Okinawa Zazen Group (meeting notes)

Attendees:

Jordan "風剣" Fountain

沢庵 (The Pug Dog)

Due to all the attendees being present early, a motion was forwarded to begin the sitting early , the motion passed with no objections.

Prior to the first sitting, the Heart Sutra was recited, two typos's were noted in the service book's transcript of the Heart Sutra.

The first sitting began at approximately 0940.

沢庵 did several reverse circumambulations and finally settled on the tatami in the middle of the room and promptly began snoring.

During Kinhin 沢庵 decided to rouse, and left the Zazen hall. It was discovered later that he had gone down stairs to take a dump.

沢庵 Returned for the second sitting, attempted to get onto my lap but decided it was too much trouble to try and locate a spot for himself as the full lotus posture does not seem to be comfortable for him. He did another round of notably noisy reverse circumambulations, perhaps scratching for a bit too, before once again settling into a good snore.

Afterwards gratitude was expressed for the Buddha ancestors and 沢庵 was thanked for joining me for today's sitting.

In reflection, I am grateful for having the opportunity to sit, and have an increased appreciation of how miraculous it is to not only develop the will to the truth, but to come together with those who are like minded.

I take refuge in the Buddha.

I take Refuge in the Dharma.

I take refuge in the Sangha.

Okinawa Saturday Morning Zazen group meetings will continue to be offered to any who are interested in joining, as long as I am here and able.

In veneration to all the Buddha ancestors, and all of those Bodhisattvas that I have met and have yet to meet, Jordan.

Dogen's Bible and Enlightened Teachers

This is why I intend to gather together the few experiences I

had abroad, and to record the secrets of an enlightened teacher, so that they

may be heard by any practitioner who desires to hear them.

Shobogenzo Bendowa Nishijima and Cross translation

There has been a bit of scuttlebutt about internet teachers/communities versus real life flesh and blood teachers/communities that I caught wind of recently.

That, coupled with what ideas of mine of things like teachers and organizations that have been totally smashed, I would like to put forth that the argument either for and against is pretty lame.

First of I think this is a phenomenon that is primarily occurring in the western zen communities so that is where I'm coming from.

The first idea I'd like to smash is that there is a fundamental difference between the two.

Lets think about why we committed ourselves to this practice for a moment. It should not take very long. Most of us came to this practice because we know that something is not quite right and we want to get to the bottom of it. After a bit of practice most people (who are not mentally disabled, or acutely insane) figure out that it is themselves that is not right.

The more not right the person is or the more they are affected by this not rightness is frighteningly proportionate to how dedicated they are to the practice. So the most messed up people end up being zen teachers (or at least zen bloggers.) Just because they have become teachers doesn't mean that they have solved all of their problems either. From what I have seen Dharma transmission doesn't make someone a perfect human being. That goes for pretty much any of our zen sanghas weather online or physical here in the west. I'm sure there are exceptions, but the exceptions are pretty small and are likely not part of the echosphear. Anyone of these zen teachers who present themselves as being anything but a flawed human being is probably a U.S. Marine... unh no I mean a liar liar pants on fire. Yeah, they have likely been practicing for a while, they are likely well versed in dealing with their stuff (maybe) and most of them can actually be quite helpful in coming up with ways to help point you in the right direction for you deal with yours. You may even get really lucky and find a good friend that can point you to see things as they are instead of how you are.

In the interest of full disclosure, at the time of writing this, I have no pretty bolt of silk with a list of names on it to indicate I am a somebody in the zen community. After publishing this, I probably will never get one. Oh, I'd like one, but I think what I am doing right now is more important.

Ok, on to Dogen's bible, The Shobogenzo. While as my friend Ted pointed out it is only 95% complete, it is what Dogen left behind so that we could get the stuff from the guy who kicked off this whole tradition.

So, if you can get together with a group of folks, practice sitting-zen, and clarify the Shobogenzo for the benefit of all sentient beings (it's OK if your just doing it for yourself too, I think the sentient beings will benefit regardless), I think your going in the right direction. Along your way when the time is ripe, your probably going to run in to some guy or gal that might just help you out. They may not have anything to do with zen or be a kind of zen pariah, you may meet them in the flesh or out on the interwebs. But you are going to know when you meet your real teacher. I meet them everywhere.

