Lessons from Zen and Cycling to Work

After my small tumble/accident last week, I should have paid attention to a key instruction in Zen: Pay Attention. I did not and did not check ALL my equipment this morning. I didn't note that both my pedal straps had been damaged last week. Today, on the way in I took fall #2 when my left strap broke as I was starting at an intersection. I'm fine. No serious injuries except to my pride. So, lesson today, check your equipment and get a routine. I also need to take a lesson/practice changing out a tube.

Otherwise, it was a great bike ride and very strenuous. West End of Hartford to UCHC is not steep but nearly all uphill. The potholes and road surfaces on Farmington Avenue as you head East in West Hartford and in Hartford are terrible. Also, note to CT drivers, it is dangerous to honk at cyclists to let them know you are approaching from behind.

I [Heart] Huckabees and Zen

I watched I [Heart] Huckabees again this weekend not having seen it since starting more serious and daily Zen practice. I was hit over the head by how Zen the film is and how much Buddhist doctrine, particularly Zen, is included in the film. A quick Google search demonstrated I was not alone in recognizing these elements. Not mentioned in the paper but of particular note to me were the Jaffe's having tea with Ms. Huckabee: There is tea, there isn't tea - reminding of the Mu koan. The paper mentioned Brad's final koan which I also found evocative. The paper doesn't take up the role of Caterine Vauban who also plays an important role and also, I thought has her place in Zen, representing that initial journey of the practitioner and also some of what might be known as Zen sickness. Albert has it right when it takes all three: the Jaffes and Vauban to make it all work.

Zen Sitting at UCHC

I'm taking a poll of faculty, students and staff who would be interested in having an ongoing Zen Buddhist sitting group active and meeting regularly on campus. If you are interested or have questions, please contact me through this site or at x5496.

Back to Work Zen & Hsin-Hsin Ming

The latest Back to Work I heard, #46 is outstanding on meta-distraction and more importantly the widespread misuse of Zen. Back to Work is a show by Dan Benjamin and Merlin Mann. Listen. I tend to be a practitioner whose inclination is to hit people with a stick.

Also, check out the Hsin-Hsin Ming. Someone pointed me to this page with the original text and a detailed discussion of the characters.

Commonplace Book: Song of Zazen

This has recently become a favorite. I've captured it from Monkey Mind and one of my teacher's Roshi Ford's blog. He has a link to a monk chanting it if you're interested.

The text:

Song of Zazen - by Hakuin Ekaku

All beings by nature are Buddha,

As ice by nature is water.

Apart from water there is no ice;

Apart from beings, no Buddha.

How sad that people ignore the near

And search for truth afar:

Like someone in the midst of water

Crying out in thirst,

Like a child of a wealthy home

Wandering among the poor.

Lost on dark paths of ignorance,

We wander through the Six Worlds,

From dark path to dark path--

When shall we be freed from birth and death?

Oh, the zazen of the Mahayana!

To this the highest praise!

Devotion, repentance, training,

The many paramitas--

All have their source in zazen.

Those who try zazen even once

Wipe away beginning-less crimes.

Where are all the dark paths then?

The Pure Land itself is near.

Those who hear this truth even once

And listen with a grateful heart,

Treasuring it, revering it,

Gain blessings without end.

Much more, those who turn about

And bear witness to self-nature,

Self-nature that is no-nature,

Go far beyond mere doctrine.

Here effect and cause are the same,

The Way is neither two nor three.

With form that is no-form,

Going and coming, we are never astray,

With thought that is no-thought,

Singing and dancing are the voice of the Law.

Boundless and free is the sky of Samádhi!

Bright the full moon of wisdom!

Truly, is anything missing now?

Nirvana is right here, before our eyes,

This very place is the Lotus Land,

This very body, the Buddha

Commonplace Book: Keizan

Know that in a remote place in a cloud-covered valley,

There is still a sacred pine that passes through the chill of the ages. 

- Keizan

Commonplace Book: Shunryu Suzuki

"Whatever we see is changing, losing its balance. The reason everything looks beautiful is because it is out of balance, but its background is always in perfect harmony. This is how everything exists in the realm of Buddha nature, losing its balance against a background of perfect balance. So if you see things without realizing the background of Buddha nature, everything appears to be in the form of suffering.”

Zen & UU: Nothing is as practical as theory

It has caused me to think about an issue that I have found frustrating in Zen in the US: its sometimes close association with Unitarian Universalism (UU). In some ways this issue is academic and pointless. Who cares? Well, I do. Others care and, I think it might matter to Zen. Essentially, I suggest that it is possible to be Buddhist and integrate that into a UU framework, i.e. Zen-->UU. However, I don't think it is possible to go the other way (UU-->Zen) if you don't leave UU behind. If you don't, there are some significant syncretic problems you'll have (not that Buddhism isn't one enormous syncretic problem), and you're going to have to figure out how get beyond ego and self-interest. You may also piss off a lot of communities who are either "Buddhist by birth" or new converts to Zen.

Click to read more ...

Dosho Port on Zen and a Teacher

"Despite what you might read in the cyberwhirl, Zen is a relational undertaking. Therefore, to authentically be engaged in Zen practice, it is simply necessary to be engaged in a teacher-student relationship."

- Dosho Port from his blog.

Unknown on Zen

"The life of zen is a life of constant humiliation."

- Unknown.

Let me know if you know who said this first. Think it might be Suzuki.