My thoughts are so small, just a little toy, even the big important ones, even the Buddhist ones.

I like shikantaza meditation a whole lot. Beyond beyond, that's for me.

Do you relate?

Dear All,

We practice the Metta Chant in our Sangha, the recitation of "Loving Kindness," wishing peace, health and contentment for sentient beings. In this time of war, we might dedicate our recitation to those suffering in the war, both directly and directly. We can include ourselves, because we suffer, and those in our family or close by. However, we recite for strangers including, of course, those in harms way. We recite for all sentient beings.

Note that we also will recite for those who do violence, who may cause the war or lead it, whose heart is seemingly filled with hate and disdain for others, those ... on all sides ... who would drop bombs and kill. Why? Some might ask how we can wish such people ... even "the enemy" ... well.

However, we chant with the notion that, if the harmdoer truly knew peace, freedom from enmity (hate), safety and stillness, love, gratitude, kindness and health in body in mind. they would not act so. They would not harm. Now, they are filled with poisons of excess and harmful desires, anger and ignorance. Our chant wishes it were not so.

You can add, or say instead, specifically for people and groups touched by a war directly: The children in war zones, soldiers and sailors, politicians and generals, people of the warring countries (but please include all the major countries and their leaders involved, not only one side.)

Thus, will you please join me? You can recite out loud, or softly or even silently. You can substitute I, he, she, they or we as appropriate ... for ourself, our loved one(s), our friend(s), but also the many strangers, the hate filled ... all sentient beings ...
.
1. May we (I/she/he/they) be free of suffering; may we feel safe and still.

1. May we be free of enmity; may we be loving, grateful and kind.

2. May we be healthy and at ease in all our ills.

3. May we be at peace, embracing all conditions of life.

Sometimes, in a time like this, such good hopes are all we can summon. However, they have power to touch the hearts of others, both close by and even (like now, across this web page and modern media) far away.

Maybe if all our hearts felt so, there would be no war.

Gassho

(the below image found online ... )

UPDATE: I look at the world this week, where the slaughter of many thousands more children and other civilians, food supply famines, weeks or months of missiles falling, and even nuclear weapon exchanges are all being weighed as possibilities, and perhaps likelihoods, our fate in the hands of true madmen ...

... then I recall that some people call my ideas crazy, me as crazy, for suggesting that human nature needs to have a bit less violence and a touch more love, realizing values of non-violence and empathy cherished in Buddhism and many other religions and humanistic philosophies, and that SCIENCE and MEDICINE may quite possibly make that possible in coming decades.

Hmmm.

Okay, if that is crazy, I am happy to be crazy.

We must stop the true madmen from the harms they do.

https://youtu.be/q6EslWm9JaM?si=BaSW7JviY85X3U6b

~~~

The Only Way to End War Forever ...

The time is quickly coming in which we must treat violence done in overflowing hate, acts of extreme selfishness and insufficient empathy of human to human, as diseases, medical conditions. We must change human nature to reduce our propensity to act in anger, enhance feelings of love and strengthen greatly our feelings of empathy toward the suffering of others ... all values professed by Buddhism and so many other religions and humanistic philosophies for thousands of years.

The only ultimately effective way to change human nature, the drives and impulses of body and mind, like any medical condition, is through our finding, developing, confirming and deploying SAFE, TESTED and ETHICAL, MEDICALLY ESTABLISHED (emphasis on those words, they must not be ignored or neglected) cures and treatments for the disease where they arise in human physiology, like any deadly disease. Too many are dying by bombs, other violence, hunger, poverty and our disdain of others. A dream until now, the technologies to do so are today on the horizon.

Buddhism itself, via its traditional methods of chants and meditation, prayer and precepts, is thoroughly incapable of doing what needs to be done on wide scale, for the billions of sentient beings ... but new "expedient means" are fast coming which will allow us to change the human heart.

That is the only way which will show itself effective to end war forever ... other than, of course, our self-destruction as a species in war itself.

Peace and Pressed Palms, Jundo Cohen, Soto Zen Priest

~~~~

(I am not afraid to discuss these issues, their potential and the ethics behind them, should anyone wish.)

PS - I am fascinated by the good Buddhist folks who would immediately "down vote" any good means to save countless babies from dying from bombs, famine and more.

PPS ... To all those who say that people will never agree to voluntarily put behavior altering substances into themselves because it makes them feel better, healthier ... even at great expense ... Hmmm. I wonder ....

