Appearance and Reality

Here's some more good stuff from Zen Master Dogen to ponder:

• Most people of the world want others to know when they have done something good, and want others not to know when they have done something bad.
• If you refrain from doing something because people would think ill of it, of if you try to do good so others will look upon you as a true Buddhist, these are still worldly feelings.
• If you have compassion and are imbued with the spirit of the Way, it is of no consequence to be criticized, even reviled, by the ignorant.  But if you lack the spirit of the Way, you should be wary of being thought of by others as having the Way.
• What you think in you own mind to be good, or what people of the world think is good, is not necessarily good.
• If people who keep up appearances and are attached to themselves gather together to study, not one of them will emerge with an awakened mind.
• You should not be esteemed by others if you have no real inner virtue.  People here in Japan esteem others on the basis of outward appearances, without knowing anything about real inner virtue; so students lacking the spirit of the Way are dragged down into bad habits and become subject to temptation.

Inner virtue.  How in the world might it be possible to elect our government representatives based on the quality of their inner virtue?  Boy, I would love to see that answered some day!

Infrequency

My online life has recently taken a back seat to my "brick and mortar" life. Sorry to be out of touch like that.

Here's a link that I found interesting that I wanted to share. I'm thinking about going. What do you think?

Warrior Monk

Questions

I would like to beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions them selves as if they were locked rooms or books in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

I needed to come across this little piece of wisdom today.  My Zen practice has been deepening as of late and as a result, is stirring up more questions than answers about the way I currently live my life.

My impulse is to want to resolve all these questions right away.  I feel uncomfortable with so many seemingly unresolved things lying about. It helps to be reminded that I can just be with those questions and the uncomfortable feelings that are associated with them. Questions don’t have to be answered right away (if at all).  For the moment, questions can be just questions.

Sangha

I got a chance to sit with a local sangha for the first time last night. I say 'for the first time' because, not only was it my first time at the Buddhist Sangha of Bucks County, it was the first time with a sangha that is less than 3 hours from my home. I don't know why it took me so long to search out a group that would be closer to me than Mt. Equity Zendo is. Then again, I don't know why it took me over 10 years from the time I received that initial brochure from the Rochester Zen Center in 1991 to when I actually made my first visit to a practice center (Mt. Equity Zendo in 2002).

Ever since learning about Buddhism in the class 'Philosophy of Eastern Thinkers' at RIT in 1991, the pull to investigate this spiritual tradition has remained constant and strong. I just wish it hadn't taken me this long to get up the guts enough to put all the books down and actually pay a visit to a practice center.

Whatever the reasons, I guess it doesn't matter much now. I am where I am and where I am today is pretty darn good!!

The practitioners at BSBC were quite friendly and welcoming. I had a pleasurable evening of practice and discussion. I'm so glad I made the effort to seek out a local group and get to a sitting during the work week. It is going to help a lot to have options for group practice in the months to come once Deb starts working at the hospital full time.

Totally in this world

Meditation is not just a rest or retreat from the turmoil of the stream or the impurity of the world. It is a way of being the stream, so that one can be at home both in the white water and in the eddies. Meditation may take one out of the world, but it also puts one totally in it...

~ Gary Snyder

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I like this. A LOT! It's a good reminder for me.

commonbeauty reincarnated?

the vernacular body

I think I'll like this version too.

Zen and Recovery

Zen can be the compassionate scalpel that removes the layers of accrued opinions, beliefs, and frozen expectations that stand between us and true experience. . Zen shows us that what we mistakenly call ourselves, personal identity, is really no more than a mask over our true selves and natures. . . By becoming mindful of our original nature, we are able to lessen the grip of the denial that separates us from true experience. . . As we become more spontaneous and intuitive in our relationships with ourselves, others and the world, the world and our deepest selves start to act as one, and we come to realize that there's never been a problem except in our thinking. . . Zen is the ultimate and original recovery program: it exposes our denial of true self and shows us how we've suffered because of our diseases of attachment, judgment and division.

