Dogen Zen Ireland.

Tipperary Sesshin Report.

2012-01-23T04:36:00.000-08:00

(The wonderful studio at Tigh Roy's that became our zendo for the retreat)

The sesshin in Tigh Roy's, Co Tipperary, concluded yesterday.

10 participants from various groups (and no groups) came together to enjoy a weekend of practice and discussions. The centre proved very comfortable and the food and hospitality was excellent, so many thanks to Deirdre and Roy of Tigh Roy's.

As there was no teacher attending we had facilitated group discussions in place of dharma talks. The first of these, on Saturday, was about our various 'approcahes to Zen'. People spoke of their experiences coming from various backgrounds: From the Nishijima/ Dogen sangha side of things, from the Deshimaru approach, from the BMZC/Paul Haller Roshi approach, from the Hogen Yamahata/ Open Way Zen approach. We had a practitioner of Gestalt therapy and an Aikido Shihan present, so we were able to touch on the relevance of zen practice in those areas also.

Eilís read some insightful passages from her current favourite book yesterday which led to an interesting discussion on aspects of practice.

Although the retreat was put together provisionally to be a loose 'chanting/ ceremony free' affair (so as to be as inclusive as possible to those from other traditions, or from no traditions) it was decided to perform prostrations and chant the Heart Sutra after the last session of zazen yesterday.

All in all it was an interesting and enjoyable experiment and I hope that it contributes to the establishment of a non-sectarian, non-hierarchical forum for sincere and inclusive discussion and practice in Ireland. The beauty of the 'stripped down' model is that such events are quite easy to organise, so similar events can run again if there is sufficient interest.

Many thanks and bows to our hosts and to all who attended.

Harry.

Tipperary Retreat Update: This weekend 20th Jan.

2012-01-17T03:28:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks,

The retreat schedule is down to start at 6pm, not 7pm as wrongly stated on the blog. Zazen does not begin until after 7pm though. The schedule for Friday looks like this, and includes a light evening meal on arrival:

18:00-18:50 Arrive

18:50-19:20 Light Meal

19:20-20:00 Zazen

20:00-21:30 Bath/Free Time

21:30 Lights Out

Anyone who is interested in attending but hasn't contacted me yet to confirm their place is advised to do so in the next couple of days.
.
Regards,

Harry.

January 2012 Zen Retreat in Co Tipperary, Ireland.

2011-09-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

There will be a zen retreat in a fantastic retreat centre situated in the lovely Glen of Aherlow, Co Tipperary, on the weekend of Friday 20th January till Sunday 22nd, 2012.

The retreat will begin at 6pm on Friday 20th and end @ 5.30 pm on the Sunday evening.

The focus will be on zazen (seated meditation), kinhin (slow walking) and samu (work periods). There will be no chanting or formal ceremony although zendo etiquette will be observed (bowing on entering and leaving the zendo, bowing before and after sitting etc.) It will not be a strictly silent event, but silence will be observed at the communal meals (which will be very tasty veggie fare!)

No teacher will be in attendance, so this retreat is only suitable for those who have already established a regular practice and/or who have attended a retreat before. There will be themed discussion periods instead of formal Dharma talks.

The cost of the weekend, including all meals and accommodation, is €145 (per person sharing
rooms with two single beds). Booking is essential as places are limited. A deposit of €45 will ensure a place on the retreat. Please forward deposits before December 15th.

You can enquire or book by contacting me at: harrybradley[at]eircom.net

Check out the lovely venue HERE.

Regards,
Harry.

New Resource.

2011-09-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hi,

This blog was formerly assigned to a zazen group in Co Leitrim which has since ceased to be. People occassionally contact me about Zen and Masters Nishijima and Dogen though, and to enquire about events in Ireland, so I thought I'd transform this blog into a resource for interested people even though Dogen Sangha does not currently have a formal group in Ireland.

There are plans for a retreat here next Summer however, and possibly an event before that time. Please feel free to contact me for further details.

Regards,

Harry.

Zazen Posture.

2010-09-16T05:23:00.000-07:00

There was a nice turnout last Tuesday, the first of our weekly meetings after the summer break. Thanks to everyone who came along to try out zazen.

Some people sat on chairs, while some sat on the zafus (the small, round cushions) and zabutons (the bigger, flat ones). We have to start practicing zazen from whatever point our body is at, and, while sitting in a cross legged pose is recommended, it simply is not possible for all of us. This is fine.

The cross legged position on the floor offers the great stability of a tripod (made by our two knees and the sitting bones of our backsides). Remember we sit towards the front edge of the zafu and allow our pelvis to drop forward, which, if we are sufficiently flexible, should allow our knees to fall towards the zabuton (you can use a folded blanket on a carpeted floor at home as an alternative to a zafu and zabuton). This stability allows us to make the upright (but not rigid!) posture with our upper body.

If we're sitting on a chair it's important not to slump back in on ourselves in the lower back region, and we don't lean against the chair's back (as in the 'traditional seat' image at the top of this post). We should sit forward, towards the edge of the seat if possible, and gently stick our rears out allowing for a gentle inward curve in the lower spine (as in the 'saddle seat' image up top... this can feel a bit odd at first!) We should support our own upper body on this base, remembering to allow the shoulders to drop naturally with our hands in the mudra position. The mudra is formed around the part of our body which is the pivot area of our torso; this serves to bring a sense of centeredness and balance to our posture.

Remember: Getting into the routine of doing 3-5 mins, or whatever, twice a day (usually morning and evening) is better than doing 20 mins or half an hour infrequently!

... And be careful not to try to do too much everyday at first, so as not to burn yourself out on it and make doing it a drag. The length of time we sit daily can be built up very gradually as we get used to it.

You'll find links to some info on stretches to help open the legs, hips and back HERE... and check out the 'How to do Zazen' link in the links section up on the right hand side of this page.

Zazen Meetings Recommencing Tuesday 14th September, 7 - 8pm.

2010-08-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I hope everyone had a nice summer break. Our zazen meetings in The Dock Arts Centre, Carrick-on-Shannon are starting up again on the 14th of September. All are welcome, as you'll see in the blurb provided below (which I wrote for The Dock's events programme):

Long River Zen Group.

Try out zazen (zen sitting meditation) and learn about Buddhist philosophy at this weekly group meeting. There are two 15 minute meditation periods and an open discussion. Buddhist practice is about encountering our life here and now just as it is, it does not require that we adopt or reject any particular beliefs, so everyone is welcome to participate.

For more info and bookings contact: longriverzen@gmail.com

Maybe we'll see you there.

Summer Break, Brad Warner Visit, 'Dropping Views/Opinions', Zombies etc etc...

2010-05-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

Firstly, the evenings at The Dock have finished for the summer to resume in early September. This is to follow the format of other classes/workshops there: It's a pain for The Dock to open the place up just for us. I hope you can continue to do some zazen at home during this time. Remember that it's generally advised that establishing a practice of a few minutes each day, or twice a day, is more important than doing a longer sitting just once or twice a week. You can build up the sitting time as you get used to it. Good luck, and thank you for all your efforts.

