reality that the mere observation or the intent of the observer can change the outcome of an experiment. Why would it not be the same on the macro level? We have just seen multiple dictatorships overthrown in the Mideast. The Hollywood dream machine is another prime example we just take for granted. A multi-billion dollar industry built on shaping reality.

These are cases of people changing their and others perception of reality. I would ask, are there people living among us who can shape their physical reality?  

"It might be that to describe the universe, we have to employ different theories in different situations. Each theory may have its own version of reality, but according to model-dependent realism, that is acceptable so long as the theories agree in their predictions whenever they overlap, that is, whenever they can both be applied." (GD)

We all accept as fact the everything is made from atoms and they in turn are made of even smaller thing. The fact is that most of what we perceive as solid “real” objects and vast amounts of nothing with a few atoms, molecules, quarks and what not thrown in. Our brain builds our reality from some, and only a short bit of the spectrum, of the radiation produced by the sun, traveling through space bouncing off these collections of particles and emptiness. These are in turn picked up by our senses taken to our brain and turned into what we see as our world.

Are there people who have trained themselves to see more that we do? To manipulate the atoms? To be able to pass between what we perceive as reality? In many forms of metaphysics people lay claim to just such abilities. Science has tried to measure this in experiments for years. I wonder if these abilities as is the nature of quantum experiments changes when it is observed and measured? 

Chose to be happy, make that your reality.

Namaste’

BIG LETTERS/small letters

               In a group I attend on Sunday evening, “A Course In Miracles” we often discuss spirituality, love, compassion and things of the such in two different ways. To use the term compassion as an example, there is the small “c” compassion in which we feel empathy for others and the big “C” Compassion in which we feel Compassion for the race/planet/society/plane of existence as a whole.
            I was listening to Krishna Das, a musician and devotee of Neem Karoli Baba, talk about a teaching Baba gave. When he had asked Baba what he was to do the instruction was give “love people, feed people”. K.D. said, I wish he had given me a million syllable mantra to chant while standing on one leg in the ice, something easy. Love people, feed people. How am I to do that? I don’t even like people.
            Jesus said “Love your neighbor as yourself”. The first vow of the bodhisattva says “Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them”. Both of these are the BIG letter ideas. What I am thinking is that we need to start with small letter ideas. If we practice love and compassion on the small scale it will naturally evolve into the BIG letter concepts. If we do simple things such as, while driving let someone out in line. Smile when you are in the grocery store, park you vehicle properly in parking lots. These acts of kindness will spread to those around us.
            Small actions and signs of caring for people mean so much. Call an older relative and talk with them about their life. Be truly interested in someone when they tell you about their troubles. Some people are harder to love than others; this is because they need the love so badly. This is like a person starving to death, you need to be mindful of how much food you give them or you can cause them hard.
            Don’t forget to include yourself on this list of people to love. Take care of yourself properly. Love yourself properly. Remember the Buddha way is the middle path. Extremes in either direction are not conducive to our journey.

time

Time spent alone
Reflecting on the past
Desires and releases
Come at last
Sweeping through my mind
Winds of change
Blowing the dessert sands
Bringing the sweet rains
And the flowers bloom

Time spent alone

Time spent alone

Reflecting on the past

Desires and releases

Come at last

Sweeping through my mind

Winds of change on the dessert

Bringing the sweet rains

And the flowers bloom

"Do not believe in something because the authorities say it is so. Do not believe in hearsay, rumor, speculative opinion, public opinion, or mere acceptance to logic and inference alone. Help yourself, accept as completely true only that which is praised by the wise and which you test for yourself and know to be good for yourself and others"

Living

We are one with everything we see around us, just as we are separate from it all also. We are beings bound by the dharma locked into the universal form, just as we also are beings of immense and exquisite free will.  This is a paradoxical approach to being human. This is reality.

Darkness

Darkness does not exist it is only the absence of light. Hate does not exist it is only the absence of love.

“Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them.”

The first vow of the Bodhisattva is “Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them.”  Just what does that mean to us as westerners mostly unaccustomed to thinking in such terms? First and foremost just what is a sentient being? Secondly how can we save that something or someone that is uncountable?  

