Blogma
exploring the Dharma one blog post at a time...
Dharma Blog Posts – Posts by Buddhist teachers or senior practitioners on specific Buddhist teachings. They are educational, instructive, or insightful posts to help others understand the teachings of Buddha.
Sangha Member Blog Posts – Posts by Sangha members (members practicing with Corvallis Zen Circle) about their experiences and their Zen practice on the path to awakening.
Nothing Special
“Zazen never becomes anything special, no matter how long you practice,” said Kodo Sawaki Roshi. “If it becomes something special, you must have a screw loose somewhere.” Listening to this fine old master Zen adept we are reminded not to load anything extra onto our practice, not to make it be different from our moment to moment experience. Don’t get lost in thoughts about Zen or Buddhism. Just be here and be alive, really alive! Maybe you become rather snoozy, anxious, restless as you sit. Whatever your state of mind, wherever your attention wanders to, just come as you are. Still on the cushion, returning again and again to this very seat of zazen. Commit to your life, just as it is, a little something of great value.A Quiet Moment
Writing this on a quiet afternoon during the Memorial Day weekend, I notice the very simple pleasure that a warm breeze on my face elicits. It’s these unanticipated moments of simplicity, where no mental agenda presses, and the thinking mind is as quiet as the gentle breeze, that the loveliness of summer-scented air can be all and everything. Complete in its conditions. You may wonder how to bring zazen into your “ordinary” life. I recommend this. Notice your assumptions about the form that utter presence must take. Rely simply on making room for awareness, nowhere but right here. The miracle. Conscious, aware right now. It’s so quiet that I can hear my neighbors’ serene conversation a block away. Maezumi Roshi urges us to appreciate our life. This can be so uncomplicated. And always right here.Mother’s Day
Mothers’ Day brings to my mind Prajnaparamita, mother of all Buddhas. What IS prajnaparamita? We translate it as the “perfection of wisdom”. “Prajna” is “wisdom”, and “paramita” means “that which goes beyond”. Whatever’s happening right here and now. Where is the beyond? This practice that we do is all about looking into the nature of what is and what is beyond. When we refer to prajnaparamita, wisdom beyond wisdom, we are recognizing that wisdom is not a static “thing”. Rather the flowing nature of NOW. What makes up this sense of the present moment? What is true about it? How does it work? How does it coalesce in your heart and mind to seem so permanent and perhaps separate? Investigating this, we come to know intimately the mother of all Buddhas, the mother of being, the life we are living.
Listening
Listen. Just listen. At any time of day or night, anywhere. Listen to the sounds of the world. This simple practice is always available in the midst of activity or stillness. One of the gifts of just listening, according to Master Dogen, is what that allows for.
At the very time
When my ears hear
The voice as it is
Everyone that I talk with
Is my friend.
Friendliness, or intimacy, arises when just listening and only listening. We chant, “Absorbing world sounds awakens a buddha right here.” What “wakes up” when we drop our usual add-ons, side murmurings and mental commentaries that ordinarily sound-track our experience and distract us – with friends and acquaintances, co-workers, while walking in nature, while gardening, doing the dishes, driving the kids somewhere. What is speaking to us that we miss? There’s so much we notice when we truly listen. It’s so simple and yet can be hard to get to. Sound expresses so much in this intimate space and perpetually touches the inmost heart of our goings and comings. Listen, just listen and hear the voices of the ten-thousand things, any and all phenomena. What did you never notice before?
For the Sake of All Beings
For the Sake of All Beings. This was the sign we carried at Saturday’s rally, affirming our practice in Bodhisattva School (Jomon’s phrase). There was a huge variety of signs at the rally, and much joyful cacophony as those in the crowd expressed what each found most important to protect and defend. The current conditions are ripe for wise response. There is a call. But what is it? When making our sign we asked ourselves how to take a stand that stems from the deepest wisdom?Responding to the Steel Trap
There’s a phrase, “mind like a steel trap”. What an image! It describes a mind that is sharp and quick to grab on. This sounds good, something we would want. Some of us have such a mind, snatching at every thought, every piece of information and holding on tight. Although this may serve in some situations in some ways, it doesn’t always serve. A steel trap narrows and holds tight. Animals caught in a steel trap have been known to gnaw off a limb to get free. We don’t have to go that far. Instead, we can stop gnawing on any bone, any obsession or fixed view and release into our wholeness and ease.
We each have the capacity to open the heart of the mind in zazen. To slip out of the trap. In zazen, we notice the habits of snatching and holding and discover a more flexible mind, which helps us enjoy the larger life that we are part of and to bring a large view to any situation we encounter. Then our warm heart can have more of a say in the choices we make and how we respond. We’re more able to contribute what’s truly needed from this quality of mind.