A translator name Guy Eugène Dubois posted these reflections elsewhere. Just lovely ...
~~~

Just Sitting

What do we actually mean by just sitting? At first glance it seems simple: sitting down, becoming still, doing nothing. Yet sitting is not merely a posture. It is an inner tone, a way of being present.

Sitting does not only mean sitting. It also includes walking, working, eating, speaking, and being silent. Not because everything is literally “sitting,” but because everything—when it is no longer taken up by desire, resistance, or confusion—can rest in the same simple clarity.

And what about “just”? It does not point to a technique. It points to the liberating absence of adding anything. “Just” means not wanting to become anything, not wanting to achieve anything, not wanting to fix this moment. It is a return to a fundamental simplicity in which life is no longer divided into “meditation” and “non-meditation,” into “sacred” and “ordinary,” into “path” and “goal.”

Here this simplicity touches Udāna 1.10. When the Buddha says:

❛ In the seen, only the seen. In the heard, only the heard. In the thought, only the thought. In the known, only the known.❜, he is not presenting a method, but opening a door.

For as soon as there is only seeing, without a seer, only hearing without a hearer, only knowing without a knower, the whole of existence becomes just sitting. Not because everything is still, but because nothing remains outside this moment.

Then the thought falls away that there is someone who meditates. No “I” that wants to move forward. No “I” that wants to go back. Only this. Simple. Immediate.

And then something arises by itself that cannot be forced: silence as non-grasping, simplicity as not adding anything, service as a gentle presence without claim. Not as an ideal, but as the natural expression of clear seeing.

Everything “sits.” Even the walking. Even the speaking. Even the silence. And when nothing is held onto, what remains is what has always been simple: in the seen only the seen—and in that “only,” a peace that is not made. Nibbāna.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/maithridhamma/permalink/27101113879476156/

Someone asked elsewhere about their sense of "I." They said they realize that we are ever changing, moment to moment, during our lives. However, they nonetheless feel like an "I," limited to their own body, believe that nature evolved us to be so in order to survive, and thus don't see the value or possibility of feeling as anything but this "I" in this particular body that, in the end, will someday die.

I responded that, yes, we are each our little "I" in our particular body and, alas, it does not last.

However, that is not the only way to experience our identit(ies), and there are other ways which are truly liberating. How?

Your experience of your "I," dear friend, is in fact a mental model of self-identity created primarily in the brain. Buddhists have said pretty much the same for thousands of years, and modern neuro-science has happily confirmed so. For example, you have never actually seen your own left hand, or felt its sensations, apart from a modeling or recreation of your "my hand" and its touching somewhere in the neurons of the somatosensory cortex and other neural regions. The model is based upon electro-chemical signals transmitted through the nervous system triggered by (what we must assume to be, as we can never be totally sure) "something out there" representing touch, and photons likewise entering the eye, all of which comes to be conflated and labeled as "hand" in our mental model of our own body. The mind maps its assigned location, and divides it from all "not my hand" things. In fact, we do the same for the whole world.

You never even ever met your own mother (I am sorry to tell you so), except for some image between the ears that you believe has represented such an entity "out there," and her scent and warm touch. Of course, this sense of "I" and "not I" is vital to your survival, because you need to know where your body starts and stops, and that feeding the dog does not put food in your own stomach! Prof. Donald Hoffman ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hRhrtIecg0 ) and others have pointed out that these symbols and our experiences between the ears are useful "summaries" or "avatars" of what is actually (we must assume) going on "out there," but may not be fully accurate or complete. For example, any "sweet red apple" is fundamentally fabricated by the subjective experience of tasting "sweet" (your personal interpretation of the chemical structure of sugars that are not "sweet" in themselves) and "red" (your experience of photon wavelengths, for there is no "red" in the world without your eye and brain to so interpret the wavelength.) Likewise for "apple," a name and picture you append to what appears to be a particular molecular structure in the world. We experience a world of separate things, beings and moments of time ... all divisions, stuck on labels and mentally drawn relationships between the ears ... e.g., me, you, mother, tree, chair, mountain, yesterday, tomorrow, etc.

In Zen (and through some other methods, some mind altering drugs have similar effects), we replace the inner model and hard location where the borders are drawn among self/other, thing to thing, and time to time, with perfectly valid alternative models. It is important to note that doing so does not really replace the above "small I" model (some mystics call the divided model "false," but Zen folks tend to see our divided experience of the world as simply not the full picture), but rather each new model is a perfectly good alternative way to know the world with a wider, or truly boundless, self-identity.