Secondly, someone last night said (quite sensibly) that they were uncomfortable with the idea of 'dropping our views and opinions' in Buddhism. It's important to stress that this statement about dropping views and opinions only refers to zazen where we allow everything to come and go for a time, where we stop our usual judging and evaluating when we notice that we're doing it. In this way we can get a broader perspective on our views and opinions for a time. The point is not to makes us zoned out, blank-minded zombies all the time: that would actually be a dangerous way to live, as we're required to evaluate and make judgements as part of our everyday lives. The problem is that we sometimes mistake our own views and opinions as some sort of real, exterior reality. Zazen addresses this and allows us to see our thinking and evaluating from a more realistic perspective. Doing it regularly also develops an intuitive understanding of the way things really are... but that's another story.

Thirdly, if anyone is interested in hearing about one-day events or other Buddhisty things that may be going on during the summer in this area then please drop me a line with your contact details and I'll include you on our info list.

One event that springs to mind is that the US Buddhist teacher and author Brad Warner is visiting Belfast next month. Details can be found HERE (scroll down the page a bit).

...And check out the July/August retreat in lovely Co Clare in the links menu up on the right hand side there.

...AND (phew!) a few of us are talking about meeting up weekly at my house in Boyle for zazen during the summer. Contact me for details.

Hope you have a great summer!

Not One Other Thing to Hide From.

2010-05-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

Zazen can sometimes be misused as a place to hide, as a place to protect ourselves from the world, or to feel superior, 'transcended', 'more enlightened' etc etc. Sometimes we might get absorbed in aspects of our self in doing it and abuse it to protect, and even enhance, such thoughts and feelings about our self. This, of course, is inherently selfish and is not the very real, tangible conduct of 'dropping body and mind' as proposed in Buddhism.

Zazen allows us to receive everything and everybody without exception as our own life. We can drop our involvement with our usual comfort zones and narratives for a time and revel in the great diversity of our life unlimited. In sitting firmly upright, and allowing ALL our usual 'stuff' to just come and go, we can learn and clarify what Buddhism is really about.

I came across this quote from a great Chinese Master in a book by Robert Aitken Roshi last night:

You who sit on the top of a hundred foot pole,
Although you have entered the Way, it is not yet genuine.
Take a step from the top of the pole
And the universe in the ten directions will be your entire body.

(Ch'ang-sha)

Summer Retreat in West of Ireland.

2010-04-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

Peter Rocca Sensei (on left, with Nishijima Roshi) will be conducting a weekend retreat this summer July 31st- August 2nd in Ireland.

It'll be held at the very nice Sunyata Retreat Centre which is situated in the rolling countryside of lovely East Clare. The timetable will not be too intensive and so it will suit beginners.

You can read about it and make a booking here.

(...Although the website doesn't work for me every time I try for some reason. If it doesn't work, try later!)

Sitting Upright: An Amazing, Mysterious Feat Beyond Our Comprehension!!!

2010-04-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

Someone last night asked the very sensible question: 'Why do you do it [zazen]?'

In response to this question Kodo Sawaki, the celebrated 20th century Japanese Zen Master, might boldly roar 'Zazen is useless!' or 'There is no reason!', one of his students, Kosho Uchiyama might say 'Do zazen for the sake of doing zazen'. Gudo Nishijima Sensei might say 'Do zazen to balance the autonomic nervous system', and that such balanced action brings clarity and poise to our life...

All these answers are valid and true. The most important thing is to actually do it if we want to understand it... And remember that doing it involves dropping off all our expectations of it, and all the demands of it that we will find ourselves thinking up (which is what Kodo Sawaki was getting at maybe):

'Be like an open gate'.

The issue came up of spiritual teachers who can (allegedly) perform miraculous feats (such as levitating, manifesting solid objects out of nowhere etc etc)... We can believe or disbelieve whatever we want about this stuff, but doing zazen is not directly a matter of belief, nor cynicism: What is of central importance is that we actually do it and just let go of our values, beliefs and disbeliefs for a while... and then maybe we can learn something about our values and beliefs, and ourselves.

Our bodies constantly manifest anew from moment to moment so that we may move and grow. We can know a person's mind by the smile on her face or the tear in his eye. We can fly in a plane, or hang-glide, or bungee jump or dance around like big kids... now that is miraculous!

Buddhism: A Philosophy Based in Our Own Action.

2010-03-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

Nishijima Sensei, my teacher's teacher and the founder of Dogen Sangha, makes a nice distinction about what Buddhism essentially is.

He says that it is a 'Philosophy of Action'. This means that, rather than its adherents being concerned with just believing in things (idealism) or explaining things in tangible empirical and quantifiable terms (materialism), they are required to actually 'do' it (Action). The 'doing it' bit is clarified in zazen, and it's the central aspect of Zen Buddhism.

A nice, positive aspect of Buddhism is that we can still believe in things (such as God) and practice it, so you get people whom may be adherents to a religion such as Christianity but who also practice zazen sincerely. Buddhism is generally not a religion which excludes on the basis of belief or lack of it, but it requires us to look at the nature of our beliefs and our selves via the Action of zazen when we are not restricted by, or limited by, our own values and beliefs.

In zazen, and particularly in extended 'sesshin' ( zazen retreats), we have the opportunity to explore the nature of Buddhist 'Action': All sorts of stuff might come up when we sit zazen... we will get bored and frustrated, we might feel all spacey and spiritual, and we'll likely have to deal with physical discomfort and all sorts of daydreams and fantasies; but we can just firmly sit through it all and learn very directly that we needn't be pushed around by what we think and feel.

We're actually already free to act despite what we think and feel with our body and mind and despite all our habitual reactions to our 'stuff', but we need to really practice this principle often and regularly to substantially realise it in our lives.

No Meeting Next Week.

2010-03-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Two things:

Please bear in mind that there is no zazen in the Dock next Tuesday (6th of April). We'll be back there again the following Tuesday (the 13th) as usual.

Some time in the next month I'll be holding a one-day zazen retreat at my home zendo situated just outside of Boyle, Co Roscommon. It'll probably run from @ 10 am til 3pm or so on a Saturday or Sunday.

If you're interested in attending let me know by email: longriverzen(at)gmail.com

More details about that event will follow. All that is certain about it at the moment is that it'll be free of charge.

The Great Perfection.

2010-03-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

Buddhist philosophy posits that everything is already perfect, everything is Buddha-nature and is totally complete in itself...

"Yeah, right!" you might say, and, fair enough, the world is an unapologetic shit hole at times.

When we adopt this notion of 'everything being perfect' idealistically, just as some silly limited idea in our head or whatever, then we can quickly see that it really isn't that useful, truthful or accurate: our lives are more than a bit sucky at times, and this often hurts. But that's not what this Buddhist idea of perfection is about at all: As with all Buddhist philosophy, we should examine this more fully from the perspective of our own practice of zazen.

In zazen we can see that we ourselves make 'good' and 'bad', 'holy' and 'ordinary', 'friend' and 'foe', that we tend towards 'this' and away from 'that' based on our experiences and values... we chop up the Perfection with our thoughts and wants and aversions and all that stuff from our lives. But we can see too that we can lessen this activity with practice and the right sort of effort.

In sitting upright and firmly we can let all that usual drama just come and go; we don't have to get involved, we can see it all as just the Perfection itself unfolding playfully if we don't get involved in the narrative of our lives as we usually do. In doing this the Perfection that already exists before we make things 'perfect' and 'imperfect' will start to become clearer.

Of course, we have to get up off the cushion and step back into the world of discriminating what's good and bad for ourselves and others and striving to do the right thing and make ends meet, but, if we have really expressed and experienced the Perfection, then maybe we can arise with the direct recognition that our often squalid, tiny little lives of frustration and confusion are an expression of something that we cannot limit in the ways that we generally tend to limit ourselves.