TEA, FISH, O2, AND THOUGHTS ABOUT CARS

Previously I blasted the Japan Green Tea co.,ltd for having some really awful Sencha.
While I am not recanting on this, their sencha tastes like compost they do have a product that is tasty and fit for human consumption. They sell it as Green Tea Health and Wellness- 100% high quality green tea powder -

This stuff is great for the tea lover on the go. Just put a packet of this powdered goodness in any bottle of water and you got a bottle of wonderful green tea goodness. They should realy pay me for that plug, but it is good enough to stand on its own merit.

In other news a predator came by the pond the other evening and cleaned it out pretty good. A couple of wiser goldfish must have his under some rocks because they had pulled a disappearing act. But that gave me an excuse to rescue some more feeder fish from cramped living and certain doom at the local Petsmart. After I replaced the battery on the motion sensor activated sprinkler which had died over the winter… I also at the pleading of the girls ,in song like harmony no less, picked up one small koi, which cost more than the dozen “feeder fish” put together.

But I lucked out and got some pretty colorful feeder fish. Mixtures of orange and white and red and white, Pleasant to observe. So that’s cool.

Got my vehicle registration renewal in the mail for the Lancer. I need an emissions test, which would not be a big deal accept the O2 sensor is bad which I will have to get fixed before I take it in for the test. Boo. My last Mitsubishi’s O2 sensor went bad too. I don’t think I will buy another Mitsubishi.

This has me wondering; with all their troubles any American auto makers will make a car worth driving to try and stir up some confidence in their abilities?
I mean Chrysler had some good ones but they were priced out of my league. I don’t think Chevy or ford have made anything (affordable) worth driving but trucks since the 50’s. Still it sure would be nice…

ZAZEN & WATERWORKS 98662

At dinner last evening it was discovered by ZMH that I would be going out of town for a few days. She was really concerned about me coming back... I said something pretty unskillful. I told her that if I didn't that she would get a allot of money! Which while it is true was not exactly right speech. And thus began the waterworks... The wife bailed me out by predicting the future and telling her not to worrie and that I would come back. I have a problem in that I have difficulty saying things like that because I don't know. Speeking of "Don't know" Barry has a nice post about this over on his Oxhearding Blog. Take a second to check it out. I'll wait.

The family sat together last night, but once again only ZMH got up for the morning sitting. The bells for ending my first sitting seem to be her cue to wake up now so we ate breakfast together again. She was really good sitting this morning. She did want lap zen but somehow I dissuaded her. This morning sittings had the qualities of those funky blissful sittings that were just calm and serene. That was nice but I have learned not to expect them anymore.

I am feeling really good today. Maybe it is from listening to Ajan Bram again on the way in.

Just a quick session on the elliptical machine before hitting the shower today. Got a lot to work on before the weekend.

Oh, and I found that this is hilarious!

ZAZEN & INSECURITY 98662

The good news is the whole family joined me for sitting last night, and noone passed out and slid off their zafu.

I have been reading Thich Nhat Hanh's (TNH) "A Pebble For Your Pocket" to the kids after the evening sitting and in that book TNH describes many breath meditations. During sitting ZMH was struggling to remember "Breathing in, present moment, breathing out, wonderful moment" and asked me to help her out.
Before I could reply the PoC repeated it verbatim. This both surprised and impressed me. What I felt as a pleasant sensation, ZMH felt as unpleasant. ZMH began to cry on the zafu and I asked what is wrong. She said "Iris is smarter than me, she is always reminding me of stuff like to put toothpaste on the toothbrush and where socks with shoes." I took her onto my lap, held her and tried to explain to her that everyone has their own unique qualities, and that while yes Iris has the quality of discerning wisdom, you have the quality of equanimity. Than I had to describe what discerning wisdom and equanimity meant before we got back to sitting...


This morning I decided to sleep in till 0500 and sacrificed my first sitting period. ZMH woke immediately and the PoC decided to sleep more. The wife joined for the last five minuets of sitting. ZMH and I had some Raisin Bran and genmaicha then I got ready for work, hugs, and more tea to go.

Lots of fog on the way into the office. Lots of cars without lights on too.

Belly still sensitive, but tolerable. Got to count stuff again today...Joy!