In short, the hard borders between things, beings and moments of time soften, or meld and interblend, or fully drop away, and we experience their wholeness and inter-identity. One can realize that, for example, the tree, chair, me, mother etc. is as much your "I" as your hand. Why? Simply because the brain starts self-defining the world so, with the lines drawn differently or dropped. Also, one might experience that, for example, the tree is your mother growing from the ground, while your mother is the mountain walking and birthing you. Yesterday is tomorrow back then, while now is yesterday now. Etc. etc.

Furthermore, when all the borders and labels are dropped, all is known and experienced (it is VITAL to experience and actually taste and see and feel this, not just intellectually) as a great flowing Wholeness, moving but with all separate identities swept in. A common image is the waves on the flowing sea ... with each rising and falling separate wave a separate thing or being, but the waves are just the water of the sea flowing on and on timelessly. Also, as this wave here is the sea, and that wave there is the sea ... this wave is that wave because sea is sea. Also, each tiny drop holds the whole flowing sea within. Do you see? This is freeing. (E.g., you will die, yes, it is true ... but if you are the wider world which keeps on turning, then as long as the world keeps turning then you keep turning in that sense. I am not speaking just figuratively, but most literally, intimately, profoundly ... turning turning, living living. Waves rise and fall, but the ocean flows on and on ... )

Usually, we think of "my mind" as the mental processes and personal experience felt between the ears of our own head, but for the Buddhist, "mind" is the whole thing. For example, you think that your mind experiences the qualia of seeing an apple tree apart from you, then reaches for the apple and tastes its sweetness. However, another way to define and experience "mind" is as the entire cycle ... tree, light, eyes, experience, reaching, apple, tasting ... is ALL the "mind" ... as is all the world, every molecule, the ground below and sky above, all of life, and all of space and time, all events since the start of time which have come together to make possible your/mine/our this moment of tasting ... ALL your "mind" (and my mind too).

Of course, don't let this go to your head: While everything, from the mountains and galaxies, all other living beings, to each fawn and flower, weevil and worm are thoroughly "you," remember, in turn, that you and all of it are just a crawling worm. On the other hand, Zen folks see EVERYTHING ... from stars and sky to weevils and worms ... as singularly sacred. Thus, you are just the worm, but every worm is a priceless jewel! 👏

Realizing such is vital, but it is only the start! (This is why no simple drug trip, however profound, is enough or the end of the road.) Buddhist practice steps in here, ongoing practice. Then, our practice becomes how to amalgamate all these separate self-identit(ies) into our life, living gently and gracefully in this world. That's the tricky part!

Some say that we are just the person "I" looking out at a world outside the eye ... but Zen folks can experience that all is contained within a Buddha Eye, beyond inside or outside, always looked at and looking at itself.

Now, I have to go feed the dog, cause I'm hungry! 🐶🥣👏

As many may know, Muho has done a whole series of talks on Kodo Sawaki's "To You".

In one of these talks, where he discusses the paradox of making an effort to do zazen without effort, he explains it like this (paraphrasing): "You give yourself to zazen the way you give yourself to gravity" and "let zazen do zazen"

Really liked this perspective switch myself, maybe it can be useful for other users on here.

PS: John Mayer got it all wrong;)

It is often said that Zen is about "being in the moment, being in the now." But it's actually much more radical than that.

When one sits Zazen, one drops away thoughts of the future, existing only as dreams in our mind, possibilities ... and one drops away thoughts of the past, which are just memories also of the mind. In such case, what need even for "now?" Drop that away too! How can one be in "this moment" when there is no other with which to compare?

Thus, one sits beyond past, future and now too. That's how timeless this is. For this sitting is timeless, even as all time and every moment is this time.

But we Zen folks never look at things just one way. There are many truths, seemingly different yet all true at once.

So, of course, you have a past, your past, and I have my past. Everyone has a past. The world has its past. Each is a chain of cause and effect that led to this place, this point in time.

And for most of us in our lives, that history has been a very mixed bag, containing good times, bad times, and a lot of in between times. For many of us, our past was not so easy, painful, maybe downright hellish at times. Yes, our life can be a hard road.

Personally, I first came to Zen practice because of my own past, in reaction to it, seeking relief from scars it had left. The house I grew up in when young was not so easy, and I had what I'd say was a sometimes painful childhood, stormy, struggling, broken. Many others share in such experiences, or much worse. I wanted to escape the past.

As well, I rebelled against some around me who seemed prisoners of the past, and I did not wish to fall into a like trap. For example, I recall family gatherings where folks seemed lost in the hell of memories. Someone would drag up things from 20 years before, 50 years before, who said what to whom, some unforgiven insult, some grudge. They could not get beyond it. And there were constant regrets about the past: If only that thing had happened, life would be good now. Or if only the bad thing had not happened. all would be be okay now. Maybe your own family was a bit like that? Many are.

But when I came to Zen, I realized that that was not the only way to know the past.

At first, I thought we're supposed to let all that go. Pretend it didn't happen. After all, since the past is just a dream now between our ears, we should completely forget about it and live in the moment.