Time, Please!

2010-03-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

In practicing Zazen we can enjoy an interesting perspective on time:

The past is just our own memory made in our own brains, and the future is just a thought made in our brains as well... in a sense we make our own 'time' in this way.

The present, the eternal present that never stops nor starts, is this moment where we can allow all thoughts of 'past', 'future' and 'present' to just come and go. Doing this is to BE Real-time and to understand Real-time/existence: Real-time is not how we imagine the 'past', 'present' or 'future' to be and so we can experience it in letting all our thoughts come forward and drop away... after a while of sitting thus we'll get into the groove of this Real-time and it will come to meet us and help us out.

We might like to think of the wise Buddhas of the past, or some Truth or Realisation that will come in the future... but the only Truth and the only Reality is this present time. This is the only time when we can really exist and act, or be true, or be realised... or just be deluded by all our thinking!

Master Dogen wrote about this in a Chapter of Shobogenzo called "Uji" ('Time-being').

Regards,

Harry.

Right and Wrong.

2010-03-02T05:21:00.000-08:00

In the Buddhist lineage I'm involved in there is currently some hot debate and dissent about the question of morality and what's 'right' and 'wrong' in Buddhism.

Thankfully, the Buddhist teaching on this is very practical and clear and was summed up in ancient times in these terms:

Not to commit wrongs,
To practice the many kinds of right,
Naturally purifies the mind;
This is the teaching of the buddhas.

Master Dogen, the Buddhist Master considered the founder of Soto Zen, particularly emphasised the first line about 'not committing wrongs' because, when we are not committing wrongs, things manifest as they are, we manifest as we are, and we are naturally right when we allow ourselves to be right.

Basically, the emphasis is not on lofty, moralistic ideals, or worrying about what other people are doing, or praising them or criticising them for being 'right' or 'wrong' as we perceive it. The emphasis here is actually on our very own conduct right here and now: We make real, manifest right and wrong just here and now with our own real actions of body, speech and mind... any 'right' and 'wrong' outside of this is just a thought in our heads, a judgement, a splitting up of the situation using our intellect.

This does not mean that we should not have views and opinions on events or situations, or that we should not make efforts to improve things for ourselves and others, *but*, from the perspective offered in Buddhism, we should clearly understand that our views and opinions are just our own views and opinions and not some objective truth.

It's easy to get intoxicated by our own views and opinions, and Buddhism recognises this:

If needs be, we should try not to do what we know to be wrong,
We should let good manifest as it is,
This clarifies our intention and our lives.

Nobody is perfect, everybody makes mistakes... please bear in mind that Buddhism is essentially not a philosophy/religion of lofty, abstract morals and sitting in judgement of others. It's about us. It's about our own personal actions/conduct right here-and-now. That's what we can change, that's what we can control.

Of course, the natural introspection of zazen, where we drop off all thoughts of 'good' and 'bad', is indispensable if we wish to understand and clarify our thoughts and intentions. It aligns us with our natural goodness that already exists before we think up 'good' and 'bad'.

Hips (and 'watch yer knees!')

2010-02-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

Most people, if they want to start doing zazen cross legged on a zafu (round cushion) on the floor, will probably have to do some stretches to open up their hips a bit. It's important to do this as, if the hips aren't rotating enough the twist of the leg is transferred from the hip to the knee, but the knee cannot rotate like the hip, and so it can easily get damaged. It's bad news when that happens.

Be careful when sitting or stretching: if there is any sharp knee pain or prolonged discomfort then stop doing whatever you're doing.

Here are some basic hip opening exercises suitable for cautious beginners.

Here is a longer yoga-based hip routine that is intended to help people work towards the lotus posture.

Here is another page with preparatory stretches for lotus.

Please heed all the warnings on these hip stretching pages and remember that stretching the hips is a gradual and gentle process.

Starting next week I'll be doing a series of topics introducing the main points of Zen Buddhism and its practice.

'Beginner's Mind'.

2010-02-16T15:52:00.000-08:00

“In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few”.

(Shunryu Suzuki Roshi)

It's not easy to relinquish all our views and opinions about ourselves and everything for a time, but that's what we have to do in zazen if we really want to taste it.

'Beginner's mind' is sometimes revered in Buddhism as the attitude that is open to all possibilities, that is unhindered by assumptions and the mental baggage of habitual, learned behavior. However, often a beginner might approach something with expectations, or with ideas of how something should be based on what they've heard about it, or they might mix it up with something similar and have that as a sort of comparison. I certainly approached Buddhism like this. A lot of people seem to approach Buddhism and Buddhist practice with all sorts of ideas about it and other things, like ideas they've read or seen on TV or heard about or whatever. It's understandable because we want to get a handle on what it's all about. Often we first want our expectations and ideas affirmed, and we might even loose interest and/or be disappointed if they're not.

While it's certainly good to understand aspects of Buddhist philosophy, it's more important to commence practicing zazen sincerely allowing all our expectations, comparisons and aspirations to come forward and just fall away. After a while they'll cease to disturb us and we'll begin to understand what 'beginner's mind' really means. This is how we really learn the essence of Buddhist philosophy.

If I could go back and give myself some advice I'd say "Listen more! Talk less! Ask more questions! Don't make assumptions!"...but I doubt I'd listen to the advice really as I was, and am, a bit thick when it comes to being a good beginner at anything.

Zazen.

2010-02-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

An awful lot could be said (and has been said!) about doing zazen.

1. Sit in an alert but relaxed upright posture with a straight spine.

2. Let thoughts just come and go without involving yourself with them.

3. If you find yourself intentionally thinking or daydreaming then just stop it.

Eventually our wild brains will settle down and we'll see for ourselves that there's nothing left to do...That's the way I'd explain it in a nutshell at least!

You can download a free PDF booklet HERE with some nice, clear instructions for zazen, including info on good posture etc etc.

It's good to start with a couple of short sittings per day... maybe five minutes in the morning and five mins in the evening. It's very important to practice it regularly if you really want to get a feel for it. It seems better to start off with short sittings like this that you can work into your schedule and that don't 'burn you out' on sitting or make you dread going back to the cushion (on the other hand, some people seem OK with sitting for quite long periods right from the start... I certainly wasn't!)

You can always built up the length of time that you sit very gradually as you get used to it and as it becomes part of your daily schedule.

Heart of the Matter.

2010-02-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva,

when deeply practicing prajna-paramita,

clearly saw that the five skandhas are all empty,

and was saved from all suffering and distress.

Tonight we started looking at The Heart Sutra. This is a central Mahayana Buddhist scripture that is studied and chanted widely throughout the Buddhist world.

It takes the form of a speech delivered by the Bodhisattva of Compassion (called 'Kannon' in Japanese) to Sariputra, one of the Buddha's main disciples.

In it Kannon reveals that all things (including all aspects of our self) are of the nature of sunyata or 'emptiness'. This term 'emptiness' is sometimes misunderstood to mean that things aren't real or that they don't exist, but actually it refers to the nature of things just 'as they are' as we can directly realise them in zazen when we become balanced and stable, when our thinking calms down and things become clearer (even in our un-clearness!).

It seems important to note that Kannon delivers this revelation while 'deeply practicing prajna-paramita' (or deeply practicing 'perfect wisdom'), so s/he is expressing the nature of things as experienced in a very stable state of zazen.

