29 August 2010

Zen Forms and Everyday Life







Zen Forms and Everyday Life

























Zen Forms and Everyday Life


Posted: 29 Aug 2010 01:03 PM PDT



This morning's talk at the zen center was given by our elder lay statesman, who recently turned 70 years old. There are plenty of kind things I could say about him, especially how his focused, humble dedication to the various Zen forms and practices is such an inspiration to many of us in the community. However, today I just want to speak about something simple, which actually on the surface, might appear to "break form."


When I arrived in the zendo this morning, one of the usual zabutons (sitting cushion) at the front of the room was replaced by a chair. It was a small detail, but I noticed the difference right away, and thought about the debates I've seen online about meditation posture.


As Ken began his talk, he pointed to the chair and said "this is one of our new chairs - it was made for chello players - and so it has a nice upright back on it, good for zazen practice." Now, I know he had just led a one day retreat the day before, and perhaps his knees were tired from all that sitting. Thus, the chair. But he said nothing about that. Just pointed to the benefit of the chair for meditation practice, and then sat down and gave his talk.


To me, this was a great demonstration of our way. Not a lot of fussing about, and focusing in on the heart of the matter. And it also gave everyone in the room this morning permission to relax about form, even as he also emphasized the importance of form as well. You can sit upright and be fully attentive to your unfolding life in many different ways - including in a chair.


Not too tight, not too loose. Have you heard that before?


It's important to remember that there are forms and rituals mapped out for us in very specific ways. And then there is our everyday lives, unfolding as they do, swallowing every map we try to make or use, and spitting out something else entirely.






Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 8/29/2010


Posted: 29 Aug 2010 07:16 AM PDT



"O let us live in joy, although having nothing! In joy let us live like spirits of light!"


~Buddha




Bookmark and Share



Technorati Tags:








Getting off the wheel


Posted: 29 Aug 2010 07:08 AM PDT




More than anything, ignorance fixes and imprisons us to the wheel of samsara in which we are doomed to repeat, almost without end, more acts of ignorance that insure our inability to escape.


This ignorance, it should be pointed out, is the One Mind's (eka-citta) ignorance or non-knowledge of itself (avidya) which, ironically, is conditioned by its perfect identity with itself such that it lacks or is totally empty of any distinguishing characteristics  (this is a very important concept to grasp: a substance in absolute identity cannot see itself).  This implies, paradoxically, that the One Mind is as much Mind-as-samsara (i.e., Mind not knowing itself) and Mind-as-Thatness (thatness = tathata) which is Mind in perfect identity with itself which can be awakened to by a Bodhisattva who thus becomes Buddha, i.e., Mind fully awakened to itself.


It is a given in Buddhism that sentient beings are first in samsara, although they believe otherwise.  So diabolical is life in samsara, because it ultimately rests and depends on Mind-as-Thatness, that the denizens of samsara are convinced that what they are immersed in is in some way or manner absolute (Mind-as-Thatness).  What they don't understand is that the things (dharma) they behold and naturally desire or want reinforce their ignorance which keeps them ever fixed to the wheel of samsara.  Not missing this fact, the Buddha said:  "This is that want which ensnares, ... by which this world is smothered, ... so that it does not transcend samsara" (SA, 984, 256a).


A message somewhat lost in the canon of Buddhism or understated is that the world of samsara is the antithesis of Mind-as-Thatness, or the same its dependent origination (S., pratityasamutpada). A close analogy would be to say a pot is the antithesis of the clay.  What all this means from a higher vantage point is that the One Mind, in order to know itself, moves or projects itself such that it creates something in the way of a disturbance from its intrinsic no-thingness or the same, its perfect identity.  This, it is easy to guess, is the world of samsara—a cosmic ocean of disturbances, macro and micro.  Yet, surprisingly even though the One Mind seems trapped in its own disturbances, it has advanced.  In samsara it stands always on the edge of realizing itself as Mind-as-Thatness by beholding the limit of samsara which in Sanskrit is bhutakoti.  Bhutakoti is normally described as the boundary between samsara and nirvana.  In other words, bhutakoti is samsara's limit; a point at which Mind re-identifies with itself which is a cessation of disturbances; a cooling; a flow into no-thingness or signlessness.