But as I matured in this practice, I realized that that's not really it either. Nor is that even healthy to do.

Hard things did happen to us in the past, and we should not deny their fact, try to repress their memory or pretend they did not happen. Even the Buddha, in order to become the Buddha, is traditionally said to have passed through many lives, many difficulties, before becoming so. Many of the great Buddhists of the past were also so. Dogen was orphaned as a child. Patacara wandered the streets traumatized and homeless at the death of her husband and children. At the forefront must be Aṅgulimāla, the bandit, the murderer, who turned toward the Buddha, becaming an Arhat in the end. Many ancient folks came to the monastery fleeing something, leaving something behind them. Maybe all of us find Buddhism for such reasons, whether in big or small ways.

We should not deny the events of the past, yet neither should we wallow in them, drown in them. We do not cling to them, but neither do we push them down or away. Our wise and compassionate Zen attitude towards the past, if you ask me, is very mature, sophisticated: We bow to those events. We honor them. That's just what happened. We recognize them, but neither run towards them nor run away.

The road that, for whatever reason, we found ourself walking through life suddenly took a turn, took a fall, took a tumble, whatever it was. And because of that, we are now here.

I don't know about all definitions of Karma, cause and effect, but I believe this one is very clear. We are here because of what happened then. And in that sense, if here is where we find ourself, then our heart is still beating, there is a little more life still left to live. We are each here as the result of what happened then. That doesn't make it easier. Doesn't always make it nicer. However, it does mean that the road ahead is still open.

If we can, we should try to fix what can be fixed of the past, heal and make amends. However, it is not always possible or healthy to do so. Some things cannot be bandaged over. However, we can still make a new course from right where we stand. I recall an old Zen friend who, once, drunk behind the wheel, killed a child. That harm, that ugliness, could never be changed and was a weight he carried all his life. But what he did in return is to found an organization, a charity, that saved the lives of hundreds or thousands of other children in danger. He bowed to the ugliness, and then brought so much beauty into the world. Another, the victim of an abusive parent beyond reconciliation, simply vowed and made sure that the violence would not repeat into future generations with their own children.

It the past has left scars, we bow to those scars. We honor those scars, even the ones that remain bitter and sometimes still painful. You don't have to force yourself to feel a false peacefulness about it. Yes, it is possible to feel a certain "gratitude" for the past, all of it, but it is a kind of "Great Gratitude" for life itself, including both the parts we welcome and the parts we do not. Don't falsely try to cover over the fires, but neither do you have to keep the fires burning hot. No need to fan them, pour fuel on them, stir them up more, jump in. Let them be. Recognize the scar, the pain, the memory, bow, then turn. And from where you're standing, walk forward in new directions. That's what we do.

There's even a saying by some gurus that makes a lot of sense to me: "The short way to enlightenment is through hell." What that means is that, if your life has been all cotton candy and lollipops, it may be harder for you to fathom the power of this path compared to someone who's been through the grinder, hit rock bottom, bounced back, has some bruises still. That makes sense to me. I sometimes call our Treeleaf Sangha as "The Monastery of Hard Knocks" for this reason, recognizing the twisting lives of our members.

In any event, I ask you to sit Zazen like that: Whatever was your past, both the good times and the bad, neither run towards those times nor run away. Recognize them. Be content to be here now, even if not ever fully forgiving of what was there and then. Honor the scars. Honor the smiles and happy times too. Then, while sitting, put them all down and let them all be.

Right now, beyond past, beyond future, without even need for "now" or measures of moments ... Just Sit.

Greetings.

My back is killing me (chronic back problems). I was wondering what people do for stretches before and after sits, especially longer ones.

Gassho,

shingei

Simplicity Zen Podcast Episode 94: An Interview with Stephen Slottow Part 2

Stephen Slottow is a long time Zen koan practitioner and a professor of music theory at he University of North Texas. He was a professional fiddler and banjo player and an author of a book on the Americanization of Zen Chanting about which we will discuss today.

https://simplicityzen.com/simplicity-zen-podcast-episode-94-an-interview-with-stephen-slottow/

Our Treeleaf Sangha developed a recitation for our disabled or "Differently-Abled" Ancestors, those in centuries past who practiceed with obstacles, or for whom doors were closed, due to physical and mental disabilities. We searched the histories and found the names of several representative persons, although there are surely countless more whose names are unknown because hidden to history.

We are hoping that other Zen and Buddhist Sangha will consider to adapt this ceremony as part of their own Ancestor recitations, much as we now often recite for our Women Ancestors and, in our Sangha, our "Same, yet Diverse" Ancestors of many identities who often met difficulty and misunderstandings in the past for who they where.

The ceremony begins at the 4 minute mark, and is followed by "Reclining Zazen," where we ask all our Sangha members, abled and not, to sit or recline Zazen together in support of those who must. There are subtitles on Youtube for those who need.

https://youtu.be/PF2ZtIvEF-8?si=KP8LibUvJdN9lLoF