ZAZEN AND MOTRIN 98662

The pain in my head got so bad yesterday that I went to the acute care clinic yesterday afternoon. The prescribed some antibiotics and 800mg Motrin (Ibuprofen.)

Ibuprofen, affectionately known as “vitamin M” in the Marines, turns out to be quite effective at dulling the pain caused by “Acute sinusitis.” I think this is something everyone who suffers from sinus pain should know about. Really wish I had known about it on Friday, but oh well.

This morning I did morning office at 0415 and ZMH Joined me for the second sitting. The offer was extended to the PoC and the wife but they declined to join.

The first sitting was visited by some stray thoughts of the “Sara Conner Chronicles”. I don’t even like that show. Weird. Second sitting was again more settled, attention flowing inward than outward, kind of nice I guess.

Regarding Gregory, these were my last comments to him:

Gregory,
Serving with honor has nothing to do with our elected officials.
It deals with real matters of life and death on the battlefield and personal conduct. I hope you can open your heart to that.

So it is not a matter of cognitive dissonance but a matter of it being a non-issue. I have no say over what our elected officials do weather I agree with it or not. It simply dose not matter. I do not want to imagine living in a country where the military could openly disregard the orders of its elected civilian government do you?

I have not heard from him since.

Staff meeting this morning, Joy!

Ethics and Morals

This morning I have been thinking about “Metta” or loving kindness.
And how it is important to me, or how important it is to me.

Ethics and ethical conduct is not the same to me as prescriptive morality. My own skewed view is that ethics is what we apply to ourselves and morality is what we try and apply to others.

I am guilty of a little bit of my own prescriptive morality, but not as much as I used to be.

This morning I offered the merit of my practice to another, and with the aid of a home made mala I recited, “May you be well and happy” 108 times. I do not think this is exactly any type of orthodox practice, but it was expedient and helpful for me at the time.

On the way to work, I must have been driving a little too slow for the person behind me and I found I was being tailgated. I slowed down even more.

Shaving the head, again and again, these bonds of attachment are hard to cut.

Hurt Feelings Report

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in saftey,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.





OK, I know this isn't "nice."
Sometimes the truth is just like that.
When your feelings are hurt, look inside before projecting your own pain on everyone else, please.

Facebook

J.R.R. Tolkien may have phrased it best:

“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

Ok, I don’t mean that as a slight against anyone. But it kind of screams at me for my limited ability to maintain connections to people I meet in real life.

So I finally broke down and got a facebook account.

It is kind of weird. The whole social networking thing is one of those things that I have always been pretty poor at. I can make a connection with someone and just leave it at that and never contact that person again. With the emerging technology of social networking sites like facebook we stay semi-connected to people and it facilitates reconnecting to people that I had not even thought about in decades. And on one hand it may seem like an almost trite way to stay in contact with people on the other hand it can also deepen our relationships with others. I need to get better at that. I have never been one for greeting cards and the like. No, I don’t care for phone calls to much either. But I still like getting updated on what is going on so these new applications seem to fill an important niche for me. At the same time it just doesn’t quite fill my perceived requirement for real face to interaction. It does seem to lack a bit of intimacy and is not quite the same as face to face interactions unless you already know someone really well.

And then there is the whole online persona thing that I just don’t quite get, but recognize that some people are different in real life than they are on line. And to caveat on that, I am sure some people’s impressions of me on the internet would be totally shifted if they met me face to face despite my striving to just be me on the net, without meeting me, you just don’t know for yourself for sure. So come on over and have some tea! Pardon the dust and mess, we’re working on it.

I reiterate that I have always been horrible at maintaining connections. So I am kind of thankful for this technology.

Anyway this has been a kind of wandering post. It is lunch time and I am going to eat now.

Danger!

There is a big pitfall on the contemplative path that I have been lucky enough to have good friends point out to me, some times making me feel a little dumb and by dumb I mean a little more wise.

One of the big ones is what I call, being all in my head. I am sure someone somewhere has come up with a more eloquent way of expressing it, but I am not always so able to be eloquent.

What I mean by this is I think pretty straight forward. We get caught up in the reality of our philosophical theory and can come up with some pretty lofty ideas that sound great!