~ Mel Ash

Take it to the cushion

I sat zazen last night right before bed. It was the first time I've had a formal sitting period on the cushion since sitting that once at the B&B 10 days ago.

Since getting back from vacation, I've allowed myself to get pretty caught up in what I call the "mind of the world". It's got me all agitated and in a state of unease (dis-ease). I've felt myself getting short with those around me. Getting impatient and annoyed with my fellow commuters on my way to and from work. Impatient with my 5 year old daughter. I don't like it when I fall back into this state.

So, I took it all with me to the cushion last night. The echoes of the day's events were so strong in my heart and mind. As I settled into the silence, it seemed like they got even stronger (more a case that I was now aware of them, I think). I found it difficult for the first time in a long time to just sit with myself and all that was going on inside. I started to judge that (the fact that I was having difficulty), but then realized I need to put that down as well. Not very helpful to getting back to a place of equilibrium.

I'm realizing that I need to 'take it to the cushion' on a more regular basis than I have been.

Happy, happy, joy, joy!!

My wife just got the results of her NCLEX exam (state boards for RN) AND SHE PASSED!!!

She's now officially an RN!!!!

WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!

She was a bit freaked out when the computer shut off after only 75 questions. That could mean two things, she did so lousy the computer decided she had no hope, OR she did really well that more questions weren't neccessary. I had no doubts it was the latter but she couldn't tell one way or another.

We're heading out to dinner tonight to celebrate!!!!

Overcoming Greed

If you would be free of greed, first you have to leave egotism behind. The best mental exercise for relinquishing egotism is contemplating impermanence.

~ Zen Master Eihei Dogen (founder of Soto Zen in Japan)

I want my vacation back!

Bleh...After 6 hours into my first day back at work and being thrown into the fire pits immediately upon arriving, I'm longing for the hours spent on the lake shore with my family just a few days ago! Oy!

So, how's your day?

Even the sun must climb Cold Peak

...Big Shield once told me all
may be enlightened:
serpent, stone, bell, moon, pine.

Imagine that!

Yet my question remains:
"On what great day
will fear and hope finally die?"

"Back to work,"
said Big Shield.
"Even the sun must climb Cold Peak."

Who works to be free
will never be free.

Raise two hands to your eyes.
Show yourself your bonds.
You see nothing.

Pity those bound by
a whisper of wishes.

You are free
only when you forget
you are free.

~ Han Shan (a late 8th century Chinese poet and Taoist-Chan Sage)

Back from vacation

Hey, all! Sorry to just drop off like that. I've been on vacation for the last 12 days and thoroughly enjoying it.

We were visiting with my family up in Penn Yan, NY where I grew up (well, for my second half of my childhood anyway). Penn Yan is in the heart of the Finger Lakes region of western New Your State. Really beautiful countryside with the grape country and farm lands dotted amongst the finger lakes. I just love it up there as compared to living down here in the "rush, rush, rush" of the Philly 'burbs. Life just seems to taken at a much slower pace in Penn Yan and the surrounding area, and I'm liking that more and more these days (darn Zen practice! ;-).

We stayed in a beautiful B&B while in Penn Yan, the Trimmer House Bed & Breakfast. The house is gorgeous!! The proprietor teaches in China two to three times a year and has decorated the house in a nice mix of old Victorian and oriental decor. Very well done. We stayed in the two room suite at the front of the house. It was so nice to let Amy have her own room with her own TV and then Deb and I could have time together relaxing and watching (or not watching) whatever we wanted. It was NICE! Ahhhh... the simple things you treasure as a parent!

The focal point of the visit was the party/picnic with the US contingent who didn't make it to my sister's wedding last June in Scotland. Mary and Mark flew in from Scotland with Mark's mum for the week. It was so good to see them all after a whole year. Talking on the phone just isn't the same as being with them face to face. With the visit and time spent together, I'm now realizing just how much I missed being able to see my sister. That said, I still think it's so cool that she's making a life for herself in Glasgow, Scotland.

Well, hopefully the posts will pick up in frequency now that I'm back to spending the majority of my time sitting at a computer hooked to the 'net.

Peace all.