There have been volumes written about sunyata/emptiness and what it means as a philosophy and whether it negates things or not etc etc etc... but it seems more important to directly clarify substantially for ourselves what emptiness/shunyata is in our own sitting zazen. It's not really just a philosophical matter.

Top Losers!

2010-01-26T12:55:00.000-08:00

We touched on a lot of stuff tonight in our not-so-little pre-zazen chat (a remarkable amount really, given that there was only three of us there!)

One thing that came up is these various methods for making one's life better with positive thinking and various meditation-type practices (The Secret is the latest craze in this it seems). That stuff is all fine in its context (although it was noted that often these 'get more successful' schemes come with a very high price tag... so I suppose they do indeed work: somebody's definitely gettin' rich!), but it's good to recognise the difference between that sort of meditation or method and the 'no gain' aspect of zazen as transmitted in Buddhism. It's quite different in nature.

It is the case that we generally feel better after zazen (especially after we've been doing it regularly a while), and it may often be true that people who practice zazen regularly enjoy less stress, decreased levels of aggression, more clarity, more balanced lives, better sleep even, and other positive physiological effects... but that's not the point of it, nor should it be our motivation in zazen. In fact, if our motivation is to 'get nice stuff' or 'feel good' in zazen, then we can't really be said to be practicing zazen as it has been handed down from Buddhist ancestors. Zazen is not about achieving goals in that way at all.

Put simply, our life is often characterised by running away from things which we consider 'bad' (e.g. poverty, being an asshole/ being boring old 'me', depression, stress etc etc etc) and running to things which we consider 'good' and that will cure the 'bad' stuff (e.g. being rich, being a 'perfect, enlightened' being, having amazing meditative experiences, being happy all the time, being care-free etc etc etc...) , but zazen, if we really tuck into it and practice it sincerely, is a break from this sort of inherently circular existence of getting what we want and being 'happy' then, inevitably, loosing it and being 'unhappy' and then struggling to get what we want in order to be 'happy' again.

Zazen offers more stability than a life of just irresistibly chasing after an ethereal carrot on the treadmill driven by our habitual wants and aversions. We can just stop that 'running to' and 'running away from' activity in sitting upright and non-thinking, letting that whole drama just come and go for a time. In this way we can get a broader perspective on it. Of course, we do have to try to make things in our lives better for ourselves and others, but getting caught up in just that, to not be able to see beyond that, is the source of some serious problems in life it seems.

Master Dogen, in a chapter of Shobogenzo called 'Bussho', explains that expressing the state of a buddha, that substantially 'getting' it, is a matter of 'being without'. This great attainment, this great wisdom of the ancients, involves us dropping away our lives of wants and needs, of 'good' as opposed to 'bad', of even the senses of loss or attainment themselves... to win at Buddhism is to gain every single thing everywhere in manifesting the Ultimate Loser right here and now.

Regards,

Harry.

Kenshō & Zazen.

2010-01-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

Kyudo Nakagawa Roshi

T'was very quiet tonight in The Dock. It was our first Tuesday night back after the Christmas and snow extravaganza (have all you budding zennies gone into hibernation or something?)

Those of us there (both of us, that is!) had a nice chat about zazen and the 'sudden awakening' experiences we sometimes notice in zazen. Such experiences are referred to in Zen tradition as Kenshō.

At such times we might have a sudden realisation about ourselves, or experience a feeling of connectivity with everything around us and/or a very fine clarity and lightness in our sitting or other activities. These experiences are often a very valid part of practice... sometimes they're not though; they might just be random mental events due to our current state of body-mind (referred to as "makyo" in Zen terms), so it's important not to read too much into them as a general rule.

It seems important not to get too caught up in such experiences, especially in seeking them or trying to 'make them happen' or replicate them every time we sit. That's a sort of attachment to our own mental events which is quite contrary to just sitting and allowing every thing to come and go.

All aspects of zazen, just as it is right at this moment, are already complete in themselves. This moment of practice perfectly contains everything in its perfection and imperfection. It really doesn't need improving, and we can't improve it in that way anyway!

Zazen, every aspect of it, is the point of doing zazen and there is no realisation beyond what we are presently realising, beyond what we are presently making real.

Dosho Port posted some excellent points from Dainin Katagiri Roshi to his blog recently where Roshi says:

Peace is not inside or outside. Peace is right in the midst of the functioning of zazen. You think that by zazen you will become peaceful. At that time, peace is already outside. When you feel peaceful by zazen you feel peace inside. But this isn’t real peace and harmony. Next moment it disappears. Real peace and harmony, which is blooming from moment to moment, is not in the idea, but in the midst of the process of zazen.

Kyudo Nakagawa Roshi, in an interview with a student, offers a nice touchstone to keep our heads screwed on in this regard also:

Q: Some people would like to improve themselves with spiritual practice, to get better...

Roshi: If the desire to become better disappears, then they will become better.

Dainin Katagiri Roshi

And Now, Cometh The Freeze.

2010-01-09T08:20:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year to All.

We're going to re-commence our Tuesday evening sittings on Tuesday the 19th of January.

The roads are a bit dodgy due to the weather here and it seems like it might be better to wait for a little while before starting up again.

We're not good with a couple of inches of ice and snow in this country: everything goes a bit pear-shaped... People in Finland and Sweden and places like that, please stop sniggering at us!

Hope everyone is safe and warm.

Regards,

Harry.

Oh, Floody Marvelous!

2009-12-01T15:48:00.000-08:00

The last couple of evenings in The Dock before Christmas have been cancelled due to the flooding which has badly disrupted most things around Carrick-on-Shannon.

The Dock has had to start cancelling shows and events in response to people's unwillingness to travel to, and within, the area.

We're now planning to start back on January 12th with a 6 or 8 week series of meetings/sittings in an 'Introduction to Buddhism' format with a different theme each week.

Hope you have a great holiday season. Keep sitting like mountains, and I hope that you are not too badly effected by any long river that may be misbehaving itself!

Four Noble Truths & Zazen.

2009-11-20T03:37:00.000-08:00

From the perspective of our own Zazen practice, we looked at the Four Noble truths like this:

1. We considered 'Dukkha' as meaning more than just 'suffering'. We looked at the other meanings on it such as 'stress', 'tension', 'unease' etc that most modern people can likely identify with. We considered what 'Dukkha' might mean to us.

2. We looked at our habitual modes of thinking and behavior as the cause of 'Dukkha': our making of the 'me' versus 'other' situation that can cause conflict or friction between 'me' and 'other'; how we often split the situation and set up this sort of scenario with our likes and dislikes, our making things 'good' and 'bad' etc.

3. We looked at Zazen as an opportunity to stop the sort of activity as outlined in 2, as a break from it where we can learn that there's a freer alternative to our habitual activities. We considered how we can just let our reactions and habits go for a while and learn what they really are.

4. We looked at this truth as the traditional means to a balanced life as formulated by the Buddha.

The Four Noble Truths (The Buddha’s first teaching).

2009-11-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

'The Wheel of Dharma', or the wheel of Buddhist teachings; a symbol of what the Buddha initiated by teaching the Four Noble Truths.

Tonight we talked about the Four Noble Truths. This is said to be the first teaching the Buddha gave after he became awakened or realised under the bodhi tree.

The Four Noble Truths may seem a bit formulaic or abstract; and they have often been adopted in a sort of abstract philosophical or intellectual way. But maybe the original intention of the teaching was to point out something which is real and true about our lives. We can apply these truths to our own real lives and experiences and see if they hold up, if they are realistic and helpful.