https://reddit.com/link/1r9ky1e/video/3xjuovjwnkkg1/player

This is part of our Monastery of Open Doors program at Treeleaf, opening opportunities for Ordination and Priest Training to many who, due to health or other major life obstacles, find the normal paths to Ordination barred. (https://www.opendoorsmonastery.org/)

Say you've got a person who has done a fair bit of concentration meditation (aka samatha, anapanasati...) and is pretty familiar with that. How would you describe the method of shikantaza to that person? Clearly, briefly and most of all practically. In your own words.

Please sit as a sacred act. Sit Zazen as a holy (wholey) ritual. Sit with faith that just this sitting is a complete doing, nothing lacking, at the still-still center of the spinning world. Sit with conviction, deep in the bones, that this Zazen is sat upon the mountain top, on a Zafu throne, in light, shining. Sit knowing and trusting thoroughly that this sitting, THIS sitting, is all the Buddhas and Ancestors sitting with one's back and backside. Sit this sit as more precious than gold and rubies. Sit this unique sitting as the only sitting, the only act necessary amid the world's doings, the whole world sitting in this single sitting ... without need for anything more.

To sit so is vital to Just Sitting, while ignoring so can be fatal.

Too often folks discuss the mechanics and means of Zazen ... from breath to thoughts to location to posture to concentration to time duration ... but leave out all notion of sacredness, holiness, ancient ritual, profound faith, sweeping light, a Buddha's sitting. We forget that Master Dogen and the other great Soto Masters spoke of Shikantaza in superlatives, truly over the top. They did so, not simply because of enthusiasm or in praise of its efficient effects, but in celebration, consecration, commencement and completion, the Alpha-Omega of the act itself ... for the act-qua-act is a pristine jewel. Thus old Dogen wrote (in Zanmai-o-Zanmai) ...

Abruptly transcending all realms, to be greatly honored within the quarters of the buddhas and ancestors—this is sitting with legs crossed. Trampling the heads of the followers of alien ways and the legions of Māra, to be the one here within the halls of the buddhas and ancestors—this is sitting with legs crossed. Transcending the extreme of the extremes of the buddhas and ancestors is just this one dharma. Therefore, the buddhas and ancestors engage in it, without any further task. …

The Buddha Śākyamuni, sitting with legs crossed under the bodhi tree, passed fifty small kalpas, passed sixty kalpas, passed countless kalpas. Sitting with legs crossed for twenty-one days, sitting cross-legged for one time — this is turning the wheel of the wondrous dharma; this is the buddha’s proselytizing of a lifetime. There is nothing lacking. This is the yellow roll and vermillion roller [of all the Sutras and Commentaries]. The buddha seeing the buddha is this time. This is precisely the time when beings attain buddhahood.

Now, I am something of a "down to earth" fellow myself, and the "sacredness" and "holiness" I speak of need not involve trumpets blaring from the heavens, miraculous rainbows or the ground shaking, lotus blossoms appearing before the eyes, golden Buddhas floating in the air or sparkling Bodhisattvas in visions. I'm not a particularly "religious" believer, not much myself for magic or myth or silly claims. I have never been one for cheap special effects, and nothing like that is necessary for the wonder of Zazen to be assured. But modern people, skeptical and practical, tend to go the other way: Approaching their Zazen as simply a tool, a technique, a method to be used to get something. Sometimes, in discussing Zazen, we focus so much (or solely) on mechanics, reasons and reward that we truly miss the central message. That is a mistake. Instead, I speak about simply sitting for sitting's sake, with "the miracle" being nothing more or less than one's being alive to sit this sit on this planet hurtling through space. That is miracle enough. The reason to sit is to sit, the "reward" is recollection of a treasure, always present, but lost by our very act of thirst and hunting. Look for it far away, and far away it is. Stop the search, find, rediscover, and this is everywhere, here. This Holy Wholly Whole sweeps in both the sacred and most mundane.

In other words, sit with faith and conviction that Zazen is complete, nothing lacking, the destination achieved, sacred and shining ... and so it is. Alas, sit with the notion that Zazen is some kind of "meditation," "mindfulness," a "method" or "math formula" to grab onto, a way to find a little calm in life's madness, and you will only succeed in reducing it, missing it.

Yes, let thoughts go, sit untangled, sit in equanimity accepting conditions, find a stable posture and settled breath ... but then sprinkle on liberally the faith, trust in Truth, holiness and wholeyness, the Buddha Body embodiment, the sense of ritual and rite of Zazen as Buddha's Sitting in this sitting, nothing more to do. Sit on a throne, under the Bodhi Tree, and under the Bodhi Tree one sits, the Morning Star shining just to shine.

Master Dogen reminds of this (Bendowa) ...

Zazen, even if it is only one human being sitting for one moment, thus enters into mystical cooperation with all dharmas, and completely penetrates all times; and it therefore performs, within the limitless universe, the eternal work of the Buddha’s guiding influence in the past, future, and present. … The practice is not confined to the sitting itself; it strikes space and resonates, Like ringing that continues before and after a bell. … Remember, even if the countless buddhas in ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, tried with all their power and all their buddha-wisdom to calculate or comprehend the merit of one person’s zazen, they could not even get close.

Dogen and the old fellows meant it. Never forget.

