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.

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.

COMBAT FITNESS TEST

COMBAT FITNESS TEST

Yesterday I took the Combat Fitness Test (CFT) with my reserve counterparts. Today I am feeling the results of my sedentary desk job. The CFT is a new Marine Corps development for assessing fitness levels and in my 17 + years as a Marine this has got to be one of the better innovations in that area I have seen.

I am a hurting unit. Those younger guys were out there making this look easy, and even on paper it looks easy. Even the individual events by themselves look like a piece of cake. Put them all togeather though, and you have a recipe for a challenge.

What has this got to do with Ethics, Concentration, and Wisdom?

As a Marine staying in shape is really a question of ethics. If you choose to let your body go to the point where you can’t pull your load than you are letting your fellow marines down and that is just not exactly a kind or compassionate thing to do and could put yourself or another in harms way.

It takes concentration and attention and even wisdom to be able to assess yourself and be able to know where you need work and then we fall back again to ethics to actually work it.

Some other thoughts regarding wisdom relate to my impending forced retirement. When I first came into the Marines I had the thought that I would stick around in the Marine Corps until it would not allow me to. I always had thought I would do 30 years. It is looking more and more (baring a promotion) that the up or out policy will have me retired at 20 years of service, just 2 years and eight months away. I keep telling myself not to cling to this but I am nearing the threshold of spending nearly half my life doing this Marine Corps thing. I have a hard time picturing myself doing anything else. Sure I am “hirable” and doubt I will have a hard time finding a job even in the worst economy, but that job won’t be as a Marine. So it is tough. But taking this CFT has shown me that yeah, I am getting kind of old for this and service in the Marines is really for the young and dedicated. And yes I am still dedicated, sometimes we call the kind of dedication I feel towards the Corps like having an Eagle globe and Anchor branded on your heart. But right now I am not feeling so young and my body just does not bounce back like it used to. And yeah a lot of this is due to neglect and hard living, but it is what it is. So maybe it just another sign or even siren sounding of that yeah, 20 years is enough, and after that it is time to move on.

Great Realizations (and a blog name change)

Great Realizations
Do not always feel so good.
An attachment can be like a cancer that has to be cut out.

So, I have just renamed the blog Succession of insights, since that seems more appropriate now.

This weeks Tea

Tastes like green, I like green. I would like to get a picture of my benefactor up here to immortalize her on the www. Letting someone be kind to you is an act of compassion in itself and just as important as being kind to others. Strange how that works.

In other events, our kitchen cabinets are in the process of being refinished.
Megumi is doing the lion's share of the work.
I am just offering advice and assistance.
Not being attached to the results is tough.
The dishwasher has died and the oven is not far behind so this is the perfect time to work on the kitchen.

I had a functional area inspection at work last week. I hear I did above average. That is interesting to me because I have been sick for a while and felt like things were not going so well.
just goes to show you don't ever know.

May you be well and happy,
Jordan

Death of the Launderer

The laundry machine has outlived its usefulness.
A repairman visited today and made his diagnosis.
$300.00 to fix it, and if repaired, will likely break again soon, costing about as much again. We have decided to let it go peacefully, instead of prolonging its misery.

This laundry machine served me quite well for over a decade.
It moved from place to place with me through two houses in Parris Island South Carolina, One in Milwaukee Wisconsin, Two more in Oceanside California, and finally its last tour of duty in Vancouver Washington.

Omage to Whirlpool washer model LSC9355EQO. You will be missed.

May you be free from suffering,
Jordan

A new revolution around the Sun

Pigface; I can do no wrong lyrics:

Take a look outside because I'm walking on glass
Thin ice in the future or a voice from the past
Forsaken dreams decaying in the four-way zone
Better look outside because I'm coming alone
Better look outside because I'm coming alone
How many nights before I sang an innocent song
Rejoicing in my ignorance, I could do no wrong
Take a look outside for the first time afraid
A tiny glass was shattered where one time we laid
A tiny glass was shattered where one time we laid
I can do no wrong!
So I trapped my emptiness between lie after lie
Poured myself another and started to cry
Shame on you for weakness go back where you belong
Poured my self another - I could do no wrong
I can do no wrong
I can do no wrong
I can do no wrong
I can do no wrong
I can do no wrong
Ect..