The definition of a sentient being is 1. having the power of perception by the senses; conscious. 2. characterized by sensation and consciousness. Now it is quite obvious that this covers a lot of ground. So here we are not just talking about humans but all beings. Nobody can say with this first vow that Buddhist don’t set the bar high. Buddhist thought and philosophy endeavors to shake us free of our small minded preconceived notions of reality.  

Herein is the concept of unity. We save all sentient beings by first saving ourselves. As when we learn to grow a garden properly or how to hunt for food it takes practice before we can be proficient. After we reach a certain level we start naturally to share our knowledge in these matters.

            So to it is with awakening. We need to practice our chosen method and when we become proficient then we will naturally want to share it with others. The Bodhisattva is not a person it is a realization that comes into you when you turn to another with true compassion in a time of need. When you meet a person who has just lost a loved one and you share their pain, not superficially, but in a real sense, you are the Bodhisattva.  We all can save beings one at a time by being awake to situations that arise all around us and acting out of our compassionate nature.

            To act out of our compassionate nature we need to develop it with our practice. When we start we are lost as to what to do or how to act. As we progress our compassionate nature becomes awakened within us and we act accordingly in each situation as it arises. Like a fire we can light the path for others to awaken and thus save ouselves and them.  

What to do

When I started this journey I thought that getting myself enlightened was what it was all about. Now I think serving/saving all sentient beings is the thing to do. The question remains, do I know the right thing to do? Would I know it if it hit me right square between the eyes? All I can do is hope.

an apple

I shine an apple,

A gift for my blind teacher,

I take a big bite.

Cold and Hot

A monk asked Tozan “ How can we escape the cold and heat?” Tozan replied “Why not go where there is no cold and heat?” “Is there such a place?” the monk asked.  Tozan commented, “When cold, be thoroughly cold; when hot, be hot through and through.”

The world in which we, these bodies, live is a place of dissatisfaction. We are to hot or to cold, to thin or to fat, to young or to old. We strive for perfection, fight and dig our way to the top of given situations only to find that, once there, we are not fulfilled.  As the Heart Sutra says:

Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form.

Sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness, are likewise like this.

When we are involved a given drama of life we need to be in it thoroughly, and then let it go. Clinging is what gives rise to suffering. When you are cold be cold, when you are hot be hot. Do not cling to the cold or hot just be. Do not cling to the drama live it and let it go. Become the master of your life not the servant.  

Thus the bodhisattva lives Prajna Paramita,

with no hindrance in the mind; no hindrance therefore no fear.

New Years

Ah the end of another year and a new beginnings. The story that I’m reminded of is one that I read at the sangha last night.

Ummon said” I do not ask you about fifteen days ago. But what about fifteen days hence? Come say a word about this!” Since none of the monks answered, he answered "Every day is a good day."

How true, that we live our lives dwelling on past events that we cannot change and a future that, is as well equally impossible to act upon. While it is true that we can make plans for future happenings, the reality is that what we plan for can easily fall apart like a sand sculpture at the beach. While we need to plan and set goals for ourselves we also need to realize that this day, this moment, we are living will never come again. On realizing this we must put the effort forth to live it to the fullest. I love how this is put in the evening gatha.

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.

Be aware of moments that can change your life or the lives of others. Act on these and I can guarantee that your life will be richer and more full for it.   

The Book, thoughts on a new year

Staring through the window as the rain turns to ice

The trees are bare and have a lonely look

I remember lost moments of my life

As I prepare to write a new chapter in the book

Snow

I see the beauty

In the flakes of falling snow

Like stars drifting down

How does fear stand in the way

How does fear stand in the way of our compassion? Do I fear that if I talk to or aid an obviously homeless person that, that act will cause that person to bond to me and I will be forever responsible for that person? Fear will cause a paralysis in our soul. We can fear being to loving, to gentle, to angry, to aggressive, to meek, to mild. Fear will cause us to procrastinate doing the spiritual work that we know is in our best interest. Fear of success and fear of failure are two sides of the same coin. To allow our compassion to grow we must overcome the fear that dwells within each of us.