These Truths are not discussed much in Japanese Zen Buddhism and are generally more associated with Theravada Buddhism. But they are a nice way to get a feeling for the original teachings of Buddhism and to relate to the Buddha's own life story. Also, we can consider how our own conduct/practice might relate to these four revelations.

'Stop the War' & Monkeys.

2009-11-11T02:08:00.000-08:00

Last night we looked at the old Japanese koan 'stop the war' which appeared recently on John Tarrant Roshi's blog.

What 'war' or conflict is the koan talking about? How does this conflict start? Can we stop it?

The koan came about from a troubled time in Japan's past when there was a lot of actual feudal conflict in the country, but it seems clear that it's also referring to 'war' as a more immediate situation in our own lives.

We also had a look at this story from Peter Rocca Sensei's blog:

-----------

Once there was a monkey with two-eyes who lived on an island. One day there was a terrible storm and the monkey got washed out to sea on a log. The monkey drifted on the log for weeks until he was washed ashore on another island far away from where he used to live. The monkey was hungry so he ran up to the edge of the jungle to look for food. At the edge of the jungle he saw another monkey. But the other monkey had only one eye, so the two-eyed monkey was very surprised. But when the other monkey saw the two-eyed monkey, the other monkey began laughing and howling. Then more and more monkeys came to see what was going on. All the monkeys who came had only one eye. When those one-eyed monkeys saw the two-eyed monkey they all started laughing and howling. They all pointed at the two-eyed monkey and said “Look, look, he's got two eyes! He's got two-eyes! Ha, ha, ha, ha...”

-------------

...It seems sort of related to the 'war' koan: how do we construct an 'other' in our mind by the way we perceive the other? Even though the monkeys are all monkeys they only see each other in terms of their slight difference when they look at each other.

Someone noted that it's a bit funny that the story turns the norm around: the one-eyed monkeys were the accepted norm on their island while the two-eyed monkey was seen as a freak! Maybe this says something about how we construct our accepted 'norms' and how those norms might be based on a limited, if comfortable and widely accepted, view.

The 'war' or conflict can be very subtle it seems. For example, in Zazen we might notice that we're thinking something like "I'm not doing this right, this is a waste of time!" or something like that. In this case there's already a 'right' opposed to a 'wrong' and a 'me' opposed to what I'm already doing and a 'doing' that is opposed 'time' etc etc etc. We might notice that such a situation, before we let it go, causes a sort of friction or tension that becomes manifest as a feeling or sensation in the real world, in our physical bodies.

In Zazen we can let all our thoughts and perceptions just come and go. We can take a break from that situation where we might latch on to views of both ourselves and others which cause friction or conflict in both our selves and the world.

Fukanzazengi X: The Real Dragon?

2009-11-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

The closing section of Fukanzazengi begins:

I beseech you, noble friends in learning through experience, do not become
so accustomed to images that you are dismayed by the real dragon.

Master Dogen always considers that our own direct zazen practice is the standard of learning in Buddhism. He advocates this sort of effort cautioning that we should not 'become so accustomed to images that you are dismayed by the real dragon'. This phrase refers to the story of Shoko, a person who really liked dragons and had many images of them in his house. One day a real dragon was passing by and thought that Shoko might like him to visit; Shoko completely freaked out when he opened the front door and saw the real dragon! The 'pictures of dragons' are our own concepts and ideas about Buddhism while 'the real dragon' is directly realising zazen ourselves.

Devote effort to the truth which is directly accessible and straightforward. Revere people who are beyond study and without intention.

Master Dogen was a very realistic teacher. He urged us to rely on our own practice/experience and revere those who make sincere efforts in this way.

Accord with the bodhi of the buddhas. Become a rightful successor to the samādhi of the patriarchs.

'Bodhi' means 'enlightenment' or 'awakening'. Master Dogen encourages us to practice zazen and accord with the same experience realised by buddhas. When we do this we are in the same state as buddhas themselves and we become successors to our natural state of awakened balance.

If you practice the state like this for a long time, you will surely become the state like this itself. The treasure house will open naturally, and you will be free to receive and to use [its contents] as you like.

Fukanzazengi ends

These last lines indicate that regular zazen practice has an accumulative effect and that we can gradually come to express the state of practice with our whole life. The 'opening of the treasure house' refers to the state of realising every single thing as a bit of the unhindered truth.

The translation of Fukanzazengi used in this commentary is by Gudo Nishijima and Mike Cross. It can be found as Appendix II of this e-book.

Mike Cross provides and excellent exploration of the meaning of the words comprising Fukanzazengi HERE.

Guilt, Original Sin, Delusion & Buddhism.

2009-11-04T05:19:00.000-08:00

People marched in solidarity with victims of abuse. Dublin, June 10th, 09.

At our meeting last night the topic of guilt came up. The conversation quickly turned to Ireland's experience of Catholicism and how the Christian belief that we are originally tainted or sinful was used as a justification for all sorts of horrific acts against vulnerable people: People in positions of religious authority in Ireland (in church/State institutions etc) were able to act cruelly and degrade others using this sort of belief system as some sort of justification or rationale. Obviously this was, and is, very wrong and it seems Ireland has not yet fully managed to address the wounds caused by this negative culture of spiritual domination.

Buddhism does not really posit that we are originally sinful or tainted as such as Buddhism does not accept sin in the same sort of metaphysical way that Christianity does. Buddhism does accept though that we do have the potential to be deluded at all times, but it also teaches that, via our own efforts/practice, we can realise this and stop our habitual deluded activity at any moment: it presents us with that freedom, and so it is really a matter of our own conduct.

One of the Bodhisattva vows reads: Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them.

We can establish this for ourselves in our own practice: when we are sitting zazen allowing our thoughts and feelings to just come and go we are not engaging in the habitual activity of accepting that 'self' as some sort of substantial reality (to do so is delusion). Instead we can realise it and experience it as just what it is (realisation). But the 'stuff' of delusion doesn't cease (thoughts and feelings will just keep coming), instead we realise them for what they are... or we don't! (It's up to us). Practicing zazen regularly helps us develop a deeper and more direct understanding of how we are deluded, of how we make our deluded self.

We can see that there is a sort of mutual relationship between 'delusion' and 'realisation' in Buddhism then and that they are not abstract, absolute, opposing values. 'Realisation' and 'delusion' do not exist outside of our own real and actual conduct at this very moment... and when we're fully engaged in really doing something then at that moment where is realisation and where is delusion?

Heaping the painful delusion of guilt on top of our general deluded state is obviously not considered good practice from a Buddhist perspective: the fact that we have done wrong in the past does not prohibit us from realising and actualising what is right at this moment.

Fukanzazengi IX: Essential Pivot.

2009-11-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

Fukanzazengi continues:

In general, [the patriarchs] of this world and of other directions, of the Western
Heavens and of the Eastern Lands, all similarly maintain the Buddha’s posture,
and solely indulge in the custom of our religion. They simply devote themselves
to sitting, and are caught by the still state.

Master Dogen again presents sitting in zazen as the essential standard and custom of Buddhism.

Although there are myriad distinctions and thousands of differences, we
should just practice [za]zen and pursue the truth.

He often recognises the great diversity in the world ('the myriad things') in his writings, but here he presents zen practice as indispensable to the pursuit of the truth within that diversity.

Why should we abandon our own seat on the floor to come and go without purpose through the dusty borders of foreign lands? If we misplace one step we pass over the moment of the present.