But they just totally fall apart in practice.

The theory of “No-Self” comes to mind pretty heavily on this, and a lot of wonderful people have gone on and on about No-self. But theory doses not make a law. Practical application is the best way to test a theory. Go out side and find a large rock and drop it on your bare foot, but be careful not to damage your “Non-Self” too badly. That hurts doesn’t it? If there is “No-self” than tell me what it is that is hurting? Ah! There is a self.

Now, pay attention to the pain. From the first moment the pain starts follow it. The pain arises and passes away. That “Self” that existed when that pain began though the time when the pain subsides is also arising and passing away moment to moment and there is only an impression remaining.

Conclusion, there is a self when the self arises, and no-self when it passes away. With a note that this arising and passing away is happening so quickly that to say there is one or the other is impractical.

Now, please stop dropping rocks on your foot. That is just silly behavior.

Sound.

I did not fill the gas tank up over the weekend.
This morning the warning light let me know that I had better get on it.
As I stood outside I thought:
What a waste, pumping death.
I think about how tangled up we humans are, inside and out.
A bit of fall melancholy perhaps?

Nah, things just are how they are and than they change.
I can see the wind. I feel a little bit of guarded hope for humanity.
I see people using reusable shopping bags. That’s nice.
I don’t think that will save the world. But it is a sign.
Maybe we are getting ready for an evolutionary leap.
Slowly, there is a message being broadcast. Same one as always.
It has no words that can be uttered without confusing the message.
Just a frequency. 1.855 x 10^43 Hz?

It is Friday

The whole universe is dependent on you!

Try and relax...

Random thoughts

Nothing too see here…

Yesterday was a one day drill for the reservists and us active duty folks to get some required annual classes in and then celebrate the Marine Corps Birth day (A few days early.)

During lunch I had a nice conversation with a Born again Xtian. We both did not really want the exchange to end and we were both very happy to be exchanging the information and uh... interfacing as it were.

One of the things that came up was a statement attributed to Jesus that says something like “the only way to god is threw me.” I don’t know if that is in the bible, but I went with that statement as perhaps true and said to my friend, maybe at the time Jesus saw all the (expletives omitted) people were doing and just wanted them to pay attention to what he was saying. The Born again is unaware that Jesus studied in a Buddhist monastery in India, or of the editing of the bible during the council of Nicia[spelling?], or that the modern xtian idea of hell came form Zoroastrianism and Dante (The version of the old testament that Xtians use replaced the (jewish?) word sheol with hell, sheol is a place where both the righteous and unrighteous go and it dose not carry the Xtian’s negative connotations of “Hell”.) I hope I gave him enough information to strengthen his faith from within rather than from without. I also showed him one of my favorite versions (read shortest and most to the point) of the Kalama Sutra and he seemed to really like it. A note that I am not trying to convert this guy, I just don’t want him to think that his faith is exclusionary, I think that being exclusive is a path where suffering can and has come from. I also told him that a good Xtian is also a good Buddhist, he seemed to really like that.

Anyway, this is just a bunch of mental soupy poopy that felt like it needed to come out. So please feel free to hold your nose if you think it stinks, I will not be offended.

Everyone Have a good weekend!
Jordan

Morning Bliss

This morning the second bell must have been loud enough to wake up Hannah.
She got up while I was eating some cereal and drinking some tea and said something in a mixture of Japanese and English and sleep speak. I had to ask her to repeat it several times and then to say it in English. She sounded a little frustrated by the fourth time.
She said “Daddy, before you leave make sure you give be a good by kiss.” Then she went back to bed.

That is a pretty nice way to start off the morning.

I did. She smiled.

I had some thoughts on confusion/chaos that I thought would be great to blog about. But the moment is gone now and I had to go to a staff meeting so my thoughts on it are not so clear anymore. Gone back to chaos I suppose. But anyway I think the gist of the thought cloud was that everything comes from chaos or some such mental blather. I think it kind of made me happy or at least at ease, which might be a better kind of happiness.

During this morning’s second sitting I observed my mind chattering away, and observed my mind observing the chatter, and a thought came up, something like “What are you going on about then? I wasn’t even listening to my own thoughts anymore but they were still going on. I had gone somewhere else altogether, but in recognizing that, it was gone. And I am OK with that.