The path traveled to full awakening or Buddhahood as been one from primordial ignorance of Mind-as-Thatness, to its disturbance becoming Mind-as-samsara, then reaching the limit of Mind-as-samara thus awakeningly returning to Mind-as-Thatness which is an illuminating return-to-self.  In this last state, Mind-as-Thatness knows samsaric things or dharmas to be only Mind (cittamatra) just like a golden lion is only gold which is to say, the lion shape-ness is an illusion of difference.


 


 


 





 


 







Kenneth Folk: A New Model for Teaching Meditation in the West


Posted: 29 Aug 2010 06:41 AM PDT



Kenneth Folk is a new model for teaching meditation in the West through his teaching methods, use of technology, and openness about earning his living by being a dhamma teacher. He has one-on-one sessions using the online video chat application, Skype, changing the way meditation is taught. He doesn't lead retreats frequently or advocate the necessity of retreats because he finds the Western Buddhist culture is moving away from the 'professional yogi' type. Kenneth Folk calls his younger self a professional yogi who would attend retreat after retreat, only stopping to make some money for the next one. But nowadays there are many more householders making major progress practicing in their daily lives. He doesn't teach much theory either but focuses on the guided meditation and the method of noting aloud. He is amazed by the efficacy of the Buddha's teachings if they are presented correctly—he believes that noting aloud is an easy to make progress.


He sees his students, and people on his website and the Dharma Overground website becoming enlightened all the time. (Kenneth mainly uses his own site to promote his teachings to a wider audience. He used to comment frequently on the Dharma Overground site but wanted to be more involved in the conversation.)


He feels enlightenment is a biological reality, which is hard to deny. Folk asserts there is no other word for it besides Enlightenment because from his experience, he could see the progress within himself. His teachers' validated his experiences with each level attained but he knew this was the case anyway. Folk believes that by the time a person achieves fourth path or Enlightenment one doesn't need to be validated because the quest disappears. The seeking is over— it is not the end of life or development but the end of a need to get Enlightened.


Some critics have commented on his website that its nearly impossible to attain Enlightenment. He tells them to follow his methods to see for themselves and some of them become his students. It is clear to him where of his students are on the path through conversations on skype but others are more opaque. So Folk looks at a constellation of factors— and admits he cannot know for sure.


Folk feels he can use Eastern or Western ideas in his teaching, bringing the best of both together. He likens this to a mixed martial arts style where whatever works survives and what does not gets tossed out. He calls this a ruthless unsentimentality of the Buddha's teachings, as he would even dispense with the Buddha if need be.


During his skype teaching sessions, Folk and his students engage in an interactive meditation. I participated in a session with Folk, and he showed me the basics of how this works. First he goes through the 4 Foundations of Mindfulness, modeling his technique of noting outloud (First noting bodily sensations (Pressure, tightness, tension, release, coolness, warmth), then feeling-tone (unpleasant, pleasant, or neutral), mind states (Investigation, curiosity, happiness, anxiety, amusement, sadness), and then thoughts (planning thought, anticipating thought, worrying thought, imaging thought, remembering thought). Folk even wants to experiment with people meditating in small groups or teams because he finds this noting aloud technique so useful. He explains how this would work and its benefits on the Buddhist Geeks website:


"I want to set people up in teams and have them meditate together. Whether it's on the phone or in person, it doesn't matter. What is important is that for the entire half-hour you actually pay attention to something, you actually objectify something, whether it's body sensations or feeling tones or mind states or thoughts, and report aloud in real-time."


Folk's next technique is to use what he calls 'the bystander,' where one notes aloud all of what one is experiencing but always beginning with the phrase 'see how it.' So for example one would say 'see how it feels heat,' 'see how it itches.' He explains this in one of his interviews on the Buddhist Geeks website:


"'See how it stands. See how it feels revulsion. See how it feels amusement. See how it feels annoyance. See how it feels free.' Whatever the feeling is, that is being noted and in that noting is freedom, disembeddedness. This is where all of the dust motes are allowed to fly around or hit the ground. I'm not attached to any of them, and there is the awareness that is also clearly not me that knows all this."


Folk uses different techniques for different people depending on where they are in their practice, so it is not always the same, but these are the basics of the interactive meditation sessions. Using terms like 'maxing out cognitive load' and 'processing power,' Folk speaks in a way that shows his bias toward the efficient, pragmatic, and understandable. In another interview on the Buddhist Geeks site he emphasizes this saying "My sense is that most of what is done isn't necessary. I'm always trying to strip it down to its bare essentials and to be as efficient as possible."