The truth is right here/ right now when we realise it in our own practice. We don't need to travel to mystical, foreign places to find it. It's easy to go off on a whim with some lofty goal in mind and miss the truth of the present situation.

We have already received the essential pivot which is the human
body: we must never pass time in vain. We are maintaining and relying upon
the pivotal essence which is the Buddha’s truth: who could wish idly to enjoy
sparks [that fly] from flint? What is more, the body is like a dewdrop on a blade
of grass. Life passes like a flash of lightning. Suddenly it is gone. In an instant
it is lost.

Master Dogen sees the impermanent, fragile human body as an 'essential pivot' as we can use our body to realise the truth in zen practice. He combines this image of a 'pivot' with our 'maintaining and relying on the Buddha's truth'. This is the view of Buddhist practice where this very moment is rendered the essential turning point or 'pivot' where we realise our inherent freedom: In zazen we realise that we are generally deluded by perceptions and thoughts ('body and mind'), and that, in a moment of sincere practice, we can allow them to drop off and realise them for what they actually are and allow them to realise us as what we are ('dropping off body and mind'). 'Sparks flying from a flint' suggests things which may be attractive and distracting but which are ultimately fleeting and not substantial (it suggests life where we are distracted by our thoughts and fantasies).

Impermanence is a universal theme in Buddhism; our lives are short when looked at from a broader perspective. Buddhist masters often seek to encourage us to use our time to realise the Great Matter of our life.

Fukanzazengi VIII: 'What Will They Non-think of Next!?'

2009-11-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

Therefore, we do not discuss intelligence as superior and stupidity as inferior.
Do not choose between clever people and dull ones. If we singlemindedly
make effort [in zazen] that truly is pursuit of the truth. Practice-and-experience
is naturally untainted. Actions are more balanced and constant.

In the previous sections Master Dogen has pointed out that effort to realise the Buddhist truth is not a matter of engaging our usual thinking and discriminating activities. For that reason he says here that a person's effort to realise the truth is not contingent on them being some intellectual heavyweight, or a dimwit for that matter.

The crux of the matter is the right sort of effort in practice (i.e. 'dropping off body and mind' or allowing perceptions and thoughts- clever ones and dozy ones alike!- to just come and go).

In this way we can enjoy the 'naturally untainted' balanced state of practice-and-experience where, after a while's sitting, our thoughts and perceptions just come and go unhindered. People often find that this state of practice informs their everyday actions and that, with regular practice, things generally seem more clear, balanced and stable.

Fukanzazengi VII: Keeping the 'Real' in 'Realisation'.

2009-10-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

When we rise from sitting, we should move the body slowly and stand up
calmly. We should not be hurried or violent.

This direction is very practical. It's not advisable to rush to stand up after zazen as our legs might have fallen asleep without us noticing and we could keel over! Besides, it's good to not be too quick and hurried as it might disturb others in the case where we are sitting in a group.

We see in the past that those who transcended the common and transcended the sacred, and those who died while sitting or died while standing, relied totally on this power.

Master Dogen indicates that zazen was indispensable to those who realised the truth in the past. The truth is the real, present situation which is neither sacred nor common nor contingent on any such implied value or interpretation. 'Those who died while sitting or standing' suggests Buddhist masters who practiced right up until their death. It also suggests to me the state of practice itself where we 'drop off body and mind', our thoughts and perceptions: In zen imagery a person in the state of Buddhist realisation is sometimes referred to as a 'withered tree'.

Moreover, the changing of the moment, through the means of a finger, a pole, a needle, or a wooden clapper; and the experience of the state, through the manifestation of a whisk, a fist, a staff, or a shout, can never be understood by thinking and discrimination.

Here Master Dogen indicates the nature of our actions and the experience of real, concrete objects in the present moment. When we act we can effectively change and make the moment in which we act. Buddhism is a philosophy based on our real actions in the present moment. As noted in the previous post, the present moment is the only moment where we can really do anything as the future has not yet arrived (it's only a thought) and the past is but a memory confined to our brain.

'A finger, a pole, a needle and a ceremonial wooden clapper' are all things which have been used by Buddhist masters of the past to indicate and realise the truth of concrete action in the present moment.

How could they [the real objects listed above] be known through mystical powers or practice and experience?

The experience of this state of real, substantial action through the use of real things like 'a zen master's ceremonial whisk, a fist, a staff or a shout' can never really be understood or grasped by 'thinking and discrimination' or even by some mystical state of mind. This line points out that zazen is not thinking/ discriminating-type activity, we can't 'get it' in that way as all things actually exist differently to how we think and perceive them (we see things through the 'filter' of our senses and our likes/dislikes... another being such as a fly would see the same thing, say a lump of cow dung, completely differently: 'yum yum, dinnertime!') This suggests that reality exists before our senses and our thinking and that zazen is an action which is not hindered or limited in any way by thinking and discrimination because it contains and allows for thinking and discrimination.

They [the real objects listed above] may be dignified behavior beyond sound and form. How could they be anything other than criteria that precede knowing and seeing?

Master Dogen suggests that real things may be our zazen practice, or our 'dignified behavior', itself: When we drop our discriminating thoughts ('me' versus 'this' and 'that' etc) and we allow our perceptions to just come a go (so that we are 'beyond sound and form') there is nothing left to give the faulty impression that we are separate from everything else, including real objects everywhere. For this reason Master Dogen reveres real objects as expressions of the truth. He sees them as the truth which 'precedes knowing and seeing'.

Fukanzazengi VI: Of Tigers & Dragons.

2009-10-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Fukanzazengi continues:

This sitting in zazen is not learning Zen concentration. It is simply the
peaceful and joyful gate of Dharma. It is the practice-and-experience which perfectly realizes the state of bodhi. The universe is conspicuously realized, and
restrictions and hindrances never reach it. To grasp this meaning is to be like
a dragon that has found water, or like a tiger in its mountain stronghold. Remember, the right Dharma is naturally manifesting itself before us, and darkness and distraction have dropped away already.

Given the general ideas towards meditation in Buddhism it may seem strange to some when Master Dogen says that the zazen he is advocating is not a matter of improving one's powers of concentration using an object such as the breath, or the counting of the breaths, or following physical sensations, or watching thoughts etc etc etc... The practice which Master Dogen is pointing to is more fundamental than, more immediate and real than, our own mental efforts to control, improve, manipulate and generally interfere with the way things already originally are.

This 'practice-and-experience' is a 'gateway' to 'Dharma' (or the truth of reality). It realises 'the state of bodhi', the state of realising, or awakening to, Reality, or the universe as it just is before we mess around with it! When we sit upright and allow everything to come and go for a time we cease those habitual reactions to thoughts and perceptions which give rise to the impression of some limited 'self'. In this way we can 'drop off' that self and directly realise what is 'naturally manifesting itself before us'.

The image of the dragon and the tiger is nice. In old Chinese symbolism, the dragon was a powerful water creature and so the 'dragon finding water' is its returning to its natural place, its original element. Likewise the majestic tiger is most at home, and most powerful and effective, in it's mountain stronghold.

Our original place is right here when we realise it as such. Reality is right here, our life is always happening right here (although we might not often recognise this!) 'Right here' is the only place where we can actually really do anything effective as 'the past' is just a fabricated memory in our brain and 'the future' is just an expectation, an assumption or a projected thought. Just try stamping your foot now... that's you realising the substantial present, and the substantial present being realised by you.