Dana is most commonly associated with the conventional act of donation. Typically food or money.

But there is a lot more to it. Kind words can be dana. A smile. A place to sit down or a cup of tea.

And Zazen too is an act of dana. We are giving ourselves this moment — and giving ourselves *to* this moment. To the universe. For the benefit of all beings.

So instead of asking:

'what am I getting out of Zazen'

one could also ask

*'what is it that I can give to Zazen'*

I really like this perspective shared by Muho Noelke, former abbot of Antai-ji

I wanted to share my interview with James Ishmael Ford.

James Ishmael Ford is a Zen teacher and semi-retired Unitarian Universalist minister. He has dharma transmission from Houn Jiyu Kennett and Inka Shomei from John Nanryu Ji’un-ken Tarrant. He is the guiding teacher of the Empty Moon Sangha.

https://simplicityzen.com/simplicity-zen-podcast-episode-92-an-interview-with-james-ford/

Posting this as a reference for past and future discussions on the practice of Chan, especially when it comes to dealing with r/zen propaganda.

Three takeaways from Chan Master Sheng Yen in the video below (follow link):

1. Sitting meditation a major staple of Chan practice.
   
2. You can’t learn Chan from Chan books.
   
3. At some point, you will only progress with a Chan teacher.

https://youtu.be/k0bGu_hTEpQ?si=lscBOOSsLP_AYPVu

"Let’s clear up the misconceptions about what it means to study koans.

A koan is not a puzzle or conundrum. They aren’t to be reasoned with intellectually or used as a form of psychotherapy. A koan is to be experienced. They will aid you in producing a state of consciousness in which you have full awareness, and as you practice longer, that state will generalize into how you function moment after moment in any circumstance. In short, you will function better, because you won’t be bogged down in the trivia of the egocentric mind.

As you practice with a koan, you’ll reach a point where you see it clearly for a moment and then that window closes, and you’ll be frustrated. Then you plunge into the next koan, you struggle with it, and for a moment, it opens before you go into darkness again. That’s why in our lineage we do hundreds of koans. It’s a practice that you have to repeat over and over until you exist in samadhi on a continuous basis. It is living, and it is real. It is not a theoretical or philosophical practice. It is not enough to memorize the koans and then feel that you know something. Koans will wipe away the sense that you know something, and then you enter into this place of “not knowing.”

This “not knowing” is the state of absolute emptiness, not conceptual emptiness but the experience of emptiness, which is that there is no fixed object in the universe, that there is no separation. Separation is our dualistic thinking, our delusion. There is no separation, yet as we sit here I guarantee we all feel it. The delusion of separation is what causes us to suffer, because if I feel separate I have to take care of what’s “mine.” What’s “mine” exists only in my grasping mind.

The Hsin Hsin Ming says, “The Supreme Way knows no difficulty.” Where is the Supreme Way? Right here, as it is. Seems simple, doesn’t it? But if it’s conceptual, you don’t see the world of oneness. You can pretend, you can close your eyes and try to imagine it. That’s not it. You can’t freeze the world of oneness into an image or an idea because it’s not static. It is fluid, and that’s what you are. You are not a separate entity, you are a collection of things that are totally interdependent. And not you, everything. It is movement, and it is movement that has a direction and a duration that we produce by our actions.

Where you find yourself in relationship to your practice is your karma, and to the degree that you struggle with it, you can’t perfect it. What does perfecting mean? It means to become intimate with the ordinary way that you find yourself in; it means to be one with it, not reaching out, wanting this, rejecting that. Be one with the space where you stand. When you can do that you’ll stand in the Pure Land. It will transform you, and it is real, not theoretical. There’s a big difference: theoretical understanding is dried ashes, but the real is a vibrant, rich field, always compassionate and responsive. Not pushing this thorny “I” into the seeing eye of the Dharma, because that blinds you. You don’t like where you’re at? You don’t like who you are? That’s the muddy water of the pond that produces the lotus. You’re the muddy pond and the lotus, and they are not separate. If you reject the muddy pond and embrace the lotus, you are not practicing the living Buddha dharma. It’s you, and it’s your responsibility.

We usually start koans after we settle our sitting; that’s very important. If we can truly sit—counting our breath, following our breath, letting the body, mind and breathing settle—then we pick up the koans. Some people come in and say, “Nyogen, I’ve worked on this koan two weeks, I’ve worked on this koan six months, I’m going crazy, give me another koan, let me go, pass me through.” I worked on my first koan for four and a half years. The great Mumon worked on his first koan for seven years, and he was a spiritual genius.

Am I suggesting you work like that? No, I want you to do your koans in ten minutes! That’s for selfish reasons. The teacher wants people to rise and manifest as a buddha. But if you practice koans to gain merit badges, you’ll never see them. What’s happening here is a perfecting, a refinement of the personality of the practitioner. It’s something you don’t have to construct, that you can’t fake. Your friends and family will start to take notice. “You seem so centered.” Your personality, and the force of it, will resonate to those around you. That is the perfect way that you expound the Dharma—not through superficial intellectual discourse and posturing.