What if the first noble truth was: life is happiness…

Brain Dump [updated]

Warning: The following post is just what has been bubbling up in my brain housing group lately.


Kaaah!

OK. I have too much on my mind right now. I am hoping a journal post will help me sort through it.

School: Just finished up COM 140 and GEN 105 last week. My final grade has posted for COM 140 as an A-. It has not posted for GEN 105 yet but I expect about the same. [update: I did indeed get an A- in Gen 105]

I am aware through the process of going through school that I am consistently underestimating myself. I find I get into the end-gaining mindset which at least for me is counter productive. What I mean by that is that if I over think an assignment and cause myself stress because of it, the work turns out to be of lower quality. However; if I just throw some stuff out there that hits the wickets of what the assignment is asking for, I do well.

Next round of classes starts in October. The classes are Critical thinking and Effective Essay writing.
My wife says I am already too critical.

Money: I signed what will likely be my last contract with Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children. I received a bonus for the first time in my 17 years of service. It was not huge, but combine with the sale of 30 vacation days it was enough to eliminate my entire credit card debit and allow for a little frivolous spending that felt needed. I am still concerned that we are not living within our means. There are a lot of services we pay for that we could be without but don't want to: Cable, Netflix, the wife’s gym membership, Cell Phones and I am probably leaving out something but you get the point.
We are also making plans to do some maintenance on the house. Some will be contracted, a lot we will try and do ourselves and hire a contractor to fix if we screw it up too much. If I knew I was staying here this would not be much of a concern but with the end of my Career eminent, I am going to have to eek out employment somewhere, and it will most likely not be here, so I will have to sell this house in a tough market. I really do like it here, so if anyone in the Vancouver USA area needs to pay someone 70K (That’s a lot more than I make right now, but I need the raise, and that is around what my civilian counterpart's start off at) a year to keep their stuff locked up three years from now, let me know, I’m your man.

There is so much interconnected to the money issue that I can not really fathom it in its entirety. I just try to tackle little bits and pieces as I am able to.

I realize also that according to recent polling efforts I saw in a magazine somewhere (Tricycle?) I am in the minority of Buddhists in America being that I do not fall into the upper middle class and up tax bracket. Yes my dear readers; I am so poor that I get more back in taxes than I pay in, sorry for being a burden on all you rich folks.

Guru(s): Since I upgraded my ipod from a first gen 1 gig Nano (See Bonus above, I got an iphone, that is way too excessive [and expensive] for me, but I love it) I have started listening to a lot of podcasts. One that I have been enjoying is “the 12 step Buddhist” but something he said has been sticking like a plank in my eye and I was having difficulty seeing past it. The offending sound byte was “I need a Guru.” I think I threw up a little in the back of my throat when I heard that. (Be advised, context omitted.)

Now, when I have such an adverse reaction to something I feel it is important to do some introspection on the subject. The idea of a guru is one that gets pretty lambasted here on the interwebs and with some good reasons. People get taken advantage of by so called spiritual experts and they should be scrutinized. On the other hand there are some things in that same realm (and what I think the 12 step Buddhist was referring to) that are really, really worthwhile. The first is fellowship. In buddhisty language you might refer to this as a sangha. Although this is also referred to as a community, for my purposes I think fellowship is at the heart of the mater. I have been a part of a few “Sangha” both physical and on the net but there is a few things that keep them from being satisfactory. For the physical Sangha, I barely get to go because of distance and there are also some minor (meaning I can live with the differences) internal policy issues that I am not comfortable with. On the net, while I think it is a great supplement and works fine in a pinch, there is the element of sitting with a real person that is notably missing.

The other thing is mentoring. I am fine with the idea of mentoring. Even though it might just in reality be a different way of “Feeling” about a guru. I have been mentoring Marines since ancient times or at least since I was a young Corporal and put into a leadership position fifteen some years ago. I’m salty. In the Marines being salty can sometimes mean you have been around for a while and nobody can tell you Sh*t. So this; coupled with the number of frauds out there, could be another place where my resistance to a “Guru” could be coming from.