The other reason Folk is a new model for Western meditation teachers is his directness about making a living as a teacher. He states clearly on his website:


"I do earn my living from the cash gifts my students send. This is called dana (the traditional Buddhist system of providing a livelihood for dharma teachers by offering gifts). . . This teaching will be self-sustaining when I can average $70 for each hour (or $35 for each half-hour) I spend working one-on-one with a student. When you send more than that, you are a benefactor student; you are helping a student who sends less. When you give less than $70 an hour, you are a scholarship student; you are being helped by a student who gave more."


He has chosen $70 an hour because he hopes to earn the same as a New York City school teacher— a job for which he is trained but would rather teach meditation. He would like to spend 20 hours teaching on skype and 20 hours working on his website, and if he can make about $70 an hour this will be close to what a New York City schoolteacher would earn. He writes "I believe that when Western dharma teachers can earn a moderate, middle-class income by dharma teaching alone, the dharma will have truly arrived in the West."


Therefore through his use of technology, deemphasis on retreat, one-on-one teaching methods, and directness about dana and earning a living teaching meditation, Kenneth Folk represents a new model for Western dhamma teachers. He hopes that his model can be replicated by others and so far has found the system has worked.







Tug-o-War


Posted: 29 Aug 2010 06:05 AM PDT


With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,


Morning came early today thanks to warring between pups. Tripper and Suki were playing tug-o-war with a rope toy when it turned ugly. Nobody was bloodied, but the growls were serious. "OUTSIDE!" I said in my most stern voice. That was 3:15. Since then the poor rope toy has been shredded. I am sipping coffee, having just enjoyed two pieces of toasted whole wheat bread with honey.


This morning at 9:00 AM, we will invite the bell to ring and we will sit with our own wrestling dogs. Zazen is sometimes like that, thoughts and feelings playing out a tug-o-war in the theater of our mind. Some of these conflicts are very difficult to "let go of" as they have a tendency to play out over and over. The trick is to get ahead of the wave. Practice teaches us to pay attention to nuance, from there, to the gentle rising of a ripple heading to full-blown wave.


Pay attention: Notice, let go; notice, let go. If the wave becomes overwhelming, surrender. Paradoxically, the wave resolves. In other words, give permission for something arguing to be, and it will lose its power. We are on the cushion to bear witness, not to change. Yet, in the act of bearing witness, everything changes.


Be well.

Zen wisdom for daily living.





Buddha & Religion: Buddhism


Posted: 01 Sep 2010 10:01 AM PDT




The Buddha's response to 'Buddhism'?


As the fourth most followed religion in the world, with an estimated 350 million followers or more, Buddhism is one of the major religions in the world today, and has been for much of its two-and-a-half thousand year history. As those years have passed, it has changed and adapted to new cultures and psychologies, producing a wide variety of forms. And yet, at the heart of all these sects, the essential message of the Buddha is retained: life is full of suffering, and there is a way out of that suffering – the Way of the Buddha.


This is not to say that there are not big differences between many of the diverse kinds of Buddhism, however; there is the somewhat austere and conservative approach of Theravada Buddhism, the radical and unorthodox methods of Zen Buddhism, the multifarious and Hindu-influenced forms of Tibetan Buddhism, the devotional and almost theistic Pure Land Buddhism, and the militant yet liberating Nichiren Buddhism, to name but a few. Outwardly, these different denominations appear more like different religions rather than various versions of the same one. This is not so surprising when we remember that the societies and times that they arose and developed from also differ greatly, and as hinted at above, it is the teachings of the Buddha that are really important, not the particulars of the sect from through they are conveyed. We will look at these teachings a little later, but first let's examine the outer layers of the Buddhist onion.


When we inspect specific practices from individual sects, Buddhism can seem pretty confusing. Chinese Buddhists make much use of music, with some beautifully melodic hymns in their repertoire. Whereas in Theravada Buddhism, a cappella chanting is used in their religious services, basing this practice on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Pure Land Buddhists pay obeisance to a number of statues in their temples, including Avalokiteshvara, Tara, and the Buddha, in Nichiren Buddhism the primary object of worship is a symbol representing the Lotus Sutra, and whilst Pure Land Buddhists chant the name of Amitabha Buddha, Japanese Zen Buddhists meditate upon the moment or illogical riddles.