Two revolutions around the sun ago I decided that I would not “pour myself another.” I still manifest the “I can do no wrong” attitude from time to time. But the more I practice the more open I am to knowing nothing.
{Knowing nothing is an interesting endeavor in itself, it is like the bottom falling out of a bucket, WOOUSH!} Even the Idea of I can do no wrong seems arbitrary now. Right and wrong are just dualistic. But there is still wrong and there is still right. Mostly things just are how they are. The interesting thing is that we don’t have to have preconceived ideas of right and wrong, if we just listen we can hear the correct course of action calling to us. There is no reason to pursue anything. It is so interesting when things become clear. I still find myself grasping to hold on to that clarity. Even though I know as soon as I cling to it, it’s gone.

For this revolution around the sun I intend to be credit debt free.
Return to regular shakuhachi practice.
Get in a few more Shakuhachi lessons.
Cling less and let go more.

May the new revolution find you all well and happy
Jordan

Attachment

These are my old shoes. They are beyond their life of service. the tread is compleatly worn down and if I were to where them much longer I would be able to feel the ground with my big toe soon. I have a pair of black shoes at the house, but I like the brown ones. And I really appreciated the service they did for me. The black shoes do not feel as comfy either.

I had been looking for a replacement for them for quite a while. But I was having a hard time of it. I was attached to these shoes. The pattern, the type of tread, the color, the feel, the look. Add to that the general desire for high quality footwear (I suspect most jar heads are like this, when you go on some 30 mile hikes you learn just how important the right footwear is) but their time has come. I am truely greatful as these shoes have served me for a number of years.

I now have some new shoes and have left the old ones behind. They are not like tho old ones. they are a bit more pretentious than I would care for. Timberland (who made the old shoes) seems to be more about fashion than function nowadays. so I got a pair of "Sketchers" on the advice of the clerk at the shoe store. I hope that they serve me as well as the shoes I am giving up, and that they last as long.

Breaking down the Song of Freedom

I am going to offer a line by line breakdown of the Song of Freedom as translated by Yasuda Joshu roshi and Anzan Hoshin roshi.

A few acknowledgments are due first.

This process is intended to aid in an intuitive understanding, NOT an intellectual understanding.

I am not sure when I will start. Maybe in a few moments after posting this, maybe I have already started. I do not think it will ever be “finished.”

I am doing this without permission from anyone.

I am going to try and keep this as simple as possible. If You think it sounds "Zenny" Please help me make it sound not so "Zenny". I want this to be practical, not pretty. Sometimes things will sound odd until you have sat on my Zafu,(not literally) thats just the way some things are.

This breakdown, and any other commentary are ultimately pointless.

The translation may be off, if you are concerned with every jot and title than you miss the whole point anyway.

This breakdown is only representative of how things seem to be at a particular point in space and time.

Things change!

I am not any sort of certified teacher. (ok that is a lie but I am not any sort of certified “Zen” teacher, but I can teach you how to shoot.)

I have been influenced by so many.
To list a few in not any real order:
My family; past, present, and future.
The greater blogosphear sangha. (Aaron, Brad, Three Mikes, Muddy, Jeff, Greg, Gudo, Ted, Jundo, Anatman, Justin, and a lot of others that can not be recalled at this time.
Rev. Meiko
Larry Tyrell
My Drill Instructors from Platoon 3091 (October 1991-January 1992) Sgt Gibson, Sgt Baxter, Sgt Connant, and Sgt Holloway.
General Charles Krulak 31st Commandant of The Marine Corps (retired)
Dr. Seuss
The Dhammapada
The Heart Sutra
The Shobogenzo
Opening the hand of thought

Maybe most importantly; my closet door and Zafu which I have spent so much time with.

Thank you all for your guidance.
Jordan

Playing without attachment

It was another hot evening in the little part of the world where this thing identified as “I” live. In an effort to cool off, as the sun went down and the outside became cooler than inside, I took out the Shakuhachi and went outside to the back patio.

No notation, no practice regimen in mind, not even thinking about what I might play or if the sounds would be good or bad. Just breathing into the flute and letting sounds come out as they would, my fingers on their own program nothing forcing them.

I did not even think of this event until this morning, now I am afraid all I have gained is lost, and all I have lost is gained.

May all be well and happy!
Jordan