So, in conclusion, I guess I should say that I have been practicing Buddhism for just one small moment and that if I can learn from a child of three, I will honor that teaching, and if I can teach to a 70 year old, I will honor that teaching. Meanwhile, if you’re a Buddhist or interested in Buddhism in or around the 98662 zip code and feel the need, like I do, for fellowship, please come by for tea sometime.

Tea: My wife and I are blessed with some good friends that are kind enough to drop off little gifts of Sencha tea from time to time. My senses have become pretty involved with Sencha tea. I have discovered that I can tell that some teas labeled Sencha are not always the same as others. The current Tea I have at the house has a different taste than the tea I have at the office. When I first drank it I probably made a bad face. The company that made it, in an effort to preserve the tea, put something in their tea to make it “fresh” longer. This affects the taste. I have found that some teas are best brewed with water around 140 degrees. Teas that have had some additives can be made more palatable by using water that is around 195 degrees. Anyway, thank you for the tea! I am grateful!

Rakusu: I am about to start sewing a new Rakusu (Mini Buddist Robe) as part of the ongoing online “Jukai” (Buddhist ordination, maybe a bit like being baptized in xtian circles) classes over at the Treeleaf Sangha.
I have no Idea what I am doing when it comes to sewing. So far all I have done is gotten some material (a dark saffron reddish color) I am going to have to try and work on it, without expectation or a goal in mind. This will be an interesting addition to my practice.

Flute: Ack, I have not been playing much lately. Can someone add a few hours to the day please? Or even better, stop by and ask me to play.

Oh, I got so much work to do, maybe now I can get back at it.


Be well, and happy!

Jordan

Thought doodles: Noble Eight Fold Path

I like this page on the eight fold path.

http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html



Warning: Rampant idealism ahead!


Instead of just regurgitating the nice stuff said in the link above I am going sum up what each step means to me with as few words as I can, without going to deep into each one,. Besides I have done this before here: Slow Zen: Asura Dharma: The Four noble Truths (again). Below is just the thoughts that come up when I think about these steps in the path at the moment, your opinion may very.


1. View: I strive to see things as they are, interconnected and impermanent.

2. Intention: I intend to be of service to others.

3. *Communication: I think right speech is a bit narrow, so I like the term communication better. My rule of thumb for communicating is: Everything I say to someone else I am also saying to myself. See also:
Slow Zen: Asura Dharma: Be nice to each other! And be sincere!

Slow Zen: Asura Dharma: Kind Speech

Slow Zen: Asura Dharma: Love Words

4. *Action: This follows the same line as I wrote for communication, If I do something for or to someone it also affects me.

* These two, action and communication, are the hardest for me to follow in practice. I have harped on them in the past because of this.

5. Livelihood: To me service to others is the highest calling, and I view my current vocation as such. It has not always been the case. Aside: when I first joined the Marine Corps circa 1990 I really was a cliché; when the first Gulf War was on and I wanted to be the first kid on my block with a confirmed kill ala Full Metel jacket. As fate or karma or whatever would have it; I missed that war.

6. Effort: Thankfully, the Marine Corps has blessed me with the gift of self discipline.
Strangely the way to develop self discipline is through self discipline. So I suppose I am kind of lucky in this aspect. If I make up my mind to make an effort, I do. The making up my mind in the first place is sometimes a challenge though.

7. Cognition: (Staying away from that mindfulness word.) To me cognition is about how I choose to deal with sensory input.

8. Concentration: The core of my practice really. ZaZen, SuiZen, dish washing Zen, Taking care of the kids Zen, Wii bowling Zen.


I would enjoy other peoples thought doodles on this subject; to compare notes and whatnot.

With deference to all,
Jordan

Thought doodles on the fouth noble truth

What is the Noble Truth of the Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering? It is the Noble Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

Cessation of suffering is a nice idea. The idea that through following the eight fold path we actualize that idea is one that I have enjoyed. In a movie I saw recently there was a guy with a tattoo written in a foreign language; when he was asked what it meant he said: “there is a path to end all suffering, you should take it.” I thought that was pretty good advice and I smiled when I heard it.