All these apparent contradictions lead some scholars to classify the major sects as different Buddhisms as opposed to forms of one religion called Buddhism. Furthermore, there are seemingly irreconcilable doctrines to be found in these sects; in Theravada Buddhism, the Buddha is believed to have been a man who realized Nirvana, or enlightenment, and when he finally passed away, ceased to exist. In Mahayana Buddhism (which includes most of the other modern Buddhist movements) the Buddha is more like a god, still existing in some heavenly realm ready to come to the aid of a follower when petitioned. Likewise, the spiritual ideal in Theravada Buddhism is the Arahant, someone who realizes full enlightenment in this lifetime and then ceases to exist like the Buddha; in Mahayana Buddhism, the Arahant is superseded by the Bodhisattva who though spiritually awakened, puts off full enlightenment so as to help others to do the same.


A Traditional response to these and the thousands of other differences found between the Buddhist sects is to consider them as 'skillful means' to enlightenment. In other words, the various sects, practices and teachings exist to accommodate the many different kinds of human beings that live in the world. According to this viewpoint, whilst outwardly they may appear to contradict one another, the final destination (enlightenment) is the same; it is only the particular route taken that differs. This interpretation of the myriad of forms that Buddhism takes is quite popular among many modern Buddhists, especially western ones, and it has even been taught by popular Buddhist teachers who themselves adhere to one particular sect. Another cause for conciliatory language between such teachers is some of the similarities found in their denominations, as explored below.


Generally speaking, most forms of Buddhism share many common characteristics such as the use of Buddha statues and other religious imagery, ceremonies and rituals, the practice of chanting and prayer, and the presence of a priestly class, often in the from of minks and nuns. With the exception of monks and nuns, according to the earliest known scriptures (the Tripitaka or Pali Canon), the Buddha actually dissuaded his followers from using images, rituals, and prayer, and made little or no reference to ceremonies and chanting. As far as we can tell, these practices arose long after his passing away, and while he was alive, the Buddha encouraged his disciples to walk the Noble Eightfold Path, involving aspects such as basic morality, meditation and mindfulness. So, whilst a cause for Buddhists to see similarities amongst the different versions of Buddhism found in the world today, such activities are not really part of the Buddha's actual teaching.


This emphasis of the Buddha on his Way as the Path to end suffering, rather than as a religion as such raises an important question when looking at the Buddhist religion today: is it what he really intended for his followers? The same could be asked of Christ and Christianity of course, and I know many Christians who hold the view that whilst religion is manmade, the real point of Christian practice is salvation in Jesus Christ, which is God-made. With the substation of Buddha for Christ, and enlightenment for salvation – plus the elimination of God from the equation altogether – this statement could be made regarding Buddhism. It can be argued, and some Pali Canon purists do, that the Buddha did not teach Buddhism or any other ism for that matter, but that he pointed out the Way to Nirvana.


So, who is correct? Are Theravada Buddhists or the Pali Canon enthusiasts on the right track, or are the Pure Landers headed for eventual enlightenment in Amitabha's heavenly paradise? Perhaps none of these groups are correct, and it is the tantric Tibetan Buddhists that are on the true path; but, then again, surely all those hours spent meditating have not been wasted by the world's Zennists? In truth, it is by looking at the spirit of the Buddha's teachings, whether in the Pali, Chinese, or Tibetan scriptures, that we might divulge as to who is right and who is wrong. And, if we discern the common themes that run through these voluminous works, we find that wisdom, compassion, meditation, mindfulness and above all enlightenment lie at the common heart of all these variations on the Buddha's Path.


Furthermore, by walking this Path we can taste liberation, which is the ultimate test as to whether we are walking the Buddha's Way or not. True enough, it is easy to get caught up in rituals and doctrines and the like, and when this is done, we fall into the traps of sectarianism and religiosity, and this is a million miles from the intention of the Buddha, which was to establish the Way out of suffering. Therefore, if awareness is applied to our practice, then whether we call what we practice Theravada Buddhism, Pali Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, or no Buddhism at all, it will be in line with what the Buddha intended for us: the Way to end suffering.















Source: http://buddharocksfeatured.blogspot.com/2010/08/zen-forms-and-everyday-life.html

at

No comments:

Post a Comment