When we reclaim 'right here' in upright sitting zazen we're no longer confused or disempowered by our fantasies, our confused thinking, our ideas of 'right' and 'wrong' or 'past' and 'future' or 'me' and 'other'... We can give our running after things, and/or our running away from them, a rest and be like a dragon finding its watery home after a time of dryness, or be like a tiger released from captivity back into its majestic mountain home: We regain our freedom and nothing can assail us.

Regards,

Harry.

Fukanzazengi V: 'Sit Non-thinking'.

2009-10-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

Mountains unperturbed by passing clouds.

Next, Master Dogen throws light on the essential, or 'pivotal', matter of zazen:

"When the physical posture is already settled, make one complete exhalation
and sway left and right. Sitting immovably in the mountain-still state, “Think
about this concrete state beyond thinking.” “How can the state beyond thinking
be thought about?” "It is different from thinking" [or "it is non-thinking"]. This is just the pivot of zazen."

He advises that we should first settle into the physical posture. Then we exhale and sway or rock a little from side to side (generally about six or eight times or thereabouts); this is a nice way to stretch and loosen up a bit, and it helps us find a central point of balance for our upper body. Sitting still, upright and strong like a mountain, we 'think beyond thinking' or 'think non-thinking' as it has also been translated.

This may seem like an unusual term. How do we 'think non-thinking'? Well, we don't sit trying to directly 'not think', that would be really frustrating because thoughts would likely just keep coming up frustrating our effort. 'Non-thinking' is not just 'not thinking' because thoughts are naturally arising and present, but in 'non-thinking' we don't grab on to our thoughts and get involved with them, or reject them or try to suppress them (which is just getting involved with 'em in another way). We just let them come and go. 'Non-thinking' is just letting thoughts come and go. If we find ourselves grabbing onto a thought and thinking about something (as we often will) we just stop it and return to sitting letting our thoughts come and go again. That's zazen.

When we're sitting 'non-thinking' thus we can say that we are 'beyond thinking'; we aren't being pulled around by our usual reactions to our thoughts (judging them as 'good' and 'bad' and all that, remember?) and so we can calmly sit and experience our thoughts just coming and going and take a rest from our usual reactive thinking activity.

The line on 'non-thinking/beyond thinking' is in quotation marks as it comes from a conversation between Master Yakusan Igen and a monk; it's taken from a traditional zen story or koan.

Fukanzazengi IV: 'Posture' etc.

2009-10-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

Master Gudo Nishijima sitting zazen.

In the next section, Master Dogen reiterates that zazen is not a willful mental effort of the sort that intentionally thinking something or willing something is. He advises we give everything ('the myriad things') a rest and to stop thinking of things in terms of them being 'good' and 'bad' (i.e. to let them arise just as they are). We should not try to become a buddha; to do so would just be to engage in a type of misguided willful thinking based on whatever we imagine a 'buddha' to be:

"In general, a quiet room is good for practicing [za]zen, and food and drink
are taken in moderation. Cast aside all involvements. Give the myriad things a
rest. Do not think of good and bad. Do not consider right and wrong. Stop the
driving movement of mind, will, consciousness. Cease intellectual consideration
through images, thoughts, and reflections. Do not aim to become a buddha.
How could [this] be connected with sitting or lying down?"

'How could [this] be connected with sitting or lying down?' Here Master Dogen is emphasising that zazen is not just the usual activity of sitting or lying down where we might be daydreaming or thinking as we habitually do. Zazen is quite different in that it requires us to just stop doing our habitual thinking activity when we notice that we are doing it.

The instructions continue with a description of the physical posture of zazen:

"We usually spread a thick mat on the place where we sit, and use a round
cushion on top of that. Either sit in the full lotus posture or sit in the half lotus
posture. To sit in the full lotus posture, first put the right foot on the left thigh,
then put the left foot on the right thigh. To sit in the half lotus posture, just press
the left foot onto the right thigh."

Most people will initially find it difficult to sit in half lotus as advised here. In fact, you might even hurt yourself if you try. People who have been doing yoga for some time may be able to attempt these postures, but everyone should be careful when attempting this; if there is any pain at all (particularly in the knees) then please stop. The hips will generally loosen up if you practice every day. You might consider doing a few warm-up stretches. Progress will likely happen quite slowly though, so patience is required. What's called the Burmese posture is a safer alternative in the meantime. It's a good one because the knees are both on the floor forming the very stable base that both lotus and half lotus provide.

The hand position discussed below is called the 'mudra'. It's said the thumbs should touch together gently; sometimes we might find that we're pushing them together too hard and so we can relax this or maybe we'll notice that our thumb tips have fallen apart or collapsed downwards in which case we should just fix them.
.
"Spread the clothing loosely and make it neat. Then put the right hand above
the left foot, and place the left hand on the right palm. The thumbs meet and
support each other. Just make the body upright and sit up straight. Do not lean
to the left, incline to the right, slouch forward, or lean backward. The ears must
be aligned with the shoulders, and the nose aligned with the navel. Hold the
tongue against the palate, keep the lips and teeth closed, and keep the eyes open.
Breathe softly through the nose."
.
We sit upright and gently keep the mouth and teeth closed while we breathe gently and normally through the nose. The tongue is kept against the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth. This stops air from going over the taste buds causing salivation. The eyes are generally kept relaxed and half open with the gaze cast down at about a 45 degree angle.

Fukanzazengi III: 'Grabbing the Ineffable'.

2009-10-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

In the next section, Master Dogen attempts to clarify in a very direct way just what type of conduct zazen is :

"...Therefore we should cease the intellectual work of studying sayings and chasing words. We should learn the backwards step of turning light and reflecting. Body and mind will naturally fall away, and the original features will manifest themselves before us. If we want to attain the matter of the ineffable, we should practice the matter of the ineffable at once."

Master Dogen was very concerned with 'sayings and words'; he compiled a big collection of Zen sayings or 'koans', and his voluminous philosophical masterpiece Shobogenzo contains thousands of words which are largely brilliant commentaries on Zen koans. In short, Master Dogen saw 'sayings and words' as very valuable and important. He is saying here though that the practice of zazen is a break from studying words and pursuing sayings and sorts of intentional mental activity.

'The backwards step' is a nice phrase that reminds me of how we sit down backwards on to the zafu (meditation cushion) before we turn to face the wall in zazen. It also suggests to me a type of retreat from our outwardly active world, the suspension of our usual activities and of our efforts to pursue goals or advance ourselves in the world.

'Turning light and reflecting' suggests the aspect of zazen where we become naturally more aware of our thoughts and feelings and all those things which are generally more concealed or underlying in our usual daily life: When we sit zazen for a while these things naturally, and without any great effort required, seem to arise to the surface. In zazen we can experience ourselves more clearly just as we might be able to discern our features clearly by looking in a mirror. Our attention is naturally reflected inwards.

'Body and mind will naturally fall away' describes the nice, balanced state of zazen where our thoughts and bodily perceptions just come and go unhindered when we stop involving ourselves with them by either grabbing onto them or rejecting them (trying to suppress them).

'The original features will manifest themselves before us' recalls themes from the Zen traditions like the popular old koan 'show me your original face before you were born'. It's an invitation to manifest the balanced state of zazen, to manifest our life, as it is before we manipulate it with thinking and any willful activities.

'If we want to attain the matter of the ineffable, we should practice the matter of the ineffable at once.' This last line has a strong whiff of the old Zen dialogues to it also; in one sense it doesn't make much sense and yet it seems to have a ring of truth to it. How can 'the ineffable' be a 'matter'? How can we possibly attain that which is ineffable? Surely you can't hold the ineffable in your hand or practice it without disappearing off the face of the Earth!?