As stated above that path is Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. I have a kind of problem with the language used here. To say something is right opens it up to dualistic interpretation, if there is a right than there must also be a wrong. So it is when we are dealing with concepts. Conceptualization is not the goal of the eight fold path. Some might argue that ceasing conceptualization is the goal of the eight fold path. I guess I tend to lean that way, but there is something more to it than that. But without conceptualization, this blog would just be a blank space, or maybe a video of me blowing a single note on the flute. Even that isn’t on point. To me the eightfold path is the golden rule. As it has been pointed out before; all of these words are all empty. I will continue writing more empty words later.


Bowing in deference to everything,
Jordan

Thought doodles on the third noble truth

What is the Third Noble Truth?

The Third Noble Truth is that suffering can be overcome and happiness attained. This is perhaps the most important of the Four Noble Truths because in it the Buddha reassures us that true happiness and contentment are possible. When we give up useless craving and learn to live each day at a time, enjoying without restlessly wanting the experiences that life offers us, patiently enduring the problems that life involves, without fear, hatred and anger, then we become happy and free. Then, and then only, do we begin to live fully. Because we are no longer obsessed with satisfying our own selfish wants, we find that we have so much time to help others fulfil their needs. This state is called Nirvana. We are free from psychological suffering.

Actually I really appreciate the above definition, even if I feel it is a bit happy happy joy joy sounding.

But I would like to share my heretical view.

The third noble delusion is that there is suffering to be overcome.

In each moment we are naturally happy and free. We are already living fully without conditions.

To really go to the moment is almost like a dream. But it is the opposite of a dream. This is the state of Nirvana; where we are free from suffering. Unfortunately, we are conditioned against this state; the good news is you can transcend this conditioning.

Be well and happy,
Jordan

Thought doodles on the second noble truth

What is the Second Noble Truth?

The Second Noble Truth is that all suffering is caused by craving. When we look at psychological suffering, it is easy to see how it is caused by craving. When we want something but are unable to get it, we feel frustrated. When we expect someone to live up to our expectation and they do not, we feel let down and disappointed. When we want others to like us and they don't, we feel hurt. Even when we want something and are able to get it, this does not often lead to happiness either because it is not long before we feel bored with that thing, lose interest in it and commence to want something else.
Put simply, the Second Noble Truth says that getting what you want does not guarantee happiness. Rather than constantly struggling to get what you want, try to modify your wanting. Wanting deprives us of contentment and happiness.

I have often heard the second noble truth described as our attachments to our desires. And I have appreciated Gudo Nishijima’s approach as he describes it as the philosophy of materialism or accumulation.

But if we go back to this instant, where dose the craving come from?

I suspect our dissatisfaction and cravings come from our thoughts that some thing is missing. But in reality, everything is already there. How could anything be missing?

Desires are not always a bad thing. If we did not act on them we might not work, or eat!
But when our desires are compounded by wanting to keep up with the Jones family then we have a problem.

The best way to look at this is not to live in some future state. Do not get caught up in longing for a different situation than you have right now. I have heard a lot of Zen teachers say when hungry eat, when tired sleep. That seems about right.

I realize this thought may need to be flushed out more.

I open it up to anyone’s participation.

Some thought doodles on the first noble truth.

Some thought doodles on the first noble truth.

What is the First Noble Truth?

The First Noble Truth is that life is suffering. To live, you must suffer. It is impossible to live without experiencing some kind of suffering. We have to endure physical suffering like sickness, injury, tiredness, old age and eventually death and we have to endure psychological suffering like loneliness, frustrations, fear, embarrassment, disappointment, anger, etc.

Sometimes it is referred to in Sanskrit as Dukkha. And it is often translated as suffering. I have recently heard it translated as stress. I think that is an adequate translation.

Now, some would also call this the noble truth of Idealism. As in, we have some idea of what life should be like, and when it is different we experience suffering; or stress.

This resonated with me for some time. It seems like it is a sound idea.
But it is still an idea.

Here is my (heretical?) idea. The first noble truth is the first delusion. This delusion is caused by our memories. If, we practice concentration on the present moment, and we do not dwell on our [false?] memories than we have no thing to compare anything to but the present moment, it is an unknown.

Consider this: every moment of time is unique unto itself. While it has a past, that past is no longer reality. So how, in reality, can there be suffering?

Our memories are not a bad thing to banish, we live and we learn. But at the same time, we should not attach to them.


All of my harmful actions,
born from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion,
through body, speech, and mind,
I now fully avow.

Jordan