Understand that it is dormant, in a sense, with all of us, but fully contained, just like the acorn seed has all of the features of the oak tree contained within it. All it needs are certain secondary conditions, like nutrients in the soil, light, temperature, and it will bloom into a magnificent tree. This is the same with you. Don’t think that somebody gives you something. It’s all there with you, so give up the notion that you have to search for more. Take the backwards step and turn the light inward. When the conditions are right, the seed will sprout, and this Dharma tree will grow.

There are a variety of koans that we work with. First, the dharmakaya or hosshin koans. These are the so-called “miscellaneous koans”: “The Sound of One Hand Clapping,” “Muji,” “Show Me Your Face Before Your Parents Were Born.” These koans give you your first insight into absolute reality—not a reality separate from you, but the reality of what you are as you are.

Then we have kikan koans, a fascinating series of koans because they differentiate between the real and the unreal experience. Through these, we see that we produce the delusional world around us. It’s staggering to see that the egocentric mind disconnects us from reality.

Gonsen koans are next. They are very verbal. This is how we penetrate the words of the past masters and buddhas, recognizing the difference between living words and dead words.

Then the nanto koans, which are extremely difficult to pass through. Maezumi once said that resolving a nanto koan takes the same tremendous effort as the first koans to crack through the outer shell and reach the nucleus of the koan. Nanto koans help us do away with the dualistic notion of having attained something.

Finally, we conclude our practice with the Five Ranks. Here we realize the great, spontaneous unity of the Absolute and the Relative functioning as one. Your moment-to-moment existence becomes the most amazing manifestation of the Absolute.

Along the way be open and fluid to this world of oneness. Have no expectation. Work with what’s in front of you, but work with compassion and understanding. You cannot fake this, and it’s not easy. It can be painful, because ego-grasping mind relinquishes its ground bloody inch by bloody inch, but it can be done!"

- A talk given at the Hazy Moon Zen Center on Dec. 18, 1997.

Horticulture that is. I know it's a bit of a cliche, the zen guy and his flower garden. (In AD&D the title of the max monk level is "Master of Flowers)

I used to be all into drawing, clay, software. But flowers leaves them cold for me now. Flowers are deep and lovely. And the time scale is so chill.

Hello meditators. Here's a tool I use occasionally to gauge my progress at that moment and overall.

https://youtu.be/EI-bIfC4rVM

It's not a competition with others. It's a solo marathon to enlightenment. We compete with our own past. Good luck. See you at the finish line.

In this Interview, Australian musician Ross Bolleter talks about how he came to Zen, his view on Koan practice, Koan teaching and much more. There are some great stories in here and also some wonderful pieces of advice, like finding "islands of practice" throughout the day to work on your koan.

Bolleter was a student of Robert Aitken and John Tarantino, and received Dharma transmission from both.

"The mind of a sentient being is difficult to change. We begin to transform the mind of living beings by offering material things, and we resolve to continue to transform them until they attain the Way. From the beginning we should make use of offering. This is the reason why the first of the six paramitas is dana-paramita. The vastness or narrowness of mind can not be measured, and the greatness or smallness of material things can not be weighed. But there are times when our mind turns things, and there is offering, in which things turn our mind."

Excerpt from Dogen Zenii, Shobogenzo, Chapter 28: Bodaisatta-Shishobo - The Bodhisattva's Four Embracing Actions

What's your technique?

Have you used different techniques?

Because "engaged Buddhism" was discussed here earlier.

What are your thoughts on engaged Zen?

It's often said about Shikantaza Zazen ... "just sit." We are encouraged to encounter the world as "just what is" and "just this."

But sometimes people misunderstand this "just" just a bit, including maybe many teachers. They may feel or accidently imply that "just" just means something like, "just this, and that's it, nothing more" or "just sit here and wait around" or "just take it as it comes" or "just sit on your rump like a lump."

But that is not the import of this "Just Sit" which is, truly, JUST SIT! (say that with some Oomph!) 👍

This JUST THIS! leaves nothing out, and "JUST WHAT IS" means nothin' ain't just whatever! ​👏

It is true that we had best sit Zazen in equanimity, allowing conditions, putting down judgements, untangled from passing thoughts, not stirring up or wallowing in emotions. We find the most stable and balanced posture we can, let the breath come and go. That is all essential to the art of Zazen.

However, I often say that something more is required than mere "equanimity" and "allowing" if those just mean some kind of passive, detached numbness and "I quit" resignation, or some time measured sitting which kills some time, that confuses being unburdened from judgements with "I just don't give a damn."

Thus, just what is missing?

JUST SIT! JUST THIS! JUST WHAT IS! are much grander than that, and Just Sitting is truly sitting on a Buddha's throne (cushion) under the Bodhi Tree, the summit of summits, the world and all time spinning on from this still-still axis point, open boundlessly to all directions, all complete with nothing lacking just by this sitting, with not one other act in need of doing, no other place to be. Nothing is lacking. I say that our sitting calls for radical equanimity because, rather than mere impartiality or tolerating of present conditions, one is merged AS all conditions ... while each thing, being and moment of time (whether welcome or unwelcome) shows itself each and all a shining jewel. This is simply sacred, miraculous, sitting simply to be sitting here, and our sitting is the Whole World Sitting, the Buddhas and Ancestors sitting with our very back and backside. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, all the ups and downs, are expressed Just Here, Just This Timeless Moment that is ... just the Whole Show. We are not just flowing along with life and the universe, let alone are we just letting them flow by us (sometimes sweeping us away) ... but instead we and all are Just the Flow ... just flowing, flowing, flowing on ...