This line comes from a wonderful saying by Master Tozan:

"If you want to attain the matter of the ineffable, you must have become someone of the ineffable. Now that you are already someone ineffable, why worry about attaining the matter of the ineffable?"

Buddhism holds that everything at this very moment is by nature already ineffable; all things material and immaterial constantly come and go from moment to moment in the endless dance of creation/ recreation. This allows for things to exist, to change, move and grow. A famous line from one of the most important Buddhist sutras (The Heart Sutra) reads: 'Form is emptiness, emptiness is form'. 'Attaining' this is to express it directly in zazen where we don't need to worry about attaining things as they already exist as they do (including us). Our body and mind, our perceptions and thoughts, naturally fall away of their own accord when we allow them to. In this way we can directly experience and learn the nature of ourselves and of everything.

Fukanzazengi II: 'The News is Good!... But Effort is Required on Our Part if We're to Actualise it'.

2009-10-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

A famous depiction of Master Bodhidharma.

Master Dogen began this text about sitting Zen by presenting the Buddhist philosophical view that everything is already perfect as it is. This idea, in and of itself, is not really much use to us though as we generally recognise that this is effectively not always the case and that life can be more than a bit of a pain-in-the-ass of times... there are plenty of great ideas out there, but they often seem to offer limited comfort when it comes to the deep, sometimes troubling, fundamental questions of human existence such as 'why do we suffer?' and 'why are we here?'

A reason for a fractured and dissonant experience of life is outlined in the second paragraph. Master Dogen suggests that our habitual ways of thinking (our splitting of everything into 'this' and 'that', 'me' and 'other' and our mistaking this for some substantial reality in itself) is a cause of confusion. He points out that addressing this problem is not just a case of adopting nice ideas or fancy philosophical/ religious thinking but of a 'vigorous bodily method'.

The way to address the situation, as Buddhism sees it, is not confined to, or by, philosophy then: It requires a way of real conduct more substantial than thinking alone.

Master Dogen goes on to build on this theme of the importance of actual direct practice by reminding us that even the great Masters themselves were required to practice directly in this way:

"Moreover, we can [still] see the traces of the six years spent sitting up straight by the natural sage of Jetavana park. We can still hear rumours of the nine years spent facing the wall by the transmitter of the mind-seal of Shaolin [temple]. The ancient saints were like that already: how could people today fail to make effort?"

'The natural sage of Jetavana park' is the historical Buddha himself while 'the transmitter of the mind-seal of Shaolin' is Master Bodhidharma who is considered the first Zen patriarch as it is believed that he brought Buddhism from India to China.

Master Bodhidharma was said to have practiced Zazen facing a wall for nine years. This custom is retained in Japanese Soto Zen and so practitioners generally sit a short distance from a blank wall with their eyes cast downwards.

Oh Yeah, 'Why do you do Zazen?'

2009-10-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, this question came up the other night. I thought it was a good one:

Why do you do Zazen?

Having my practical head on I said the reason that I sit zazen is because I did it this morning, and last night, and yesterday morning, and the night and morning before that... I wasn't messing around or being cute: One period of sitting (in my case) does seem to be a big reason as to why I do it next time, and I've noticed that a bit of reluctance to doing it starts creeping in if I miss a link in that sequential chain. I suppose this is an aspect of Zazen as a type of training. It's widely recommended that we practice regularly.

Of course, there are effects in doing Zazen that people enjoy too. Master Dogen refers to it as a 'joyful and ease-ful gate to the truth'. When we do it for a little while I think we can enjoy it as a nice rest from our usual activity; we don't have to follow our thoughts or engage our usual responses. It frees us up a bit and helps us experience ourselves a little more clearly. That's a nice feeling (even if it isn't always so easy or clear-cut in practice!)

Big River, Two Fish!

2009-10-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

Our 'small group' was 50 per cent 'me' at last night's meeting!

We had a nice chat and sat a little Zazen together anyway, which was good.

I'm not sure how it will work out in the long run but, for the time being, I'm planning to continue looking at Fukanzazengi here, there and wherever.

I'll post another bit about it in the next day or two (busy, busy, busy...)

Looking at Fukanzazengi.

2009-09-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

Our group is reading and discussing Fukanzazengi.

Fukanzazengi or 'Universal Guide to the Method of Zazen' is an instructional text written by the thirteenth century monk Eihei Dogen (A.K.A. Dogen Zenji or Master Dogen). It's held as quite an influential text as Master Dogen is considered the founder of what is now the Soto school of Zen Buddhism in Japan (one of the two main schools, the other being the Rinzai Zen school).

The text offers both practical instructions for doing Zazen and a discussion of some important Buddhist philosophical points.

It starts like this:

"Now, when we research it, the truth originally is all around: why should we rely upon practice and experience? The real vehicle exists naturally: why should we put forth great effort? Furthermore, the whole body far transcends dust and dirt: who could believe in the means of sweeping and polishing? In general, we do not stray from the right state: of what use, then, are the tip-toes of training?"

Buddhism has a very optimistic view of human life. Buddhist philosophy states that we're originally perfect, that everything is perfect just as it is, that reality is real all the time, that our natural perfection can never be tainted... why then, Master Dogen asks, should we bother practicing Zazen, or following a philosophy/religion, or making efforts to be good and moral if this is the case?

The text continues:

"... However, if there is a thousandth or a hundredth of a gap, the separation is as great as that between heaven and earth; and if a trace of disagreement arises, we lose the mind in confusion."

Master Dogen answers his original question with this statement. He says that, although we are originally perfect, although we already embody the truth, there is a tendency for us to think in ways which effectively create separation, disagreement and confusion. We tend to think in terms of 'me' versus 'other', 'good' versus 'bad', 'like' versus 'dislike' etc etc etc... and so via our thinking we fracture the innate perfection-of-things-just-as-they-are and go off behaving in ways based on an erroneous view which assumes that our discriminative thinking represents some sort of substantial reality. The mind gets confused as generally we habitually think in this way creating sometimes very complex and ingrained patterns of thought which result in habitual behaviors and responses. This can cause us to suffer, to feel that things aren't really quite right, like we're missing something. Sometimes we might get exhausted by it and it might even seriously effect our health or our relationships to others.

"...Proud of our understanding and richly endowed with realization, we obtain special states of insight; we attain the truth; we clarify the mind; we acquire the zeal that pierces the sky; we ramble through remote intellectual spheres, going in with the head: and yet, we have almost completely lost the vigorous road of getting the body out."

This is a caution against replacing one type of confusion with another, that is, replacing ordinary, everyday confusion with the confusion of adopting Buddhism as a sort of mental escape or a form of cerebral self gratification. Master Dogen reminds us in the last line that Buddhist practice is a 'vigorous', tangible practice involving our body where we allow our discriminative thinking, and all thoughts (even nice, comfy religious ones!!!), to just come and go. In this way our body need no longer be 'pushed around' by what we think and want. The body 'gets out' of that situation for a time in the disciplined-but-relaxed upright sitting of Zazen.

In these opening paragraphs of Fukanzazengi Master Dogen has started with presenting a Buddhist philosophical view which he has contrasted with the real problematic situation of the general human condition. Next he points out that the optimistic Buddhist philosophical view is realistic... but only when it is enacted in our own direct practice.

More to come...