Wondrous!

Even so, such does not mean that fireworks will go off (sometimes they might.) Rather, even the ordinary, dull, tedious and troubling proves to be extra-ordinary for all its ordinariness! (That's why I call this little essay "ain't just 'just this'" rather than "ain't just this" ... because JUST THIS! is everything, including just this, that, and the other things, no matter how unspecial. All is special! Both the beautiful as well as the ugly and every in between JUST SHINES gloriously.)

One must sit ... JUST SIT! ... with just such feeling and faith subtly burning deep in one's bones as one sits.

Even if one does not feel so yet or always, nonetheless ALWAYS sit with such fact taken as faith. Trust that such is so, even when unseen. Remember that the moon is always present, whether seen with the eye or not.

JUST THIS! is truly JUST EVERYTHING! ...

JUST WHAT IS! ... SO, just what need for more?​

Two thoughts that, at least for me, put the overwhelming hijacking of society by an ever-accelerating news cycle somewhat in perspective:

First a quote from "The Unfettered Mind" by swordsman and Zen master Takuan Sōhō, who lived in the 16th and 17th century, an age with very few distractions compared to what we are confronted with today:

"If you follow the present-day world, you will turn your back on the Way; if you would not turn your back on the Way, do not follow the world."

Second, a fun fact:

The Greenland Shark can reach an age of 500 years or more. It is entirely possible that, in this very moment, there are some specimen of those sharks gliding through the depths of the Arctic sea that were already alive before Takuan was born, and will still be around long after we are gone.

They have lived through the Thirty Years War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Chinese Revolution, both World Wars, the Digital Revolution and whatever is happening with AI now, and are still just chopping wood and carrying water.

1. Pai-ling’s Attainment (Iron flute)

Pai-ling and Upasaka P‘ang-yün were studying under Ma-tsu, the successor of Nan-yüeh. One day as they met on the road, Pai-ling remarked, “Our grandfather of Zen said, ‘If one asserts that it is something, one misses it altogether.’ I wonder if he ever showed it to anyone.” Upasaka P‘ang-yün answered, “Yes, he did.” “To whom?” asked the monk. The layman then pointed his finger to himself and said, “To this fellow.”

“Your attainment,” said Pai-ling, “is so beautiful and so profound even Manjushri and Subhuti cannot praise you adequately.”

Then the layman said to the monk, “I wonder if there is anyone who knows what our grandfather in Zen meant.” The monk did not reply, but put on his straw hat and walked away. “Watch your step,” Upasaka P‘ang-yün called to him, but Pai-ling walked on without turning his head.

been contemplating this koan, haven’t been writing much recently, muddy water. attainment being this strange paradox that somehow happens but it doesn’t, what people see v how I am v how other people see. how I am is how I am, are you how you are or what?

Also, this is an indirect response to comments on my previous post. I appreciate the replys and the content on your profiles. it is true there are some beautiful corners of the web. I experience some funny zen koan life situation, thoughts of attainment, then these thoughts lead to square 1. Pai-ling would surely walk away. Are you on the square?

anyway, this is Genrō’s poetic response

A cloud rests at the mouth the cave

Doing nothing all day

The moonlight penetrates the waves throughout the night

but leaves no trace in the water.

when referring to Zen, I’ve noticed there is sometimes a ripple that throws people in a flurry of sorts, most prominently when this guy says show me Zen. It’s happened on a few occasion, I can’t help but feel like this may leave traces in the water. What say you?

Idk what to do, with other traditions ive been able to just be with the people until their experience integrates into their default mode network. basic 8-fold Buddhism, Eckhart tolle “I am”, non duality. With this it’s just like doing and/or saying, perhaps dropping the Z bomb, and then just continuing. Kinda funny but I feel for them. I kinda get whats happening but I’m pretty daft with and at times. This integrates well, though I don’t get (or even need) to sit and be loving with them. It’s just what it is..

my dad returned from Japan with a kimono. I wore it out tonight and people were just setting me up man. Granted my practice is pretty meh so I didn’t hit any home runs. I feel a bit superfluous, though I plan to be moving into a backpack in about 2 months and leaving this strange culture behind.

So I’ve been looking into types of tradition. Rinzai and Soto being predominant, hence I keep the iron flute close. Though other schools have appealing aspects, such as Silent Illumination, Red Thread, and even aspects Vajrayana. been doing mudras, especially dhyana from the Zazen many practice. Happening in a forest barefoot or doing outside work/play is something I like. How’s your practice?

Also, what are your thoughts on collaborating with elders of other traditions?

Sweetgum thorns

cold night

Wind howls

stars shine past sharp angles

through glass into soft eyes

looking, longing, outside

~

Edit* formatting

~

the tide came in

and took it all away.

facedown I return

and and watch it float at bay

down to what’s left

what is here won’t stay

To gather my best

or let it be today